Billi Jean (31 page)

“Don’t mouth off to the man that dug me out, boys.”

They all turned at the sound of Dare’s voice. Dare could barely stand, but not one of them moved to help him limp over and practically fall into a chair. Dressed in a pair of cargo shorts, barefoot and shirtless, Dare looked like he and Mac had been here vacationing, except Dare was naturally dark-skinned, while Mac had bronzed under the sun. Dare wore his hair cut short like Shemar Moore, and on this trip he’d even cut in a goatee. The man was a lady’s man to the extreme, but, barely able to stand, he looked like shit. He was the only reason Russ was still here. Daren Scott—Dare—had been buried alive. A few more hours? He wouldn’t have needed anything more than a headstone.

“True, we’ve established that. Now, what’s the intel, Tazz?”

“Intel says they’re on the move. New shipment should arrive at oh-six hundred. As soon as it hits the docks, they’ve scheduled a team to pick up, then another to distribute and reload for Europe’s markets. Some talk of a few tourists, mostly villagers.”

Finally, good news.

“So the plan the same?” Russell asked.

Mac nodded. “The plan should work as needed—” he began, but Dare interrupted.

“I’m in.”

Silence settled over the men, broken by Mac swearing.

Russell took a seat and shot Dare a look. “No. You’re a liability we don’t need. These guys are serious. You know it, I know it, and we aren’t out for revenge. If we were? I’d have them down and out. We’re here to stop them. Stop this little money-making enterprise. Am I correct?”

All four men exchanged looks and nodded slowly. Dare cursed, but finally met his eyes and nodded as well. “Fuck. I can at least be back here, ready and listening,” Dare grumbled, fiddling with the bandage wrapped around his chest.

Dare could do that. He was an intel guy. His cover had been blown by some jackass who was in the wrong place at the right time. Not Dare’s fault, but the guy took it that way. Every man who got caught by the enemy did that. They needed to be smarter, quicker, and ready for anything and everything. Dare had been caught with his pants down. Literally. One time getting his rocks off with a woman and he’d been taken. On a suspicion, nothing more.

Russ wasn’t willing to let anyone else fuck up. Not that Dare had. He’d been on a mission, told to blend in and he’d been blending. Except his blending had included the sister of the ring leader, Isaac Menendez, and her kinks. One kink being sex in public. Not so good for Dare’s cover. But at least when he’d been nabbed, they’d had Dare on camera in some dark alley. Getting the information to where Dare had been taken once he’d been nabbed had been left up to Ace. As well as taking out the guys guarding Dare’s burial ground.

It’d been a tight thing, but Russell had done it in record time. The Ace had been in the hole because he’d been halfway done before the jet had landed. He wanted back to Susan. Now. But here he was, still sitting on his hands.

Not anymore.

Adrenaline rushed him. Thoughts of Susan under him filled his head. Soon. Soon he’d be out of this jungle and back in her bed. Then he’d clear things up. He was a SEAL. He didn’t run from his fear—he didn’t
feel
fear. Except with her.

“I need to make a call when we nail this.”

The team shot him a look, but Mac nodded, still rubbing his shoulder, the pansy. “Hell, yeah, Ace, we’ll hook you up,” he grumbled.

“Damn straight, man,” Dare added.

He saw Tazz grin, but the Texan kept his lips sealed for once.

Damn straight, because if he had to go one more day in this rat hole, worried about Susan forgetting who she belonged to, he was going to kill someone. And that might not be the way this should go down.

Lacey finished the last of her specs, taking the time to check every line. She’d managed to kill at least an hour of her time. Only four more until she could go to bed, and, for six of the hours that would follow, she’d lie in bed thinking of Russell, wondering if he was all right, if he’d really call her, or if he’d already found himself another willing and eager woman to warm his bed.

Groaning, she let her head fall to the table with a
thunk
. She’d been willing and eager, hadn’t she? Her cheeks burned with the thought. Oh, she’d not given the milk away; she’d practically thrown it at him.

Ah, God, she was such a complete moron.

Russell had been gone five weeks. Five long, lonely weeks. Enough time to show her she
could
live on her own. And enough time to determine she didn’t
want
to. So where did that leave her?

Miserable.

She missed Russell like an ache. She missed her old life. She missed her friends. But overshadowing all of that—she missed
him
. The smell of him. The sight of him. Him. Just him. He’d not called. Not when he’d arrived wherever he’d gone. Not a peep. Nothing since he’d walked out the door, broad shoulders back and head already on his mission.

While Lacey had gone to her room and cried in her sheets, missing him before he’d even pulled out of the driveway. To make it worse, her sheets had smelt like him. Them. Russell and sex. Within days, the doubts had hit as the silence of the house grew impossible to deal with. Russell was a big man. A large man in many ways. He filled a space with his energy, his larger than life presence. And when he’d left and shut that front door? He’d taken something with him, something she hadn’t realised she needed, wanted,
expected
, even. Him.

She’d fallen in love with the man. Completely, totally in love with him, and had no clue if he felt the same. Not one single clue.

She’d thought of talking to Katya about it, but hadn’t. How pathetic of her to ask something like that after—she hadn’t even dated him—having sex with a man for a few weeks.

She needed to get her head on straight. The man was not interested in her for more. Sure, they’d gone to town. They’d eaten out, they’d gone grocery shopping together, but that—

Her phone ringing saved her from further reflections of how stupid she could be, and she knew it, which only made her want to throw the phone, not answer it.

Sighing, Lacey picked up the thing and stared at the caller ID. Unknown. Fantastic. Some kind of solicitor. Police academy, Leukaemia Society, Good Housekeeping…

“Hello?”

Static filled the line so badly she winced as her ear protested. Could it be Russell? Heart racing, she tried to breathe out of a suddenly dry throat. “Hello?”

More static, then the connection was lost.

What had that been? Russell? Some crazy person? She stared at the slim cell phone, willing it to ring. It had to have been Russell. But why now? Why now after all these weeks? Oh, God. What if something had gone wrong? No, no, no one would tell her. She nearly cried at the thought. She wasn’t related. They weren’t married. No one knew she even existed except her new friends here and they didn’t even know who she was. Neither did Russell. The thought made her head hurt.

When the phone rang again she nearly dropped it, not proud of the squeal that shot out of her mouth, but damn it, this might be Russell.

“Susan? Can you hear me now?”

“Yep!” A stupid grin filled her face, but she was beyond caring. Her heart was ready to burst and all the weeks, the worry, the wait, it was all so worth it. Russell. “Russell.”

“Yeah, it’s me.”

Uh, right. Who else? “Are you…home?” Would he have gone home first? Not come here?

“Negative, not home.”

Negative? Her smile nearly hurt, it was so big. “All right then, Major, are you coming home?”

A slight pause then a chuckle. “Damn, I missed your smart mouth.”

Covering her mouth with her hand, Lacey sat down like someone had cut her legs out from under her. “I miss you, Russell. I hope you’re…you’re good.” Not hurt? Was it safe to say that? “Can you talk a little more, Russell? I’m not sure what to say…”

Another laugh. “I better write that down. You don’t know what to say, huh? I told you I’d call.”

“Russell, it’s been five weeks!” Oops—well, there went calm and cool.

Another silence, then she heard what sounded like him clearing his throat. “Well, it has, hasn’t it?”

She glanced at the phone, not sure what to make of that. “Yep, it has. Five weeks and two days, if you’re wondering.”

Another silence.

She bit her lip. Why was he acting so strangely?

“Naw, I kinda knew that. Did you think about me?”

Now that was more like Russell. She grinned. “Yep. You’re kinda hard to forget.”

Another silence, not a laugh. She wanted to hear about him missing her again, but he stayed silent.

“Russell? What is it?” If he gave her the line about how fun it’d been, or how he’d not be coming back… If he gave her the boot, she’d not cry. She would
not
cry.

“I missed you. Thought about you every night. Shit, all day, too. Nearly got my ass shot off for thinking about you, so yeah, I thought about you. Wondered if you been missing me as much?”

“Russell, you idiot! Of course I have, didn’t I tell you that? Wasn’t I saying that? Did you call me to talk to me, or are you playing games?”

“Holy hell, baby, slow down. Give a man a chance here. I’ve not called… Shit, I wanted to hear your voice, but I… Playing games? What the hell does that mean?”

“Russell Ryland, get home, will you? I want you here, so I can smack the back of your head. Even if I have to get up on a chair to do it. Geez, do you know what all those silences were doing to me? How am I—?”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down, baby. All right. I missed you. There. I said it. Again. Now. What are you wearing?”

Huh? Slowly, a smile filled her heart and she slouched down on the couch. “Your T-shirt.”

The silence was a lot nicer this time. “And…? That all?”

“Yep…oh, you mean am I wearing panties? A thong, or a slinky pair of lacy boy shorts?”

“Ah, God, baby, I hope you’re still bare and wearing my shirt.”

“Oh, you like it when I wear the boy shorts. You like to rip them off…remember?”

“How the hell could I forget that?” He sounded decidedly shaken.

But, still. “Are you alone on this line, Russell Ryland?”

A choked laugh. “Shit, I’m in bed, stroking my cock and listening to you give me a hard-on that won’t go down.”

Oh, my.
“Are you hot and hard, Russell?”

“Oh, fuck yeah. Are you wet, baby?”

“I’m soaking. And naked,” she lied.

“Ah, God… Touch your breasts. Tell me how they look.”

“They’re hot, Russell. Too sensitive. I’m cupping them, making that little valley you like. Mmm, would you like me to pinch my nipples, Major?”

A deep groan, heavy breathing, and she was getting soaking wet. They were having phone sex. Oh, God. Russell was so sexy-hot. “Yeah, baby, oh, yeah, like I do. Let me hear that soft sound you make.”

She set the phone down, stripped, and was holding it to her ear again within seconds. “Sorry, I’m back.”

Russell’s low laugh filled the line. “Aw, baby, you little liar. I’m going to spank you. I heard you take off your clothes.”

“Be nice, I was feeling hot and bothered, and you deserved it.”

A soft, pained laugh. “Help me out here. Talk dirty to me.”

“Oh, Russell, I’m so wet.”

“Ah, God, that’s good. Touch yourself for me.”

She did, sliding her hand down her stomach, slowly cupping her bare mound and sliding one finger through her folds. “Oh, Russell, tell me what you’re doing.”

A low groan. “I’m stroking, baby, stroking and thinking of you, how soft and wet you are, how your body fits mine so right, so damn right.”

“Oh, Russell, tell me what you’d do to me if you were here.”

Another low sound. “I’d be kissing that soft little bare mound, eating you up, because I’m starved baby, so fuckin’ starved. Then you know I’d spread you open and slowly penetrate those pretty pink lips with my cock. It’s going to be hard for you, Susan, so damn ready we’re going to have to fuck for days. You think you can handle that? Me in that sweet little pussy for hours at a time? Real slow and easy—”

“Oh, God, Russell…no, not slow. I want hard, so hard and out of control for me you’d not be able to hold back. I want you that way.” She did. She wanted him wild.

He groaned down the phone, his breath coming faster.

“I want you stroking me, so deep I can’t do a thing but feel you. I feel you now. I’m running my finger over my clit and feeling you now, but I can’t, not really…”

“I want you to make those sounds for me, baby. I’m goin’ to blow. I’m close, so close thinking of taking you that way. I’m gonna hold you down, baby. Hold you down and take you so hard you’re going to feel me there, deep inside your pussy for days afterwards.”

“Oh, God, Russell, I’m so wet. You’re going to make me come.”

A rough sound travelled to her over his breathless pants. “I’m so hot for you, Sunshine. I just might have to bend you over and spank your ass, then fuck you like that, held down over a chair with me taking you until you scream.”

Lacey bit her lip and pressed down on her mound, the wetness there making her insane. She could remember that last day. How out of control he’d been. He’d been wild, holding her down so hard she’d had bruises for days afterwards. She’d loved it. Wanted that again, to feel so out of control that all she could do was experience pleasure.

“Oh, Russell. I’m so wet for you. I miss you. Miss you so bad.”

“Ah, baby. I’m wet, too. So wet I’m slipping over my own cock when I stroke down, but I want that hand of yours on me. Your hands are always so soft and warm.”

She shivered and rubbed herself faster, hearing his breathing increase in pitch, fast and ragged. “I’d let you do that for only a bit, baby. Then I’d have to take you, throw you down on our bed and not let you move. I’ll fuck you with my dick, my mouth, everything and you’ll love it. You’ll cry for more…”

She climaxed. It was too sexy. His deep voice, the images, the memories all blended with her stroking fingers and she came, crying out and nearly dropping the phone as her legs trembled and she clenched around nothing. He must have joined her because she heard him grunting and then groaning her name, breathing hard down the phone line.