Forced Disappearance (18 page)

To his credit, he got with the program in a heartbeat. His mouth slanted over hers, and the next second she was pressed so closely to his hard body she could have no doubt how much he wanted this.

One last time
. She opened herself to his kisses.
One last time
, so she would have at least some good memories to take back with her to her lonely apartment in D.C.

She would never see him again save on TV when he began his political campaign. Someday, when she was watching him with the right wife by his side, at least she would have the memory of the night they’d spent at the embassy.

She tugged the bathrobe off his shoulders, revealing his scarred body.

“
How’s
the back?”

He’d received first aid when they’d arrived.

“It’ll heal.”

He looked nothing like the preppy trust-fund nerd she’d once thought him to be. He’d survived trial by fire. He was as tough as any soldier. He was the type of man who fought for what he wanted, who protected what was his.

He was all that, and kind, funny, brilliant. Thank God she was smart enough not to fall in love with him. That would have been a disaster.

Her fingers slid up his chest, along the ripples of muscles under his warm skin.

His eyes darkened, focused on her face. He reached up and his long fingers slowly pushed her robe down her shoulders, the soft glide of the material over her naked breasts a tantalizing torture. He bared her upper torso to his hungry gaze, then he hooked a finger into her belt and tugged. And then she stood naked before him.

He looked at her as if she was the most beautiful woman on earth, as if she was the
only
woman on earth. She fell for it, of course. How could she not? Who could resist the need that boiled in his gaze?

She untied his belt and sent the robe pooling at his feet.

He had the body of a warrior, lean and scarred.

His erection strained toward her belly, the tip blue-red with blood, more than ready. A thrill shot through her at the obvious proof of how much he wanted her.

His hands caressed a tingling path up her arms. She moved toward the bed, but his fingers curled around her shoulders and held her in place. He kissed her mouth one more time before bending to her nipples to tease them into aching buds. Then he dropped to his knees in front of her and grabbed her by the hips, pulling her closer.

She couldn’t put her hands on his scarred shoulders, so she placed them on his head, shoved her seeking fingers into his thick, wet hair, even as liquid need filled her limbs, making her legs unsteady.

He held on to her right hip with his left hand while nudging her thighs apart with the other. Then he parted her flesh with his fingers and found the nub that ached for his touch.

He leaned forward and sealed his warm lips around her clitoris, sucked it gently while she hung on to him for support. She might have protested, but speech was beyond her at this point.

Need grew and swirled, mixed with heat, with naked desire as she watched his dark hair against the white skin of her belly. Her breath hitched when he removed his hand from her hip and ran his fingers up her inner thigh.

“I want you,” he said, his voice raspy, as he dipped a finger into her opening, then rubbed his moist fingertip up and down. A second finger joined the first before she could catch her breath, teasing her entry.

She let her head drop back, her eyes squeezing shut. She held on tight. She wasn’t going to be able to take much more of this.

One long finger entered her first, then another, his mouth keeping up its gentle suckling the whole time, only pulling back now and then to let the teasing tip of his tongue torment her.

Inside her, his fingers curled against the backside of her clitoris, and he massaged the sensitive bundle of nerves, sending a mad pleasure through her.

She remembered how back in college he’d have her naked and spread eagle on the bed, experimenting and constantly surveying. “How does this feel?” “What about this depth?” “What about this angle?” “I think applying heat would increase blood flow and make it feel even better.”

He’d have her mindlessly lost in pleasure with ridiculous ease. And he had never tired of her body. It’d been a miracle that they ever made it to class.

She’d blocked out a lot of those memories over the years. She’d made herself forget the incredible way he could make her feel, so she wouldn’t miss him.

But there was no denying the here and now. Pleasure spiraled out of control inside her, waves and waves washing over her until her legs folded.

He caught her, held her in his arms with a satisfied look on his face.

“It’s not polite to gloat.” But as she turned her face to his warm skin to inhale his scent, she grinned into his shoulder. He probably thought he won. He probably thought he proved something. He liked reducing her to a puddle, did he? Two could play this game.

“You’re going to have to pull me up. I don’t think I can stand on my own,” she said weakly as she sat back on her heels.

But when he pushed to his feet, instead of reaching for his hands, she leaned forward, grabbed him by the hips, and closed her mouth around the tip of his erection.

Air hissed from between his teeth. He went utterly still, a fierce concentration on his face. “Give a man some warning. You’ll give me a heart attack.”

She pulled back long enough to say, “I think you’re safe from that. All the blood is down here.” Then she tasted him again, slowly, carefully drawing him into her mouth. One hand went to wrap around the base of his cock, the other cupped his testicles.

A deep groan of pleasure escaped him. “We could have had more fun, but if you’re determined to end this in the next two seconds—”

She sucked on him softly at first, then harder.

His hand came to rest on the top of her head. “Miranda, honey . . . you’re killing me.”

Who was the boss now? Her lips curved into a grin around him. She used the pressure of her tongue and her lips simultaneously.

Until he reached down and lifted her up, tossed her on the bed. He grabbed for his robe and produced a foil packet with a grin. “We have a fully stocked bathroom cabinet.”

He rolled on the condom in one smooth move, then covered her with his body. He pushed her knees up as he plunged his hard cock inside her all the way, filling her.

Her private parts were still sensitized from her orgasm, all the blood still oh so close to the surface. The sensation of him stretching her nearly undid her all over again. One more move and . . .

But he wasn’t moving. He held himself motionless inside her.

His burning gaze held hers. “Don’t you dare move. Give me a minute. That’s an order.” His lips flattened, his face tightening with concentration.

“You’re not the boss of me.” She wrapped her legs around him, tilted her pelvis, and drew him in even deeper.

He swore between his teeth, pulled back, then plunged in again, hard, unrestrained.

And then she realized her tactical mistake. Giving him a minute to cool off would have given her a minute to cool off too. As it was, the hot, heavy pleasure built deep inside her again with alarming speed.

She was so going to lose it. He was right. They weren’t going to last another minute.

Her back arched. She felt her eyes roll back in her head. She was at the peak, on the edge of the precipice. And then she tumbled over, into the sea of warm pleasure that closed in over her.

She barely registered as Glenn groaned her name, convulsing inside her.

Okay. Wow. Okay.

Glenn tried to catch his breath as he lay on his side next to her, watching her relax in post-orgasmic glow. His heart beat so hard against his ribcage, he thought it might crack a rib. If he was to talk her back into his life, he was going to have to up the time he spent at the pool. Or she
was
going to give him a heart attack.

She was everything he’d remembered and more. So much more, dammit. She might have thought that there was no room in her heart next to Matthew’s memories, but she was going to have to make room. He needed to prove to her that it was possible.

“I want to see you when we get back home,” he told her again. He’d keep asking until she agreed.

She drew a deep breath, her gaze becoming shuttered. In the space of a split second, it was as if an invisible barrier had been dropped into place between them.

“No. I’m sorry. The sex doesn’t change anything.” She pulled the sheet up to cover herself. Yet another barrier. “We’ve been locked together for the last couple of days in a life-threatening situation. The adrenaline rush got the better of us. It would have happened with anyone.”

She was trying to explain away what they had. She’d left him before, and now she was preparing to leave him again.

“Because of Matthew?” Jealousy hit swiftly, making his shoulders tense. “Because you’re still in love with him?”

“No.”

He relaxed his muscles. Okay. As long as she wasn’t in love with anyone else, there was a chance she could love him again. “Because I have more money? It means nothing. It’s a tool to use. I’m a successful businessman. You’re a successful investigator. One comes with money, the other doesn’t. It’s a minor detail.”

Her eyes said he was full of BS. But she didn’t argue with him. “I don’t care about your money.”

“Then what? I think what we have here is special.”

She was a reasonable person, logical, in every other aspect but this. He would make her see the truth this time, the elemental truth that they belonged together.

But she stubbornly said, “We’re not right for each other.”

“Don’t pretend that there’s nothing between us. Give me some credit.”

“Your life path is different from my life path.” She moved back from him.

He lifted himself to his elbow. “That’s bullshit.”

She yanked the entire sheet to her side and sat up, wrapping herself in the white expanse of cotton, then went to sit in the chair that faced the bed. Her face held a mix of emotions, none of them resembling the love and devotion he wanted. Instead, she looked torn, desperate, in pain. He didn’t understand any of that, even as her obvious misery tugged at his heartstrings.

“What’s wrong?”

“You are someone in the public eye.” She clasped her hands on her lap. “You’ll be even more in the public eye once you enter politics.”

“So what? You’re camera shy now?”

She pressed her lips together. Her voice dropped. “My past won’t stand up to scrutiny.”

“What are you talking about? You served our country. You’re a hero. Look at what you’re doing now. Saving lives. You just saved mine.” His voice held more snap than he’d meant, impatience pushing him. He wanted her back in bed with him instead of arguing.

“I killed someone,” she snapped back.

“You were a soldier. That was your job. I’m pretty sure I killed a guardsmen and probably the commander as we were escaping, but I’ll be damned if I feel guilty about it.”

She watched him with big brown eyes, all spunk draining from her face. She wrapped her arms around herself and somehow seemed to shrink, her expression becoming haunted as shadows filled her face.

She swallowed. Shook her head. “I killed someone outside of combat. An unarmed man. My superior officer. I received a dishonorable discharge from the army.” She gave him a very small, incredibly sad smile. “I’m not politician-wife material.”

The pain in her voice twisted his heart.

He stared at her for a moment. What was he supposed to say to that?

He pulled the blanket up to his waist and sat up in bed, a million questions flying through his stunned brain. “Can you tell me what happened?”

She rubbed her hand over her face, then dropped it back to her lap. Watching her in so much misery killed him. He wanted to go to her, but everything in her closed body language said to stay away. She didn’t want him to comfort her, which added more layers of emotion to the already emotionally charged conversation.

As a guy, and an engineer, emotions weren’t his specialty. He preferred problems to be of a mathematical nature. He liked it when he was in control of a situation. He liked it when he had solutions. Preferably, solutions he could personally implement.

He was all the way out to sea here. “Miranda?”

“I was with Personnel Recovery.” Her voice turned wooden, her gaze moving to a spot on the wall behind him as she withdrew even more. “Two soldiers went AWOL from a Southeast Asian army base. Thailand. My CO and I were sent to find them. All signs pointed toward them just walking off base and getting lost in the red-light district.”

Her lips flattened, as if from physical pain, as if just saying the words hurt.

But she continued. “My commanding officer and I split up, looking for them. The pleasure strip was a pretty grim place. I couldn’t wait to get the hell out. I found the soldiers, escorted them back to base for discipline. I couldn’t find my CO. He didn’t answer his cell. I went back to make sure nobody jumped him. Places like that, they don’t like outsiders who go around asking questions. I found him inside one of the seediest brothels on the far edge.”