The Beast Within (14 page)

“The guys will be working out there for the next few hours,” John told her, sitting on the edge of the couch. He stroked her cheek with the fingers of one hand. “There’s a nice guest room at the end of the hall. Why don’t you go in there and get some real rest? I’ll join you in a bit. We can sleep while Buzz keeps an eye out. We’re both wiped out after last night.”

“Are you sure?” It sounded heavenly, but could they really afford the time away from the mission?

“Yeah.” He stood and ushered her to her feet. “Let’s get you to bed.”

“Oh, I like the sound of that.” She couldn’t resist teasing him as they walked down the sumptuously carpeted hallway.

“Vixen.” His voice growled in her ear as he bent to nibble playfully on her earlobe. “Sleep first. Then work. Then fun and games. If you’re good.”

D
onna woke to warmth. John knelt over her, his big body cocooning her in his heat, his masculine strength. She loved the sensation. As much as she loved him.

He’d told her he loved her, if that speedy declaration could be believed. She’d have to hear it again to be sure. She knew people said things sometimes in extreme circumstances that wouldn’t necessarily hold true later. She prayed that wasn’t the case here. She loved John with all her heart and wanted his love in return. It would be a dream come true if he really had meant what he’d said.

“Stop faking. I know you’re awake.” His voice growled near her ear before he placed a sharp nip on her earlobe that made her yelp and laugh at the same time.

“How can you be so sure?” She kept her eyes closed, rubbing her cheek against his. He’d shaved recently. His skin was smooth against hers.

“I’m a highly trained CIA operative. It’s my business to know these kinds of things.” His mouth drifted down over hers as he crawled over her on the bed, bracketing her with his knees on either side of her thighs and his forearms beside her head.

Their kiss was filled with languorous wonder. It was a slow exploration of a kind they had never shared before. There had always been a hurried quality to their encounters—even the slow times. There was always a sense that they were on the job and couldn’t spend too much time away from the mission.

That was gone now. John’s kiss drugged her, dragging her under with him where he was her anchor, her safety line, and the very air she breathed. She trusted his passion to guide her own.

“I thought we were going to save the fun and games for later.” She smiled playfully at him when he let her up for air.

“I decided it couldn’t wait. Buzz is keeping watch outside while we rest. We’ll sleep…eventually.” His wicked grin rocked her world. “But loving you couldn’t wait.”

Her breath caught at his words and the look in his beautiful eyes. He paused.

“What? You didn’t believe me before?” His smile cajoled but there were serious depths to his words. “I love you, Donna.”

She was stunned by the sincerity in his expression, the way he put himself out there on the ledge. She’d never had a man be so open with her. Never.

“Hey, babe, tell me I’m not alone here.” Doubt crept over his features and she rushed to reassure him.

“You’re not alone.” She felt her cheeks flush with excitement. “I love you too, John. I just thought—”

“What? What did you think?” He moved closer again, nuzzling the tip of her nose with his.

“I thought maybe, now that things have calmed down…”

“That I’d take back what I told you in the woods?” He pulled back, a chastising look on his face. “Oh, baby. You’ll learn I never say anything I don’t mean. And I’ve never said the L-word to any woman before.”

“That sounds serious.” She was basking in the moment. He had the most delicious way of speaking and the way he looked at her melted her heart.

“Very serious.” He moved in for a quick kiss that ended too soon. “Like, rest of our lives serious.” He kissed her again and drew back with obvious reluctance. “Damn, I was going to wait for the right time, but I can’t wait. Donna, I know I’m no prize, but I can’t see living without you. I need you in my life, uncertain as it is. I figure you’ve already seen me at my worst and you know what I do for a living. There are no secrets between us and I’ve never had that with anyone before. You see me as I am and yet you still seem to like me.” He chuckled at his own words as tears filled her eyes. “Will you marry me?”

“Yes!” She could only manage the single word as emotion overtook her. It didn’t matter though, as his lips covered hers, his body sheltering her in his warmth.

Their clothes disappeared as their temperature rose. The loving was slow and sensuous, with none of the urgency that had marked their previous times together. They were in tune physically, mentally, and emotionally. She felt it in his kiss and in his touch.

John licked his way down her body and back up, pausing at all the interesting points in between. He paid special attention to her breasts, drawing on her nipples with wet, warm suction that made her arch off the bed in pleasure.

She wanted to touch him but he wouldn’t let her. He took both her wrists and placed them against the headboard with an admonishing look.

“Keep them there, Donna. I mean it.”

“Or what?” she dared to challenge him.

“Bad girls get punished, baby.” He winked at her.

“Sounds like it might be fun to be bad.”

He pretended to consider. “It could be at that, but let’s save that for another time. This is special. It’s the first time I’m making love to my fiancée.”

“Fiancée.” She marveled at the word. “I really love the sound of that.”

“Mmm.” He nuzzled her neck. “Me too. As much as I love you.” He looked deeply into her eyes. “I love the way you stand up to me and with me. I never expected to feel this way about anyone, Donna.”

Her stomach clenched at the honesty in his eyes.

“I never expected this, John, but I hoped. Even when I shouldn’t have, I hoped you’d want me. I’ve never met anyone like you before. From the beginning, we’ve fit together.”

His gaze turned wicked. “Oh, yeah. We fit together perfectly.” He nipped her earlobe. “Let me remind you.”

Her excitement was already spiking with need. Having John naked in her bed and against her body did that to her. He turned her on like no man before. She lay under him, willing to do whatever he wanted, wanting to bask in this first time—as he’d called it—being with the man she loved, knowing he loved her in return.

Just knowing they’d admitted such intimate feelings made the whole experience all that much more special. She felt alive in a way she had only ever experienced with John as he brought her senses to a peak with hot strokes of his tongue over her most sensitive places.

When he joined his body to hers, she moaned with pleasure, welcoming him.

“You feel so good, Donna,” he gasped near her ear as he lowered his body over hers, blanketing her in his warmth and strength.

“So do you.” Her voice was breathless as her fever rose. Then he began to move and she lost the ability to speak at all.

Long, slow strokes interspersed with hard jolts made her sigh in delight. He kept her guessing and kept her arousal on the knife’s edge between passion and ecstasy. She felt his body gathering for the coming explosion and joined him, riding the tide of pleasure along with him.

When the wave broke over them, it swept them up in unison, awash in bliss. He held her through the tremors of her completion, giving and taking with equal measure as they shared the most perfect moment ever.

A long time later, they let each other go by slow degrees. John looked into her eyes, a wide grin on his face and love in his gaze. She basked in that look, knowing it was just for her. And she let her own feelings show as she gazed back.

“I love you so much, John.” Her hand rose to stroke his rough cheek. He turned his head and dropped a kiss in her palm.

He rolled away and tucked her close, spooning with her from behind.

“Let’s get some sleep. Buzz will wake us before the cleanup team leaves.”

She drifted off as John settled the soft comforter around them, too tired and sated to stay awake any longer.

In the late afternoon, John left the bed. He let Donna sleep while he did a thorough search of the mansion. The cleanup guys were still hard at work. He’d wake Donna up before they left, but he didn’t have the heart to rouse her yet. She was tuckered out from the night they’d spent in the woods chasing zombies. Hopefully, there wouldn’t be too many more nights like that in their future.

The fact that they had a shared future still amazed him. He’d never felt such love in his heart for a woman, never admired one or cared for one so deeply. That she felt the same about him in return still made him grin like a fool. There was no doubt they’d signed on for a tough mission chasing zombies and bad guys who wanted to zombify the world, but they’d face whatever came together.

He’d never had that before. Sure, he’d worked with team members and comrades in arms that were like brothers, but he’d never been part of a couple like this before. He worried about her working in the field, but he’d worry more if he weren’t able to be there with her, watching her back. She’d already proven she could handle herself well. With his tutelage, she’d have every advantage to come out alive from the situations in which they’d no doubt find themselves in the future.

She taught him things too. She’d sharpened his appreciation for scientific method and protocols. She was one of the most intelligent and quick-witted women he’d ever been with and he was still a little amazed that she’d fallen in love with him. He wasn’t questioning it. He wouldn’t point out that he was probably getting away with something. If she was willing to be his, he’d take her on any terms. He loved her that much.

His only worry was how the rest of the team would react to their return to base as a couple. Would she want to hide their relationship? Would she be embarrassed by him? He wasn’t sure and it was driving him a little crazy.

They’d talked about their feelings, but they hadn’t talked about how those feelings and this new relationship would work day to day, working together with the rest of the team. Maybe he was borrowing trouble but Donna was such a special woman, he didn’t want to hide his love for her. He was prepared to take the teasing—maybe even a reprimand or two from some of the more stodgy higher-ups—but was she?

He didn’t want their relationship to make her uncomfortable. He knew how some of the guys would react with teasing and even lewd remarks. He’d clobber anyone who said anything disrespectful around Donna, but the possibility was there. He didn’t know the rest of the team that well yet. They seemed like good guys but he wasn’t one hundred percent sure of them all yet. Time would tell.

He only hoped Donna was willing to give him the time. In the back of his mind he still worried that she’d jumped headlong into this relationship too fast. He worried that circumstances had thrown them together and somehow she’d wake up and realize she’d made a mistake in thinking she loved him.

He planned to tie her to him and convince her that was where she really wanted to be before anything like that could happen. She was the best thing that had ever happened to him and he wasn’t about to let her go.

John was thinking about all this as he searched the big house from top to bottom. Nearing the end of his search, he finally found what he was looking for. A secret room was built cleverly into the house, hidden in the architecture so well, he’d almost missed it.

Inside, he found the doctor’s secret lab, along with all her notes and files, a computer, and a laptop.

“John?” Donna’s voice came to him faintly from another part of the house.

“I’m in the west wing,” he shouted back.

Before long, he heard her footsteps drawing closer.

“In here, Donna.”

A few more footsteps drew closer and then her head peeked into the hidden room.

“What is this place and how in the world did you find it?”

“It’s a hidden laboratory. Every self-respecting mad scientist has one. Didn’t you know?” He grinned at her as she advanced into the room.

“What did you find?”

“Paydirt. There’s a complete list of all the rogue science team members and their foreign contacts. Dr. Bemkey may have been insane toward the end, but she was meticulous. Her lab is spotless and all her notes on the experiments she was conducting are neat and tidy. I already forwarded all the electronic files to the team at Fort Bragg. We can leave the paper documents for the techs to decontaminate and package up for shipment as soon as they’ve dealt with the zombie remains.”

“Wow. This is really good.” She paged through one of the notebooks on the table. “I bet the docs back at base will learn a lot from this.”

“No doubt,” John agreed, moving close to her and swooping in for a quick kiss. “Damn, I needed that.”

“Mmm. Me too.” Her fingers stroked over his chest in a way that made him want to forget all about the work they had yet to do.

He cuddled her for a while but he knew he had to get back on track with the mission so they could wrap things up and head home to base. What kind of reception they’d get once the commander realized they’d become a couple, John wasn’t sure. There wasn’t really a chain-of-command issue. They both worked on the same team but for different branches. Donna wasn’t CIA, so fraternizing wouldn’t really be an issue unless Commander Sykes wanted to make it into one. Judging by the way he’d seemed to accept Sarah and Xavier’s engagement, John didn’t expect too much trouble from that direction.

The possible complications could come from higher up or from the other team members. The other guys would tease the hell out of John for hooking up with his first female partner. First, last, and only, as far as John was concerned. Donna was it for him. The other guys would just have to deal with it.

“The cleanup team is finishing up,” Donna said, her head tucked under his chin. “They brought some stuff we could make for dinner if you’re interested.”

At the mention of food, his stomach rumbled. She laughed.

“I guess we should eat. Once it gets dark, we’ll have to do some patrolling to make sure we got them all last night.”

“I hope we don’t find any more of them.” She shuddered and pulled away. He let her go but followed her out the door of the hidden room.

“I honestly don’t think we will.” John took her hand as they went through the house, just wanting to touch her. “But we need to be absolutely certain before we call this done.”

They ended up in the kitchen where a few MREs were waiting for them on the center island, courtesy of the cleanup team. Donna dug into the packages with gusto, reading the directions. John was well familiar with the Meals Ready to Eat and didn’t have to waste time figuring out which packets held what and how to prepare them. He tore in and started handing stuff to her that he thought she’d like.

They played with their food like kids, throwing morsels into each other’s mouths and clowning around with lots of laughter and love. John had never had so much fun with a couple of MREs. It was Donna that made all the difference.