Sins of the Flesh (24 page)

The low-level heat she had been tolerating all day had been steadily growing until her head had begun to pound. Now the chills had started.

“I’m hot,” she admitted and tucked her arms tight around herself to contain the involuntary spasms of her body.

Mick’s hands tightened and relaxed on the steering wheel. “It’s about ten more minutes to the house. Can you hold on that long?”

Caterina’s head hurt so much that even the off–on of the passing streetlights was creating agony in her skull. Only ten minutes, she told herself.

“Only ten,” he repeated and she realized she had vocalized her last thoughts.

Another rough shudder slashed through her body, but she lied past her chattering teeth and said, “I can do it.”

She repeated those words silently to herself, trying to ignore the pain and the nearly uncontrollable tremors of her body.

Mick increased his speed, mindful of Caterina’s deteriorating condition, but drove within reasonable limits so as to avoid being pulled over. Finally he parked the Jeep in the garage and turned in the seat. “Cat, we’re home.”

She nodded, or at least he thought she did. She was shaking so violently that it made it impossible to know whether or not the motion had been in response to his question.

Mick sprang into action, exiting the Jeep and swinging around to her door. Opening it and reaching in to carry her from the car and into the kitchen where Liliana was making herself a cup of tea. At her questioning glance, he said, “Cat’s burning up again. I’m taking her to the pool.”

After closing the door to the garage and disarming the alarm before it could trip, Liliana followed Mick to the edge of the pool where she hovered nearby anxiously. He toed off his boots, ripped his cell phone from his belt, slipped his gun holster from the small of his back, and removed his ankle holster.

“Get some towels,” he instructed and walked with Caterina in his arms to the stairs at the far end of the pool. He carefully moved down the steps, the chill of the water seeping through his jeans as he descended into the pool.

Caterina was mumbling incoherently, something over and over again, when he finally entered the water with her.
An immense tremor racked her body at the contact with the cold water and her eyes flew open, bright orbs of blue made brighter by the reflection from the moonlit pool water. She grabbed hold of Mick’s shoulders and buried her face against his chest.

He tucked her close, laying his face next to hers. He could feel the heat burning up her body.

“How is she?” Liliana called out as she tossed some towels by the lip of the pool and crouched down to get a better look at them.

“It’ll take a little time to cool her down. I’m worried that the fever returned without another injection of the inhibitor drug.”

As Mick examined Liliana’s face, her similar concern was plainly evident.

“I’ll go get her room ready.” She rushed off, leaving him alone with Caterina.

Mick bent his knees, dipping down so that they were covered in the cool water up to their necks.

Caterina’s face bore a ruddy blush from the fever, but as he cradled her, the heat from her body slowly receded, as did the rosy flush. He brought his lips to her forehead, pleased that her body temperature was substantially lower.

“How are you feeling?” he murmured.

“Better,” she replied.

“Let’s get you dry and back to bed to rest. You probably overdid it tonight by coming with me.” Or at least, he hoped that was the reason for the return of the fever and not something else going on in her body.

At her nod, he carried her out of the water to the pool deck, released her legs so she could stand on her own.
She was wobbly, so he kept one arm around her. Together they bent and retrieved the towels, drying off their hair and faces. He wrapped a towel around her body to collect some of the water dripping off her clothes. Scooped up his cell phone and weapons, and then picked her back up and took her upstairs to the guest room.

Liliana waited there with yet more towels. On the nightstand by the bed she had set up a small bowl and washcloths. The bowl was filled with water and ice in the event the fever returned.

Mick walked to the edge of the bed and let Caterina slip to her feet again.

“I’ll help you get out of those wet things,” his sister said. He took that as a cue to leave and also as an opportunity to change into something dry himself.

In his room, he ripped off the sodden clothes, tossing them into the bathtub. Briskly rubbing a towel across himself to counteract the cold pool water, he dried off and eased into a T-shirt and sweats. Brushing his hair back with his fingers, he returned to the room where Liliana had managed to get Caterina out of her clothes and into bed.

Liliana was drawing another sample of blood, and when he walked in she explained, “I want to make sure there’s nothing new causing this fever.”

After the vacutainer was filled with phosphorescent green blood, Liliana efficiently removed the needle from Caterina’s arm and bandaged it. As she finished, Caterina reached out and grasped her hand.

“Thank you, Lil,” she said. Liliana returned the gesture, taking Caterina’s hand in a reassuring clasp.

“It’ll be okay, Cat. I promise,” his sister said.

Mick wished he could make the same pledge, but said nothing as Liliana walked toward him, the glowing blood sample in her hand. “I’m due back at the hospital in a couple of hours. I’m going to try and grab a nap before then.”

“I’m sorry I’ve made it so hard for you,” he said, but his sister surprised him by smiling.

“Not hard at all. You’ve given me a place to stay and a reason to believe in myself again. It gave me the strength to do the right thing.”

“Harrison?” he questioned and she confirmed it with a slight dip of her head.

“Harrison and Caterina. I know you’ll find the strength to do the right thing as well.” She rose up on tiptoe and brushed a sisterly kiss on his cheek before leaving the room.

The right thing
, Mick thought, closed the door and approached the bed where Caterina rested, her gaze locked on him as he neared.

Her skin had lost the flush of fever and returned to its creamy hue. Thick curly locks of her nearly black hair, heavy with moisture, rested against the side of her face.

She turned the deep blue of her gaze up to meet his. “No matter what happens at the end, you’ve done the right thing by me.”

At the end, he thought, unsure of anything other than the fact that this would all not end well for someone. Whether it was Edwards or Mad Dog or Caterina or even himself, someone would likely pay a high price at the conclusion of this assignment.

Mick sat on the edge of the recliner and cradled her cheek. Her skin bore a slight chill from the water and was smooth beneath the pad of his finger. So smooth and womanly.

Caterina covered his much larger hand with hers. His palm
was rough. Clearly the hand of a man who worked hard with his hands. A strong hand, she thought as she moved her hand past his wrist and to his forearm. The hair on his arm soft beneath her palm. His body muscled and lean until she reached the edge of the waterproof bandage on his forearm covering the wound he had received battling for her. Another scar to add to those on his body.

It had to be the fever that was making her remember just how that body had felt against hers when he had held her in the pool. How he had kissed her and she him, rousing passion that might be better left unexplored only…

“Would you hold me?” She needed the human contact. Needed the affirmation that she was still a woman. A desirable woman, unless she was misreading the signals he was giving off.

“If holding is all you want, I may not be your man,” Mick replied and dipped his thumb down to trace the edges of her lips.

“I want more. I want to feel alive again,” Caterina said.

She was using him, but it wouldn’t be the first time or the last that a woman had done so, Mick thought. Considering he found her damned attractive, weird genes and all, why not give in to the temptation and get it out of his system.

“Move over,” he said.

Caterina shifted to the center of the bed and he joined her there, lying on his side and facing her. Their bodies were only inches apart.

“Touch me,” she said and pulled away the sheet, exposing the fullness of her breasts with their soft tips.

He ran the pads of his fingers across the tip of one breast. Cupped the weight of it in his hand and rubbed his
thumb across the tip until her nipples beaded into stiff nubs. He needed to taste, he thought, and bent his head, licked the one tip while continuing to caress the other nipple with his hand.

She arched her back to give him easier access and cradled the back of his head. Moaned as he teethed the peak of one breast. He soothed that gentle nip with another lick and suckled at her breast while shifting one hand downward, across the flat expanse of her midsection. Past the delicate indent of her navel until his fingers gently brushed between her legs.

She moved closer and threw her thigh up over his, inviting him to her most private core.

Tardily he accepted that invitation, skimming his fingers across her center until the sensitive nub swelled and his fingers dipped lower.

Caterina gasped as he explored her dampness, gripping his shoulders as he eased in first one finger and then another, stretching her in preparation for his possession.

“Mick,” she keened, shifting her hips against his hand. Holding his head to her, but wanting to feel the warmth of his body beside her.

He slipped slightly away and she reached for the hem of his shirt. Pulled it over his head while he skimmed the sweatpants down his body, revealing the nakedness beneath the fleece.

She laid her hands on his shoulders once more and took a moment to enjoy all of him that was visible. The articulated and defined muscles of his body. The scars and bruises that spoke of a man familiar with danger and accustomed to violence.

But there was nothing violent about the way he touched her.
About the gentleness of his mouth and hands as he resumed his loving.

She once again granted him access and he used it to full advantage, rousing her passion much as she urged him on, using her hands to stroke him. Playing him much as she might a sonata, each measured beat and pull of her hands giving him pleasure until he, too, was trembling and breathing roughly.

“I can’t wait anymore, Cat,” he said, rolling her beneath him. His arms braced on either side of her body as he slipped between her legs, but paused before entering her.

“I can’t, either, Mick,” she replied and dropped one hand so she could encircle him and guide him into her center.

He sucked in a shaky breath as she gasped at his entry, held still as her body accommodated to his size. Thick in girth and perfect in length, he filled her completely.

She was the first to move, raising her knees to grasp his hips. The motion driving him even deeper within.

He met her gaze then, his eyes almost black with desire. A flush across the high cheekbones inherited from some long-ago Aztec descendant. Full lips she wanted to savor.

She cradled the straight, strong line of his jaw and brought her lips to his. Eased her tongue past the seam of his mouth to mimic the motion of their bodies. Her tongue darting against his much like he was drawing her ever closer to release with the pumping of his hips.

His movements grew more hurried and she urged him on with soft cries of pleasure she whispered against his lips, until something suddenly coalesced in the center of her.

The energy gathered into a ball and then exploded throughout her body, pulling him into her and caressing him as her climax overtook her body.

Mick exhaled roughly against her mouth as her soft cry of completion came against his lips and the muscles of her body milked him, pulling and tightening on him as his own release erupted in his body.

He managed to drive into her a few more times, prolonging her climax, but then he dropped down onto her, drained. His body heavy against hers, but she wrapped her arms around him and urged, “Don’t leave me yet.”

Yet
, he realized, glad that she understood the limits of what they had just experienced, but saddened by that as well.

He allowed himself to bask in the pleasure of her soft skin beneath him, and the heat and wet of her center as her body caressed him while he slowly softened within her.

The temperature of her body remained warm, a little more than normal. Thankfully nothing like it had been earlier in the night.

Guilt rose up on so many levels, but he ruthlessly drove it back, justifying what had just happened with one simple truth.

They had both wanted it to happen.

The question was, now that it had, where did they go from here?

M
ad Dog hadn’t worried about circumventing the security system guarding Mick’s office/apartment.

He wanted Mick to know he was on his trail.

Shitty digs, he thought, walking around the one-room office before heading up a back staircase to the loft apartment overlooking part of the U Penn campus and the railway yards for 30th Street Station.