Carried Away (2010) (6 page)

she wasnt connected to the Agency. Perhaps Secret Service, protecting the president or the currency. Could have been the United Nations, anti-terrorist op. Or NSA. Deepest of deep black organizations. Since when? he asked her, wrapping her as close as he could get her without breaking eye contact. More than three years ago. After I started to win awards for my pictures. He pressed her head to his chest and she came so willingly, so gratefully, he thought she might crawl inside his skin and stay there. Okay by him. You knew who I was, what I did for a living. Hell, I was with the FBI back then! She sniffed, a haughty sound of joy amid the seriousness of her revelation. An Agency op was going to reveal to a Bureau man who she was? And spoil the competition? He hugged her. Babe, you know what I mean. You could have told me. Saved us both a lot of heartache. She looked up at him again, shaking her head. Wed known each other four months. I knew you were ... safe for me to date. You ran a check on me? Hell, why ask. He knew this answer, too. Standard Operating Procedure. You know it is. Especially when youre sleeping with the guy, he teased her. She wrapped her arms around his waist and adored his features with her loving eyes. In those four months with you, I got no sleep. 48 Carried Away Who wanted to? He kissed her then, an acceptance of what she was implicit in the melding of their lips. He drew back to see that she was still troubled by what shed revealed. He knew, too, that she wasnt going to feel totally free until shed told him everything. Well, he wasnt going to feel totally free of his anger that shed left him, either, until he knew all her secrets. He bent, scooped her up under her legs and carried her back to their bed. He set her down, caught pillows and plumped them against the headboard, then sat and brought her up to rest against his chest. He kissed her forehead. Pulled the covers up to their waists and bent to take one of her nipples in his mouth and suck her hard and long. She sighed and he kissed his way up to her lips. I want to know everything, Coco, he said looking into her eyes as he ran a hand down her stomach to her tight pussy and sank his longest finger inside her wet little cunt. I cant protect you, I cant help you unless you tell me what youre doing, who youre chasing and why you wanted me here with you. She smiled ruefully. You think Ill have half a mind for that with the way you are ... oh, um ... stroking me? Youll get used to my demands, he told her with determination. I intend to be inside your body in every way I can for a damn long time to come. He grinned wickedly as he rubbed his finger across her clit. Tell me everything, babe. Im listening. She inhaled deeply. You like to torment me. She arched as he scraped his nail over her nub. Im going to make it a habit, too. He twisted his hand inside her slick channel a bit farther. Two of his fingers were now coated with thick hot cream and his cock was throbbing to be buried deep and swimming in her juices. Im going to be very good to you while you reveal all your secrets. She bit her lower lip and closed her eyes as he stroked her pussy slowly, sweetly. By the time I got out of college, I had put aside the idea of becoming a professional 49 Cerise DeLand dancer. I was good at pegging people in photography and thought Id use what Id learned in the Middle East to build a career. Having Dads connections helped. Makes sense, Grant added, his rhythm in her core now a soft beat. I loved the experience when I was a kid and he was the ambassador to Dubai and later to Egypt and to Israel. She was drifting backward to memories of her childhood, rocking to Grants fingering of her channel. Youre outrageous, you know, to put your fingers inside me when I am trying to be serious. He gave her the lopsided look of a bad boy. But Im loving it. So are you. Talk, babe. You get a reward once youre done. You are bribing me with sex? She was sputtering with glee. Good. Whatever she was about to tell him was not pretty. He had to keep her talking, mindless and his. He lifted his brows at her and halted his caresses. Should I stop? No! She caught his wrist. Ive just never been interrogated while being finger-fucked. He rolled his eyes. New methods of torture. Men are coming up with them all the time. Yeah? Ummm. Wow, yeahh, she breathed. They didnt teach us in training classes how to respond to this. He took his fingers infinitely deeper inside her core. None of those teachers knew what a succulent pupil they had. None of them could make me wet, thats for sure. He chuckled, then circled her clit. None like me, huh? Oh! No, no. Definitely not. She arched backward. Her breast a ripe temptation he could not resist treating to a small bite. He grinned against her skin. You were saying? 50 Carried Away Yes. Well. I wanted to be in the diplomatic corps. But I had taken quite an interest in... Oh, my, could you please pinch my clit again, sweetie, Im very interested in that. She trembled in his arms as he complied with her request. You were interested in what, babe? he prodded her, shifting to accommodate the rising demands of his very ready cock. Damn, hed better slow his seduction of her or theyd do nothing tonight except get laid. Classes in photographic realism. And I won a few awards. So out of college, I got a job at a small non-profit that worked in the Middle East. Is that when you took those pictures of the children in Cairo without shoes? She smiled, clearly proud he knew about them. How did you learn about those? Not hard. Those pictures wound up in every newspaper from here to Tel Aviv. I liked the work, but I needed something more. Almost four years ago, I got a lead on a political faction in Cairo that wanted publicity in the West. They were opposed to their own government and they sent me an invitation to come take pictures of their communes. They were communists? She shook her head. More in practice than in doctrine. They thought they had gotten a bad rap from the international press and they offered me safe passage if I would come and take shots. I did. And those won you a few journalism awards. I remember, he said, smiling at her. What then? After I finished the project for them, their leaders took me with them on a trip into the desert where they were to meet with other leaders of their network in other countries. I put on a black abaya, dressed like an Arab woman, a devout one with a boushiya to conceal my face. I wore the long black gloves, too, to cover my hands. But that exposure to those at the meeting was the most valuable thing to come out of that visit. She took hold of his wrist now. Hed stopped caressing her seconds ago, but she 51 Cerise DeLand made the point to hold him still for what she wanted to reveal. I saw more than a dozen leaders of different groups from Middle Eastern countries. All of them associated with each other. Most of them responsible democratic parties. Like the array of parties in European governments. Exactly. The best thing about the event was that they spoke freely about their goals, their leaders, their numbers and their platforms. She dropped her gaze to her hands. But there were five in attendance who were different. Although the man who had invited meAhmed Suleiman was his namethought everyone was devoted to democratic principles, these five had recently changed their ideas. Still they had come to the meeting. They were dressed in total black. Two wore balaclavas. All looking forbidding. Surly, gruff. Especially to the women who were there. And as a group, they were friendly to each other, but not to the others. They tried to incite others to join them, proclaiming only they could change the regions status quo. Only they had the right ideas and the right tactics. Grant held his breath. Which were? Violence. Riots and bombings. He tightened his hold on her. Of course, they didnt know that one of the woman in their midst had a photographic memory. He cursed. Did they have any idea that you were? American? I didnt think so. I never showed my face or my hair. I only helped to serve tea. Like the other women there. Obedient. Silent. And like them, fluent in Arabic. He wanted to shout in frustration. So you came home and then what? Went straight to my father. I was so full of what I knew, who Id met, that I could scarcely think straight. I told him what happened only in outline, never specifics. Ive never told anyone those, except my control. 52 Carried Away Good. Good. Who was her control? And where was he now? But Dad thought it best if I went to the Agency and told them. I did. She rolled her shoulders then, looked away from him, swallowed hard and said, I need some water. Something. Grant got up to get her a drink from the tap. When he came back, she had put her nightgown on again and was pacing the floor. Murmuring her thanks, she did not look at him but took the glass and downed the water. Then she turned toward the window. Closing something off from him, he knew. But he barely had time to contemplate that before she spoke again. I started to work for them and over the years, Ive helped them identify two of the radicals in the desert that day. Ive kept my cover as a freelance journalist and kept to myself. Except for you. She faced him then and the way her gaze flowed over his features salved the wound shed made when she left him. I never wrote a hot affair into my life story until you. I didnt have delicious men in my life until you. No weekends in bed. No breakfasts on the floor as a man made love to me. He was gratified by her memory of how hed taken her to a hunting lodge in western Maryland. How theyd spent the entire weekend naked, tangled up in each other. How hed cooked enchiladas and fed her one bite at a time as he feasted on her delectable body. She stepped closer. I havent had anyone since you, either. Grant sank his hands in her hair. He nuzzled behind her ear, his favorite spot second only to her pussy. I didnt want any woman ever like I wanted you. Like I still do. He wrapped his arms around her lithe warmth. What happened that you couldnt come away with me? She rested her head on his shoulder, her fingers tracing patterns in the hair on his chest. When I left you at the hotel the morning we were to leave, I had a message on my closed circuit cell phone. I went through my procedure to make contact and got instructions to leave immediately. One of the men Id been looking for, one of those 53 Cerise DeLand whod been at the meeting in the desert had been caught in Madrid. Our guys from the Embassy and Interpol were interrogating him, but they were getting nowhere. I had to go see if I could ID him positively. And were you able? I did. I decided he was one of the five radicals Id seen in the Egyptian desert and the Spanish police and our men took him away. To a black site. And is he still held by our agents? She nodded. He is. Oh, he most definitely is. But as of last year, there is another man out there who claims he was at this meeting and he is the blood brother of the man held at the black site in Poland. For revenge, he directed the bombing of our embassy in Sofia last year and the one in Ethiopia last month. We know because he left notes, claiming responsibility afterward. He demands all those at the meeting be made known to him. He calls himself Hakim, the Judge. And aside from Hakim, you have to identify two more radicals? Yes. But I worry as time passes that my memory will fade. Still personal recollections are better than computer ID. Meanwhile, Hakim is looking for those who attended the meeting, for all who saw his face. How do you know this? The man who took me to the desertAhmed Suleimanknew who I was. He sent me an email two weeks ago to tell me he had heard this through his own channels. Suleiman had your email address? My public one, yes. Well, where is Mr. Suleiman? Grant demanded, his brain firing like lightning. Can we find him? Has the Agency tried? She winced. Yes, they found Ahmed five days ago. In Paris. In an apartment in the Marais. The Marais? Whats an Egyptian doing in the old Jewish sector of Paris? 54 Carried Away Living there. Hiding there. What does he say? Have they gotten anything useful from him yet? Hes cooperating because hes not a radical. But hes afraid of Hakim and his friends. I know Ahmed, Grant. Hes thoughtful and kind. He should have thought twice about taking you to a meeting like that. Evidently so should I. Grant assessed her compassionate face and knew what he should do. Tomorrow. Hed put Todd on this in the morning. A call to Langley. A call to our Paris embassy. For now, she was here and damn if she didnt need him. And what he could give her. For sure, what he could give her was mindlessness. Ecstasy to chase away the shadows. And cast his feelings for her once more into stone. To hell with his pride. She needed him. He wanted her. What else could matter? Sweetheart, he murmured as he hooked his hands in the thin straps of her gown, sweeping the gauzy thing down over her breasts and hips to swish to the carpet. He bent and caught her up in his arms. If he could absorb her into his body, he would. To keep her safe. Keep her alive and his. He laid her down across the mattress and hovered over her on all fours like a beast, crazed to have her, wild to take her body and fill her mind with him. Away from the horrors of what she did. He captured her mouth, kissed her then tugged on her lower lip. There is nothing and no one but us. Here, now. He seized her nape, held her in place. Do you hear me? She nodded, grateful and eager. I do. Oh, I do! Come with me, he whispered and fisted his hands in her hair. Let me tell you what I feel for you. Her lips parted and her eyes seemed to become purple pools of pleasure. 55 Cerise DeLand I love your curls. He pulled at her scalp and she smiled, wriggling against the linens. I love your temples. They throb, did you know, when youre tense? She gulped. No. He put his lips there and felt her pulse change tempo. From tension to desire. Good, babe. And your cheeks blush when youre in heat. She traced his jaw with a fingertip. Ah. With you, I am hot round the clock. Mmm, so good to know. He nipped her chin. You are so fine, I want to eat every bit of you. Oh, she crooned, her arms trying to pull him down, and you are just the man to do it, too. You know I will, he promised and trailed his lips down her throat to her cleavage. He cupped her breasts, inhaling the fragrance of her pussy lingering on his fingers. He growled and rubbed her nipples. These are such sweet treats. She inhaled and writhed in sensuous splendor. Yours to gobble up. Like this? He pulled one with a hard suck of his mouth. See. It stays hard and pointed. Thats cause they want you to do it again. He complied. And again, she whispered. He pushed them together and treated both to his ardor. She arched up and cursed in delight. I like under here, he said as