KanesBounty (7 page)

Lena took a breath, buttoned her shorts, made sure her
bikini top was still in place and took his hand before they walked out onto the
street. Dozens of people were walking in pairs and groups. It was a busy night
for partying in Cabo San Lucas. They walked for a block and found a payphone.
She stayed close listening.

“Josh… Yeah, it’s me… I’m underground and need an exit plan…
It’s not good… I’m where we were that time after Istanbul… And we’re going to
need some clothes… You know who I’ve got… Good… You never know…” He smiled.
“Thanks… See you there.”

“Who was that?” she asked.

“Joshua.” He paused for a long moment. “My brother.”

She couldn’t process the information. He’d said he didn’t
have family. “You have a brother? I thought you grew up in an orphanage.”

“We did. He was taken for training a few years earlier. He’s
a year older and had a higher level rating in the Psi-Alignment. I didn’t see
him for almost ten years.”

“Does he work for the same company as you?”

He took her hand again and they walked down the block toward
the loud bar. “No. He works for the government.”

“And he’s going to help us?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

He shrugged. “He’s my brother.”

She couldn’t imagine the world Kane had grown up in. No
parents, no love and a brother he never saw. She had gone to public school,
been deeply loved by her mother and grandmother. She’d had friends and lovers
and even fallen in love a few times. She had never told any of her lovers about
the stones, not until Oscar. Now Kane had them tucked in the pocket of his
swimming trunks and she felt no trepidation about him having them.

Cabo Wabo was an American bar, but it was made to look as if
it was an old Mexican villa. Inside, the walls were made of stone, as was the
long bar. Large columns held up the wood-framed ceilings. The rustic
construction gave the place an old-world feel.

An archway led to a second room where a band played loudly
as a crowd danced and cheered.

They found a table in the corner of the barroom and a buxom
waitress rushed over to take their order. Kane ordered two shots of tequila.
The girl turned to her. “I’ll have the same.”

Kane smiled.

“How do we get out of here?”

“Josh will send a plane for us at dawn.”

“Where will it take us?”

His eyes widened in surprise. “That’s up to you. Where is
your grandmother?”

She realized she trusted this bounty hunter more than she
had trusted anyone in years. He didn’t care about the stones. His only concern
was keeping her alive and doing right by his duty. She could understand that.
“She’s—”

He stopped her by squeezing her arm hard. “Close your mind,
Lena.”

She did as he said and followed his gaze to the sandy-blond
man walking toward their table. It was the man from the bar in Savannah. His
dull eyes remained focused on Kane and his thin lips were turned up in a grin.

He pulled a chair out from another table and straddled it
facing them as if they were old friends. “You’re not the easiest man to track
down, old friend.”

“That was the point, Shamus.”

Wade’s face turned down in a quick frown and then he
switched back to the fake grin again. “I’m going to take this woman in,
Lakeland. I don’t want you to get hurt, but it’s me or Banta and I think she’d
be better off with me, don’t you?”

Lena’s heart was pounding. She might have run, but Kane had
the stones. Even so, she thought of running. She could get the stones back
later.

“Who are you working for?” Kane asked.

“I can’t say.” Wade looked pleased that he had a secret, as
if he felt important for keeping something from Kane.

Kane studied him for a second. “Government? What does the
government want with her?”

Wade looked as if he’d lost his best friend. His eyes
narrowed and his mouth turned to a pout. Lena thought he looked ridiculous and
nearly laughed.

Kane shrugged and answered the question she assumed Wade was
thinking. “You never could close your mind off, old friend.”

Wade pounded his fist on the table, making Lena jump.

The waitress brought the tequila shots and the conversation
stopped. Kane paid the bill and Lena downed a shot before the waitress had
walked away. The fiery liquid burned down her throat and chest. She wanted to
down the other immediately, but didn’t think it was the right time to get
hammered. She was likely going to have to run soon.

Wade downed a shot. “I need this girl, Kane. If you don’t
give her over, I’m taking her.”

Kane drank a shot. “Now we both know that’s not going to
happen, Shamus.”

“Stop calling me that. I hate that name.”

Kane smiled and waited while Wade drank the last shot.

“The people who want her are real serious,” he said in a
loud whisper.

“Banta?”

Wade shook his head, looked around and signaled for the
waitress. He made a round motion toward the table.

The waitress came over with four more shots a minute later.
Kane paid the bill.

Wade took another shot and another. “Banta works for her
ex.” He pointed to Lena. “Ain’t that something? I mean, I don’t like my ex
none, but I wouldn’t be sending a freak like Banta out after her no matter what
she’d done.”

He drank down another shot.

Lena didn’t say anything. She watched with great interest as
Shamus Wade drank his fifth shot of tequila. He then turned to her and looked
between them. “You don’t got the hots for her, do you?” He rubbed his face.
“Kane, I thought you were better than this. This one is trouble from the
get-go.” He started to slur his words.

“I’m aware of that.” Kane gave her a smile.

A moment later, the last shot sat empty on the table. Kane
had already ordered four more shots and they arrived just in time. Wade drank
another two as if he were a chain smoker lighting his next smoke.

“Perhaps you should stop drinking those, Mr. Wade,” Lena
suggested.

Wade looked at her as if she was an alien. He picked up
another shot and had some trouble getting it to his mouth. His head lolled to
one side.

The punch was almost too quick for her to see. Kane popped
Wade in the side of the head and then caught him as he fell from the chair. He
then dragged the large man into the corner behind their table, drank down the
last shot of tequila and left a fifty on the table. “Time to go, Lena.” He
picked up his duffle and reached for her hand.

She took his hand. Warmth spread from his fingers. Her heart
rate had begun to return to normal as the bounty hunter got drunker and
drunker. Now it sped up again. Just holding hands with Kane was enough to
excite her.

A moment later, they were on the street again. “Where to?”
she asked.

“Unfortunately, we can’t go back to that nice room. It’s a
shame. I had big plans for that bed tonight.”

Her nipples tightened and she let down her mental wall. He
stopped in the street, turned and pulled her in for a fast, hard kiss. Moisture
pooled between her legs once again.
I’m running for my life and all I can
think about is fucking this man. I must have lost my mind.

He broke the kiss and gave her one of his heart-stopping
smiles. They walked quickly to the next block and hailed a cab.

* * * * *

The small, private airstrip had one hangar and it was
completely dark. The taxi driver seemed hesitant to leave them at the deserted
location, but Kane gave him a fifty-dollar tip and told him it was fine, he
knew the owner.

She stayed close behind him, moving along the building in
nearly total darkness. Only the half-moon lit their way. They reached a door at
the side of the metal building, Kane turned the knob and they were inside.

“I’m guessing you’ve been here before.” It was even darker
inside. Lena tried to make out the shadows of large objects. She guessed they
were airplanes.

“A few times. A friend of mine owns this place.” He found
her hand even in the darkness and tugged her through the maze of objects she
couldn’t quite make out.

Another door and he said, “Wait here a second.” His voice
was low and just next to her ear. She felt his breath on her lobe and her clit
pulsed with desire.

He moved away. She could hear his footsteps and then
something fell over before a small desk lamp revealed an interior office with a
desk, two folding chairs and a beat-up leather couch. Kane turned back toward
her. “It’s not quite what I had in mind, but it will be safe for the night.”

She stepped forward. “You don’t think Wade will find us
here?”

“He’ll be passed out for hours. He never could hold his
liquor. I used to tell him not to drink, but he can’t help himself once he gets
started.”

“I thought I was going to have to run.”

He nodded. “It was an option. If he hadn’t started drinking,
I would have given you a signal. I would have told you to get out.”

“What about your bounty?” She was mere inches away from him.
His body heat drew her closer still.

“I would have found you again.”

Her heart sank. He had called her a mark and that was all
she was to him. He wanted her, sure, but he didn’t care for her. She’d turned
her head, but he touched her cheek gently, turning her back to face him.

He slid his fingers through her hair. “I won’t let anyone
harm you, Lena. I agreed to bring you in, but it doesn’t mean I won’t protect
you or die trying.”

Dammit, why did things have to be so complicated?
He’d never met anyone like Lena before. He’d never wanted anyone as much and
sure as hell never had sex with a fugitive before. He always thought of them as
marks and nothing more. Lena was different. She made him feel things he had no
name for. Admittedly, his personal relationship skills were lacking, but he
could feel her disappointment when he told her he would still turn her over to the
authorities.

He tugged her hand and pulled her over to the couch. He
remembered staying in the office with Josh while they waited for extraction.
They had arm-wrestled to see who would sleep on the lumpy couch and who got the
hard desk. He’d lost that night. Tonight would be different. His chest
tightened with the idea of sleeping with Lena tucked into his arms. The thought
shocked him. It wasn’t just the sex he anticipated. Oh he wanted to fuck her.
There was no doubt about that. But he also wanted to wake up with her. A
thought that had never occurred to him with any other woman.

First, he had to explain. He pulled her down into his lap.
She didn’t fight him, but her earlier arousal had faded from her thoughts.

“I’ve been a recovery agent for almost fifteen years. I was
eighteen when I got my license. This is all I know how to do and I take it
really seriously. I have never missed a mark or a court date.”

“I wouldn’t want to spoil your perfect record.” Her voice
was hard and she tried to move off his lap.

He tightened his arms around her waist and kept her in
place. Her anger flooded his telepathic sense and he felt just the edge of hate
creeping in to her mind. Could he stand it if Lena hated him?
No!
The
answer was obvious. He pulled her around sharply, lifting her so she was
straddling his lap and facing him before pulling her close. He was vulnerable
in this position. She could scratch his eyes out and make a run for it, but
where would she go? He didn’t think she would run. She turned her head to one
side, refusing to meet his stare, and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Look at me, Lena,” he commanded.

She turned back sharply. There it was, hatred. He had to
take a deep breath to keep from reacting outwardly to the storm brewing within.

“I would be the happiest man in the world if we were just
two people who had met by chance and couldn’t keep our hands off each other. I
don’t know if the second vision is even possible for us, but I can tell you,
I’ve never even thought of having that kind of life. Now it’s all I can think
about. Seeing your belly round with my child safely growing within is the most
beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. Believe me when I tell you, I want it all and I
want it with you.”

Her anger subsided, but she didn’t give an inch physically.
Her arms remained covering those beautiful tits and her eyes stayed hard and
unyielding.

He continued, “The fact is, we didn’t meet that way. We met
because I was hired by the Boston courts to bring you back for trial. Tomorrow,
when the plane comes for us, I could bring you to Boston and turn you over. If
that’s what you want, then it’s what I’ll do. You know as well as I do, we will
never have any chance at a life together until your name is cleared.”

“What do you want?” she asked.

His gut clenched. “I want for the first vision the stones
gave us to be a mistake. I want you to live.”

“Even if it means I go to jail for a crime I didn’t commit?”

He had to look away from her face for a few seconds. The
idea of her behind bars where he couldn’t touch her was almost as unbearable as
the idea of her dead. Almost. “Yes, even if you are in prison. At least in
prison there is a chance.”

She reached her hand down between them. Her fingers grazed
the tip of his hard cock, but moved to the pocket, where she gripped the Stones
of Adeline through his trunks. “If these get into the wrong hands, none of it
will have mattered. My entire life will have been for nothing.” She released
them and put her hands on his shoulders. Her head was down. “Can I trust you,
Kane?”

“With your life.” His body was near to bursting with need,
but he resisted pulling her against his cock.

“What about my heart?” She touched her forehead to his.

He closed his eyes and let the warm feeling flow from her
mind into his. The niggling of hatred had disappeared and left something else
behind, something he had no idea how to name. “I wish I knew how to answer
that, Lena.”

He didn’t know what he’d expected to feel from her, but
understanding swelled in her thoughts. She kissed his cheek. “I’ll teach you,”
she said.

Kane’s body trembled with a mixture of excitement and fear.
He wanted to learn what it was she gave him so willingly, and at the same time,
the new emotions were terrifying.

Lena slid her ass forward and pressed her pussy against his
cock. Whatever else she had been feeling became overshadowed by desire and his
own need skyrocketed. He gripped her ass and turned her toward the couch before
laying her down and covering her body with his, her mouth with his mouth.
“Lena, I want you. I wish it was in the warm, soft bed back in the hotel, but I
would want you on a rock in the middle of the desert.” He spoke against her
lips and cheek. Then kissed her chin, jaw and up to her ear. His tongue swirled
around her lobe and sucked in the sensitive skin.

Her breath caught in her throat and she pressed her hips up,
rubbing her pussy against his shaft. “I want you too. I don’t care where. I’ve
been waiting for you to fuck me since the alley.”

He couldn’t take any more. He pushed her to one side and
leaped from the couch. She stared up at him, wide eyed. Reaching down, his
fingers found the button and zipper of her shorts and pulled them off her with
the bathing suit. She reached behind her neck and pulled the tie on her top. A
moment later she was completely naked on the old, beat-up couch. One of her
knees was pulled up and her pussy glistened in the low light of the desk lamp.

Kane practically tore his shirt off. He heard a button
clatter to the floor and roll away. He was more careful with his swimming trunks.
He felt the precious stones in the pocket, folded them inside and tucked the
shorts into his pack. When he turned back around, she was still watching him.
Her eyes smoldered with want and one hand had made its way between her legs.
Riveted to her fingers swirling around her clit, he watched as she excited
herself. His cock jumped and he moved closer, sitting on the edge of the couch
and gripping his length in one hand.

“God, Lena. You can’t know how hot that is. I could watch
you do that all day.”

Her fingers glistened with her own juices. She gave a smoky
laugh. “Why don’t you bring that over here and let me suck on it?”

He didn’t have to be asked twice. Immediately he moved to
the end of the couch where her head was. She sat up to get a better angle and
came to the edge of the cushion. Her fingers continued to rub her clit as she
moaned while pulling his cock into her mouth.

Warm, wet ecstasy surrounded him. His eyes closed and his
head fell back as she sucked him deep into her throat and swirled her tongue
around the swollen head. While her right hand was still busy, her left slid
between his legs and lightly caressed his balls. His knees nearly buckled. He
had to look.

Her wide hazel eyes gazed up at him. She slid her tongue
along the pulsing vein and sucked him deep before repeating the action on a
deep moan. She sucked harder and faster, his cock sliding in and out of her
incredible mouth while her fingers tickled the sensitive space between his
balls and his anus. Did she know what she was doing to him? From the look in
her eyes, he would guess she did.

He stepped back before he came sooner than he wanted. He
registered her disappointment, smiling as he dropped to his knees and kissed
the mouth that had given him so much pleasure. “When I come, I want to be
buried deep inside you, Lena.”

She gasped and her fingers rubbed harder. He dipped his head
and pulled one perfect nipple into his mouth, sucked on it and worried it with
his teeth. She moaned and bucked against her hand. He thought he might come just
watching her fingers bringing her pleasure. He kissed a path across her chest
and pulled her other nipple into his mouth, tugging the sensitive peak hard.
His name filled the room as she cried out.

Continuing to suck her tit, he slid his hand down, thrusting
two fingers inside her. She clutched her mound with her hand while her pussy
pulsed around his fingers. She screamed and he covered her mouth with his,
plunging his tongue inside and muffling her cries.

He waited until the orgasm had completely rolled over her,
nearly coming himself from the experience of her rapture. Sliding his fingers
from her body, he watched as she swiveled to one side and rested her head back.
Her legs were open and waiting for him. In one step, he was at the desk and
pulling a condom from his duffle. He had the foil pack opened before he’d
gotten back to the couch and rolled the rubber over his cock.

“I want you to fuck me, Kane. I want all of you.”

If she didn’t stop talking that way, he was going to
embarrass himself by coming without ever getting inside her.

He knelt between her legs and fell forward. Keeping his
weight on his arms, he slowly lowered. Her hand slid between them, guiding him
in as he slid forward. Her breath came in short gasps, followed by a deep moan,
which he echoed when he was completely buried in her warm pussy.

He moved slowly out of her and smiled at the tiny cry that
escaped her lips. “I love the noises you make.”

He stroked back inside her wet slit. She grunted deep in her
chest. It looked as if she wanted to say something, but only moans and gasps
came out as he moved faster. He pulled almost all the way out and thrust
forward. She screamed his name. He could listen to the sound for the rest of
his life. Her body welcomed him as if he was coming home.

Trying to hold back, he continued his slow, even movements.
He wanted to come so badly his balls ached, but he wanted her to come with him.
Her legs wrapped around his ass and pulled him in hard.

She cried out, “I’m coming, Kane.”

He let go and pumped into her hard and fast. His grunts
filled the room and mixed with her scream. He collapsed on top of her and her
arms wrapped around his back. Her fingers traced a path up and down his
shoulder blades.

He knew he was too heavy, and if he stayed as he was, he would
fall asleep and crush her. Reluctantly, he rose from the couch and went to the
door in the corner where there was a small bathroom to dispose of the condom.
He washed his hands and face and returned to the office.

“That’s the bathroom?” she asked.

“Yeah.” He pulled his jeans from the duffle and put them on
while she crossed to the bathroom.

She returned a few minutes later. The hair around her face
was damp. Lena sat on the couch and looked at him where he leaned against the
desk. She pulled on her shorts and he handed her a clean T-shirt to wear.

“Thanks.”

He watched with reluctance as she pulled the oversized white
cotton over her head and covered her beautiful body.

Kane joined her on the couch and lay down with his back
against the back cushion. She did the same with her back pressed against his
front. He wrapped one arm around her waist.

“My grandmother is in New Jersey.”

Amazingly, those six words changed everything. It was
dramatic the way his body relaxed and pulled her in closer. He hadn’t even realized
he wanted her trust until she gave it. The space between them closed and he
knew he was in deep trouble. He would never be able to get enough of Lena. He
would always want more. That was going to be a problem.

“Where in New Jersey is she?” His mouth was just above her
ear.

“A small town outside of Princeton.”

He thought a moment. “Princeton has a small airport, doesn’t
it?”

“I think so.”

“Good.” He kissed her ear. “Get some sleep, Lena. Our ride
will be here in a few hours.”

Her mind was a torrent of emotions. He kissed her temple and
settled her against his arm. Her eyes closed, but it was at least ten minutes
before she fell asleep. Her body relaxed into his. He didn’t know if he would
be able to sleep, but soon her even breathing lulled him and he slept.

* * * * *

He woke long before he heard the sound of the engine
circling the airstrip. Glad to have gotten a few hours of rest, he thought
waking with Lena tucked into his arms was reason enough to lose sleep. Her
every curve fit into the hard planes of his body perfectly. He had to
concentrate on not getting hard and waking her up. It wasn’t easy.

“Lena, wake up,” he whispered.

Her body arched as if she was a bow and his cock reacted as
if it was the arrow. She snuggled in closer and he groaned.

“Our ride is here. He’ll be landing in a few minutes.”

She opened those unusual eyes and looked up at him. A slow
smile lit her face. His heart hammered against his chest. The fact that her
sweet smile was for him nearly did him in.

A minute later, she sat up and stretched before going into
the bathroom.

Kane put on the shirt from the day before, but left it open.
She came back to the office in her shorts and his shirt tied in a knot at her
waist. Her hair was barely combed and she looked thoroughly delicious. “There’s
a brush in my pack. Help yourself.”

When he came out of the bathroom, she had brushed her hair
and pulled it back in a ponytail. He noticed a small red mark on her neck. He
hadn’t meant to mark her, but he felt some odd sense of ownership seeing it
there.
Neanderthal.

“Let’s go.”

She nodded and they walked back through the hangar to the
landing strip just as the small jet made a perfect landing and rolled to a stop
a hundred yards from them. As they approached, the door opened and the steps
folded down.