DeliciousDanger (28 page)

“Place belongs to an old friend of mine,” Mike told them. “I
use it when I want to be under the radar.”

Troy was waiting for them with supplies—a small first-aid
kit with extra pain medication for Rick and more of the antibiotic medication
for his healing wound and enough dog food to feed a complete kennel.

“You certainly are taking good care of my dog.”Kelly tried
to smile.

“I’m not worried about Xena,” he told her. “She’s got the
best money could buy.”

“But you
are
worried about Rick.”

“Not really. He’s got an amazing healing factor. Any other
man would still be flat on his back. But it never hurts to do what you can to
give his natural healing powers a boost.”

Kelly hesitated before asking the question that kept bumping
around in her mind. “Is-Is he going to be all right?”

Troy squeezed her shoulder. “It’ll take more than a bullet
to kill him. He heals amazingly fast. He’ll be fine. Promise.”

Mike hustled them into the waiting helo. Even Xena seemed to
sense the urgency of the moment, leaping into the cabin and settling in a rear
seat.

“I wish some of the people I know were half as smart as she
is,” Dan commented, a wry smile on his face.”

When they were all inside the bird, he closed the cabin door
and backed away. He and Troy stood by the Navigator as the rotors whined then
settled into the familiar rhythm and the chopper lifted into the air. Although
Mike had headphones for everyone, no one had much to say as they flew up the
coast in the darkness, the Atlantic Ocean a black carpet beneath them.

Still gripped with tension from the shooting, Kelly could
only sit in silence, watching the lights of the cities they passed like a
million flashlights winking at them. In a very short amount of time her life
had taken such a dramatic turn she was still having trouble processing it. How
long would it be before things were any different?

She had no idea how much time had passed before Mike punched
a button on a remote and lights flashed on below them, illuminating a cleared
space on a bluff. He circled in toward the left and set the chopper down with a
minimum of fuss.

Rick eased himself out of the cabin, then held out his hand
to her.

“I’m good,” she told him, hopping down.

Beyond the haloes of the landing lights Kelly saw a log
cabin sitting sheltered in a thick stand of trees. With no welcoming light
inside it look cold and desolate. The wind, sweeping unprotected across the
high, open space, buffeted them as they made their way toward the cabin, the
waves of the Atlantic crashing loudly far below them. Even though Kelly knew
that her own place was less than ten minutes away, she felt as if she’d been
delivered to the ends of the earth.

Mike took another small remote from his pocket and pressed
two buttons in it. Instantly lights came on in the cabin, diffused through the
curtains on the window.

“We have blackout curtains too, if we need them,” he told
her. “This also deactivates the alarm system so we can get in without waking up
Andy and the Dragon. Rick will set it again when I leave. The alarm system is
set to warn the main computer system back in Maryland if it’s breached.”

Mike followed them, carrying their duffels, Xena dancing in
front of them with her nose lifted, scenting the air. Scenting for danger, he
realized. She ran back and forth the length of the front porch, blocking them
when they tried to reach the door until she’d satisfied herself they were safe
in this strange place. Once again she gave her signaling bark, her stamp of
approval.

Rick unlocked the heavy door, pushed it open and Kelly
followed him inside, Xena right beside her.

Whatever she had expected it wasn’t this. Yes, it was
rudimentary, basic, obviously built for men to use. But where the logs on the
outside were rough, the inside had been sanded and polished to a high gloss.
Same with the wood floor, covered in two huge rag rugs. The furniture was big
and comfortable-looking and a massive fireplace took up part of one wall. Doors
in another wall obviously led to bedrooms and a bathroom and tucked into one
corner was a tiny kitchen.

Cabinets lined a third wall and when Rick unlocked and
opened them, her eyes widened. On the shelves was the most elaborate array of
electronic equipment she’d ever seen. She didn’t even know what half of it was.

His mouth crooked in a grin when he caught her expression.

“Our work station,” he told her. “When we need total secrecy
to plan missions, this is where we do it. Like this.” He flipped some switches
and a bank of eight monitors in the wall came to life at once. “Obviously
nobody outside the Phoenix family knows about this but since you’re now part of
the family you get to learn all the hidden secrets.”

He leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her lips, tasting
the seam with the tip of his tongue before he straightened up.

Kelly stared up at him, slightly dazed. “Family, huh?”

“You bet.” He winked.

“Not even waiting for my answer?”

“Nope. I’m only accepting one.”

While he adjusted the resolution of the pictures, Kelly let
her gaze roam over the array, fascinated. The screens gave the viewer a
three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view of the area around the cabin.

Family!

Her heart skipped in a happy little dance.

Rick flipped another set of switches. “That activates the
sensors embedded in the perimeter. No one could sneak up on us here.”

“I would think it would be impossible the way the cabin’s
situated anyway, out here on the bluff.”

“We don’t believe in taking chances.”

Mike looked at the two bedroom doors, at Kelly and Rick and
dropped the two duffels on the floor.

“You guys can take care of these,” he said with a
half-smile.“If someone will make coffee, I’ll stretch a little and head back.”

“You don’t want to stay the night?” Kelly asked. “Shouldn’t
you wait until morning to leave? It’s pretty late.”

Mike grinned. “I’m good. I’ll crash when I get back to
Maryland.”

“I hope you don’t mean that literally,” she told him.

Turning toward the kitchen, she noticed Rick pulling things
from one of the cabinets, his face white with pain.

I knew he overdid it last night in bed. And this morning.

Her face heated as she remembered some of the things they’d
done together. Then she gave herself a mental kick and made a note to try
harder to keep him under control. Especially after everything that had happened
today, plus the helicopter ride on top of it. Gently she took the mugs from him
and the carafe he was holding.“Go lie down. I’ll bring you some aspirin in a
minute. I’m perfectly capable of making coffee, you know.”

One corner of his mouth tipped up and he relinquished his
hold on the crockery. “Yes ma’am. I think I won’t argue with you.”

She got the coffee started, then Mike showed her where
everything was kept in the bathroom. Carrying a glass of water and three pills,
she found Rick stretched out on the double bed in one of the bedrooms. His hand
was massaging his chest and pain was etching deeper lines on his face.

“Come on, macho man,” she told him. “Take your medicine, get
your clothes off and get under the covers.”

Unprotesting, he levered himself up enough to take the
aspirin. “Are you going to tuck me in?” Even in pain his eyes had a wicked
gleam to them.

“Maybe if you’re very good,” she teased. “Meanwhile let me
get Mike some coffee and send him off. I wish he’d reconsider about leaving
tonight. It’s really late.”

“He’s used to this. He wouldn’t fly if he didn’t think he
should.” He told her how to reset the alarm system before letting his eyes
drift shut.

By the time Mike left, turning the landing lights off with
the remote, and she’d let Xena out one last time, Kelly was ready to crawl into
bed herself. When she picked up her duffel and started for the other bedroom, a
large male body blocked her way.

“I thought you were in bed,” she told him. “You need to lie
down.”

“Only if you’re lying next to me.” He wobbled slightly,
steadying himself on her. “Come on. You wouldn’t want me to pass out, would
you?”

It amazed her that even in his less than tip-top condition,
once they were under the covers Rick attempted to put some serious moves on
her.

“I don’t think I can sleep yet,” he teased as his hands
roamed beneath her sleepshirt. “I need some soothing.”

The minute he touched her, all her good intentions flew out
the window. Trailing his lips down her neck, he pressed his mouth to the hollow
of her throat where her pulse was beating hard. His tongue traced a pattern
around it, the tip pressing right where the throbbing of her pulse was
strongest, and beneath the thin material covering her, one hand cradled a
breast in his palm.

“Rick,” she breathed. “I know you have to be hurting. Is
this such a good idea?”

“The best one yet, Red. You want to know what’s hurting?”
His voice was a low rumble as he took her hand and placed it over his swollen
erection. All her objections were swallowed up by the fog of sensuality that
wrapped itself around her.

With the heat of his body burning into her, she wrapped her
slim fingers around the thick erection and caressed him with slow strokes,
loving the feel of the velvety skin over the steel shaft. She rubbed her thumb
over the broad, flat head, feeling the drop of liquid beading on the surface
and massaged it into the skin. He groaned and his hand contracted on her
breast, squeezing it, his fingers burning against her flesh, his thumb teasing
the already hard nipple.

I am just lost with him. All he has to do is touch me. If
I’m dreaming, don’t wake me up.

Rick pushed up her sleepshirt and took her nipple in his
mouth as her strokes on his shaft increased.

“You’re gonna kill me, Red.” His breathing was coming in
uneven spurts. “A little more of that and it’ll be all over but the shouting.”

“That’s okay,” she murmured, squeezing him slightly.
“Tonight it’s my turn to take care of
you
. Just like when we were at my
place. Remember?”

“How could I forget?” His fingers walked up and down her
spine as she curved over him, taking him in her mouth.

Her tongue traced the line of the throbbing vein that wound
itself around his erection while her free hand was busy stroking the soft skin
of the sac holding his balls. As she licked and sucked his cock she cradled his
sac in her palm, softly rubbing her fingertips against the tender skin.

She raised her eyes to Rick’s face, seeing how flushed it
was. His eyes were half-closed, his mouth partly open as uneven breaths rushed
past his lips. When she raked her teeth the length of his shaft, the muscles in
his hard abdomen tightened and the hand on her back clutched at her.

“You like that?” she asked wickedly.

“Damn right. I’ll give you about a year to stop it.”

She laughed as she bent to her task again, timing the
movement of her fingers around him with the up-and-down strokes of her mouth.
She felt him thicken and swell even more, another drop of fluid seeping out to
land on her lip as she pulled her mouth up to the tip.

As she increased her pace and rhythm, his hand slid down
past the curve of her ass to probe the wet heat between her thighs, rubbing the
warm flesh as he moaned his pleasure. She widened her thighs to give him better
access and was rewarded with the intrusion of two fingers into her pussy. His
thumb pressed against her clit, rasping it as his fingers worked in and out of
her. She thought briefly about lifting herself away from his touch. This was
supposed to be for him, all the pleasure flooding in his direction. But his
hand, his fingers just felt too good.

They set up a tempo together, his fingers thrusting in and
out of her as her mouth and hands massaged and stroked him, working him. She
rocked on his hand as the ribbon of lust coiled deep inside her began to unwind
with increasing speed. It took every bit of her control to hold back until she
felt his body tense. His shaft pulsed in her hand and then he was there,
convulsing for her, filling her mouth with his warm fluid. His body jerked as
spasm after spasm rocked him, until she’d wrung the last drop from him, while
her own body clamped down on his fingers and she let the orgasm rush through
her.

At last she dropped onto her side next to him, her hand on
his flat stomach. She could feel the vibrations of his racing heart, or maybe
it was her own echoing through his body. His arm came up to cradle her and she
rested her head on his shoulder.

“That was better than aspirin,” he said in a low voice, his
breath still raspy.

“Ditto,” she told him. “But this was supposed to be my gig.
Just for you.”

He kissed her forehead. “It was for me, pretty girl. When I
feel that hot, wet pussy clamp down around my fingers it’s like a little trip
to heaven. Thank you.”

“The pleasure was mine. Think you can sleep now?” she
teased.

“Oh, yeah.” And in seconds he was gone, out like a light.
Feeling the security of his body next to her, Kelly closed her eyes and fell
into a dreamless sleep.

* * * * *

Denny Hammond pulled his truck off the road into a thick
stand of trees, checked his canvas sack to make sure he had everything he
needed and climbed out into the night. He locked his truck and pulled his
jacket collar up around his neck.

Damn Maine weather, anyway.

Even though it was late spring, in Maine—especially right
here on the coast—the air still had the lingering chill of winter and the wind
blew most of the time. He hated the cold and wondered why the hell, with all
the money he’d been paid, he didn’t go somewhere warm. But Maine was where he’d
grown up and it was a place where he felt comfortable. A place where he could
hide if he needed to. But he still despised the cold.