* * * * *
loren jumped. her thighs hit the low table she was using as a desk in rourke’s office. her lightweight laptop computer went sliding across the smooth surface of the wood making her frantically grab for the thing before it went crashing onto the floor. “i’m fine.”
“actually, mom, you look like death warmed over.” toby looked up at her from his nest of computer cables and printouts.
“gee, thanks.” toby tossed her a smile before turning back to his work. loren shook her head before she tried to replace her laptop in its rather precarious position.
a large hand landed on the top of the unit and snapped it closed. the computer instantly shut itself down.
her chair went skidding back from a well-placed kick. loren raised her head to have her wrist captured and yanked. her body went tumbling forward. rourke bent and caught her over his shoulder. he pushed himself up onto his powerful legs in half a second.
“put me down!”
he did. right in the center of his bed. loren bounced on the thick mattress and flipped her body up to glare at rourke. a wave of pain choose that moment to snake through her skull. she’d been fighting the headache all day. clearly, bouncing wasn’t something that mixed with migraines very well.
two warm hands appeared on either side of her head. rourke’s fingers gently tipped her face up as he leaned in to consider her eyes. he was on his haunches between her knees on the bed as he brought his face eye level with hers. his mind brushed against hers in the lightest of contacts. another wave of pain attempted to split her brain in half.
“clay is too blunt.”
“meaning what?” loren was way past caring what questions might be best left unasked. if rourke was going to play around in her head, she had a right to know what kind of psychic he was. the consequences could go straight to hell. it was her head after all.
rourke rubbed her temples again as her green eyes aimed their question at him. the temptation to just answer her was thick. it would be so damn easy to share the part
of himself that he’d never been able to expose to anyone outside his own family.
loren’s face was the same shade as new snow. dark circles ringed her eyes.
pain had carved deep lines around her mouth as she stubbornly refused to fold under the strain. her strength hit him right in the gut. a hot wave of lust actually swept through him as he considered how much strength there was wrapped up inside her body. it enhanced her appeal to him in a manner that civilization could not explain. all he 112
wanted to do was roll her onto her back and mate with her ‘til her belly swelled up with his child.
primitive, harsh, rourke didn’t really care. he’d spent his entire life delving into the human mind. emotions rarely made sense.
honesty lived in a person’s truest feeling. you couldn’t disguise them.
loren was only wearing the thin pair of running shorts again. lust sank its fangs into him as the scent of her sex drifted up to his nose.
the heat rose inside him ‘til rourke wasn’t certain if there was anything that mattered more than connecting with the sweet female flesh in front of him.
her eyes widened as lust raced through their link. a deep breath shuddered out of her chest as the tip of her tongue appeared between her lips.
watching her lick across that lower lip was too tempting. rourke tightened his hold on her head and leaned forward to capture her mouth with his.
it was simply right. loren gasped and opened her mouth for him. his taste swirled around her mouth as his desire floated on a thick wave into her mind. it was the most erotic experience of her life. her body sprang to life as intimacy began in her thoughts first. loren felt his need pulsing through her brain as her body protested the distance between them. she sent her hands to tug on his shirt. little sounds of frustration hit her ears as the green and brown fatigue shirt resisted her efforts to reach his bare skin.
rourke pulled their lips apart as loren moaned. he stood up and made short work
of his clothing. his body needed freedom. the clothing infuriated him when his nostrils could clearly smell the scent of loren’s heat.
loren actually purred with satisfaction as she laid her hands on his newly bared chest. the amazing strength of his body made her mutter with satisfaction. she traced the ridge of muscles before leaning forward to inhale his male scent. need coursed through her bloodstream as she filled her lungs with his heat. her fingers found a flat male nipple. loren smiled as she rolled the tip between her fingers. she raised herself onto her toes to catch the nipple between her lips.
rourke cupped the back of her head as he growled lightly. loren sucked the nub into her mouth before sending her tongue to flick over its peak. she was mad for the taste of him. he filled her mind and she desperately needed their flesh to be joined just
as tightly.
the metal sound of his zipper being lowered hit her ears. loren opened her eyes to watch his male organ fall into view. looking at his bare staff wasn’t lewd, she simply needed to see the proof of his desire in the basest manner. his staff was stiff and swollen as rourke pushed his pants down his legs. loren endured the separation from his body as he stepped out of the garment.
they’d never made love in full light before. loren decided she’d been cheating herself. no matter how amazing his body looked bathed in moonlight, the afternoon light was far superior. her eyes traveled down his chest to the blunt thrust of his sex. on impulse, loren reached for it and curled her fingers around its length.
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a harsh breath caught in his throat making her bolder. loren slipped her hand up toward the head of his weapon as her confidence grew. rourke’s hands were clenched into fists as she caught the head in her palm and moved her hand back down his length. the veins on his forearms stood out as she worked her hand up and over the head again. self-confidence surged through her, but more importantly, loren smiled as she felt to the pure enjoyment coming from rourke’s mind.
that pleasure empowered her. loren slipped to her knees and gently sent her tongue toward his staff. his hands tangled in her hair as she experimented with her technique. having him inside her mind let her share the hot surge of pleasure that resulted from her actions.
his breath caught as loren clearly felt the edge of his control dissipating. she rose slightly and captured the head of his sex completely in her mouth. loren let her tongue move around its width as her fingers stroked the length. his fingers clutched at her hair as his hips jerked.
“loren…stop…”
she didn’t and loren considered the pleasure erupting through their joined minds. rourke was past the ability to think. pleasure crested over his body as she increased her attention to his sex. his hips jerked forward as he began to empty his seed into her mouth. pleasure burst into her mind in pure streams of sensation.
“dear christ, loren.”
rourke plucked her off her knees like she was a child. her tee-shirt went right over her head before he clasped her tightly to his chest.
his lips gently nipped the spot where her neck connected with her body, making pleasure erupt from the spot. loren let a delighted purr come out of her mouth.
her back was placed gently onto the bed before rourke came down beside her.
his eyes were still glazed with pleasure making her grin.
“i never realized the paranormal abilities could have such personal benefits.”
“loren, do you know what it means to know too much?” the serious note in his voice bothered her. loren watched his face set into a deep frown. she reached for the side of his face and let her fingers stroke the warm skin there. loren forced her mind to stay open as she refused to lose the intimacy they were sharing.
“the only thing i know for certain is that i don’t want to think beyond what i feel at this moment. make love with me, rourke.” listening to her own need made loren shiver. she’d completely bared her soul to him and the seconds that crawled by as he inspected her with his eyes made her tremble with fear. the truest form of that emotion filtered across her mind as she considered being rejected. sex wouldn’t be enough. she needed him to stay joined with her thoughts as pleasure spiked through her flesh. experiencing it from his mind had been too joyful for her to accept anything less.
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her words hit rourke with lethal force. intimacy was a word that he’d never actually understood the meaning of ‘til that moment. her need bled through his mind
as he absorbed the desire burning along every inch of her body.
it all mixed into a
combination that was explosive. he caught the side of her face as he lowered his head
‘til mere millimeters separated their lips. their breath mingled as he watched the pupils
of her eyes dilate with pleasure.
“i thought you would never ask, honey.” his kiss wasn’t hard. instead it was deep. loren let her mouth match his as his tongue thrust toward hers. he stroked the length of her tongue, making her moan as desire gripped her body. she needed so many things in that moment. loren twisted toward his body as her skin demanded to be touched.
rourke pressed her back. his hands captured a breast as he sent his lips down the column of her throat. loren lifted her chin to present him with more of the sensitive skin. his lips were hot as they licked and nibbled down toward her shoulders. one hand found his back as he leaned over her body. loren eagerly sent her fingers threading through the crisp hair that covered his skin.
warm lips closed over the peak of her breast through the fabric of her bra.
loren arched her back to offer it to him. rourke rewarded her with a deepening of contact. the velvet tip of his tongue rubbed across her nipple. waves of pleasure traveled across her body until they reached her belly. a firm hand smoothed across her skin along the same path. his hand settled onto her belly as his lips moved to her opposite breast.
rourke listened to the tiny sounds of pleasure coming from loren. linked together with her thoughts, he felt desire riding him as harshly as it had when he’d carried her into the room. the scent from her deepest center filled his nostrils as he applied his tongue to her nipple.
rourke stripped her shorts down her legs. loren giggled as he rose up onto one elbow and tossed them across the room. a playful grin appeared as she fingered the strap of her bra.
what’s your hurry?”
rourke raised an eyebrow in response. playfulness mixed with the heavy scent of desire as loren smiled at his impatience.
“no hurry at all, honey. in fact, i think i might be able to outlast you.” he landed between her thighs, making loren gasp. his eyes promised pure devilment as he pushed her legs up over his shoulders.
his fingers gently pulled the folds of her sex open before he lowered his head to taste her.
loren’s fingers dug into the bedding. pleasure hit her as his mouth was drawn to the exact motion she craved. sweat beaded her face as she twisted and bucked beneath
his attention. climax broke over her body three times before he raised his eyes to hers. loren couldn’t move. her body was a slave to his.
he rose over her in a fluid
motion that made her stop breathing altogether. pleasure radiated through her body
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but she yearned for the completion of their mating. his eyes glittered with deadly intention as he settled between her thighs.
his penetration wasn’t hard. instead it was solid and steady and deep.
incredibly deep. loren grasped his hips as she raised her own to complement his thrusts. his eyes bored into hers as his mind sank as deeply as his body. they weren’t two genders in that moment. instead they merged into a single entity that breathed together and felt as one.
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the forest was stunning at night. loren smiled as she filled her lungs with the fresh air. call her romantic, but the clean, fresh scent of forest made her giddy. she hadn’t stepped foot outside the los angeles county limits in four years.
absolute serenity surrounded her. well, it was more than that. she was tangled in a net of emotions. only she didn’t feel trapped. the only thing that bothered her was the approach of the end of their quarantine.
ebola tai forest had a seven to ten day incubation. cal worth had died after four days. the odds were high that the man was the sole carrier of the disease.
that left loren to face the fact that she’d be returning to her life at the end of the week. she should have kept smiling. instead, the expression melted off her face.
she needed to leave rourke. this mountain, for all of its simplicity, hid a secret that was huge. if she didn’t get off the tree-studded landscape, it was going to close around her and trap her behind its mirage of camouflage.
loren had never thought outside of science fiction movies about psychics. now, she’d run straight into the reality of them. the heavy presence of special operation military personal told her to squeeze her eyes shut before she saw something else.
loren wasn’t a fool. her father was one of these people. bits and pieces of odd information she’d heard from her father confirmed just how serious the military took its secrets.
men like rourke never left the service. civilians like her never really found out that they existed.
and now she knew. her smile returned as loren considered the way rourke merged with her thoughts. it was so completely intimate. maybe some women might find it frightening. loren found herself craving it, him, them.
“you’re so pretty.”
loren froze. the words were deeply hollow. in the dark, the black-skinned ranger was almost invisible. his hand reached forward to finger some of her hair.
“so very soft.” moonlight flashed off the gun in his opposite hand. her stomach knotted as she considered the possibility of chris reaching beyond the grave to exact his revenge on her.
but the weapon didn’t level out in her direction. instead the solider stepped even closer to her back and stroked his hand over her neck. loren didn’t move. a man like this didn’t need a gun to kill her. he could snap her neck with a single hand.
instead he sniffed her hair.
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“yeah…women are so good-smelling. i should have married one. chris should have gone home to you instead of letting cal talk us into those sluts. a whore doesn’t smell pretty like you do.” loren surged away from the man. she was desperate to get away from him. her nostrils flared as the metallic scent of blood wrapped around them.
“hey, now, i just want to touch your clean skin. won’t hurt none.” the gun dropped from his hand as he secured her to his body with those large arms. his body pressed along her back as loren struggled against panic. the man was out of his mind. the horrible smell of fresh blood hit her senses as he began to pet her arm next. she couldn’t see in the dark but the forest air blew against the fluid his hand left behind on her skin.
“steven, let the lady loose now.”
rourke’s voice was calm. but he wasn’t anything close to meek.
rourke clamped
his control into place as he tried to talk his ranger into releasing loren.
when a man was dying he often sought out a female. it was genetically coded into their brains.
“i ain’t hurting her none, sir. she just smells so sweet. not like a whore. last woman i held was a slut, a murdering, dirty whore that spread her poison all over me. and i paid her to kill me.” he sniffed her hair again as loren gently tried to wriggle away from his embrace. she was terrified of moving too much. if she pressed against him, her clothing wouldn’t protect her from his infected blood. the man reeked of fresh blood just like a trauma victim did when loren was transporting them.
“hey now, be nice, steven don’t hurt pretty girls like you.” he stroked her neck as
he forced her body back into his embrace. “see…i don’t plan on dying like a coward. your husband begged for that bullet like a baby. i got sick of listening to him whine.”
“hey, steven, i’ve got a ten-year-old scotch in the cupboard. want to join me in a nip?”
his man turned in a slow and eerie manner. he simply let go of loren before turning to face him. rourke looked at the harsh reality of the disease. steven nelson’s eyes were sunken back into his head as his skin glistened with his blood. loren silently rolled her body over the porch railing. rourke listened to the soft sound her boots made as she landed on the ground. fear coursed through him in a solid wave as he considered steven again.
someone nudged his elbow and rourke turned to find his sergeant with a bottle of scotch in hand. three glasses were tucked under the man’s arm.
rourke poured out the liquid before handing one off to steven. there was a code shared between men who braved combat together. dying with dignity was one part of that. the rest of his unit looked through the latticework on the porch railing as steven’s breath became a hollow rattle in his chest. steven raised his glass to the men of his team before tossing it back.
“right decent of you, sir. i told chris he was a baby. asking for a bullet when he could have died with a good drink in his hand. i ain’t sorry i shot him.” steven reached
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into his vest pocket and pulled an envelope from it. the crisp paper turned crimson around his fingertips as he held it toward rourke.
“you understand me, campbell? it’s all here, signed and dated. i got to break my word to my buddy, ‘cause i can’t be facing god with this on my conscience. the lord wouldn’t be too forgiving if i let someone take the fall for my killing.” he looked confused as he searched the porch beneath his feet. he dipped down to grasp the handgun he’d held in his hand but couldn’t seem to find the strength to stand back up. the man landed on his backside as he frowned up at rourke. he lifted the gun toward
his commanding officer, handle first.
“round is still in the chamber.”
rourke never reached for the weapon. steven fell back unable to hold up his body. he was dead before his back hit the deck.
rourke jumped over the body and his railing in one motion. loren stood facing down his men. his unit medic was inching toward her determined stance as rourke landed in front of her. his man stopped and raised an eyebrow at his commander.
“sir, permission to break conduct code? she won’t let me touch her.” he wasn’t really asking. the man already had his hands covered with thin latex gloves. he’d sat his main weapon aside as he prepared to tangle with loren.
“stay away from me.”
her voice was whisper-thin. rourke used his body to cage her between himself and
his medic. he felt the blood freeze in his veins as his eyes adjusted to the meager light on the front driveway.
against loren’s fair skin, steven’s blood stood out with nightmarish effect. she held her hands away from her body as she tried to deal with the situation. she snapped her eyes into sharp focus.
“i mean it, campbell!”
“so do i, loren.”
he pushed straight into her mind with his determination. loren actually wavered
as her sight went black momentarily. she sucked in a deep breath as she fought to stay
on her feet. she would not place rourke at risk as well. every cell in her body rebelled against the idea of harming him.
his head jerked up as her emotions bled across their link. loren looked into eyes that battled against her mental needs and the need to physically aid her.
“get some gloves on, campbell.”
a hard nod was her only concession from rourke as loren watched him pull the latex protection over his hands. there wasn’t a single force on the planet that would stop him from dealing with her himself. she might lament that fact but it was who he was.
but she needed help. blood was smeared up her arms and across her face. a few fingers were contaminated as well. she didn’t dare try to even unbutton her shirt. a
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sharp edge on a button could cut deeply enough to let the disease into her body. the less she moved the safer it was.
but she had to get out of her clothing before the blood that was on the fabric seeped through the fibers to yet more of her bare skin.
she needed help but it would place anyone that offered assistance at risk.
rourke’s eyes moved over her in sharp assessment. loren recognized the professionally trained way he began to separate their personal relationship from the treatment her body needed. loren knew it because she’d performed the action herself.
he reached for a knife that was strapped to his hip. the blade flashed as he pulled it free. the sound of separating velcro told her rourke’s man was in agreement on just how to get her clothing off her body. only rangers would have felt so confident about using a blade under the circumstances.
loren clenched her teeth together as she steeled herself to allow them to strip her.
“stand absolutely still, loren. don’t even breathe.” instead she cringed as she felt him place himself in harm’s way for her. loren would have rather died.
“mom, are you okay?”