The Beast Within (12 page)

She sat next to him as he talked, unabashedly listening in and letting his warmth calm her more. It wasn’t every day she faced zombies and shot them down. Nothing had been normal since her ex-boyfriend had become one of them and savaged her.

It sounded like Sykes still couldn’t spare anyone to help them, but John assured him they had the situation under control. She wasn’t so sure, but she knew if anyone could handle himself in a crisis, it was John. She’d do her best to hold up her end of the deal, though she wasn’t as highly trained.

John ended the call after a few minutes and tossed the phone onto the bedside table. He scooted onto the bed and he pulled her into his arms, spooning her from behind.

“You okay now?” His hands wrapped around her middle, he spoke in a low voice, next to her ear.

“I’m good,” she said softly. “You were great out there tonight, John.”

“Don’t forget your part. You were a big help, babe. I was glad you were there to watch my back.”

“You’re just saying that.” She rolled over to look into his eyes as they lay facing each other.

“I’m not.” He raised one hand to cup her cheek, moving eventually to gently stroke her hair back from her face. “I think you’re gorgeous and smart and funny. And very capable. You were a big help, Donna.”

She didn’t know how to respond to the honesty she read in his gaze, so she closed the distance and kissed him. He responded so well, it encouraged her to be more aggressive than usual. She pushed on his shoulder, urging him to lie on his back beneath her. She straddled him, holding his gaze as she tugged her T-shirt off over her head. She was naked beneath and she read the appreciation in his eyes as she knelt over him.

“You hunt zombies in nothing but a T-shirt?” he teased. “Man, when you go commando, you really go commando.”

“Well, I had my sneakers on too.” She glanced toward where she’d kicked off her shoes when she’d come back into the bedroom.

His hips rose and jostled her higher, but it was worth the momentary fear of falling when his shorts disappeared from between them. His hands reappeared from behind her after completing the task and he wrapped his warm fingers around her waist, just over her hips. She liked the secure feel of his heavy hands anchoring her to him.

“Now we’re even.” He smiled at her in that devilish way that promised hours of pleasure. She couldn’t wait.

“Oh, I like that.” She bent over him to place little kisses along his strong jaw. Her hair fell forward to cocoon them in intimacy. “As much as I like you,” she dared to whisper near his ear. It was as close as she could come to admitting the growing feelings she had for him. She’d tried to convince herself this was a temporary arrangement. She’d tried to keep it light and she’d failed miserably.

Facing danger with him and fighting at his side had made her feel closer to him in a shorter amount of time than anyone she’d ever known. He’d saved her in San Francisco. He’d saved her again here in Tennessee. Twice. No doubt he’d do it again before this was all over.

She admired his skills. She loved his sense of honor. And she couldn’t resist his easy charm. John was all she’d ever looked for in a man and didn’t think she’d find.

And she couldn’t have him. Not to keep. He had “love ’em and leave ’em” written all over him. She’d known that from the start and she still hadn’t been able to protect her heart. She was very much afraid she’d already surrendered her heart to him, lock, stock, and barrel. It was too late to stop herself from loving him now.

But she’d never let him know. That would only send him running for the hills. She wanted to enjoy this while it lasted. She’d deal with the heartache later. Somehow. For now, she had him exactly where she wanted him.

“Where are the condoms?” she whispered in his ear, liking the way his muscles tensed under her thighs.

“Right thigh pocket of my pants.” The growl in his voice set her on fire. She looked around the bedroom to see if she could spot the pants. There they were. Flung over the chair next to the bed. Thank goodness.

Donna stretched and nabbed the pants while John placed one of his hands over her breast and squeezed, making her shiver in delight. His action drew her gaze as she pulled one of the dozen foil packets out of his pocket and threw the pants away, uncaring where they landed.

“So many?”

“Call me an optimist.” He gave her a cocky grin.

She dipped, pushing her breast into his hand as he rubbed obligingly over the distended nipple.

“Judging by the way you make me feel, I’d say you’ve got a good chance of being right.”

“Now that’s what I like to hear.” He pinched her nipple, moving his other hand down from her hip to tangle in the curls at the apex of her thighs. He held her gaze as he slid one finger into her folds, finding the nub that craved his attention. He stroked her clit and her breath came in short gasps as her temperature rose.

She sat over his thighs, enjoying the wicked sensations for a moment before moving away. “No more of that for now. I want to come with you inside me, John.” She almost blushed saying the words aloud, but the fire in his gaze told her he liked hearing her say such things.

She drew out the process of covering his cock with the condom, making sure John watched every step of the process. She wouldn’t let him participate. When he tried to help, she pushed his hands away with a
tsk
ing sound. He gave in with good grace, letting her call the shots. She liked that. And she loved having him at her mercy, so to speak.

Before she finally rolled the condom over him, she took him in her mouth, just briefly. She would’ve spent more time there but he seemed too eager to let her play very long. Besides that, she wanted him desperately. There was something about the danger they’d shared earlier that spurred her libido to new heights. She didn’t want to waste time. She wanted him now. Urgently.

Once he was covered, she rose over him, positioned him, and pushed downward. Damn, that felt good. He filled her so completely, so wonderfully. It was sheer bliss when he was inside her fully.

“Oh, yeah.” The words popped out of her mouth without thought, without intention.

“Yeah,” he echoed, drawing out the word, his expression intense as their gazes met and held. She began to ride him, slowly at first, then picking up speed as her passion increased.

John helped her when her thighs began to quiver under the strain. His hands gripped her hips, the muscles in his arms rippling as he lifted and lowered her. Even though she was on top, at some point, he’d taken control of the pace.

“Just like that, baby,” he urged her in the sexiest voice ever. His eyes were half-lidded, his body hot beneath her and inside her. She loved the way he made her feel. The way he looked at her. The way he rocked her world.

“John! I need—” She couldn’t finish the thought as her teeth clenched. She didn’t know what she needed. She only hoped John did. She strained toward completion that was just out of her reach.

Until he reached down with one hand, his fingers stroking between her legs, rubbing her clit with urgent motions. Yes. That’s just what she needed.

Donna screamed as she went off like a rocket, coming hard over him. John joined her a moment later, his body lifting hers as his muscles went rigid beneath her. She felt his spasms through her own as they joined in an orgasm that left her utterly replete.

Sighing as she floated downward, she settled her head against his chest and drifted for a long, pleasurable moment. Eventually, she was vaguely aware of John disengaging from her body and rolling them to their sides. She watched wearily as he took care of things quickly, then returned to her, tucking her back against his heart as she drifted off for a nap.

T
he sound of a car parking behind theirs on the gravel drive under the trees alerted them. John rolled out of bed and began to dress.

“Go take your shower. I’ll deal with these guys.” John buttoned his shirt as he went out to meet the cleanup team.

The shower was lovely and restorative. She took a few minutes longer than she usually did, knowing John was occupied with the cleanup team. When she came out of the bathroom, she took a moment to tidy the bedroom.

Dressing in a fresh T-shirt and jeans from her knapsack, she headed out into the main room to find John. She paused to look out the window to see two very unfishermenlike-looking fishermen working near the porch. They had brand-new boots and clothing that looked as if they’d only snipped the tags off five minutes before they’d gotten there. Not only that, the clothes were ill-fitting as if someone else had bought them without regard for sizes. Donna stifled a laugh as she went toward the kitchen area where John stood.

“Are those guys for real?”

“Yeah, I know. They’re not real good at camouflage, are they?” John chuckled as he handed her a cup of coffee. “If anyone asks, they’re friends of ours from the city, just down for a little visit.”

“They look more like city slickers than we do and we’re both from New York.” She chuckled and took a small sip of her coffee.

“Buzz there—the taller one—is from Georgia, and Willie is from New Orleans. Seems like neither one has ever been fishing before. They’re both dyed-in-the-wool science geeks.”

“Hey, you better watch that, bud. I’m a geeky, almost chemical engineer myself.”

John wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her against him. “There’s not a geeky bone in your luscious little body, sweetheart. Engineer or not.”

“Mmm. I like that.” She slipped her hands up under his T-shirt to stroke his solid six-pack of abdominal muscles. She loved the way his hard body rippled under her touch. She’d never been with a man who was more physically fit than John. Or more handsome. He was the complete package as far as she was concerned. Smart too. They related well now that they knew each other better.

“And I like you, sweetheart. Way more than a little.”

His almost-declaration made her stomach clench as he leaned in to place a row of kisses along her cheek and jaw, working his way toward her mouth. When he finally reached his destination, his tongue slipped into her mouth and sent her temperature soaring.

A knock on the doorframe and a loud clearing of someone’s throat easily heard through the screen door broke them apart all too soon. It was the taller member of the cleanup team. The one John had said was called Buzz.

Donna felt the heat of a blush in her cheeks as she walked toward the door.

“Your pardon for interrupting, ma’am.” The fake fisherman had his funny fishing hat in his hands as he smiled at her. She could definitely hear the southern drawl of Georgia in his words.

“Not at all.” She tried to ignore her own discomfort at being caught smooching another team member. “You’re Buzz, right?” She opened the screen door and held out her hand. “I’m Donna.”

He shook her hand gently and smiled again. “Pleased to meet you, Miss Donna.” Oh, yeah, this man definitely had the charm of the Old South in his blood. “I just came to tell you we’re done with the pickup and decon of the area. It was a little awkward having to hide most of our protective gear but we managed.”

That explained the bad fit of their clothes to her mind. She hadn’t realized they were wearing multiple layers. Close up now, she could see a few of the layers under the tacky and ill-fitting fake-fisherman clothes.

“I’m curious. What do you do with the remains?”

“Send them back to the lab for study. The team leaders are still trying to figure out how to return those remains that we can identify back to their next of kin. Mighty big mess if you ask me.”

“Yeah, I guess I can see that.” Donna jumped only a little when John came up beside her and put his left arm around her waist in a clear statement. Obviously he didn’t care who knew they were together. She liked that. It made her feel warm inside.

“Thanks for coming out so quickly, Buzz.” John held out his right hand to Buzz for a friendly shake.

“Happy to help, John. Most of the tracks come from the direction of the estate as far as we can tell. We did our best not to disturb anything so you can track back a ways. Mighty quiet in this camp. No people about to mess up the tracks and the nearest cabins are a ways back from yours. It’s a good setup for this kind of operation, I’m thinking.”

“We lucked out for sure,” John agreed. “Luckily the darts don’t make much noise at all or we’d have had the entire neighborhood down here earlier today. There’s no one in the nearest cabins. I asked the landlord to put us out on the edge away from everyone else.”

“Good thinking.”

They talked a few minutes more and then Buzz took his leave. He and Willie left in a cloud of gravel dust as they rolled down the road out of the fishing camp. They took the remains with them and left the scene pristine and decontaminated.

John left to take a look at the tracks while Donna tidied up the cabin a bit. She also fixed a snack for them both, which they shared when John came back in.

“The sandwiches are good,” John commented as they shared their snack at the small kitchen table, “but I’d like to take you out to dinner tonight for a change of pace. What do you think?”

“You mean like a date?” She held her breath waiting for his answer.

He moved closer to her. “Exactly like a date.” His tone grew more intimate. “There’s nothing in the operation manual that says we have to eat every meal in the cabin. If Sykes asks, we’ll tell him we went scouting the area. Murray told me when we checked in that there’s a nice restaurant with a scenic overlook a few miles up the road. I’d like to take you there.”

Tingles went down her spine. “Okay, but I don’t have anything too dressy with me.”

“You’re gorgeous in whatever you wear, Donna, but don’t worry. Murray said the place is casual, with a five-star view, and down-home Southern cooking.”

“I’ve never had really authentic Southern food.”

“Then you’re in for a treat.”

Oh, yeah. She knew she was. Just being with John—on a real date—would be a treat.

The restaurant was lovely, perched on the side of a cliff overlooking a vast stretch of the lake far below. It took some maneuvering to get to the place and the sloped drive and parking lot was paved only with gravel, but the view alone was worth every difficulty to get there. The food was good, wholesome, Southern cooking and Donna enjoyed trying new dishes she hadn’t even heard of before.

“The view here is amazing.” Donna sighed as she gazed out the window. They’d been seated by the window only after John had slipped a twenty to the hostess. He’d done it so smoothly, Donna hadn’t even realized what had happened until after the fact. It gave her a little thrill to know he’d gone out of his way to make this dinner special.

“I agree. The lake…and the company.” He raised his glass in her direction with a sexy wink. Oh, yeah. Her limbs were tingling, her blood singing with his nearness as he watched her over the rim of his wineglass. “It is a little odd though.” He placed his glass back on the table, giving her a lopsided grin.

“How so?”

“I’ve never been on a date on a mission before,” he admitted.

She laughed with him. “I guess this is pretty strange for you. This is only my first mission—probably my last as well—so I’m no expert.”

“Oh, I think you have a bright future ahead of you, if you decide to go into covert work.”

“You’ve got to be kidding,” she scoffed good-naturedly.

“No, you’ve got a bead on looking the part. You don’t have to act innocent. You’re the real deal. Believe it or not, that’s a big help. The owner of the fishing camp only had to glance at you and he gave me whatever I wanted. He bought my crazy-in-love-newlywed story hook, line, and sinker.”

Another little thrill went through her at hearing the L-word coming from his lips. But she didn’t dare think he might feel as strongly about her as she did about him. She didn’t know when it had happened, but being here with him, in this moment out of time, was like a dream she’d never known she’d wanted to come true. He was magic. His every word, his every smile went straight to her heart.

She was on the verge of saying something all too revealing when a showy brunette swished down the crowded aisle toward their table. She must’ve been sitting in the private room off to one side. They could see the doors from where they sat, but hadn’t been able to see inside. Donna looked up at the woman and her breath caught.

It was Dr. Bemkey. Donna recognized her from the photos in her file. She was much more intimidating in person, of course. Her perfect coiffure, manicured fingernails, and expertly applied makeup created a larger-than-life sort of presence that was backed up by the poise in every step. Designer clothes hung off her perfectly proportioned frame, and her ears, fingers, wrists, and neck dripped with gold and diamonds. All in all, she made a hell of a picture.

“Close your mouth, darling. You’ll catch flies.” Dr. Elizabeth Bemkey stopped before their table and addressed Donna directly before turning her attention to John. “I’ve seen you down by my beach,” she said without blinking. “Please be sure to stay on the public side, lovey. You could get hurt and I wouldn’t want to lose any more pets.”

Did she mean…? Donna shot a quick look at John, but he had all his attention focused on the woman standing so calmly at the side of their table.

“I’m really very put out with you for interfering with my playthings.” She tapped John on the shoulder as if she were some belle at an old-fashioned ball. Her smile was brittle and her eyes didn’t look altogether sane. Donna felt a chill creep down her spine. “You’d better watch yourselves or you might end up becoming one of my toys.” Her gaze turned ice cold.

She turned and walked out of the restaurant without even waiting for a response. Donna turned to John only after Dr. Bemkey was gone.

“What the hell was that?”

John’s lips thinned as he frowned. “That was trouble with a capital
T
.”

“She knows who we are?”

“At the very least she knows what we are and what we’ve been doing. She may not know our names, but she knows what we’re doing down here.”

“I think she threatened us.” Donna was shocked. “She seemed mad as a hatter too.”

“Yeah.” John sat back in his chair and twirled his wineglass. “She’s crazy like a fox. And she needs to be run to ground.”

“What?” Donna was afraid she understood what he meant all too well, but she needed confirmation.

“She doesn’t seem stable and she issued a death threat. She doesn’t know we’re immune. But if she’s running around threatening people, she’s even more dangerous than I’d anticipated. In this kind of state, she could be capable of anything. We need to take her down now. As soon as possible.” His gaze was hard as he looked out over the lake without really seeing it. He seemed focused on something much different and much deadlier.

They’d been on dessert when Dr. Bemkey had come over, so there was nothing keeping them at the restaurant. They paid the check and left the restaurant in short order. John had a faraway look on his face as he no doubt made plans that didn’t include Donna. Or, if they did include her, only in a peripheral way. Donna was worried. She didn’t like the idea of him operating out there all alone.

Originally, they’d thought they would watch, wait, and gather intel, taking out zombies along the way until they were ready to strike at Dr. Bemkey’s lair—with help from the main team. Now, it looked like John planned to move up the timetable and forgo the promised help from the rest of the combat-able operatives on the team. Donna didn’t know for sure, but she thought she knew John well enough by now to know the way he thought.

He drove them back down the cliff toward the cabin on the lakeshore without speaking much. Most likely, he was already planning the call he’d make when they got back to the cabin.

“Yes, sir. She came right up to our table, bold as brass, and issued a death threat.” John was on the phone with Matt Sykes, pacing from window to window in the main room of the cabin. They’d returned only moments before and John had immediately phoned in his report to the commander. “No, sir. I don’t know how she knew who we were. She claimed to have seen us on the beach. It’s possible she observed Donna that first night when her so-called
pet
chased Donna from the lakeshore. I’m not sure how she could’ve seen me unless there are some really well-hidden cameras there that I couldn’t spot.”

Donna listened to John’s end of the conversation but she could figure out what was going on easily enough. John looked tense, like a coiled spring waiting to strike. She’d seen him like this before, when they were under attack. This was his moment. His element. This was what he’d been born to do.

“Yes, sir. I’m going out there tonight to take another look around,” he said into the phone. She didn’t like the sound of that at all. “No, sir. I won’t take action unless it seems feasible and secure.” There was a pause. “I understand. Thank you, sir.”

He disconnected the call and stowed his phone in his pocket. Then he turned to her. “He still can’t spare anyone to help.”

Donna’s heart sank. “I heard you say you were going out to do reconnaissance?”

“Yeah. Just a sneak and peek. I won’t go in unless I think it’s safe enough to do so.” He armed himself from the box of ammunition the cleanup crew had restocked before they left.

“What if there are more zombies?” She hated the note of fear in her voice.

“I think we took out the bulk of them last night. Chances are she doesn’t have that many of the creatures roaming around out here or there’d be a lot more missing people. Even way out here, if large numbers of people had gone missing, someone would have noticed by now.” He prepared as he spoke, strapping on his utility belt and other gear. “Near as I can figure, she made the first few and then they went out and made the others. That takes time. I think we put quite a dent into her supply of
playthings
last night.” He emphasized the word the crazy doctor had used to describe those she had killed.