“Okay, sweetheart?” he asked, stilling until she answered.
“I’m good,” she gasped. “Just do it.”
“Do what?” He ran the fingers of one hand up and down her spine in a soothing, scintillating caress. “What do you want me to do, Em? Or should I say,
who
do you want me to do?” He chuckled, the sound translating into soft pulses that she felt all through her body emanating from where they were joined.
She knew what he wanted her to say. He’d already gotten her to say something she’d never said to a lover before. She’d liked it and he knew it. He was pushing her boundaries, daring her, and she’d never been much good at resisting a challenge.
“Do me!” she shouted. “Dammit, Sam. Do me already. You know you want to.” That last was whispered on a moan as he began to move.
His hips thrust forward as his hands pulled her back onto him. She moved with him, eager for whatever he would give her. The penetration from this angle was amazing. She only wished he’d move faster.
The pressure was building again and she knew the peak this time would be higher than the last. Higher and more satisfying when he finally let her have it.
“I like the way you beg, captain.” His use of her title jarred her. It made this kinkier, and somehow more exciting. “I want to hear more of it.”
She remained silent to see what he’d do. Would ignoring his request drive him over the edge? She wanted to drive him as crazy as he was making her.
A smack sounded through the room as his open palm landed on her ass. Oh my Lord, he’d actually spanked her. That wasn’t something she’d anticipated, but it had felt surprisingly good. It cut through the dizzying pleasure, bringing it into sharp focus. Honing it until she was ready to scream for more.
“Defiant, captain? I think I like that even better than hearing you beg.” He leaned over her, making her very aware of her size in comparison to his. His presence engulfed her, his heat making her feel small, vulnerable, yet strangely powerful. “Because when you’re defiant, I get to punish you. Do you like to be punished?”
She hesitated before answering. “I—I don’t know.”
“I think you do. I think you know damn well you liked being spanked. Shall we try it again?” He rose, resuming his position behind her. Sure enough, a moment later, his hand smacked down on the other cheek with an echoing sting.
She let out a little sound this time, not quite a squeak, not quite a moan. It was something in between.
“Yeah, baby.” He rubbed the stinging spot gently, with circular motions. “I knew you liked it. Don’t try to hide it. I like it as much as you do.”
She’d think about what that meant later. For now, she couldn’t think of anything beyond the intensely focused pleasure that was building inside her with every movement, every minute.
“Now beg,” he reminded her. “Let me hear you beg, baby.”
She bit her lip to keep from giving in.
“Oh, so you want more punishment?” He sounded inordinately pleased. “I can do that too, but in the end, you’ll give in. I’ll see to it.”
Two quick smacks, one on either side, made her shriek. He laughed and it sounded triumphant. Then the real torture began.
Sam slid into her, his hands gripping her hips hard. He began a heavy, pounding rhythm that pushed her closer and closer to the stars she sought so desperately. Only to pull her back from the precipice before she could get there.
“Give it to me, Emily,” he commanded.
She moaned, caught in the grip of a tidal wave beyond her ability to control. She surrendered to it. Surrendered to Sam.
“Please!” she cried. “Please, Sam.”
The pleading seemed to do the trick. Sam sped up, pushing harder, the way she wanted. He knew exactly what she needed. A few moments later, she tipped over the edge into the abyss, but he was there to catch her. Sam followed her, his embrace keeping her safe, his body protecting hers as they flew through the stars together.
She screamed his name as she came. In the end, she thought she heard him shout something too, though she couldn’t be sure. She was too far gone in her own pleasure.
The bliss overwhelmed her. The passion shook her to her soul. She flew without a plane, with only Sam’s strong arms to support her.
“I’ve got you, Emily,” he whispered as he lowered her to the bed and disengaged their bodies. She still pulsed with pleasure, her breathing harsh and irregular.
Sam was winded too as he positioned her on the bed next to him. They both gulped in air as their shared climax began to fade into a lovely afterglow. Sam put his arm around her, tucking her into his side. That felt good. The possessiveness of his grasp felt even better.
“I never knew you were so kinky,” she whispered, amused now that the crisis of pleasure had passed.
“You ain’t seen nothing yet, Em. Stick with me and you’ll learn all sorts of naughty things.”
“Is that a threat?” She craned her neck to look into his eyes. She was joking and he smiled back at her.
“It’s a promise. One that I look forward to fulfilling—anytime, anywhere.”
“I’ll remember that.” She snuggled into the pillows, needing to rest.
“See that you do.” He kissed the crown of her head.
She fell asleep with a smile on her face.
Chapter Thirteen
“T
his looks promising,” Emily commented to Sam as they headed for their jet.
The trip was a quick cargo hop to Portland International Airport, known as PDX, and back. The cargo had come in from a small airstrip near Norfolk, Virginia, overnight and was being split into two shipments. One was going to PDX. The other to Boise, Idaho. The bulk of it was going to Boise in one of the newly outfitted, strictly cargo jets. They’d take a smaller set of boxes in a passenger jet to PDX.
They’d opted to take the PDX flight because the second leg of that trip would net them a few passengers who were on their way to a tiny airstrip in the wilds of Eastern Oregon. Emily agreed with Sam’s conclusions that something was up in that region. They’d tried to hide it but when looked at as a whole, all those mysterious shipments seemed to center around that geographic area. It was also pretty wild up there. Farm country that was somewhat mountainous and desolate. There was lots of room up there to do all kinds of things without anyone being the wiser.
Sam had cautioned her against talking in the cockpit until he’d had a chance to check it for bugs. They’d also done a thorough but nonchalant check of the jet’s systems, looking for any possible sign of tampering. She didn’t think the bad guys would want to blow up their own cargo, but it couldn’t hurt to be too careful. Sam would also discreetly check the cargo before they took off, to be sure that it wasn’t a bomb.
They were in the thick of things now. Since their encounter with that creature in West Virginia, Emily understood exactly what was at stake here. She and Sam had to find out where the bastards who wanted to sell that heinous technology were hiding out.
Emily taxied to the runway while Sam checked the cargo. He rejoined her in the cockpit with a few seconds to spare, giving her the thumbs up that was her signal meaning the cargo was not potentially explosive. She shot them into the air and Sam took care of the communications with the tower and ground control until they were at cruising altitude.
When they began to level off, he started fiddling with some electronic gear he had in one of his pockets. At length he gave her the all clear signal and she relaxed a fraction, knowing they could talk without fear of being recorded. There was no real viable way to listen in on them live while they were in the air, but a bug could record for later playback and get them in trouble once they landed, he’d warned. It made sense and she was being ultracautious now that she knew what they were up against.
“This came last night, along with your phone,” Sam said, pulling out a long, thin wire that had a little flat oval on one end.
“What is it?”
“A way to eavesdrop on our passengers after we pick them up at PDX.” He leaned over in the small cockpit space and examined the bottom of the soundproof—and bulletproof—cockpit door. “There seems to be just enough space in the seal for me to wiggle this under. Or over,” he added, looking at the roof. “Once they’re aboard and they’ve settled a bit, I’ll slide this baby into the crack of the door. It’s the latest in spy gear. Supposedly undetectable. I guess we’ll find out.”
The devil may care grin he sent her made her want to laugh. And worry. She did both, knowing it was futile to try to tell him not to do something potentially dangerous. Danger was his middle name, it seemed, cliché as it was. He’d come alive when they were in West Virginia, fighting for their lives. And he hadn’t been the man she’d first met since.
This was the real Sam Archer. The warrior. The daredevil. She loved that about him, as much as it frightened her. Her only consolation was that he had to be damn good at what he did if he’d stayed alive this long. She had faith in his abilities and she knew he was getting top of the line equipment in this fight. The little gizmo in his hand proved it. As did the new cell phone clipped to her hip. The government wasn’t sparing any expense to stop this horror in its tracks, and she was glad of it.
They should have never tampered with such things to begin with but now that the genie was out of the bottle, they had to do everything in their power to stuff him back in. More than the safety of the nation depended on it. Life itself depended on getting this technology under control and completely out of circulation.
“Yet another good reason to have taken the PDX flight,” she commented.
“Yes, ma’am. Cargo is one thing, but passengers inevitably talk, even if it’s only to complain about my flying.” He winked at her and she laughed, knowing there was usually very little to complain about his competent hand at the stick.
“Are you going to give them something to complain about?” she challenged.
“If I must.” He sighed dramatically, but she knew he’d do whatever it took to get the information they needed. If these passengers had it, he’d get it out of them and they’d likely never even know.
“So what’s in the cargo this time?”
“Nothing much. Could be a red herring meant to throw any watchers off the trail. Bundle the shipment together as far as Wichita, then split it in two. One is the real shipment. The other is useless junk going to a dummy drop point. I’m betting that’s what we’ve got. If not for the need to get the passengers, those crates might’ve ended up going to New Mexico or someplace else, unrelated at all to the action up here. It’s like laying a false trail in the woods.”
“Clever.”
“Well, unfortunately the people we’re dealing with aren’t dopes. Most of the tech folks on the original projects were medical doctors or Ph.D.’s. Some had multiple doctorates. Not stupid people. The few that we’ve already stopped were either a little crazy, had delusions of grandeur, or visions of being super rich and all powerful.”
“Nice bunch of folks,” she said dryly.
He laughed and shook his head. “One of the female researchers went completely around the bend. She turned her ex-husband and his trophy wife into zombies and took over their lake house. Since the creatures don’t like direct sunlight, they need to go to ground during the day. She took great pleasure in telling them to go jump in a lake. The creatures took her literally and walked into the deepest part of the lake to hide from the sun.”
“You’re kidding.” She was appalled.
“Afraid not. They’re dead. They don’t need to breathe. They could hide down there all day and walk out of the lake at night to do their nasty work.”
“I’ll never enjoy a day at the lakeshore again.” She shivered, imagining seeing something like that creature from the convenience store walking out of a peaceful lake to ravage the countryside.
“Never fear. That’s what we’re going to stop. With any luck, you and I can shut them down completely. We’ve accounted for almost all the original scientists except one. The leader of the team. A charming fellow named Dr. Emilio Jennings.”
“You’ve met him?” Sam’s voice had an edge when he said the man’s name.
“No, ma’am. I’ve not had the dubious pleasure. But from the things we’ve been able to piece together after the fact, it looks like Dr. Jennings maneuvered his way into leadership of the team by employing some pretty underhanded tactics. He had one of the leading scientists in his field discredited with false rumors. Everyone later realized the man was innocent but by then the choice had been made to put Jennings in charge. Then, when it began to look like the goal they’d been working toward had taken a horrible turn, it was Jennings who pushed to test the experimental substance on cadavers. I hold him responsible for that first outbreak that killed so many of my brothers in arms. Their blood is on his hands.”
A cold look had entered Sam’s eyes as he went on. “I believe that bastard knew damn well what would happen when he shot up those corpses with the contagion, yet he did it anyway. Then he ran away with the technology and put it up for auction to the highest bidder among several hostile foreign governments. If I ever meet the man, it will be my pleasure to put a bullet between his eyes. I only regret I can’t make him suffer the way my teammates did.”
Sam was staring out the cockpit window into the distance, and Emily knew the awful memories that tightened his muscles must be terrible. She reached out to him, putting one hand over his. He turned, taking her hand in his as he looked at her.
“I’m sorry, Emily. I’m a violent man. It’s best you know that from the beginning. I’ve led a hard life but I’ve never reveled in killing. The part that scares me is that I would probably dance on Jennings’ grave given half a chance, for what he did to my friends and me.”
“You’re only human, Sam,” she whispered. The moment was tense. She wanted to comfort him and reassure him that wanting the man dead who had killed his friends wasn’t a terrible thing. It was understandable, under the circumstances.
“See, that’s the thing . . .” He let go of her hand and turned back to stare out at the sky. “What happened changed me. Forever. There’s no going back to what I was.”
He looked so torn. So sad. Again, her instinct was to comfort him.
“I suppose that’s to be expected. Life changes us. The things that happen to us and how we react to them make us who we ultimately become. And from where I’m sitting, you’ve taken all that life has dished out to you and done good with it. You haven’t let it beat you down. You haven’t let it turn you bitter or stop you in your tracks. You’re out here, actively doing something to make the world safer. That’s a win in anybody’s book, so give yourself a break, Sam. You’re doing fine.”
His expression lightened as he seemed to consider her words. At length he shook his head, his tension leaving him.
“I’m glad you have such faith in me, Em.”
“Always.” She smiled at him and neither said much more until they began their approach to PDX.
The cargo was whisked away as they refueled. They had to wait for one of the passengers. There were to be two men. A Caucasian fellow with a thick accent Emily thought was Russian or something like it was already waiting when they landed. Sam handled the refueling and paperwork with the jet while Emily dealt with the passengers. They’d agreed beforehand that it would be best for Sam not to have direct contact with them, in case he spooked them somehow. It was pretty hard to hide his stature and unmistakable military air.
A lot of pilots had that vibe but Sam was a little more intimidating than the others she’d dealt with. Her brother had pegged him for Special Forces right off. One soldier, it seemed, had a way of recognizing another. They’d take extra precautions in case Sam’s demeanor spooked any of the passengers. He’d told her he didn’t want to blow it when they’d already come this far and she agreed. Besides, it was more natural for her to deal with the passengers since she was the senior pilot on this team and had been with the company much longer.
What she hadn’t realized was that Sam would be skulking around the jet, using his phone to take surreptitious photos of the two men they were to transport. She didn’t think anybody else would realize it, but she now had the same phone he carried and had been introduced to its rather surprising features that morning. It could take photos from a camera secreted in its tip.
Which was exactly what Sam had pointing toward her as she walked across the tarmac with their two passengers. The second man had shown up a few minutes late. He was Asian, probably Chinese if she was any judge, but she couldn’t be sure. Their names were not listed on the flight manifest and she knew enough not to ask. That’s the way it had been since Scott had taken over, though many of the celebrities she’d flown before had avoided talking with the “little people” like her as well and didn’t list their names on the manifests—only those of their managers and support personnel. Often they’d list fictitious names, if they listed any at all.
This new policy, though, was taking things to an extreme. Celebrities were one thing. Everybody knew who they were. But in the past, businesspeople had always been required to show I.D. and give their real names for the records in case there was an accident or some question later. Their insurance carrier demanded it.
Only Scott didn’t seem to give a damn about legalities lately. He’d sent down the directive and suddenly it was law. They’d fly anybody, anywhere. No questions asked.
Emily was glad it was starting to unravel. With any luck, they’d catch the bad guys and end this soon. Then she could go back and rebuild what Scott had destroyed—if there was anything left to rebuild.
Of course, that would probably also mean the end of her time with Sam and she couldn’t be happy about that. He’d given her so much in the short time they’d been together. He’d made her feel special and cherished. He’d made her feel loved.
That was something rare in her life. She had the love of her family, of course, but there had been precious few men she’d fallen for in her lifetime. And of those few, fewer still had fallen for her in return.
She didn’t know if Sam loved her. He cared about her. She knew that with certainty. But love? She didn’t dare jinx what they had by bringing it up. They both knew their relationship was doomed from the start. Their jobs and responsibilities would be hard to reconcile even if they did both want to pursue the relationship beyond the end of this mission.
Increasingly though, she wanted to keep him in her life. She was contemplating ways they could make that happen. A long distance love affair was better than nothing at all, she figured. But it would take two to make it work, and so far, Sam hadn’t said anything about the future. She sure wasn’t going to bring it up. Not yet. She didn’t want to say anything that could ruin what they had. The time would come when she couldn’t put it off any longer. That would be soon enough.