“I didn’t plan this. You draw me to you just by breathing. You crush my barriers like the walls of Jericho with one look, one touch, one smile.”
He lowered his head and stroked her pebbled nipple with his tongue. She gasped and relaxed back against the wall. For the second time, he heard the drums thrumming in his head.
He knelt in front of her running his tongue down her stomach, stopping to lave slow circles around her navel. “I am a slave to your whims.”
With her hand fisted in his hair and her eyes closed, Reese urged him on. Holding her hips steady, Dagan trailed kisses lower. Her desire wrapped itself around his senses and pulled him into the depths of her passion. “Open for me.”
Her eyes shot open. “What?”
“Give yourself to me, Reese.”
Hesitantly, she reached between her legs and opened herself, giving him a beautiful view of paradise. The ritual pounding grew louder in his skull, urging him, pressing him to take possession of the woman.
He teased. He bit. He sucked until her essence flowed over his face and she screamed. He stood and lightly bit her shoulder before claiming her mouth. Her tongue tangled with his and he pressed his body against her.
His cock swelled. He thought he would die a thousand deaths when she lightly ran her fingertips from base to tip.
He closed his eyes and ground his teeth. She gently laid her lips across his right pec, then the left, before teasing circles around his dark nipple.
He couldn’t breathe. He snaked his arm around her shoulders and turned her so her back pressed against the front of him. Taking a moment, he let her arousal fill his head. With her lavender scented soap, he lathered his hands and ran them down her spine, letting his fingers slide through the crack of her butt cheeks, making it slick. She pressed both her hands against the shower wall as he pumped his hard length with a soapy hand. Leaning against her, he kissed her neck, nipped her shoulder while grinding his cock against the crease of her ass. Reese rubbed her delicious backside against him and they both groaned.
In search of her tender, pouting flesh, he slid his hand down her belly until she gasped. She rocked her hips forward against his hand and back so the slippery crack gripped his cock. He kept constant pressure on her and she increased the rhythm reaching for release.
She was slowly making him crazy. He had to stop. Now. Before he could act on that thought, she cried out. Feeling the tremor of her body set him off. Spasms of his seed spurted up her back and all over her tight ass like a raging volcano.
Dagan remained stoically silent after their shower escapade. She liked seeing the wild, out of control Dagan. It had been a refreshing change from the arrogant, sarcastic, demanding one. She didn’t understand why she couldn’t think straight around him. As much as she hated to admit it, coming together felt right.
He’d shut off the water, curled a towel around his waist then bundled her in towels and carried her to the bedroom where he stood her in front of him and proceeded to slowly dry her body. He threw the towels to the floor, lifted the covers and told her to get in bed. Yep, the demanding Dagan had reappeared, giving orders and expecting her to follow them.
Closing his eyes and extending his arms with palms out, Dagan chanted some ancient words and a fire roared to life in the fireplace. Turning, he stalked to the bed, dropped the towel, and climbed in. Giving her no chance to speak, he pulled her to him to lay her head on his chest, and curled his arm possessively around her.
The contented, quiet part of her liked the warmth and hearing his steady heartbeat. The newly awakened, passionate part wanted to crawl on top of Dagan, straddle those narrow hips and ride him hard all night. A need to explore the exotic, sensual planes of this lustful man…no, not a man, but a being, a god, she needed to remember that fact. Despite his origins, Reese had never felt this way about anyone before, and she’d once thought she’d been in love with a guy in college.
Snuggling closer, Reese wondered how she could so easily set aside the fact that right outside her door someone waited to kill her. Perhaps Dagan’s job included keeping the mark distracted. How many of the other humans had been female? Maybe he did this with all of them.
“Quit thinking so hard.” His voice rumbled in his chest.
“I’m not.”
She sensed that knowing grin. “You are. Go to sleep, Reese.”
Chapter Ten
Her mouth felt like she’d swallowed a roll of cotton and her head pounded like a base drum. A strange ringing buzzed her ears and she wished it would cease until she realized it came from her cell phone.
Reese jumped out of the bed, ran over to the dresser and grabbed the squeaking annoyance. “Hello.”
“Reese?”
“Joe?”
“Where the hell are you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, its eleven o’clock and we were wondering if something had happened.”
“Eleven?” She whirled around and looked at the clock. 11:05 a.m. “Oh shit.”
“What?”
“I’ll be there in a half hour.” She slammed the phone down and ran into the bathroom and brushed her teeth. After a quick five minute wash, she dried off, ran to the closet.
“What are you doing?” Dagan’s sleepy voice said.
“I was supposed to be at work hours ago. I am so late.”
She turned and looked at the sexy man sitting with his back against the headboard and the sheet covering the lower half of his body. What she wouldn’t give to turn back the clock and stay here with him in bed, but duty called. She couldn’t let her team down.
Hopping on one leg out of the closet as she put her cream-colored, low-waist pants on, Reese cursed under her breath a couple of times because she almost fell on her face. She buttoned, zipped and tucked. With a brush, she bunched her hair up into a single ponytail at the back of her head before clipping her watch on her left arm and slipping the cell phone into her pocket.
Instead of in bed where she thought Dagan would be, she found him leaning against the doorjamb, fully clothed, and fully armed. She blew out a frustrated sigh.
“How do you do that?”
His brows lifted. “Do what?”
She threw her arms up, her hand flopped at the wrist and she gestured to him. “That, standing all casual, completely dressed and waiting, when I’m running around like a crazy woman trying to get ready.”
He chuckled. “It always takes women longer to get ready. It’s all the doodad things you have to put on and strap to yourself.” Dagan shook his head.
Reese snarled. “That’s the most sexist thing I’ve ever heard.” She ran her hands down her sides. “Do you see doodad things on me?”
Her watch twisted on her wrist, her ponytail swished with her every movement and dangling earrings swung off her earlobes.
He’d lived a very long time and yet still didn’t understand the mind of females. Naruki women had the most precious gems, exquisite gossamer gowns and hair that swept the ground if it wasn’t fastened in some sort of pile on their heads. Reese needed none of those things. She was beauty itself with every breath she took and every smile she offered him. If it were up to him, she’d be naked all the time.
“Rufus will drive you into work.”
She snickered. “I don’t need Rufus to drive me anywhere. I’ve been on my own a long time. Besides, you might need him to—”
“No!” He straightened to his full height. “I know you are an independent woman, Reese, but now you have the shades of the dead and Kur hunting you. If I’m not with you then Rufus will be. Is that understood?”
She looked as though she would argue further. Her mouth puckered before she blew out an exaggerated breath. “Fine, but I’m already late so we have to leave now.”
“He’s waiting outside.”
He let her precede him through the doorway and watched her lovely backside as he walked down the hall.
“Where are you going?”
“My mother wishes to see me.”
She stopped and turned. “You have a mother?”
He stared at her for a moment. “Of course I have a mother. Think you I had been hatched or something?”
“No, I mean, I didn’t, no. I just meant you never talk about your family or where you’re from and I never thought—oh never mind.” She huffed and went to the front door.
Rufus leaned his butt against a green Jaguar and had a goofy smiled plastered on his face. “Good morning,” he said.
“Hi,” Reese answered. “So I understand you’re my guard dog today.”
“Yes, ma’am, and happy to be guarding…” he gave her the once over, “…the goods.”
Dagan growled a warning to the
doghume
.
Reese smiled. “Perhaps he should be the guard dog.”
Rufus laughed.
They were doing it again, laughing and conversing like old friends. Dagan longed to stay, but he hadn’t told Reese the reason he’d been summoned back to Dilmun. The Pantheon waited for him.
“Don’t let her out of your sight,” he told Rufus.
“Yes,
sahib
.” Rufus bowed low before Dagan.
“Knock it off.” Dagan lobbed one of his throwing stars at Rufus who caught it with his gloved hand.
“Watch the body, man.”
“Exactly my point. Watch the body.” He glanced at Reese.
Rufus smiled wide before saying, “My pleasure.”
Dagan growled again. “Your death wish.”
Rufus laughed and slid into the driver’s seat since Reese had already gotten into the car.
It looked like it would be another very long day.
When she arrived at her hole-in-the-wall office, the rest of the team had already started compiling the documents they would need for a proposal. Roberta pulled up her list of regular suppliers to begin calls after they determined when and where to deliver everything, should they get permission from the Turkish government. They depended on Reese to get the money.
“Morning all,” Reese called when she walked in the door.
“Uh, don’t you mean afternoon?” Joe said as he looked at his watch.
“Oh, right, afternoon.” She ducked her head, not wanting them to see the blush she felt creeping up her neck.
“Who’s this?” Chloe asked as she eyed Rufus.
“Everyone, this is Rufus.” She turned to Rufus. “Rufus, this is everyone.”
He smiled and waved.
“The one scowling back there in the corner is Joe, my right-hand man,” Reese said and pointed in his direction.
“Another one? Where’s the badass?”
Rufus lifted a brow, but she shook it off. “You can’t see him at the moment but I can hear papers rustling so I know he’s there. Geoffrey, grunt or something.”
He grunted.
Reese laughed. “Geoffrey Morehouse, our techno geek and researcher. You’ll like him. He’s a wizard with computers.”
“Cool.”
Reese unbuttoned her jacket and removed it. Rufus helped her then hung it on a hook by the door.
“The one on the phone is Roberta, our negotiator. She can get us anything and everything we need for a dig.” She leaned over to him and whispered. “We’re not sure how she does it exactly. We think she’s CIA.”
Rufus laughed.
“And last but not least is Chloe. She joined us for one of her class projects and kind of stayed on. She does a little bit of everything.”
Rufus walked over to Chloe and sidled up real close. “R-e-a-l-l-y.”
Chloe blushed and licked her lips. Rufus took her hand, lifted it to his mouth and kissed her knuckles.
Shaking her head, Reese grabbed him by the shirt sleeve and dragged him toward her desk. “And this is my little part of the universe.”
“Nice.”
“We like it.” She dropped her purse on the floor. “So what are you going to do while I’m working?”
“This and that.”
“You’re not going to tell me, huh?”
“I’ll walk around, keep my eyes and ears open for any unexpected visitors.”
“Okay. Now shoo, I need to get to work.”
He bowed and left.
The minute Roberta got off the phone she stomped over to Reese’s desk followed by the rest of group.
“Okay, spill it. Who the hell is that guy and why do you need a bodyguard?”
Stunned speechless for brief minutes, Reese stared. The hapless Geoffrey had hightailed it over for the pow-wow and she hadn’t thought he’d noticed Rufus.
“Spill, Reese,” Chloe said. “Who’s the hunk?”
Reese sat back in her chair. What should she tell them? How should she tell them? Would they believe her when she did tell them? She rested her forearms on the desk trying to find the right words to explain how she’d spent her weekend. Well, she probably wouldn’t go into every detail.
“Reese,” Joe barked.
His stern face made her squirm. They were her colleagues and had studied mythology just as she had. She hoped they didn’t think she’d lost her mind.
She sighed. “Okay. What I’m about to tell you is going to sound really weird and you’re probably going to think I’m insane but I might as well get it over with.”