Hot Rebel (25 page)

There was a bed in the main room and a crude shower with what turned out to be cold water. Victoria turned the tap off and dried her hand before returning to the bed and sinking down on it.

Nick came into the room and dropped his burden in the corner. The room grew smaller with him in it. The air thickened until breathing was almost impossible. She couldn’t think of a single thing to say.

Nick came over and lifted her to her feet, dragging the burka over her head. She’d forgotten she was wearing it until that moment. She was cooler suddenly, lighter. She took a deep breath and let it out again.

Nick’s hand ghosted over her cheek. “You’re exhausted. You need to sleep.”

“It’s been a long day.”

“A long few days.”

“That too.”

He tugged her T-shirt from her pants and lifted it over her head. She didn’t protest as the cool air slid across her heated skin. Next he pushed her pants down, bending to untie her boots and slip them from her feet. When she was standing there in her underwear, he dragged the covers back and urged her into the bed.

“Where will you be?”

“I’ll be watching for a while. If it stays quiet, I’ll get some sleep too.”

“Sleep with me.”
 

It was a command and not a request. He chuckled softly.

“Nowhere else I’d rather be, sunshine.”

Victoria turned onto her side as he pulled the covers back up. He bent and kissed her on the cheek. “Sleep, sweetheart. I’ll keep you safe.”

*
 
*
 
*

Nick prowled the small house and grounds for the first hour, listening for signs of anyone coming for them. But it was quiet and still, nothing but a dog barking here and there and a couple of cats yowling as they fought over territory. He cradled his MK 16 and patrolled the perimeter for another hour, checking and rechecking entry points and listening for traffic.

After the third hour, he decided they were safe for the night. Whatever Ian Black’s reasons for being at the consulate tonight, he’d intended them to finish this job and get out safely. Nick went inside and propped the gun near the bed before stripping out of his T-shirt and lying down beside Victoria.
 

As much as he wanted to be naked with her, it was best if he keep his boots and pants on, just in case. He stayed on top of the covers, his dick hardening painfully as he listened to her breathing.

He dozed a bit, always waking every few minutes and listening to the night sounds. When Victoria turned in her sleep and threw a leg over him, his heart beat harder at the realization she’d pushed the covers down and her body was now bared to him. Her hand came to rest on his naked chest and she snuggled in closer. He put an arm around her and lay there with his cock throbbing and his blood humming.

“Nick,” she sighed… and then her mouth opened over his skin, her tongue swirling along the ridge of his pectoral. When she found his nipple and tongued it, need arrowed through him, centering in his cock and making it impossibly hard.

“Victoria… honey, don’t do that. Jesus, don’t do that.”

Her hand snaked down his body, beneath the waistband of his pants, and cupped the hard length of him.
 

Nick groaned. “Fuck.”

“Yes,” she said, though he’d meant it as a curse and not a suggestion.
 

Though it was a hell of a suggestion. He was wound tight after the events of the day, and coming would be the perfect way to relieve some of the tension. Apparently, she felt the same way.

With a growl, he pushed her onto her back, ripping the covers out of the way and snapping her bra open in quick succession. He lifted it off her arms and dropped it. Then he proceeded to attack her breasts, licking and sucking her nipples while she fisted her hands in his hair and moaned.

He slid down her torso, licking a path to the sweetness he craved. He could smell her desire, feel her heat as he pushed her panties down her legs and stripped them off.
 

“That’s not what I was asking for,” she gasped as he pushed her legs wide. “I wanted to please you.”

He took that moment to slide his tongue into her wetness and lick his way up to her clitoris in one long swipe. “This does please me,” he said as she moaned.

He pushed her folds open and fastened his mouth on her clitoris, licking, sucking, nibbling softly as her hips writhed and her body jerked. She arched her back, the peaks of her nipples the highest point on her body as her head rolled on the pillow.

“Nick, God… I want to come…”

He lifted her to him as if she were a buffet, eating her pussy like a man starved. She turned her head into the pillow and screamed as she came, and a wave of satisfaction rolled through him.

He got to his knees and started unbuckling his belt. He took his time freeing his cock, because she was still panting and gasping for breath. Then she looked right at him, her eyes gleaming in the meager light coming in from outside. He could see the hunger building again as she let her gaze sweep over him.

“Do you want more, Victoria?”

“Yes. Hell, yes.”

He wrapped a fist around his aching cock and stroked it. Victoria scrambled up and pushed his pants down his hips. Then she bent and took him in her mouth, her sweet tongue curling and stroking the sensitive skin as she sucked him.

He was tempted to let her do it, let her finish him this way. But he wanted to be inside her. Needed to be.

As if she sensed his need, she lifted her head and looked up at him. Their eyes locked for a long while, and then he reached down and cupped the back of her head, lifting her to him and crushing her mouth to his.

They knelt together on the bed, arms wrapped around each other, mouths fused and hungrily demanding more, bodies slick with sweat and need.

His blood pounded in his veins, urging him to impale her and thrust hard, but last night was her first time and she wasn’t quite ready for that. He had to take it easy with her. Treat her as delicately as she deserved.

What he hadn’t counted on was her pushing him down to the bed, straddling him. She reached for his cock and guided it to her entrance. And then she sank down on him with a hiss and soft moan.

“You don’t have to if it hurts,” he whispered in her ear.

She pushed herself upright, sinking lower on his cock. “It hurts not to, Nick.”

CHAPTER TWENTY

Victoria sat very still, not moving. She was full, so full, her body stretched wide by his invasion. Yes, she was still sore, but she actually relished it. It wasn’t bad, but all day long she’d been reminded of what she’d been doing to create that delicious ache between her thighs.

Skin against skin, breaths mingling, bodies joined deeply, the world slipping away for a few hours as they lost themselves in each other.

She wanted that again and again.

The night was quiet, the air charged as he lay beneath her, his hands on her hips, holding her still. She felt safe with him. Protected. A wave of warmth flowed through her, over her. She shuddered with everything she was feeling. His fingers tightened, digging into her skin.

“It’s amazing being with you,” she said, the darkness giving her courage.

His fingers tightened again, but he didn’t say anything. A tiny shard of sadness pricked her, but she refused to let it take hold. Instead, she lifted herself slowly, deliberately, his cock sliding to her entrance, before sinking down again, taking him all in.

He let out an explosive breath when she did it again.
 

“You like that?” she asked, emboldened.

“Like it? That’s a pretty mild word for how good it feels.”

Victoria bent and kissed him, and he lifted his head to capture her mouth with a growl. As she grew accustomed to the feel of him, she moved faster, her body rising and sinking, taking him deeper, her clit grinding against his pubic bone whenever she lowered herself.

The pressure inside her built until she was moving frantically, trying to reach that peak once more. Nick held her hips hard, thrusting up inside her again and again. Her pussy tightened, the walls growing slicker than before, the tension spiraling to almost painful heights.

Victoria wrenched her mouth from his and lifted herself, throwing her head back as she rode him. He followed her up, his mouth fastening on one of her nipples, sucking hard. His fingers slipped between them, worked her deliberately, pushing her toward the edge.

This time when she came, there was no pillow to stuff in her mouth to mute the sound. She exploded with a sharp cry, her body milking his as tender walls clamped down and wrung every last ounce of pleasure from him that she could take.

“Fuck, you’re tight,” he groaned—and then he flipped her over while she was still shuddering and pounded into her, his cock taking her higher once more when she would have thought it was impossible.

She came again, even though she wasn’t finished with her last orgasm. The power of this one caught her by surprise as it rippled over her, joining the first and expanding it beyond anything she’d yet experienced.
 

Victoria saw spots. Her vision blackened and her lungs refused to work for long seconds. Later, she would swear she passed out for those few seconds. When she came back to herself, Nick stiffened, his body jerking as he poured himself into her with a harsh groan.
 

When he was finished coming, he propped himself on his elbows, taking her mouth in a hot, thorough kiss that still managed to leave her panting in spite of everything they’d just done.

“I’ll be your spotter for the rest of my career if every mission can end like this,” he said with a soft laugh.

His voice warmed her. She was never quite certain how to act when they finished—what… fucking? Making love? Having sex?—but he made her feel at ease. Special. Beautiful.

She lifted her legs, sliding her knees along his sides before he caught them and pushed her open wider. His cock was still hard, and a shiver ran over her.

“Let’s just skip the missions and do this,” she said, shocked at the sensual purr in her voice.

“Sold,” he whispered. “Let’s get out of this one alive and then find an island somewhere. I’ll make you come as often as you want. I’ll be your sex slave to command.”

She laughed. “Do you think you can make me come again, slave?”

He shifted his hips, his cock swelling inside her tender sex. “I
know
I can, sweetheart.”

He wasn’t lying.

*
 
*
 
*

They were on the desert highway early the next morning. Getting out of Ras al-Dura hadn’t been difficult since the NATO peacekeepers controlled access. An assassination at the Russian consulate wasn’t as important as keeping things running smoothly in the city and keeping the Qu’rimi opposition from invading.

Victoria was quiet as she stared straight ahead. She kept checking her phone, and Nick knew she was hoping for a message from Emily. But since that call early yesterday, there’d been nothing.
 

There’d been nothing from Mendez, either. He didn’t question it too closely. The colonel had told him he was on his own from the moment he’d sent him on this mission.

Nick had known what he was getting himself into. What he hadn’t known was how much he’d start to worry about Victoria and what happened to her while they played the part of mercenaries for Ian Black.

Or how much her quest for her sister would affect him. He didn’t begin to know where to look for Zaran bin Yusuf, but for all he knew HOT was already doing so on this trip to Ras al-Dura.
 

He hoped like hell they were because he wanted Victoria to be happy. He wanted it with a strength that surprised him, in fact. More than that, he wanted her. Naked and leaning over him, her face contorted with pleasure as he stroked hard into her. God, he loved the way she looked when he took her.

Like she’d found heaven on earth. Like she was continually surprised at what her body could do when he made love to her.

She laid her head back on the seat and rolled her gaze toward him. When he looked at her, she smiled, and his heart gave a hard thump in his chest.

What the fuck was that?

“Whatever happens now, I want you to know how perfect you made my first time. And my second, third, fourth…” She laughed. “All my times, really. What a stud you are, Nick Brandon.”

He laughed, though he was still trying to puzzle out what this sharpness in his chest was. “Yeah, if only you’d realized it back in sniper training.”

“Yep, you could have tortured me with pleasure instead of harassing me with words. What a beautiful way to go that would have been.”

He rubbed the back of his neck. Now that he knew her better, he knew she’d taken his trash-talking more seriously than she should have.

“I’m sorry for that. I told you why I did it.”

She leaned over and kissed his cheek. “I know. Competition, blah blah blah. Over and done.”

She sat back again. Her brows drew down as she watched the scenery pass them by.