Read Rx Missing (Decorah Security Series, Book #10): A Paranormal Romantic Suspense Novel Online
Authors: Rebecca York
Mack pictured himself plunging into the boiling lava and burning to a cinder.
Then he felt fingers tangle in the fabric of his tee shirt. It was Grant, stopping his downward plummet, then pulling him up.
Get back. You’ll go in too
, he shouted inside his head. But his brother’s hands stayed in place.
He could feel the fabric starting to rip as he clawed at the sides of the pit. Dirt and rock broke loose and tumbled down, landing with sickening sucking sounds in the molten pool below. Mack knew he was going to follow them into the burning liquid.
No
Grant silently shouted.
Mack looked around desperately and found a root sticking out from the side of the hole. As he grabbed for it, his fingers clawed at the wet surface, then gained some traction. He closed his fist and hung on to the projection, helping to stabilize himself. But not for long. He could feel the root slowly pulling out of the dirt as it sagged under his weight.
Before he went down, Grant gave a mighty heave, yanking him back to the surface. The two of them tumbled onto the paved walkway. Mack banged his elbow, but he and Grant both scooted back from the edge of the hole.
They were dragging in drafts of air as they watched the fault close up as though it had never been there.
Grant stared at the spot where the earth had opened up like a Florida sinkhole—with brimstone instead of water. “I guess you can get killed in here.”
“I think so,” Mack agreed as he stood up and brushed off his clothing. He’d thought his shirt was tearing, but it seemed to be okay now. Cole was also brushing himself off.
“I’m glad he didn’t get you,” a small voice said from the direction of the lobby.
They both turned to see Shelly standing on the walkway, dressed in the jeans and shirt she’d been wearing earlier.
Grant tipped his head to the side, studying her. “You’re Lily’s sister?” he asked. “The girl we were talking about?”
She nodded gravely. “I didn’t know how nasty the Preston was. First I thought he was being nice bringing me here.” Her face contorted. “Then I found out he didn’t care about me.”
“Unfortunately,” Mack agreed. Instinctively he reached for her, and pulled her close.
She clung to him for long moments.
“I like you,” she whispered.
“I like you too.” He dragged in a breath and let it out. “I told Lily you were here, and she was sad that you left. She wants to see you.”
“I want to see her. That’s why I came back,” she said, but she didn’t sound entirely sure.
They all started for the main part of the hotel, with Shelly skipping ahead. When she reached the lobby, she stopped and looked around.
“Where is she?”
“I told her and the others to wait for us.” He crossed to the office door and knocked. “It’s Mack.”
Lily opened the door. When she saw her sister, she rushed out, ran across the space that separated her from the little girl and caught her up in her arms, hugging her tightly as she swayed back and forth.
“Shelly! Oh Lord, Shelly, thank you for coming back. I’m so glad to see you.”
Mack heard the tears in her voice, saw them in her eyes. Lily had said that this little girl was the reason she’d become a doctor, and he could understand that better now. She loved the sister who had been ripped away from her, and she’d grabbed at the chance to help other people who were in the same position.
“Me too,” the child answered.
Lily set the little girl down, but kept hold of her hand, leading her to where the chairs had been pulled into a circle.
“I missed you,” Shelly said.
“I’ve come to visit you a lot.”
“Sometimes I could hear you.”
“Good.”
“I tried to see you, but I couldn’t.”
Mack and Grant had remained near the door of the office.
“I’ll go in and tell them what happened,” Grant said.
“Well, don’t make it sound too scary,” Mack advised.
“I think they have to be aware that the situation’s changing. Especially those guys who are already on the edge of rebellion. Going outside could be fatal.”
“Yeah, their best option is staying in the hotel.”
“I’m not sure they believe it.”
Mack nodded. “Right.”
As Grant went into the office, Mack walked toward Lily and the girl. Remembering how his own encounter with Shelly had ended, he had a bad feeling about the meeting.
The little girl was talking. “When you visited me in the hospital, it wasn’t the same as this. It always seemed like you were far away.”
“Far away from what? I mean, where did it seem like you were?”
The little girl shivered. “In a dark place. It was boring. This place is much nicer.”
“Yes.”
“Can I stay here with you?” she asked in a plaintive voice.
Lily glanced toward Mack, a resigned expression on her face, and he knew she was thinking that was out of her control, at least until they got rid of the hacker.
He started toward them, just as the air around the girl rippled, and she vanished.
Lily leaped up, and reached for the spot where her sister had been. She gasped, then gave him a helpless look, tears in her eyes again.
“He gave both of us hope, then snatched it away. And now she’s in a dark, awful place again,” she whispered.
“Maybe not awful,” he said.
“What else could it be?” she asked, sounding utterly defeated.
He didn’t say what he’d figured out earlier—that it was lucky for Shelly and Lily that Preston still couldn’t do much in the hotel proper.
Instead he said, “When this is over, you can bring her here and hook her into the system with the others.”
“If it’s ever over.”
“It will be.”
Mack had told himself he needed to distance himself from her emotionally. Now he knew that was impossible. Crossing the space between himself and Lily, he took her in his arms, feeling her shoulders start to shake. He could tell she was struggling not to break down, and he knew she was losing the battle.
Looking around, he saw other doors off the lobby. Because Lily needed to be alone, he picked her up and carried her to one of them. The first one he opened led to a supply closet. The second one opened into a small sitting room with a long couch and several overstuffed chairs.
He carried her inside, kicking the door closed behind him, then crossing to the couch where he sat down, cradling her in his lap.
She pressed her face to his chest and gave up the effort to keep from sobbing.
He caressed her back and ran his fingers into her hair, hoping he could make her feel better. As he stroked her, he kept speaking. “It’s okay. We’ll figure out how to get her over here on our terms—not his. She said she liked the hotel. She liked the ice cream. Even if she doesn’t need to eat, she can enjoy the stuff any kid would want.”
As he spoke, he felt Lily struggling for calm, and finally she wiped away the tears and raised her eyes to his with a look that made him flash back to when the earth had opened up under his feet.
“We don’t know that. We don’t even know how long this place is going to exist.”
The words were like an icy knife plunging into his flesh. She was right. Hamilton could pull the plug any time he wanted. Or the other guy, the one who had provided the money. Or Preston could make it unlivable.
When Lily reached to clasp the back of Mack’s head and pull his mouth down to hers, there was no thought of resistance. He had tried to tell himself that getting involved with her had been a mistake. Now he silently admitted that he’d felt like she was using him. And he’d been protecting himself by shutting her out.
It hadn’t done him any good. He could feel an icy wind blowing at his back, reminding him that he might not have much time to enjoy what life he had left. But what time he did have he wanted to spend with Lily. The admission was like a giant weight being lifted off his shoulders.
He kissed her with a shocking desperation, as though she might be snatched away from him at any moment. Unfortunately it was true. If Hamilton wanted to bring her back to the lab, there was nothing stopping him from doing it.
And there was his own life to consider. It hung by a fragile cord that could be chopped in half at any time.
Not just by Hamilton. By the bastard named Preston who had hacked his way in here and was up to no good.
He pushed away those unwelcome thoughts as he turned his head one way and the other, feasting on the woman in his arms, feeling his desperation mirrored in her response to him. And when he wrapped her more tightly to himself and lay back on the couch, she came with him willingly, her body sprawling on top of his.
She raised her head, looking down at him.
“I was afraid I’d ruined everything.”
“No.”
“You were angry with me.”
“I’ve got my head screwed on straight now.”
“So do I,” she breathed. “I want to be with you—so much.”
He knew she was talking about now—and the future, which they might or might not have.
She brought her mouth back to his for more frantic kisses before lifting up and pulling off her sweat jacket and tee shirt. He reached around her, unhooking her bra and tossing it away, then made a low sound of pleasure as he took her breasts in his hands, loving the weight of them.
She arched into the caress, and when he stroked his thumbs across the hardened tips, she moved her sex against his erection, then cried out, her body going rigid.
When she flushed, he grinned up at her. “You came, just like that?”
“You don’t mind?”
“Why should I?”
“I wanted you so much, I couldn’t help it. But I didn’t wait for you.”
“But you have no idea how sexy it is to have a woman react to you that way.”
Her flush deepened.
“Are you usually that quick on the trigger?” he asked, unable to keep from teasing a little.
“Never. It’s you.”
It was his turn to flush.
“You’re a very potent guy.”
“And you’ve reminded me to slow down and enjoy this. Not like last time when we were both too hot to wait.”
He sat up and reached for his tee shirt, which he pulled off and tossed away. Then he turned back to her and tugged at her sweatpants and panties, dragging them down her legs.
She was naked now, and he stopped to admire her beautiful body as he began to stroke her, caressing her neck and collarbone, then sliding back to her breasts again before working his way down the front of her until he glided his hand into the swollen folds of her sex.
She kept her gaze on him, making a small sound of approval as he caressed her there, then dipped two fingers into her vagina, twisting them, watching the effect on her before he withdrew the fingers and stroked up to her clit, circling it gently.
“Oh Lord, Mack, you know how to do that.”
“I want to make this good for you. As he caressed her so intimately, he watched the play of emotions on her face, awed by the way she had made herself vulnerable to him.
“I think I’m ready to try it the real way,” she gasped out.
“That was real.”
Neither of them said the obvious. That they were currently living in a fantasy environment. Yet what was happening between himself and this woman felt more vital than anything he could remember in his life.
She unzipped his jeans, reached inside and wrapped her hand around his penis, squeezing him in her fist, drawing a sound of pleasure from deep in his throat.
“You are so hard—and big.”
“The better to nail you with, my dear.”
She giggled, then pulled his pants down. When his cock sprang free, she leaned over to glide her tongue along his length, then took him into her mouth, the wet warmth pushing him toward the point of no return.
“I’m too hot for much of that,” he managed to say, then forced himself to ease away. Lying back, he held out his arms.
“Let me see your gorgeous body above me when I’m inside you.”
She accepted the invitation, straddling his hips and bringing his erection inside of her.
Their eyes locked as she began to move above him, slowly at first and then with more urgency, leaning forward to give herself maximum contact.
He had wanted the encounter to last, but once he was inside her, it was difficult to hold back.
He came in a blast of sensation, feeling her follow him before she collapsed on top of him.
He clasped her shoulders, stroking her, wanting to hold her in his arms forever.
“We’ll make it work,” she murmured, and he knew she was talking about the future they might have together.
“How?”
“I’ll stay here with you.”
“I think you’ll have to go back to the lab and check up on Hamilton. At least sometimes. In here, you’re as vulnerable as everyone else.”