"For what?"
"Saving my ass. I'm really attached to it."
The timid smile she gave him made his groin jerk. "No problem." She pulled her hand out from under his and folded her arms across her chest, letting him know that she wanted some time to herself.
He could respect that.
They didn't speak much as they rode through the dark German streets until they reached the cottage. It looked like one of those places out of some Grimm Brothers story. It was so picture-perfect that it had to have evil buried deep within it.
He frowned as he parked the car out of sight of the road. "Is it just me, or is this, like, Stepford perfect?"
Sam gave him a droll stare. "I love this place. It's very peaceful."
He disagreed. "So was Motel Hell. Remember that movie? 'It takes all kinds of critters to make Farmer Vincent's fritters.' They had people buried in the backyard like vegetables in a garden. You snatched the bag off the ground expecting to find a cabbage, and instead it was someone's head. And Norman, he appeared normal too, didn't he? Right up until the point he stabbed poor Janet in the shower."
She gave him a droll stare. "How can someone this suspicious have been on his way to get killed earlier?"
Jason paused before he answered. "'Cause they lured me into thinking they were stupid bimbos. They used my own trick against me. See what happens when you trust people? You end up planted in their backyard with a bag over your head."
Sam decided to ignore his paranoia as she led the way to the door and knocked on it.
The door opened a few minutes later to show her a tall, willowy blond woman. In her mid-fifties, she was plain in the face, but her rosy cheeks made her pale blue eyes shine with warmth and friendship.
"Samantha!" she exclaimed in a heavy German accent as she pushed open the screen door. "It's been too long since last you came. Willkommen. Come in, come in. You brought a friend this time. Das ist gut, "Some days it is," Sam said with a smile. "This is Jason. Jason, Renate Fiebig."
She held a hand out to him. "Good to meet you, Jason."
"You, too," Jason said as he shook her hand.
Renate stepped back to let them pass, then scanned the street behind them before she shut and locked the door.
Renate bent her head close to Sam's and whispered loudly. "Are we hiding again, meine schatzi?"
Sam nodded.
Renate's blue eyes literally glistened with excitement. "Das gut. I love the intrigue. Rupert, he tells me nothing. 'You don't need to know about it, 'Nate. Is for your own good that you know nothing.' But I want to know. Is thrilling, ja?"
"Rupert?" Jason asked.
"Retter," Sam explained. She'd learned the first time Retter had introduced her to his cousin that most of his family called him Rupert or, to his complete and utter horror, Ruppie. Neither of which were suited to the take-no-crap agent who could kill in cold blood without flinching.
Jason laughed. "Oh, jeez, don't tell me his real name is Rupert Retter? No wonder he never tells anyone his given name. And I thought Tee's name sucked..."
Renate stiffened as if his words greatly offended her. "That is not his name. It is Theobald Walter Rupert George Mark Retter Brahmar-Winsley. His maternal grandfather was Theobald, Walter is his father, George is our grandfather, and Mark was his uncle who died, therefore we call him Rupert so as to not confuse each other when we speak of him."
By his face, she could tell Jason was already confused.
"I'm impressed," he said with a light laugh, "and I want to know how he fits all that on his driver's license. Not to mention, how do you remember the correct order of all those names?"
Renate shrugged. "He could not remember it as a child, so we all learned it to help him until he learned the proper order."
Sam smacked him playfully on the stomach. "If you want to live through this, I would suggest you not tease Retter about it. He doesn't have much in the way of a sense of humor when it comes to his moniker."
"Who could blame him for that? But does Hunter know we have an agent with more names than he has? He's going to be dreadfully unhappy when he finds out. Next thing you know, he'll go add one just for spite."
Sam actually groaned at that. The sad thing was, he was probably right.
She looked back at the German woman. "We're sorry to impose, Renate. Do you have a vacancy where you can put us up for a couple of nights?"
"Of course, schatzi. But I only have the one room right now. The other is being repaired from a leak from the last storm that came through."
Jason inclined his head before she could protest. "That'll work. Thank you."
Renate nodded. "Have you need of food?"
Sam shook her head. "I'm fine. Jason?"
"I'm all right, but is there any chance you might have a change of clothes?"
"Ja. I always keep some things, just in case. You never know what can happen. Rupert came in two years ago completely naked." She frowned at the memory. "He never did tell me what happened. But with Rupert... one never knows."
That was certainly true enough.
"Do you need anything else?" she asked.
"Ammo," Sam added. "A couple of clips if you have them for my gun."
She nodded. Renate always tried to keep extra ammo for all the agents she knew. "Do you need some as well?"
"You got a forty-five mag clip?"
"Same as Rupert's?"
"Yes."
"Ja. Just a moment while I gather it."
Sam and Jason waited in the small, ornate living room, with hundreds of Hummel figurines tucked into every corner and shelf, while Renate left them alone. They could hear the wind whistling through the eaves of the house.
Sam kept her head cocked, listening for the sound of car engines, but so far everything was quiet. Peaceful. It appeared they had given the bad guys the slip.
"No one knows about this place," she told Jason. "We should be completely safe."
"Good. I could use a nice, non-drug-induced sleep," he teased her.
Sam grimaced at the reminder of what she'd done to him. "I knew I should have shot you for real."
It didn't take long for Renate to rejoin them. She led them up the stairs in the back to her loft, where she kept the two rooms she rented out. She opened the door on the left, revealing a small Hansel and Gretel-type room. Little German dolls in authentic clothing filled all the shelves.
Renate pulled down the window shades before they entered. "There are spare pillows in the chest, as well as more blankets."
She put three boxes of ammo down on a heavily carved cherry-wood dresser before she tucked the clothing in a top drawer. "The bathroom is downstairs," she told Jason. "Samantha can show you where. I shall turn in shortly, but the kitchen is well stocked. Please make yourselves at home."
"Thanks, Renate," Sam said, grateful for the woman's kindness. "As usual, I owe you."
"You can make it up to me tomorrow by telling me great stories of adventure. I shall make you blood sausage and potatoes for breakfast, and we will talk long, ja?"
"You got it."
Beaming at them, Renate left the room and closed the door.
Jason's gaze darted around the tiny area. "Not much space, is there?"
Sam glanced wistfully at the small bed. "Why don't we flip for it?"
"Ah, c'mon, Sam. We're both grown-ups. We can share. I won't grope you if you don't grope me."
A nervous jitter went through her, along with an unfounded wave of excitement. "I don't know. It's mighty tight quarters."
"Why are you hesitating? It's not like we haven't seen each other naked already."
She cringed at the reminder. Two could play his game. "Fine. You don't scare me."
And he didn't. It was the untoward hunger she felt for him that terrified her. Maybe there was more of her mother in her than she knew. For the first time in her life, the thought of a one-night stand didn't completely repulse her.
It would actually be kind of nice...
Trying to distract herself from that thought, Sam headed for the ammo and reloaded her gun. The last thing she needed was to hook up with a man like Jason. He was the epitome of why she'd sworn off men.
"Why are you an agent, anyway?" she asked him.
He shrugged nonchalantly as he pulled out an extra pillow from the chest by the bed. "I live for danger, and I wanted to do something with my life other than just pull a paycheck, you know? What about you?"
"I fell in love with the TV movie Johnnie Mae Gibson: FBI when I was in high school. I was absolutely fascinated by the Bureau. My mother thought I was nuts, but the more I looked into it, the more I wanted to be an agent. I thought it was the best way to make the world a better place for people."
"Then why did you leave?"
She laughed wistfully at the memory of how many times she'd gotten into trouble for not following policy. "I got fed up with the protocols. Every time I turned around, they were writing me up. Sometimes it seemed like there was no justice for the victim. Like our laws were only designed to protect the guilty. So when Joe came to me and told me about BAD, I jumped at the chance to be able to use my training the way it was meant to be used."
He drew close to her as she spoke. "Heroes to the end."
She nodded as she looked up at the light playing across his sinfully handsome face. His lips were so inviting. His eyes dark and warming.
He lifted his hand up to cup her face.
Pull back...
But she couldn't. She was paralyzed by those green eyes that beckoned her toward him.
Her heart pounding, she knew he was going to kiss her.
Sure enough, he dipped his head down and parted her lips with his own.
Chapter 4
At first Sam tensed and started to pull back, but as she tasted the decadence that was Jason, her resistance faltered. It'd been way too long since she'd kissed any man. Way too long since she'd had sex. She'd almost forgotten what it felt like to have a man touch her.
And those lips of his ... they were both firm and soft. Demanding and scorching.
As much as she hated to admit it, he was a choice piece of cheese. She ran her hand over the T-shirt and felt the rippling of hard, developed muscles of a man in the prime of his life. At the height of his prowess.
Her body thrummed with unexpected need as his tongue swept against hers with masterful strokes that left her breathless and hungry for more.
Much more.
The man seriously knew how to give a kiss.
And it made her wonder if he was as competent in other areas as well...
Jason growled as he finally got to taste that saucy little mouth that lived to taunt him. The sweetness of her breath on his face, of her soft curves pressed up against his body ... It was enough to drive a man wild. His fantasies of her naked and in his bed played through his mind, driving his lust to a furious level.
He wanted this woman with a desperation that made no sense whatsoever.
His cock throbbed as he cupped her bottom in his hands and pressed her hips closer to his. But it wasn't enough to even begin to sate the hunger inside him.
He lifted her up and rested her on the dresser. Deepening his kiss, he used his hips to separate her thighs so that she had her legs wrapped around his waist. He ran his hands over her back as he slowly slid his hard erection against the center of her body, needing to feel closer to her.
He wanted inside her so badly that he could taste it, feel it. The need was born of desperate longing and one too many wet dreams of her underneath him.
Sam couldn't think straight as she felt Jason's erection through their clothes as he pressed it against the part of her that was craving him with an unreasoning madness.
This is insane...
But she didn't listen to the voice in her head. All she could think of was Jason lying naked on the bed.
He'll never have a relationship with you.
And that was probably a good thing. She didn't have time for a boyfriend anyway. She didn't need the distraction of a significant other any more than Jason did. Two drastically different people, they would never be right for each other.
Still, her body craved him, and she didn't even understand why.
You don't have a condom.
That finally succeeded in calming her down. She pulled back from his lips and pushed him away. "We don't have protection, Jason."
His lips were swollen from her kisses, his green eyes smoldering as he looked at her like a starving man glimpsing the last steak on the planet. "Then let me taste you, Sam," he breathed raggedly. "I want to hear you scream out my name as I make you come for me."
Part of her was offended, and another part was thrilled. No man had ever been so selfless with her.
He returned to her lips. She had to admit he knew how to lick and tease. That mouth of his was golden.
Should she?
You'll be just like your mother...
No, she was still an entirely different person. Jason wasn't the out-of-work lampreys her mother dragged home. She wasn't expecting him to save her from anything or to move in. They were just two grown adults wanting a few hours of physical connection. No promises. No broken hearts.
Jason nipped the corner of her mouth as he struggled for control. Half afraid she'd turn him away, he reached for the hem of her dark brown turtleneck. He moved it up her body slowly, giving her time to stop him if she changed her mind.
To his relief, she didn't. He pulled the shirt off, leaving her bare except for the tan bra.
She whisked his T-shirt over his head, then drew him back to her so that she could tease his neck with her tongue while her hands explored his back. Jason smiled at her as he reached around her back to unhook her bra. He ground his teeth in pleasure as her breasts sprang free into his waiting palm. It felt so good just to touch her. He ran his palm gently over the creamy mounds, delighting in the way her nipples hardened against his callused fingers.
He dipped his head down so that he could draw that puckered tip into his mouth.
Sam moaned as pleasure tore through her. Her stomach jerked with every lush stroke of Jason's tongue on her nipple. His touch made her so wet, so hot for a man who shouldn't even be on her menu.
Yet here she was, virtually naked with him, and she wasn't even sure why.
He left her breast, then picked her up from the dresser to carry her to the bed. He laid her back against the lumpy mattress and stared down at her with an unwarranted tenderness as he removed her holster and weapon. He dropped it on the nightstand.
"I hope this thing doesn't squeak," he said teasingly as he bounced against the mattress to test it.
"That makes two of us." She scooted up on the bed as he reached for her shoes.
Sam watched as he slowly removed her shoes and socks, then massaged her feet. His touch was strong and sure, yet gentle and soothing. She trembled as he reached for her fly. His eyes were locked on hers as he slowly undid the button, then slid the zipper down.
The expectation of his touching her was excruciating.
He dipped his head down to lightly lave her navel before he lifted her hips and slid her jeans and panties off in one fall swoop.
Absolutely on fire, she licked her lips before she grabbed him and pulled him close for a hot kiss.
Jason was thrilled by her eagerness as he slowly explored her mouth. She had the sweetest little tongue he'd ever known. As they kissed, she wrapped her body completely around his, and he had to admit there was nothing better than the sensation of her small breasts pressed up against his chest. His swollen cock burning, he reached between their bodies to trail his hand down her stomach to the short, crisp hairs.
He moved his hand lower, wanting to touch the part of her that was still alien to him. The part of her that he craved most to touch and stroke.
He separated the tender folds so that he could feel just how wet she already was. He smiled in satisfaction as he ran his hand over her, letting her wetness coat his fingers befor
e he slid one deep inside her.
Sam shivered at the sensation of his long, rough finger stroking her, and when he slid in two, she gave a cry of satisfied pleasure.
"That's it, baby," he said against her cheek as she moved her hips against those wonderfully pleasing fingers. "Show me what you like."
Arching her back, she cupped his head to her as he trailed a path of scorching kisses over her. It was so strange to be so open with him, so bare.
She didn't really understand why she was doing this, and yet she felt no shame or regret.
She wanted him to touch her like this.
Jason paused to thoroughly explore her breasts. He rubbed his cheek against the right one, savoring the softness of her flesh on his roughened skin. Her fingers lightly stroked his scalp before she scraped her long, manicured nails over the skin of his back, raising chills the whole way.
Her skin tasted like heaven, but it still didn't sate him. He wanted something more from her than this...
He moved farther down her body, over her stomach, to her silky thighs. Jason couldn't remember the last time he'd been with a woman like her. One who wasn't on the make or out to land a guy with a steady paycheck.
Like him, Sam was addicted to her job. She understood the necessity for what they did. The necessity that they stay unfettered.
Even so, she wasn't a cheap lay he'd picked up in a bar. She was a decent woman. The kind of woman he could leave alone with a friend and not have to worry about finding them in bed together when he returned.
She was the kind of woman a guy took home to meet his family. The kind of woman a guy proposed to...
Sam bit her lip as Jason spread her thighs. He paused to look at her as he gently blew a hot breath over her cleft. She shivered in pleasure.
Smiling at her, he dipped his head and took her into his mouth. She threw her head back as exquisite pleasure tore through her. The sensation of his tongue on her body ... It was unbelievable.
It'd been so long since she last slept with a man that she had all but forgotten what this felt like.
His tongue swirled and teased her as he sank his fingers back inside her body.
Sam was breathless as she buried her hand in his hair and held him to her. It was as if he were living just for the ability to taste her. As if he enjoyed giving her this pleasure even more than she enjoyed receiving it.
She lost all track of time and reason as she felt wave after wave of ecstasy course through her, and when she came, she did cry out his name.