Page 23

CHAPTER 23

March 10 th

2:35 P.M.

“I can't believe you didn't tell me you were shot,” Ava huffed, raking her gaze over Nathaniel as he stood beside her bed.

“It wasn't a big deal.”

“Wasn't a big deal?” Okay, maybe she said that a teeny bit too loud, but was he crazy? “Of course, getting shot is a big deal.”

“Not when the woman I'm falling for has been kidnapped and I knew we only had hours to find you before it was too late.”

Well, that took some of the wind out of her sails.

Didn't mean that he shouldn’t have told her almost immediately once he knew she was going to be okay. It had been more than twelve hours since their talk last night and he was yet to mention it. In fact, if it hadn't been for the nurse who had just been in to check her vitals, she was pretty sure Nathaniel would never have mentioned it. Well, not until she saw the wound on his chest.

What would she have done if she’d been rescued only to come home and find out that Nathaniel had been killed when he tried to stop her abduction?

Honestly, she wasn't sure.

Even though she had lots of people in her life that she loved and considered family, Nathaniel was her rock right now. He’d saved her twice, and being around him quietened the terror inside her.

It was still hard for her to get over the fact that she had come as close as it was possible to get to dying and come out the other side. The surgery had started, her organs were about to be removed, then bundled up and quickly flown out across the world to go to their recipients.

If Nathaniel and the others had arrived any later, it would have been too late.

“Hey, I'm okay, and you're okay,” Nathaniel said as he took her face between his hands and kissed her hard on the lips.

It wasn't enough.

She wanted more.

Wanted him to prove that to her, to show that they were both going to be okay. Too bad they were still in the hospital or she would have stripped off their clothes, kissed his wounds, then made love to him over and over again until it finally sank in that they were alive.

“Don’t make me regret this,” he murmured as he suddenly released her, then gently eased her forward a little so he could slip in behind her with her leaning back against him instead of the pillows.

“Make you regret what?” Ava asked, thoroughly confused.

Until he settled her carefully against him and then slipped his hands beneath blankets.

They couldn’t. Could they?

“Better keep quiet, Aves, or everyone’s going to know what we’re doing,” he whispered, his breath warm against her ear.

Were they really going to do this?

When his thumb brushed across her bud she arched into his touch, ignoring the burning pain from the wounds on her stomach.

“Careful, honey,” Nathaniel murmured as he banded one arm across her chest, under her breasts, and above her wounds so he didn't hurt her. “Let me do all the work, all you need to do is lie here and let me make you feel good.”

“Someone could come in at any second. We’re in a hospital, they’re not big on privacy here.”

“Hope you have a good poker face then.”

Of course she did not.

Had he just met her?

She rambled when she was nervous, and she blushed at the slightest hint of embarrassment. If someone came walking through that door while they were in the middle of things, it was going to be clear as day what they were up to.

Still, she didn't ask him to stop, and as he worked her bundle of nerves with his thumb and slipped a finger inside her she had to sink her teeth into her bottom lip to keep from crying out.

Nathaniel added a second finger, stretching her, pumping in and out with a lazy rhythm as the pressure on her bud increased a little bit. Ava began to rock her hips seeking more, but Nathaniel merely slowed down instead of giving her what she wanted.

“Enjoy the moment, Aves.” He shifted the arm banded around her chest slightly so he could palm one of her breasts, kneading it gently.

“I'd enjoy it a lot more if you would hurry up.” She huffed, making him chuckle.

“That’s what you taught me these last few weeks. I need to learn to just enjoy the moment rather than always waiting for the other shoe to drop and something bad to happen.”

“I can't imagine growing up that way, always braced for pain.” It hurt her heart to know that had been Nathaniel’s life. Her parents had been controlling, but she’d had good nannies, and her grandmother. She’d been loved, but Nathaniel hadn't.

“Won't say it didn't suck, but I don’t have to live that way anymore. Now I can be free, I can look for joy, I can let go and just be. You gave me that, Aves.” The fingers inside her hooked so they caught that magical spot inside her, and the pads of his fingertips circled it while his thumb circled her bundle of nerves.

Her breathing quickened, and Ava prayed that when her impending orgasm hit she was able to refrain from screaming loud enough to let the entire hospital know what they were up to.

Pressing against her back, she could feel Nathaniel’s erection, and she reached behind her to grab it, palming it through his pants.

“No, honey, this is about you.”

“We’re a team now,” she reminded him. “We do things together.”

Somehow, she managed to get her hand inside his pants, and she greedily curled her fingers around his length, working it with quick strokes because she wanted them to come at the same time and she was already so close.

The pressure inside her grew, the stimulation from Nathaniel’s fingers inside her, and on her bud, plus his large hand kneading her breast, and his lips touching kisses to the column of her neck, was too much. Add in the feel of his length twitching in her hand, and she was mere seconds away from combusting.

It started out slow, a rush of pleasure flooding her system, but it grew quickly, ecstasy licking along her every nerve ending as her body went taut and then her hips began to rock as she rode out her orgasm. Nathaniel came with a grunt he muffled by burying his face in her neck, his release squirting all over her hand. The feel of it sticky on her skin spurred on her own pleasure and it seemed to go on and on and on.

Finally, it ebbed, and she sank back against Nathaniel, completely spent, but relaxed and content in a way she hadn't been before.

“I can't believe we did that,” she murmured as she pulled her hand from Nathaniel’s pants and wiped it clean on the blanket. For some reason knowing that they could be found at any time had only made it more fun, more exciting, more pleasurable. Did she have some weird kink she’d never known about?

“We lived in the moment,” Nathaniel reminded her as he nuzzled her neck and slowly withdrew his hand.

Sex was supposed to be off the table for the next few weeks, and she was sure what they’d done wasn't the best idea, she wouldn't be surprised if one or both of them had popped a stitch or two. But Ava didn't regret what they’d just shared in the least.

“Hey, guys, you’ll never guess what we …” Chelsea trailed off as she and Teresa came bustling into the room. While their hands were no longer in or on each other in a sexual way, Chelsea’s expression was suspicious. “Did you two just have sex?”

“Why would you ask that?” Ava asked, feigning innocence.

“In the hospital?” Teresa asked, sounding amused. “Kinky.”

“Umm, so what was the news you wanted to tell us?” Ava quickly changed the topic. She’d known there was no way she could hide what she and Nathaniel had done.

Chelsea rolled her eyes at them, but both women hurried over to the bed. “The doctor who was the only one to be taken alive when Nathaniel and the guys rescued you has been spilling all. He’s making some sort of deal to be put in witness protection for his cooperation, and he’s telling them everything he knows.”

“Including a list of another half dozen sites where the trafficking ring has been operating,” Teresa added.

“That’s amazing,” she agreed. Hopefully, the woman in the black skirt suit who was in charge of the ring would be at one of the sites. Even if she wasn't, the more they shut down the harder it was for her to run her illegal operation. “Maybe we’re closer to shutting this down than I thought.”

“It’ll happen, honey. And until it does, I'm not going anywhere.”

Nathaniel’s words filled her with confidence she wouldn't otherwise have felt. She had her very own sexy bodyguard to keep her safe, and Prey wasn't going to stop until the organ trafficking ring that had almost cost her life was dismantled for good.

“Thanks for unwrapping me,” she murmured, tilting her head to kiss his jaw.

Stepping back into the field after a career ending injury Tobias is not prepared to meet a nurse who will change his life when he helps raid one of the organ trafficking ring’s hidden compounds, in the second book in the action packed and emotionally charged Prey Security: Cyber Team series!

Rescuing Tobias (Prey Security: Cyber Team #2)