Fiance by Friday (21 page)

He groaned, and brought her lips back to his for a deep kiss that reached to her toes.

His hand reached under her nightgown, his thumb grazed her breasts.

Gwen pushed into his touch.

“You’re intoxicating,” he told her. “And this,” he tugged her nightclothes over her head, “isn’t needed anymore.”

His massive hands returned to her shoulders once she stood before him completely bare. Neil looked his fill, his lips lifted into a grin. “Incredible.”

His stare brought a wave of power over her.

Slowly, he eased his hands down her chest. He cupped one breast and leaned in to taste. When his soft mouth found her, the world tilted.

He caught her before her legs gave way completely, and he lifted her to the bed.

Neil’s eyes darkened as she stretched on the bed.

“Vixen.”

He dropped one of his knees to the bed.

“Drop the towel, Neil.”

It was on the floor in an instant. And she stared. Her body shivered. She knew he’d be large, given the size of the man…but bloody hell.

“Scared, Gwendolyn?”

She forced her eyes away from his intimate parts. “That is not fear on my face.” She sucked in her lip, chewed it.

“Good.” He fell onto her, setting one knee between her thighs and taunting her as he continued exploring her breasts with his tongue and mouth. Her body was a mass of sensation. The staggering weight of him felt like armor. Protective.

She’d always wanted this man, and now she knew why. With her heart and body working in tandem to please him, she finally experienced what it was to feel everything. Every touch…like how his fingers gripped her hip as they descended on her thigh, lit up her skin, her senses.

His thick heat pressed against her belly, begging to be touched. As he explored her body, she played with his as she’d always wanted to. The firm globes of his butt filled her palms. As she squeezed him, he tilted his hips into her.

She distracted him with a kiss, and slid her hand between their bodies and gripped him.

Neil tore his lips away. “Fuck, Gwen.” He moved into her touch, dropped his forehead to hers. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

She loosened her grip, but stroked him softly. “That’s never going to happen.”

“You’re not ready…not for what I’m going to do to you.”

Her body flooded with moisture.

She opened for him. “Why don’t you check?”

The hand that gripped her hip moved to her center and easily slid inside her. Her eyes rolled back. “Oh, please.”

He stroked her again, added another finger. “You’re ready.”

“Maybe next time you’ll take my word for it.”

He played with her a little longer nearly completing her with his hand before chasing her orgasm away. She squirmed under him, trying to force all of him between her legs. He shifted on the bed, leaving her…and then returned with a condom.

“Finally,” she whispered taking the packet from his fingers and opening it herself. “Allow me.”

He knelt between her thighs as she sat forward and rolled the protection over him. She trailed her hands under him and down his legs before collapsing back to the bed.

With effortless hands, Neil pulled her hips up and toward him before teasing her a little longer by running his hands down her thighs and spreading the folds of her for his gaze. Only when she reached for him did he seem to snap out his trance. Taking both her hands in one of his he stretched them above her head and held her still.

“Last chance to back out.” The words sounded painful coming out of his mouth.

“Don’t you dare.”

He smiled, lowered his body to hers. The thickness stretched her, filled her, and left nothing but mindless joy in its path.

“You OK?” he asked.

She opened her eyes, smiled. “I won’t break, Neil.”

Just when she thought she’d absorbed all of him, there was more. She was filled and completely enveloped him as he started to move. Slow at first like a runner warming up for a long marathon. Hot waves of desire bundled deep inside her started to tighten even more.

He wove his fingers with hers, kept her arms spread as he kissed her and possessed her all at the same time.

Gwen matched his pace and squeezed him with her thighs and the muscles deep inside her womb. Neil moaned and moved faster.
He plunged with such force the bed slammed against the wall and she wanted more.

She wrapped her legs around his waist and tilted closer. The tight spot of passion blossomed and spread until she ripped her lips from his to breathe his name. Her body exploded into a million stars like a desert night sky.

His fingers gripped hers as Neil followed with his release.

He came to rest on the side of her. Gwen kept her thigh over his hip, refusing to back far away. He kissed her knuckles and held her hand between them.

“I should feel guilty about that,” he told her. “I don’t.”

“Glad to hear that. Otherwise I might have to tie you up in the night and purge you of such thoughts.”

He laughed and smiled. She loved his smile, wished he’d grace her with one more often.

“You surprise me, Princess.”

“Really? How’s that?”

“You take bugs outside, flirt like a wicked woman, dress like a lady, and make love with your whole being.”

If he knew she’d never made love like they just had…not even close, would she scare him away?

“Go big or go home,” she said.

He laughed hard and released her hand to tuck her into his side.

For the first time since she’d met him she heard his breaths even out and Neil fell asleep.

Chapter Eighteen

“I have Raven in my sights, Mac.” Billy’s face was lowered over the rifle, his finger inched toward the trigger.

Mac twisted on the inside. Squeeze the trigger. Damn it, just squeeze and take back all the pain.

“Damn.”

“What?”

“Gwen. His kids jumped in Gwen’s lap.”

No! That can’t be right. She’s not here. She’s back at the tower. Safe. I locked her in myself.

Mac shoved Billy back, looked himself. Just like he thought. Kids were in Raven’s lap. Not Gwen. She’s safe.

Billy jumped up, turned an accusing finger his way. “You should have done your job. You didn’t make the call and I’m a walking dead man.”

Everything moved slowly. Boomer, Robb, and Linden followed Billy through the dark heat. They penetrated the compound, took out three in their path.

“This time we’ll all come back alive,” Mac whispered to himself.

Boomer and Robb moved in first, Linden close behind. The kid was there, just like before. This time Mac was ready for him. Only this time the boy ran to her…he ran to Gwen. Then blew them both to pieces.

“Neil! Neil!”

He jerked awake, his arms around something.

“Neil, wake up.”

Gwen lay in his arms. Alive.

“Can’t. Breathe,” she gasped.

Neil released his vise grip. “Damn. Sorry. Did I hurt you?”

She sat up and ran her hands up and down her bare arms. “I’m OK. But you…” Gwen pushed his hair back. “That must have been an awful dream.”

He pulled her back into his arms, gently this time. “Go back to sleep.” He checked his watch. He’d slept longer than he had in years, but it was still only four in the morning.

Gwen wrapped her arm around him and intertwined one of her legs with his. “Do you have nightmares like that often?”

Not like this one.
“Sometimes,” he told her, hoping she’d not pry. His heart rate needed to slow down. The image of her blowing into a zillion pieces was fresh on his mind.

“You don’t want to talk about it.”

“I don’t.”

They lay there for a few minutes, neither of them talking, neither of them sleeping. Gwen ran her hand over his chest as if trying to calm him.

He kissed the top of her head and assured himself she wasn’t gone. That Raven hadn’t removed her from his life. Neil closed his eyes and tried to think of something pleasant.

Gwen’s face as she came. Now that was a much better picture to take to bed.

Gwen ran her leg up his and between her touch and his memory, his body responded.

“Hmmm,” she hummed. Her fingers moved lower on his stomach. “Let me erase the nightmare, Neil.” He always thought her
hands were tiny. Compared to his they were, but she found him, gripped him, and he shot to full attention.

Then he remembered the lack of condoms in his wallet and cursed under his breath. He stopped her playful fingers. “I’m out of condoms.”

She shook off his hand and ran her fingers up his length. “Good thing I bought a whole box.”

His brow drew together. “When did you do that?”

“At the store with the hair dye and the shampoo.”

He grinned. “You planned on this the whole time?”

“More like hoped.” She crawled over his body, her firm ass stuck in the air, as she dug into her bag on the floor. Sure enough, a box of premium condoms appeared in her hand. “See.”

“When you told me you picked up the essentials, I should have known.”

She grinned, and tossed her now brown hair over her shoulder. “So what do you say, Neil? Want me to chase away the dreams?”

Gwen sat back on her bent knees, her body bare for him to touch, to taste.

He reached for her. “Dreams are overrated.”

They drove to the next one-horse town and ate at a dive. Gwen hadn’t stopped smiling at him since they left the motel. For the first time in a long time, he felt like smiling back. She had a unique way of chasing away the darkness. If he turned his mind to his dream, his nightmare, he’d fall into the black abyss again. He didn’t want that.

It didn’t take a shrink to tell him his brain was working through the trauma of his past. Things he’d brushed away long ago and forced himself not to think about. He’d blamed himself for not calling the shot when he had a choice. Boomer, Robb, and Linden were dead because of it. And now Billy. And Gwen’s neighbors.

“You’re calling the detective this morning, right?” Gwen placed a dainty bite of eggs into her mouth.

He glanced at his watch. Still too early in California. “I am.”

“Will that pinpoint our location?”

“I don’t see the need for Dean to trace our location, but you can’t be too careful. The conversation will be short.”

Gwen swallowed her food. “So long as Blake knows we’re safe. He’ll worry otherwise.”

They would all worry. Neil knew he asked a lot of them when he told them to do nothing for three days. It would have killed him to wait. In three days you can disappear into Mexico, Canada…or fly out of the continent altogether. He needed a week to get them where they were going…to keep Gwen safe. Then Neil could set his trap. Give Rick enough time to join him.

Right before he’d left, Neil sent a message to Rick telling him he’d have complete radio silence and that there had been a change of plans. If Rick moved on to the Smokey Mountains without him, he’d have to double back.

All of which would give Neil a little more time with Gwen alone.

After they’d made love a second time, he’d fallen into a restful sleep. He’d considered two safety zones for Gwen. One more indestructible than the other. Getting her to stay there without him…that would be the trick.

“I’ll need you to make a phone call to Karen in the morning.”

Gwen questioned him with a look.

Neil looked behind him. The morning crowd at the restaurant stayed close to the front door, giving them some privacy.

“You’ll call. Just to assure her you’re OK. Tell her where we’re at.”

“I’ll what?”

“You’ll tell her we’re close to the Canadian border.”

Gwen set her fork down. “We’re nowhere close to the border.”

“If our guy is listening…which I think he will be, that will buy us time.”

She sipped her tea. “Time for what, Neil? What do you have planned?”

Trap the motherfucker and get him before he gets us.
But Neil couldn’t exactly tell Gwen that.

“Setting a trap.”

“Isn’t that hard out here like this? Shouldn’t we find a place to stay?”

Neil shoveled a pancake in his mouth.