Virtually Hers (26 page)

“Enough?” His voice was polite, as if he wasn’t deliberately driving her out of her mind with pleasure.

She bit him again. How long had she been out? “How close are you to coming?” Her own voice had become husky.

“Close, but I can hold it off.”

She looked up at him. “You haven’t even moved.”

He smiled. “But I’m moving.” He demonstrated the truth of it by flexing inside her again. “See?”

“It’s just not fair,” she lamented, pursing her lips downward in fake drama. “Are you sure we aren’t in virtual reality and you’re just an avatar I’ve programmed in my head? What else can you do with that magic scimitar of love without actually pushing in and out like a real man?”

His laughter was low and sexy. “My magic scimitar of love?”

Drawing lazy circles around his nipple, she gave him a saucy wink. “Yeah. It’s curved. Like this. And that’s why it’s got magic powers. It’s doing it right now, tapping gently against some part of me I didn’t know was so…oh…like that. Is that all you learned from commando sex school?”

His amusement grew when she moved her arm exaggeratedly. He stretched under her like a cat. “What, you think I’m just a one-trick pony?”

Helen tried to sit up and frowned when he held her still. “You just don’t let anyone be in charge for too long, do you?”

His legs relaxed, freeing her. “Bad habit.”

That mollified her a tad. He really was trying, albeit not too successfully. It was hard, though, to sit up when her limbs felt like Jell-O. And he was still hard as a rock inside her. She glanced down at his hand idly twirling at her curls.

“
You’re
a bad habit,” she told him softly. “I don’t know what to do with you.”

“I really think you should continue torturing me by coming again. A suggestion, of course. It’s really driving me crazy seeing you out of control and not being able to turn you on your back and ride you.”

The image of him over her, thrusting deep and hard, stirred her libido. She shook her head. Was she never going to get enough of this man?

“I’m going to ride you,” she told him, “but you still can’t come.”

“All right.”

She enjoyed him like she’d enjoyed few men in her life—with open abundance and an impish delight in giving intimate torture. She used him to pleasure herself, sometimes deeply, sometimes shallowly, until she wasn’t paying attention to how close he was to coming any more.

His whole body was taut like a drawn bow, slightly damp from the control he was exerting on his will, his eyes half-closed as he watched her sensual journey. She leaned over, her hands on his shoulders. He opened his mouth as she teased him with her breasts but she kept them an inch above his waiting lips.

“Break for me,” she whispered. “How close are you?”

“Very close,” he whispered back.

“I want you to lose control, Jed.”

“Can I come now?”

“No.”

“Okay.” His hot breath teased her nipples.

“Bastard. You’re supposed to beg.”

His eyes were the color of a stormy sea. “Please,” he said, just like that.

“No,” she said. Heartless, that was what she was, but she was enjoying it, oh so much. She continued riding him at a leisurely pace. “I think it’s understandable that I want to be in charge of your body for a while. You don’t know what you put me through with your constant teasing.”

“Of course I do. I had to take a cold shower many a time after a session with you.”

“Seriously?” A thought occurred. “No women to take away your discomfort?”

He gave her a lopsided smile. “No, I don’t replace my women.”

“Oh.” Then, arching a brow, she delicately added, “Women?”

She clenched her inner muscles around him, taking delight in the sudden flair of his nostrils and tightening of his shoulders. He wasn’t as in control as he pretended to be.

“Tell me about your
women
now,” she invited.

“First tell me you don’t believe it’s the serum making you do such naughty things to my body.”

She stopped mid-stroke. She’d totally forgotten about that part of it. “You know damn well it isn’t that any more. I’ve been trying to make you feel pleasure, if you haven’t noticed, not wallowing in my own sensations.”

“I’ve noticed. But I want to hear it from your lips.”

She sighed, then leaned down closer. “I want you to come. That’s an order,” she said before planting her lips on his.

His mouth opened and took hers fiercely as he surged up into her again and again. She felt his iron will dissolving as his tongue tangled with hers in a battle for possession. His body shook under hers as he emitted a deep-throated groan, which sounded so sexy it caused her to slip from the edge with him, falling, shuddering, into an orgasmic abyss.

They must have fallen asleep, or at least she did. When she finally opened her eyes, he was on top and moving inside her, his mouth on her breast, ruthlessly teasing her nipple. She reared up at a tiny bite. Done with words, he was now attacking her like a hungry man, with her as his main course and dessert. His teeth pulled at her distended nipple, teasing it to a hard pebble. He rose on his haunches and rubbed his penis against her clitoris until she shivered with helpless arousal. Now that she’d admitted aloud that she wanted him without the influence of the serum, there were no more barriers. He unleashed his passion and she reciprocated with willing eagerness.

She ran her fingers through his thick hair, responding impatiently to his touch. He looked down, his eyes dazzling her with their intensity. She gasped as he thrust deeply.

“My turn,” he growled.

***

“You’re waking the magic scimitar of love,” Jed wryly said to the darkness. Her slow hand had woken him up in the velvety darkness.

She gave a sleepy chuckle at his using that ridiculous term. “I was curious whether you’re as in control when you’re asleep.”

He smiled. She didn’t know how close she had been to breaking him. She hadn’t even tried to seduce him. It had been her sense of humor and her ability to make him laugh that did him in every time.

“Despite the rumors, Elena, my dick, like any other man’s, has a mind of its own.”

“That’s good to know. It’s a much simpler creature than you are.”

He laughed softly. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt so at ease lying in bed with a woman. Most of the time—not all—sex was a part of his arsenal. It wasn’t easy for him to share any part of himself and he knew he was stingy in the emotion department to the point of hurting those about whom he cared.

There weren’t many who could breach his wall. One of them was his daughter, who, like Elena, had a mischievous streak. Another was Nikki, whose gentleness had called out to him like no other. Both women had accepted, rather than tried to change, him; both also didn’t change themselves for him. Elena, he realized, was the same way. She was more patient than she let on, letting the answers come to her rather than jumping to conclusions. It was the sign of a well-trained operative. And a damn sexy one, at that.

But he was surrounded by well-trained and sexy operatives. What made her different? Why did he feel this need to be with her the more time he spent with her?

Not comfortable with the line of questions on his mind, Jed turned Elena on her side, spooning her, an arm around her middle. His earlier hunger was the result of months and months of mental teasing and stimulation. The past few hours had only sated it a little. His hand wandered lower. Wet heat. She hiccupped as his finger stroked her in a languid caress.

“I’m too tired to move,” she husked out. He pushed intimately against her buttocks. “Aren’t you supposed to be done for the night after what we did?”

“It seems you aren’t the only one suffering from chemical imbalance,” Jed observed. “I don’t know when we’ll have private time like this again, so I plan to enjoy you as many times as I can.”

“What, those fantasies of me in tassels and thong aren’t good enough?” she teased.

“Aren’t enough,” he corrected. “Not any more.”

He slid inside her easily, this time making love to her slowly, prolonging the pleasure. He liked this position because he could play with her clitoris as he moved inside her. He discovered that she found his shallow thrusts frustrating, keeping her from actually coming, and his fingers masterfully stimulated her till she forgot to breathe from trying to reach her peak. Only then did he allow himself to bury himself deeply inside her. He felt the first contractions and he timed each withdrawal with each stroke of his finger, keeping her at that plateau as long as he could. Each contraction pulled him deeper, massaging his erection until he couldn’t stop the oncoming orgasm. She gasped his name as he crushed her to him, his whole being wanting to get inside her, giving into that current of exquisite pleasure that robbed a man of part of his soul. He continued caressing her with his fingers, till her essence wet his hand and his thighs, till she breathed his name over and over.

He kissed the back of her head as she went limp beside him, totally out of it, inhaling the mixture of her scent and their sex. She was breathing deeply. He wanted her again but it wasn’t good form to keep waking up a woman just because he couldn’t get enough of her.

Maybe let her sleep for an hour. He could easily stay awake by thinking about his schedule tomorrow. Or mentally run over all the details of various operations. It was a habit of his when he wanted to distract himself.

A few minutes passed by and he felt Elena stir. He turned and kissed her cheek.

“I can feel you thinking. What’s on your mind?” she asked.

She could? “Just business stuff.” He frowned. “Are you awake?”

“Hmm.” She took in another deep breath. “What kind of business?”

“I was just thinking about tomorrow. And making a note to contact Hawk to see what he was doing. I need an update from him.”

He heard her exhale, a long sigh, like a person falling into deep relaxation. He assumed she had fallen asleep again and didn’t say anything else.

“Hawk’s in trouble.”

Her calm and slightly monotonic voice alerted him immediately that something wasn’t right. The room was dark and he couldn’t see her face. “Elena?” he prompted. “Why did you say that?”

“I see Hawk. It’s got to be him.”

Jed kept very still. “Are you remote viewing?” he asked quietly.

“Yes. I can see a man being beaten by a group of people. It’s a huge crowd, with many men in uniform. Confusion. Hawk took down a dozen or so men. Fighting very hard.” She gasped. “Ow. Someone broke a bottle over his head. He’s down. Blood. They’re dragging him out the back way. Too many people. I can’t see. Screaming. Girls are screaming and running, oh God.”

“Checkered flag, Hell. Disengage,” Jed ordered.

A short silence followed. “Jed? What just happened?” She sounded more alert now. “I…oh wow, I did it again.”

“You did this before.” He leaned over so he could turn on the bedside light.

“Ow! Turn it off!”

Jed frowned. Elena groped for the pillow, covering her face. “What’s wrong?”

“The light hurts my eyes. My head’s started throbbing.”

He immediately killed the light. She immediately turned toward him, a gesture that brought out the protective male in him. These headaches worried him. Not being able to do a thing to help her didn’t make him feel any better. He stroked the back of her neck, feeling the tensed muscles there.

“I’m okay. It isn’t as bad as that killer migraine from the other morning when I spontaneously remote viewed you on the submarine.”

Jed’s hand went still for a moment. “You RV’ed me with Cummings,” he stated, waiting for confirmation.

“It was spontaneous, like tonight. I wasn’t able to do that before, so I don’t understand what made me do that.”

“What were you thinking before it happened each time?”

“Well…” She drifted off in thought for a minute. “Just now, I was very relaxed and thinking about all the things you did to me that first night you came to my quarters. I was plotting on repeating some of the things you did. During that morning, just before I RV’ed you, I was also thinking about the same thing. I had the avatar program on and I was looking at Hades on the screen and trying to imagine him coming into my quarters and then it got mixed up with my memories of that night, and before I knew it, there I was, smelling sea air.” She paused, trying to remember, before continuing, “It…felt different that time. I couldn’t see you very well. I sensed danger and part of me wanted to run from the scene. Actually, the more I concentrated, the more difficult it became for me to stay there and I remember turning around and running away. I don’t know. It was just different.”

Jed recalled the strange feeling of being watched that day. “But not this time?” he asked. “Did you feel the same kind of difficulty this time? Maybe spontaneous remote viewing made you feel alone without a monitor and that’s why you ran.”

She put an arm around him, her voice muffled against his chest. “Massage there again. Ooh, perfect. No, I didn’t get that danger signal in my head when I was remote viewing Hawk just now. I felt your presence by my side and you were talking, remember? So, to me, you were playing monitor, asking me what I saw. I just don’t know, Jed. The only thing that I can figure out that ties both incidents is that wild sex with you is just out of this world, baby.”

Jed shook his head as he continued to quietly massage her neck and head area. Everything about this woman intrigued him, even her crazy sense of humor.

“Stop joking. We’ve got to get to the bottom of this. Are you feeling better?”

“Would you rather I complain that sex with you gives me a headache?” She turned onto her back, her hand coming up and caressing the side of his face. “Jed, if this headache doesn’t go away, I’ll need the serum. I need to be one hundred percent for this assassination we’re trying to prevent in Skopje.”

Chapter Nineteen

“You’re fortunate Amber came to get you when she did then,” Jed said. “Our observer contacted us and said that they took you down at the brothel.”

Hell frowned at Jed but he was looking at the module feeding in the communication link between him and Hawk, the SEAL who was working undercover in Macedonia. She’d been listening quietly as the other man gave a detailed account about his capture and rescue. It seemed that Hawk’s cover with the drug lord, Dragan Dilaver, had been found out by a woman named Greta. Jed had immediately glanced at one of their men and he’d taken off as if he had received a silent message. From what she could gather, there was definitely a connection between Greta and the bomb trigger that Hawk was seeking. The SEAL stressed the importance of time management because it seemed Greta was planning to use the bomb at an important place in seven days.

It was definitely strange listening from the point-of-view of the person she’d accidentally remote viewed. She’d seen it happening to him and felt so helpless.

“I suppose an observer can’t lift a finger to help out, can they?” Hawk asked.

Well, not this observer, she thought wryly. She looked at Jed again, wondering how he was going to explain about her “presence”.

“He was too far away to help, Hawk, and wasn’t even sure whether you were alive. He did say you took down fifteen of Dilaver’s men before shots were fired. There were several fights happening and he thought he saw someone shoot you. We were hoping it wasn’t you but since we had no contact from you for a while, we had to accept the possibility,” Jed said, as he attached the module via USB to the laptop. “Tell Amber I’m ready whenever she is.”

“She’s almost there.”

Helen grinned when Jed looked up at her. She gave him the thumbs-up signal and mouthed “good save”. He gave her one of those looks that revealed nothing and, needing a reaction, she mirrored an exaggerated version back to him. He didn’t even crack a smile. He ought to have that stone face of his patented.

She wondered about this Amber woman who had saved their operative. It was a brave thing to do, running off to battle a drug warlord at his own compound
and
successfully extract an injured SEAL. She would have loved to be there, in the thick of things, helping her out.

“How long before you can get back to me about what Dilaver and this new person, Greta, are planning?” Hawk asked.

“Give us a couple of hours. Probably this evening, before you leave the area.”

“Good. Okay, Jed, everything’s secured at our end. We’re ready to transmit.”

“Hang on.” Jed sent Heath an enquiring look. Heath held up one finger as he double-checked the firewalls, then he nodded. “Ready to link up here. There we go.”

Helen looked at her back-up link. It was split-screen, one side showing the signal coming in and the other a smaller view of Jed’s connection. While Heath’s task was to make sure the link remained secured, hers was to monitor for outside interference. She winced at the sight of the man on the other side. His face looked as if he’d gone through the meat grinder. One of his eyes and his lips were horribly swollen. He had told Jed earlier that his physical functionality was at seventy percent. If his body looked like his face—no freaking way. Unless, of course, it’s a SEAL. Those dudes were tough sons-of-bitches. One of her trainers was a former SEAL and he’d been an inspiration when it came to mental strength.

Hawk squinted back at her—actually, at Jed—since he couldn’t see her. “Did we interrupt something important?”

Hell grinned again. Jed wasn’t in his usual casual jeans. In fact, he looked quite dashing and resplendent in formal suit, white shirt, and a tie. With his hair combed back and his face all nicely groomed, he looked like a diplomat, especially with the official-looking sash and ribbons that denoted his being part of some entourage. Dressed formally, he somehow looked more dangerous than ever, making the animalistic sensuality that was so much a part of him even more pronounced.

“I always dress up for dinner,” Jed replied with a straight face. “You don’t look so good, Hawk. Hello, Ambrosia, long time.”

“Jed, it has been a while. How have you been?”

Helen blinked. Wow. Was that the woman who rescued Hawk McMillan? She looked like she’d never left a beauty salon. Her voice was low, very sexy, and she spoke Jed’s name like she knew him very well. Helen frowned.

“Good. Can you handle this route?”

“It shouldn’t be a problem. I’m transmitting the map I’ve prepared. Hawk’s coordinates match a few areas. Time being the key thing here, which of these routes should we head for?”

“We’re printing it right now. Hang on.”

Jed turned to Helen. She gave a thumbs-up to show that she was receiving the transmit, then clicked on the command key to print. Jed walked from where he was to get the map from her. She thought she saw a ghost of a smile on his lips when she handed it to him, but she wasn’t sure because he had turned his attention to the printout almost immediately, returning to his laptop.

“First, I agree that you should abandon the initial plan to destroy every cache of weapons shown here. The most important thing is to get to the target weapon. Once you have it, you can contact me again and I’ll send someone to pick it up. Second, we’ve compared your coordinates with the aid and relief drop-offs by manned and unmanned U.S. aerial vehicles the last six months. Although your physical description of the woman doesn’t fit, we have reason to believe that Greta is the same handler that had worked as a secretary to Deputy Director Philip Gorman’s task force in the CIA for the past ten years, so we have a paper trail. We’re transmitting a file photo. We’ve computed that the target weapon is in the cache between Elbasan and Tirana at ninety percent.

“The third factor is still an unknown. We’re concentrating on all political activities in that part of the world in the next seven to ten days and putting out a code red alert. From what little Dilaver hinted to Ambrosia, the target weapon is to be used after a decoy has been activated. There’s an international summit going on in Skopje right now and the main meeting with certain world leaders present in two days. That, however, will be off the seven-day deadline, so we’re assuming that either the event or threat is a decoy and there’s another target. Keep your cell or your watch close by, Hawk. Someone will contact you. Check for messages whenever you can.”

Helen scribbled in her notes. She needed to remember every piece of information when it came to arguing with Jed McNeil.

“Will do,” Hawk said.

“Still the same prepared guy, aren’t you, Jed?” Amber asked.

That confirmed it right there that Amber and Jed were more than acquaintances. Helen sniffed. She didn’t want to think about
that
right now.

“Still trolling for information, Ambrosia?”

“I can’t help but notice that little pin on your collar, that’s all. You’re at this summit already, aren’t you?”

“Wait a minute. You’re here in Macedonia, Jed?”

Jed’s expression remained blank. “It’s just a pin. We’ll talk soon. Any messages for Admiral Madison, Hawk?”

“Please let him know that I’m standing by and ready for the team.”

Jed nodded. “Talk to you soon. Amber, consider your
veza
settled.”

A favor. So, there was the history between them. But she still didn’t like the smile the beautiful Amber was now giving Jed.

“No more free rides for you, Jed McNeil,” Amber told him.

“Don’t be too sure, Ambrosia,” Jed said, then cut off transmission. He put down the remote and walked to Helen’s small table. “How’s the headache?”

He had been asking that several times a day now. “It hasn’t gone away.”

She could start another argument with him but it took too much effort. Besides, it was hard to argue when a headache was interfering with one’s thoughts, so she’d taken to jotting down notes so she wouldn’t forget to bring up relevant points when they did argue. She knew that this had become a source of private amusement for the watching Heath. It was a war of wills—hers versus Jed’s—and those in the know around them were watching with interest.

“You’re still upset with me.”

Helen looked down at the keyboard. “
You
would use the serum,” she said, in a low voice.

“Not as a painkiller.”

Okay, he was in the mood for another argument. “You’re thinking of Armando,” she said. “I’ll have you know, I’m supposed to be taking SYMBIOS 2 anyway
so I can perform.
”

She emphasized the last few words to make her point. She didn’t need to bring up the fact that the last two days, she hadn’t been able to work efficiently, especially in her own assignments. Jed or Heath had covered for her whenever her headache started to worsen.

“The serum was meant to mitigate your RV downtime, Elena.”

“So I could do my job. Hello?” Helen waved her notes. “Do you think I can look for decoys with me being all crossed-eye double-checking my notes? Lying down hasn’t made it go away, Jed. You and I know this isn’t a normal headache and we don’t have much time left as the summit highlight event is coming up.”

He had to know she was right. They had been looking through the package he’d gotten at Lake Matka, trying to decipher certain notes. She read her notes again, looking for more fodder to back her argument.

She cracked her stiff neck tentatively, trying to ignore the tightening band that signaled worsening pain. Hoping to distract him, she put on her best Jed imitation. “First, this is no longer a two-day summit operation. We know that something’s about to happen, but now it could be just a decoy. Second, according to Hawk McMillan, that explosive trigger meant that there’s another target in seven days. We have to look at the schedule of events. You know there’s a good chance of me going into remote-viewing mode to try to find our target because Skopje is a busy area right now. Fourth—”

Jed silenced her by laying a finger on her lips. His silver eyes glittered with suppressed emotion. She couldn’t tell whether it was anger or something else.

“Heath,” he said in that quiet way that made everyone pay attention, “check the schedules for the next seven days. Your headache’s worsening, Hell. Go get some rest.”

Without another word, he turned and walked away. Helen scowled till he left the room. She snapped her laptop shut in disgust.

“I’ve never seen him so…agitated,” Heath murmured. “Is it possible that you’re actually troubling our Number Nine’s usually iron rule to finish a job?”

“That cold and uncaring man wouldn’t know agitation if it smashed into the side of his oversized head,” Helen declared. “He’s just being obstinate.”

“Look at it from his perspective, Hell. The only other person who used the serum for ‘headaches’ is our Armando. That isn’t a vote of confidence about the serum’s stability, is it?”

Helen thought about it for a few seconds. Okay, so the guy cared, even if he showed it in the most chauvinistic manner possible.
No.
That was all he said, each time. Like his saying “no” was everything that mattered.

“Inflexible,” she muttered. “Implacable. Moronic. Mutton-headed.” She looked up to find Heath studying her strangely. “What?”

“Those were the words he read out loud this morning while thumbing through that dictionary of his.”

Helen frowned. She rubbed the sides of her head. “What are you talking about?”

Heath smiled. “Get Dr. Kirkland to talk to him again, Hell. Or, just get the serum into you without Number Nine’s permission.” His dark eyes taunted her as he reached inside his pocket and took out a small vial. He set it on the table. “He’s at a meeting. How’s he to know if you have the serum in you before you see him tonight?”

Helen picked up the vial and studied it for a while after Heath left the room. She wasn’t at all surprised that he happened to have it on him. Nothing the commandos did surprised her much. She pocketed the vial.

***

“Change of plans, Stevens. It seems our Greta isn’t going to get to the trigger in time. So the order’s changed. We’re heading to Skopje.”

Jonah didn’t look away from the Macedonian TV show he had on. He liked this kind of living very much—nice hotel room, entertainment, and the dish he was eating, something called
gyuvech
, some kind of tasty chicken stew. He’d have loved to have some of that wine on the menu too, but his monitor didn’t allow that, of course. He really didn’t want to leave Velesta. Those
kafenas
…he had soaked in all that energy available there. Full. His stomach and his little cache of treasure. He listened attentively while he flipped to yet another channel.

“What? Greta failed? Five-One here saw her talking with Dilaver.”

“They hadn’t left for the drop-offs in time. I bet COMCEN has something to do with it. The instructions said that Plan B has been activated and we’re to go to Skopje and wait for the Noretski girl.”

“Llallana Noretski? Isn’t she supposed to be our very own Project Gem baby?”

“Which just tells you that I was right about all this mind control and remote-viewing bullshit, doesn’t it? We’re supposed to be in control, but look at what happened. We’re being ordered to go here and there, and with nothing to show at the end.”

His monitor threw his magazine down on the table. “We’re always one step behind, that’s all. The other side has a remote viewer too and they’re getting their hands on the targets first.”

“Well, we keep letting them beat us. We had the list before they could even sort out Gorman’s damage. We had knowledge of where each shipment went while they were busy going through red tape. We even had a head start with our testing of the serum on the remote viewers, and yet their operative managed to get to the target in Frankfurt. If we don’t get to the trigger before they do, we’re going to be replaced.”

Jonah reached for the soup.
Chorba.
He liked to remember the food items in foreign countries because food was the most important thing after sex. This was a country he would like to visit again. Beautiful young girls. Good food. If he ever escaped these assholes, he definitely would return. But how could he escape when they had what he wanted most?