The Promise of Love (15 page)

“She’d wait, but I’m not sure I want to. I’d be more settled with her close, where I know she’s safe. If Martinez is here, Savage sent him, or he’s also close by. I want her near so I can protect her.”

After a minute or two of driving, Will nodded. “Yeah, that might be true. Those men have to come into town to get supplies. Women disappear all the time. Maybe closer is better, but if she’s there for you, she’s there for you, man. You got to get your head on straight, otherwise you’re of no use to us. Half in is half a foot in the grave.”

David exhaled, knowing what Will said was true, except Paris would wait for him, she’d be unhappy, he thought, but she’d do it.
Why make her unhappy? Worse, why endanger her by not being near her to keep her safe?

“Yeah, I got your six, no worries,” he said automatically.

Only he did have worries. What if this all went to shit and he couldn’t reach Paris?

No cell phone
. As thrilling as that was, he needed to set her up with something in case things did go south. First, he needed to bring her in. And that, he sensed, might be harder than getting in her bed to start with.

Chapter Eight

Paris took one look at David and giggled. Then covered her mouth. He had snow on his shoulders and head, more on his arms, and probably some on his back. He took a step toward her, and she jumped off the bed to the other side so it was between them.

“Stop right there, David Jansen. No way are you trailing all that wet cold snow—”

“Is that so?”

She tried to be stern, but got tackled to the bed, a big, wet, cold man on top of her grinning as if his football team had just won a winning touchdown.

“I can’t believe you just did that!” But she could. And more, she liked it, the feel of his cold weight pressing her down and the long, hard cylinder of his erection letting her know he’d absolutely missed her.

David kissed her. He was cold and smelled like snow, and she couldn’t get enough of him. It was sweet at first, but like every other time his lips met hers, it turned hot really, really fast. Surprising her, he pulled up and shook his head.

Confused, she tilted her head on the bed, examining his handsome face. He didn’t say anything, not even when she tickled her fingers along his neck and into his damp hair.

“Uh-uh.”

“No?”

“Nope. Not going there, princess. I have news,” he tacked on, but he said it so gently her radar went off big time. “Now”—he lifted up and pulled her with him so she was standing. A little wet, a bit rumbled now, but for the most part dry—“I have to go in, and stay in, but only for a few days. The trouble is those guys.”

“Those guys?” she asked, waiting for more.

“Yeah, those guys are terrorists. The kind that deal in women and guns. I want you with me, not here, where you might be the next victim of a human trafficking sicko.”

Her eyes rounded out, she was certain.

David reached out and tipped her mouth closed with his finger, then winked.

“I’m serious, and I guess, judging by your stunned expression, I’ve said too much, but I want you to come with me. This should be over in a few days. I have an apartment, no one else has ever been in it,” he added for some reason. “And no one will be but us. You can hang out with me, and if I have to go, I’ll make sure you’re secure.”

“Go?”

“Yeah, we’re waiting on some men, then we take this team down. Easy, really, but we’ve been there so we’re lead.”

“We?”

“Will and I,” he clarified, then tugged her closer by her hands. “Paris, you okay? The one word thing is cute, but you can ask away. Anything, okay, I’ll just help you pack.”

“Oh, no, I don’t think, I mean, go with you? Is this a military base?”

“No, not at all. It’s run by a wealthy civilian, but right now, we’re undercover doing some training for him.” David winced. “I don’t want you near him, either, but again, it will be two days, possibly three.”

Two days. With him
. Everything he said felt as if it was playing pinball in her brain. She watched movies, who didn’t? And this was right out of one of those, only she wasn’t a movie star and didn’t want to be on the six o’clock news either. Suddenly her friend, the reason she was even here, popped into her head.

“Wait, is Sara safe?”

“Hell, I forgot. Will gave her a ride to town. She’s safe—”

“Here? In the hotel? Why not—”

“I think her boyfriend pissed her off,” David said way too fast. “She’s fine, and willing to let us have a few days.”

She covered her mouth again and blinked. “Oh my God, she’s willing to let us have a few days?”

“Yeah.”

The avalanche of information had her head spinning. She’d taken time off to come with Sara on this wild vacation, but…if Sara was alone now, was that okay? Worse, what if these bad men found her and hurt her? “David I need to talk to her. I mean, is she safe, here?”

“Yeah, of course.” He paused, rubbed a hand over his face, then gripped her shoulders with both hands. “I will make sure of it, okay? I worry if we spotted these men, they might have gotten a glimpse of us, and worse, you. She was at the base, and Will drove her to the hotel near the garage, but didn’t go in with her. There’s no connection, you see? But you… I need you safe. Otherwise I’m going to be of no use to anyone.” He finished with a great deal of heat.

She nodded, simply because he seemed to need her to agree. “I need to talk to Sara, though.”

“But you’ll come?” He squeezed her upper arms when she nodded again. “Good, that’s good, princess. It’ll be okay, and Will is cool, he won’t try anything, you know, if you don’t want.”

“Will…? He won’t… Oh my God! David! I can’t go see him, after what we did, I mean, I did.” Panic set in and she tried to back away, thinking of all the reasons why she couldn’t go now that she’d said she would.

“He knows it’s a hands-off situation now, or only my hands on. Don’t get all upset. I can’t think of a better story to tell than how we met.” He pulled her in and hugged her as if he thought that would ease her mind.

“Oh my God.”

He hugged her closer. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding. Now, come on, get dressed, we can have this sleepover at my place, huh?”

“It’s kinda scary, David. What you’re doing, it scares me.”

“I won’t be doing it much longer. Trust me.” He kissed her on the temple. “I promise to make it all okay.”

He said such things so easily. “Promises are meant to be kept, you know. You can’t just throw them out there all the time.”

“Didn’t I do pretty good on that first one?” he murmured, his voice going low and deep like it did when he was turned on. Between them she could feel the hardness of his penis, getting harder by the second, too. He had more than fulfilled that first promise. But this was different. International gunrunners? Human traffickers? She was just an ice skater from Canada. What did she know of such things?

What did I know about ménage à trois before David Jansen? Or sex? Or, love, even? Trust him. Trust him.

She tilted her head and met his blue eyes. He seemed to be waiting on her, with a look in his eyes that made her wish and hope for much more than just a promise to make this okay. Slowly, she nodded, feeling as if she’d just jumped off a ledge into a pond instead of dipping her toe in first.

His smile was worth it, though.

“Good, that’s good, princess. Now, come on, I’m horny as hell, and even though I swore to myself to hold off so you’d stop thinking I was just trying to get in those sexy panties, I can’t wait much longer.”

She laughed until tears came out, but she nodded, too, because she was just as horny as he was, or maybe not that much, considering the size of his growing erection. “Do we have time,” she whispered, “for something here first?”

“Anything you want,” he said in a husky voice. “Just whisper it in my ear, and it’s done.”

“Oh, God, that’s sexy.” In the end, she didn’t have to whisper at all. David managed to take her breath away too fast for her to be able to anyway. But that was good, since he also made it all okay, before, during and after.

It wasn’t until she was loaded into his truck, and they were pulling back in the entrance she’d driven through with Sara, that she realized she’d not once protested coming with him, up until he mentioned Will.

“You knew I’d come with you,” she accused, feeling more than a bit as if he’d managed her. Not that it was a bad thing, but he was sneaky and very, very good at it, too.

He gave her a half smile and patted her knee. “I did hope, but no, I didn’t know how hard you’d resist. Here, see that door?”

She followed where he pointed and saw that he’d parked along a wall. Near them she saw a small door beneath an awning. This was quite far from where she’d pulled in and dropped Sara off. The place had to be enormous.

“That leads right into the apartments where we are. That over there”—he pointed to a Jeep—“is in case you need to leave. I’m not saying you should, or that I want you to, but we always have a backup plan. That Jeep has keys on the runner above the right front tire. It has a full tank of gas. The plates are fake. That means untraceable.”

A shiver ran along her arms, and she froze with her hands partway to her face. She’d felt such a thing before. Once. Right before her career as a skater had ended.

“David, why are you telling me this? I thought you’d be here, with me.”

“I will be, but I never go with one plan, I always have three or more set up in case one goes to hell. Don’t be scared, Paris. If you’re scared, I can take you out of here, drive you to the next town over, or maybe two, and you can wait there.”

“No way, no way. First, Sara, okay?”

“Yeah, I called Will, and he took her to a hotel two towns over. He’ll check on her again, maybe tomorrow, okay?”

“He moved her from town?” She’d taken longer to get ready after their wild sex, but she hadn’t known he’d called Will. Maybe cell phones were good. As if reading her mind, David pulled out an iPhone and handed it to her. “What’s this?”

“It’s your new phone. My number is in it, along with Will’s. We’ll get Sara’s in there as well. If I need you, you pick up. I don’t call to chat. I call if there’s a problem. Or I’m maybe, I don’t know, running late, okay?”

She nodded. He seemed worked up over this and she worried he was planning to take her two towns over instead of letting her stay here.

“David, let’s go in, okay?”

“Yeah.” He brushed her hair back gently from her face and sighed. “You remember where the key is?”

“Right front tire.”

That seemed to ease some of his tension. “Good, that’s good. Come on, it’s late enough, maybe no one is up. The room is clean, too.”

“Okay,” she murmured, smiling.

“I mean, no bugs, coms,” he added when she glanced around, her smile gone.

“You mean this place is…wired? Can they hear us now?”

“Nope, not out here. The garage and our apartments are all free of taps, too. Will has a room next door. No one else in on our floor. We made it secure. We’re also bottom level, near the exit.”

She shivered, feeling as if things were getting out of hand. “David,” she whispered when he opened the door. He got out and turned to help her down. “Is this what you do?”

“It was. This is it, I promise. All done. I’m done with it all.”

There wasn’t anything to say to that, so she let him lock the truck and usher her inside, down the few feet to his door, and then inside. The place was empty, and clearly brand new. It even smelled like paint. He urged her farther inside and winked when she glanced at him. He’d made a little picnic-type area in the living room, complete with pillows, blankets and food. Tears rushed her eyes, but she sensed he’d not like that one bit, so she turned away and laughed.

“Oh my God, that is too cute,” she managed, busying herself with her jacket and mittens. She could sense David coming up behind her and sighed when he hugged her from behind.

“It’s okay, I know you’re freaking out, and if you didn’t, I’d be worried you were some super spy or assassin.”

“What?” she laughed, turning in his arms to stare at him. He helped her with her jacket, then wrapped his arms around her waist.

“I know one, don’t laugh, she kicks ass and takes numbers. Tiny like you, too, but not as pretty or as sweet,” he added with a low laugh and a truly wicked intensity in his blue eyes. “How about we see if you can really play cards, huh? Maybe make some high-risk stakes, like… Strip poker? Or maybe the winner gets to see how sweet the other is?” He nudged her with his hips and his sexy lips curled up in a smile that was all male.

A rush of pinpricks shivered up her back. He meant oral sex. The winner got to…go down on the other?
Oh God.
I love it when he does that, but would he like it if I tried?

“Sounds like that’s a yes,” he murmured, walking her backward.

“I suck at poker,” she said, feeling like she might be taking the bull by the…well, horn.

“Well,” he said as if considering that. “We could switch that around then, how’s that? The winner gets to lie back and let the loser see how sweet they are?”

She laughed, so caught by his humor and his dirty mind, she couldn’t help it. The idea of giving David a blow job thrilled and scared her. His expression dared her though. He just looked so primed, and so sure she’d balk at that.

“Well, do we have to play or can a player forfeit?”

He sank onto the couch and took her with him. She landed right between his legs, on her knees. If he’d planned it, he was very, very good.

“Well, maybe we could have some pre-game fun, how’s that?” He reached down and unbuckled his belt, watching her as he did. He got it open then worked first one button then the next one free. His erection angled its way up and out, the thick stalk so sexy she had to swallow past the lust she experienced at just the sight of him. He stopped and dragged his T-shirt over his head, revealing his chest muscles. The head of his cock sat dead center with his flat navel, an enticing peach shape she wanted in her mouth so badly that her mouth watered.

“David, I’ve…” She swallowed again and met his eyes. He was watching her as if he’d been waiting for her to look at him.