Power: Special Tactical Units Division (In Wilde Country Book 3) (16 page)

She was already pulling off her shirt and he tore it from her hands, dropped it, shoved down her scrubs as she stepped out of her shoes.

He stopped just long enough to look at her.

She was naked under the shirt and scrubs. And beautiful.

More than beautiful.

Her lovely rounded breasts. The sweet indentation of her waist. The elegant curve of her hips. And those legs. Long enough to wrap around him as he took them both on an endless ride to the stars.

He was moving too fast. He knew it. Knew it…

“Hurry,” she said, and he was lost.

He took her in his arms. Backed her against the wall. Bent to her and sucked one sweet rosy nipple into the heat of his mouth while his thumb played over the other.

She was moaning. Saying his name. Rising towards him, wrapping one leg around his.

He lifted her. She wrapped both legs around his hips.

“Alessandra,” he said in a hot, hard voice.

She looked at him, her eyes as dark as the sea, and he drove into her.

She cried out, sank her teeth into his shoulder, and he felt her womb convulse around his dick.

He rocked into her again. Felt her coming again, and he put one hand between them and caressed her swollen clitoris as he thrust deep inside her.

She was moaning. Sobbing. Saying his name,
Tanner Tanner Tanner
again and again and again, and no woman had ever said his name like that, had ever felt like this, had ever made him feel like this, and he couldn’t hold back, couldn’t wait, couldn’t do anything but let go, let go, and soar with her into a place where nothing mattered except this.

* * *

Slowly, very slowly, he became aware of things.

The sound of her breathing. The feel of her against him, her skin silky and hot. The glorious smell of her, of sex and woman.

He knew he had to move.

His body was pinning hers to the wall and he was much too heavy for her. His leg ached. It was a miracle it hadn’t given way.

Yes, but summoning the energy to do anything just didn’t seem possible.

She sighed, whispered something. His name, maybe. He couldn’t tell, couldn’t hear anything but the pounding of her heart and his.

And, gradually, the voice in his head saying,
Jesus H. Christ, dude, what did you do?

“Alessandra. I’m—” He cleared his throat. “Listen, I’m—“”

“Do not,” she said fiercely, “do
not
say you’re sorry.”

Sorry? Hell, no. How could he be sorry about what had just happened? Slowly, he lowered her to her feet and pressed his forehead to hers.

“I meant I was kind of fast. A little rough.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.
Oh
. And if I was—”

“Rough,” she said, her expression as innocent as a schoolgirl’s. “A little fast.”

His expression was glum.

“Yes.”

“Well, then,” she said, pushing a lock of dark hair off his forehead, “I guess we’ll just have to do this all over again. So I can decide if you were too fast and too rough, I mean.”

His expression changed in a heartbeat; he gave a low, sexy laugh.

She could almost feel her toes curl.

“An experiment,” he said. “Terrific. I’ve always loved science.”

His arms tightened around her. He kissed her, one big hand at the base of her spine, the other cupping the back of her head. The kiss was slow and tender, but when she sighed and rose to him, he hardened against her.

Her lips curved against his.

“Experiment time,” she whispered.

Tanner scooped her into his arms and carried her through the bedroom and into the bathroom. He stepped into the glass shower stall and put her on her feet. There were five sprays in the stall, one overhead, the others set into the tile walls.

He turned on the one above them and a gentle fall of warm water cascaded from the ceiling.

“Nice,” Alessandra said.

“Much better than nice.”

She smiled up at him.

God, she was so beautiful.

Water beaded her dark lashes, glittered like jewels in her hair.

Need for her pounded through him, but he wasn’t going to make love to her here. He wanted her in that big bed in the adjoining room, her golden hair spread over the pillow, her body open to his touch and taste…

He groaned, swung away from her, reached blindly for a container of body wash on the built-in corner shower shelves, filled his hand with a silky liquid that smelled of vanilla and turned her away from him.

“Mmm,” she sighed, as he began washing her.

Mmm, indeed.

Because working the stuff into her skin sure as hell wasn’t taking his thoughts off the only place they wanted to go.

Okay. He’d just have to rub more briskly…

But there was the long, lovely length of her spine to caress. The rounded curves of her ass. Her thighs.

The sweetness between her thighs.

She made a breathless little sound as he stroked her, and all his resolve vanished.

The need to have her take him deep within her became all that mattered.

“Part your legs for me,” he said, his voice raw and rough.

She moaned. And did as he’d asked.

He added a dollop of lotion to his palm.

Cupped her.

Opened her.

Stroked her clitoris and felt her wet heat against his palm.

She fell back against him.

Tanner bent his head, kissed the side of her neck, bit the flesh there and she cried out, her body arching against his.

He turned her toward him. Captured her mouth with his as he ran his hands over her shoulders, her arms, her breasts.

“Tanner.” His name was a broken whisper on her lips. “Tanner,” she said again, and he slanted his mouth hungrily over hers, his tongue sliding against hers as he cupped her breasts and feathered his thumbs over her erect nipples.

“Tell me,” he said fiercely. “Tell me what you want.”

She reached between them, curved her hand around his thick length.

“You,” she sobbed, “you inside me, inside me, inside—”

She wrapped a leg around his and he lifted her, penetrated her, drove into her again and again until she cried out and lost herself in ecstasy.

He caught her to him, drove deep one last time and then he groaned her name and let go of everything, all he was, all he’d ever been, and shot over the edge of the universe with Alessandra in his arms.

* * *

After, they stood under the spray, he holding her close against him, she with her arms wound around his neck.

Minutes went by. Then he drew back just far enough so he could see her face when he lifted it to him.

“Are you okay?”

She sighed.

“I am very okay, Lieutenant.”

He grinned and scooped her wet hair behind her ears.

“Because if you’re not, if we have to do this again just to be sure you’re good with it, I’m ready to make the sacrifice.”

“Really.”

“Really.” He nuzzled her throat. “I mean, a man’s got to do what a man’s got to do.”

“Mmm. That’s a motto to live by.” She drew back a little and stroked her hands over his chest. “What are these?”

“Scars.” He caught her hands in his and kissed them.

“From what?”

He shrugged. “Just, you know, scars.”

Okay. He didn’t want to talk about them. The scars seemed unusual, almost as if someone had made two small, straight slits in his pectorals.

He had other scars, too. One on his left shoulder. Another on his flat belly. And she’d had a glimpse of red puckered skin on his calf. Was that the reason he was limping? He’d made it pretty clear he didn’t want to talk about that, either.

The thing was, she wanted to know more about him. Everything about him. They’d been together such a short time, yes, but she felt closer to Tanner Akecheta than to any man she’d ever dated, even for weeks at a time.

Not that she and Tanner were dating.

She knew better than to call having sex, the best sex of her life, “dating.” But they would date. When they left this place. She wanted to see him in the real world, be with him in the real world…

“Hey.” Tanner ran his fingers into her hair and tilted her face to his. “Why so quiet?”

She shook her head, pushed aside his dog tags and pressed a kiss to the center of his chest.

“I’m just thinking.”

“About?”

She smiled. “About the likelihood of us turning into prunes.”

He laughed. “Excellent point, Bellini.” He reached for a container of shampoo, opened it, took a sniff. “More vanilla.”

He dumped some into his hand. She brought his hand to her face and inhaled.

“Lovely.”

“How about I wash your hair?”

“Oh, that would be wonderful.”

It was.

The feel of his hands combing through her hair, taking out the tangles, then rinsing it clean, was wonderful.

He thought so, too.

The feel of her hair under his fingers. And the sighs, the sweet little purrs she made… After a while, they drove him crazy because he imagined her making those soft cries while she lay under him in bed.

He scrubbed himself down. Head. Torso. Body. Legs. He rinsed them both off. Then he turned off the water, wrapped her in an oversized bath towel and carried her to the bedroom. He lay her down on the bed and drew up the covers.

“Sleep for a while,” he said softly. “Then we’ll get something to eat.”

“Mmm.” She gave a huge yawn. “What about you? Aren’t you going to lie down with me?”

He pressed a light kiss to her hair.

“I have to call in first.” He kissed her hair again. She smelled of vanilla and, inexplicably, of wildflowers. “Five minutes.”

“Promise?”

“Promise. Not a second more.”

But she was already asleep.

Tanner stood looking at her. A muscle knotted in his jaw.

Then he got the satphone from the pack and went into the hall.

Chay picked up so fast Tanner knew he must have been waiting for the phone to ring. “Dude, everything okay? Where are you? Took you a while to make contact.”

“Yeah,” Tanner said again, rubbing his forehead. “Everything’s fine. We’re at the house.”

“Excellent. Look, you’ll have to stay put for a while. The weather’s no better. This thing’s turned into a full-fledged hurricane.”

Tanner nodded as if Chay could see him.

“No surprise,” he said. “The rain’s coming down in buckets and the wind’s wicked. Got to be blowing sixty, seventy miles an hour.”

“I’ll let you know when the cavalry’s gonna ride to the rescue, but figure eighteen, twenty-four hours. Sorry about that, man.”

“Any word on Bright Star?”

“There’s some activity about forty klicks from your location. Not sure what it is. This fucking storm…”

“Okay. Let me know if you have more info.”

“Wait a minute… Hey. Hey, Blondie, I’m talkin’ to you. How many times I have to tell you, you can’t be in here.”

“Blondie?”

“Wait a second…” Tanner heard a door slam. “Okay. Blondie. Yes. The hostage’s sister. One of her sisters. There are Wildes and Bellinis comin’ out of the woodwork here.”

Tanner rubbed his forehead again. He could picture the scene, all the Bellini and Wilde hotshots waiting to take his woman from him and return her to their world…

His woman?
His
woman?

“Tanner?”

He swung around. Alessandra stood at the end of the hall, wrapped in what looked like a cotton blanket. Her hair had dried into soft, loose curls. Her lips were still rosy from his kisses.

He’d always thought one of the dumbest sayings in the world was that somebody’s heart turned over. Hearts pumped blood. They didn’t turn over or swell with emotion…

“Akecheta?” Chay asked. “You still there?”

Tanner cleared his throat. “Still here,” he said briskly.

“Okay. Stay safe, dude. Out.”

“Out,” Tanner said, and disconnected.

He went slowly towards Alessandra, slipped his arm around her and brought her to him for a long, long kiss.

“I thought you were asleep,” he said softly.

“I woke up and you weren’t there.” She leaned her head against his shoulder. “I missed you.”

They walked into the bedroom, his arm tightly around her. He put the satphone on a table beside the bed. Then he sat down and drew her forward until she stood between his legs.

“I missed you, too.” Slowly, he undid the knot she’d tied between her breasts. The soft blanket fell away and he filled his eyes with the sight of her. “God, you’re so beautiful!”

Her lips curved in a smile. “Bug bites and all?”

“Bug bites and all,” he said, smiling back. Then his smile faded. He dipped his head and kissed the slope of one breast, kissed his way to the rose-pink tip and closed his lips around it.

Her hands clasped his shoulders.

Her head fell back. She breathed a soft, delicate sigh.

Tanner kissed her other breast. Sucked the waiting bud into his mouth, and her sigh became a moan of pleasure.

His hands swept down her body. Lingered on her hips.

“My beautiful Alessandra,” he whispered.

He bent his head and kissed her belly. His kisses trailed down her skin, lower, lower, until his face was against her thighs.

“Open for me,” he said.

She sobbed his name as he nuzzled against the soft golden curls at the apex of her thighs. He put his mouth to her. Touched his tongue to the delicate flower that awaited him within the sweet petals of her sex.

His head was spinning.

He knew women liked this. He’d always enjoyed doing it, but mostly for the pleasure it brought to a woman. This—this was different. Tasting Alessandra, inhaling her scent, caressing her this way…

He could feel his balls tightening, the pressure in his groin becoming almost unbearable. He was almost out of control with desire, except that in all his hard, disciplined adult life, he had never been out of control.

A cry rose from her throat. She buried her hands in his hair.

“Stop,” she said brokenly. “Tanner. I’m going to—I’m going to come. But not without you. Not without—”

He looked up. Saw her face, the sweep of crimson in her cheeks, the darkness of her eyes.

“I want you to come,” he said in a thick voice. “I want to see it happen. I want to see what it is I do to you.”