Until Midnight (13 page)

eyes at him.

Amused at Adam’s jealousy, Nicki hoisted her rifle. “Shall we?”

“I have what I need,” Jared told her, patting his coat pocket. “Got the assistant

attorney general to sign it over a bowl of clam chowder at the Boat House.”

Lane snorted. “Bet he wasn’t happy.”

Jared chuckled as he took out his service revolver. “Told me to come home with the goods or I was buying his lunch.”

Adam shook his head. “Let’s go before it’s dinner time!”

Nicki widened her eyes at Adam, then introduced him around. “Chill.”

Lane joked. “We’re on this, buddy.” Then he looked at Jared and explained, “Long

day for these two.”

Adam grumbled something profane.

The team turned for the back entrance of the building and the ground floor location of the restaurant.

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“You have the layout of this place?” Adam asked Jared as they went in on cat’s feet to the side of the restaurant.

“We do. This back room that Lane has them in is the best. Trust me, we’ve done a

few takedowns like this before.”

Adam shook his head. “Sure. Sorry. Not used to your…uh…nonchalance.”

Jared stared at him a second. “Not used to your intensity.”

Nicki elbowed Adam. “We’re good.”

Jared looked at each of them in turn and his own four men. “On the count of three.”

The seven of them moved like the wind. No sooner were they through the heavy

service door, than they were down the short hall and crowding the tiny private room.

There only Henderson and Maddie’s father sat at a tiny table, two large pieces of

bruschetta to their lips. Mouths open, both men gaped at the crowd pointing various types of weaponry at their faces.

“What the hell is this?” Maddie’s father put his appetizer down and scowled at the assembled law officers. Then he saw Nicole and recognized her as Maddie’s friend.

“Nicole, this is an outrage!”

She ignored him.

“I said stand up, Mister Henderson,” Jared directed the man. “Good, good. Nice to

comply so easily. Cuff him, Howell. Shall I read you the charges, Henderson, or shall we skip the formalities?”

Henderson glared at Nicole. Then Adam. “I should have known.”

Nicki grinned not so much at him but at the skill she and Adam had used to outwit

him and his henchmen.

“Known what?” Jared attacked while one of his men Mirandized Henderson.

“Remember what you say can and will be used against you.”

“You bitch,” Henderson spat at her.

The four agents shook their heads at his audacity.

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“Not wise,” said one.

“Can’t hear you,” said Adam, who promptly took one step forward and kneed him

in the nuts. “Now,” Adam proclaimed as the older man doubled over, “want to repeat that?”

Henderson gulped back whatever expletive he had on his lips.

Arthur Somers was standing by his chair, his face taut with anger. “Paul, I’ll call your attorney for you. Don’t say a word. Whatever this is, we’ll get it taken care of.”

“Don’t count on it,” Jared told him.

“I think Maddie will be interested to find out what you and this scum were

discussing over lunch,” Nicki said, her voice taut.

“This was a business meeting,” Somers spat at her. “I’ll have everyone’s job for

this.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Donnelly said. “Get in line.”

As the four agents hustled Henderson from the dining room, Adam put an arm

around Nicki’s waist and said, “I would have hit him harder but the poor man just

recovered from surgery.”

“That’s okay, dear,” she told him, “I love a man with discretion.”

“Shall we go back to the Willard?” His eyes gleamed with relief. And something

else. “I think we’re done here and our first visit to the hotel was not the most relaxing.

I’m ready to truly enjoy myself. We’ve earned it.”

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Adam pulled out all the stops when they got to the Willard—luxury suite,

champagne on ice, exotic munchies, making the arrangements while Nicki ordered

some things to tide them over from the shops downstairs. Now, showered and with the last traces of the drug out of their systems, Nicki and Adam stood by the window

sipping the champagne and looking out at the nightscape of Washington, D.C. His

hard, muscular arm was wrapped around her waist, keeping her close to him.

“Tough few days,” he murmured, brushing his lips against her temple.

“No kidding.” She took another sip of champagne. “You know I couldn’t have done

it without you.”

He chuckled softly. “Is that the kickass Nicole Welles saying she needed help?”

She turned her head and grinned at him. “Don’t let it go to your head.” Then her

face sobered. “I know you called your friend, Mike, while I was in the shower. Did it help at all to know the distributors of the drug that killed his sister are finally out of circulation?”

“I think it gave him as much closure as possible. He’ll be mourning her for a long time, though. I’m just glad this is finally over and done with. What about you? Feeling any relief at getting the cartel off your back?”

She nodded. “Glad the DEA was able to connect the dots from Henderson back to

the cartel and put it out of business.”

“Yeah.” He laughed again. “Isn’t that something? Some black ops team appears to

have gotten into Mexico and blown up the cartel headquarters and processing plants.

Imagine that.”

“Yes.” She leaned her head into his shoulder. “Imagine that.”

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“But I think we’ve spent enough time talking about this business.” He took the

champagne flute from her hand and set it on a low table, turning her to face him. “We have other business to attend to.”

His kiss was so hot and predatory it scorched her clear through to her toes, his

tongue ravaging her, stealing her breath. One hand cupped her head, the other splayed across her buttocks, the fingers like individual branding irons. One pressed into the cleft of her ass through the sheer fabric of the robe, sending a freshet of cream cascading into her pussy. The hard imprint of his rigid cock flexed against the soft flesh of her belly.

When he broke the kiss, leaving them both breathless, he trailed his mouth down

her neck to the hollow of her throat. A shudder racked her from head to toe and she snaked her arms around his neck, pressing herself against him. He wore only a pair of silk boxers and when she ran her hands down his shoulders to his chest his skin was hot to her touch.

Adam’s hands slid up to spread the fabric of her robe, leaving her skin bare to the shower of his kisses, across her collarbone and down to the swell of her breasts. His hands moved to cup them, his thumbs toying with her nipples and she could actually feel them swell and harden against his touch. A shaft of electricity sizzled its way directly to her cunt, waking up every tiny nerve.

Nicki slid her hand down across his chest to his groin and closed her fingers around his cock, the thin silk almost no barrier at all. His erection flexed and pulsed beneath her touch. Need rose within her so fierce she was weak with it.

“No bad guys waiting now.” His mouth traveled back to that pulse fluttering

wildly at the hollow of her throat. “No national emergencies. Nothing but us and time.

I’m going to fuck you slow and easy, fast and hard, in ways you can’t begin to imagine.

I want to feel your pussy around my cock, hot and tight. And then I’m going to do it all again.”

His lips closed over one nipple, pulling on it until it popped from his mouth. “That work for you?”

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“You bet it does.” She nipped his shoulder.

When she looked into his eyes she saw rampant need flare and she had to grip his

upper arms to steady herself.

“I think we need a bed for this.” His voice was raw. “I had big plans to do the slow and easy first, but damn it, Nicki, you destroy any semblance of control in me.”

She wasn’t a tiny woman but he swept her easily into his arms and carried her to

the bedroom. Yanking the covers back, he somehow managed to strip away her robe

before laying her down on the six-hundred-thread-count, Egyptian cotton sheets. Her eyes locked on his, she opened her legs wide and bent her knees, exposing herself to him in a bold move.

“Jesus,” he breathed, almost reverent. “I don’t think I’ll ever tire of looking at that sweet little pussy. “Or touching it.”

He knelt between her outspread thighs and ran the tip of a finger the length of her slit, rimming her opening, gathering her liquid. When he lifted the finger to his mouth and licked it that dark spiral of lust began to uncoil within her. He did it again. And again. A soft tease even as his muscles bunched with his effort at control. When he bent low to take her clit into his mouth she whimpered and arched up to him.

“I can’t wait.”

He looked up, his lips glistening with her juices. Reaching over to the nightstand, he opened the box of condoms they’d added to their order, ripped a packet open and rolled it expertly onto his swollen shaft. Lifting her with his hands he poised at her opening and drove into her with one hard thrust.

Nicki arched and wrapped her long legs around him, pulling him deeper inside her

until every inch of her was filled. His gaze was devouring as his thumb played with her clit, rubbing and pinching it, before balancing himself with his hands on either side of her. And then it began, a fierce jackhammering of his hips as he thrust inside her again and again. He found the angle so with each movement he rubbed against her clit.

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This time it was a claiming. But she wanted hard and fast as much as he did. She

needed the rejuvenation of hot, frantic, primal sex. And that was exactly what she got.

They moved in tandem, riding the crest of arousal, gazes locked as they reached for a shared release.

The orgasm slammed into her, rocking her with its force, at the same time his own

climax hit. Her nails dug into his skin and she cried out with the intensity of the spasms, icy heat racing along her spine, her legs tightening around him, her heels digging into the small of his back.

For a long time afterward neither of them said a word, simply lay together

completely spent. Nicki wasn’t sure whose breathing was louder or harder, whose heart beat faster, as they lay there waiting for calm to return. Finally Adam eased himself from her body, disposed of the condom and crawled back into bed beside her. Pulling up the covers he cradled her against himself, one arm lazily cupping a breast.

“I could easily get used to this,” he murmured in her ear.

“Does that mean I’ll now have to chase you around the world?” Her voice was a lot

more confident than she felt. “I don’t suppose I could convince you to light in one easily accessible place, could I?”

“I don’t know. Could you?” His tone was light, teasing.

“You said you didn’t have any plans after you finished what you started. And now

it’s finished. Where will you go next. Back to Israel?”

“You could always make me an offer I can’t refuse.” He bit the lobe of her ear.

“If I asked you to come back to Texas with me and join Nemesis, the way Dan has,

what would you say?”

He laughed and tightened his hold on her. “I’d say tell Maddie when she sends the

plane to pick us up there’ll be two passengers instead of one.”

She squealed with delight, turning around to throw her arms around him. “Oh,

Adam. Thank you. I was afraid you’d say no.”

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“I think this calls for a little more celebrating, don’t you?” He pushed her flat on her back and rose over her. “And this time I mean it when I say slow and easy. Now we

have all the time in the world.”

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About the Author

Desiree Holt:
I always wonder what readers really want to know when I write one of these things. Getting to this point in my career has been an interesting journey. I’ve managed rock and roll bands and organized concerts. Been the only female on the

sports staff of a university newspaper. Immersed myself in Nashville peddling a

country singer. Lived in five different states. Married two very interesting but totally different men.

I think I must have lived in Texas in another life, because the minute I set foot on Texas soil I knew I was home. Living in Texas Hill Country gives me inspiration for more stories than I’ll probably ever be able to tell, what with all the sexy cowboys who surround me and the gorgeous scenery that provides a great setting.

Each day is a new adventure for me, as my characters come to life on the pages of

my current work in progress. I’m absolutely compulsive about it when I’m writing and thank all the gods and goddesses that I have such a terrific husband who encourages my writing and puts up with my obsession. As a multi-published author, I love to hear from my readers. Their input keeps my mind fresh and always hunting for new ideas.

Cerise DeLand: A
n award-winning author of more than two dozen romances and mysteries, Cerise DeLand creates heroes readers crave. Cerise has met many men in her worldwide travels and created the best of the best from all the wonderful places she’s lived and visited. Today, she lives—and writes—in wild west Texas, where a never-ending stream of cowboys, vaqueros, para-military types and diplomats stroll into town and fuel her imagination for red hot affairs.

Desiree and Cerise welcomes comments from readers. You can find their websites

and email addresses on their author bio pages at
www.ellorascave.com.

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