“Daire?” Adam asked.
“Go.” Daire studied the nearly frozen woman in front of him. Did he have the strength to start a fire?
“I’m still in Russia researching the planekite mining, and there’s a blizzard going on. As soon as possible, I’ll pick you up. Might be first light tomorrow. Be ready.” Adam’s voice roughened. “Are you hurt?”
“No. Just get here. Bring clothes for me and for a petite woman. And food.” Daire clicked off before Adam could ask any questions and then yanked a waterproof tent from the go-bag.
Cee Cee’s lips trembled in the parody of a smile. “Aren’t you prepared?” Her teeth chattered as she spoke.
“Always.” He unfolded the tent and quickly hammered it into place against the nearest rocks, and then he grabbed a rolled-up sleeping bag to toss inside. “I keep an escape helicopter on a remote island north of the Arctic Circle.” Testing the ties of the tent, he nodded. “A go-bag for bad weather seemed like a good idea. Just in case.” The current situation was by no means the worst he’d ever been in, although he’d never had a small blonde to worry about before. He held open the flap. “Take off the jeans and get in.”
She glanced down at her wet jeans and boots before shivering. Surprisingly, she didn’t argue but shrugged out of the wet clothing and then hightailed it inside.
The wind pierced him, and snow began to fall. He sucked in air and tried to force fire to the surface.
Nothing.
He shivered. Wet clothes weren’t going to help. His hands shook as he kicked out of his jeans and placed them right inside the tent before toeing off his boots and socks. His limbs were heavy, and his head pounded. Being naked was the last of his worries. Without a word, he opened the flap and crawled inside to find Cee Cee in the bag. She’d unzipped it and tossed open the side.
“Get in,” she said, her voice cracking.
He climbed in and zipped up behind him. The wind moved the top of the tent back and forth. Her scent wafted lightly around him along with the smell of salt and ocean. “I can’t make fire, but if we sleep, we’ll both heal.” The woman felt like one long piece of ice. Trying to be gentle, he turned her back to his front and spooned around her. “Body heat will have to do.”
She trembled, shivers rubbing her skin against his. Even through the wool sweater, she felt cold.
He rubbed her arms and tucked his knees up and under hers. “Sleep will help.” Not that there was a choice for him. After fighting, being injured, helping Cee Cee to heal, and then crashing a helicopter into the freezing sea, his body was done. So he tucked his nose into her wet hair, took a deep breath, and let himself fall.
Even sleeping, his subconscious kept track of the woman in his arms and the storm berating the tent, but he went under deep enough to allow his body to heal, resting for several hours.
A strong gust of wind whipped across the tent, and he came fully awake with a jerk. No light permeated the darkness, so it wasn’t dawn as of yet. He’d slept for the rest of the day and then a good portion of the night. Heat surrounded him in the tight sleeping bag. As his mind settled, his body kicked alive. Smooth, soft hands were caressing very lightly across his chest and down his abs, soothing each one as if counting them.
Cee Cee faced him, one smooth thigh between his legs, her hands exploring.
Desire, desperate and hot, burned through him. “What are you doing?” His voice was beyond rough.
She lifted her head, her soft and now dry hair brushing across the bristles of his whiskers. “I didn’t mean to awaken you.”
That voice. That sexy, hoarse, fuck me voice. His cock sprang hard as steel. “Yet you did,” he rumbled.
She finished counting the last rib, her small hand so close to his dick, he stopped breathing. “You’re just so hard and ripped, I wanted to feel.”
The sweetness in the confession competed with the feminine need in her tone.
He shut his eyes and tried to breathe evenly. Almost on its own volition, his hand caressed down her torso to pure heat. So smooth and inviting. Her moan lit him on fire. She was wet and ready . . . and in about two seconds, he was going to lose all control. So he removed his hand. “Cee Cee? Either move away from me or say yes.”
Quiet ticked.
Her palm flattened across his abs, the touch firm. “It has been a while, Enforcer. But yes.”
At the word, he finally did exactly what he’d craved since first seeing her across the bar. Grabbing her hair, he plundered her mouth, rolling them over and shoving himself inside her with one hard thrust.
Chapter 9
Cee Cee gasped, her body arching up into the solid concrete of Daire’s. Pain and an incredible pleasure rippled through her. Thank goodness she’d been ready. Her nails dug into his chest.
He reached down and tore the sweater over her head, his mouth absolutely conquering hers. Hard and deep, he kissed her like he owned her, giving no quarter. Hot and male, with a fierceness too late to tame. Finally, he lifted his head, allowing her to breathe.
She filled her lungs, overwhelmed. Yeah, she’d wondered. Wondered if she could really do this—if she could have sex now. Apparently she could. God, he felt good. Muscle, toned and deadly, filled her palms as she caressed up his chest and down the rigid contours of his arms. His cock pulsed inside her, awakening nerves she’d forgotten existed. “So much for foreplay,” she murmured, her lips tingling and swelling from the hard kiss.
“The last two days have been foreplay,” he ground out.
Fair enough.
He levered his body up on his elbows, pressing himself even deeper inside her. She moaned, pleasure shooting hot sparks along every nerve ending. The hand tethering her hair twisted, turning her head and elongating her neck. He lowered his head and scraped his teeth along her jugular with a bite of pain he then soothed by licking back up.
Her sex convulsed around him, and he groaned into her ear before biting her earlobe. The erotic pain blazed down her body, zinged across her breasts, and planted hard in her clit. “Daire,” she murmured.
“How long has it been, sweetheart?”
“Decades.” Sadness, surprising in its intensity, swamped through her. Her mate had been a good man and her best friend. Vulnerability followed.
“Hey.” Daire nibbled along her jawline to press a kiss on her chin. “Stay here with me. Just here and now.”
She blinked. “Here and now.” At the moment, she had free rein with one of the most incredible male bodies ever created, and real life could wait until the next day. The emotion had been unexpected, but as he ran a hand down and rolled a nipple, she shoved sorrow away to just feel the moment. And damn, did he know how to make her feel good.
As he slid out and back in, creating slow friction, pleasure careened up her torso. Delicious. She’d known the first time he’d kissed her that he’d be beyond delicious. A hard kiss along her neck had him pausing.
She swallowed. The bite marks from her mating. Even though the bond was gone, and she was free, the barest of marks had remained. “Um.”
He licked the two small indents. A new tension coiled around him. “Shifter?”
“Vampire,” she responded, her mind whirling so quickly she could hear the blood roaring through the veins in her ears.
Daire jerked inside her. “Mated?”
She closed her eyes. Nothing in her wanted to discuss this right now. “Yes, he died, and I took the mutated Virus-Twenty-Seven to negate the bond. Willingly.”
“So it works,” he murmured.
“Yes.” Her heart beat in her ears, while the tension in the small tent increased. “It’s in the past, Daire.”
An emotion, dark and male, rolled off him. “So you know the queen.”
She and the queen were good friends. “No, but we share acquaintances, and when I sent her a message that I was interested in taking the mutated virus, she called me. We did the experiments from there.”
Daire frowned. His arms rippled as he held himself in check. ??
?Okay, but as of now, I’m done with your secrets. We do this, no more secrets.”
She couldn’t promise him that, not now, and as much as she wanted to, she couldn’t trust him. “This is one night.” Maybe more than one night, but definitely not eternity. If her plan worked, she’d have more enemies than he could imagine, and while she’d fight, the odds stank. “We’re already doing this.”
He pulled out and hammered back in. Hard.
Pain, edged with a wicked pleasure, clawed through her. She’d never been treated roughly in bed, and she kind of liked it.
He lowered his head until his mouth was right above hers, and his green eyes lasered through the darkness. “I don’t bluff, make threats, or use unnecessary words, Cee Cee. I’m inside you, and I’m all around you.”
She swallowed again. “I know.”
“No more secrets and no more lies. You don’t want to cross me.” He slid out and then pushed back in, slowly this time.
“Okay.” The feeling was beyond incredible. A man inside her. Something she’d never thought to have happen again. It was wonderful. But she’d failed to factor in the instant emotion that engulfed her, especially since she had secrets to keep. She loosened her hold on the enforcer, and her body stilled.
“Baby? There’s a whole lot coming off you right now, and if you want me to stop, now’s the time to say so.” His body tensed, and the cost of the words, of the promise, lived in every undulating muscle.
Tears instantly pricked her eyes. “Please—don’t stop,” she gasped.
He exhaled and pulled out of her, relinquishing the hold on her hair.
“No.” Her sex tried to keep him in, and her hands curled over his shoulders.
He kissed her, his tongue flicking inside her mouth, his free hand pressing against her clit. “I thought to take the edge off fast and then play, but let’s get you out of your head now. We can discuss reality in the light of day.”
His wrist twisted, and he slipped a finger inside her.
She arched against him, pleasure overtaking any residual sorrow.
“There we go.” He licked down her neck, kissed her collarbone, and suckled one nipple into his mouth.
She detonated. An orgasm rushed through her so quickly, she could only open her mouth in a silent scream. Her legs widened, and he ground his palm against her. Fast. That had happened so fast. Finally, she came down with a soft sob.
He chuckled around her, the sound reverberating through her chest. Light nips and flicks struck her nipple until he moved to the other breast, paying equal attention. She moved restlessly against him, hunger awakening again. Another finger joined the first, rubbing against a spot inside her that flashed lights behind her closed lids.
She shook her head. “Too much.”
“Not enough.” He alternated kisses between her breasts, each one shooting a craving much lower. The sleeping bag caught him, and he swore, turning to jerk down the zipper and shove material out of his way. Cold washed over her, replaced by the heat of his body.
Then his mouth found her core.
She cried out, her nails cutting into his shoulders. “No, I—”
He sucked her throbbing clit into his heated mouth, and she stopped speaking. Stopped moving. She held her breath, unsure, her body rioting.
“Did you just say no?” he asked, sending vibrations through her most intimate parts.
“No, I, we, I mean,” she gasped, trying to find words. It was too much. Too intimate. “You.”
He chuckled, nearly sending her into another orgasm. “Yeah. Me.” He released her, rubbing the spot inside her, and then turned to nip her inner thigh with sharp teeth.
She gasped, her legs trembling.
His canines sank in deeper, piercing her skin. She cried out and tried to yank her flesh from his mouth.
He let her go. “It won’t scar, but you’ll wear my mark for the week.” Masculine satisfaction, lazy and dark, echoed in his tone.
She opened her mouth to protest, but one long, slow swipe of his tongue across her clit forced a whimper from her instead. He did it again, faster this time.
“Let’s get one more from you before we get serious,” he whispered, his heated breath all but killing her. Then he went to work, alternating between soft kisses and harder licks, keeping her on the edge, but not letting her fall over.
Sweat rolled off her forehead, and she moved against him, seeking relief, losing any sense of shyness. All that mattered in the world was reaching that peak he held so tantalizingly away from her. His fingers worked magic inside her, twisting and rubbing, but not quite giving her enough to ease the tension.
He increased the pressure, and a moan caught in her throat. “Now, baby.” He sucked.
She pushed against his mouth, waves crashing through her. The orgasm shook her, head to toe, emanating from his talented tongue. He prolonged the ecstasy until her body fell in limp abandonment onto the warm sleeping bag. She murmured a sound without any real meaning.
He drifted up her body, his skin hot, until his mouth took hers. The drugging kiss slid through her, soothing her ragged breathing. Then he clamped a hand across her butt, half lifted her, and powered inside her. Even with her body satiated, her core wet, the strength in his stroke took her by surprise and forced the air from her lungs.
Her eyelids flew open, and she pressed both hands against his fiery hot chest.
“Now we get serious.” He held her tight, moving out, and hammered back into her.
She’d thought she was done. Not even close. Hunger, edged with a pained demand, hit her so hot and so fast she could only hold on tight. He pounded into her, showing no mercy, a dangerous predator fully unleashed. She kicked her other leg free and wrapped them around his waist, tilting her pelvis for more. God, so much more.
He fucked her, hard and fast, his harsh breath panting in her ear. Each thrust jarred her clit, shooting lava across every nerve. The slap of flesh against flesh filled the tent, along with the overwhelming heat that was Daire Dunne. The thrusts increased in speed, and a galvanizing heat seared her, rippling into fire, as she exploded into a violent orgasm. It washed over her, cooling her, taking everything she had.
He stilled, ground against her, and came hard, his body shaking.
Finally, he rested against her. Her legs dropped to the ground. Still inside her, he reached around and drew the bag over them. “Now you talk.”
She shut her eyes, her body too damn relaxed to drum up the energy to fight.
A ripple sounded through the night. Then a piercing light shone down, even through the tent.
“Damn it.” Daire withdrew and shoved his way out of the bag, tossing the sweater at her. “Get dressed.” Helicopter blades pounded through the weakening storm outside.
She shrugged into the sweater and stood. “You’re naked.”
“If it’s my brother, he’s seen me nude before. If not, we’re in a shitload of trouble, and my bare skin is the least of our worries.” He unzipped the tent and peered out, turning back to pin her with a dark green gaze. “It’s Adam, which is good news. Don’t think for a second our conversation isn’t going to happen. You have a reprieve, baby. Take it and get ready to tell all.”
Daire kept one eye on Cee Cee and the other on the papers spread out in front of him on the table. The plane was small, with a green sofa along the back wall, a bathroom behind that, and four chairs around a table. The carpet was an odd yellow with blue dots. “Finish that steak,” he ordered, ducking his head to read another printout. He waited until she rolled her eyes. “I saw that,” he said slowly. Things had changed, whether she liked it or not.
She blinked, and color slipped into her cheeks. But she took another bite of the meat from her perch on the sofa.
Adam had quickly flown them via helicopter to the mainland, shepherded them into the plane, and cooked steaks in the microwave. Now he sat across from Daire, curiosity bright in his eyes, as the pilots flew them through the Arctic storm to refuel in Greenland. The
n they’d jump over Alaska, head south, and land in Seattle. Adam had followed orders perfectly by bringing both food and clothing.
The wool sweater and faded jeans had pleased Daire greatly, and the darker jeans and blue sweater fit Cee Cee well enough. The denim stretched nicely across her rounded rear, and he wanted nothing more than to strip her out of them.
Adam cleared his throat and shoved another set of papers at him. “There were seven explosions in Russian mines last night, in addition to the one on the island.”
Cee Cee hummed happily from the sofa.
Daire cleared his throat. “Don’t tell me. The mines belonged to Ivan Bychkov.”
Adam glanced over his shoulder at the woman and then back at Daire, who already faced her. “Either Bychkov or his people. Rumor has it that the Consortia is pissed and out for blood—Bychkov’s and whoever attacked the mines.”
Daire cut Cee Cee a hard look. “It would take an incredible amount of time and resources to coordinate such an attack, don’t you think?”
Adam frowned, no doubt catching undercurrents. “Why yes, Daire. Yes, I do think that.”
Daire turned his focus on his younger brother. “Sarcasm?”
“What is going on?” Adam growled.
“I’ll let you know as soon as I know,” Daire said evenly. Oh, the woman was going to tell him everything, but he preferred to hear it first before sharing with his brother. “Which will be soon.” The second he got her home, to be clear.
She finished eating and stretched out on the sofa. Exhaustion created dark circles under her eyes that all but emanated from her too pale skin.
He grimaced. He’d used her hard, and that was after she’d been severely injured, healed, and dunked in freezing water. According to Bychkov, she was weak. How, Daire didn’t know. In fact, he didn’t know shit, now did he?
Adam cleared his throat. “Five of the mines, including the one on the island, were mining planekite.”