“I’m sending Jorge’s men to you,” Lee snapped. “We’ve wasted enough time.”
“I can do this,” Frank insisted. “She can’t have gotten very far. She has no car, and she doesn’t know anyone well enough to hide with them. I’m narrowing down the possibilities.”
“Damn it, Frank.” Lee wanted to strangle the man. “We’re about out of time. I need to eliminate her before she can cause me any trouble.”
“Seems to me that ship has sailed.”
“I mean trouble with the feds. Don’t give me a hard time here. Just tell me where you are so they can meet up with you. Then you all can divide up the area and search more efficiently.”
There was a long silence. Lee wondered if Frank had hung up. If so, that would be a first. And he’d never known the man to be so obstinate. Maybe he just didn’t want anyone else mooching in on his authority.
“You there?” he asked.
“Yeah.” Heavy sigh. “Okay, Lee. For you. But if these guys give me any trouble, I’m sending them back to Jorge.”
“Fine. Just get the job done.”
Disconnecting the call, he took a small electronic item from a drawer in his desk, turned it on, and set it the way he’d been shown. The seller had warned him this was brand new and, at the moment, wasn’t the best choice. He’d waved off the man’s negative input, needing something that would pinpoint Alix even if she was naked. Not that he expected to find her in bed with someone else, but, as paranoid as he was, he didn’t trust anyone for anything.
He watched the readout as the little gizmo went through its booting-up process. At last, the green light came on and a map filled the little screen. Excitement surged as a dot blinked, showing him where Alix was. But then, in the next second, the map went blank.
Fuck! Just fuck!
But the seller had told him that if he left it on and tried again in a half hour, it might register accurately. He put it back in the desk drawer, still active. He’d come back in thirty and check again. Then he took a deep breath, pushed away his anger, and headed back out to the patio.
The others were still where he’d left them, the remains of dinner plates pushed aside, cigars lit, and the beer had been replaced by bourbon. He needed to get them out of here before they were so stinking drunk they couldn’t drive. The only reason he hadn’t chased them off by now was that itch to find out if their newer partners had ratted them to the feds.
He liked to think of himself a good judge of people, a student of character. Lately, however, he had to question that. First Alix, who turned out to be more than the refined bimbo he’d set out to find. Then this uncertainty about the new partners. Was he losing his touch? They had a huge shipment of Ecstasy about to hit I-15, a pickup for the next load of females to be auctioned off, and two truckloads of guns going to a gang in Maryland with plenty of money to spend. He could not afford any screwups.
He pasted on a smile as he lowered himself back into his chair.
“Everything okay?” The question came from Gino Virtanen.
“Just some stuff to take care of with my regular trucking business.” He picked up his drink and took a sip. “Now. We’ve discussed territories, new product, and new contacts. Things are going almost too well, I worry the feds will take notice of us. Let me have your thoughts on that.”
When his cell vibrated in his pocket half an hour later, he excused himself and went into his office. Before he called Frank back, he took the little locator from the desk drawer and stared at the screen, a smile curving his lips. The picture and the dot were holding steady.
“Still nothing to report,” Frank told him.
“Did Jorge’s crew meet you yet?”
“Yeah, they did.” Frank’s voice was edged with irritation. “But they aren’t having any better luck than I am. You can call off the dogs.”
“Well, I have information. I have a location on her. You’ll have to scout it out and get her out of there.”
“Out of where? Did that little gizmo you’ve been trying to test finally work?”
“It did.” He rattled off Alix’s location. “All I have is the address. I have no idea what kind of building it is. Take the crew and scope it out, then grab her.”
“What if she’s with people, Lee? What then?”
“Use your judgment but get her out of there and bring her back here.”
Silence hung thick across the connection.
“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Frank said at last. “I thought the whole idea was to fly under the radar. Promote the trucking entrepreneur with the classy wife. Keep a low profile with everything else.”
“It was except for two things. Alix saw that stuff in the living room, and someone ratted us out to the feds. I have to clean things up and salvage what I can without going to prison. Because that is just not happening. And getting rid of Alix is part of that.”
“Okay.” Frank sighed again. “We’re on it.
*****
Alix wound her arms around Charlie’s neck, licking the inside of his mouth and sliding her tongue back and forth over his in a slow, erotic dance. God, he tasted so good. This was the kind of kissing you never got enough of. When he lowered his mouth to hers, it hadn’t even occurred to her to resist. There was something so utterly masculine about him, so rough-around-the-edges smooth. The kind of man you wanted to rip off your clothes for and yell, “Take me!”
She didn’t even care what he thought of her. Her day had nearly destroyed her and she needed this. Needed him. Only when she ran out of breath did she pull back a little. She lifted her eyes to his, hoping she wouldn’t see regret there. Instead, she saw heat and hunger and need.
“I want you.” His voice was husky, rich with desire. “I’ve wanted you since I first laid eyes on you on the highway. But I have no business doing this. I shouldn’t even—”
Alix pressed two fingers to his mouth. “Please don’t try to apologize to me. I made the first move. This is my idea. I like to think I’m not stupid, despite the idiotic choices I’ve made. And, Charlie? Right now I need this, and I need you.”
She wondered if he’d run out the door if she told him she’d been having erotic thoughts about him, too, from the moment she climbed into his SUV.
Then she forgot to think. He slid his hands beneath the sleepshirt and palmed her breasts, the roughness of his hands so erotic she felt the pulse in her core throb with need. Even as he took her mouth again, he tweaked her nipples and tugged on them, tiny streaks of flame going straight to her sex then spreading throughout her body. She couldn’t stifle the little moan that floated up from her throat.
She tugged on his T-shirt, pulling until he broke the kiss and lifted his arms so she could free it. God! He had the most masculine chest she’d ever seen. Hard, ridged with muscle, and dusted with soft curls the same color as the hair on his head. She smoothed her hands over the surface, tugging on the curls and scraping her nails over the flat male nipples. He groaned, the sound vibrating in his chest and against her palms, the distinctly male sound vibrating through her.
For one tiny moment, her brain tried to right itself.
This is crazy. I barely even know this guy.
But her body didn’t care, and it told her brain to shut the hell up. The last time she’d been this instantly aroused, so ready, so electrically attracted to a man was, well, never. Right now, her life was so precarious she wasn’t sure what was going to happen in the next few hours, never mind the next week or month. She was going to enjoy this and hug the memories to her after it was all over.
Pressing her back against the pillows, he knelt between her thighs and let his gaze roam the length of her body. Heat rolled over her skin, and her breathing hitched at the look of utter lust and desire in his eyes. Then, bending to place his mouth on her, he trailed a line of kisses through the valley between her breasts, along her stomach where he paused to swirl his tongue around her navel until he reached the tiny scrap of lace that was her bikini panties. Using his teeth, he grabbed to narrow band of lace trim and tugged it over her mound, so slowly she wanted to scream at him to hurry. She wanted his hands on her, his mouth, his tongue.
He dragged the panties down until they were at her thighs then used his thumbs to spread the lips of her sex just enough so the hot bud of her clit peeped out. In the next moment, she understood what was meant by the phrase “an educated tongue.” He flicked it back and forth against the very sensitive flesh, each pass of his tongue sending heat rushing through her and making the walls of her sex pulse with need. She wanted to spread her legs, to give him full access to her body, to feel his tongue inside her, but he resisted all her efforts.
“Please,” she begged.
She fisted her hands in his hair and tried to lift his head so she could skim off her panties, but Charlie Zero was a determined man. His laugh vibrated against her, pushing her desire even higher, as his tongue worked faster and faster.
And then… Oh god! Oh god!
The orgasm burst from her, inner walls contracting as spasm after spasm shook her. She tried to squeeze her thighs together, to press against the throbbing that raced through her body again and again until she thought surely she would come apart from it.
At last it subsided, leaving her panting, sweating, and yet strangely unfulfilled.
Charlie sprinkled light kisses on her mound, her outer lips, and finally that still-sensitive little button, which he captured with his teeth and bit on it very, very gently. One last pulse of the orgasm spiked through her, and she tried again to squeeze her legs together, without success.
“Take off your jeans,” she begged. “Let me touch you.”
Charlie shook his head as he shifted between her thighs.
“If I got naked with you right now, it would be all over in seconds, and I’ve barely gotten started.”
She wanted to ask him what he meant, but then he eased her panties down her legs, peppered kisses in rows along her inner thighs. At last, he lifted her legs so they rested on his shoulders. Every bit of her was exposed to his ravenous eyes as they focused on her hot center.
And then he was on her again, this time pressing the lips of her sex open as he slid his tongue stroking the wet, sensitive flesh, lapping gently, interspersing little nips of his teeth. Alix was on fire, her eyes closed as she gave herself over to the intense pleasure.
When he slipped two fingers inside her and began a steady in-and-out rhythm, her pulse ramped up. She tried to squeeze her inner muscles around his fingers, and he added a third one, increasing the pace and filling her. She hooked her ankles together at the back of her neck and lifted herself into his touch, closing her eyes and giving herself over to the erotic sensation coursing through her.
It felt as if mere seconds had passed before another climax spiraled up from deep inside her. She rode his clever fingers, squeezing them with her inner walls that pulsated over and over. Hot little sounds drifted on the air, and she realized they were coming from her as she rode his fingers to completion.
When the last tiny spasm subsided, he lowered her legs and settled them on either side of his thighs.
“Open your eyes, Alix.” His voice had a rough edge to it, filled with desire and hunger.
She did as he asked and was stunned to see the unexpected depth of feeling in his own eyes. And the heat still swirling there. He moved forward until his mouth hovered just over hers.
“Kiss me,” he told her, “and taste yourself on my lips.”
His mouth was swollen and coated with her liquid. The taste of it on her tongue was so erotic that desire began to climb again in a body she’d thought was exhausted.
“We’re not done yet,” he told her, as if he could read her mind.
She lay there, panting, watching as he stripped off his jeans and boxer briefs. All she could think of was what an incredible male specimen he was. He could have been sculpted out of marble, his muscles so well-defined, those in his ass flexing temptingly as he moved.
And his cock! Holy sweet mother of god. Long and thick, it rose in proud majesty from his body, the heavy sac with his balls resting against his thighs. She wanted to put her mouth on him, as he had done for her, close her lips around that swollen shaft and suck him until he was dry. Yet, at the same time, she wanted to feel him inside her, filling her, the thickness of it scraping her inner walls.
Just the thought of it sent her hormones into action again. She watched as he grabbed his wallet and extracted a condom, rolling it on with a proficiency she didn’t want to know about. Sheathed, he crawled between her legs again, bent them back at the knees, and positioned the head of his cock right at her opening. He had that same intense hunger swirling in his eyes.
“You are so fucking amazing. So hot.”
Gaze still locked with hers, with one movement of his hips, he drove into her, filling every inch of her. He paused, giving her that hot stare again as if he could see clear inside her. Then he began to move. In and out, thrust and retreat, more and more, harder and harder. She wound her legs around him, locking her ankles at the small of his back so she could pull him into her even deeper.
The coil deep inside her began to unwind then Charlie would back off then drive her to the edge of the cliff again. For a man who’d said he was seconds from coming, she thought he had enormous staying power. Three times he took her to the edge. Twice, he backed off.
Then everything else disappeared as he drove hard into her again and again. All she could feel was the heaviness of his balls slapping against her and the very thick shaft filling her and rubbing her inner walls. She had the sensation of falling into a whirlpool of black velvet, spinning in wild circles. The orgasm exploded, shaking her like a slender tree in the wind, and she spasmed over and over around his pulsing shaft.
The last of the tremors subsided, and they lay there, sweat-slicked bodies pressed together. Alix didn’t know whose heartbeat she felt thudding, hers or Charlie’s, or whose breathing was more uneven. Charlie pressed his mouth to hers, but this time, the kiss was soft and tender. His lips just brushed hers, his tongue licking the surface before he slipped it inside. But there was no ravenous hunger, no silent invitation to duel, just gentle sweeps as he tasted her. One last gentle kiss before he slowly eased himself from her
Alix lay depleted, more satisfied than she’d ever been in her life. Her heart rate was finally slowing, as was her breathing, but she felt as if she’d just run a marathon. She lay there with her eyes closed, holding on to the pleasant aftermath, wondering if Charlie would slip into bed with her, pull her against his hard, firm body, and spoon against her. No, he’d probably dress and back out of the room, acting as if nothing happened.
So she was shocked when she felt him actually slide in next to her and pull the covers over both of them. He curved himself around her, one arm resting at her waist.
“Think you can go back to sleep now without any nightmares?” he asked, kissing the shell of her ear.
She smiled, even though he couldn’t see it. “I think I’ve got a much better chance now.”
She relaxed against him, her butt fitting against his rock-hard abs and stomach, his now only semi-hard erection nestled in the crevice between the cheeks of her ass.
“I can’t sleep here all night,” he told her. When she tensed, he said, “Not for anything going through that active mind of yours. I need to sleep light and be able to check outside and outside the house now and then. Alarm system or not, I trust my eyes to tell me if there’s trouble.” He paused. “Okay? But all you have to do is call out for me.”
She relaxed again and let out a soft sigh. “Okay. I’m sorry I was such a mess before.”
“Listen, Alix. After what you’ve been through and learned today, anyone would have nightmares. But rest easy. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
Her eyelids grew heavy and, secure against Charlie Zero’s solid body, she fell asleep.