Slow Burn (28 page)

He tugged at my pants. “Off.” He pushed me backwards, so that I lay down, and he looked down on me.

I wriggled out of my pants, kicking them off the bed.

He lay down over me, and we were completely naked against each other for the second time ever. I moaned, relishing the sensation of skin against skin. Fiery desires worked their way through my body. I wrapped my legs around him.

He was pressing against my stomach, dragging the length of his hardness over the softness of my belly.

“Are you okay?” I asked him.

He raised hooded eyes to mine. “I’m okay. Better than okay. Is this bothering you?”

I shook my head. Maybe I had been wrong earlier. Maybe it wasn’t better for me to take care of him. Maybe he needed to take the initiative. Maybe if things were in his hands, he’d feel more in control, not as if he were being forced or hurt. “Nothing you do bothers me.”

He buried his face in my neck, trailing a scalding line of kisses over my skin. I felt ablaze everywhere his skin touched mine, as if the two of us were catching fire. I clung to him, readjusting my legs so that I pulled him even tighter against me there.

He thrust again, but his thrust went lower than my belly. I was squirming under him, and I guess I was hard to pin down. He brushed me between my legs.

Sizzling thrills of pleasure went through me. I moaned, and I twisted my body, wanting him to rub me there again.

He did. I felt him slick and rigid, sliding over my sensitive skin.

And with his next thrust, he plunged inside of me.

We both cried out. Neither of us had quite expected it, I don’t think. He hadn’t planned it. I hadn’t been thinking of anything other than the fact he felt good.

He didn’t move for a minute. He rose up over me.

I gasped. He was filling me up, completing me, and it felt wonderful.

Our eyes met. He swallowed. I touched his face.

He kissed me. And he moved inside me, easing into rhythmic thrusts.

I sighed. His strokes were making something deep inside me smolder. Something exquisite and blissful was building.

He was still kissing me. His lips fluttered over my eyebrow, my cheekbone, my forehead. “Doll.” His voice was ragged. “You feel...”

“You feel amazing,” I said.

“I love you,” he heaved.

I undulated beneath him, joining his rhythm. “I love you.”

Later, we lay together, our bodies sweaty and spent. Griffin ran his fingers lazily over my arm and shoulder. My back was to his front—we were spooning.

“I didn’t think I could do that,” he said.

“You were actually very good at that,” I said. I liked the different way our voices sounded now—relaxed and lazy and dreamy. Every bit of fear or discomfort or shyness had been swept away.

He nuzzled the back of my neck. “It’s because of you, doll. Thank you.”

Why was he thanking me? “I didn’t do anything. I mean, it was an accident. We just ended up... you know.”

“Mmm,” he said. “A very nice accident.”

I snuggled into him, sighing. Content.

Neither of us spoke again for a while. There was nothing but the sound of our breathing, and we drew breath together, in the same rhythm. We would fall asleep now. And I’d wake up in his arms. We were connected now, bonded. I felt it, the invisible ties between us. I’d never felt something so strong before. Of course, I didn’t think I’d ever slept with someone for the first time after I was in love with him. And I hadn’t ever loved anyone quite the way I loved Griffin. It was intense and bright hot, like a raging fire. It consumed me.

Then I realized something. I tensed. “Shit.”

“What?” said Griffin. “What’s wrong?”

I twisted in his arms. “We didn’t use a condom. And I didn’t even think about it.”

“So what?” said Griffin, kissing my forehead.

“So what?” I said. “So what? So... what if one of us has AIDs? Or syphilis? Or herpes? I mean, thank God I’m on birth control, so we don’t have to worry about that, but—”

“Doll, calm down.”

I sat up. “I can’t. I mean, I could have AIDs. I could have just killed you.”

He laughed. “Leigh. You were injected with the serum, and I was too.”

Oh. He was right. “The serum cures AIDs?”

“It cures everything,” he said.

“Even herpes, which isn’t life threatening?”

“Lie down.” He tugged me back against him. “You are the most beautiful, wonderful, amazing thing that ever happened to me, and all I want to do in this moment is keep you close.”

I took a deep breath. “So, I’m like impervious to STDs.”

“Stop talking about STDs. It’s unromantic.”

“Sorry,” I said.

“You’re fine,” he murmured, his voice a low rumble. “I won’t let anything happen to you.” His strong arms wrapped around me, and I did feel safe. I closed my eyes, snug and surrounded by Griffin.

“No way,” Griffin was saying from Knox’s hotel room. Their voices drifted through the open adjoining door.

“Look,” said Knox. “If you weren’t so busy making the springs squeak over there, maybe you’d be thinking clearly. We have to go into Op Wraith. Neither Caldwell nor French leave often enough for us to be able to make a hit on them otherwise.”

“I’m thinking clearly,” said Griffin. “And how is what’s going on in my bed any of your business?”

“Walls are thin, bro.”

I hid my face in a pillow.
That
was embarrassing. I didn’t like the fact that they were essentially arguing over me in the next room, and I could hear everything they said.

“Since when am I your bro?”

“Yeah, since never,” said Knox. “I don’t want to be around you anymore than you want to be around me. All I want is to kill French and Caldwell, and then we can part ways and never see each other again.”

“Fine. You and me. We go into Op Wraith.”

“That’s not going to work, and you know it. The only way it works is if I show up with Leigh. She was my mission. I was supposed to bring her in alive. I can pretend to have gotten confused and bring you both in alive.”

“Bring her in alive? What?” Griffin sounded confused. And I had to admit, I was convinced they were trying to kill me, not capture me.

“Those were the orders,” said Knox.

“Why didn’t they want to kill her?”

“I don’t know,” said Knox. “They didn’t tell me.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Maybe they want to question her before they kill her. Find out if she told anyone about the serum.”

“Maybe,” said Griffin. “But I’m not taking her in there. Once she’s inside, we’d all be separated, and I couldn’t keep track of her. I can’t let anything happen to her.”

I went to the open door. I cleared my throat.

Griffin was standing. Knox was sitting on his bed. They both turned to look at me.

“Is it true that this is the only way to kill Caldwell and French?”

“Yes,” said Knox.

“No,” said Griffin.

“Knox, you’ve been gone for a long time,” I said. “Will they believe that you’re still working for them?”

Knox folded his arms over his chest. “I’ll say Griffin was torturing me, which is the truth, and that I finally got free.”

“Then what?” said Griffin. “They’ll kill both Leigh and me. Maybe they’ll kill you too.”

Knox spread his hands. “Well, we have to get to them before they get to us.”

“How are we going to do that?” said Griffin.

“I don’t know yet,” said Knox.

Griffin shook his head. “Too dangerous.”

“You got a better idea?”

Griffin didn’t say anything.

“You said they’d want to question me,” I said. “They wouldn’t kill me right away, right? What if I could get free somehow?”

“Look,” said Knox. “There’s two targets, and there’s two of us. If Leigh can get herself to safety, then all you’ve got to worry about is killing one person. Say you take Caldwell, and I’ll take French.”

Griffin massaged the bridge of his nose. “I don’t like this.” He looked at me. “How the heck are you going to get free?”

“You kept my pack, right?” said Knox. “I’ve got some of the schlafend capsules in there.”

Griffin sighed heavily. “Maybe. Maybe it could work.”

“Let’s go over this again,” said Griffin. He sat across the room from me at the hotel room’s desk.

“Do we have to?” I said. I was sitting on the bed, wearing one of Griffin’s t-shirts. It was late, and, in my opinion, it was time for us to be under the covers with the lights out.

“Yes,” said Griffin. “You keep getting things wrong.”

“I’m trying,” I whined. “Maybe I’m distracted. I mean, there you are, sitting over there, all gorgeous and touchable, and I can’t think about anything else. I think if you came over here and helped me get that out of my system, maybe then I’d be able to concentrate on going over plans.”

He looked me over. “Tempting, doll. Very tempting.” He raised a finger. “But this is important. You have to get this right. It could cost both of us our lives.”

I got up on my knees. “Come on, Griffin, when have I ever been good with not doing fun stuff just because it could endanger my life? You remember when you first met me, and everything I did for coke? Well, I am about twenty zillion times more addicted to your body.”

He smiled, shaking his head. “No. Not until we go over this a few more times.”

I began to lift the t-shirt, slowly uncovering my thighs, then the bottom of my underwear.

He got up and was across the room in a flash, stopping my hands. “Wait.”

I grinned. I had him close. I kissed his nose.

He pushed me down on the bed, pinning my legs with his legs, holding my arms over my head. He shook his head. His voice had gotten raspy. “Doll, behave yourself.”

“Make me,” I said.

“What do you do when we first get inside?” he said.

I struggled against his hands. “Run.”

“No.” He lowered his face close to mine. “Try harder.”

“I’ll be taken away by someone who’ll want to ask me questions,” I said. “You’re giving me a capsule that will knock someone out. I crush it between my fingers and cover their mouth with it. They’ll be out in minutes.” I couldn’t remember what the capsules were called. Knox had said it, but it was hard to pronounce.

He raised his eyebrows. “Oh. Very good. You get a reward.” He lowered his lips to mine and assaulted my mouth, wrenching a low moan from the back of my throat. He pulled away, even though I was still straining for him. “Uh-uh. That was your reward. You won’t get anything else until you get it right again.”

I grinned. “Ooh. I like this game.”

“Proper motivation for you?”

“Definitely.”

“So,” he said. “What do you do next?”

“Find you,” I said.

“How are you going to do that?”

“Climb into the duct system,” I said. “Get down a floor from where they’re questioning me.”

“Exactly right,” he said. One of his hands released my arm and snaked across my skin to cup my breast.

I groaned. “And then we go through the ducts together to Caldwell’s office.”

“Right,” he said, freeing my other arm and putting his hand on my other breast.

I writhed against his touch. He teased my nipples hard.

“Then what?” he grunted.

“Then you kill Caldwell,” I said.

“Right,” he said, kissing me again, rough and desperate against my mouth. “And then?”

“Um,” I panted, struggling to remember.

He thrust his hands under the shirt I wore and slid my underwear off. “Come on, doll, if you don’t know this, we’re both going to be disappointed.”

“We find Knox,” I said, “who’s been taking care of French.”

“Good,” he said, and his fingers stroked my clitoris.

I whimpered in delight. “Oh, Griffin.”

He was fumbling at his zipper with his other hand, opening his pants.

“Then we get out, right?” I said. “They’re all dead and we get out?”

“Yes,” he said. “That’s right. Very good, doll.” And he entered me in one smooth stroke.

I groaned into his mouth as he kissed me.

“Very, very good,” he breathed.

Chapter Eighteen

Knox checked our bound wrists again. We were standing along the side of the road. The car we were using was pulled over on the shoulder. The trunk was open.

“Knox,” said Griffin. “We’re tied up.”

“Right,” he said. His face was white. “You think they’re going to suspect me?”

“They better not,’ said Griffin. “Our plan for French hinges on you being free.”

Knox took a deep breath. “They’re going to believe me.”

“Of course they will. You can pull this off,” said Griffin.

Knox nodded, closing his eyes. He was quiet for a minute, and then he opened his eyes. When he did, he looked more confident, as if he’d somehow banished his nervousness. “Get in the trunk then.”

I wasn’t looking forward to this part.

“You go first,” said Griffin. “I can absorb the force of the door closing on us.”

I climbed into the trunk and Griffin got in on top of me. He covered my body with his own. Knox slammed the trunk closed.

It was dark inside. It smelled like gasoline. There wasn’t a lot of room. Both my weight and Griffin’s were settled on my bound hands, and that hurt quite a bit. Then the car started, and we were jostled around in the back for what felt like forever.

Griffin asked me if I was okay a few times, and I said I was. That wasn’t strictly true, but if I said I wasn’t, then there wasn’t anything he could do for me, was there? I gritted my teeth and did my best to bear it.

Eventually, the car pulled to a stop.

The trunk opened, and Knox was standing over us, a gun trained on us.

We had to get out of the trunk on our own, which wasn’t particularly easy with our hands tied behind our backs. Griffin managed to do it, but Knox had to help me out a little bit.

I peered at our surroundings. We were in the middle of the woods. There was a clearing where several cars were parked, but other than that, nothing but trees. This was Op Wraith?

I heard a whirring sound, and I looked up. There were cameras in the trees. I could see their red blinking lights. They swiveled back and forth. So. They were watching us already.