Rekindled (Titanium Security Series) (20 page)

Quickly shucking them off, he knelt beside her near her feet. Her gaze swept over the length of his naked body with such hunger that he nearly shuddered at the need pounding through him. Alex grasped her wrist and lifted her hand from his body. He brought it to his mouth to kiss and lick the center of her palm, and their eyes locked. Holding her gaze, he reached down with his free hand and tugged the belt of her robe free, then pulled the edges apart. His cock jerked at the sight of her naked body revealed fully to him, all those gorgeous full curves he couldn’t get enough of, those pretty pink nipples standing up and demanding his attention.

He took her mouth again, gliding his tongue against hers as she slid her hand down his body to his cock. She wrapped her slender fingers around his straining length and squeezed, pulling a tortured moan out of him. Her touch felt so damn good, even better than he remembered.

She lightened the pressure slightly to glide up and down the rigid flesh. He let her stroke him a few times as he explored her silky soft skin, pausing to tweak her sensitive nipples and earning tiny mewls of pleasure in return. But when he went to pull her hand away from his throbbing length she moaned in protest and shook her head, then sat up to push insistently against his shoulder. Alex straightened but she followed, her mouth seeking his and he gave her another deep, hungry kiss as she got to her knees and pressed both hands to his chest in a clear request.

Obliging her, he eased back into a reclining position and stretched out as his heart tried to pound its way out of his chest at the blatant need in her eyes. Stroking her hair with one hand, he ran the other up and down her spine as she trailed kisses and caresses over his chest and belly, down to his pulsing cock. He sucked in a breath as her grip firmed. The molten heat in her gaze as she looked up at him had his pulse tripping, and then her tongue stole out to lick the underside of the swollen head.

Inhaling roughly, he held back a growl as pure pleasure shot up his spine. His fingers flexed in her hair, pulling slightly, and her gaze filled with longing. Those thick lashes fluttered down against her cheeks and then he felt the incredible heat as her soft pink lips closed around the head of his cock. At that first sensuous pull of her mouth he let out a deep rumble of enjoyment and rubbed his fingertips against her scalp.

Grace seemed to melt at the caress, her body relaxing as she sucked at him and swirled her tongue around his most sensitive spot. She did it slowly, like she was savoring him and never wanted to stop. So fucking hot. Alex focused on her face as he allowed her to pleasure him for a few minutes, but knew he couldn’t take much more without coming in that hot little mouth. He was too primed, he’d wanted this too long and he didn’t want to come until he was buried deep inside her and she was shuddering, crying out in release.

But God, her mouth was so sweet, the glide of her tongue so perfect that he had to stop her. He tightened his fingers in her hair until she looked up at him, then reluctantly allowed him to draw her away. As it pulled free of her lips, his cock stood straight up against his belly, shiny and swollen from her mouth. Before she could protest, he pulled the robe off her shoulders and rolled her under him. He loved feeling her beneath him like this.

He settled between the cradle of her thighs and caught her wrists to pin them over her head as she wrapped her legs around him. Grace shivered and licked her lips as she stared up at him, her gaze heavy with anticipation as she relaxed, giving him that first taste of surrender. This was part of it, the trust she yielded to allow herself to be vulnerable with him.

Transferring both wrists into one hand, he used the other to trail down her neck to find her nipples. He played with them gently while he nipped and licked his way down her throat. Cupping one luscious breast, he took the hardened center into his mouth. She moaned and twisted in his grip but he didn’t let up, and he caught the flare of desire in her eyes at the feel of being restrained. He got off on giving her this, the freedom to simply feel as she surrendered her body to him.

He switched to the other breast and treated it to the same attention, teasing the nipple with his lips and tongue as he slid his hand down to her smooth thigh, back up the inside. He shifted his hips just enough to graze his fingers across her folds and found her wet and ready for him. Grace moaned and set one foot on the bed, lifted her hips in a silent plea for more. Alex gave her what she wanted, sliding two fingers into her, stroking with firm pressure before withdrawing to spread the wetness up and over her swollen clit.

“Alex,” she cried, tightening her leg around his hip, her body arching under him.

God he loved hearing his name on her lips. “Want you so much,” he whispered against her breast.

“Don’t tease me,” she pleaded, moving against him in a desperate undulation.

Sliding his fingers deep inside her, he savored the way her eyes squeezed shut and her body trembled. “Want me to use a condom?”

Her lids lifted to reveal eyes heavy with desire. “Not unless we need one,” she managed hoarsely.

“I’m clean.”

“Then no. I just want to feel you inside—”

Alex smothered the rest of what she was going to say with a deep, hungry kiss. He pumped his fingers inside her, slid them out to circle the fragile bud at the top of her sex. Grace hissed and twisted upward but he held her firm, using her accelerated breaths and gasps to gauge how close she was to coming. He waited until her breath hitched and a soft, helpless moan spilled from her lips before pulling his hand free. He quickly knelt between her thighs, still holding her wrists prisoner.

She watched him through heavy-lidded eyes as he lifted the leg curled around his hip and pressed her knee back toward her shoulder, exposing the flushed folds of her sex to his famished gaze. She was open, wet and ready for him and more than anything he wanted to plunge into her, balls deep, and stay there until they both exploded.

Fighting for control, Alex released her leg to take himself in hand and settle the head of his cock at her entrance. Grace stayed still beneath him, her body tense with anticipation. Holding her gaze, he kept a solid grip on her wrists as he slowly slid into her, inch by inch, not stopping until he was buried to the hilt. He dipped his head to swallow her cry, absorbed the shudder that ripped through her and moaned into her mouth as the pleasure tightened every muscle in his body. She was so tight around him, so hot and wet he didn’t think he could take it. He stayed completely still, locked deep inside her as he fought back the tide of orgasm rushing at him.

Only when he was sure he had control did he lift his head to watch her face and begin to move. He eased his hips back and thrust forward, angling himself to rub against her clit at the end of each stroke. Grace made a soft, helpless sound of pleasure and closed her eyes, turning her face away.

“No. Look at me.”

At the tight command she opened her eyes and focused on him. Stretched out and pinned in place like this, there was nowhere for her to go but straight into the pleasure he was giving. He watched the acknowledgement of that vulnerability register in her gaze, growled in response as he continued to pump in and out of her. Grace’s eyes revealed everything, a dozen emotions flitting across her face as he watched. Need, longing, grief. He needed to unlock them all, break through that last protective barrier that shielded her heart. He wanted everything. For her to be his forever, to marry her and wake up beside her every day.

He rocked his hips forward again. She pulled in a shaky breath and blinked as a sheen of tears gathered in her eyes. Sensation threatened to obliterate everything but he couldn’t let go until he made Grace surrender completely. Instinct told him he was close to breaking through that last barrier but she was still afraid to let go completely. He continued to glide in and out in a firm, steady rhythm, never allowing her to retreat.

She blinked faster, bit her lip as she stared up at him, and he knew this was it.

The final wall between them. He was going to obliterate it, wedge himself good and tight into the deepest corners of her heart and bind them together so tightly she’d never doubt him again.

He thrust again, felt the telltale tingles gathering at the base of his spine as she tightened around his cock. Wide open, at her most vulnerable in that moment just before she gave him everything. Her tiny whimper of distress shredded him. He bent to kiss the corner of her mouth, her cheek, murmured to her. “Let it go, angel.”

There was no place for her to hide. She trembled beneath him as he drove her higher, higher until the pleasure was near agony and the tears escaped her tightly clenched eyelids to roll down her temples and into her hair. He kissed them away, murmured soft reassurances as he made love to her. He felt the first tremor rip through her, felt her inner muscles clench around him and reached between their bodies to caress her straining clit.

Grace sobbed out his name and shattered with a high, breathless cry, started to come as the tears spilled free in a cleansing rush.

Yes
.

Burying his face between her neck and shoulder, Alex released her wrists and knee and slid his arms beneath her. She wound around him immediately, clinging through the last of her orgasm as the tears came. He focused on the feel of her holding him so tightly, as though she never wanted to let him go. He was more connected to her in this moment than he’d ever been before.

Squeezing his eyes shut, he tried to hold onto the moment, make it last, but the pleasure was too much. He drove in harder, deeper now, and she welcomed him with her sweet, fierce embrace. She dug her hands into his back, her heels into his ass and squeezed him for all she was worth.

Alex let out a ragged groan and thrust faster, giving free rein to the hunger driving him. His cock swelled even more as the pleasure expanded until it exploded in a fiery burst of heat. He moaned against her neck, wondered if maybe he was dying as he emptied himself into her. The waves tore through him as she cradled him close, enveloping him with her softness. When they faded at last he couldn’t bring himself to move. Still buried deep inside her clinging warmth, he never wanted to leave. He lay in her arms as his heart rate normalized, basking in the feel of her surrounding him and knew this was as close to heaven as he could get.

Grace’s tears had quieted, the shudders in her chest reduced to tiny ripples now. She sighed and finally relaxed her grip on him to smooth her hands up and down his back, over his hair. Alex all but purred at her tenderness. “You’d better come back to me when this is all done,” she whispered, and this time he knew it was concern for his safety that drove her to say it, not uncertainty about his feelings for her.

He lifted his head to look at her, slid his arm from beneath her to gently wipe away the tear tracks on her temples. His heart was so full he couldn’t keep the words back anymore. “I love you. I’ll do any damn thing it takes to come back to you.”

Surprise flashed in her eyes, followed by delight, then a tremulous smile curved her mouth. “You mean that.” Not a question.

He smiled in victory. “Yeah.”

She stroked a finger down the side of his face, her expression reverent, impossibly tender. “I love you back. So much I think I’d die if anything happened to you. So you’d better come back to me.”

“I will.” He’d already broken his vow to her once; he’d never do it again. “I promise.” He sealed it with a long kiss before forcing himself to get up and leave her warmth.

Grace folded her hands in her lap to quell the urge to fidget as Blake made the final turn that would take them to the hotel. She wasn’t worried about her security, not with Blake and Jordyn accompanying her until they handed her over to the UN security staff. And besides, Alex had changed the meeting time and place to this new location as an added measure. No, the nerves buzzing in the pit of her stomach had everything to do with her upcoming performance at the negotiating table.

If all went well and they got the Syrians to sign the deal, this meeting could potentially cement her reputation in political and academic circles around the world as one of the best in the business. She’d worked so hard for this, believed the world needed to end the manufacture and use of chemical weapons. This was a major step in the right direction.

Blake turned into the parking lot and pulled over rather than driving to the front entrance.

“What the hell’s that?” Jordyn said.

Drawn out of her thoughts by the concern in the other woman’s tone, Grace shifted over to peer between the front seats. Then she understood. Outside the front entrance of the luxury hotel a large crowd had gathered. A whole host of media crews with cameras rolling, filming footage of protesters holding signs that read Stop Chemical Weapons Now. Grace’s eyes widened.

“How the hell did they find out about the meeting?” Jordyn muttered.

“Dunno, but we’re not taking her through that circus,” Blake said firmly. He turned the vehicle sharply to the left and headed around the back to get a look at what the situation was there. A few news crews had staked out the back exits too, but a contingent of Pakistani police had already formed a protective perimeter there and seemed to be moving their way around the building.

“Let me call David and find out what’s going on,” Grace offered as she fished out her phone. He was already setting up for the meeting; maybe he knew a secret route for them.

“No, I’ll talk to your head of security,” Blake told her and got on the hand-held radio to whoever he’d contacted in the hotel. “The media’s camping out at all the entrances. What’s the story inside?”

“Situation’s contained and there’s no time to change the venue now. Bring Dr. Fallon around to exit foxtrot and I’ll meet you there,” a man replied in a crisp British accent.

“Roger that. Stand by.” Blake clipped the radio to his belt and turned to Jordyn. “I’m gonna head around front and see what the status is in the lobby, then check out the fourth floor before we let her out.” He swung his gaze to Grace. “Just sit tight for a few minutes.”