Code Name: Baby (22 page)

“Was that the technical term?”

“Actually, she said she'd never seen anything like it.” She sat stiffly, barely aware that she was gripping her cell phone. “You don't think that Diesel could have hanta virus, do you? Maybe that new form of equine flu? What if—”

She felt Wolfe's fingers lift her hair. Then his mouth touched her skin, tracing a warm path across the most amazingly sensitive spot on her neck.

No one had ever touched her there before.

No man had ever kissed her so gently, until her blood raced and her heart seemed to melt.

His lips did more of that same amazing thing, and heat hit her like a summer dust storm.

“Uh—what are you doing?”

“Distracting you.” His voice was husky. “So you'll quit playing what if. It's always an exercise in futility.”

“But Diesel—”

“Shhh.”

Casual was her new mantra, she kept telling herself. She was
not
getting emotionally involved.
Casual.

Something beeped nearby, and she realized it was her cell phone again. Not now. Not when she was on the verge of perfect fantasy.

She glanced at the LED screen and sighed.

“Who is it?”

“Miki.”

Wolfe pulled the phone from her hand. “Forget it. We've got more important things to do.”

Kit blinked as he tossed her phone onto the couch and slid his hands into her hair. “Like what?”

His eyes darkened. “Let's break a few rules.”

K
IT CLEARED HER THROAT
. “ So you want—”

“Yeah.” He bit her upper lip gently. “I want it bad. Call it an early birthday present. For both of us.” He pulled away, a frown between his eyes. “Unless you've got different ideas?”

Not want sex with Wolfe?

She'd have to be dead and decomposing not to want sex with him. “N-no. I mean, yes. I've always wanted you, ever since I was thirteen and you stopped me from trying to jump off the back of my father's pickup truck.”

“You were so damned determined. You halfway had me believing you could hold out that big plastic sheet and coast a little,” he said hoarsely.

Kit felt desire arrow through her body. Her arms slid around his neck as he drew her against him. “I'm flying right now. Who needs a truck?”

“We haven't even started flying. Trust me on this.”

She did trust him. She always had.

She rocked against his chest as he carried her over the tiled floor. “Where are we going?”

“You'll see.”

But when he set her down, it was on a polished tabletop rather than smooth sheets. They were in the kitchen and he was pulling things out of drawers. “Don't tell me you're going to cook?”

“Not cook, but you're definitely eating more than a protein bar. Medicine can hurt your stomach,” he said gruffly. “Take this.”

A warm mouthful of chocolate chip cookies filled Kit's mouth. She sighed in earthy pleasure, licking his fingers to savor every rich speck. “More,” she said, struck by greed.

He fed her another mouthful, as warm and freshly cooked as the last.

“These are amazing. Where did you find cookies?”

“Izzy's team doesn't miss a beat. They were in the oven, still warm.”

Kit bit his fingers lightly as she finished, leaving his hand damp from her mouth.

“You like to play dangerous, I see.”

Caught between his open thighs, Kit felt his erection nudge the fragile barrier of her bikini panties. The man was definitely prime. If this was another dream, she was going to kill someone.

She tilted her head up and kissed his chest. His hands slid around her and he cursed.

Pleased with his response, Kit tried it again. This time his fingers dug into her hair and his mouth crushed hers. He was hungry and angry and giving, all at the same time. The mix left her blood pounding.

She wriggled over the table, her thighs opening around him until they fit together tight, exactly the way she had always imagined they would.

Wolfe muttered hoarsely against her mouth.

“What did you say?”

“I said, find a gun and shoot me now.” He twisted a finger in the edge of her panties. “This could get rough.”

“Promises, promises.”

He pulled the panties free, dropping them on the floor.

Kit's face filled with heat as he looked at her, his eyes hot. “Wolfe, I—”

“
Shhh.
Don't disturb me while I'm living the best fantasy of my life.” A muscle moved at his jaw. “You're gorgeous. Strong. You've got me on my knees, honey.”

She felt the cool brush of air as her nightshirt opened, button by button. Her breasts hardened beneath his callused hands. Then she felt the warm slide of his tongue, the wet friction of his mouth, and both of them were dragging her straight to delirium.

A clicking noise echoed through the kitchen and she realized the dogs were right behind Wolfe, watching every move.

He gave a hoarse laugh. “No voyeurs allowed, guys. Out of here, all of you.” Baby whined, staring up at him. “You too, Baby.” The puppy barked once, then trotted back into the living room, with the others right behind her.

Wolfe kicked the kitchen door closed with his foot.

The movement gave Kit ample opportunity to savor the sculpted lines of his body. “I need to touch you.” She reached for his jeans. “Right now.”

He parried her hand neatly and in one smooth movement slid her nightshirt from her shoulders. “I've got other plans.”

Kit ran her tongue over dry lips. Her body was flushed and aching where their thighs met, and his jeans rode against her naked skin in a subtle friction that was fast driving her to a frenzy. “Wolfe, please. You don't know—”

“Like hell I don't.” His voice was razor-sharp with tension. “You've got me twisted inside out. I'll be damned if I'm going to hurry now.”

She made a broken sound as his hand slid over her stomach and combed the nest of curls at her thighs. His finger slid inside her, stroked her in a slow, hot caress that made her push blindly against him.

She closed her eyes, lost in pleasure. This was Wolfe, and she was finally here, with his hands touching her, goading her, making her body wet and lush in the grip of the best sex she'd ever had or even thought of having.

Then the heat took her and she came against him, stunned past words by pleasure. She shuddered as his fingers teased deeper and drove her up again, across a shining rope of trust and memories and maybe even love.

But she refused to think about love or even tomorrow. She dug her nails into his back, panting, as her body tightened again and she fell back to earth, shuddering.

When she opened her eyes, he was watching her. The sight of the old scars on his chest and shoulders made her suck in a breath. “What did they do to you?” she whispered.

“What had to be done. What I let them do.”

But Kit saw a boy betrayed. She saw a man hardened by combat.

And she grieved for his pain just as she grieved for a world that required his sacrifice of blood.

She kissed him slowly, starting at his shoulder and lapping his skin, nipping gently. Then she bit down harder, summoning the violence she sensed he always kept hidden, very well leashed. She didn't want him controlled. She wanted him stripped to the core the same way she was, both captive and captor. She sensed that would free him as few other things could, and if he hurt her inadvertently, she would bear it without regret, her gift for a man who had given so much and never asked for anything in return.

When he leaned down, she tried to wriggle free, but his thighs closed, locked around her. His hands opened and his hot, skillful mouth moved, tasting her in ways no man ever had, until she was lost and panting against him. Slow and gentle, his tongue stirred unbearable waves of pleasure, and then she was
there,
caught in pleasure. Twice she cried out his name, but he didn't stop. She shuddered, raked her nails across his back, every nerve aflame.

Then she collapsed, breathless, all her strength gone.

When the shudders finally stopped and her sanity returned, she pulled free and glared at him.

“Did I hurt you?”

“Yes,” she whispered.

His body tensed. “I'm sorry. It was the last thing I wanted.”

“Not with your touch, Wolfe. With the touch you didn't give me.” She turned, sliding against his chest. “I won't break, damn it. I'm not afraid of what you are or what you've done.”

“Maybe you should be.”

“Maybe you should stop moving away when I touch you. There are things that I've been waiting for, too.”

He circled her wrists, his eyes like a winter's twilight. “What about the things I can do, the pain I might cause? I'm stronger than you realize. Aren't you afraid of that?”

Her hands slid to the waist of his jeans. “I'll never be afraid of you.” She felt his zipper stretched taut.

“You should be. Everyone else is.” His voice fell. “Even my bastard of a father was in the end.”

“Because he knew you were better and stronger than he'd ever be, so he hated you for it. As for everyone else—they haven't seen your soul the way I have.”

Wolfe stood very still. “I don't have a soul. Not anymore.”

She smiled faintly, saddened by his lie. Saddened that he thought she couldn't see deep enough to know it
was
a lie. “Then I'll take whatever you have to give me.” She opened his zipper and took him between her hands, stroking him slowly, ignoring his low curse.

Even then his control didn't waver, despite the smooth squeeze of her hands.

Or her mouth.

She honored him with that hot touch, telling him what he refused to believe about his own worth. She wondered briefly what he'd had to do to become so distant, so controlled, but the thought faded beneath the rough pleasure of his body's powerful response against her lips and hands.

His fingers tightened in her hair. “Damn it, Kit, you don't understand. There are things I can't tell you—” His breath caught as her tongue feathered across him lovingly. “That won't change. Not ever.”

“Do you want me?” she asked gravely.

He nodded.

“That's all that matters. I'll love you enough for both of us, since you can't seem to love yourself.”

Something seemed to snap inside him. When she drew him back, stroking him with her mouth, he muttered her name and forced her to stop, his breath harsh and labored.

“You're turning me inside out, honey.” He lifted her to her feet as if she weighed nothing, guiding her legs around his waist. A muscle flashed at his jaw. “I want
us.
Even if you regret it tomorrow.”

“Never.”

“Never is a long time.” Then he pinned her against the shadowed wall, against the moonlight slanting down in a pale bar. His body was a line of shadow when he kicked his clothes away and took her there, the first time slow and fierce, every stroke robbing her of breath. He drank her ragged cries with his mouth, driving her up again, giving her no pause, no quarter.

Kit knew she was lost, knew she'd never be able to take another man like this again, with her heart given completely and time standing still. He might be gone in an hour or in a day, but this would be enough, his body driving her against the cool wall in deep, pounding strokes while his hands dug at her hips and his breath came harsh at her forehead. This she would never regret.

His body hardened. With a curse he lifted her.

She felt cool honed granite at her back as he set her against the counter. She watched his face change, watched his jaw clench and his control finally begin to slip.

This is real,
she thought.
This is sweat and lust and the dark slap of his skin on mine. This is Wolfe naked, deep inside me.

Filling me to breaking.

Loving me. Whether he knows it or not.

He rasped her name as if the sound was torn against his will. Then her body betrayed her, wet and shuddering, gripping him in her climax even as she struggled to wait.

Their bodies locked, straining. Then she fell, boneless and blind, stunned to feel him follow, his thighs rigid as he drove his hot seed inside her.

Moonlight shivered around them.

Light against shadow. Hope against despair.

 

“W
E SHOULD GO UPSTAIRS
.” Wolfe's voice was husky. “A bed would be good.”

“Ummm.” Kit's mouth nuzzled his chin.

He was still leaning against the counter, one arm supporting her. She wondered vaguely how he managed to do that even now, after the most mind-blowing, heart-stopping sex she had ever known.

His fingers eased behind her back. “You're pressing against the outlet,” he said gruffly. “That's got to hurt. What about those bruises on your leg? Damn, I forgot all about—”

“Can't feel a thing.” It was true. She was sated and insensible, beyond anything but bliss and smug in the aftermath of her last stunning climax. “Since I can't move a muscle, I guess we'll have to stay this way for a few centuries.”

She heard his low chuckle. “I know the feeling.” But he didn't seem to have any problem lifting her.

“No,” she muttered. “I want to stay here, exactly like this, with you inside me.”

“I will be again, believe me.” His voice was ragged, smoky with hunger.

“Again?” Kit's eyes slitted open. “You can still—”

His kiss cut her off. When he pulled away, his eyes glittered. “You're damn right I can. Only this time will be in a bed.”

“In that case, I'll have three more of the same.” As he crossed the floor, moonlight brushed his shoulders, and Kit couldn't seem to tear her gaze away.

“There's something I need to tell you first.”

“Let me guess.” Her lips curved. “You're married?”

“Not a chance. Something else.”

She feigned shock. “You're using me for irresponsible, impersonal sex, but you're trying hard not to show it.”

Wolfe bit the soft finger that was trailing across his mouth. “Honey, if this is impersonal, then I never want to see
personal.
” His mouth flattened to a line. “It's about protection—or the lack of it. In case you didn't notice.”