Exquisite Danger (5 page)

My heart slammed against my ribs and I froze for a moment, his words rolling through my mind like fire. I trembled on the verge of freaking out, imagining now how Miguel must have earned his nickname and I wondered for a moment if I could live in his violent world. Then I had to choke back what probably would have been hysterical laughter, because right now, he was cleaning up the huge mess my mom had dragged me into. My world was about as dangerous as it could get. Even though Miguel may have done this kind of shit before, now he was threatening to torture people for me.

It was sweet in a rather psychotic way.

Moving slowly, I ran my hand along the wall and paused just out of Smoke’s line of sight. He made a low growling sound, and I caught the edge of his body as he paced inside of Stewart’s large kitchen. The whimsical teapots I’d placed near his sink were gone, but the gray granite with white tile was still the same. It made the sight of Smoke pacing through it, like a pissed off panther in a cage, all the more surreal. His agitation was contagious, and I found myself rhythmically flexing my hands in time with his long steps.

“I know you fucking need me back there, but get your dick out of your ass and handle this. That’s a fucking order.” Smoke abruptly stopped moving, his gaze going positively glacial as his lip curled in a snarl. “You may have outranked me in the Marines, motherfucker, but I’m your fucking boss now so don’t try to pull fuckin’ rank on me. You’re lucky I don’t tell Beach you’re giving me shit about this. Mood he’s in? He’d pull your toenails out as an example … Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

He started moving again, and I debated stepping forward, but I didn’t want to draw Smoke’s attention right now. Anger poured off of him in waves, and I knew on some instinctive level that he needed his space. But I needed him, desperately, so I found myself staying right where I was, torn between fleeing and leaping on him.

“I’ll handle Denver, personally,” Smoke said in a low voice. “Have Beach call me ASAP... No, I don’t want to tell you so you can tell him. Just find him and tell him to call me from a new burner. Get it done.”

Smoke ended the call, and there was silence for a good thirty seconds before he spoke again. “You gonna hide behind the wall all day, baby, or do I get to hold you?”

I slunk into the kitchen, my cheeks burning with embarrassment at being caught eavesdropping. “Sorry.”

He looked tired as he held his arms open. “Come here.”

Serenity filled me when he held me tight. He took a deep breath with his face buried against the top of my head. Okay, so maybe he was a psychopath, but he was my psychopath, and I loved him with everything I had. I looped my arms around his firm waist and cuddled close, loving how he enveloped me. Just one deep breath of his scent made me realize how stupid I was being to allow what happened with Stewart to mess with me, and in retrospect, how much I owed Sarah for trying to show me, in her own messed up way, what was really going on.

God, I was such a self-centered bitch.

Sarah tried to tell me the truth but I wouldn’t listen, too intent on nursing my hurt feelings.

I started to cry, ashamed of my behavior, worrying about my sister, and Smoke made a shushing noise. “I’m sorry he hurt you, sweetheart. I’m so sorry that unworthy little prick used you like that. He should have manned up and lived an honest life instead’a dragging you into his mess.”

Sniffing, I rubbed my cheek against his shirt. “Yeah he should have, and it sucks, but that’s not why I’m crying. I’m worried about Sarah, and I need to talk with her so badly to apologize for being so stupid and wasting so much time sulking. I feel like we’re never gonna find her or my mom. What if we don’t find them, Smoke? Am I going to spend the rest of my life running?”

“Hey, hey,” he said in that soothing voice of his that made me melt, “where’s all this negativity coming from?”

I shrugged because I had no idea. I was just suddenly really bummed out as the revelations about Stewart, using me as a cover, settled into my mind making me feel worthless. I’ve known him since I was a kid, and I never had even the faintest clue that he was gay. Was I so stupid, so easy to fool, or was he a really good liar?

“We done here, baby girl?”

Unable to speak for some reason, I merely nodded.

“The let’s get the fuck out of here before I kick that twink’s ass for making you feel one moment of sorrow.”

While I had no idea what a twink was, I was so ready to leave. When Smoke picked me up in his arms I didn’t protest, merely clung to him and closed my eyes. At one point we must have passed Stewart because I heard him say something, but it was muffled.

Smoke replied with a warning growl, “What the fuck did you think your betrayal was gonna do to her? If you fuckin’ knew her at all, you would know that when you broke her trust you hurt her deeply. Bet right now you’re realizing how much damage you caused when you deceived her. Now get the fuck out of my way so I can take care of my woman.”

Whatever Stewart said in reply was lost as Smoke carried me outside. I took a deep breath of the cool night air, glad to be out of Stewart’s house. All too soon, we reached the truck and Smoke almost had to pry me off of him to get me in my seat. As soon as he hopped in the cab with me, I was plastered to his side, as much as I could be with the glove box in my way. My soul hurt, and the only balm to my pain was found in touching Smoke. Instead of objecting to my imitation of a clinging vine, he drove with one hand on the wheel and the other holding my hand.

I had no idea how long we’d been driving. My mind was too stuffed full of a future without my sister and my own possible impending death. The thought of hundreds of strangers pawing at me, being inside of me, made me clutch Smoke desperately. I’d rather die in a hail of bullets or by my own hand before being sold into sexual slavery. Then it occurred to me that Smoke could be hurt, even killed while searching for my mother, and a desperate whimper escaped me before I could stop it. Shit, I usually had a better handle on my emotions, but even I had to admit that the situation I was in allowed me a few justifiable freak-outs. My mind had taken too many emotional blows and I was struggling to keep the tears at bay.

Smoke glanced down at me then swore softly. “Any cameras around here?”

I looked up, my eyes swollen from crying and scanned the area. “No, we’re on the edge of my father’s property. This is a back road that everyone on the compound uses. Just pressure sensors scattered around. No cameras or mics here.”

“Good.”

A plume of dust rose around us as he pulled over to the side of the road and parked the truck. With a gentleness that made me sigh with pleasure, Smoke pulled his seat all the way back and hauled me onto his lap so I straddled him. The steering wheel pressed into my back, but I didn’t care. In the glow of the dash lights, I could see the antidote to my pain watching me with soft, concerned eyes.

“What do you need, baby girl?” he whispered while skimming his hands over my denim-covered ass.

My lower lip quivered at the obvious affection in his tone. Unable to stand the sympathy in his eyes, I focused my gaze out the back window to try and gather myself. Out here in nowheresville, the stars were spectacular on clear nights, and I inhaled sharply when Smoke cracked the windows. The air was clean and fresh, with the scent of the dark forest, so I took a deep breath before slowly letting it out.

Turning back to Smoke I examined his rough face, gentled with a small smile that was meant only for me. He adored me. It was in every nuance of his body that I could now, for the most part, read like a book. My trust in him was deep and I told him the truth without a hint of apprehension. “I need you. You make the pain go away and replace it with love, Miguel. I need to feel loved. I need to feel like I mean something to someone.”

He let out a shuddering sigh and his lips softened as he crooned, “Sweet baby, you’re not something. You’re everything,
everything
, to me.”

The moment his hands touched my skin, I closed my eyes, losing myself in his presence and delicious scent. Even though space was limited, he managed to touch nearly every inch of me, smoothing his hands down my body while nuzzling my throat with his lush lips. I swear this man was going to be the death of me. When he bit the side of my neck, none too gently, all I could do was arch back to offer him more. If I wasn’t careful Smoke would devour me whole, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. I was ensnared by him, absolutely lost in the arousal coming to life between us.

He lifted my shirt then lowered my bra, freeing my breasts for his greedy mouth. Grasping them in a hold just short of painful, Smoke began to suck gently on my left nipple while caressing the right with his thumb. As he licked at the distended tip, his hips rose into me, rocking me on him while I made little sounds of pleasure at his dedicated attention to my breasts. I loved how touching me seemed to drive him crazy, to break his careful control. His dick was hard enough to pound nails, and I ached to have him inside of me.

Greedy for a taste of him, I tugged his mouth away from my breast and leaned into him, our lips meeting as we both sighed in relief. I would never, ever tire of the way he kissed me, of how he’d seduce me into giving him everything he wanted. Grasping my ass, he rocked me against his hard shaft, the thick fabric of our jeans torturing my poor, wet pussy. I was so slick, I swore I could smell my musk with each breath. His hands skimmed my back, stopping at the hooks on my lacy, black bra. He played with the clasp, teasing me, turning the middle of my back into an erogenous zone with his rough fingertips. Jesus, every time he touched me I lost myself deeper in him and knew my soul had been inexorably changed because of Smoke.

“You have the softest skin.” He whispered against my lips while his thick fingers teasingly flitted with the closure of my bra. “If I had my way, we’d always be naked around each other 24/7 so I could rub up against you anytime I wanted. When this bullshit is over, I’m takin’ you somewhere private so I can spend all day and all night taking care of you, kissin’ you, and fuckin’ you. I want to make you mine in every way possible.”

My heart lurched at the gentle strength and conviction in his voice. I swore it was beating hard enough that he should have been able to feel it against his palm cupping my breast.

“Please,” I whispered and ground myself against him like the shameless hussy he turned me into. “I need you, Smoke.”

“What do you need?” he asked in a rumbling tone while reaching between us to cup my sex. “Holy shit. Your pussy is hot as an oven. Bet it’s soaking wet, so I can fuck you hard, to make you mine. Love knowin’ that your tender little cunt aches because of me. Now tell me, what do you need?”

“You...I need your cock,” I gasped when he gently squeezed my sex. Pleasure tingled through me as he applied delicious pressure to my clit. If only he would give me more…I could make him give me more. The thought made me feel kind of naughty, like seducing my man was taboo. I drew a deep breath and said what I knew would break his control. Smoke loved it when I talked dirty to him and indulged his possessive side. “Fuck me, fill me up with your come, mark me and make me yours. I want your cock pushing so deep into me it hurts. I want to feel you climax inside of me, filling me up with you, making me smell like you...taste like you.”

For a moment, a hint of rough passion moved through his gaze, strong enough to scare me and turn me on at the same time. “Only me.”

“Only you.”

Smoke fisted my hair and tilted my head back while he placed small, stinging bites all over my exposed breasts. When he nipped at the very tips of my nipples, I ground myself against him and stiffened, within seconds of an orgasm. The delicious pain of his bites seemed to travel from my breasts to my pussy where the sensation became intense pleasure.

Some annoying sound poked at the edges of mind, but I tried to ignore whatever it was and concentrate instead on Smoke’s fluttering licks to the sensitive tip of my breast. When Smoke pulled his mouth from me, I moaned in protest, but he sighed. “Fuck, you make me forget where I am, who I am. I have to take this call, babe. Shit has hit the fan back home, and I’m gonna have to rip some motherfuckers new assholes. Just bear with me for a few.”

Without another word, he lifted me off his lap, grabbed his cell phone, and left the truck. When the door shut, I just stared out the window as Smoke began to pace, his hands occasionally raised in the air. Even in the dim light of a three-quarter moon, I could see he was really, really pissed and perversely enough, his anger turned me on. My body still ached with unfulfilled desire, and even though I knew whatever he was doing was important, my self-interested libido didn’t give a shit. With my wet pussy, my throbbing breasts, and the echoing sting of all those bites to my nipples, which throbbed in need, still racing through my nervous system. , I wanted an orgasm.

Now.

I blew out a frustrated breath then went to tuck my breasts back into my bra. Handling them felt good.

Really good.

Curious to see if I could maybe take care of my problem on my own, I tweaked one nipple and shivered. While my touch was nowhere as satisfying as Smoke’s, my body was primed for an orgasm. I gently ran my hands over my sensitive skin, eventually unzipping my jeans to slide my fingers inside. At the first brush of my swollen clit, I moaned softly. Smoke was still outside pacing and still on the phone. I watched him move about, remembering what it felt like when he pounded me into the mattress with a good, hard fuck.

His scent filled the truck, and I moaned again as I teased the entrance to my body, the tip of my finger nowhere near what I needed. I spread some of my arousal over my clit and began to rub it in slow circles with the tips of two fingers. In my mind, a naked Smoke stretched above me, his intense gaze boring into mine while he slid in deep. My breath trembled and that empty spot in my heart that Smoke filled with his overwhelming presence ached for him.

I was still lost in my own fantasy world when the door to my side of the truck was jerked open, and I was snatched out before I could tumble to the ground. Smoke ignored my shriek and grabbed a blanket from the backseat before carrying me over his shoulder to the back of the truck. He took the gate down, tossed the blanket onto the bed of the truck, then perched me on the blanket, all while speaking in Spanish to someone on the phone. Judging by his tone, it wasn’t a happy conversation, but he gazed at me with lust and not anger. He wasn’t pleased with whoever he was talking to, and it made his movements somewhat harsher than usual, more dominant.