The Protector (33 page)

As she followed the line of fuzz that bisected his abdomen, she saw him clench the sheet with expectancy.
That’s right. You know what’s coming to you, don’t you?
 

He emitted a groan as she cradled his turgid sex. Caressing him with her cheek, her chin, her lips, she let him know by the look in her eyes that she would settle for nothing less than his complete capitulation.
 

Maybe then, he wouldn’t leave her with Cougar. Maybe then he’d stick around.

Drawing him into the heat of her mouth, she pushed aside her insecurities and luxuriated in his maleness.

See what you’ll lose if you give me up?
She licked and swirled then took as much of him inside her mouth as she could, over and over again, until he gasped for breath, swearing incoherently.

Without warning, he lunged toward her. With a hook and a twist, he flipped her over, onto her back. Throwing himself on top of her, he wrested the reins of power. Pleased to have pushed him beyond his limits,
Eryn
welcomed his immediate and powerful possession, as he filled her in one thrust.

Ike caught
Eryn’s
keening cry into his mouth in the nick of time. Her slippery heat reassured him her outcry was a sign of pleasure, not pain. She opened to him like a flower, her thighs encircling his hips, her pelvis undulating sinuously.

He should have known she would do this to him, pushing through the door he’d tried half-heartedly to close. From their first encounter, she had refused to let him retreat into isolation. What made him think she’d back off now? With every undulation, she pulled him closer, deeper.
 

This connection between them would only make it harder to part. They should have climbed into bed fully dressed and gone straight to sleep. His head knew that; only, the rest of him had had an agenda more like
Eryn’s
. At least his reticence had wrought its own rewards, prompting her to make the first move.

The memory of her hot, hungry mouth on his cock would remain with him forever. She would soon be lost to him, but the gift of her passion would be his to cherish, always.

Oh, crap.
Reality hit him like a hammer over the head. He’d forgotten about the condom he’d stowed beneath his pillow.

“
Shhh
,” he warned, groping for it and, at the same time, withdrawing regretfully from her warmth. Palming a breast to console himself, suckled her flushed nipple as he tried ripping into the foil with just one hand. Once he’d covered himself, he shifted lower, burying his face in her steamy heat. There was no restraining himself, this time. He devoured her with all the yearning and desperation that roiled inside him, while still withholding what she begged for.

He wanted her looking him in the eye when she finally came.
 

Unable to wait any longer, he crawled over her. Bracing his weight on his elbows, he caught her face between his hands. He didn’t have to ask her to open her eyes. She was looking up at him with eyes that shone with warmth and surrender. His heart expanded painfully. The way she looked at him, it was like she felt the way he did.

He sank into her snug, slickness, gritting his teeth as her muscles contracted, milking him.

You going to remember me,
Eryn
?

Buried to the hilt, he paused, fighting to shut off his awareness of how sweetly, how snugly she gripped him. Easing a hand between their straining bodies, he thumbed the swell that he had brought to sensitivity.
Going to think of me at all when we’re apart?
 

“Say something,” he heard her gasp over the humming of his own blood. “What are you thinking, Ike?”

She must have sensed his desperation. Weighing the risk of sharing even a portion of what he felt, he ground out, “Don’t forget me.”
  

Tears filled her eyes, turning them to shimmering, violet pools. “How could I ever forget you?” she demanded. In the next instant, she threw her head back and bit her bottom lip. Her body tensed beneath him, and her beautiful face creased with rapture.

With his own release steamrolling over him, Ike fought to keep his eyes open, to memorize the way she looked climaxing with him inside her, a single tear sliding from the corner of one eye.

Shed for him.
 

Chapter Fifteen

Sleep eluded
Eryn
. She lay on a three thousand dollar mattress, surrounded by down pillows, her body flat-out exhausted and sleep-deprived. But her troubled heart kept her eyes from closing, and Ike’s request rippled over her heartstrings in an endless melody.
Don’t forget me. Don’t forget me.

How could he think, even for a moment, that she ever would? And why did he have to imply that they’d never see each other again? She wished now that she’d articulated her feelings more clearly, except that she’d been beyond speech at the time. She wanted to tell him how important he’d become to her in just five days.

When, exactly, had the jerk who’d accused her of self-medicating proven
himself
a sterling human being? Somewhere between heating water for her bath and rappelling down a cliff with her in his lap, she’d fallen head-over-heels in love with him.

Ike had more integrity than any man she’d ever known, yet he was humble to a fault. He was competent and capable beyond belief, while still patient when it came to teaching his skills to others. He might appear to be unfeeling, but beneath his tough veneer there dwelled a man utterly sensitive to her needs and wishes, especially when it came to fulfilling her in the bedroom.

What woman wouldn’t want to hold onto him forever? But how could she ask more of him when protecting her had gotten him into trouble with the law already?

She rolled slowly away from him, careful to keep her troubled thoughts from disturbing him. For the first time since she’d met him, he slept soundly, neither moving nor snoring.

Why was the FBI doing this?
she
raged, quelling the urge to punch up her pillow. They’d had their chance to keep her safe, and they’d blown it by using her for bait.

Ike, in contrast, had removed her from the threat of terror. He’d taught her how to protect herself, how to shoot and fight and think through her fear.

And for that he would get punished, if caught?

The more she considered the injustice of it, the hotter she burned. She carefully peeled back the sheets to cool off. All Ike had ever done was to carry out her father’s wishes: to liberate her from the FBI, who’d insisted she was a guest, staying in the safe house voluntarily. How, then, could they claim Ike had abducted her?

Surely Jackson saw the fallacy of such logic. If she could just talk to him, she might persuade him to convince his superiors to curtail their search.
  

Her gaze went thoughtfully to the chair by the window where she’d left her purse. Jackson’s business card was still tucked into one of the little side pockets.
  

Her pulse quickened as she debated her odds of success. Using a house phone was out of the question. The FBI would trace her call and know exactly where to find her.
But what about a cell phone?
She recalled seeing one on the island in Chris’s kitchen. Wouldn’t that give her a little anonymity?

She had to do
something
. Ike had risked so much for her; she couldn’t just lie here thinking about it.
 

With a held breath, she rolled slowly out of bed, praying she wouldn’t disturb Ike. To her relief, he slept on.

Redressing in the jeans and T-shirt belonging to Chris’s wife, Marie,
Eryn
collected her purse. She slipped into the quiet hall and closed the guestroom door behind her. The mansion stood still and silent. The vineyard’s owners had retreated to the adjacent building to finish up the day’s work.

Tiptoeing to the tidied-up kitchen, she spied the purple cell phone she had seen earlier.

With one eye on the window, she pulled Maddox’s business card out of her purse. Picturing his compassionate gaze, she punched his number into the keypad with fingers that trembled and hit talk.
  

On the other end, the ringer shrilled over and over. Just as she deliberated whether to leave a message, he picked up.

“Special Agent Maddox.
Hello?”

“Jackson?” She had difficulty finding her voice.
 

“Who’s this?” She could hear men speaking in the background.
 

“It’s
Eryn
McClellan.” Her heart beat so heavily it rocked her on her bare feet.
 

“Hold on a sec.” The voices faded and a door clicked shut. “I’m here,” he said, confidentially. “Are you okay? Are you safe?”

“Of course I’m safe. Why wouldn’t I be? We’ve been through this before, Jackson.”

“Then why are you calling me?” he asked.

“I want to know why you’re treating Ike like a criminal. You told me I was a guest at the safe house, free to leave any time. Just because Ike helped me leave that doesn’t make him a kidnapper!” she railed.

“I understand why you’re upset,” he said calmly.

“Then stop chasing us!”

“I can’t.” His deep, melodic voice grew monotone. “It’s not up to me.”

She ground the heel of her palm against her throbbing temple.
   

“Is Calhoun there with you?”

“What difference does it make?”
 

“If you two turn yourselves in, I’m sure we’ll drop the charges against him; they’re too flimsy to hold up, anyway.”

She remembered how strongly Ike was opposed to the idea. “That’s not going to happen,” she informed him.
   

Jackson was silent a while. “Then I need to tell you,
Eryn
, that I have the technology to pinpoint your location,” he said regretfully. “We’ll be showing up any minute to pick you up.”

What?
The blood drained from her head, making the room spin. “No!” She glanced wildly around.

“If you don’t want us arresting Calhoun, you need to distance yourself from him, now. Keep this phone with you and start
walking.
I’ll find you.”

“Please,”
Eryn
begged, regretting her decision to call him. “Don’t do this, Jackson. Just pretend I never called. Please!”

“This is an agency phone,
Eryn
. People scrutinize my calls. I’d be neglecting my duties if I let you both go. I’ll give you thirty minutes.” He hung up abruptly.

For a full minute,
Eryn
stared in shock at the phone in her hands.
What do I do?
The cell phone wasn’t even hers. How could she just take off with it? How could she just take off, period?

She had to wake up Ike, tell him what she’d done.

She cringed at the thought. He would assume she’d betrayed his trust, having gone and done the single thing he’d told her not to do. But that hadn’t been her intention at all.

“Oh, God.”
There was just one course of action left: to do exactly as Jackson had suggested. It was the only way to keep Ike from getting arrested. Once she was back in FBI custody, she’d convince the agents that he hadn’t broken any laws.

Scribbling a note promising to return the phone or to pay for the cost of replacing it, she left it on the counter.