Ultimate Engagement (8 page)

Adam met her in the middle of the room and slotted his lips over hers and began to kiss her, rubbing his hands possessively over her back, her hips, and up the curve of her stomach.

When he cupped her breasts, he broke the kiss. “You’re a genius,” he said. “A genius with a phenomenal rack.”

He touched her boldly, without hesitation, his strong hands moving over her breasts and nipples, leaving her breathless.

“Um…”

“You don’t believe me?” he asked between soft kisses against her collarbone and then down.

“Let’s just say I haven’t heard that before,” she said, though her voice came out on a deep sigh as he twisted one nipple between his fingers and sucked the other between his lips.

He sucked harder, and Sloan felt lightning bolts of pleasure shoot directly from her nipples to her pussy.

“Yep, phenomenal,” he said and then he again closed his mouth around the throbbing tip of her breast.

Sloan let herself marvel in his touch for a moment, but then reached for him.

“You’re not so bad yourself,” she finally said.

While it was true that she hadn’t heard that before, she decided that what she’d heard or hadn’t heard in the past didn’t matter now, not when Adam was touching her, kissing her, again fulfilling a fantasy that she’d held for nearly a decade. A small part of her made her think of the future, but she quickly pushed that aside and focused on the man in front of her.

“So perfect…so beautiful,” he whispered, his voice deepening as he ran his hands over her body.

When he moved his hands between her thighs and rested his fingers against her core, Sloan shivered and smiled.

“You like that?” he asked, skimming a finger against her slit without breaking her gaze.

“Slight understatement,” she said, trying to sound casual, which was almost impossible.

“And what about this?” he asked as he pushed his finger between her slick lips, his callused finger against her delicate skin drawing another shiver.

“Umm…” she said, realizing she wasn’t making much sense but unable to be more clear.

Any thought of clarity fled when he slid his finger inside her and leaned down to capture her nipple between his lips. Sloan held on to his broad shoulders as he rocked that finger, moving deeper with each stroke and sucked her nipple in time with his movement. Sloan was helpless to do anything but hold on to him.

She could have stayed like that forever, but he thrust one last time and then removed his finger and lifted her and shifted, making her feel delicate as he carried her to the big bed.

Adam stepped away and Sloan watched as he slowly rolled the latex down his length, eyes locked with hers the entire way. He’d just come, but he was hard again, and Sloan thought she would faint from the anticipation of having him inside her.

He crawled toward her and hooked one of her knees over each of his arms and then pulled her to the edge of the bed and at the same time thrust, pushing the tip of his hardness against her core.

She trembled, dropping her legs and opening up wider.

Sloan cried out, reached for his bulging biceps as he continued to feed his hardness into her depths.

“Ahh,” she said, her breath coming out in a deep pant.

“Yeah, you’re a fucking genius,” he said, his own words twisted.

He went quiet then and thrust hard, did it again, and Sloan held on, let him take her to heights of ecstasy she had never seen before, ones she’d known only Adam could take her to. Her climax built, the fiery passion intense as Adam’s body drove inside her.

But this wasn’t a simple moment of pleasure.

No, this moment was the culmination of years of longing, and when Sloan had that realization, she was powerless to stop the orgasm that shattered her.

Later, when Adam lay next to her, she curled herself against his body, her face against his still-slick skin, and sighed.

“Is that a good reaction?” he asked, his chest rumbling with his words.

“The best,” Sloan said. “This was even better than I’d imagined.”

“So you’ve given this some thought? You and me in bed?” he said.

She chuckled. “Let’s just say I’ve had to break my Adam Reins fantasies down by time of day, location, and position,” she said.

“Position?” he replied, perking up as he began to kiss down her arm. “Tell me more.”

A
n hour
after the third mind-blowing orgasm courtesy of Sloan Wakefield, Adam shimmied down the balcony and landed with a soft thud.

He kept himself crouched and glanced around, seeing nothing but the full moon glistening on the darkened water, a few tastefully lit but deserted paths to different resort buildings and nothing else. He didn’t hear anything either save the quiet lap of the waves.

The resort was tucked in for the evening, and Adam was damned jealous. Nothing,
nothing
, would be better than spending the rest of the night tucked inside Sloan, but duty called. Plus, the quicker he got this job done, the sooner he’d be back with Sloan. Fucking ridiculous that he was more concerned with losing himself in Sloan’s body than with the mission. That was the kind of shit he’d expect from Seth, not a seasoned professional like himself, but there was nothing he could do about it and no way he could deny Sloan’s pull on him—how much he wanted her.

But for now, he’d focus on the job. Adam began to move, and everything around him was looking good on the surface, but Adam stayed wary as he walked.

That everything looked good on the surface told him nothing about what was going on underneath, something he remembered as he made his way across the island.

He moved swiftly, but not too swiftly, trying to create a delicate balance. Were he to be discovered, he’d simply pretend he had gotten lost, so it wouldn’t do to be seen running or attempting to hide himself. No, instead he’d act like he had every right to be here and had no ulterior motives and rely on that as a first level of defense.

As he continued, he got farther and farther away from the inhabited part of the island, and soon the tastefully lit paths gave way to darkened trails, only the light of the moon guiding the way.

It was at this point that Adam’s instincts and excitement kicked in. The difference between this and the other parts of the island was clear. It lacked the premium treatment that Alistair, and by extension Tremaine, gave his wealthy visitors. Which meant, at least in Adam’s mind, he was closer to figuring out what the real nature of the island was.

Alistair had mentioned a farm, and that seemed as good a place as any to start.

So, following his sense of smell and the occasional cluck, he moved farther across the island, deeper, until he came upon what he presumed was the farm.

There were five little structures in the area, along with what looked to be a small cow pasture, a pigpen, and a chicken yard.

To Adam, it looked like an actual farm.

Disappointing.

For three solid days, he had been playing tourist and it was starting to wear on him. He needed some action.

But he wouldn’t take things at face value, so he methodically made his way through the buildings and the farm area, hoping he might find something of value.

He didn’t.

Sometimes a cigar was just a cigar; in this case, it appeared that the chicken pen was simply a chicken pen. The five buildings had been filled with what looked to be the implements of farm life, but nothing that suggested a connection with Tremaine, his activities or anything else that might be of use to Adam or Silver Industries.

It was quiet out, so he retrieved the small satellite phone from his pocket and quickly keyed in the number.

Seth answered on the first ring. “Are you done yet?”

“Fuck off, kid.”

“That means you’re not,” Seth said, and even from the other side of the planet, Adam could hear the glee in his voice and knew if he were there, he’d want to put Seth in a headlock.

“Do I need to come down there?” Seth said.

“Come down here if you want. Don’t expect to go back with all your teeth,” came Adam’s reply, but he was way too mellow—Sloan’s fault, no doubt—to put much force behind it.

Seth chuckled. “Don’t get testy because you haven’t finished the job,” he said.

“Fuck off, princess,” Adam said, trying to remember why he’d made this call in the first place.

“How’s the engagement going?” Seth asked.

The tone of Seth’s voice was an instant confirmation Seth was digging for information and trying to get under his skin. But Sloan had a wonderfully calming effect, apparently, because Adam shrugged Seth’s meddling off and played it straight.

“I think the cover is working, but I haven’t found anything actionable yet. Have a few more places to check, though,” Adam said.

“I’m not remotely surprised the cover is working,” Seth said.

“I confess, I sort of am,” Adam said.

He hadn’t intended to share that little tidbit of information with Seth, but here, when he was alone and unable to do anything but think of the last few days, the last few hours, the words had just come out. Adam had thought he and Sloan existed in separate universes. Apparently he’d been wrong.

“Are you kidding?” Seth said. “Your eyes follow her wherever she goes. I knew your naked lust for her would work for our purposes,” Seth said.

“Dude, I…” Adam started to protest before he trailed off.

His eyes did not follow her anywhere. He made sure of that. He ignored Sloan, didn’t look at the way she interacted with the others. Didn’t know that she favored high-heeled shoes, presumably to give her a couple extra inches of height. Or how she liked skirts that covered her knees, how he lived for occasional glimpses of them if her skirt wasn’t quite as long as usual.

Okay, so maybe Seth had a point. Adam wouldn’t concede it, though, and instead changed the subject.

“I’m gonna fucking murder somebody if I have to do any more couples’ activities. This ‘fun in the sun’ sucks,” Adam said.

Seth’s laughter filled the line. “Well, you better get back to work, then. We did some heat mapping. Looks like there’s a lot of activity in the northwest quadrant of the island, on a small outcropping.”

Adam nodded. “I spotted that. It’s within swimming distance. Walking if tide is low enough. I’m going to scope it out tomorrow, maybe take a quick peek tomorrow night,” Adam said.

“Tell me what you find. And I’m only a phone call away. Enjoy the luau,” Seth said.

Adam disconnected without saying anything else; he didn’t owe Seth any courtesies.

Then he stood from the position where he’d been semi-crouched with his back to one of the farm buildings. There was nothing to see here and he had his plan set. He should probably get back to Sloan.

The end of the weapon pressed at his back held him in place.

“
D
on’t take another step
,” came the gruff, accented voice.

One of the assholes from the airport if Adam had to guess. They’d been roaming the island for the whole trip, and it didn’t surprise him at all that they would be patrolling this area.

Adam recognized the accent as British, but whereas Alistair’s was crisp, moneyed, this voice and accent spoke of a different kind of life.

“Can I turn around?” Adam said.

“Slow. Slow,” was the reply.

Adam did as instructed and turned slowly, not raising his hands but keeping them far out from his sides.

“You get lost?” the security guard, though Adam used that term incredibly lightly, asked.

“Just out for a little stroll,” Adam said.

It was transparent bullshit, but the soldier stayed quiet, looked at him.

“All by your lonesome?” he finally asked.

“I—”

“Adam! Honey, where are you?”

It was Sloan’s voice, and she was screaming at or near the top of her lungs.

Adam frowned, as did the soldier who stood in front of him.

“Ad-am! Adam!” She called his name even louder, and the animals began to stir.

“Ad—”

The near earsplitting yell stopped abruptly as Sloan rounded one of the outbuildings and came to a dead stop.

Under the moonlight, Adam could see her narrow her eyes quickly and then look between him and the soldier, then back again, before she settled her eyes on the machine gun that the security guard held.

“Oh my God. That’s a huge gun! Connell, what’s going on?”

Adam wanted to groan. How the fuck did she know that guy’s name? And he’d never heard Sloan sound anything like that, but he stayed silent. She didn’t, however. “Is something wrong?” she asked, throwing her hand against her chest.

The motion made him look down, and he noticed she was wearing what appeared to be a nightgown, one he hadn’t seen her in before. It cut off midthigh, curved at her waist, and dipped in front, revealing more than it should of her full and completely unrestrained breasts.

No way she was wearing a bra, not when even under the dimness of the moonlight Adam could see her protruding nipples and knew that the fucker standing next to him could too. Adam glared at him, but stayed still. If he let his gaze stray below Sloan’s chin, that would change.

“Found something that I think belongs to you, love. Why he’s out here and not with you is the question,” the security guard said. Then he looked at Adam, his gaze pointed.

Sloan’s laughter filled the air and he heard her approaching him though he didn’t take his eyes from the security guard once he managed to tear them away from Sloan. “Oh my God. This is so embarrassing!” she said as she came to Adam and then linked her arm through his.

She slid her hand on his forearm and intertwined their fingers, then lifted her hand and placed a searing kiss on the back of his.

Adam ignored that too, ignored the soft press of her body against him, tried as best he could to keep everything focused on the security guard.

“What’s embarrassing, love?”

Sloan tittered and then smiled, the high-pitched sound, the airheaded expression not like her at all.

“We have this little game—”

She trailed off and tittered again.

Adam couldn’t stop himself from looking at her and when he did he saw the expression on her face. She smiled bright, her wide dark eyes blinking, the hand that wasn’t holding his playing with the edge of her nightgown.

“You know. Hide and seek,” she finally said.

“It’s dark out here. You shouldn’t be out here. Neither should he,” the security guard said.

“Is it not safe!” Sloan asked, throwing her hands across her heart again.

He had seen that woman load fourteen machine guns without blinking, and as far as he’d heard she’d engineered an escape for some of the guys from Vietnam into Laos. In fact, she seemed to welcome danger, far too much for Adam’s liking, but she was doing a damn convincing job of being afraid.

“No. It’s good. But this is a restricted area. You and your…fiancé,” the security guard said, looking him up and down, “should play your games elsewhere.”

“You know, there is a little chill in the air, so I think we might take you up on that. Thank you for finding him,” Sloan said, reaching out to touch the man’s shoulder.

He softened, smiled at her. “Anytime, love,” he said. “You get back inside. Like you said, there is a little chill in the air,” he said, looking down at Sloan and letting his gaze linger.

“Take care. I’ll see you at dinner tomorrow,” Sloan said.

The security guard nodded and Sloan turned and began walking back toward the resort, pulling Adam with her.

He could’ve stood his ground, and was fucking furious enough to, but he knew the time for retreat. He sighed. This was definitely it.

Besides, he and Sloan needed to talk.

He looked back over his shoulder to where the security guard stood glaring at him and then looked over at Sloan.

Adam turned away, but put his hand on Sloan’s hip as they walked, certain that good old “Connell” would get the message.