Page 13

H eat woke Sophia. A hot male body wrapped around her, her back to his front. One of his big hands cradled her hip, the other a breast. She loved it. Loved the intimacy of sleeping with someone she could trust.

There was just one problem.

Did he have to throw off so much heat?

She shifted her legs. He had a knee in between hers, and the hair on his legs tickled a little. The sensation added to the ache deep inside her. She rocked her hips, pressing her ass against the rapidly hardening penis nestled between the cheeks of her butt.

The hand on her breast began to massage it and tease the nipple.

“Go back to sleep.” Con’s voice rumbled against her ear as he pinched her nipple.

She gasped as pleasure whipped through her, and she tried to turn over to face him, but he wouldn’t let her.

“Con,” she moaned as his other hand slipped between her legs to tease her clitoris. “You’re not helping.”

He dipped his long middle finger into her. “I have an idea,” he whispered.

“Does it involve your penis in my vagina?”

“Time for a vocabulary lesson.” She could feel his lips smile as he kissed the back of her neck. “It involves your lips wrapped around my cock.”

“What’s wrong with ‘penis’?” she asked, wiggling against that very long, hard part of his anatomy.

“‘Penis’ is for pansies and hospitals. Cock is what you say in bed with a beautiful woman. This—” he cupped her vagina “—is a pussy. And these,” he said, finally allowing her to turn onto her back and capturing her breasts in his hands, “are the finest tits I’ve ever fucked.”

She stared up at him, panting and so damned needy she was afraid she was going to self-combust. “I want that.”

He played with her breasts, his fingers stroking her nipples. “Hmm? What do you want?”

“To get...” She’d use his word. “...fucked.”

His gaze, which had been glued to what he was doing to her, jerked up to meet hers. One corner of his mouth slanted upward. “No.”

She was beginning to recognize that expression on his face. Devious. He already knew what he was going to do. He had a plan, and when Connor had a plan, he didn’t deviate from it. “What then?”

He slid down her body, pushed her thighs apart and stared at her...pussy.

She propped herself up on her elbows to get a better look. “Are you going to eat me out?” she asked breathlessly.

He grinned. “Does thinking about that make you hot?”

So hot, but... “I...what if you don’t like how I taste?”

He closed his eyes and inhaled. “You smell like sunshine, summer, and a spice that’s yours alone.” His eyes opened and the desire on his face made her breath catch. “I can’t wait to taste you.” He didn’t move, seemed to be waiting. “Okay?”

He was waiting. Waiting for her to be ready.

With him, she was ready for everything. “Yes.”

“Good.”

He lowered his face and licked.

She had no idea what to expect, but it certainly wasn’t what she got.

Pleasure. Languorous, yet it built quickly as he used his tongue to stimulate her clitoris.

“Oh,” she breathed. “That’s...”

“What, sweetheart? Tell me.”

“Very arousing.”

“It’s about to get a lot more than that.”

He continued to lick and suck at her clitoris, but he also added a finger, which felt huge. The dual stimulation built up the pleasure leading toward an orgasm she couldn’t wait to experience again.

When he added a second finger, she damn near came off the bed. The stretch from two fingers threw her from first gear into fifth and she slapped her hand over her mouth to keep from screaming. The other hand speared into Con’s short hair and held his head against her.

She had to come now.

He changed the angle of his fingers penetrating her and she detonated. The pleasure radiated out in a wave that sucked her under, making everything else, the whole world, inconsequential. Unfortunately, the wave eventually ebbed, and she came back to the reality to find Con watching her with a self-satisfied grin on his face.

“See,” she said, still out of breath, “I like penetration.”

“Let’s see if you like it another way.”

There were only two possibilities she could think of. “Blow job?”

He nodded.

She wanted that too. Now.

She sat up and pushed him with both hands until he was on his back.

His hands landed on her hips, but he didn’t stop her, he steadied her. “Hold on, slow down.”

“To quote you, no . I’ve wanted to get my hands on your...cock since I noticed how big your hands were.”

He laughed silently. “How soon after meeting me was that?”

“About two minutes.” She studied him. His penis was erect, impressively so. “As I suspected you’re larger than average.”

“And you know that how?”

“The question of penis size came up during a study session in medical school,” she said absently.

His grin was almost as wide as the Grand Canyon. “You can touch me anytime.”

She scooted down his legs to get a better look, then decided there was only one way to go from here. His erection didn’t feel anything like she expected. A hard shaft covered in silky skin that had its own scent. One that made her crazy to taste.

She held him at the base of his...cock and ran her tongue up one side of it.

Con gasped, his mouth falling open.

He tasted good.

Con started to say something, but it was her turn to give him an orgasm. She opened her mouth and managed to swallow about half of him.

Con’s reaction was immediate. His body arched and one of his hands threaded through her hair. His face was a mask of pleasure and it looked like it had taken a great deal of self-control for him not to shout.

She pulled back, letting her lips form a seal, so he would feel a strong negative pressure, and from his shaking body and rapid breathing, he enjoyed it. She repeated the act again and again, watching his face and body to learn what he liked and didn’t like.

He kept trying to say something, but every time he managed a word or two, usually her name and stop , she’d swallowed him down again.

It didn’t take long for him reach his climax, but it didn’t go quite according to plan, as he pulled her off him a second before he erupted all over her neck and chest. Again.

Con stared at her with wild eyes while he panted, then asked as soon as his vocal cords appeared to work correctly again, “Where did you learn to do that?”

“Jones gave me a few pointers.”

“Jones?” His voice strangled the woman’s name. “I kept trying to tell you to stop so I could put on a condom. Did she forget that piece of advice?”

“No, she mentioned it. I’m the one who decided you didn’t need it.”

“ You decided I didn’t need it?” His voice rose and a red flush made its way up his neck.

“You’re clean and so am I.”

“How do you know... You looked me up?”

“I’m a doctor, of course, I looked you up. Besides, I didn’t want a barrier between me and you this first time.”

His nostrils flared. “That decision wasn’t yours to make alone. We should have talked about it.”

“Are you saying you didn’t want a blow job?” she asked as he got off the bed and strode to the bathroom.

He came back into view only a few seconds later with a wet cloth. “No, I’m saying I would have preferred to wear a condom.”

“Why would you want to do that when it reduces sensation for you?”

He wiped his semen off her skin then he cleaned himself. “Because it’s safer .” The last word was little more than an angry growl.

He wanted a physical barrier between them. A barrier that probably made it easier for him to emotionally distance himself from the woman he was with.

Which was exactly what she had wanted, and what she promised him, no-fuss sex. She had always been good at compartmentalizing her emotions and keeping people at bay, but Con had gotten inside. She didn’t know what to do about that.

“I’m sorry, I won’t do it again,” she said, her face oddly stiff. She could barely move her mouth.

He glared at her. “What did I say about apologies?”

“But you’re upset and I am sorry.” How could she possibly know what to say when he changed his mind about what was acceptable or not whenever he felt like it?

He held up a finger. “Just stop talking and go back to sleep.” He stomped off into the bathroom.

Sophia pulled her panties and sleep pants up then grabbed her sleep shirt off the floor and put it on.

Her cot was pushed against the far wall. She was pulling the blankets back when he came out of the bathroom. He scowled. “What are you doing?”

She scowled right back, “Going to sleep, as ordered.”

“Nope,” he said after a moment of complete stillness. “Not there.” He motioned with his hand for her to lie down on his bed.

“No more growling at me?”

He sighed and shook his head.

She still wasn’t sure. “You need to work on your communication skills. Next time, tell me all the things I shouldn’t do before I have my hands on your cock.”

He stared at her like he didn’t understand English for a moment, then wiped his face with one hand. “Yeah, I was a moron.”

She waited for him to go on, but he just gestured for her to lie down again.

She got into his bed and he spooned up behind her. If he asked her to take off her shirt, she was going to tell him to fuck off.

He didn’t ask.

***

S moke, acrid enough to make her eyes water, woke Sophia. For a moment she was disoriented and unsure of where she was. Something was on fire, but there was no alarm blaring.

A moment after that thought, the alarm began its toll, an ear-splitting sound loud enough to hurt. She turned to wake Con, but he wasn’t in bed with her.

She jumped out of bed to turn on the light, but nothing happened when she flipped the switch. Damn it.

She made her way back to the bed and her pile of stuff just in front of it and fumbled around for a couple of seconds for the tiny flashlight she had in her uniform pants. Flicking it on, she quickly got dressed and was tying her combat boots when the door to the room opened. Someone slipped inside silently and closed the door.

She froze. Waiting.

“Sophia?” Con’s voice.

Something terrified and wound tight inside her relaxed a little. “Yes, I’m here. I’m dressed. How big is the fire?”

“Not too big. It’s at the front of the building, so we’re going to have to leave via one of the side doors.”

She stood. “I’m ready. Are you dressed?”

“Yeah. Smoke called and woke me about five minutes ago. Said there was some kind of dust-up at the front desk. I don’t think this fire was an accident.”

“Someone started it on purpose?” That was akin to playing Russian roulette with people’s lives.

“I want you to wear this,” he said grabbing something from his go bag. It was a black cap, the kind soldiers wear for night missions. “Make sure you get all your hair under cover.”

“Are you saying this fire is another try at kidnapping me?” Suddenly the fire made horrible, insane sense. Whoever wanted her had failed on their first try. This was attempt number two.

“Oh my God.” She grabbed her go bag and moved toward the door.

Con grabbed her arm and pulled her to a stop.

“We have to get out—”

“I know, but I want you to have this.” He thrust the butt of a gun into her right hand. “Hang on to it.”

“Okay.”

“Here.” He had a holster for it and quickly got the straps wrapped to her right thigh. She slid the weapon into the holster while he slung his backpack on and grabbed his SCAR, a combat assault rifle. “Grab the back strap on my pack and don’t let go of it. Okay?”

She grabbed it. “Got it.”

“If we get separated, I want you to go to the base and directly to the lab, get inside the level three containment area if you can and stay there.”

“Why there?”

“Because you can lock yourself inside if you need to.”

“What if someone isn’t just after me? What if they’re after what we’re working on?”

Con stared at her for one full second. “We can worry about that if we don’t get roasted alive. Ready?”

She nodded.

He bent low and opened the door.

She followed as he headed down the hallway. Smoke flowed across the ceiling like a murky, muddy flood.

He moved quickly, but not faster than she could manage. They stopped at an intersection, he looked both ways, then turned left. As they made their way down the hall, the smoke grew thicker and thicker. She began coughing and tried to tuck her face into the collar of her shirt.

Someone bumped her from behind and three people—she couldn’t see well enough to tell if they were men or women—rushed past. They pushed her against the wall and she found herself struggling to maintain her hold on Con’s pack.

She sucked in a breath to yell at him, but all she breathed in was smoke. She thought she was going to lose her grip when Con stumbled back and into her. She looked past him and saw more people yelling and waving their hands, but none of it seemed intelligible to her.

Con got himself right side up and yelled into her ear, “Hang on!”

She made sure she had a good grip then nodded.

Con surged forward, shoulder checking one man out of the way better than any hockey-playing enforcer. He continued moving, almost dragging her along with him past another couple of people.

Something got in between her legs, tripping her, and she went down. Sophia tried to hang on to Con, but she was knocked to one side, effectively ripped away from him.

Smoke was billowing throughout the hallway, cutting visibility down to zero, three feet above the floor. All she could see were legs. Most of them were dressed in off-base clothing and no one looked like Connor, Smoke, or River.

Get out, get to the lab .

Sophia got on her hands and knees and crawled, trying to avoid all the booted feet dancing around in the smoke. A man fell to the floor right in front of her, his face only inches from her own. He stared at her for a partial second, then yelled something at her in a language she didn’t understand and grabbed the collar of her shirt.

She tried to jerk herself out of his hold, but he wouldn’t let go.

That’s when she remembered she had a gun. She pulled it out and pointed it in his face.

He let go this time, rolling away into the smoke.

Sophia didn’t hesitate—she scrambled for the door. Just before she reached it, there was another knot of people, some obviously shoving others in an effort to get out. She watched them for a few seconds and discovered something disheartening. Two pairs of booted feet appeared to take an interest in those leaving, but didn’t leave themselves.

Either they were assisting everyone in getting out of the building, or they were looking for someone in particular.

She pressed herself against the wall as more people thundered past her, then jumped in at the back of the pack, not crawling anymore, but crouching very low with her gun tucked in close to her right side, chest high and pointed straight ahead.

Just as she was about to come abreast with the doorway, another person rushed past. Something about the gait caught her attention. Smooth, yet precise.

It reminded her of the way Con walked when he led her out of their room.

She grabbed one of the person’s legs, wrapped herself around it and brought whoever it was to the ground.

Smoke.

He was already halfway on his back, probably turning while he fell, and pointing his gun at her. When he saw her, he dropped the muzzle of his weapon, grabbed her collar and yanked her close.

“Stay low.”

No shit.

He got to his feet and rose up into the smoke, but kept his grip on her shirt as he mostly dragged her through the doorway. It was still dark outside and the exterior lights weren’t on. People were running in every direction, shouting over each other, creating an unintelligible cacophony.

Smoke suddenly let her go, turning to face someone approaching on the right.

The dark shadow of a man came out of the darkness to the left, moving toward his back.

Nope. Not happening. Sophia kicked out at the man approaching Smoke from behind as hard as she could in the knee.

The man went down, grabbing the joint.

The man Smoke was fighting went down too.

Both attackers saw her and one of them reached out, so she pointed her gun at him. A second later Smoke grabbed her by the collar again and took two steps. The man Smoke had been fighting lunged at him again and he lost his grip on her. Again .

The man she’d kicked grabbed her leg and pulled, but she was done, so done with this shit. She let him pull her a half step toward him, then kicked him in the face as hard as she could.

He let go of her leg.

Another man jumped on Smoke, partially dislodging the first attacker. Smoke managed to punch one hard enough to daze him, but the other grabbed him in a hold, locking Smoke’s arms against his body.

His eyes met hers, his dark gaze filled with violence and worry. “Run,” Smoke shouted.

She ran.

The struggle, the smoke, and the fire alarm still ringing in her ears left her disoriented. She ran almost blindly for a couple of minutes before slowing down to take a better look around her.

Wonderful. She’d gone the wrong way.

She headed back toward the base, but stopped cold at the sound of gunfire. She recognized the coughing pop, pop, pop of a SCAR and her stomach dropped. What had happened to Con? Was Smoke all right?

She started jogging toward the nearest gate to enter the base. They were going to look for her at the lab, so that’s where she needed to get to. There were people on the street. She made sure she had all her hair tucked under her black cap and avoided them.

It took a few minutes before the gate came into view. There were a lot of people clustered around it, most of them in uniform with weapons of some sort.

She could ask for help from one of the American soldiers, but she wasn’t entirely sure whom she should trust. The knot of people in front of the gate grew and she decided now was the time to try to get through.

Sophia dodged and danced through the swirling mass of soldiers and civilians trying to get into the base and found herself standing right in front of the bar between her and where she needed to go. A soldier in an American uniform saw her and yanked on the arm of the man standing next to him who was turned away, scanning the crowd.

River.

He immediately stepped over her to grab her arm and pulled her under the bar. Then he frog marched her into the base. As they walked he said something into his radio.

“What happened?” he asked her when he was done talking.

“There was a fire. Connor tried to get me out, but we got separated. I found Smoke and he tried to get me out, but two guys jumped us and we got separated. Then I found you.”

“There is some weird shit going on,” River said. “I’m to get you to the lab as soon as fucking possible.”

“Are Con and Smoke okay?”

River didn’t answer right away.

She pulled him to a stop. “Are they okay?”

“Lost contact with Con about fifteen minutes ago. Smoke called in about ten minutes ago, said he’d found you and lost you.”

Sophia looked behind her at the flickering light the fire cast into the night. She could still see the tips of some of the flames, which meant the entire hotel must be involved. She stopped and took a step back. Con could be back there, still looking for her. She didn’t want to lose him when they’d barely gotten to know each other. He was the most fascinating, infuriating, and sexy man she’d ever met. He made her feel things in a way she didn’t know was possible. She wasn’t going to leave him behind.

They were a team.

River stopped a few feet in front of her. “Dr. Perry, we need to keep moving.”

She glanced at him with an agreeable smile. “Yes, of course.”

As soon as he turned and started walking again, she sprinted for the gate and the hotel.

She heard her name shouted behind her, but she didn’t stop or even slow down. If Con was still in the hotel, he was probably incapacitated by smoke. Maybe he’d been knocked out by all the people trying to get out. She didn’t know what happened, she didn’t know what she could do, but she couldn’t let him die.

River was gaining on her when a shadow emerged from the dark to grab her around the middle. It knocked the wind out of her, but that didn’t stop her from wriggling in the stranger’s grasp.

“Sophia,” a man growled her name into her ear.

She knew that voice.

“Connor?”

He set her on her feet and she grabbed his face so she could look at him. He was covered in soot and smelled faintly of burnt hair, but it was him.

She threw her arms around his neck. “I thought you might still be in the hotel,” she said in his ear.

He squeezed her. “Is that where you were running to? Because you sure as hell weren’t going in the direction you were supposed to.”

She let go so she could smack him. “Yes, that’s where I was going. I thought you might be incapacitated or dead.”

“So, what? You were running to my rescue?”

“Yes.”

He bent down so they were nose to nose and snarled, “Wrong answer.”

She sucked in a breath to tell him to fuck off, but he grabbed her by the arm and dragged her along with him as he followed River toward the lab building.

River kept looking over his shoulder at them.

“What?” Con barked after the third glance.

“Are you okay? You look like you’re hanging on to her pretty hard.”

Con eased off on his grip a little. “I’m fine. As soon as we’re past the first checkpoint, go look for Smoke.”

River nodded, but still looked uneasy as he glanced from Con to Sophia.

People were running toward them and past, hopefully to fight the fire. Con and River assessed everyone moving in their direction, obviously looking for threats. She wondered what they were looking for, what they saw.

Was it a specific posture, or tilt to a person’s head that said, I’m not an American or I’m not safe ?

“Your hair is coming loose,” Con said to her, his tone calmer than before, though there was still a thread of violence that made her shiver.

She quickly tried to stuff it all back into the cap she wore, but as many strands as she tucked in, that many slipped out. Finally, she held the stray strands in her left hand at the back of her head.

They reached the first checkpoint.

River turned and looked at Con. “I’m going after Smoke. See you inside. Stay frosty.”

Con’s teeth flashed white in the darkness. “Yeah, it’s getting hot.” Then River was gone, and Con was tugging her toward the second checkpoint.

“Why are we in such a rush?” she asked him.

“Because you’re not safe yet.” He tugged her a little harder.

“You’re going to rip my arm off.”

He stopped and deliberately released her.

They arrived at the second checkpoint and passed through. There were extra guards at this one.

They entered the lab building, passed by Eugene’s desk, which was empty, and went straight into Sophia’s office. He shut the door, locked it, then pulled off her cap and began checking her over for injuries with fast hands.

She tried to shove his hands away. “I’m fine.”

“Shut up,” he growled at her.

His order made her so mad she put both hands on his chest, pushed, then snapped, “You shut up.”

He growled at her, grabbed her, and kissed her hard. His lips forced hers open and his tongue surged into her mouth like he was desperate to taste her. His hands slid around her, pulling her body into full contact with his, and he groaned into the kiss.

When he finally let her suck in some air he whispered in her ear, “I thought I’d lost you.” Panic and worry gave his voice a brittle quality she never thought she’d hear from a man who’d survived what he had. He’d seemed so strong, so self-contained.

Pleasure at his obvious worry— he cared about her —warred with concern that he’d care too much. Maybe she was being selfish.

She was going to die . She had no business pursuing a relationship of any kind.

Stupid, stupid girl.