Jaq’s Harp (6 page)

Her boot landed on a green limb. She reached toward him and the noise came rushing back in crashing waves.

“Harper English, you get your ass down this beanstalk.” Jaq beckoned to him, her expression tight and anxious as she hovered amid green leaves, slowly moving around the platform. She looked down and back up at him. Her fingers reached to brush the hand he held out to her. “Now, sweetie.”

He lunged out and hugged her, gripping her, holding on for dear life.

Swip, swip, swip
.

The leaves above him shredded, and he couldn’t let go to use the guard’s gun to fire back. He roared. “Go, go, go.”

Jaq slid beneath his hold and started climbing down. He followed.

Above, the platform was still empty. Their pursuers hadn’t reached it. Jaq and he would be out of view for a few moments as they descended. He didn’t know how far up they were, how much time it’d take to get to the ground.

He glanced down. Jaq’s agile body was gliding down at a breakneck pace. His vision spotted, and he jerked his chin up. No more looking down.

One rung at a time, he descended the beanstalk. Bovine’s creation was a marvel. The vines were thick, as large around as three of him put together. Maybe four. The limbs interweaved like thatch work. Large leaves the size of his head swished into him, blocking his sight, sliding against his mouth to leave behind a verdant flavor. It was as if the vine cushioned and directed him, hugging against him all the way.

He couldn’t see Jaq but he heard her humming, as if she were enjoying this craziness.

The vine shuddered. Tearing leaves rent the sky above him. They were following, but he couldn’t see through the leaves.

Jaq stopped humming.

He picked up the pace. The mindless down, down, down created unbearable tension in his shoulders and left his bruised ribs protesting.

Down, down, down.

His arms ached. The top of his head heated, exposed to the threat above.

At least he was between Jaq and Ochre’s guards. They’d have to go through him first.

“I’m on the ground,” Jaq shouted.

The tension in his shoulders fell away. His feet touched the earth and he moved toward Jaq who stared above, frowning, eyes squinting, as she peered up into the vine. An expression of horror covered her beautiful face as she reached for him and screamed, “Watch out.”

A heavy mass fell on him, banging his head into the ground and wrenching his arm back. He surged up, throwing off the man, and rounded on him, only to draw up short with the barrel of a gun in his face.

He froze.

Jaq dove to the side, putting the overturned courtyard bench between her and the two guards, who glared at Harp as Ochre made his way down the vine. He was still a ways up, taking his time.

She had to move now, while it was two instead of three. Vera Ochre wouldn’t be following them down. Ochre had turned his company into a shell of itself, a corrupt and inhumane entity, all so his wife wouldn’t ever have to touch the ground. No, Vera Ochre was high above.

She and Harp had to take out three men. Because Bovine and the other agents weren’t here yet. If Ochre overpowered them, nobody would be around to tell the world what Ochre had planned, and a vaccine would hit the streets in a few weeks that would wipe out half the population of landers. They had to get the evidence to Mother.

The gun in Harp’s face didn’t waver. She wanted to call out, but terror for him tightened her throat, and she didn’t want the guards to remember she was here.

This was where it’d all end, and she was determined that it would end with Harp and Merry whole and safe, even if she had to sacrifice herself to make it so.

She took it all in. This was the courtyard to her building, but she’d never thought to stash weapons here. Breathing in and out, she shrugged her shoulders and let her emotions fall to the ground.

In a smooth motion, she grabbed one of the downed bamboo plant canes, stood and slashed it through the air.

Swish.

The hard yet flexible pole came down, fast, onto the hand holding the gun. The guard’s arm yanked down, discharging the gun into the ground. Always fast, Harp attacked the man, twisting his arm and pointing the firearm away.

She didn’t wait to see if Harp could take out the guard. She dove at the other one, stunned and standing with his mouth agape. Her momentum plowed into him. As he stumbled, bowed over, she righted herself, gripped him by the shoulders, and brought her knee up into his nose.

Crunch.

He howled and fell to the ground, clutching his face. In seconds, she yanked her courier bag over her head, removed the strap, and had the guard’s hands tied and secured to the bench while he was still bent over, moaning over his broken nose.

Harp and the man he fought cursed and grunted, but she couldn’t step in, not without distracting Harp. For heart-stopping seconds he jabbed at his opponent and landed strikes ruthlessly beautiful to behold. The other man was good. He dodged and parried, but couldn’t find a way through Harp’s defenses. Harp didn’t need the gun he’d taken from the guard, or her help, but she tensed, ready to come to his aid though weariness had started to seep into her bones.

A thud drew her dazed attention from Harp. Ochre had reached the bottom of the vine and sneered at her. “Who
are
you?”

“The person who’s taking you down.” She took in deep shuddering breaths and made her body stand straight and tall instead of falling over. She was spent.

But he would not win. Never. Not while she breathed. He would not take the lives of landers hostage for the sake of profit.

The man who’d nearly killed Merry circled Jaq, keeping to the outside away from Harp, who should’ve downed his guy by now. She didn’t let herself get distracted by the worry.

Ochre’s mouth ticked and his eyes telegraphed his intentions. He was coming straight for her throat. When he lunged, she came up on the balls of her feet, bounced twice, and swung her right leg around in a fast, arching roundhouse.

He took it right in the side of the head and went down hard.

Before he knew what had happened to him, she pounced. She yanked his jacket back so he couldn’t move his arms, pulled the stiletto and pointed it at his throat, pressing hard enough to leave a trail of blood.

“Don’t move,” she growled.

Ochre groaned into the dirt beneath his face. Off to the side, the guard Harp had been fighting echoed the groan as he crumpled to the ground.

Harp knelt beside her and put a hand on her back. “Good job. The cavalry’s here.”

The small courtyard filled with Mother agents, Bovine in the lead. They soon had the guards and Ochre bound and ready for detainment. Ochre yelled and screamed as he was dragged away. “Leave Vera out of this. You can’t take the company. Don’t make her come down here.”

After what had happened to Merry, Jaq was a little shocked by the wave of pity she felt for Ochre as she stared at his contorted face. Then he was gone.

“Move aside, Robinson.” A uniformed Mother agent waved her away as he set to work with a chainsaw on the beanstalk.

Bzzzz.
The loud noise ripped through the air.

“Where is this thing going to fall?” She cast a worried glance around the courtyard of her apartment building. Harp stood next to the bench they’d sometimes shared while drinking coffee in the morning before going to work. Her dry mouth flooded, the memories burning.

A hand fell on her shoulder and she flinched. Bovine answered in his usual good humor. “I designed it to collapse onto itself. Don’t worry. Your home will be safe. So will Merry.”

She turned and hugged Bovine. “How about Merry? Will you be able to help her?”

“I already have Merry at the hospital. Picked her up this morning, but you’d already left. We’re giving her stabilizers while I synthesize the antidote. You can visit her tomorrow.”

She blew out a long breath.

A crash shook the courtyard.

The beanstalk folded in. Leaves
thwapped
as they rushed down. The scent of uncooked beans filled the air as green dust coated Harp’s black hair.

Harp leaned toward Bovine and yelled over the continued crashing of the beanstalk. “They planned on moving it out of trials and onto the streets in just a few weeks. I have all the evidence you need to prove it.” He pulled his special harmonica from his pocket and slapped it into Bovine’s hand.

“I’ll get this back to headquarters.” Bovine nodded significantly in her direction. “I knew she’d get you out. She couldn’t wait on extraction, it would’ve been too late for the antidote.”

Harp nodded. “We can put him away for a long time. But for now, I have a few things to say to Jaq.”

“Soon as the medics clear you, go. Say your things. Take a day or two while I convince the head office to let Jaq keep her job.” Bovine gave Jaq a wink.

The medics cleaned and healed their cuts and checked Harp’s chest. His ribs weren’t broken but he had some nasty bruises they treated with fast-mend. He declined the heavy-duty pain relievers and promised he’d come by for a checkup tomorrow. Jaq snorted as they walked away from the medics. Harp wouldn’t go to the med-clinic unless he was unconscious, bleeding, or ordered to do it.

Jaq shook all over. Acting on autopilot, she led the way inside the apartment building. She ran hot and cold. Her mind flipped through all the events of the past year in a blur. The past few hours had turned everything up over end.

They kept their hands off each other in the elevator. Harp didn’t touch her as she opened the door, but once shut in with him, in their home, he crushed her to him and took her mouth. The feel of him against her immediately soothed the panic she’d been holding at bay.

She ripped her mouth away from his. Cheeks awash with color, eyes sparkling deep brown, he smiled tentatively, chest heaving as he gave her the most unsure look she’d ever seen on his face.

For good reason.

Her chest tightened. “No. You can’t just come in here like nothing ever happened.”

“Will you give me a chance?” His plea came out husky and defeated.

She turned her back on him and started down the hall, but a hollowness pitted her stomach and the pain came, an ache that only he could cure. She looked over her shoulder, smiled, knowing he’d follow.

She shrugged out of her clothes and threw them into the laundry chute. Her raggedy jacket would probably fall apart after a few more cleansing cycles.

The air around her changed, filled with heated spice. With a whirl on the cold tile in her bare feet, she faced him. His eyes were afire, roaming her nakedness, as real as a touch. Shivers broke out all over her. She groaned.

He reached for her sensitive breasts but she stepped back.

“Talk,” she commanded while she still had a voice. Her throat tightened as she turned from his haggard face, the already healing cuts, the bruises fading at his temple, the treated slash on his arm where they’d cut off his sleeve. She knew she’d take him back, foolish or not, but she’d hear his reasons first.

She flipped on the shower and ran a hand under the stream to test the temperature.

He slowly unbuttoned his shirt. “A year ago, I knew where we were headed. Even if you’d agreed to marry me, it was too fast for you. I’d turned down many pleas to go back in deep cover. I’d gotten the report on Giant Corp weeks before but turned down the assignment. They hadn’t found anyone else to send, but I didn’t care. You didn’t want me in deep, so I wouldn’t go. But I couldn’t concentrate on the simplest jobs. I started making mistakes so I could hurry home to you. I doubted my ability as an agent. That’s all I know how to be, Jaq. An agent.”

He carefully slid his shirt off, gently moving it over his injuries. The black and blue contusions over his rib cage made her suck in a breath. She nearly reached out to him, but he unbuttoned his jeans and lowered the zipper.

She froze, entranced by his bruised but honed body. Her mouth watered when he parted his jeans to free his undeniable erection. He didn’t look at her, but watched his hands as he pushed down his pants and continued to explain. Her body pleaded with her to rub against him, but she listened to his words. What he said now mattered more than the craving making her legs tremble.

“Then, one night, I found those three words on the edge of my tongue and I froze. I knew if I said them, I couldn’t take them back. I knew if I said them, you wouldn’t say them back, and I knew it’d hurt like hell. So I ran.” His eyes glistened in the brightly lit bathroom, trained on her, pinning her to the spot.

“You thought I’d hurt you?”

“You would’ve. You hadn’t been able to open to me, like I had to you. You were still hiding from me.”

It was true. She stepped under the shower and stared at the tile. “And you’d given up what you enjoyed most about your job. For me. I wasn’t fair.”

He didn’t wait for an invitation but slid under the water behind her.

“No hanky panky,” she insisted though the slickness between her legs proved how much she wanted to skip the talk and get down to business. She couldn’t. She took a washcloth from the ledge and gently soothed over the faded bruises on his face. “We need to clean you up, Mr. English.”

He grinned. “As long as I can return the favor.”

They washed each other with gentle touches. As if the water washed away all the heartache and sleepless nights, they caressed and held each other. By tacit agreement, they didn’t linger to excite or entice, leaving the heated moments for afterward. The shower disguised the tears, but her body wept for release by the time they were done.

Harp carried her to bed, careful with her leg, and stretched out beside her. Their desire heated the sheets in seconds.

“It’s good to be back.”

“You won’t leave again?”

“Never.”

She sucked in a breath and rushed it out, while she had the courage. “I do love you.”

He nodded. He leaned toward her and whispered against her lips, “Of course you do.”

With a push, she rolled him off her and burst out laughing. His deep chuckle filled the room as he caught her legs between his. She squirmed, giggling as his hand traced up her side.

The laughter died, replaced with a hot, melting need in her middle.

“I love you, too, Jaq. I have for so, so long.”

His mouth covered hers in a gentle taste. He nipped at her bottom lip, kissed the side of her chin, along her sensitive neck, and licked the seam of her mouth. She opened to him, eager and desperate all at once to be beneath him, beside him, inside him.

Harp’s taste was uniquely his own and she suckled his tongue for more as her body slid along his. His hands cupped her breasts, thumbs circling maddeningly around her nipples. She wiggled beneath him and brought her knees up to cradle him. She needed to be closer.

His dick rocked against her, slicked through her folds, spreading her excitement. With a subtle grinding of his hips, he rubbed her clit with teasing strokes, sending her to the edge in a stuttered heartbeat.

“Oh, there, right there.” She grasped for the bliss he always gave her.

She hung there, as he rubbed her nipples with his thumb, ground against her mound, and made love to her mouth. Everything flew together, sending her senses soaring. Too much, almost painful, in her urgency. Her release shattered through her.

She shuddered, wrapped her arms around him and whispered in his ear as he slid inside her. “I’m ready now.”

He knew what she meant. She was ready to open to him fully.

He rocked, taking up a maddeningly slow tempo. She bucked up against him, needing more, harder, faster. His large bulk too heavy, she writhed against his flesh, hot and slick.

His face tucked into her neck.

“Yes,” she moaned and wiggled her hips.

Mouth open on her skin, tongue tasting her, he picked up the pace, thrusting hard into her. She lifted her knees to position herself to get more of him, more of his length and his strength.

He gripped her ass to keep her steady as his rhythm turned frantic. She hugged tight, arms too weak to show him how badly she needed him. Too ineffective to show how she’d never let go.

Stars sparkled in her vision. She was close again. She held her breath, her body taut, open and accepting as he moved inside her with abandon.

He tensed above her and groaned, his hot breath heating her neck. She climaxed, hard, her thighs spasming. She’d never been so at peace, at one, with anyone before.

With a gentle nudge, he moved her legs down and bit her with a playfulness that brought tears to her eyes. He fell to her side with a wide smile.

“I needed that. It’s been a bloody year.” He sighed, long and deep.