Chapter Twelve
No sooner had the door of their suite clicked shut than Katrina turned to Mitch and clung to him.
The ferocity of his grip let her know that his emotional state was similarly distraught. But whereas she was being made to return to Barcelona to testify, Mitch was free to continue his vacation as if nothing had happened. Maybe, if he hadn’t been a SEAL, he’d have been detained and made to bear witness, but his job apparently gave him immunity.
Between the two of them, her plight was most certainly worse.
“Listen,” he finally said, cupping her face so she was forced to meet his gaze. “This is going to be behind us one day. We need to hold onto that thought.”
She nodded in agreement even as helpless tears filled her eyes.
“I’m not going to forget you,” he added, his voice roughening. “I’m going to keep abreast of everything that happens. We’ll keep in touch as much as we’re able. And when it’s all over, we’ll see each other again.”
Too choked up to speak, she forced a smile of gratitude.
“I want to give you something,” he decided, releasing her suddenly to cross to the desk in the suite’s living room. Rifling through the drawer, he located a pen, paper, and an envelope. She neared him in time to see him scribble a physical address and, below that, an email address.
Slanting her an enigmatic look, he moved into their bedroom, and she trailed him, watching as he pulled a set of keys from his duffel bag. He slid a single key off the key ring, folded it into the sheet of paper, then slid the paper into the envelope, sealing the key inside by licking the adhesive. He handed her the envelope.
“What’s it for?” she asked.
“It’s a key to my cabin, along with the address and my email. Write to me when you can. I want you to meet me there when this is over.”
Hope buoyed her spirits as she lifted her gaze to his. A portion of her despair left her, easing her oppression. “You have a spare?” she guessed.
“Several,” he said reaching for her again and stroking her arms from shoulder to elbow. “I want you to know you have a place to call home when this is over. You can stay in my cabin as long as you need to. It’s a healing place.”
The intimation that she would need to heal after her ordeal brought her dismay rushing back. At the same time, gratitude and cautious hope lent her unexpected resolve. She and Mitch still had a shot at a future together. She needn’t give up on them entirely. Laying the envelope aside, Katrina embraced him a second time while looking him in the eye.
“Thank you,” she said, keeping her sorrow in check for now. Their time was too precious to waste on tears.
Sorrow and desire blazed in his blue eyes.
With a muttered curse, he kissed her, crushing her lips beneath his, pulling her body close as if to sear the memory of her onto his senses. His feverish hands brought a whimper of want to her lips. Lifting her suddenly off her feet, he carried her several steps to the bed, spilled her gently on the mattress, then lowered himself over her.
Katrina melted under his welcome weight. Wrapping her jean-clad thighs around him, she aligned her hips with his, gasping at the jolt of pleasure that went through her when their bodies came together. Every nerve strained for his possession. Her heart raced, fueling her need for air.
“Mitchell,” she murmured, burning with desire for him.
Levering himself onto his knees, he released the button of her jeans, tugged at the zipper, and then, with one determined movement, stripped her jeans down her legs. His open mouth followed their descent, searing against her bare skin as he nibbled and kissed his way to the apex of her thighs.
Katrina had to bite her lip to keep her cries in check. Sinking her fingers into his thick hair, she climbed the rungs of pleasure, wanting desperately for the moment to last while yearning for fulfillment.
“Oh, God!” His fingers, lips and tongue found their way beneath her panties. He teased her into a state of mindless delight.
“Wait!” It was happening too quickly. She longed to slow it down, to revel in the moment. “I want you with me,” she insisted, tugging him upward.
He stood up, then, undressing quickly. Katrina watched in fascination as his shirt came off, exposing a chest rippling with muscle and dusky hair. As he bent to pull his jeans off his feet, she glimpsed lean hips and powerful thighs. He stood up, displaying an arousal that was both beautiful and proud.
Before joining her on the bed, he rummaged in his bag, withdrawing a packet of condoms.
“Oh,” she said, having given no thought whatsoever to protection.
With a seriousness that brought back the memory of her situation, Mitch tore open a wrapper and sheathed himself. Then he glanced up, sending her a look that curled her toes and made her tingle all over. In the next moment, he was looming over her, blocking her view of the iron chandelier hanging from the ceiling. She closed her eyes as he bent and tenderly kissed her. With hungry hands, she explored him, running her palms over his smooth skin, feeling the terrain of muscle and sinew beneath.
“Katrina.”
His husky tone caused her to open her eyes, watching as he lowered himself onto his forearms, his blue gaze burning into hers.
“Look at me,” he requested.
Her blood flashed hot as the smooth head of his sex nudged her opening. Watching her response, he sank slowly, inexorably into her, filling her so thoroughly, with such exquisite intention, that her eyelids fluttered closed once more.
He withdrew and filled her again, drawing a cry of abandon from her lips. “Mitchell!”
“Yes, baby,” he gritted, sounding like a man in pain.
Catching her straying hands, he drew them over her head and pinned them to the pillows. Then, responding to her desperation, he drove himself into her, launching her pleasure to the stratosphere with each deep stroke.
Katrina tightened around him as she strained to greet him. Having felt him like this, she would never let him go. She would treasure him in her heart and in her soul forever.
“I love you,” she heard herself cry as her climax stormed her suddenly.
With a growl, he surged into her one more time, burying his face in her hair as he succumbed to his own rapture. They shuddered simultaneously, deeply joined.
With his heart still pounding against her breasts, Mitchell lifted his head and looked at her. She was everything he’d ever wanted in a mate.
“I love you, too,” he said, sounding a bit bemused.
This moment, Katrina thought. This was the moment she would revisit in the weeks, the months of loneliness ahead of her. She would replay it again and again, feeding on the memory, recalling the look on Mitch’s earnest face to give her courage; the memory of how it felt with their bodies entwined, still relishing the aftershocks of pleasure.
I will feel this way again, she swore to herself. This will not be the end.
***
At 7 a.m., Mitch traced the delicate line of Katrina’s spine to rouse her from her slumber. They had both slept fitfully, finding solace from impending doom in the delights of getting physically acquainted. He’d never experienced such perfect chemistry before.
Their night together—as haunted as it was by the specter of dawn—had sealed his decision to wait for her. She would come to him when the trial was over, when The Liberation Front ceased to pose a threat to anyone.
If only he could be certain del Rey would keep his promises. What if Katrina was charged, after all, with colluding with her brothers? She could be sentenced to years in prison. How long was Mitch willing to wait? Or what if members of The Liberation Front found some way to strike back at her, in spite of del Rey’s protection? Could the captain really keep her safe, or was that feat beyond the limits of his powers?
Mitch’s worries, plus the added distraction of Katrina’s naked body, had kept him from sleeping. Then, too, Austin and Chuck had swept into their shared suite around two in the morning. Mitch had rolled out of bed to apprise them of Katina’s situation, his news putting a damper on their high spirits.
Mitch glanced again at his watch—7:10. “It’s time to get up, sweetheart,” he murmured. Del Rey wasn’t going to give them a minute past eight before he came after them.
Issuing a moan of protest, Katrina turned to face him. Hooking a thigh around his hips, she snuggled as close to him as was feasible, making him regret that they’d depleted his modest stash of condoms. As much as he longed to make love to her again, he wasn’t about to compound her uncertain fate by leaving her pregnant.
Skin to skin, he rocked her gently as she issued a sob against his neck.
“It’s going to be all right,” he murmured. “You’ll get through this. Eventually it’ll all be behind you, and you can come find me. I’ll be waiting,” he added. “I’ll wait as long as it takes.”
Sniffing, she tipped her head back. Just enough pearly light fringed the shutters for him to make out her beautiful features.
“I’ve never met anyone like you,” she murmured. With trembling fingers, she traced the lines of his face as if to memorize them.
The lump in his throat kept him from answering. He was about to reiterate the need to rise when she pressed her lips to his, pulled away, and rolled with resignation from the bed to meet her fate.