ArousingMemories (16 page)

Not being able to resist taking her completely, Sev rose up
before her and covered her. His cock sank gratefully into her pussy, and she
welcomed him in with a sigh. Her arms reached up to hug him close. The warm
core of her body, softer than a man’s and a different sort of heat, clenched
around his hardness. It was the perfect place for him to be. It was home.

Haley clasped Sev to her body and concentrated on how
perfectly his cock filled her. How she had missed this. How she had missed this
man. His skin was hot and a little slick to her touch, testifying to his
arousal and the effort he was making to please her. His strokes were hard and
deep the way they both liked it. Sev’s head dipped down to take one of her
sensitive nipples into his mouth. His tongue and lips licked and tugged,
causing her back to arch. She raised her legs to take his cock in deeper and
help his body press into her clit. Despite having had the two shattering
orgasms, her body sang with a building climax.

Still, there was something missing, something more that
would rock her world in a new and delicious way. Opening her eyes, she spied
Noah kneeling beside them, watching the scene with longing. His eyes were
bright and his cock standing hard. She held out a hand to him and was pleased
when he clasped it. When she tugged him closer, he raised his eyebrows at her.
So she told him what she wanted.

“Join us.”

Sev’s head popped up at the sound of her voice. He looked at
her, then over his shoulder at Noah. There was a second’s hesitation before he
nodded once at the younger man and shifted to a kneeling position between her
legs. His cock was embedded in her pussy, which ached and pulsed around the
hard flesh. He bent her legs farther toward her head. It served the dual
purpose of connecting them as deeply as possible while giving Noah access to
Sev’s ass. She smiled up at him, pleased. She knew he was willing to “bottom”
to the right man, and Noah was the right man for both of them.

Sev rocked back and forth in a gentle motion that kept her
climax at a point just below peaking. He placed sweet kisses along the inside
of her knees while Noah moved behind him. She could tell the moment Noah
started playing with Sev’s ass. The older man’s eyes closed and a deep moan
pushed past his lips. A minute later, and he growled. “Stop pussyfooting
around, boy. Shove it in.”

All Haley could see from where she lay was Noah reaching
around to hug Sev’s waist and the way Sev bit his lip as Noah surged into him.
She felt it, too. Sev’s body pushed harder against hers as he was invaded from
behind. Then it was Noah’s turn to set the pace, to make the chain reaction
that connected the three of them together. This time they moved forward and
back as one. Noah pushed Sev into her as Noah pushed into Sev.

She forced her eyes to stay open so she could watch her two
lovers. She wanted to see the looks of ecstasy on their faces. Tightening the
grip of her pussy around Sev’s cock, she imagined he was doing the same to
Noah’s. At that moment, she envied the men because they knew the pleasure of
being fucked as well as the pleasure of fucking someone else. She would never
fully experience what they did, but she could taste a little of it right now.
More, she was with the two men who she cared about most. The joy she was
experiencing would never be repeated. She loved Sev, but they couldn’t find
common ground for a life together, and her love for Noah was never going to be
the same as for Sev. It wouldn’t be fair to stay with the younger man when her
heart longed for another. Still, they had this time together and they could
make the most of it.

Both men were breathing hard, flush and slick from their
efforts, as was she. Her climax, though, was hanging tough. She needed more.
“Harder, faster, Noah.”

The words were barely out of her mouth when the men started
to speed up. Reaching up to hang on to the headboard, Haley braced against the
push of the two strong men attached to her. Her body not only took the assault,
it reveled in it. Her blood roared through her veins, rushing to her clit. Her
vision winked out as the orgasm erupted out of her. Her head fell back and a
cry tore out of her throat. Her voice was joined by a duet of male ones,
singing the same song. The pounding of flesh didn’t stop until the last of the
cries died. First Noah, then Sev tumbled off her, and the three of them lay
still on the bed. This time, though, Sev was in the middle. Haley curled into
his body and clung to it, afraid to let go, knowing when she finally did, it would
be forever.

Chapter Ten

The agonizing sound of a woman’s screams, the stench of
burning flesh, a steady flow of blood running past his line of sight, they all
roared through Noah’s mind and tore him from his sleep. He sat bolt upright in
bed, yelling and clawing at imaginary enemies. The back of his hand connected
with something hard. A muffled oath was followed by strong hands clasping him
by the shoulders, shaking him and holding him tight at the same time.

“Noah! It’s okay, you’re safe.”

He was pulled into a tight embrace, one that he fought
against for a few seconds before his mind registered who had him. “Sev,” he
said in a broken voice.

“That’s right, it’s me. You’re safe.”

“Yes, safe,” a feminine voice added as a smaller, softer
hand caressed his head.

“Haley,” he breathed out her name and settled into Sev’s
powerful hold, his eyes closed while he tried to steady his breathing. His
memories were back, at least some of them. He knew these two people now, truly
knew them and what they meant to him and to each other. He remembered, too,
what he had tried so hard to bury forever.

He shuddered. “Jill. Oh God, Jill.” He wanted to turn from
those sights and sounds and smells that haunted him, but he stopped himself. He
needed to remember. People were counting on him. He needed to help them if only
for Jill’s sake.

“You did what you had to do, Noah,” Sev said in a gentle
voice. “She understood.”

“I know,” he managed to say, swamped by his misery. “‘Don’t
talk’ was the last coherent thing she said.” He forced his eyes open and saw
Haley’s concerned face. She was naked, they all were. He remembered how his two
lovers had vied to fuck his memories back. “Your plan worked finally.” Pushing
against Sev’s hard chest, he sat up. With an impatient swipe at his face, he
dried the tears that had leaked unnoticed while he was being held.

“What do you remember about the attack?” Haley looked at him
intently. His boss was back and his lover gone.

Noah strained to get his thoughts in a coherent order. It
was tough. Everything was starting to cascade into his brain, yet not all of it
made sense, and there were gaps. “It’s a bridge,” he pushed out. “They’re going
after a bridge.”

“Which one?” Haley pressed. As she asked the question, she
sprang out of bed and started shoving on her clothes.

Noah shook his head in frustration. “I’m not sure. Something
about a poet, I think.”

“Longfellow?” she asked in a voice muffled by the shirt she
was pulling over her head.

Was that it? Damn it, he wasn’t sure. “Maybe.”

“What the hell does a nineteenth-century poet have to do
with the Fourth of July?” Sev demanded. He, too, was out of bed and dressing in
a hurry.

“Nothing I know of,” was Haley’s tart reply. “But maybe
that’s what we’ve been doing wrong. We assumed it would relate to the Revolutionary
War. The Longfellow Bridge connects Boston to Cambridge. It’s distinctive to
the area and if it blows, a lot of pedestrians and cars will end up in the
Charles River. Dozens of people will die. The symbolism might not be as strong,
but the devastation would give the Sons exactly the kind of statement they’re
looking for, the effing bastards.”

“Fair enough,” Sev agreed. “Let’s get going.”

“I’ll alert Ms. Mac and have everyone out in the field
converge on that point. The good news is we can cordon the area off easily
enough.”

Noah watched as his two lovers finished dressing and headed
for the door. He felt left out. “Hey,” he called and jumped off the bed. “I
want in on this.”

Haley and Sev both stopped by the door and turned to look at
him. They shook their heads. “You’re not well enough,” Haley said, not unkindly
and came over to him to give him a sweet kiss goodbye. “I’m so happy your
memories are coming back and not just because it will save lives today. You’re
going to be all right and back to work in no time. Not today, though, okay?
It’s going to take a while before you’re ready for fieldwork again. In the
meantime, you can help by letting Ms. Mac know if you remember anything else.”

Knowing she was right and hating it, Noah sighed and nodded.
“Be careful, both of you,” he added, looking at Sev.

The other man smiled and strode back to him to give a kiss
of his own. “We will.”

Then they were gone, and Noah was alone once more. In the
silence, his memories tortured him. No longer able to suppress them, he turned
on the television to help drown them out a bit. There wasn’t much on except the
early morning news. He lay back in the bed still warm from the bodies that had
spent the night there, making love in various ways. It smelled like sex, too,
and it helped to ease the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. He was safe.
Haley and Sev could be counted on to ensure the safety of everyone else. He
propped up a couple of pillows and tried to relax. The television droned on
with news and ads. One for a local college played and with a jolt, he sat up.
Damn it all, they had the wrong poet. Jumping up, he stumbled his way into his
jeans and ran to find Ms. Mac.

* * * * *

Haley raced down the Massachusetts Turnpike toward the exit
to Storrow Drive. She was driving because this was her turf, although she knew
Sev hated being a passenger. He liked control, but so did she, and they were
both spoiling for a fight. In so many ways they were perfect for each other,
yet she knew last night, as wonderful as it had been for them as well as Noah,
was the last time they would make love to each other. There was no way to
reconcile his need to protect her and her need to protect others. Even now, she
could see out of the corner of her eye how tense he was. He was worried about
her, she suspected, although he hadn’t said anything. He knew better, yet she
knew him too well not to see his thoughts.

Her phone rang. She had plugged it into the dash, so she
reached over and hit the speaker button. “What?” she demanded as she exited the
Pike and whooshed through the Fast Lane section of the tollbooth.

The clipped voice of Ms. Mac came through. “Mr. Turner has
something he needs to tell you.”

“Haley, Sev.” Noah sounded out of breath. “I fucked up.
We’ve got the wrong nineteenth-century poet. It’s not Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow. It’s Ralph Waldo Emerson.”

“Huh?” As she sped down Storrow Drive, she tried to make
sense of this new revelation.

“Is there an Emerson Bridge?” Sev asked.

Haley shook her head. “No. There’s an Emerson College.”

Noah’s voice cut in. “That’s what made me realize it was
Emerson. I saw an ad for the college on television. I’m sure that it’s
Emerson.”

“Are you sure it’s a bridge?” she asked, slowing down, no
longer certain where she should be headed.

“Yes.” Noah’s voice sounded strained. Poor guy. His memories
were back but not enough to make everything clear.

She racked her brains, trying to see the connection. Bridge.
Emerson. Revolutionary War. Poet. Poem. “Fuck me!” she exclaimed and jammed the
car fast enough to catch the next crossover to the west side of the road.

“What?” Sev demanded.

She spared him a glance. “It’s not the Longfellow Bridge in
Boston that they’re going after. It’s the Old North Bridge in Concord. Or as
Emerson termed it ‘the rude bridge that arched the flood’. That’s where the
British started getting their asses handed to them after they killed a few guys
in Lexington.”

“Yes!” Noah’s excited voice confirmed. “That’s it, that’s
where they’re planting a bomb and it will be set to go off sometime during the
day.”

“When tourists are around,” added Sev with disgust.

“Exactly,” Haley confirmed. “We’ve being giving these
terrorists too much credit. Yes, they want symbolism and a lot of deaths, but
they don’t have the brains or stomach to maneuver around the kind of security
Boston or even Lexington has right now. Concord gives them enough of what
they’re after, only with a lot less security to deal with. We should have
realized it from the beginning.”

She turned back onto the Mass Pike, heading west. It wasn’t
the most direct route to Concord, but it would put her first on Route 128 and
then Route 2. She could go a lot faster on those roads than the local ones that
cut a more direct path. “Ms. Mac, please notify everyone of the change in
location, but we’ll have to go in quieter now. We can’t afford to upset the
populace and we want to catch the bastards in the act. No one’s getting away
this time.”

“Agreed,” was the clipped reply and the phone went dead.

Haley looked at Sev. “Hang on.”

* * * * *

Sev watched Haley give final instructions to the other
operatives in a low tone. They were twenty strong now, and all hidden away in
the town of Concord near the Old North Bridge. Recon had confirmed six guys
were working in the Concord River under the bridge. They were planting
explosives in the quiet of the morning, hoping to kill God knew how many people
later in the day. The plan was to form a ring around the assholes and close in
on them as stealthily as possible, kill or capture all of them. The entire operation
was hoped to occur without alerting the locals as to what was happening and
even more hopefully, without any of the explosives going off.

It would help if none of their people got shot and killed,
too, Sev thought. And by their people, he especially meant Haley. She was
something to watch, though, he had to give her that, and he knew a sense of
pride as well because he had trained her. Her thick hair was pulled back in a
tight ponytail, her luscious body covered in dark fatigues and a flak jacket.
She’d never looked more fuckable to him, and the memories of what they had
shared the night before pumped blood to his cock. Of course the adrenaline
itself had him semi-hard already. The thought of Haley in his arms, welcoming
him into her heated core stiffened him even more. The thought of her going into
danger, however, had the opposite effect.