“Then have dinner with me tonight,” he said leaning forward, his eyes willing her to say yes.
More time with him was appealing. “I am working late tonight.”
“We’ll eat late then.”
“No,” she said, worried he was moving so fast. But didn’t she want that, too? “Maybe. I’m not sure how late I’ll be. It depends on how a few things work out in the lab.”
He wasn’t giving up. “How about I call you around seven and see how you are doing?”
She couldn’t believe how determined he was being. “Okay,” she said after a minute. “On one condition.”
He laughed deep and husky. “Already with another condition. You’re a tough lady.”
She pursed her lips, feeling new wetness between her legs. Inwardly, she cursed herself. How could she let a mere laugh turn her on? “So I’ve heard. Want to hear my condition or not?”
He laughed again. “Shoot.”
Inwardly she moaned as her body responded to the husky maleness of the sound. Delicately, she cleared her throat, pressing her thighs together beneath the table. “Tell me about your family ranch.”
* * * * *
Holly watched as Mason pulled the restaurant door open and motioned her forward.
Talking with him had felt far too intimate. A mere stranger should not make her feel so…absorbed. Everything from his voice to his eyes made her all warm inside.
She wanted him, plain and simple. No more fears that she wasn’t normal. All those years of feeling nothing had suddenly surfaced with a raging fire of something.
She stepped past him, avoiding eye contact. No way could she look at him until she shackled a bit of the heat she was feeling.
His eyes followed her movement. She didn’t have to look to know. She felt them. Oddly, she felt him. It was a unique sensation of oneness, a connection that only served to stir her body even further.
The door slammed shut and he fell into step beside her. The restaurant was directly across from the lab in a small shopping center. A short walk and her time with Mason would be over. She didn’t want it to be. The silence between them was killing her. She could almost feel him thinking the same things she was. Still…she wanted to know for certain.
They reached a large cluster of trees. The area was somewhat secluded. Holly stopped walking and turned to him. “What are you really all about, Mason Alexander?
He stared down at her, his eyes dark and unreadable. They stared at one another for several long, voiceless moments. Attraction danced between them, wrapping around them like a blanket that blocked out the rest of the world.
Then, he stepped toward her, bringing his hands to her waist, their thighs pressing together. “What are you really all about, Holly Heart?”
Her voice sounded raspy, almost a whisper. “I don’t know what you mean.”
His hand slid under her shirt, the roughness of his fingers touching her skin. Her heart did started racing, her nipples tingling with the thought of his hand continuing its climb.
“You make me forget what I’m all about,” he said softly. His other hand settled on her cheek and his head began to lower. “Tell me why that is.”
His mouth was so close to hers now, she couldn’t think of anything but wanting to taste him. Her body, acting without her consent, just seemed to sink against his, her hands flattening on his chest.
“Why?”
“I don’t know why,” she whispered, her lips trembling just as her insides did. Never before had she so wanted to feel a man’s lips upon hers.
He was the missing piece of a puzzle. Filling in a hole that made her a woman with real, sexual feelings, a woman with a need.
For him.
The first brush of his lips was like an injection of pure desire. She wanted like she had never wanted. There was no time for him to linger, to take things slow. She responded by dipping her tongue into his mouth and stroking his tongue with hers. Forgotten was the campus, the students, the nearness of exposure.
She just wanted.
Her hands slid around his neck, even as Mason moaned into her mouth. His hand moved to her back and upward, pressing her nipples into the hardness of his chest.
Hungrily they kissed, tongues gliding together with intimate strokes, deeper and deeper. She couldn’t get close enough to him but she tried. Her body pressed into his; her hands tried to absorb his very essence.
He cupped her butt and pressed her hips against his, and she moaned as his cock pressed into her stomach. Her leg moved up his thigh and wrapped around his leg, pulling their hips into tight connection. His hand slid beneath her panties, caressing her cheek with a rasp of his palm.
She wanted him inside her. Here and now.
The assault on her senses continued as his hand slid back up to her shirt. This time he didn’t linger. His hand went to her breast, cupping it and lightly kneading.
She gasped as he pushed aside the lace and pinched her nipple. “Mason, I—”
The sound of voices made them both freeze, lips still locked, his hand on her breast. Abruptly, Mason pulled back, his hand sliding from under her shirt. Hands on her shoulders, he stared down at her.
“I’m so sorry, Holly. This will never happen again.”
Holly blinked. Her body cried out to him, wanting more. Why wouldn’t it happen again? Confusion fogged her mind, making her uncertain how to respond. She tugged her shirt down, wishing she could fix her bra. “I…I better get back to work.”
* * * * *
Mason walked into the hotel lobby and instantly spotted his right arm man, Sterling Foster, sitting in the bar. Tall, blond and built like a mean fighting machine, Sterling had been his second set of eyes for years. Covering the ground between them, Mason slid onto a barstool next to his longtime friend. “What’s happening?”
Sterling motioned toward the television screen above the bar. “I don’t like this crime wave. Something smells wrong.”
A short, half-bald bartender approached Mason. “What can I get you?”
“Orange juice,” Mason said.
“What?” He looked at Sterling and then back at Mason. “You two on the wagon or what?”
Mason would have ignored the man but he wanted him to go away so he could speak openly with Sterling. “You got orange juice behind that bar or not?”
“Yeah, I got it.” The bartender grumbled under his breath and turned away.
Mason refocused on Sterling. “You think it’s the Arions?”
Sterling lifted a brow. “Don’t you?”
“Could be,” he said thoughtfully, “but I’m not certain.”
“Recent news has all the homicides linked to the female abductions.” Sterling spoke in a low tone despite the emptiness of the bar.
Mason didn’t like the way that sounded one bit. “You think they’re trying to reproduce?”
“Sounds like it to me,” he said grimly.
“I better make some phone calls.”
“Any luck with the Heart woman?”
“She had a visit from Walsh today,” he told him, shaking his head. “He needs to get out of this. All he’s doing is making her hate him, and the program along with him.”
Sterling took a drink and then sat his glass down. “You met her then?”
Mason responded with a flat tone, diverting his gaze to his glass. “Yeah, I met her.”
“Uh, oh,” Sterling said, his eyes narrowing. “I know you, man. What went wrong?”
Mason flicked him an irritated look. How could he explain what he didn’t understand himself? “It’s complicated,” he said a bit curtly.
“Meaning?” Sterling persisted.
The bartender sat Mason’s drink in front of him. Downing it without coming up for air, Mason tried to think. He sat his glass down with a clunk.
“Well?” Sterling asked. “Did you ask her for help?” Impatience now etched his tone.
“No,” Mason admitted grudgingly. “Not yet, but I will.”
“W
hen?”
Mason gave Sterling a warning look. “You just stay on standby to help me get her out of here in one piece. I’ll let you know when.”
“We don’t have a lot of time here, Mason,” Sterling reminded him.
Mason gave him a look that would have made anyone else cower. Sterling, however, knew him too well to be intimidated.
“I’m quite clear on our position,” Mason said, pushing to his feet and briskly exiting the bar.
* * * * *
Holly sat at the lab table and eyed the specimen under the scope but her thoughts were on Mason and the all-too-consuming allure he held.
There had been several times during their earlier encounter when she thought he might kiss her.
She had wanted him to kiss her.
And she was certain he wanted it, too. She knew he did. Yet, each time, he pulled away at the last minute, leaving her both unnerved and unsatisfied. Forcefully, she shook off her reverie, mad at herself for being distracted from her work.
It wasn’t like her. But then again, neither was this seething sexual appetite. Normally, she would have been so completely absorbed in her work that nothing would have penetrated her scientific haze.
It was a common practice for her and Roger to burn the candle at both ends. Several of the other researchers on her team often did the same. They were all determined to cure any disease or malaise that would respond to genetic therapy. Each day they failed was a day someone might lose that very day of their life. Of course, the government was already causing so many to miss the opportunity for cures it was an upward climb, sometimes a seemingly impossible battle to win.
“You aren’t going to believe this,” Roger said walking toward her. “Walsh is here.”
“What?” Holly asked with wide-eyed surprise. She couldn’t believe Walsh was being so forward. Glancing at the clock on the nearby wall, she said, “It’s seven o’clock!” She lowered her voice, “How did he even know I was here?”
“Beats me,” Roger said. “I went up front to feed Dixie and he was snooping around our desks. Want me to get rid of him?”
“No,” she said, pushing to her feet, appalled at what she had just been told. Holly tugged off her protective gloves and tossed them in the trash can. “I have a few choice words to say to Mr. Walsh.”
Holly stomped toward the front offices, determined to get rid of Walsh once and for all. He had his back to her as she entered, apparently watching Dixie eat. “I hear Dixie had cancer,” he said without turning.
Holly frowned. Roger had a big mouth. “Had being the operative word. My research cured her.”
He turned around. “My wife died of cancer.”
For just a moment, Holly felt her resolve fading. “I’m sorry.”
His eyes fixed on her. “Making your dream a reality would be your reward for helping the military. Is that such a high price?”
Holly didn’t like being manipulated. He was trying to control her with puppet strings of emotions. Probably didn’t even have a wife. Her resolve thickened again. He was too rude to get a woman.
Behind her the phone rang and instantly she thought of Mason. Ready to be rid of her visitor, she said, “Forget it, Mr. Walsh. Now, are you going to leave or should I call the police?”
“Holly, telephone,” Roger said behind her, a hint of irritation in his voice.
Holly turned toward her desk to grab the phone. “Goodbye, Mr. Walsh.”
“Hello,” she said, turning her back on her visitor, hoping he would get the message.
“Holly? Are you having trouble there?” Mason’s voice held a concern.
“Nothing I can’t handle,” she assured him.
“I heard you threaten to call the police.”
“An unwanted visitor, who is leaving,” she said, looking over her shoulder at Walsh, who made no move to exit.
“I’m not leaving until we talk,” he said, looking her squarely in the eye.
Holly growled low in her throat. “I better go deal with this,” she told Mason.
“I’m coming to help you.”
Her heart tripped. It had been years since she felt protected. Mason, who hardly knew her, made her feel as if he truly cared for her safety.
“No, it’s fine,” she assured him, hoping it was the truth. Walsh was getting aggressive but Roger was with her, lending some semblance of comfort to the situation.
“Right,” Mason said. “You’re not convincing. I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
“Mason—”
He cut her off. “Don’t argue. I’m on my way.”
The line went dead.
Holly blew out a breath and then hung up the phone. She wasn’t sure if she should be flattered that Mason cared enough to come help her or frustrated that he thought she couldn’t do for herself.
Turning to stand face-to-face with Walsh, she said, “I thought you were leaving.”
“The best labs, the best staff, the best of everything. Your country needs you, Ms. Heart.”
“She said no,” Roger said, stepping to her side and glowering at Walsh.
“If you don’t say yes to me, others will follow and then another and another. Our country is in grave danger.”
“I hardly think my country is going to self-destruct because I won’t help it make super soldiers. Use weapons, tanks or whatever else you so desire.” She waved a hand. “Heck, use super soldiers for all I care! Just don’t expect them to be my creations.”
“Do you want to risk the same challenges that occurred in the first rounds of genetic therapy?”
“I certainly hope you will ensure that doesn’t happen because it’s preventable, even on the level you are talking.”
His expression was grim, his tone dangerously quiet. “We need you, Ms. Heart.”
Roger reached for the phone. “Leave now or I’m calling the police.”
Walsh laughed. “I’m more the law than any uniform you can call.“ A pause. “But, I’ll leave.” He fixed Holly in an intense look. “Just know this…time is running out.”
He turned and walked out of the room without looking back.
* * * * *
Mason walked into the lab offices with a tightly clenched jaw. What was it about Holly that made him so damn possessive? Protective was one thing he could reason away a little easier. After all, she was needed for a greater cause than most.
But the possessiveness… It was very raw and so powerful, it rocked him to the core.
When he spotted her, Holly was leaning on the edge of her desk, her lab coat covering her body but doing nothing to wash away his memories of what lie under that white coat.
When she looked up at him with those compelling green eyes, he imagined them heavy with desire, her hair draped over her bare shoulders, and he could almost feel her body beneath his.
Just like that, he was rock-hard.
Which meant he was in some deep shit. After a mere few hours in her acquaintance, he wanted her like he had never wanted for anything in his life. But she was his assignment.
That made her a taboo he couldn’t touch, an absolute no for too many reasons to count. Even if she wasn’t his assignment, if they had met in another situation, he was no good for her and he knew it. He came with complications she didn’t deserve.
She smiled at him as he walked toward her and it was like having a ray of sunshine heat his heart. The woman simply touched him in ways he thought impossible. Fate had altered his life in dark ways she could never understand. Yet, Holly made him want to escape into another reality.
Could it be that he was more male, more human, than he gave himself credit for? Nothing dark could feel this good.
At least he hoped.
“I told you not to come,” Holly said but her eyes said she was glad he did.
He responded to the message in her gaze, not to her words. “I wanted to,” he said in a low voice. “I take it your visitor is gone?” he asked looking around and seeing no one. Yet, he sensed another presence bu
t nothing malevolent in nature. Roger.
She nodded. “Yes. I hate that you came all the way over here for nothing.”
He stopped directly in front of her, willing himself not to touch her. “It wasn’t for nothing. I wanted to see you again.” Holding her gaze, slipping further under the spell of her captivating presence, he felt the slow simmer of heat she evoked in him grow hotter.