Holding Out For A Hero: SEALs, Soldiers, Spies, Cops, FBI Agents and Rangers (53 page)

“Not if I can help it,” he whispered, his head dipping closer to hers. He looked at the module one last time before giving her his full attention. His eyes were unwavering, dilated from the intensity of his feelings. “Don’t move your thumbs.”

Jaymee couldn’t really see him through the tears threatening to come out. His lips were soft and warm against her own cold, dry ones. His tongue flicked across them, wetting her lips and comforting her gently. She didn’t mind if it ended this way, she thought in a daze.

“I love you,” she told him, as she heard the sharp snipping sound.

Big Bad Wolf: Chapter Fifteen

Silence. Nick counted his heartbeat, his lips still on Jaymee’s. Slowly, he straightened up, thinking Jaymee’s tear-streaked face was the most beautiful thing in the world.

“Silence is golden,” he gravely told her.

Her smile was tremulous, and the tears flowed again. “You owe me a big bang,” she managed through the tears. “I can’t deduct that from this week’s paycheck.”

“I’ll pay up,” promised Nick. If they got out of this helltrap safely, he added, as he methodically untied her bound wrists.

Her hands and feet hurt even more once they were free, and Jaymee moaned softly as Nick rubbed them with strong, tender hands. God, she loved those hands. And she remembered. She had told him she loved him, and she knew he’d heard her. Those words had come out naturally. Her only thought then was if she were to die, she wanted him to know the truth.

“Thank you, my hero,” she said aloud, getting off the sofa with his help and stumbling as her limbs refused to support her.

“You can thank me later, boss,” Nick drawled, then swung her into his arms. “Let’s get you out of here first.”

He carried her out of the room, stopped long enough at a front window to flash a light to signal Jed, and moved on back under the skylight.

Jaymee curled her hands around his strong neck, reveling in the easy strength and secured warmth. She had never felt safer. For a while, alone in the house, she’d imagined dying and him never knowing how much she loved him. Now he knew. And she didn’t care.

Jed’s dark head appeared above them, and minutes later, they were climbing down the ladder off the roof. When she finally stepped back from the house, Nick immediately lifted her off her feet again, and Jaymee didn’t protest. She felt weak and needed him close by. When Grace squeezed her hands anxiously, she smiled back at her.

“I’m OK,” she told her.

Nick passed Jed a telling look. “Don’t go in there. I’m going to have to comb through the whole house to make sure they didn’t leave any surprises.”

“No!” Jaymee tightened her hold around his neck. “No, call the police instead. Let it stay like that forever. I don’t care. I don’t want you in there.” The words tumbled out in panicked phrases.

“Jaymee…”

She didn’t care she was at the edge of hysteria. The thought of him blowing up with the house was even more frightening than when she was alone in there, contemplating death.

“No, no, no!” Her voice was adamant, fierce. “If you risk your life in that stupid...empty house, I’ll go back in there with you.”

“I’ll call in a team,” Jed suggested quietly.

“Then Command will know where you are,” Nick pointed out, as they kept walking. “I thought you wanted a stretch of time to do what you needed.”

Jed shrugged. “I’ll think of something. Disappear before they show up.”

“Please, Nick, don’t go in there,” pleaded Jaymee, interrupting the two men. She wasn’t in the mood to stay out of their business. This was her business now too, damn it!

Nick looked down at the face of the woman who had almost died because of him. The feeling of helpless rage he was holding in check was threatening to break through again.

She had almost died. And it was all his fault. It humbled him to know she would have willingly sacrificed herself so he would be safe.

“All right,” he relented. “We’ll work out an alternative. But no one goes near or into that place till it’s swept by a team.”

Jed nodded. “Go take Jay home now. We’ll talk later.”

“Meet me there in three hours,” Nick said, his eyes still holding Jaymee’s.

He carried her all the way back, hardly out of breath as he made his way through the woods. She clung to him, her hands stroking the back of his neck, her lips occasionally bestowing kisses anywhere they made contact. They didn’t say a word in the gathering darkness as he walked, yet their hearts whispered and conversed, knowing how precious each passing moment was.

Bob, Lucky, and Dicker were still at the house when Nick climbed up the back porch and entered the kitchen. Bob’s lined face was filled with worry as he took in the disheveled appearance of his daughter, the bruises on her face and arms.

“Good God, what happened?” All three men got up from their seats.

Nick shook his head when Dicker pulled up a seat for him. “I’m taking her upstairs. She needs rest.”

“What happened?” Bob asked again. “Are you all right, Jaymee girl? Who were those men Rich and Chuck were talking about?”

“Not FBI,” replied Nick, a hard edge to his voice. “Where are those two bastards, by the way?” He wasn’t done with them yet.

“Took off the moment Chuck came to,” Lucky said. “You OK, boss?”

“I’m fine, thanks to Nick. Don’t worry, I’ll be back to work in the morning.”

“You just rest up. I’ll take care of work,” Bob cut in. “Go on and take her to her room, Nick. We’ll talk about this later.”

No one questioned Nick’s actions, letting him take Jaymee to her room. They understood something serious had occurred, recognized Nick had saved Jaymee from something.

“Don’t you worry, Jay,” Dicker called after them. “Take tomorrow off. We’ll get the roofs done.”

Nick carried her straight into the connecting bathroom after he kicked the bedroom door shut. “A nice warm bath first,” he murmured. “You need a good scrub, woman. You’re all sweaty and dirty.”

“You too,” Jaymee said. “You can put me down now, you know.”

“I want to carry you forever,” he said, simply.

Jaymee felt his tension and understood his desire to keep her close to him. They had almost lost each other. “I love you,” she told him.

“I know.”

He didn’t tell her he loved her too, but she could see it in his eyes. There was a tenderness in them that seemed to make his eyes bluer, and her breath caught at the deep yearning in them. She felt his emotions in the way he held her so tightly against his body. She supposed it wasn’t easy for a man like Nick to say those words, not when he had been trying to sever the ties emotionally the last few days.

They bathed each other slowly, touching and exploring. She kissed him, soothing the fury that rose when he saw the ugly bruises on her in better light. He traced every part of her, as if committing her to memory, growling now and then as he found a scratch here, or a cut there. He handled her with the attention of a mate, with such a gentle touch it made her want to cry.

After the bath, he carried her to bed, babying her, taking care of her every need, as if she were the most precious thing on earth to him. And Jaymee let him. She’d never felt like this before, out of control, yet also still in charge. His hands were demanding, yet caring. His kisses had an urgency that was both passionate and reverent. His mouth found the vulnerable pulse in her neck, coming back to it again and again, as if her heartbeat reassured him somehow. He leisurely explored the hollow in her throat, the dip between her breasts, the womanly curve of her abdomen.

Jaymee returned his touches with the same reverence. His body was strong and powerful, and trembled under her hands. She kissed the back of his neck, traced her lips down the dip of his spine, molded her hands on the male grace of his small buttocks. He turned over for her eager lips, and moaned as she paid attention to the beautifully formed member that grew bigger with every stroke of her tongue and fingers.

Finally, a sheen of perspiration on him, Nick lifted Jaymee astride him, and she pushed down, taking him fully inside her, enjoying this possession of him, taking and giving pleasure, until they were gasping. It was what they needed, what words couldn’t describe. They were one and home. Nothing else mattered.

He lay there quietly, eyes half-closed and filled with passion, as he let her set the pace. His breathing was labored, but he didn’t move, except for the lazy teasing of his long, elegant fingers on her sensitive nipples until she went crazy for him, moving faster and faster as his fingers moved on down to rest where they met. She cried out when he pushed away the folds hiding her sensitive feminine bud and pushed down on it so every move she made gave her the utmost pleasure possible.

Nick wished he could make this go on forever. It’d always be imprinted in his brain, the way she looked on top of him, in the throes of passion. Her head was thrown back, with those wild ringlets all over her shoulders, and as she succumbed to her climax, she sagged forward, her hair enveloping the both of them. He loved the fragrance of her desire mingled with her unique scent, and when she opened her eyes as she braced herself on his shoulders, he was willing to drown in the limpid pools of green. She moaned at every downward stroke and sucked in her breath when she slid back up.

She drove him to the point of madness like that, moving so slowly, seeming to draw every ounce of blood to only one point of his fevered body. Every slick ride down brought shudders of need through him. The pleasure made him clutch the sheets. Not yet. He wasn’t willing to let go yet. Let her take him wherever she wanted. He wanted to please her.

Her breasts swayed temptingly as she rocked, and Nick reached up for them, caressing them until the nipples were hardened and she was gasping and moving faster. Oh please, faster please. He wasn’t sure whether he begged her aloud. It felt so good. Faster, baby, please.

And when her internal muscles began to clench around him, he went rigid, and without thought, held her hips tight as he thrust up in hard strokes. Harder. Deeper. And he was just as lost as she was in the swirl of heat waves that swept through his consciousness as he emptied his whole soul into her.

***

Jaymee fell into a deep, exhausted sleep, and Nick held her for a while before leaving her to go downstairs. She’d told him she loved him. And he hadn’t told her he....

He banished the words even before they were formed. Didn’t what happened today reinforce the dangerous aspects of having a weak link, a switch every two-bit mercenary could find? The knowledge Jaymee could have ended up like Emma turned his stomach and hardened his resolve.

But why couldn’t he just say those words?

No, he could never leave her if he ever did. He would want to stay. An impossible dream.

“Are you sure it isn’t going to be a problem for you to get a team to sweep the area?” he asked Jed in the kitchen. Bob listened to them, sitting quietly at the kitchen table.

“There won’t be, if I’m not here and Jaymee doesn’t say too much.”

“But they’d know you have been here.”

Jed shrugged. “I’ll be long gone.” His eyes were thoughtful when he looked at Nick. “What about you?”

Nick returned the gaze levelly. “I’ll be with you initiating the encryption board, except this time, we’ll be prepared for the bastards.” Revenge was going to be very sweet.

“Yes, they’ll think we’re still trying to decipher it, but we have to move fast.”

They agreed to meet the next morning and after Jed left, Nick sat down at the kitchen table. The old man offered a cup of coffee, and he accepted.

“Seems like we do our best talking at this table,” Bob commented wryly.

Nick’s lips lifted at one corner. “True,” he agreed.

The details he gave didn’t tell much, except Jaymee was caught in the middle and he had to leave, for her sake. Bob didn’t ask any questions, much to Nick’s surprise.

“As long as you don’t leave without saying goodbye to Jaymee, I won’t push for more information. That’s what happened the last time, you know, when Danny just left. I don’t think she can go through another sudden disappearance.”

Nick looked at Bob silently for a second. “I won’t leave without saying goodbye,” he said softly.

Bob nodded briskly. “Now, what else do you want me to do?”

***

Jaymee awakened the instant he rejoined her in bed, and she curled up eagerly against the heat of his naked body. “Where did you go?” she asked sleepily.

“Taking care of details,” he gently murmured against her cheek.

She rubbed the sleep from her eyes, wincing slightly at the stiffness in her wrists. “Are you leaving?” Common sense returned, now that she’d rested. If those men had traced Nick here, the next logical step was for him to leave. His sigh was answer enough. “Nick?”

“Hmm?”

“Why is it not possible?”

“Us, you mean?” Nick caressed her supple body, wondering whether he could ever forget the softness of her skin, her unique fragrance. “I can’t risk you, Jaymee. I can’t have your safety an issue every time someone comes after me.”

“Is it often someone comes after you?”

“No.”

“So, the risk is minimal, right?” she insisted.

There was a short silence. “I won’t risk you,” Nick said in a stilted voice.

“There’s risk in everything, you know.”

But he didn’t want to discuss risks or targets. He wanted to forget, to melt into this woman and dream of sunlight and impossible dreams. He didn’t want Jaymee to argue with his decision. It would only muddle his thinking, tempt him to give in to her. He did what the Programmer would do in this situation--evade and divert. It was for the best.

Turning her over, he covered her sweet, pliant body with his, crushing her in his need for her. When she gasped for breath, he kissed her deeply and pushed her thighs apart with his own.

This sweet oblivion. This unconditional surrender. This generous loving. No, he would never forget her.

***

“Forget you?” Jaymee couldn’t believe her ears at his words. “Can’t you think of something better to say as parting words?”