Nate (19 page)

Well,
logically
he knew that.

But in the back of his mind, he hated that he couldn’t guarantee all of them would come out of this unscathed.

He ended the call with Kade. One of many calls Nate had made over the past hour since Darcy and he had arrived at the ranch. More would no doubt have to be made.

“Well?” Darcy asked the moment he hung up.

She was in the doorway of his office, her hands bracketed on the door frame. All the lights in the house were off—that was part of their plan, to lure Ramirez with a fake power outage—but Nate didn’t need to see her face to know she was worried and on edge. He could hear it in her voice. In that one word. In the air zinging around them. The storm brewing outside only added to the menacing feel.

“The children are fine,” he assured her. “They’re all tucked in for the night at the safe house.”

Her breathing was way too fast, and he thought he could even hear her heartbeat. “Thank God,” she whispered.

Nate echoed that. “So far none of our suspects has shown up at the airport or the border. None has withdrawn any money from their bank accounts. No suspicious activity of any kind even though Adam is out driving around. Dade is watching him, and we have surveillance on the others’ houses.”

Darcy shook her head. “But they could sneak out.”

“They could,” he admitted. “But if that happens, and the killer heads in this direction, we’ll know. Kade and his men are scattering out all over the ranch to set up surveillance equipment.”

“What about the man who was on the roof of the hardware store?” she asked.

“He left right after we did. On foot. He disappeared into the alley behind the stores.”

That didn’t help her breathing.

“We figure he’s already joined up with his boss, Ramirez.” He walked closer to her. “When all the equipment is set up and everything is in place, the ranch hands will pretend there’s an emergency. A fence down from the storm. And they’ll appear to leave the area. If Ramirez is watching the ranch, and we’re almost positive he is, then he’ll believe that’s his opportunity to strike.”

Her breath shivered, and Nate pulled her into his arms. It wasn’t much of a hug, but it helped to relax her. Him, too. But it didn’t help the attraction.

Not a good time for it.

But then, there’d never been a good time.

“Why don’t you try to get some rest?” he said softly. Trying to stay calm. Trying not to let her hear the concern in his own voice.

A burst of air left her mouth. Not exactly a laugh. “Rest? Right.” And then she did something that shouldn’t have surprised him. But it did.

Darcy put her arms around him and kissed him. Not a peck of reassurance. Not this. The kiss was long, hard and filled with way too much need. And urgency.

“Rest,” he repeated. Not easily. That kiss had made him crazy in a bad way. He was starting to think that kissing and maybe adrenaline sex might be the way to get through the waiting.

Darcy pulled back and hesitated. The moments crawled by while he waited for her response.

“Rest with me,” she insisted.

An
okay
nearly flew right out of his mouth before he remembered he had to set up the surveillance on his laptop. Not that he would actually be able to see anything in the dark and rain, but the motion detectors were on, and he would get the alert over the laptop if Ramirez did come across any part of the fence. His brothers and the ranch hands already had equipment to detect movement, but Nate wanted it as a backup for himself. And in case something went wrong with the exterior detection equipment.

“I’ll be in my room,” Darcy added, and she walked away.

Nate stared at the empty doorway for a second. And he cursed himself for what he knew would happen before the night was over. He should have one thing on his mind: Ramirez. But Ramirez wouldn’t get anywhere near the place without Nate and the others knowing.

There was time to kill.

Or so he rationalized.

He could kill that time in his office, waiting and watching. He could stay away from Darcy and give her the possibility of getting some rest.

But that didn’t happen.

Nate turned on his laptop and tapped into the security feed. It didn’t take long for the images to appear on the screen. And just as he’d figured, nothing was going on. He couldn’t see a thing in the rainy darkness so he tucked the laptop under his arm, took a deep breath and launched into what would no doubt be a very pleasurable but stupid mistake.

He walked straight to Darcy’s room.

The door was open, and he stepped inside so he could put his laptop on the table just a few feet away. He took off his shoulder holster, as well, and dropped it next to the laptop.

Bright white lightning flashed through the rain-streaked window. For a second Nate saw Darcy sitting on the edge of the bed. Her ivory-colored top, her blond hair, her pale skin all made her look a little otherworldly. A siren, maybe. Or a rain goddess.

But then the darkness took over the room again.

He stood there, letting his eyes adjust, waiting for another jolt of lightning. He didn’t have to wait long. It came. Stabbing across the sky and giving him another look at her. He felt starved for the sight of her.

And he groaned at that somewhat sappy realization.

“That bad, huh?” she asked.

He waited for the lightning again to see if she was smiling. She was. Well, sort of. “I’m thinking thoughts I don’t usually think,” he confessed. “Sappy ones.”

He heard the mattress creak softly as she stood. Then heard her footsteps on the bare wood floor. “Good,” she whispered.

Oh, man. Did she know how hot she sounded all breathy like that? Apparently, he was starved for the sound of her voice, too.

“Good?” he challenged when he remembered how to form words with his mouth. His body didn’t want to contribute any energy to something that didn’t involve getting Darcy naked. “You want me to think sap?”

She stepped closer so he could see the half smile, and her face. “You’ve done a number on my mind. My body. I figure it’s only fair that you’re sappily confused.”

Nate sighed and slipped his arm around her waist. “Oh, I’m not confused, Darcy. I know exactly what I want—and that’s
you.
”

The slam of thunder gave his confession a little more punch than he’d intended, and Darcy laughed. It was smoky and rich, and Nate kissed her so he could feel that laughter on his lips.

“Good,” she repeated. “Because I want
you.
”

Yeah. He knew that.

And that was the problem. Neither was going to stop this getting-naked part. Ditto for some raunchy, memorable sex. The door was locked. They had some privacy for the first time in, well, forever. And even though there would be hell to pay, Nate eased her to him and deepened the kiss.

Later, he would pay hell.

Now, he just wanted to kiss her blind. For starters, anyway.

There was something about her, about that taste, that made him crazier than he already was, and he felt his body rev up to take her hard and fast.

Especially hard.

He considered something mindless, maybe even sex against the wall. Sex where he didn’t have to think of the consequences. But a rain goddess who tasted like sin deserved something better than that. And Nate wasn’t surprised that he wanted to make love to her.

He leaned back, to make sure there wasn’t any doubt in her eyes or expression. He could see her face, the rain shadows sliding down her body. She was beautiful. But he hadn’t needed to see her face to remember that.

Nate scooped her up and headed for the bed. Even in this position, she fit, as if she belonged there in his arms. In his bed. Heck, maybe his life. He pushed that aside. It was too deep and too complicated to deal with now.

The lightning came again. And the thunder. As he eased her onto the bed, the mattress creaked softly and creaked some more when he followed on top of her. This fit, as well, and so did the way their mouths came together for the kiss.

It didn’t take long, barely seconds, for the kisses to give way to touches. Darcy started it by sliding her hand down his chest. That did it all right. The simple, easy pressure of her hands on his body. And just like that, he was hard and aching to take her.

“You’re like a fantasy,” she whispered.

Despite his rock-hard body, Nate lifted his head to see what she meant by that.

“You are,” she insisted. She didn’t stop touching him or kissing his neck, and because she was apparently going for torture, she lifted her hips, brushed against the front of his jeans and caused his eyes to cross. “As in you’re really hot. The kind of guy I always fantasized about…well, you know, in bed.”

He couldn’t imagine that he looked hot with crossed eyes and the hard ache behind the zipper of his jeans, but at the moment he was just pleased that she wanted him as much as he wanted her. Especially since she was fulfilling a few of his own fantasies.

Her top had to go—more of his fantasy fulfillment—and Nate stripped it off. Her bra, too. And he kissed her breasts the way he wanted to kiss her, his tongue circling her nipple.

That brought her hips off the bed again, and she made a sweet sound of pleasure. A sound that slid right over him like the warm rain on the cool glass.

“You, too,” Darcy insisted. And she went after his shirt.

While she fumbled with the buttons, Nate did some more sampling. He moved his mouth to her stomach and smiled when she made more of those pleasure sounds.

“I’m on fire,” she let him know and gave his shirt a fierce tug.

Nate was pleased about that fire he’d helped build. Until her lips went to his chest. Oh, man. She wasn’t a rain goddess. She was a witch, casting a spell with that mouth and setting him on fire.

When he could take no more of the scalding pleasure, he dropped to his side, pulling her on top of him so he could rid her of her jeans. Darcy didn’t help much, mainly because she went after his zipper. He was hard and very aware of her touch.

Again, when he could take no more, he put her back on the mattress and shimmied her jeans and panties off.

The lightning cooperated.

Oh, yeah. She was beautiful all right, and Nate kissed her right in the center of all that heat.

She made another sound. This one had an urgency to it, but she didn’t stop him. Darcy wound her fingers deep into his hair and took everything he was giving her.

Nate considered finishing her off like this, but he wanted more. He wanted to be inside her so he could watch and feel her shatter all around him.

“Your jeans,” Darcy reminded him.

He was painfully aware that his remaining clothes were in the way of sex, and Nate helped her get off his boots and jeans.

But Darcy didn’t play fair.

She was the one who removed his boxers, and she did it by sliding her hands down his lower back and his butt. And she didn’t just use her hands. She used her knees and legs, and when she was done, when his boxers were dangling on her foot, she wrapped her legs around him.

Nate moved down as she moved up, and he slid into that tight, wet heat of her body. Stars. Yeah, he saw them. Hell, maybe fireworks, too. There was something exploding in his head, and the pleasure, well, it was something he was glad he didn’t have to put into words.

He moved deep and hard inside her. But he didn’t stop kissing her. Couldn’t. After being so long without, he wanted it all. The taste of her in his mouth. Her scent on his skin. The feel of the hot, intimate contact of their sex.

“A fantasy,” she repeated. Her eyes were wide, and she was staring at him.

Yes, it felt good enough to be her fantasy, and in the back of his mind he wondered if anything would ever feel this good again. But then the need took over, and his mind cleared of any thoughts except one.

Finishing this.

Turned out that was Darcy’s goal, as well, because she met his thrusts, using her legs to pull him right back in. Over and over. Robbing him of his breath. Maybe his mind. Everything. Until all he could see and feel was Darcy.

She dug her fingers into his back when she climaxed, bucked beneath him, and her breath was mixed with hoarse sobs of pleasure.

Nate listened and watched her as long as he could. Cataloging every sound. Every move. Every expression. Until he could take no more. Until the ripples of her climax forced him into letting go.

The lightning came again. The thunder. And even over the thick rumble, Nate heard the single word he whispered.

“Darcy.”

Chapter Fifteen

Darcy didn’t want to move. Nor did she want to break the intimate contact with Nate.

But Nate apparently did.

He rolled off her and landed in a flop on his back. He didn’t say anything, but Darcy could still hear the way he’d spoken her name in the last climactic moment.

Somehow, that had sounded more intimate than the sex itself.