Authors: Lynde Lakes
The car vibrated with the rushing howl of the headwind.
Don’t let us flip over, or catch a bullet
, she silently pleaded.
Dane swung around several corners on squealing tires. “An alley’s coming up. I’ll gamble that it’s not a dead end.”
She exhaled. Luck was with them. Ahead was the freeway. He raced up the ramp and merged into traffic, heading toward the carnival brightness of Vegas’ strip of hotels and casinos. Jill noticed a new set of headlights join the flow of traffic behind them. If their luck held out, they wouldn’t belong to the limo.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Jill wasn’t surprised when Dane headed straight for the mini-bar in her adjoining hotel room. He quickly mixed a couple of drinks.
“You seem to be a frequent drinker.”
“Not usually, but I’ll admit the near-death entangles of this story are getting to me more than most.” He winked. “To steady our nerves,” he said, handing her the full glass of bourbon with a hint of mix. His voice was strong, reassuring.
She felt him watching her. Trying not to tremble, she mixed the liquid more evenly by swirling an ice cube with her index finger. Then she forced the strong drink between her lips. Her eyes watered, but she swallowed anyway, shuddering a little as the bourbon burned all the way down. She didn’t mind the smarting. After their brush with death, she was glad to feel anything.
Dane’s fearless driving had saved them for a second time. But it could have ended much differently.
“I’ll bet the manager of the video outlet was the one who marked us for the hit,” she said as she punched in the FBI emergency number. Her hands were shaking so much that she punched in the wrong number. She took a sip of her drink and started again.
Dane was already busily scribbling notes on a hotel scratch pad. Minutes later, he called the hotel business center and reserved a computer and fax machine. The man never stopped—his job came first. In that way they were alike.
Ignoring a sudden emptiness, she requested a warrant and set up a raid on the video outlet. Gary would be on the next flight to Vegas to handle everything here. Now she could pursue the Hollywood lead.
“All set for tomorrow.”
“Good,” Dane said in a voice spiked with energy. “We must have gotten too close to blowing this thing wide open.”
“Well, they made a mistake going after us. Now we’re fairly certain the outlet is a connection. Yesterday we had only Charmaine’s log—by tomorrow we’ll have the store’s records.”
The unmistakable admiration in his voice filled her with a rush of pride. “The only way to get off their hit list is to make it useless to kill us,” she said.
“Take it easy, Grayson.” His easy grin disarmed her. “I’m on your side. What if I order a couple of thick steaks from room service? Then we can relax and catch our breath.”
“Make mine rare.”
His eyes twinkled with amusement. “Ah, yes. I remember.”
Jill went out on the terrace and leaned on the railing. Dane had a disturbing way of keeping her off guard. She heard him ordering their meal. Then he was talking to someone at
The Chronicle
, dictating a story. She knew he wouldn’t give anything away.
After a while, the food arrived and Dane tipped the waiter and sent him away. She guessed, like her, Dane was too pent up to eat just yet.
A warm desert breeze tumbled her hair about her face, awakening her senses. The bright lights of the Vegas strip glittered up at her like a million diamonds. There was a constant parade of cars in the street below. People coming and going. Could any one of them feel as alive as she felt right now?
Her life could have been snuffed out tonight. The revelation washed over her like a shower of ice water. Up to now she’d been content to devote her life to the FBI. She’d ignored the missing elements: love of a good man, children, a real home.
“Feeling better?” Dane asked, joining her on the terrace.
“Much,” she said, still staring down at the lights. With his hands on her shoulders, he turned her and tenderly smoothed back a wisp of hair from her face. The touch of his fingers brushing her cheek spread a tingling warmth through her. She rested her face against his hand, a large, strong hand that was oddly more gentle than the breeze.
He glanced at her empty glass. “Want another?”
“No. I’m fine,” she said. But if her instant flare of desire was any indication, she wasn’t at all sure she was fine. The intensity of her feelings alarmed her. Her work wasn’t enough; she knew that now. To be happy she also had to satisfy her need for love. Lasting love.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Dane felt relieved when the food arrived to distract him from the other hunger burning in his loins. “We could eat now, or...”
As though it belonged to someone else, Dane’s hand lowered to her waist, then moved upward, tracing the line of her spine. Jill’s eyes widened and she took a shaky breath and then, as though putting up a smoke screen to hide the desire in her eyes, she said, “I’d like to have another crack at the men who were shooting at us. But next time with police backup.”
Dane grinned. “Your fervor is amazing. I’d like to bottle that fire.” The reflections of light in her eyes were sparks ready to ignite anything within reach. And he was there waiting.
For an instant, he heard the echoing cries of the wife and son he’d lost.
Life could be so painfully fleeting. But wasn’t that an argument to take what they both wanted before it was too late? Racing down the freeway tonight with bullets flying at them, they could have died.
Jill met his gaze. “I don’t know what to do about this quivering inside me. Your deep voice and dark, beckoning eyes stir primitive emotions, I’ll admit that, but our timing is off. You’re an untamed reporter who won’t always be around for the long haul, dependable and safe. And my work takes me across the states.”
“We can discuss that later. But right now, we both know that after all you’ve been through in the last few day, I’m exactly what you need right now. And you’re definitely what I hunger for. I know you feel it too. We both require someone who cares to make us feel alive—someone to make us feel something besides panic.”
“This is crazy—irresponsible.”
“Be a little crazy just this once.” Slowly and seductively, he began massaging her neck. “You need to relax. See how these tendons are bunched up?”
“Mmmmm, yes. You have magic fingers, Mr. Reporter.”
Dane smiled, hearing the reined-in energy beneath her easy manner. “Yeah, well, it’s all part of dual-agency interaction. You know, I rub your neck, you rub mine.”
He loved the sound. His heart pounded. He stroked the hollow of her throat, his thumb tracing a circle. Her heartbeat throbbed wildly there, yet it was too loud and strong for a single heartbeat. With awe, he realized it was their mingled heartbeats.
“I guess it’s up to me to make you want to stay,” he said.
“If you think you can.” Her eyes softened.
She swayed into him, and he couldn’t resist gathering her close until her head rested against his chest. The rise and fall of her breasts stirred him beyond logic. He swallowed. There was no reason to go off the deep end—just because her hair was soft and fragrant and her body fit perfectly with his. Her face was less than an inch from his, and he had no choice now. When she looked up, he kissed her. He didn’t hurry the kiss, enjoying the warmth it spread through his body. The agonizing mental barrier had always stopped him at this point. He tensed, waiting.
But when Jill opened her mouth, he softly probed her sweetness with a gentle madness. He had a thirst, a hunger for this woman that no food or drink could ever satisfy. She revealed her feelings in a soft cry of pleasure. He fought an urgency, determined to play it slow and easy. But tracing the vee of her neckline and feeling her warm skin beneath his fingers turned his inner flame to a roaring bonfire. He nuzzled the arch of her neck, trailing kisses there, not even aware of his own murmurs.
Dane’s emotions reeled, his body charged for conquest. He groped for buttons that fought him. Impatient, he jerked up her blouse and buried his face in the warm flesh of her cleavage. He felt her nipples harden and paused. “Jill?”
“I want you too,” she whispered. Her eyes gleamed with something beyond mere passion.
She cared, and that meant he could hurt her. He cared too, but he’d vowed never to go that
for-keeps
route again. Damn. He’d plunged into unsafe waters. Yet, he wanted her more than he’d ever wanted anyone.
Go ahead
.
You want to carry this FBI psychologist off to your bed and show her the power of something besides your mind. And make her love it
.
What a conceited ass. Even as he scolded himself for his presumption, he’d already swept her off her feet.
In the bed, she was alive in his arms, moving beneath him. He ached for her, the need building so fast it brought a throbbing stronger than any he’d ever experienced. It thrilled him that her urgency matched his own. “Let’s get these clothes off,” he rasped.
It took all of his determination to hold back. When she arched her body in writhing pleasure he stopped trying and joined with her, riding the tide in a hot, fervent quest. Seeking. Seeking. Until they plunged over the chasm together.
Afterward, they lay spent, caught in the rapture of what had passed between them. Dane didn’t want to let her go. She was more than he hoped for, more than he deserved.
Oh, hell. He’d have to face this all later and make a decision, but now wasn’t the time, not while she was sending pulsing sensations coursing through his body.
With all the gentleness he could muster, he brought them both to a second blissful completion. Tomorrow be damned.
Chapter Thirty
They hadn’t needed the adjoining hotel room, but Jill knew in her heart that her life would have been less complicated if they’d stuck to their original plan. Wrapped in Dane’s protective arms, she stared into the darkness and listened to his even breathing. What did the future hold for them?
Their coming together had exploded out of a need to affirm life before it was jerked away, but it felt like much more. More than the contentment she felt from having Dane’s long, lean body curved around hers. Being with him gave her a sense of safety and warmth.
Because Dane cared for Tess, Jill felt a unity of purpose with him. He’d become her support system. He didn’t provide an old-shoe kind of comfort. The feeling was far too electric—Dane managed to relax and excite her in the same moment. Their reaction to each other was more like magnets, drawing on and complimenting their opposing strengths.
The moment she’d first laid eyes on him she’d felt an instantaneous attraction. His response proved that he’d felt it too. Out of her need to quickly locate all of Tess’ many friends, she’d tolerated him. Then things changed and the attraction she’d denied grew stronger. He’d proved to be a caring friend. Now a lover. The place he’d secured in her heart would be an aching void when he was gone. He’d become too much to her. Far too much.
She caressed Dane’s arm, reveling in the sense of belonging that having his limb possessively draped over her hip and stomach conveyed. The texture of his forearm hair was fine, contrasting with the hardness of the long muscles at rest beneath his skin.
Jill snuggled deeper into his arms, wanting his touch, his naked flesh pressed into hers. Without awakening, Dane drew her closer. She sighed. This was what she wanted, needed for now. She certainly wouldn’t need any help from him beyond this case. But the truth pulsed at her from the darkness with every beat of Dane’s heart. After tonight, just being intimate friends who saw each other now and then wouldn’t be enough. Yet, something lasting wasn’t even a possibility.
His warmth, his heat inflamed her skin. His aftershave and his own virile scent became a part of the air she breathed. He stirred, and that small movement ignited her desire anew. This man was what she’d been missing all her life. Fate couldn’t be so cruel as to draw her into this enchantment only to yank it away. They had to have been brought together to make them both stronger, happier. She had saved her love too long to give it to the wrong person.
Please don’t let this happiness slide through my fingers like the dust of fool’s gold.