Out of Sight (19 page)

They'd removed their hats and stuffed them in her backpack. Kane rested his chin on top of her head. "What got you from beauty queen to queen of snipers? "

"I told you. I honestly wanted to make a difference." She smiled, resting her head back onto the curve of his shoulder. "It's all very well standing up on the stage
saying
I want world peace while I twirled a baton—"

"Baton twirling was your talent?"

"Hell, no." AJ gurgled a laugh. "At the time my talent was shooting marbles. But the judges didn't seem to want to watch me flick goonies for ten minutes at a stretch. I suppose there was something unappealing about having a young woman in a swimsuit onstage with her butt in the air, one eye closed."

Kane chuckled. "I don't know. Sounds pretty damn appealing to me."

"That's because you have a very sexy, very one-track mind."

"Apparently so. Okay, not marbles. What, then?"

"I did some fancy footwork gymnastics—"

"Can you do the splits? I once saw a girl in a circus who—"

AJ smacked a muscular thigh bracketing hers. "Can I finish this boring story?"

"I'm not bored."

"We are riding together so we can get a few hours' sleep, remember?"

"You take first watch. Finish your autobiography. It'll be my bedtime story. World peace," he prompted.

AJ snuggled her bottom into the V of his thighs and rubbed the top of her head against his chin like a contented cat. "Don't laugh. I did,
do,
want world peace, but I didn't want to
chat
about it. I wanted to be part of the people who can make it happen."

"Of course you did," Kane said dryly. "Why'd you do the whole beauty-circuit thing if you hated it so much?"

"My mom's gorgeous. She wanted to be Miss America more than anything. She was obsessed with it. Not mildly obsessed, but rabidly, one-track-minded obsessed. It broke up her marriage, lost her friends—hell, gave her enemies, for that matter. But as much as she so desperately wanted the crown, she never made it past Miss Junior Illinois. So then I was her shot at it. At first I was just happy to have her attention. Then I realized she wasn't seeing me. Her daughter. She was seeing her entree into the world she wanted to belong in." AJ paused when he didn't say anything. "Bored you into a coma, did I?"

"Keep going."

"Okay. But if you find yourself slipping into a stupor, don't say your weren't warned. Where was I?"

"Stage mother," he prompted.

"Did I say that?"

"Not in so many words."

"She was my handler in more ways than one. My life was micromanaged. What I ate, when I slept, when I exercised—"

"Sounds like boot camp."

"A hundred times worse. I was froofed, fluffed, and frillied ad nauseum, and dressed in scratchy, girlie crap from morning to night. My hair had to be straightened—too curly. That was one of the few perks. It took me a while to hate that life enough to hurt her by saying, 'no more.' Man, that was a different lifestyle. As far back as I can remember I was a tomboy. Don't get me wrong, I didn't want to be male, particularly."

He snorted, which actually made her feel good.

"Unfortunately," she continued, "being a tomboy wasn't something I could hide from my mother. I was always coming home with a skinned elbow or knee, or a colorful bruise. It drove her nuts. I was the only kid in the pageants who wore makeup on her knees." She laughed.

"I woulda kissed them better."

"Aw, how sweet is that," AJ said with a bit of bite that made him chuckle. "I just knew I could do everything the boys at the playground did. My mother, though, would put any stage mother to shame. She had a goal, and nothing, not even me, was going to stand in her way of achieving it. She put everything she had into my career, micromanaging my every waking moment. And every sleeping moment, with motivational tapes."

"Christ."

AJ shrugged. "She didn't handle the separation very well, She's the type of woman who needs a man to tell her what to do, and when to do it. She and my dad never divorced. But they separated when I was about five. Darrel still pays her bills and balances her checkbook. Our house was all frills and flowers. My father and brother's house was tweed sofas and paper plates. I preferred the paper plates. Gave my mom fits when I went there, because I'd come home more rebellious than ever."

"Good for you."

"Between them, Gabriel and Darrel treated me like a china doll when I visited, but I saw how they 'played,' and more than anything I wanted to be like them. Darrel wanted my brother to be a SEAL, too. But Gab was approached by T-FLAC when he was in college, and he joined up and loved it. I'd go over there for my one weekend a month, and he'd give me little glimpses of what he did. Not the classified stuff, but enough to whet my appetite. The more I heard, and the more stories my father told me, the more frivolous my life became, and the more frustrated and smothered I felt."

"Not surprising."

"I wanted to be a SEAL like Darrel. He and my brother said, over their dead bodies. 'Said' being a mild word for two extremely volatile Alpha males. I said, fine. Because I couldn't be a SEAL, I signed up for the Police Academy. I was three for three. My mother was pissed, the two men I admired most were terrified I'd be gunned down in the streets before I got out of training."

"Then you were recruited by T-FLAC."

"Best day of my life." She grinned.

"I'm sure your dad and brother are proud of you now."

"I don't think Gabriel knows, and my father says war's no place for a girl. My mother hasn't talked to me since I entered the Academy last year. I stole her dream of the crown and she'll never forgive me."

He'd fished a blanket out of the saddlebag behind him, and draped it around both of them, enveloping them in the warmth of wool. The back of his fingers brushed her breasts as he gathered it in front of her. "She loves you," he told her. "She'll get over it."

AJ gave a half laugh. "You don't know my mother."

"Bad, huh?"

"Think the evil queen in
Snow White,"
AJ said dryly. "Mirror and all."

"Will she get over it?"

AJ shrugged. "I hope so." There was a world of hurt in her voice. "She's pretty unforgiving. It's tough when someone wants something that badly and it's stolen from them."

"You didn't steal anything." Kane brushed aside her hair and dropped a kiss on her nape. "That was her dream, not yours."

"Doesn't matter. As far as she's concerned, I could've given her the crown, and I didn't."

"No matter what you say, your father must be proud as hell of you. An A-l Sharpshooter? Top of your class at the Academy? Recruited by one of the most respected elite private antiterrorist organizations in the world."

AJ's smile was sad. "Ironically, he wanted that crown, too. For such a macho guy, he's got a lot of very old-fashioned ideas. He still thinks a woman's place is in the kitchen. Preferably while wearing high heels, pearls, and a chiffon apron."

"And nothing else? I'm enjoying the image myself."

AJ turned to stick her tongue out at him.

He laughed. "That, too."

"Take your nap," AJ told him tartly, drawing her Dragunov across her lap and relaxing into her spine.

"Two hours," Kane instructed.

Other than the soft thud of camels' feet on the sand, the quiet was absolute. AJ had never seen so many stars. The sky seemed infinite and unbelievably vast. If one wanted to commune with God, this seemed the place to do it.

But somehow it didn't seem appropriate to ask God to help her kill Raazaq.

She had no idea how this was going to play out. A spurt of adrenaline shot through her system and tasted right. That was one of the things she enjoyed most about her job. The unexpected. The fact that an operative had to be on their toes and ready for anything.

And she was convinced she
was
ready. But nothing could have prepared her for the reality of the man who slept behind her. She'd known all his ops inside and out, having studied them at length. But she hadn't known the man. She didn't know he loved children—that had been evident from the way he'd enticed the kids to help free the Humvee. Didn't know that he had a sense of humor that went beyond sarcasm. She had come into this thinking of him as a robot. Now that image was dissipating. There was a great deal to Kane Wright, including some secret she had not yet uncovered.

AJ figured that she was slowly eking her way through the chinks in his shell. He was a hard nut to crack.

And now that she was, nothing would ever be the same for her. AJ didn't have a clue what the future might hold. Didn't even figure she should be thinking about a future, since they still had to face and survive Raazaq.

Kane Wright was a lot more complex than the men she'd dated in the past. He was like the iceberg, nine-tenths submerged. She was a pretty good diver, but she wasn't sure she was equipped to handle what she might find at those depths. And really, she reminded herself, why try? He'd walk away eventually. They always walked away.

They'd get sick of other men staring at her, trying to hit on her, for one thing. For another, there was always someone prettier, more well known, or with better contacts.

She'd gotten used to how men looked at her. How they perceived her before getting to know her. Sometimes it was useful, like getting this op. Other times it was annoying on a sliding scale.

Oh, yeah. They always walked away. Unless she walked faster.

Her brother tried to tell her she'd never given a man a chance. Cutting them loose first. But that was a guy thing. AJ called it self-preservation.

It had never bothered her before, she tended to measure their worth by their staying power. But she had a sinking feeling she wouldn't be quite as blasé this time when it was
Kane
disappearing into the sunset. And while she'd spilled her guts about practically everything, despite what they'd shared she knew little more about him now than she had before. Clever Kane.

Being a T-FLAC operative was something she'd wanted more than anything else. It had become an obtainable dream. She was a T-FLAC agent, and with Raazaq's death, her reputation would be assured.

One day rookies would read
her
reports, hear stories about
her
ops, and want to be just like her. She'd be a great role model for the new female students.

What a woman looked like had nothing to do with how she did her job. It didn't give her any more or less value as an operative. Being an excellent operative did that.

She was doing a job she loved, and doing it with her hero. And, for now, her hero was her lover. What could be better than that?

AJ knew exactly two hours had passed when Kane kissed the side other neck. His internal clock was incredible.

"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty." She kept her voice low.

His chuckle was warm against her neck. "Your turn. I'll wake you." He reached around her and took the sniper rifle out of her loose grip. AJ immediately closed her eyes and rested more of her weight against him. "No bedtime story for me?" For some stupid, stupid reason, she felt like crying.

"Sure." His voice held a smile. "Once upon a time…" She fell asleep and dreamed she was looking at Kane's back as he strolled into a sand-colored sky. Rain fell on her face.

AJ climaxed before she was fully awake. Her body clenched around Kane's fingers as tremors shook through her, shattering in tiny explosions as she surfaced to complete awareness from a dead sleep. The camel's rolling gait only emphasized the rocking motion shaking her body. She blinked open bleary eyes to a star-studded sky and a barren desert lunarscape washed by moonlight, her body singing.

"Wow," she turned her head to languidly kiss the bristly underside of his jaw, "that beat the hell out of an alarm clock."

"Wait'll you see what touching the snooze button'll get you."

She shivered a little and hugged the arm he had draped like a bandoleer across her midriff. While she'd slept, Kane had drawn up the all-enveloping caftan, baring her legs to the cool night air. But her skin was steaming—it wasn't the chill in the air that had her shivering, it was the look in his heated gaze that sent ripples of sensation along her spine.

A mile ahead, the Brothers Grim cast three elongated shadows against the moon-bleached sand. But here, it was just the two of them. And the night.

"You sleep soundly, I'll give you that," Kane muttered.

"If I knew my wake-up call would be this interesting, I wouldn't have slept so long." She glanced at the sky again. "You didn't wake me after two hours, did you?"

He shook his head. "No need. I'm good."

"Oh," she said softly, "you're better than good."

Hungry, eager to taste him while her body still shuddered and burned, she turned her face up to his.

He captured her mouth in one of his succulent, deliciously carnal kisses. His fingers delved into her slick wetness until her body did that quick trip down Electric Avenue again.

AJ's spine arched and her hips lifted for better access as Kane pressed his palm to her mound. His other hand cupped her left breast, manipulating the nipple into a hard, aching peak through her sports bra and the thin fabric of the caftan. She wiggled against the hard length of his penis, rubbing her bottom against him. He groaned, low and deep in his throat.

AJ reached back between their bodies and worked determinedly at his zipper. Eager to touch him, she cupped him and stroked his length through the fabric of his pants, and still it wasn't enough.

"As hard as I am, you'll never get that zipper down, Agile Jamboree," Kane said on a strangled chuckle. "If wishes were horses…"

His zipper opened with a satisfactory
zip
.

"I so love a challenge," she said on a soft burst of laughter as Kane groaned tightly behind her.

AJ laughed again as she snuggled her butt closer. "Isn't this fun?"

Kane choked out a short laugh. "You're out of your mind, woman."

"Hey. You started this, remember?"

He chuckled, a wicked gleam lighting his eyes. "You know this is impossible, don't you?"

She gave him a saucy glance over her shoulder. "Nothing's impossible if you want it badly enough."

"Oh, I do," Kane assured her. "But this is nuts."

"Move this leg." She patted his right knee.

"To where?" Kane demanded. "There aren't a hell of a lot of options on a camel."

"Okay. Watch this." AJ shifted her bottom, and stood in the stirrups.

Kane grabbed her waist as her body swayed, then shot a look at the distant trio. "Don't fall off. Jesus. Can't we wait until we stop?"

"Have you ever done it on a camel?"

"Nobody's
done it on a camel."

"Camels probably have."

"No
people
."

Responding to the humorous glint in his eyes, AJ laughed. "Cool. We'll be the first."

"They'll find our dead bodies come Christmas, naked and dried up like prunes."

"Your penis will show them we died happy," she said with a wicked smile and a gurgle of laughter. "A little pink staff saluting in the breeze."

"Hey, what
little
?"

"Move your leg."

"It's moved as far as it can possibly move. A contortionist, I'm not."

AJ got the giggles as she tried to hoist the caftan clear of her bottom. Then she stood in the stirrups again. "Help me lift my—"

He gripped her waist and lifted her as easily as he would a bag of potatoes. "See?" she crowed, yanking the bulk of the fabric of the caftan free. The blanket between her thighs felt smooth and warm on her bare skin. A shiver of excitement coursed through her.

"I see a lovely ass," Kane assured her, running both hands lightly from her midriff down to the curved indentation of her waist, then cupping the aforementioned ass. "World-class," he said dryly. "Now cover up before we fall off this thing."

AJ crossed her arms, and swiftly drew the caftan up and over her head. Chill air raced over her skin, causing a delicious rash of goose bumps. Her nipples peaked from the cold as she unfastened her bra. She stuffed both garments into the bag in front of her, then reached back to loosen her hair. Long strands untwisted from the braid and tumbled down her bare back in a warm, ticklish fall.

"Christ. Lady Godiva," Kane said reverently, sliding his palms around her narrow rib cage and slowly up her midriff until he cupped a breast in each hand. She sucked in a breath as he lightly brushed each taut nipple with a calloused thumb. The sensation shot straight to her core in a sharp, sweet wave.

The feel of him, so close behind her, their torsos not quite touching, sent a shimmer of need racing from her head to her toes. With his palms warm on her breasts, he nuzzled her neck, his breath warm and moist. His penis moved restlessly against her bottom. "Have I mentioned lately that you have a spectacular ass?"

"Not… lately… no." She wiggled backwards.

Damned if he could ignore an invitation as tempting as that one. He paused for a long moment, loving the heavy weight of her plump breasts in his hands, loving the responsive way her nipples peaked, the hard, tight buds nuzzling his palms before he released his hold there to slide his hands down her slender rib cage, taking satisfaction in her sigh of pleasure as his hands moved to cup her hips.

He cradled her behind in both hands, caressing her silky smooth skin and stroking the cool mounds until she trembled in his grasp, rocking her hips.

She leaned back against him, her head restless on his shoulder. "Kane…"

"Right… here." He feathered one hand over the gentle curve of her hip, and traced the warm damp crease at the top of her legs. She made a soft sound of need as his fingers slid under the thin black ribbon to find the slick heat of her desire.

He touched her, and she moved her legs farther apart to give him greater access, as he glided two fingers deep inside her. He pushed his fingers deeper, pressing his palm hard against her, pressing his straining erection hard against her bottom. She moaned low in her throat.

She trembled and strained against his hand. A primitive satisfaction took hold of him as she moaned and quaked as she climaxed, her body clenching around his fingers.

Kane almost came just listening to her pleasure. With his other hand he freed himself as his mind emptied and his body took charge. Hard and aching, he needed her damp heat as much as his lungs needed air. He wanted to feel the sweet cradle of her wet flesh surround and clench him. He wanted to empty himself into her depths and hear the soft, sweet moans drift from her throat as she came.

And he wanted it—needed it—
now
.

The sensation of him that close but separated by a millimeter of cotton ratcheted her need up another tight notch. She twisted around to look down between them. "Can you get it out?"

"Oh, it's come out to play, honey. But that's not the problem," Kane said, laughing at the ridiculousness of what they were attempting. Only AJ… "It's the getting it
in."

AJ leaned her body forward, laying across the neck of the camel, its harsh, coarse hair abrading her skin as she bared her bottom to Kane. "Now?"

He positioned her with both hands on her hips, and she leaned forward, stretched out over Kika's broad back.

He withdrew his hand, trailing his damp fingers across her hip, and used them to guide himself into her. She gasped as he filled her, and the sensation was like nothing he'd ever known before. Beneath them, the stoic camel walked on, its rocking motion driving Kane as he moved within AJ's depths.

AJ shifted, slowly lifting her hips and then lowering them on him again. Then, in inches, she sat up, pushing herself upright until she was pinned to his body like a butterfly on display.

"Kika's watching us," AJ said suddenly.

"Kika," Kane said sternly, "face forward. Watch where we're going." The curious camel lifted her lip, exposing large yellow teeth. She and Kane made eye contact. Kika blinked her ridiculously long lashes and faced forward, without missing a step.

"Thank you," AJ said. "Now, where were we?"

"One of us is naked, the other is inside the naked one," he said, his tone Sahara dry as he pulled her hard against him.

"Yum. Indeed you are." AJ flapped a hand at the camel's face. Kika lifted her lip and rolled her eyes. Disgruntled, AJ twisted to look back at Kane. "I don't think I can have wild camel sex with Kika watching."

"Are you nuts?" Kane demanded. "After all this contorting, you're telling me no?"

"I'm not telling you no… exactly. I'm telling you I can't have sex while a camel is watching me come."

"Kika," Kane said firmly. "Go. Go. Go."

AJ grabbed Kane's hands, which just happened to be cupping her breasts right then, as the camel picked up speed and started trotting. The fastest she'd gone since they'd started the journey.

"U-uncle," AJ cried as Kane's penis was jammed high inside her with each jarring thud of Kika's splayed feet in the sand. It felt incredible. Wonderful. Full.

Too much… Ahhhh.
Perfect
.

"Oh, Lord. This is amazing. Isn't it amazing?" Stars overhead winked slowly out of existence as light shimmered at the edge of the horizon. But all AJ saw were the sparklers splintering behind her eyelids. Kane's body pushed at hers, rubbing, thrusting. Cool air on her skin, warm hands on her breasts, and the rocking of the camel all combined to send AJ's body into overdrive.

"Amazing," Kane agreed, chuckling as he buried his face against the back of her neck and bit gently on the soft skin behind her ear. He dropped one hand to her center and thumbed the tiny nub at the heart of her heat. She trembled in his grasp.

"Okay?" Kane asked tightly.

"Better than," AJ gasped as she arched her back, taking him deeper, her fingers gripping the camel's muscular neck.

"Run, Kika," he said, and the camel quickened her steps even further, doing all the work for Kane, until all he had to do was hold on and ride out the storm as AJ's body tightened over his and they came together like liquid lightning.

Their bodies trembled from the force of their pleasure, and it was several long minutes before AJ could manage to speak coherently. "Takes the word 'humping' to a whole new level, doesn't it?" She laughed as she sank back against him, their bodies still joined.

Overhead, the sky looked like faded black denim studded with rhinestones, while in the distance, dawn crept like a thief up over the horizon in a gaudy display of shocking pinks and brilliant pumpkin orange. AJ rested comfortably against Kane's warm chest, the blanket wrapped around both of them. His body radiated a comfortable heat, but the desert air felt chill and fresh on her cheeks.

She'd pulled her clothes on hours before. It was one thing to give Kane a view of her, butt-naked on a camel, but a whole other ball game to have the Brothers Grim see her that way.

Suddenly, Kane stiffened behind her. He'd been hyperalert for an hour or more. AJ trusted his instincts, but she hadn't seen or heard anything other than sand and the soft,
hypnotizing plod-plop-plop-plod
of Kika's footsteps all night.

"What is it?" she asked, immediately alert.

He flung off the enveloping blanket. "We've got company." He drew his weapon. The sound of the clip slamming home sounded loud in the predawn quiet. Locked and loaded.

Cool air washed over AJ as the blanket fell away—she barely noticed as she grabbed up the Dragunov from across her lap and followed his narrow-eyed gaze.

"There." She saw them. About a mile to the east, and back-lit by the spectacular dawn, a group of men on camels headed straight for them. A thick plume of dust followed in their wake. They were moving fast and with purpose.

"I'd hazard a guess they aren't the Welcome Wagon," AJ said dryly. Her heart pounded with excitement as the men approached, galabayyas catching the wind around them. From this distance, they were nothing more than large, billowing, black blotches with long, spindly legs following their shadows.

Kane leaned away from her to give himself some elbow room. "Hold your fire until we know what they wa—"

Their intent was pretty damn clear as a bullet whizzed over AJ's head. Then another and another. Top-of-the-line weapons, by the sound of them. Russian. New. High-powered. Even in the most inept hands, lethal.

Adrenaline kicked in, and AJ felt a surge of heart-throbbing, Jesus-God-this-is-it kind of excitement. She waited, bracing herself for that lick of paralyzing fear to kick in…

Her heart raced, her brain was clear and sharp, her hands, rock steady…

No fear.

No fear?

She felt a wash of relief. No fear.

She was a real T-FLAC operative after all.

No time for elation.

She raised the Dragunov, tucked the stock into her shoulder, and felt the intensity of the moment as all her concentration ran down the length of the barrel. Index finger resting lightly on the trigger guard, she observed the bad guys through her scope. Kika's rocking motion made it hard, but AJ worked it into a rhythm. The man in the lead rose and fell in her target zone. He had a familiar mole right beside his beak of a nose. She could see him that clearly, despite the muted light.

"They're Raazaq's," she told Kane, recognizing the guy from the car chase the other day. Definitely Raazaq's. "A little closer…" she said softly under her breath.

Seven hundred yards.