Rx Missing (Decorah Security Series, Book #10): A Paranormal Romantic Suspense Novel (23 page)

Raising her face to meet his gaze again, she unbuttoned his jeans and lowered the zipper enough to reach inside, taking his erection in her hand.

“You are so hot and hard for me.”

“And all too ready.” He looked back toward the couch, thinking it wasn’t all that comfortable. Instead, he lifted her in his arms and carried her to the counter where he set her down near the edge and opened her legs. Standing between them, he kissed her breasts.

Catching her breath, she leaned back, bracing herself on her hands as he swirled his tongue around one distended nipple before sucking it into his mouth.

He took a step back, his chest tightening as he took in the passion on her face.

Then he bent and pulled her toward the edge of the counter, giving himself access to the most intimate part of her. He kissed her there, using his lips and tongue to caress her, loving the way her small sounds of pleasure told him how much she liked what he was doing.

“You’re going to make me come,” she gasped.

“That’s the idea.”

“Please. I want you in me.”

He wanted that too, and he plunged into her, holding her on the counter as he stroked in and out of her, trying to wait for her as his need climbed.

Moments later, she cried out, and he followed her into the whirlwind. Afterwards, they clung together, both of them breathing hard.

He held her for satisfied moments before easing out of her. Picking her up, he carried her to the couch, where he lay back, covered them both, and cradled her in his arms.

She clasped him to her and rested her head on his shoulder.

“We’re good together,” she murmured.

“And we’ve got a head start on working out our relationship. Nothing like fighting monsters to find out what someone’s made of.”

“No more monsters.”

“Except maybe in a video game.”

They drifted comfortably in the afterglow of lovemaking. “I knew you were a good man before we ever spoke. And when I met you in the VR, I knew how right I was about you. It was so hard to think I’d never have you for real.”

“And it made things worse for you not being able to tell me the truth.”

“Yes,” she whispered. He felt her swallow. “When you told me you were coming back here, I was so scared. I’d gotten to know you, and I was terrified you were going to end your life.”

“It worked out okay.”

“Thank God.”

She stayed where she was for another few minutes, but he could tell she was thinking about easing away.

“What?”

She sat up and reached for the underwear she’d discarded.

“I’ve got to check on the patients and make sure everything’s going okay. And Landon wants me to have a look at the new stuff he’s working on. He’s feeling a little shaky after his run-in with Preston.”

“I’m sure.” He stood and began finding his own clothing. “How long are you going to be?”

“A couple of hours.”

“I’d like to meet the staff.”

“Yes. Good idea. Frank knows some excellent specialists.”

“Probably he kept up his contacts with the Naval Medical Center.”

She nodded, and the look on her face told him she was thinking about something more.

“What?”

“Frank. . .” She lifted one shoulder. “He seems to know a lot about virtual reality.”

“From reading?”

“I don’t think so. The way he talks, it makes me think he’s been there.”

“To Hamilton’s VR?”

“Somewhere else.”

“You could ask him.”

“I think he’d avoid answering the question.”

“Grant always said he hid his life outside work.”

“I’d like to know about it. But I think I’ll wait until he wants to say something.

Mack nodded, thinking he’d like to know, too. But he’d use Grant as his guide on all things Decorah.

Through the open bathroom door, he could see Lily finger combing her hair before she turned back to him.

“How do I look?”

“Beautiful.”

She flushed. “I mean do I look like I’ve been making love?”

“Yeah.”

Her flush deepened.

“Get used to it. You’re going to be doing it a lot. And after you finish with the new staff and the patients, we can go find that hotel room.”

Epilogue

Three weeks later.

Mack paused at the top of the broad staircase to the lobby level of the Mirador Hotel, thinking that Lily had made some good changes here—starting with having all the patients get together for an orientation meeting.

Well, all the adult patients. His eyes focused on Lily and the little girl who was sitting at a low table cutting out dresses for a paper doll.

When Shelly saw him standing on the upper level, she waved. Lily did the same, smiling as he joined them in the opulent space.

Shelly held up the dress she’d just cut out. “Should she wear this one, or should I do another?”

“Why don’t you cut out another one, and we can see which looks best,” he said, pleased that he was getting the hang of interacting with the little girl. “And while you do, I’m going to steal Lily away for a little while.”

“Okay,” Shelly agreed, returning to her paper and scissors.

When Lily got up, an attractive young woman glided over to the table. It was the robot nanny Lily had asked for to watch over Shelly when she couldn’t be with her. The brunette, who looked like a woman in her early twenties, was still a little wooden in her speech, but Landon was working on making her more realistic.

Shelly had named her Tinkerbell, straight out of her love for all things Disney.

Mack reached for Lily’s hand and knitted his fingers with hers as they watched the girl and her nanny interacting for a few moments. Then they turned and walked down the covered walkway toward the bar.

“Shelly’s adjusting nicely,” Mack said. “And she likes Tink.”

“Yes, the perfect companion. It was wonderful that I could move her over here.” She paused, and he heard a catch in her voice. “But it’s sad to think my sister’s never going to grow up.”

“Is perpetual childhood so bad? Didn’t you love being a kid? And things got a lot more complicated when you grew up.”

She thought for a moment. “Yes I did like my first decade. And the VR is certainly a million times better for Shelly than the existence she was living.”

They rounded the corner and headed for the lawn where Paula Rendell was sitting at an easel painting a picture of a beautiful young woman dressed in a sari. She was one of the hotel staffers that Landon had also added to the VR to give the place a more authentic appeal. At this point they were still a little stilted, like Tinkerbell, but the designer was working on them, too.

“Nice,” Mack said as studied the painting.

“I never had time to indulge my hobbies,” Paula answered. She looked at Lily. “I’m grateful to be here.”

“And we’re glad to have you,” Lily replied.

“And thanks for letting me talk to Landon.”

“It gives him a better idea of what you need when he can hear it from you,” Lily answered, then slid Mack a quick look. They, Grant and Frank Decorah had talked at length about the residents of the VR. Some, like Paula, Shelly and Ben Todd were approved as permanent residents. Others, like Chris Morgan, were here, pending an investigation of their backgrounds. And Grant was still trying to get Jenny Seville to open up with him. They knew she had suffered some trauma, not just physically, but she was still afraid to say what it was.

Their outside investigations had led to a dead end. Apparently Jenny had turned up in the Union Memorial Emergency Room with no I.D. and no clue about her identity. The hospital staff had been happy to turn her over to Dr. Hamilton when he’d volunteered to take her off their hands. Had she hidden her identity? Or had someone else done it for her? Grant was still working on that.

After inspecting the swing set and play fort Landon had set up on the lawn, Mack and Lily headed back to the hotel. They were only spending a few hours in the VR this time because they both had a lot of work to do on the outside.

Mack and Grant were both working for Frank Decorah, not just as security for the VR. They were also taking some other jobs where they could use the telepathic powers that were growing stronger every day.

And Mack and Lily had found a nice apartment only ten minutes from the Decorah offices and the new Partners Lab, the name Lily had suggested for the facility.

Mack Bradley was still dead, as far as the world was concerned. And Frank Decorah had helped him work up a new identity, Maxwell Bailey, who had been born on Maryland’s Eastern Shore and moved with his family around the mid-Atlantic area, so that he didn’t have a long history in any one place.

Inside, they stopped to talk to Shelly, then headed upstairs to the room they now shared, where they could both use the gateway to the lab.

“See you in a little while,” he said to Lily as he gave her a quick hug before watching her step inside what he still thought of as a “transporter.”

He’d join her soon, in the new life he never could have imagined back in his Navy pilot days
.

THE END

Thank you for purchasing Rx MISSING, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I loved writing it.

If you enjoy my books, do me a huge favor. Please go back to www.amazon.com, and leave an honest review. Authors live and die by their reviews. The few extra seconds it takes are really appreciated. Thank you!

oOo

If you enjoyed Rx MISSING, you might also like to read other Light Street Press books by Rebecca York:

Book 1. To purchase
On Edge
(a Decorah Security prequel novella) simply
click here
.

Book 2. To purchase
Dark Moon
(a novel) simply
click here
.

Book 3. To purchase
Chained
(a novella) simply
click here
.

Book 4. To purchase
Ambushed
(a short story) simply
click here
.

Book 5. To purchase
Dark Powers
(a novel) simply
click here
.

Book 6. To purchase
Hot and Dangerous
(a short story) simply
click here
.

Book 7. To purchase
At Risk
(a novel) simply
click here
.

Book 8. To purchase
Christmas Captive
(a novella) simply
click here
.

Book 9. To purchase
Destination Wedding
(a novella) simply
click here
.

To purchase the
Decorah Security Collection
(an anthology including Ambushed, Hot and Dangerous, Chained, and Dark Powers) simply
click here
.

Book 1. To purchase
Nightfall
(an off-world series novella) simply
click here

Book 2. To purchase
Hero's Welcome
(an off-world series short story) simply
click here
.

Book 3. To purchase
Conquest
(an off-world series short story) simply
click here
.

Book 4. To purchase
Assignment Danger
(an off-world novella) simply
click here
.

Book 5. To purchase
Christmas Home
(an off-world short story) simply
click here
.

To purchase the
Off-World Collection
(an anthology of Nightfall, Hero’s Welcome, and Conquest)
click here
.

Return to Main Menu

Rebecca York delivers page-turning suspense.

—Nora Roberts

Rebecca York never fails to deliver. Her strong characterizations, imaginative plots and sensuous love scenes have made fans of thousands of romance, romantic suspense and thriller readers.

—Chassie West

Rebecca York will thrill you with romance, kill you with danger and chill you with the supernatural.

—Patricia Rosemoor

(Rebecca York) is a real luminary of contemporary series romance

—Michael Dirda, The Washington Post Book World

Rebecca York’s writing is fast-paced, suspenseful, and loaded with tension.

—Jayne Ann Krentz