Eternally Bound: Paranormal Romance Boxed Set (13 page)

She cocked her head to the side. “Baker has allies here? In the building?” She clearly wondered how much he knew that she didn’t.

“Justin, who…”

“Later, Delaine.”

“No, now. All we can do is wait until Baker leaves. I think we’ve got time.”

Her tone was snide. He was so pissed, he didn’t care. “I’m not willing to wait that long,” Justin snapped quietly then flipped open his cell phone and turned it on. He breathed a sigh of relief while grumbling about poor signals in a state-of-the-art facility.

He whispered into the mouthpiece. “Hey, Derrick, it’s me. We’re stuck in Baker’s lab. Confirm the passage behind door number three.” After a couple of seconds, he said, “Excellent.” He clicked the phone shut and listened. It sounded like Baker was having hot and sweaty sex with Sarah Ann. Good.

“Sounds like the perfect time to get the hell out of here. Stand up, and step where I step.” He pressed a button on the back of his cell phone and a thin beam of blue light appeared, just bright enough to see the floor of the little room.

She followed silently, her back stiff with anger and her brows drawn so tightly together she felt the beginning of a fierce headache. Delaine couldn’t remember being this angry since the jacked-up e-mail from Gary a year ago. It had been a long time since she’d been this frightened for someone she cared about. And she didn’t like it one bit. She was royally pissed. If she said a single word, it would be a very long, loud mistake.

* * * * *

With Derrick’s guidance, it took Justin less than a minute to find and open a small hidden hatch set into the wall at the back of the closet. It was one of many that had been used to get building materials down to The Vault when it was being secretly built. Once through it, he turned off the small flashlight built into his phone and they moved silently up a narrow hallway until they reached a steep stairwell. It took them another twenty minutes to climb up to the first floor. They emerged outside at the rear of the building covered with dust and cobwebs, their lungs burning from their adrenaline-fueled jaunt up those endless steps. By the time they reached the rear parking lot, they were both huffing, puffing and sneezing all over the place.

Justin packed Delaine into his car and sped her home. He clenched his jaw to keep silent, not trusting himself to speak to her just now. He knew his reaction to discovering her down in the The Vault ready to draw on Baker was unreasonable. She was, after all, an undercover agent like himself. It was her job to find evidence on people like him and take them down. But the thought of her charging out of their hiding place to confront Baker scared the red out of his hair. Delaine in any kind of danger set his teeth on edge. He gripped the steering wheel of his Jag until his knuckles turned white.

He pulled into her driveway and she slammed out of the car before he could get the emergency brake in place. She stomped through the front door, stripped off her soiled, filthy clothes in the foyer and sprinted up the stairs.

Justin got an eyeful of a very naked Delaine, cobweb-filled hair flying behind her as she took the stairs two at a time. He stopped short and stared after her. His anger faded as his body tensed with baser emotions. Damn, she had such a nice ass. Would he ever get used to his physical reaction to this woman? Not bloody likely.

He stripped off his dirty clothes, piled them on top of Delaine’s and took the whole pile to the laundry room before following her up the stairs.

* * * * *

Fuming, Delaine jumped into the gigantic glass brick shower in her bedroom and slammed the door behind her. How dare that man put himself in such danger! She was so mad, she couldn’t think straight. He looked more than capable of taking care of himself, but didn’t he know how dangerous it was snooping around in The Vault? And he had to be snooping, otherwise he wouldn’t have been crouching in that stupid closet. The big question was, who the hell did he snoop for? As a contractor, he could end up working at some other pharma company next week. Perhaps he planned to take Astin trade secrets with him? ‘
Oh please don’t let him be a bad guy.
’ She already had one crook to catch, and the last thing she needed was to fall for one. And what if he got hurt in the meantime? What a mess.

One thought led to another, and by the time she angled one of the large shower heads to rush over her body, leaned back against the cool glass brick wall, the bath seat solid under thighs, she was a volatile mix of confusion and fury. Forcing herself to relax, she breathed deeply as the hot water splashed over her head and down her tired, aching body like a warm, gentle waterfall. The steam-covered door swung silently open and a cool whoosh of air washed over her. Justin.

Again, Sapa hadn’t warned of his approach. What was up with that?

She opened her eyes and pushed her thick cottony locks back and away from her face. The soothing scents of rosemary, lavender and peppermint filled the air just as his big hands sank into her curls to lather her hair with her favorite shampoo. His fingers moved expertly through the mass of coils until every inch of her scalp tingled.

“How in the world do you know so much about hair? Black hair at that?” she breathed contentedly. It felt so good, and his strokes were so gentle, working from her roots clear to the ends of her hair. She leaned into his hands and sighed softly with pleasure. He stepped to the side and the waterfall of water flowed down over her body again, rinsing her hair clean.

“Three younger sisters.” He kept his reply soft and controlled.

“It feels wonderful,” Delaine murmured. How could she stay mad at a man who shampooed her hair? Lather was worked through her hair again and rinsed until all traces of shampoo flowed down the drain and her body threatened to slide off the bath seat along with the puddle of suds.

She started to tell him if she didn’t hurry up and moisturize the mop on her head, it would be good and nappy. Instead, she snapped her mouth closed at his attentiveness. One step ahead of her, he was already smoothing a handful of creamy conditioner through her tresses and massaging it through. But now that she thought about it, he always seemed to be one step ahead of her. How?

Suddenly her body cooled and ached at the loss of contact. Justin had stepped away. Her eyes snapped opened and his blazing blue gaze trapped her with its intensity. He held out his hand to her.

“Come here, baby.”

Delaine quirked a brow and wondered at the tone in his voice. His jaw ticked furiously, but she did as he asked, stood slowly and stepped into his arms.

He held her close, trembling as he said, “Delaine, I was furious today. The thought of anything happening to you made me crazy.” His voice tight with emotion as his hands stroked up and down her back. “I don’t think I’ve been that angry since…hell, I’ve never been that angry.”

“Then you’ve read my mind,” she whispered back. “I know you work for Astin, but The Vault just isn’t a safe place to be found right now. I checked the list of authorized personnel and your name wasn’t on it, Justin. What the hell were you doing down there?”

“I don’t want to talk about that right now. I’m so relieved you’re safe, I just want to hold you and never let go. I need to feel you, Del. Let me touch you, baby.”

He sat her back down on the bath seat and knelt between her legs. Even on his knees, they were still of a height. He rubbed his nose against hers and whispered all the nasty things he wanted to do to her.

“Baby, I want to nibble and suck on your pretty tits and lick you from the underside to the nipples until you squirm. Then I want to kiss a path from between your beautiful breasts, down to your navel and back up again before I take them in my hands, squeeze them together and slide my dick back and forth between them.”

Delaine wanted him to do that and more. His erotic words stoked the low simmer in her womb to a full-blown forest fire.

“I want to suck on the lobes of your ears then slip my tongue up around them. Work my way slowly down your neck to that spot near your shoulder that makes you scream.”

“Oh, yes,” she hissed through her teeth while her hips moved in a slow restless rhythm as Justin knelt between her legs. One hand massaged the sensitive nipple of one breast while the other found her swollen clit peeking out of its little hood so he could play with it.

He slipped a finger into her mouth and said, “I love how you suck my finger. Your mouth is so hot and wet.”

Delaine had never enjoyed oral sex, but suddenly she wanted it with this man. Wanted it almost more than she wanted to feel him moving inside her, more than she needed to breathe.

She stood and pushed him from his knees down to the shower floor. The scent of his body mingled with the steam of the shower into an intoxicating perfume that tickled her nose and made her pussy weep. The second he lay back on the warm, wet tiles she plunged her mouth down over his engorged length with an urgency that took his breath away. He bit his lip, holding back a primal yell when she began sucking his flesh like she wanted nothing more in the world than to take him all the way down her throat and milk him dry.

Her firm lips wrapped tightly around his shaft, swallowing as much of him as she could. Her free hand pumped him eagerly as she pulled her mouth up to the engorged head and swirled her tongue around and around the purple tip before plunging back down.

When she hummed her pleasure the vibration crashed down his sensitive nerve endings to pool at the base of his sac. He almost came on the spot. He sat up swiftly, lifted her high and slid deep in one lightning quick stroke.

“Oh yes! Oh, Justin! Oh, god!” she babbled, an overloaded bundle of nerves but full of a need so beyond the physical, she was humbled by it.

“More!”

“Demanding woman, aren’t you?” Justin teased, his jaw clenched tightly as he listened to her demand that he take her harder, give her more, make her scream. Determined to keep his woman happy, he gave her just what she asked for.

He plumbed deep and almost died of the exquisite pleasure of being surrounded by her tight, gripping sheath. His blood churned thick and hot through his veins as he struggled to think clearly through the haze of bliss that was Delaine. He savored the feel of her strong hands as they touched him everywhere she could reach, blazing a trail up his chest and over his neck to fist in his hair. She yanked and pulled as she rode him.

Up off her knees in a move that surprised him, Delaine put her feet flat on the floor and squatted over him. Nothing touched him but her sweet, shaved core. She rode him like his dick had the antidote to her need loaded inside. He reached between their bodies and found her little swollen knot. His fingers pulled and stroked, drove her higher until the walls of her tight sheath squeezed him unmercifully.

She cried out when Justin lifted her off of him. She yelled for him to put her back. Put her back right now, damn it. Instead, he positioned her on her knees, chest against the bath seat, and plunged deep from behind. Now, she really did cry. The tears flowed down the wet skin of her cheeks as she pleaded for him to fulfill her need. She begged. Demanded. Screamed. And still he rocked into her, his balls slapping against her ass, only to slow down just enough to keep her release at bay.

“Justin, I can’t take anymore!” she yelled. “If you don’t…oh god…finish me, I’ll castrate. Your ass! Over! Breakfast!”

“Ah, baby, you feel so good!” Justin growled in response. “I could fuck you forever. This is my pussy. All mine.”

“Yes, Justin. Take it, take it now.”

“You sure this is mine, my pussy?” he panted into her hair.

“Yesssssss!”

He pistoned into her, the veins of his thick staff stimulating her beyond reason. She felt her orgasm begin down in her toes, streak up her thighs and circle around her hips. Then it dove straight down and she erupted like a sunburst where their bodies were joined.

Justin filled her completely, pushing himself to the place only he could reach until he was submerged in her. Delaine reached back between her legs and pressed against the sensitive spot underneath his balls. It was over. His head flew back on a loud cry as his seed geysered against her womb, triggering another round of shuddering deep inside her thirsty heat.

They basked in the afterglow of their lovemaking until the water ran cold. Finally remembering Delaine still had conditioner in her hair, he washed it out for her before they washed each other quickly and headed for the big bed to fall into an exhausted stupor. But not before Justin admitted to himself that he was in deep. And he had no desire to be anywhere else.

In the morning he would tell Delaine who he was and exactly what he was doing at Astin Pharma, consequences be damned.

* * * * *

Oh hell, it was almost time to meet Pam for breakfast again. After the night with Justin, she wasn’t sure she was up to it. She rolled over and bumped into his broad, muscular back. Not only had the gorgeous hunk saved her neck, but he’d laid some sex down on her like she’d never had it before. And she’d be damned if he didn’t have the sexiest ass she’d ever seen on a man. Sigh. She hadn’t found out what he was doing down in The Vault, but since he hadn’t killed or exposed her, she could only assume he worked there. But for who?

“Hey, you,” she whispered sleepily, shaking Justin’s shoulder on a yawn. It was like trying to shake a mountain. She ran her fingers through his red bed-head and crooned against the back of his neck. “Get up, honey, I need to get going.”

Justin groaned, rolled over and smashed the pillow down over his head. She poked him in the ribs in the only spot on his hard body she’d found to be ticklish. He flinched and was out of the bed in two snaps, taking half the covers with him. She watched his eyes drop to her washboard stomach then slide lower to the smooth triangle between her legs. The predator was back with a wicked gleam in his eye and a cock rising to attention before her very eyes.

Oh damn! Delaine jumped out of the bed, snatched a pair of jeans and a tee shirt off the chest at the foot of the bed and fled the room, calling over her shoulder, “I’m meeting Pam in an hour. I’ll shower in the guest bathroom, ’cause if I shower with you I’ll never get out of here.”