The Huntress: full-length sexy romantic suspense (26 page)

She reared up to curl her legs around his hips as he knelt on the bed. She wasn’t about to deny her needs now, not when her body was crying out for a release she hadn’t been able to find, not even in those heated dreams of hers.

Frantic, she dug into her pocket, produced a small, silver key, and held it out for him to take.

As the lock slipped open, she shivered. Sure, living life came with risks, but was she ready? Unlike sex with Butch, giving herself to Grayson could open her heart up to the kind of pain she’d spent a lifetime to avoid. With Grayson, she could fall in love.

“I hope this isn’t a mistake.”

“This can’t be a mistake,” he whispered the promise. His lips brushed against hers with such tenderness. Her concerns couldn’t help but fade.

He eased her pants down over her slender hips while she fumbled with the top button on his tight jeans. This was what she wanted. This was getting closer to the point in her dream when she’d wake up panting.

Please, don’t let me wake up.

He pushed her hands away so he could suckle her through the tiny pair of black lace panties she wore. The damp heat and pressure drove Vega wild. Her spinning head fell back onto the bed as she lost her mind in a deep sigh.

It took all her concentration to get her shirt over her head and onto the floor. The effort was worth it. She wanted to feel her flesh against him without the muffle of material.

Not even lace. While she shoved her panties out of the way, he stripped. It was a heady feeling knowing that finally she would get to see him, all of him. Not just look with her eyes. Vega intended to use her fingers, her legs, her mouth, and her entire body to explore the man touching her with a lover’s abandon.

Could this really be happening? He nibbled on her lower lip.

Should this be happening? Life had already dumped more onto her than she could handle right now. A voice of reason demanded she stop. To think about what she was doing. She didn’t need another emotional entanglement in her life.

His tongue moved against hers as he caressed a soft spot on her inner thigh, daringly close to her crotch. Her body shivered with arousal.

This was what she wanted.

She wanted all of him. She needed him. She didn’t care that she wasn’t in total control of his actions. For all the feelings rushing through her body, there was no room to worry about control. She was losing herself, feeling a freedom of letting go. For the first time she was trusting herself.

And giving.

Her hands caressed everywhere she could reach. The hard plains of his muscles tightened beneath her questing fingers. She dipped her head and took him in her mouth. His cock was rock hard and steamy hot, like a brand.

“My God, Vega,” he groaned and pulled away.

Who was this man aiming for her soul?

His strong fingers twined through her hair and, holding her head tight, he pulled her to his mouth. His lips closed over hers.

Kissing her, he guided her down onto the bed and pushed into her hard and fast. She curled her hands around the bed’s metal frame and pinched her eyes tightly closed, overwhelmed by how quickly and violently her body responded to his.

The cot squeaked. Through the thin mattress, she could feel the unevenness of the aging bedsprings.
Strange sensations to notice when the peak was rushing up to her so quickly,
she thought. It was a breathless experience as she bucked against him, riding his deep, urgent rhythm.

Instead of subsiding, her budding orgasm built. Hot erotic waves filled her body until she felt stretched to her limit.

She wrapped her arms and legs around him and held on for dear life as the frustrations and tensions she’d allowed to fester were forced out by the sheer power of his release.

In the quiet that followed, she heaved a deep sigh and went limp. The thoughts in her mind were new, fresh. The air she breathed tasted cleaner.

A glimmer of something terribly unsettling grew in the stillness. Being with Grayson felt like two halves ripped apart were finally coming back together. She stared at him, startled.

The same bewildered look was echoed in his soft brown gaze and slightly gaping mouth.

They were in deep trouble.

This was not the time to get mixed up with an accused murderer, even if evidence now made him look damned innocent. He
was
innocent. He was a man with a future that could include her…oh, shit.

This was one hell of a time to be entangling her head with emotional strings she never really trusted in the first place. Such feelings could make a hand hesitate, a mind rethink a decision. In all, those damn strings could get them both killed.

In the next several hours, she was about to face what could be the biggest challenge of her life. Hell, her sister’s life was at stake.

“We’ll talk about this later,” he said.

“Now definitely isn’t the time,” she agreed.

Chapter Twenty

Vega laid flat on her belly in the thick, prickly undergrowth beneath the trees near the boat landing. A creature with far too many legs squirmed beneath her shirt and began to slither down her back. Her skin crawled and her stomach churned in response to the creeping sensation. But that was just about all she could do about it at the moment.

Grayson was stretched out a few feet away. She could barely hear his steady breathing over the slosh of water against the shore and the growing whine of several motorboat engines. The boats approached in perfect darkness. Vega lowered a night vision monocle over her left eye. Through the green haze, she watched two boats racing down the tidal creek. The drivers, and several men with submachine guns poised on the crook of their arm, all had night vision goggles strapped over their eyes.

“There’s eight people on two boats,” Vega whispered to Grayson, who without the night vision glass wouldn’t be able to make out that much detail yet. “Perhaps nine. Six of them look like your company’s security force.”

She didn’t tell him that she could clearly make out Butch’s large profile and cowboy hat.

“Can you see what kind of firepower they have?” Grayson asked.

“At least four sub-machine…can’t tell the make…two rifles.” The person seated in the second boat looked like Fiona. Vega didn’t allow herself to garner too much hope though. Butch had no reason to bring Fiona here with him. No reason at all.

“We can assume they each have handguns and knives too,” Grayson said. The dry way he added that, like he was counting weapons, sounded like he was putting a plan together in his head. Vega was glad for that. He had the military training and experience. She didn’t.

He turned his head to face her. She didn’t see him move but heard the leaves rustle and a branch snap. “I want you to get that boat out of the shed and get out of here. The water’s high enough now. You can launch from the beach.”

“Not a chance.” Vega wouldn’t consider the suggestion.

“Let me handle this. Those are men employed by Six-Star to come after me. This isn’t your war.”

“You can forget it. If you get killed, I don’t get paid.” But that wasn’t the reason she was staying. Butch had Fiona, so she needed to get her hands on Butch. Besides, she’d do whatever she could to keep Grayson from getting hurt.

The boats slowed as they drew closer to the island. Vega knew how the drivers were feeling. Just that morning she’d been the sitting duck. The men with the submachine guns and night vision goggles moved to the edge of the two boats and scanned the forest. The small bushes and vines entangled all around Vega and Grayson provided sufficient cover. They didn’t have to worry about being discovered yet.

“With that night scope of yours, you could probably shoot a few of the assassins before they reach shore,” Grayson said. “It would give away our location though. They might blast apart our cover with those submachine guns.”

“Bad idea, then.” A second slithering creature began blazing a trail down her back. Vega could no longer stand it. With a grunt, she flipped over and wiggled in the dirt.

“What?” Grayson nearly shot up from his hiding place. “What’s wrong?”

“I can’t stand those damn slimy bugs that keep trying to crawl all over me.” Vega rolled over onto her stomach again, grateful to be rid of that creeping feeling.

Grayson chuckled softly. “I should’ve hid deeper in that swamp a month ago. You never would’ve gotten past the insects, huh?”

She didn’t answer. She watched the first boat pull up to the rickety dock while the second craft served as cover.

“Not exactly a back-to-nature chick, eh Vega?” He stopped chuckling when the first man stepped onto the dock. Grayson’s partner, Joshua Whitfield followed. Vega could almost feel Grayson’s muscles tighten.

Something else had wormed its way into Vega’s shirt by the time the second boat beached and began to unload. She barely noticed, nor did she care. There, under the moonless sky, she watched through her night vision monocle as Butch lifted Fiona over the edge of the boat and set her on her feet. The skirt of the slate-gray suit her sister had worn to the Atlanta police station to question Matt Lockler, was ripped at the hem. Her jacket gone.

Fiona didn’t move from where she’d been placed in the sand. She shivered in the cold night air and glowered at Butch while some bastard kept the barrel of his light machine gun, a M249, trained on her gut. Whitfield stood nearby with a cigarette hanging loose between his lips while he fought with a lighter.

“That man with the cowboy hat,” Grayson whispered. “I recognize him.”

“Butch?”

Grayson turned his head and stared at her. “You know him? I fought him, stopped him from killing Fiona.”

Vega ground her teeth at the thought of the lying bastard touching her sister. She scuttled forward on her belly with one thought in her head. She had to get Fiona out of danger.

Grayson’s hand clamped down on her ankle. He pulled himself forward until he was directly on top of her. “What the hell are you doing?” His quiet voice barely registered in her ear.

“Fiona,” Vega twisted around to mouth.

“You will get yourself killed. Wait.”

Vega had no choice. Grayson rested on top of her like a walrus. Fighting him off would make far too much noise. She’d have to think of another plan, which meant waiting.

“Damn it!” Butch’s voice boomed through the night. “Where the hell is the infrared scope?”

Vega’s heart stopped. An infrared scope would give Butch a deadly edge. Attach the scope to a rifle and no amount of thick, scrubby bushes could hide Grayson and Vega. They’d be finished.

“What?” Butch backhanded the hired gun who’d been speaking to him. “Damn incompetent fool.” He stomped away.

The guard he’d hit heaved forward and covered his mouth with both hands.

“The rest of you split up into teams of two and find Walker and Vega. Kill them on sight.”

Fiona growled. Butch caught her jaw before she uttered anything coherent. “Vega! She’s got to be watching us.” Butch turned a full three-sixty, dragging Fiona along with him. “She won’t let anything happen to her precious little sister.”

“That’s why I insisted we bring her,” Whitfield said.

Butch rolled his eyes.

“Having to stop what I’m doing to save your sister is becoming a thorn in my side,” Grayson said. He started to roll off Vega when a pair of Six-Star guards trampled through the scrub brush not three feet away. She could feel Grayson holding his breath as he waited. The men moved too quickly to spot a neon sign, much less anyone hiding in the bushes. They quickly passed by and disappeared into the island’s thick maritime forest.

“They’re splitting up. That gives us a chance to pare down Whitfield’s forces.” Grayson rose and began tracking the two men, moving low and making less than half the noise than them.

“Wait.” Vega caught his arm. “I’ve got an idea. Follow me.”

She led Grayson back to the bungalow where she’d left her backpack filled with an assortment of goodies. From the bottom, she retrieved a coil of nylon rope. She’d never had cause to use the rope before, but good old Jack had always insisted she carry it. She was going to have to suffer through months of
I told you so
from Jack after this was over—if it worked.

She handed the rope and a pocketknife to Grayson while she retrieved and loaded the pair of her special Taser guns. They felt like regular pistols, only more boxy and fired electricity instead of bullets.

“They’re coming this way,” Grayson whispered urgently.

Two of the four guards searching the clearing were headed straight for the cottage.

Vega smiled. “Good.”

“Have you lost your freaking mind? I’ve seen that look before. On soldiers, usually just before they blasted their way into the middle of a deadly situation and gotten themselves killed.” He pulled her up by the shoulders, not mindful of her healing injury, and gave her a shake. “Snap out of it, Vega. We can’t take them on directly. Not with those toys of yours.” He pointed to the stun guns in her hands.

Vega’s grin only grew. “I’ve got a plan. Don’t worry.”

“Don’t worry? Hell.” He heaved a deep sigh. “The risk isn’t worth it, Vega.”

“Watch.” She snuck toward the front door, keeping low so no one glancing in a window would see her. Grayson tried to stop her, but the men were already at the door…were nearly already on top of her.

“Damn,” he muttered and fished the Beretta out of her backpack. “I’m not going to sacrifice another woman. This isn’t Colombia.”

Vega was dying to ask him about that comment. But there wasn’t time. A guard charged into the room and spun around. He lifted his M249, prepared to shoot. Vega pulled the trigger to the air gun Taser. The electrodes shot through the air and hit the guard like a bolt of lightening. He dropped instantly.

His buddy must have heard the crash. He dashed into the bungalow, the point of his machine gun preceding him. A foot into the room, Vega fired. He too collapsed. His heavy torso smashed onto the top of the first guard.

Neither man moved.

“Tie them up and gag them while I get another set of charges ready,” she said. In the darkness, she could barely make out the wires running from the guns to the electrical probes snagged on the men’s uniforms. “We’ll go after that second pair before anyone starts missing these two.”