Dream Shadow (10 page)

“But I like the idea of coming to see you better.” His words were too soft. Grace snapped her head around but he’d already captured her wrist. A sharp jerk and she tumbled forward.

This time, Brice captured both her arms in a solid grip. He plucked her up off her feet as he fitted her body against his.

“We were interrupted,” he whispered against her ear.

“Don’t you have a girlfriend?” The question was out of her mouth before she realized how it sounded.

Like she cared about his availability.

“Nope.” He smoothed his hand up her back and tugged gently on her braid where it was pinned in place. “Want to chase me?”

Yes.

The word just formed in her thoughts. It was an idea, a feeling that just flooded her. She found herself listening to the sound of his heart. For some reason, her own was matching its tempo as her body melted closer to his. Her nerve endings were suddenly alive with tiny pulses of feeling. There wasn’t any question of controlling her body’s reaction, it simply happened.

“Is that a yes, Grace?”

He released her hands and moved his up her arms. There was a deep sensation of pleasure that confounded her with its intensity. Strength radiated through the touch and her back arched as she waited for him to touch every inch of her arms.

“It isn’t a no.”

Brice dropped his jacket across her shoulders.

“Hmm…you offer me hope.”

His lips hovered over hers as his breath teased the sensitive skin. He lowered her to the forest floor again, his jacket acting as a blanket to keep her from lying on the pine needles.

Grace shifted, not sure of her actions. Indecision filled her thoughts. He’d laid them down in a deep shadow formed by young saplings. Without light, her remaining senses became even more sensitive. His scent wrapped around her. It was pure aggression. But he wasn’t trapping her with his body tonight. Instead, he’d settled alongside her body with his head propped on his elbow. Grace kept her body absolutely still. She could feel the strength rising like heat from his skin. It was a clear declaration of power. She didn’t want him to restrain her again. Having the freedom to touch him suddenly became very important as she felt her blood rushing through her veins.

Brice captured one of her hands and tugged on each fingertip until her glove came free. Lowering his head, he gently bit the skin on her inner wrist. Her breath caught, making him grin.

“Your skin is as soft as silk. I want to touch every inch of it. Taste it.”

He wasn’t asking for permission. Instead, his voice was firm with demand as he ran a smooth hand over her arms and neck. Grace couldn’t escape from the sensation. He surrounded her. He began separating the buttons of her shirt. His fingers brushed her bare skin with each button he released.

“But I also want to feel you touching me.”

Grace pushed against his chest, but not for release. His erection was pulsing against her thigh, making her body pound with heat. He trailed his fingers in a lazy circle around the mound of her breast. “Stop playing with me.”

“I’m not going to make love to you here.” Brice caught a nipple with his lips and sucked it deeply into his mouth. He flicked it with his tongue before pulling away. “I won’t love you ’til you come to me. Unconditionally.”

His lips captured hers a second later. He thrust her denial right back into her mouth as he kissed her. It was a hard invasion that demanded a response. Grace found herself returning the kiss from sheer instinct. Deep inside her body, surrender seemed to be the only option.

He lifted her back into a high arch as he sucked on each of her nipples in turn. Heat snaked from each tip straight into her belly. The tender flesh between her thighs became overheated and heavy. Grace twisted her hands into his hair as she gasped with need. The intensity of it was frightening. Her body had never demanded something so very completely.

“Open your legs for me.”

Grace lifted her eyelids, but it was too dark to see him. The command was bluntly sexual. One her pride should have balked at. Instead, she shifted her legs slightly open, raising her breasts back up toward his mouth.

Dropping a single kiss onto each nipple, Brice trailed soft bites along her neck. “Wider.”

“No.” It was too exposing. She snapped her thighs together, but his hand landed over her sex before she’d completed the movement. Brice firmly squeezed the tender flesh, rubbing the fabric of her pants against the over-stimulated folds of her body.

Pleasure spiked into her under his hand. It was raw and searing. Her thighs fell open as she moaned.

“Good.” He moved his hand back toward her breast but halted over the button on her pants. There was the smallest pop as he opened her clothes, pushing the fabric away from her body. His hand traveled back to her sex. A low whimper escaped her lips as he gently stroked her damp folds.

“Do you like that?”

Her hips pressed up for more attention, but Brice halted all motion. “You told me not to touch you, Grace.” His fingers made a lazy circle before stopping again. “Have you changed your mind?”

He found the small nub in the center of her sex and stroked it with firm pressure. Her body jerked as pleasure spiked into her belly. She could smell her own scent as he rubbed her flesh. Her body was twisting into a tight knot of sensation under that finger. He stopped again and her eyes flew open. His jaw was clenched tight as he loomed over her. Waiting for her to say what he wanted.

“Yes.”

“Yes…what?”

His demand was too much. Grace strained toward his fingers but the pressure wasn’t enough. He knew the right way to touch her body. Need was pounding through her, demanding release. “Touch me, just touch me.”

His fingers stroked her, making her hips press frantically toward relief from the twisting demands of her body. Everything centered under his hand in a mind-numbing jolt of pleasure. A sharp cry escaped her lips as her body released its tension in a wave of pleasure that radiated throughout her entire being.

Brice gently stroked her bare breasts as she struggled with her climax. Her eyes sprang open a second before she brutally shoved away from his body. Letting her go, he watched her roll away and onto her feet. She fought with her clothing because her fingers refused to function.

“Grace.” His voice was solid steel. It froze her in her tracks. Tilting her head, Grace watched Brice emerge from the shadow they’d laid in.

“I’ll see you soon.”

Grace shook her head. She couldn’t see him again. It was devastating to her control. But her thoughts were in a tangled mess, so she spun on her heel and settled for distance from him.

She was gone a second later.

Brice watched the forest as he waited. Jacobs didn’t disappoint him. His shadow parted from the night as he closed the distance between them.

“I don’t want to make this personal, Campbell, but stay away from my operative.”

Considering Jacobs’s words, Brice found his eyes shifting over the obstacle the man presented.

“If you have a personal reason for that, say so.”

A low sound escaped from Jacobs before his face set into solid granite. ”Grace is my operative, Brice. We’ve been together a little too long for sex to get added to the equation now. Besides, she isn’t interested in me. You’ve got to let her go, buddy.”

No, Brice didn’t have to let her go. But he did need to get around Jacobs.

“Wake up, Jacobs. She’s already slammed the door in your face. That girl’s dug in so deep, you don’t have a prayer of shaking her out. She’s dying right in front of you. You think I don’t recognize the signs? I haven’t been out of the service that long.”

“So, just exactly what do you think you’ve got that will do the job?”

Brice let his mouth turn up in a grin. “I’ve got her attention. Your operative can’t seem to shut me out like she does you.”

“You’re asking me to admit I can’t reach her,” Jacobs argued. “She’s my responsibility.”

“You weren’t this stressed out when I saw you last year,” Brice observed.

“You’ve obviously been out long enough to forget to mention things that are classified.” Jacobs cussed and shot him a frustrated look. “We’ve lost two female psychics this last year to suicide. I argued in favor of letting her track your missing kid down because I thought it would shake her out of the dark hole she’s dug for herself.”

“Normally I don’t like being used, but I’ll make an exception in this case.”

“You’re a damn civilian, Brice.”

Brice chuckled. “You give in with less grace than anyone I know, Major. Bring her out to Jennings Mill this weekend. The event draws people from all over the state. A couple of strange faces won’t be noticed. Everyone needs a break from combat. Maybe it’s time you gave her one.”

“Exactly what are you thinking that will get you?”

Brice gave his friend a hard look before he pushed away from the tree and began turning toward home. “Maybe I’d like to see your operative discover she’s a woman. Possibly let her enjoy a few feminine delights.”

“I’m not sure Grace knows the meaning of those things.”

“I know,” Brice said in a hard tone. “And it makes me want to give some of your C.O.s a richly deserved ass kicking. Calling her an operative doesn’t give them the right to run her on a leash. Get her some leave time.”

Brice’s pager chirped and he flipped it off before turning and heading back to where he’d left his patrol vehicle. What he wanted to do was find Grace and take her home with him.

But that wasn’t going to happen.

Trying to see her again wasn’t the wisest thing he could do, but he just couldn’t seem to stop himself from trying. She was more than off-limits. She was a phantom. Even if she wanted to stay with him, there were forces that would tear them apart.

But he still couldn’t control the impulse to see her again.

Devon Ross and his unit were camped down with her own. Her male counterpart looked like he blended in with his unit easier than she did. He was warming his hands over a fire and listening to another man tell a story.

Winter wasn’t completely gone; with the sun down, the temperature was dropping. Tucking her chin into the collar of Brice’s jacket, she caught his unmistakable scent. It was annoying to discover just how well she recognized it.

And frustrating to realize she hadn’t noticed she’d taken off with his jacket.

But it was more than that. More than scent, her body was currently absorbing every hint of Brice that was left among the fibers of his jacket. Her skin melted into its folds in an attempt to find every last trace of him. Her traitorous body was actually enjoying the experience while her logic screamed against nature and its inbred drive for procreation.

She
was a contradiction to nature. There was no point in having any of the same urges as a normal woman. Her life wasn’t normal and wasn’t ever likely to be. Finding her emotions stirring at Brice Campbell’s command only deepened her need to escape.

But she wasn’t going to have to run. Jacobs and his superiors would lift her out of Benton County soon enough. Brice Campbell would be left behind and so would her emotions.

She sat down outside the firelight and leaned against a tree. Her mind was racing, making sleep impossible. But she closed her eyes and tried anyway. The soft crunch of someone approaching made her open them again.

Devon sat down next to her and stretched out his long legs. “Nice jacket.”

“You can take yourself back to the fire if you’re only going to be an ass.”

He raised his hands in mock surrender. “Guilty as charged. But have a little mercy on me and let me stay.”

“As you like.”

He crossed his arms over his chest to conserve warmth. “You’ll just get up and leave if I tick you off again?”

Her lips twitched just a fraction. “Most likely.”

Devon chuckled. “That’s really going to crush this idea our superiors have of matching us up.”

Grace gave him a full smile. Devon slapped a hand over his chest.

“I’m wounded. Deeply,” he announced.

“You’re relieved.”

“That too.” There was a somber note in his voice. “It would certainly be easier if we connected.” He stared at Brice’s coat for a moment. “That is going to be complicated.”

“It isn’t going to be anything.”

Devon raised an eyebrow. “Is that a promise or a hope?”

“The only thing it can be is reality. Thinking either way is just going to get me a load of unhappiness.”

Devon nodded. “Agreed, but that leaves both of us lonely. I don’t suppose you’d take a stab at making a relationship with a civilian work? It would open up some avenues for the rest of us.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

Devon flashed her a grin. “You’re one tough operative, Grace. Don’t forget how much they need you. Your happiness should factor into the bargain.”

There was an edge to his tone that made her cut him a hard look. Devon shook his head, refusing to discuss whatever was on his mind.