Until Twilight (7 page)

“
Bene!
You know, I’ve seen that before, with a different kind of bomb but I can’t remember where.” She frowned. “I think it’s important that I remember, too. But first, I will call Cappi to see if they have any more facts about fingerprints on the purse.” She sat up and was just reaching for her cell phone when Lane’s phone chimed. They

looked at each other as he reached for the instrument.

“This can’t be good,” he said, pressing Talk.

“I agree.”

And as they listened, they stared at each other, absorbing the news.

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Until Twilight

Lane heard a man’s voice greet him.

“Dan?”

“Hey, Lane. Yep, I’m running this desk for the afternoon. Maddie has gone home

early under my orders. She’s giddy with the need for rest. Anyway you have me.

Listen, we’ve just gotten a bit of news from Paris and you must hear this.”

“A recorded threat?” Lane asked him, his gut telling him it was connected to the

ones who had left the museum messages.

“Yes. Put your phone on speaker.”

Lane motioned to Bella to come closer so she could hear the voice on the phone. She

had her own phone to her ear but shut it off when he beckoned and came to slide next

to him. Instinct and desire had him wrapping his arm around her shoulders and

drawing her moist, supple body against his as they sat on the edge of the bed.

A mechanical voice repeated word for word the same threat they had heard in the

Bargello earlier. Except now there was an addition.

Your ministers meet. Their first act must be to freeze the hydra’s assets in all eight
countries. Or else the finance ministers will suffer. We are Octo. Eight united, eight strong.

Eight dedicated to the destruction of the hydra.

Bella froze in Lane’s arms. “Arturo,” she whispered the name of her family friend,

the Italian finance minister. Her fingers dug into Lane’s.

Lane hugged her close, knowing now this threat was personal for her. One of the

finance ministers was dear to her family and to her. “Play it again, Dan.” And when it

was done, Lane said, “Send me a high-quality audio copy, will you?”

“Sure. We are doing research on this Octo group. So far,
nada
.”

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Desiree Holt & Cerise DeLand

“How can that be?” he asked as Bella stared at him, listening as best she could to

Dan and his conversation.

“Came up out of grass roots,” Dan said. “Fast. Seems to be no organized money

behind the group. No terrorism money or masterminds, either, as far as we can find so

far. This might be created just to address the Kopf swindle.”

“Unique,” Lane mused as he caressed Bella’s shoulder and she snuggled closer to

him to hear better and maybe…for comfort, too.

“It is. But their name is the only thing we’ve got to go on. If they mean to imply the

G8, it is a pretty damn odd thing to take on the name of your target as your moniker.”

“Agreed. But if it points to what they want,” Lane speculated, “then who are we to

argue?”

“True.”

“Okay. I’ll keep my phone on and charged. Call, text, whatever as you need.”

“Will do. Before we go, I want you to know that I got hold of Nicki and Adam with

all this and to help, they went straight to the Florence airport and caught a red eye to Paris. They should be arriving at Charles de Gaulle in…let’s see…twenty-two minutes.

They’re staying at the George Cinq. I’ve arranged reservations there for both of you.”

“Why there?” The five-star hotel was a beauty but exceptionally costly. True,

Nemesis agents stayed where they must to do a job well, not necessarily where they got

the finest sheets or the best croissant.

“All the G8 ministers are staying there. Their meeting place is not far away. I want

you near them and in the center of things. Got you a pass to the meeting, too.”

“Okay. I hear you. We’ll be in Paris as soon as we can.”

“Lane, listen. Soon cannot be soon enough. I know it has been one helluva day there

in Florence, but I need you in Paris tomorrow. Both of you.”

Bella sat up. “I cannot go until I finish up this work on these bombs. The Finanza

and my museums demand it.”

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Until Twilight

“
Cara
,” Lane spoke the endearment and shocked himself with how natural it

sounded. He cupped her cheek. “I think this is the same case. You belong to us now.”

To me, too.
“We will do this together.”

“Please, see this my way,” she begged him on a whisper and put her lips to his in a

tantalizing plea. “Tell him you will call him back. I must talk with you about these new facts.” She pursed her full lips, the look on her face an irresistible mix of mystery and sexual entreaty.

He could not resist. “I’ll call you back in a few minutes, Dan. In the meantime—”

“Yeah, I know,” Dan replied, giving a chuckle as if he could see Bella against him,

skin to skin, kissing him, holding a phone and hot with sorrow and sexual promise.

“Not a problem. In fact, take your time. You have all that material to go over but you

two better get some rest. Tomorrow is not going to be fun.”

“Dan. We are starving here, working ourselves to the bone!”
When we’re not, we’re so
damn lost in each other, I cannot breathe.
“Send me all you’ve got. We’re eating!”

“I don’t know whether to laugh or cry,” she told Lane as she rose up on her knees,

straddled him, rubbed her nipples and ribs and belly against his torso and sighed.

“You’ll kill me with desire.”

He snorted, put his phone down and reached to position her over his cock.

She hummed, loving the friction, unable to resist her desire, remembering the need

for a condom and her need to call Cappi. “Oh! Oh!” She put her hand over his erect

cock, admiring him, massaging him, helping him harden and lengthen. “I must have

you. I hope you have a condom.”

“I do, but you’ve got to let me get it, honey. I can’t reach.”

She cursed and pressed her soaking-wet lips to the ridge of his shaft. The thrill of

his heat, his iron tantalized her to distraction. “Who is this crazy woman you have

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Desiree Holt & Cerise DeLand

made?” she whispered as she slid from his thighs to the carpet, took his cock in her

mouth and adored him.

One hand cupping his testicles, she rolled them for him as she kissed his slit. Sweet,

soft little pecks at his seam where now he emitted beads of desire for her.
Bene. Molto
bene.
She licked his length. How long he was. How strong. How red. He could fuck her so well with this. Skin of silk. Muscles of steel. She smiled against his flesh, her tongue laving him, her teeth nipping him. She would have him as often as she liked. He would

let her, too. No man had ever done that. No man had ever had the stamina. She cooed

and held him by the root. Then she sucked him into her mouth. All the way down.

He cursed. In English and Italian.
Wonderful, my American man. My partner. In all

things.
The idea made her shiver and moan. Ravenous to pleasure him, she sucked him more strongly. Her pussy drenched with hot cream. Her core pulsed to be filled by him.

Still she would not let him go. Not until she made him lose control, as she did so damn easily when she was near him. Loving him. Taking him.

He put a finger to the corner of her mouth. “
Cara mia
, if you do not let me go now, I will come in your mouth.”

She paused. Her long lashes lifted. Her gaze met his. He was dazed, his hazel eyes

wet and dreamy with desire for her.

She could not let him go. Never had she sucked a man to completion. Never had

she cared enough. The act was too…intimate.

“I want you like this,” she crooned to him, stroking his root, rolling his balls. “Let

me,
sì
?”

He shifted and groaned, then sank his hands in her curls. “Do it for me,
cara
. Christ knows, I want you every way you want me.”

Smiling, she sank over him, taking him all the way into her mouth and down her

throat. He braced himself against the mattress, his head thrown back. She moaned at

the image and bent even more devotedly to her loving task. He was long. Hot. Hers.

Hers.

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Until Twilight

He bucked.

She swallowed him even more deeply, careful not to hurt him, rabid to consume

him. Back and forth, she made love to his length, celebrated all he was to her.

Everything he was to her.

Lost in her lust, lost to her fascination for him, she sucked him over and over in

long, hard drags. He grunted, overcome.

She knew he was near climax. Inside her heart swelled. Her cunt throbbed.

He growled, one hand atop her head. And he came in her mouth. She pulled back,

eager to swallow, determined to take all of him he meant to give her. He cupped her

cheek as he shot his cum into her, holding her gently as she drank all of him. And

sighed. Wiped her lips with two fingers and then let him lift her to his arms and take

her back to the bed with him.

For long minutes, he threaded his fingers through her hair as he pressed her

delicious body to his own and whispered dulcet endearments into her ear. She lay

there, enraptured by his responses. This was the kind of man she had always wanted.

Wild for her. Willing to be captured by her. Able to give as much as she received. If only he would take the time.

Lane Hallowell would. Did. How had she been so fortunate to meet him?
How can

you know so quickly, Bella, he is so right for you?

After long minutes of drifting in the bliss of his embrace, he whispered, “Shower

and dinner.”

He tugged her boneless body from the bed and led her to her bath. There he stood

her against the wall and turned on the water full blast. Taking down the detachable

showerhead, he took her in his arms and directed it to the small of her back. The warm

needles of water refreshed her, caressed her and made her hungry for him again.

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Desiree Holt & Cerise DeLand

He lifted her face to put his lips to hers. A gentle meeting of flesh on flesh, his kiss was the breathless touch of the gods. “Darling,” he said nearly without sound, “how

can I need you again?”

She let her head fall back, as he brought the showerhead around to train on her

aching nipples. Her hands went to his cock, dangling between his thighs but rising in

her hand and thrilling her to her core. “Does it matter how?”

“No, Bella. Only that we do.” He gave her a lopsided grin, then went to his knees,

his hands nudging her thighs open and directing the spray to her sensitive labia.

She jumped at the sting of the spray. Then groaned as he put two fingers up inside

her cunt. She spread her thighs wider. “More, more,” she begged him, her fingers

grabbing his hair and pushing his mouth to her pussy. “I need your mouth on me.”

He was so damn obedient. He put his mouth to her lips, then pulled away, his

caress a dance between kisses on her clit and the sting of the spray.

Her knees buckled, but he caught her, pinned her upright to the warm tiles. “Let me

have all of you, Bella.”

He dropped the hand shower to the floor to put two hands to her pussy and roll her

open. “
Cara mia
, how lovely you are. How plump. And red.”

She shot a hand to the wall, and a hand to his head. “Oh, have me, before I die

here.”

Growling, he nuzzled her, his talented lips sucking at her, taking her needy little

nub into his mouth and flicking it with his tongue. As he pulled away, he pinched it

and she trembled.

“Fuck me,” she pleaded with him.

He put two fingers up inside her, finding her tender ridge and caressing her. With

his other hand, he parted her labia with two fingers and tickled and rasped her clit until the pressure built inside her to a roar.

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Until Twilight

With a cry she felt her body shudder and release, the thunder inside her a furious

declaration of how well this man could change her world. Never had she come standing

up. Never had she come this often. Never had she needed to with any other man.

When she opened her eyes, she stood in his arms as he kissed her cheeks and her

mouth.

“We have sated one hunger for a few minutes,” he told her, humor alight in his

eyes. “Let me cook for you before we need each other again.”

“A fine idea before we are skin and bones, eh?” She handed him a loofa and a large

bar of lavender soap.

An hour later, wrapped in her own robe with Lane in one of her big towels, they sat

at her kitchen table finishing the last of his excellent carbonara.

“I’ll do the dishes in the morning,” he said as he sat back.

“A man who cooks and does dishes,” she exclaimed. “I am in heaven.”

He leaned over to put his lips to hers. “You are here with me,
cara
. Come now, we are going to bed.”

“I must call Cappi. See if he has any fingerprint matches.”

Lane nodded. “Would he have anything at this hour of the night?”

“You are right. It’s too late.”

Hours later as she rolled over and the sun shone in her eyes, she reached for Lane.

Solid, reliable, lovable Lane. Pushing aside the need to learn what time it was and what might be happening beyond their bed and their delicious affair, she rose on her elbow

to look at him.

Arms cast out in abandon as he lay on his back, he seemed years younger. She