WAR: Opposition: (WAR Book 3) (31 page)

“Yes?” she asked quietly.

He looked away, then gave a slight shake of his head and met her eyes defiantly. “Yes.” His expression dared her to say anything, yet he held himself tensely, as if he expected her to reject him. “I shot a man in the back.”

She wanted so badly to reach out and soothe him, but that would only cause him to retreat behind that wall she was trying to breach. “Seth, if you’re trying to scare me off, you’ll have to do a lot better than that. I’ve looked into the face of evil and let me tell you, you’re nowhere near as bad.”

He opened his mouth, no doubt to protest, but she held up her hand. “Yes, I’m certain you had a good reason to kill the man the way you did. I want to hear about that. Later. But Seth, you’re so burdened by guilt that you simply can’t see yourself the way I do.” She took a step toward him, holding his gaze and letting heat fill her eyes. “None of that matters right now, does it? The point is that I want to make love to you. Seth. The man who has been my companion, and my partner, through the hell of the past few days.”

“Kirra,” Seth groaned. He grabbed her hand, bent his head, and feathered a kiss on the skin above the healing scrapes at her wrist. For a moment he just stayed in that position. Then he moved his mouth up, swirling his tongue over a particularly sensitive spot on the inside of her elbow.

She gasped as parts lower in her body clenched in need. Her breath hitched. No. She needed to get Seth to agree with her. “I…um…” He continued dropping kisses down her arm, onto her palm, and along her middle fingers. When he sucked her fingers into his mouth, she felt a jolt all the way to her core. “Dammit, I’m not done arguing with you.”

He let her fingers slide out of his mouth, scraping them lightly with his teeth, then gave her a wicked grin. “Yes, you are.”

She mock glared at him. “So, I’ve won, then? No more trying to push me away for my own good. Because I’m a grown woman, dammit, and if I want to make love with a fascinating, sexy, dangerous man, I bloody well will.”

“Your eyes turn a really vibrant shade of blue when you’re angry, Kirra,” he said, between placing kisses along her other arm. “So sexy.”

She scowled at him and tugged her arm free. “Just answer the question Seth. Sex. You. Me. Yes or no?”

He straightened up, took her by the shoulders, and stared into her eyes. “I can’t give you a future Kirra.”

His eyes were so somber, so filled with despair that part of Kirra screamed in denial. But she knew she had no right to force him into anything he wasn’t ready for. “Who said anything about a future?” she said hoarsely, torn between anguish and desire. Because she did want a future. She wanted a chance to see if this spark between them could blossom into something long-standing. But she knew better than to try and cage him.

“I just want a few hours of making love, Seth.” She knew she should probably say having sex, instead. Saying making love gave away the state of her heart, but she didn’t care.

However, if he needed to think of it as just sex, she’d let him.

For now.

He searched her face for several agonizing moments, then nodded. “I’m probably being a selfish bastard, but damn, I want this one time with you.” He met her eyes. “Do you hear what I’m saying? While we’re here at this bungalow I’m all yours.” He pointed toward the jungle. “But once we leave, it’s all about getting you to safety. Then it’s good-bye.”

She swallowed her disappointment and nodded. One time wasn’t all she hoped for, but it would do for now.

Just then, her stomach gave a hungry yowl. “Oops! Guess I really need to take care of another hunger first.”

He smiled. The hint of regret and despair there tore at her heart. “Unfortunately, there’s no food in the house,” he said. “Breakfast will consist of the remaining MREs, energy bars, and some fruit that I scrounged from the jungle earlier. Come on.” He took her hand and together they raced through the rain back to the house.

S
eth eyed
the bananas and other fruit that he’d piled on the table. There were four MREs left and two energy bars. “Your choice,” he told Kirra. “MRE or energy bar?”

“MRE. The energy bars will be easier to eat as we walk.” She grabbed one of the packets. “Thanks.” The platonic kiss she placed to his cheek was sweet. Nonetheless, heat shot to his groin.

I want to make love.

Oh yeah, he wanted that too. But her choice of words worried him. He definitely felt a deeper connection with Kirra than with any of his previous partners, but calling what they were about to do making love seemed too much like a commitment. No matter how much he wished they could have the type of relationship where they made love instead of had sex, he still didn’t see any way out of his dilemma except to follow through with his plan to let the assassin kill him.

Mango juice squirted out between his fingers. Mentally cursing, he relaxed his hold. He couldn’t let Kirra see any signs of his frustration. He didn’t want her knowing how trapped he felt. She’d try to fix him. Just as she was trying to convince him that he was a better man than he knew himself to be. But he didn’t want their difference of opinion to stand between them today. He wanted to make these last few hours together special. Because with any luck, the rain would break, they’d find transportation shortly after heading out, and by this time tomorrow he’d have found a safe place in the UAR for her.

If the thought of never seeing her again sat like a lead weight on his chest, that was his problem. His first responsibility was to keep his family safe.

After they finished their small meal and had rinsed the sugary stickiness from their fingers, Kirra took his hand and led him to the bedroom. His stomach actually turned over in nervousness. She might have read him the riot act back there about them both having survived difficult pasts, but he was still a rough-edged, dangerous man who was going to die in a few days. And yet she was leading him to the bed as if he were normal. As if he had a shot at living in the sunshine.

For just these few stolen moments, he’d pretend that he did. He’d pretend that he could have a future with her. Even though a little voice yelled at him to stop. To tell her that he’d changed his mind. Because rejecting her now would be kinder than letting her become emotionally attached knowing that she’d soon have to deal with the news of his death.

But the sensual smile on Kirra’s face was so precious, he didn’t have the heart to say the words that would make her turn away.

He barely had time to close the door behind him before she plastered herself to the front of his body, slid her fingers into his hair, and pulled his head down. And the lady sure as hell didn’t believe in a slow buildup. She took his mouth in a carnal kiss, her hot little tongue demanding entrance to his mouth. When he opened, she slid right inside like she belonged. Which it felt like she did.

He groaned deep in his throat and let his hands roam down her back until he could cup the luscious curves of her buttocks. She made a greedy sound of approval and pressed into his hold. Which gave him all kinds of ideas. Only she didn’t allow him any time to formulate a plan. She just kissed him and kissed him and squirmed her body against his until his heart threatened to beat clear out of his chest and his cock was so hard it hurt.

Dammit, he’d planned to take it slow. Or at least to be the one calling the shots. But it was all Kirra, all the time here.

Breaking the kiss, she trailed her mouth down his jaw to his throat, then nibbled her way across his collarbone while her fingers trailed down the strip of bare chest exposed by his unbuttoned shirt.

“Mmm,” she purred, stroking his bare skin. She gave a little nudge to the shirt with both of her hands.

Taking the hint, Seth started to slip his arms free. But when the shirt reached his elbows, she stopped him.

“Kirra?”

She stepped back and eyed him hungrily. A wicked smile curled her mouth. “You know, I kind of like you this way. All that power barely leashed, yet held in check by a simple shirt.”

She shot him a look of pure, sensual mischief. “I think you should stay like that. Only—” She pushed gently on his chest, forcing his back against the wall. “Mmm…better.”

He groaned. “Kirra, staying constrained like this means I can’t hold you. Touch you.”

She arched her brows. “Show some imagination, Seth.” She tossed him a wink.

“Trust me, my imagination is working overtime. But I can’t put any of that into action with my arms shackled.”

“Which leaves me the playing field,” she said, licking her lips. Stepping forward, she ran her hands down his body, learning every curve of him. Each glide of her fingers sent waves of heat through his veins until his body actually trembled beneath her touch.

Then she started in on him with her lips and tongue. He groaned. “Kirra…It’s been…too long…Careful, or I’m going to lose it…”

“Oh. Okay.” She straightened up and studied him again, tapping her finger playfully against her chin. “You know, this isn’t quite right anyway.”

“Kirra, I’m serious. I want to be inside you the first time I come. Don’t—” A groan swallowed his words because she’d slipped her finger under his waistband and stroked the tip of him. “God, woman,” he gasped. “You’re killing me.”

“I’m nowhere near done yet,” she murmured, her hands grabbing the waistband of his shorts.

He braced himself, but instead of teasing him, she slid the shorts down with workmanlike efficiency. Of course, all the while she sang a soft, dirty little ditty about everything she wanted to do to her man. Seth didn’t know what aroused him more. The explicit sex words being sung in that husky voice of hers, or the fact that more than once she called him her man.

Kirra stopped when the shorts reached his knees.

“Oh, no.”

She grinned up at him. “Oh, yes. Most definitely yes.”

He cursed. The elastic waistband prevented him from widening his stance. “Kirra,” he moaned. Yet despite being restrained by his clothing, the sultry looks she kept shooting him made him feel powerful. When she knelt in front of him and ran her hand over his cock, his whole body jerked.

With another wicked smile, she slowly leaned forward until she could blow against his sensitive tip. Just that little puff of air had his penis jerking and his whole body tightening. “Careful, sweetheart. I’m dangerously close.”

“Mmm…” Proving that she had an evil streak, she sat back on her heels and studied him for a while. Once some of his tension had eased, she moved in again. This time she licked him from base to tip before swirling her tongue around him.

Then she fucking sat back and let him cool down again.

“Who taught you to torture a man, sweetheart?” Playing by her rules, he kept his back against the wall. With the shirt tangled around his elbows, he could only touch her hair with his fingertips, denying him the hold he’d need to keep her mouth in place.

She pushed her lips into an exaggerated pout. “Aren’t you having fun?”

“Fun? I’m about to blow my fucking top.”

“Oh, poor baby.”

He didn’t know how long she kept up her torture. Each time she put her mouth or fingers on his body she took him closer to the edge. He could have stopped her at any time, but he loved watching the way her eyes shone with feminine power. Loved that his brave, strong, yet occasionally insecure Kirra had taken charge. He’d do anything to make her happy. Endure any form of torture. Including letting her wind him so tight that when she finally sucked him down hard and deep, he came in a scalding jet against the back of her throat.

The orgasm left him drained and light-headed. Once he sagged back against the wall, Kirra sat back and licked her lips with a very cat-who-ate-the-canary look. Then she gently helped him out of his shorts and shirt.

Then, much to his embarrassment, he collapsed onto the bed. “Damn, woman, you killed me.”

Kirra laughed and crawled in next to him.

“No fair,” he muttered. “You still have clothes on.”

“Mmm, hmm. When you wake up I promise to strip for you.”

“Not…gonna…” He slipped into unconsciousness.

B
asking
in the warm glow of having reduced such a hard man to a soft, boneless wreck, Kirra watched Seth sleep. Her body still tingled from the thrill of finally being able to touch and taste him. Her heart overflowed with the trust he’d shown by letting her take control. She’d never been that aggressive with a lover before. Smiling, she decided that she liked this sexually liberated side of herself.

Not long after, she followed him into sleep.

When she woke, she was alone again. Only this time she didn’t worry that he’d left her, confident that after what they’d just shared, Seth wouldn’t take off.

Hours must have passed, because there was barely enough light from outside for her to make her way to the bathroom. Rain pounded on the roof and the wind rattled the louvers. She followed the glimmer of light to the living area, where she found Seth fiddling with the radio he’d rigged to charge his phone.

“Any luck?” she asked. He’d put on that hideous pair of shorts again, but she didn’t mind, as long as he left his torso bare. Because Seth had that lean, taut musculature that spoke of actual work rather than just working out. She supposed that if he performed repairs on his plane, the parts must be quite heavy.

“Are you gonna stand there all day ogling my poor, abused body?” Seth said. The corner of his mouth lifted. “Because I have to warn you, this South African sex goddess already claimed me and I don’t know what she’ll do if she thinks you’re poaching.”

Kirra put her hands on the small of her back and arched, thrusting her unbound breasts toward Seth. “Sex goddess, huh? Maybe I should take some pointers.”

He straightened and groaned. “Sweetheart, if you take any more pointers I might not survive another encounter.”

She gave him a very satisfied smile. “Well, okay. If I see the sex goddess I’ll tell her no thank you because Seth just can’t handle—Oomph!”

Seth snatched her into his embrace and kissed her until she couldn’t breathe. When he finally lifted his head, the world spun and she had to clutch onto his strong shoulders for support. The look he gave her was pure masculine pride. “My turn,” he said. Then he picked her up.

But instead of taking her back to the bedroom they’d slept in, he carried her into another room. One that had a small vanity table with a swinging, oval mirror over it. A discarded cloth, probably used to protect the mirror, lay in a puddle on the floor. A lantern threw light onto the mirror, reflecting back myriad starbursts.

“Seth?”

He lowered her to her feet in front of the mirror, then turned so that he stood pressed along her back while they both faced their reflection. Her heart caught at the sight of them. His dark blond head rested next to her bright blonde one. His skin, slightly darker from hours in the sun, provided a nice contrast to her barely tanned skin.

Holding her gaze through the reflection, Seth turned his head and ran his tongue along her ear. Shivers coursed through her body and the skin on her arms broke out in goose bumps.

“I know you promised that you’d strip for me, but we can do that another time,” he murmured. “When I saw this mirror, I knew that I wanted to undress you here, in the light and the shadows, where we could both watch as I reveal that amazing goddess body of yours.” He reached for the hem of her shirt.

A gust of wind caused the lantern’s flame to flicker. The shadows lengthened, seeming to reach for Kirra. Her heart kicked and her muscles tensed. An unexpected burst of fear hit her. She grabbed Seth’s hand, stopping him from lifting her shirt. Her breathing sped up. The room appeared to darken and she struggled to take in enough air.

The torch on the floor of the warehouse threw shadows onto Franz as he bent over her, enhancing his demonic expression.

Kirra flinched as the knife came toward her.

No! Closing her eyes, she turned away from the lantern.

She’d hated that the light from the torch that night had given Franz and his friends a clearer view of the damage they were inflicting on her. Yet she’d also been terrified that if the light went out, she’d die.

When Franz had dragged her into the dark closet and left her to bleed to death, she’d thought her fear about the light had been true.

She crossed her arms over her belly and tried to force the memories back behind the veil of forgetfulness.

“Kirra? Sweetheart, what’s wrong?”

She blinked and looked at their reflection in the mirror. Seth watched her with a concerned frown on his face. “Do you want to stop?” he asked.

Did she? Seth had seen the scars on her arms, but he had no idea of the extent of her other scars. Would he still find her sexy when he saw such overwhelming evidence of where her bad choices had landed her? She shuddered and hugged herself tighter.

“Kirra?” Seth’s hands hovered over her shoulders, as if he wanted to touch her but was afraid of her reaction.

Kirra inhaled deeply. Seth wasn’t Franz. Franz would never have noticed that her tension had changed from sensuality to fear.

All that mattered was that she trusted Seth. She wanted Seth. Franz had no place here.

She met Seth’s eyes in the mirror. “I’m okay. Just a bad memory.” She turned to face him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t expect the lantern’s light to be a problem.”

He frowned at the lantern. “That’s okay. We can try this another time.” He took a step away from her.

“No. That’s not what I meant.” She grabbed his hands and put them on her hips. “I want to make love with you. I just…” Taking a deep breath for courage, she added, “I just need you to understand that the scars on my arms aren’t the only ones. Or the worst.”

He scowled and glanced away.

Her heart sank.

His fingers tightened on her hips, then he met her eyes.

Kirra barely recognized him through the rage on his face. “I know. I saw your scars while I was washing you. I—” He shook his head. “Let’s just say it’s a good thing we’re not in South Africa right now, because your attackers would die slow, painful deaths.”