SLEEPER (Crossfire Series) (27 page)

“And you’re shy,” she said, tugging her finger free and tapping his cheek playfully.

He arched his eyebrows at her. “Shy?”

“Like I said, I haven’t seen you naked since the first night.” She peered down. “It’s disconcerting how often my clothes come off whenever you’re around and yours don’t! So you must be shy.”

He chuckled. He had his reasons. He took hold of her hand and guided it to his fly. “Feel how shy I am.” He was in a constant state of discomfort because of her. “Definitely not shy.”

“Ummm,” she said, squeezing him lightly through the fabric. He sucked in his breath when she caressed the length of him. “I’m afraid to ask—did you go shopping while I was gone? Please say yes.”

“Yes,” he said. He’d come this close to deciding he shouldn’t buy any protection, because that would mean he was planning to sleep with her. Fortunately, he’d ignored his own advice.

“Thank God. I was going to say let’s do it anyway if you didn’t. Does that sound desperate?”

He’d been desperate for her too. He’d wanted her to put her hands on him, but he’d known he wouldn’t just stop at touching if he’d let her do that. He would have gone all the way and that was one rule he wouldn’t break.

“No, not at all, babe,” he assured her.

“Good.” She pushed him with her other hand, and he went on his back obediently. “Where are the condoms?”

He pointed to the drawer and she leaned over to open it and rummage inside. He watched her break the seal off while he unbuttoned his pants. With some tugging on her part and kicking on his, the pants came off. Freed from its confines, his erection stood at attention, waiting impatiently, ready to go. It’d been ready for a while, pushing hard against the front of his pants, demanding to be let out to play.

“You’re the beautiful one,” she breathed as she circled his engorged flesh.

Reed almost came at her touch. It’d been torture ignoring the painful need to climb on top of her and have his way. Free at last, his cock was taking charge.

“Give me the packet,” he said, his need urgent, his words tumbling out.

“No, I want to taste you first.”

All his blood seemed to rush straight to his eager erection and the pleasure was almost painful. He watched her head lowering toward him. Electric shots of pure white heat zapped through his body at the sensation of her wet, sweet mouth. She sucked, and he almost lost it. He closed his eyes, carried away by the sensation of the insistent pressure that was building inside him.

“Hmm. Penis,” she whispered, a wicked glint in her dark eyes.

Yeah, she was still thinking of playing body parts. Just that one body part was enough, please. He closed his eyes, giving in to the feeling of losing control.

Her tongue flicked and teased the sensitive spot on the underside of the head, over and over, until he thought he couldn’t stand it any longer. He didn’t want to come yet. Wrestling with the need to let go, he opened his eyes. She angled her head. He held his breath, watching his whole length disappear inside her mouth, stretching his control to the breaking point.

She peered up at him, her languorous, dark eyes knowing. She was enjoying being in charge, punishing him for the same tortuous pleasure he’d given her. Her mouth slowly and erotically released him inch by inch.

He reared up then, reversing their positions. She lay there as she watched him fumbling with the packet. He positioned over her and pushed.

Reed grunted. All thought disappeared, only the feel of tight, heated flesh resisting his entry, squeezing his pleasure the way only a woman could, taking and giving at the same time. Her thighs grabbed his waist, urging him deeper. In and out, pushing a little harder each time. He was lost in sensation—her softness, her scent, her wet caress. She moaned as his strokes became longer and harder, her channel eagerly milking his whole length.

There was no finesse, just a need to take, his focus on where they were joined together. Every slippery glide increased the pressure, and he wanted to both stop and push at the same time. Her first internal spasms massaged him, adding fuel, taking him higher and higher, like one of those big waves that promised a spectacular ride. She purred throatily under him, her nails digging into his back.

Release was so close. One more stroke. He pulled out, the sensual slide curling the tension in his stomach into a ball. The liquid rush of oncoming orgasm roared through him. One more stroke. One more…he grunted again, lost somewhere between pleasure and need. Reed rose over the crest, on top of the world, and rode that wave home.

CHAPTER 16

She was right. Lily turned over sleepily. It was the man and not the bed. She smiled as an arm slid over her tummy and gathered her back closer to him. The man was a furnace. No wonder every time he came close to her, her body temperature rose several degrees.

She felt his lips on her shoulder, his hand wandering leisurely. She’d never known such joy at exploring another’s body. She smiled again, this time with satisfaction. It wasn’t she who had been unable to stand sharing herself with a man; it’d been those programming bastards. All these years she’d thought something had been wrong with her because she just hadn’t been able to finish with a man. Her need had always driven her to run away, afraid that giving in meant humiliation and loss. But last night proved that she wasn’t like that at all. Despite what she’d gone through, she wasn’t a clichéd, man-hating frigid bitch. She was a normal woman with normal needs.

“Awake?”

Even the sleepy drawl of his voice turned her on. “Mmm,” she replied.

She really didn’t want this to end. She sighed. Unfortunately, this normal woman with normal needs didn’t lead a normal life. Last night was just a reprieve. Her problem remained very real.

“Your shoulders are all tense again,” he noted from behind her. “After all the hard work I put into relaxing you, too.”

She chuckled. “Hard indeed,” she agreed. The empty packets scattered somewhere on the floor were testament of his hardness. She pushed her ass against him suggestively. The satisfaction that filled her was purely feminine.

“It’s my morning alarm clock,” he told her. His hand slid down between her legs. “And only one thing can turn it off.”

“How very like a man to think of using his dick to wake up,” Lily said wryly. “What else would they think of next…using it as a way to relax and fall asleep too?”

She felt his amusement, even though his tone of voice was serious. “It’s a multipurpose tool. It could even tell time if you wind it up properly.”

She shook her head. Men. “And how do you wind the thing up?”

“I can show you,” he suggested. She reached behind her. After a few seconds of silence, he said huskily, “I guess I don’t have to show you after all.”

She turned around and this time the loving was slow and tender. She savored each kiss and caress, taking in his scent, delighting in the shape and taste of him. She knew this could be the last time, and every moment was precious.

Reed seemed to sense it too. He gave her everything she wanted and more, making every moment special, whispering words that lovers shared. She needed to hear them. She’d never taken the time, never wanted to share herself.

He kissed away the tears in her eyes afterward. “I know,” he said simply.

She’d never met a person who could shut away his thoughts so completely. She was quick tempered, often to the point of being rude. It was something she wasn’t especially proud of; her temperamental nature clouded her judgment when it came to issues that were personal to her. Like the girls and their plight. The last few months she’d been very careful not to do that.

Thank God for Tatiana. Without her, Lily wouldn’t have been able to function. The girl had gone through the worst, with physical and emotional scars to show for it. Lily had turned to her out of instinct. Maybe it was because they both shared that hatred that had killed a part of them. Maybe it was because they’d both wanted to strike back at their kidnappers, be it a few months earlier for Tatiana or years for Lily.

“You’ve spoken to Tatiana,” she said softly. “She’s one of the girls who had been kidnapped from their countries by thugs. They were sold and some of them abused. All of them are very young, way too young to be on their own. Tatiana was one of the unlucky ones. I didn’t get her till after she’d been sold to a
kafena
, those horrible brothels in Macedonia. She doesn’t want to go back to her hometown. She wants to start a new life, she said.”

There was a bond between her and Tatiana. After leaving Velesta, the younger girl had come out of her shell and become Lily’s aide, taking care of the girls when Lily had to go off somewhere and calling on the phone to make appointments because Lily couldn’t. She’d accepted Lily’s story without question, fiercely protecting her in the same way Lily had protected Tatiana those months when she’d been so broken she hadn’t wanted to talk or see anyone.

He took her hand in his, kissing the tips gently. “What did they do to you?” he asked. “And why would they want a bunch of young girls?”

“If I tell you—”

“I might believe you,” Reed said. “Why wouldn’t I?”

Lily hesitated as she thought it over. A few months ago, she herself wouldn’t have believed the story of experimental programs using young girls as sleeper cells. She could use less fantastic terms and try to explain it to Reed. He was a gunrunner, so he would be able to deal with certain realities. But not about implanted poem-codes and mind triggers.

She searched for a term that was close to the truth. “Brainwashing,” she said. “The CIA will take my girls and brainwash them.”

To her relief, he didn’t laugh or react negatively. He seemed to think it over as his hand massaged her neck. “Did they do that to you? Is that what you mean when you talked about being betrayed?” When she nodded, he asked, “How did they brainwash you? What did they have you do?”

“I’m not sure.” That was the truth, at least. She had no idea how they’d managed to do that to her. “But I know I betrayed my friends because of their brainwashing.”

“Were you like these girls once?” He angled her chin up so that she couldn’t escape his penetrating gaze. “Lily, were you…kidnapped?”

She didn’t want to tell him about her past, not when she herself had trouble dealing with the memories. She still felt as if all those awful things—events that she could now remember—had happened to someone else, and not her. To that imaginary sister, actually. In that sense, the CIA manipulation was still working. It was kind of a relief, in a way. She wasn’t sure how she would handle it if the real emotions were transferred back to her. Probably end up like Tatiana when she first came into Lily’s care.

“I…” She sighed, trying to find the words to explain. “Yes. Then they came and rescued me, and I spent a long time at one of their facilities getting rehabilitated. I suppose I was not in the best of shape, you know? Reed, I’m not worried about me. I just don’t want my girls to be used by these people.”

“I’m trying to understand your story, sweetheart. They’re offering a lot of money for you, so I know you have something they want, besides your being brainwashed. You did something for them but didn’t deliver. Yes or no?”

He was too damned smart to allow her to gloss over the details. She tried to look away, but he held her chin gently but firmly.

“Why don’t you just give it to them? Maybe you can negotiate that, instead of giving yourself to them.”

“No!” She knew, through Amber, that the weapon device was American made, that it had been stolen from the CIA. Somehow or other, it’d ended up in Dilaver’s hands. When she’d gone for it, it hadn’t been to return it to anyone. At that time, she’d believed the right thing to do was to use the weapon device at an international summit where certain Eastern European leaders were attending. So that meant the CIA had somehow ordered her to do that. She’d been activated to sacrifice herself, that part she understood. But there was a puzzling fact that had been niggling at her consciousness. She said slowly, thinking aloud, “I think someone in there is a…” she waved her hand, looking for the word, “you know, a bad CIA agent.”

“A mole?” Reed suggested. “And this mole is the one putting up the money on the street?”

She frowned. “I don’t know. You don’t believe me, do you? I told you, the whole thing is complicated.” At least he wasn’t laughing. Or backing away carefully. “Reed, at this moment, I don’t really care. I have nothing to lose once I can get the girls away.”

“What about you?” he countered quietly. He rose from the bed, propping his head on his hand. “You didn’t answer my other question. Why are you against negotiating your freedom with what they actually want from you?”

She turned her back to him. She didn’t want to tell him how dangerous the weapon was. He was a gunrunner, after all, and…she bit her lower lip. Trust. But if he knew, he might be tempted to get hold of the weapon too. It was too soon to trust.

He saved your life twice.
She sighed. She would trust him with her girls but not with the knowledge of a device for which many different people would kill. She had to keep it a secret. It was her final ace up her sleeve.

“I won’t give it to them because they betrayed my trust once and I hate them for it,” she finally said. Contempt filled her. “Whether it’s a mole or not, it doesn’t matter. They aren’t going to use me again, and giving it to them will mean that they’ve succeeded in doing just that. Can you understand that?”

It felt right to be finally able to say it out loud. She had no one with whom to share her innermost thoughts about what had happened. Tatiana was too young, really, to be that kind of a confidante. It was good she didn’t ask any questions, but, at the same time, it also made it difficult for Lily to see clearly.