JoshuasMistake (8 page)

“That’s the idea,” Will said. “You should take a gun or two.
There are some backpacks and messenger bags in the corner that will work to
conceal and store extra magazines.”

She couldn’t argue with him so she pulled a messenger bag
off the rack in the corner and took a Beretta 9mm compact handgun and three
fifteen-round magazines. She checked the chamber and finding it empty, slapped
a magazine into the weapon.

Will left, but Joshua stayed, watching her choice and
grabbing two G41 .45 automatic handguns. “You like the Beretta better?”

She pointed the weapon at the wall, feeling the weight and
balance. “The Glock is a great weapon, but the grip is pretty wide for a woman.
It’s not as comfortable as the Beretta.”

He looked more closely at the weapon in his hand. “I never
thought about it.”

“No. Why would you?” She put the gun in her bag and walked
around investigating all the other options.

“I read in your file you have some martial arts skills,” he
said

His mind opened up and she could sense his amusement. “I
have some skills.”

“What disciplines have you studied?”

She took another knife and tucked it inside the outer pocked
of the bag. She handed Joshua a rifle. “I guess you’ll have to challenge me and
see.”

“Will has a dojo if you feel like some exercise later.”

She became more and more curious about their host. “That one
is full of surprises. Why not now?”

The competitive spark between them excited her. She wondered
where rolling around on a mat would lead and she opened her mind so he knew
exactly what she was thinking.

Joshua put down the rifle and stalked forward until he
forced her back against a long rack of firearms. “You have the most wonderfully
dirty mind, beautiful.”

His hand lightly caressed her arm from the elbow to the
shoulder then continued upward, sending sparks of electricity and desire
straight down to her pussy. As gentle as his touch was, when he lowered his
head to take her lips the kiss was hard, almost violent.

She let her bag fall to the floor with a soft thud and
grabbed his back, pulling him closer. She gasped between kisses. “The door is
wide open.”

Even as she gave the warning she knew she didn’t care and
wrapped one leg around his hip to feel his hard cock pressed more firmly
against her clit. She groaned as the pressure stirred her desire higher.

“Will went to the hangar.” He ground forward, increasing her
pleasure. A long, low groan escaped his mouth as he took her mouth again. His
tongue warmed and invaded. She wanted more of him. Everything about Joshua was
an assault. His mind, his body and his desire all crushed her yet she wanted
more.

She tugged on the button of his shorts and slid the zipper
down then reached inside and lifted his hard cock into her hand.

Another, more dangerous-sounding grunt and he lifted her
T-shirt, exposing the bathing-suit top she’d found among the things Will had
brought her. His calloused fingers made their way under the blue spandex and
tugged on her nipple until she cried out.

Her fingers caressed his shaft, sliding up and down the
smooth skin, first with one hand and then the other. With her thumb she rubbed the
bead of pre-come over his full head. He pinched her nipple and she cried out.
Moisture pooled between her legs with every touch and kiss. She wanted all of
him and she didn’t care that they were surrounded by weapons or that Will might
return at any moment.

Joshua dropped to his knees, unsnapped her shorts and pulled
them down with the bathing-suit bottoms. The sheathed knife tumbled to the
floor as she stepped out of the clothing and stood with her legs apart, looking
down at his dark head. His fingers lightly caressed her pussy and it sent a
shock to her entire body. With two fingers he spread her lips and then he
leaned forward and pressed his tongue into her pussy.

Tessa screamed, threw her head back and pushed her hips
forward. His lips and tongue were magic as he licked and sucked her clit, first
hard and then as gentle as a feather. Pleasure spread from her clit outward.

His arms came up to her hips and he lifted her onto the
lowest rack. The metal edges of handguns and semiautomatic weapons dug into the
flesh of her ass and thighs. The sharp pain heightened the stunning pleasure of
his mouth suckling her clit.

He lifted both of her legs over his shoulders. Back arched
she was crying out and groaning and making noises she’d never heard from
herself before. His tongued traced a path around her clit and dipped inside her
pussy over and over again. She ground forward and pulled back. The firearms
bruised her skin, mixing pain with her pleasure and edging the ecstasy higher.

Pressure at her opening sent a shocking sensation to every
nerve as his thumb pressed inside her wet slit. He fucked her with the digit
while sucking hard on her clit. She came apart in an explosion of screams and
jerks.

Joshua’s mouth stilled as did his thumb. Tessa couldn’t
move. Her body shook with the coursing pleasure, which rolled out from her clit
and back again. Every moment with him was intense, but nothing compared to the
way he excited her.

His thumb slipped away and her feet touched the floor for a
moment before his glorious cock pressed at her opening. She heard the crinkling
of foil. “Open your eyes, Tessa.”

She did as he commanded. Her attention was immediately drawn
to his hands rolling a condom onto his cock. She thought of smooth satin and
how it would feel to suck on him until he came. Looking up into his intense
gaze, she could see he knew what she was thinking.

The corner of his mouth quirked up. “I can hardly wait.”

In spite of his words he pushed into her pussy inch by inch.
Her body stretched and the rapture that had just passed began again deep behind
her pelvis.

“More.” The guttural word might have come from another
person. But it was what she wanted. Harder, faster, she needed to have all of
him.

The lights in the armory flickered and then shone steady
again.

She gripped the upper shelf with one hand and his back with
her other, lifting her hips and changing the angle. His hands gripped her waist
as if he might lose her if he let go.

He gave her what she asked for, hard, fast thrusts driving
her closer to a second release. His hand slid to her back and down her ass
between her flesh and the gun that prodded her. The tips of his fingers grazed
her sensitive anus. Just the tiny touch and her body shook with orgasm as it
crashed down around her. Her nails dug into his shoulder. He thrust faster and
she clutched his sweat-slicked skin.

Her pussy clutched at him and her juices flowed down her
thighs with every drive of his cock. He stared into her eyes, cried her name
and opened his mind, allowing his orgasm to rocket through them both.

The lights again fluctuated in brightness. The air was
charged with electricity. Her skin tingled with the sensation.

She was on fire. Feeling Joshua come on the cusp of her own
shattering had her coming again. Every nerve tingled and her muscles screamed
to near pain.

They both panted as the sensations rolled away and Joshua
slid from inside her. His forehead touched hers. “You are so fucking fantastic.”

“You didn’t have to open your mind.”

“Did you like it?” His voice was edged with concern.

She pulled her head back so he could see her face. “It was
the most amazing thing I’ve ever felt in my entire life. I’m just telling you,
you didn’t have to open up. I would have been satisfied with my own orgasm.”

“I wanted to. Sorry about the lights.” His breathing was
becoming more regular.

“That was you?”

“I lost a bit of control,” he said.

“Interesting.” She tucked the information away. It was
insight into why he felt the need to always be in control and it would need examination.

He kissed her quickly and pulled his shorts up on his hips
before reaching down and retrieving her clothes. “We’ve got to get cleaned up
and go.”

“Where are we going?” She tugged on her bottoms.

Joshua adjusted some of the guns their activities had moved
and bumped. “We have to go and see Wanda at Lonely Joe’s.”

“Who are Wanda and Joe and why is he sloppy?”

He laughed harder than she thought the question warranted. “You’ll
see. Go get cleaned up. I’ll be ready in ten minutes.”

It was the strangest thing, but Joshua couldn’t remember
when he’d had as much fun as he’d had since he met Tessa. They were on the run
and probably were going to be killed yet he still enjoyed every moment. He wasn’t
even including the sex, which was the best of his life. He couldn’t put his
finger on the source of his pleasure, but there was something about being near
her. The way their energies melded and meshed gave him chills. No one had ever
been this close to perfect.

They’d taken Will’s old blue-and-white Ford pickup and
parked it at the edge of town. As she walked beside him he watched her
expressions. She looked relaxed yet he could feel her trepidation bubbling
under the surface. She was a good agent. He’d read her file. Everything by the
book from her first assignment, yet she was creative too.

Duval Street was a series of bars, clubs, restaurants and
hotels. He could practically see her cataloguing everything. Her eyes held a
moment on the strip club to the right.

It took a lot of effort not to prod her mind for the exact
emotions she was experiencing. His own apparent addiction to her gave him some
pause.

They crossed Duval to Lonely Joe’s and walked out of the
bright sun. He saw Tessa’s “aha” moment when she realized Joe’s was a bar and
not a person. He grinned back at her when she gave him an annoyed look.

His vision took a moment to adjust and focus on the long
U-shaped bar. A man pounded on the keys of an old piano and sang from the
raised stage at one end of the large room. Several tables were filled with
people eating lunch and a few were having drinks in spite of the early hour. He
scanned the room until his gaze settled on the redheaded woman sitting on a
barstool at the far end.

Wanda’s age was a big secret, but he guessed her to be around
fifty. She was still in great shape and looked years younger. She’d already
seen him by the time he spotted her. Her face did not exactly light up, she was
far too practiced for that much emotion. But she gave him a small grin, which
was practically jumping for joy in Wanda’s world.

“Long time, Josh.” Wanda’s voice had a slow drawl, rough
from too much drink and too many cigarettes.

“Good to see you’re still keeping that seat warm, Wanda.”

She shrugged and sipped the golden liquid in her glass. “I’m
easy to find. Who’s your friend?”

He held the barstool out for Tessa. “Tessa, meet Wanda
Avery.”

Tessa held out her hand and Wanda gripped it, pulling her
close. “You know they’re looking for you. Word on the wire is you’ve switched
sides.”

Tessa didn’t flinch or pull her hand away. She looked the
older woman in the eyes. Joshua could feel her temper simmering. He was sure
Wanda, even with her limited psi skills, could feel it too.

“I’m not in the habit of explaining myself to strangers,
Wanda. Why don’t you tell me what you think?” Tessa’s voice was perfectly even
though slightly higher than her normal warm tone.

Wanda released her grip, leaned back and took another sip of
her drink. “I think if you’re with Josh that’s enough of a resume for me.”

Tessa nodded.

“What do you want?” Wanda asked Joshua.

“Tell me what’s in the air about us. Have you heard anything
about our being here in Key West?”

A large, rowdy group stumbled inside the bar. Wanda rolled
her eyes. “Follow me.”

She downed the remainder of her drink in one swallow,
smoothly slid off the barstool and sauntered toward the back door. They
followed her down a corridor, up a flight of steps and into a small office over
Lonely Joe’s.

Wanda sat down behind the oak desk as if she’d done it
hundreds of times and pulled a cigarette out of the top drawer. She lit it,
blew a long stream of smoke into the air and leaned back in the wheeled desk
chair.

Neither Tessa nor Joshua sat down.

“I got wind over the wire that she was wanted for treason
and had escaped FBI custody.” Wanda tipped her head toward Tessa.

“And me?”

She took a long drag and blew out another plume of smoke. “Didn’t
know you were together until you walked into the bar.”

Josh shook his head and sat down on a small couch near the
door. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

Wanda scoffed. “Whoever is after you knows you have as many
friends as enemies. They must not want any competition. If it makes you feel
any better they seemed to think she was still in the Delaware Valley.”

“They’ll find us eventually. We can’t just wait on this
island for them to figure it out,” Tessa said.

“Honey, this island is the perfect place to make a stand.
The Lakelands have more friends here than anywhere else on Earth.”

Wanda was right, he had a lot of agents he trusted on Key West.
Though he didn’t trust anyone other than Will enough to disclose that Banta was
involved. Not yet. That could send some, if not all, of them running. He’d
rather not start a psi bloodbath if he could avoid it. The problem was he didn’t
have a better idea. His instincts told him to stay on the island and enlist a
few friends to help. Keeping Tessa safe was his only priority.

Finally he looked up at Wanda. “Is Trip in town?”

A wide smile spread across Wanda’s face. “Now you wouldn’t
be planning a little war, would you, Josh?”

“I’m thinking it’s time I called in a few favors. Are you
in, Wanda?”

Tessa didn’t say anything. She remained in the most
defensible corner of the room and watched the exchange.

“I figure you’ve saved my neck a few times. I imagine Trip
will feel the same way. You won’t find him until dark and then you know the
place.”

“Yeah, I know the place.”

“What do you need from me?”

“For now I need you to monitor the wire. Find out where they’re
looking and keep an ear out for mention of me or my brother. I may need you to
send word for him to take his family underground if it looks as if they could
be a target. When the time is right I’ll want you to put the word out about
Tessa being here and draw them in, if they don’t figure it out sooner.” Joshua
paid close attention to Wanda’s reaction. They’d worked together in the past,
he trusted her, but the last few days made him cautious.

As far as he could tell she was on the level. He didn’t
detect any deception.

“I’ll let you know what I hear. You over at Will’s?”

“Yeah. This will likely move pretty fast, Wanda. I expect by
tomorrow the island will be flooded with Psi Agents who do not share your
loyalty to me.”

She cocked her head. “Sweet of you to worry, Josh, but I’ll
be all right.”

He smiled at a fleeting memory of Wanda ten years earlier
taking out three operatives in spite of her limited psi skills. Telekinesis and
fact-finding were her specialties. If you needed information Wanda could ferret
it out.

“How many agents do you think are on the island at the
moment?”

Wanda didn’t hesitate. “Ten including Trip and me. And of
course there’s Will, but I never count him as psychic. Handy with a rifle
though. No one can argue with that. You want me to gather them?”

He looked down at the floor for a minute. “At Will’s as soon
as you can. You ready?” he asked Tessa. Without waiting for an answer he turned
and walked to the door. “Oh and Wanda, see if you can find out who gave the
order to have Tessa probed. I think it came from someone high up in Washington
but I can’t be sure.”

Wanda gave one short nod and he left the office. He felt
Tessa close behind him as they made their way back out to the street though she
didn’t make a sound.

Once they were outside she slid her fingers into his. They
might have been any couple on vacation in the Florida Keys. “Now what, back to
Will’s until it’s time to meet with your friend?”

“We have an errand to do first.”

“Oh?”

“I have storage on the island.”

“I’m intrigued.”

He gave her hand a squeeze and continued back to the pickup
truck. “What did you do before you became a Psi Agent?”

“You read my file.”

“I didn’t get that far. I know you’re a good agent,
successful, motivated. That was all the file really said.” He held his breath.
She could refuse to tell him. If she didn’t want to share her story then this
was just a fling for her. It surprised him how much the idea hurt.

“I grew up in Ohio. My parents had no discernible psi skills
though my mother was pretty intuitive about most things and I suspect she could
have developed those skills.”

“How did the agency find you?” Having had no parents he
could remember, he wondered how her life had been. Maybe one day she would
share it with him. It was another shock to realize he wanted to know what
having a family to grow up in would have been like.

“I was in the academy for a local police department. There
was an accident on the range. One of the other officers accidently fired his
weapon. I sensed the mistake. In my mind the bullet slowed down as it was
heading for the instructor. I pushed the bullet. My adrenaline was so torqued
up everyone in the room felt the energy shift.

“It wasn’t long after that, when the agency came to offer me
a job.”

He didn’t hear the regret he’d expected from her. “You’re
not sorry, are you? Not even after what’s happened in the past month.”

She shook her head. “I was a good agent, nothing special,
but good at what I did and I liked it. I don’t know why the last month has
turned into my own personal hell, but I’m not going to tarnish the memory of
the rest of my career over it.”

He couldn’t help thinking he might not have met her if she
hadn’t been detained for interrogation. It was horrible that three men had
died, but he hadn’t been at fault for that. He relished the fact she was with
him regardless of the circumstances.

“What do your parents think of your professional choices?”

“They’re proud of me. I just hope they’re safe. I’m sure
that was the first stop on the agency’s list. They’re probably pretty worried
right now.”

He sensed her anxiety as much as he heard it in her voice. “You
said your mother was intuitive. I’m sure she’s way ahead of the agency.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“You know it’s too dangerous to call them, right?”

“I know.”

In ten minutes they were at a small house he kept a few
blocks off the water. It was rundown and the weeds were growing up through the
pebble-covered front yard. At the front door he used his mind to manipulate the
lock and turned the knob.

“Do you stay here?” she asked.

He tried to see the place through her eyes. It was covered
in dust and there was little furniture.
Neglected
was the best
description of the whitewashed house. For him it was just a storage house or a
safe house in case of emergencies. Only Kane knew he owned the property. “No. I
just keep a few things here.”

She looked around at the neglected house. Not that it
mattered. It was small, out of the way and when he needed a place to keep
things it came in handy. She followed him through the kitchen to a mudroom,
which led to the back door. Pushing a small bench out of the way, he knelt down
and removed a piece of worn wood floor.

A spider scurried past his hand as he reached in and pulled
out three plastic bags. The first two each held thirty thousand dollars cash
and the second contained several identifications, passports, wallets and credit
cards. “Open that closet and pull out the backpack.”

She didn’t ask any questions, just banged the dust off the
pack when she retrieved it.

He tucked the money and papers inside and slung one strap
over his shoulder. “We should head back to Will’s. We’ll need to change before
we meet Trip.”

“Why?” She looked down at her shorts.

“The Silk Stocking doesn’t really have a dress code, but we’d
stand out in these. Besides, I’d like to see you in that red dress Will picked
up.”

She gave him a “you’ve already seen it all” look. “Isn’t
that the name of the strip club we passed?”

“The very same.” He felt a spark of something that might
have been excitement from her.

“And this friend of yours hangs out there?“

“Every night, though sometimes he goes up on the roof.” He
stalked forward until he had her trapped between his body and the wall. Her
curves fitted to the hard planes of his chest, hips and legs. His cock strained
against his shorts.

She closed her eyes for a moment and pressed her hips hard
against him. “What’s on the roof?”

“It’s a swingers club.”

Her eyes flew open. “Are you into that kind of thing,
Joshua?”

“No, it’s not really my thing. Though I wouldn’t mind seeing
you hook up with another woman.”

Her breath caught and she wrapped one hand around his neck,
pressing her tits tighter to him. “I’ll have to give it some thought.”

“If this is the reaction you can think on it for a good long
time.” His mouth covered hers an instant later and the backpack thudded to the
floor in a cloud of dust.

She was sweet and warm. Her mind opened as she gave him
entrance to her mouth. Her tongue swirled with his. Lips and teeth mashed
together when the kiss deepened. He held back in spite of the fact she was
inviting him into her mind. He slid his hand along her hip and to the curve of
her waist. He didn’t deserve the gift she was offering. He was not a nice man.
Tessa should have a good person. She was more than he could resist and he let
himself slide into her thoughts.

Emotions bombarded him and it surprised him she had very few
thoughts beyond the instincts that drover her body to press against him. He
sensed her need for more and reached down, unsnapping the button on her shorts.
He slid the zipper down and pressed his fingers past the elastic of her bathing-suit
bottoms to the warm, wet slit of her pussy.

Her mouth opened on a cry and he muffled the sound with his mouth.
Teasing her clit and dipping into her pussy, his fingers were slick with her
juices as he worried the tight bud. Her pleasure built and her body writhed
against his hand. As her core tightened, his cock ached to be inside her. He
held back his own rapture, reveling in hers.