Chapter Eight

 

Secluded in the hotel room, Angie stared into Mark’s face, relishing the sweeping of his hands creating waves of sparking need on her back. She soaked up the feeling, letting it fill her, heating her blood until her skin felt tight. She pressed into his length, absorbing every inch of him against her front. His tenderness never evaporated. The caring heat in his warming gaze never abated.

His lips parted, and she wanted to kiss them. Although kiss was probably too tame for what was running through her thoughts. She wouldn’t apologize for the new awareness humming along her nerves. Now when she was seeing him clearly, really physically experiencing him, she had to admit she liked what she’d found. She refused to think about time or pain or dying. This was now.

His gaze darkened with a controlled hunger and turmoil-laden thoughts. “Please tell me you aren’t comparing me to Neil. I would never treat you like that.” His voice was pain mixed with desire, and it caught her off guard. When he didn’t move, waiting for an answer, she realized he was serious.

“No.” She straightened in his arms to see him better. “Why would you think I was?” Angie wasn’t ready to tell him what she was thinking, but she hadn’t expected that.

Mark slid down the door behind him to be better aligned with her. The friction between their bodies sent another wave of heated shivers coursing through her. Her heart thudded like a hammer into her ribs. He’d held her for only a few short minutes, and she was so turned on, she was almost afraid it would all disappear. Each deep breath rubbed her breasts against his body, sending tingling shocks into her core.

“Your expression. You were thinking of something. You get this gleam in your eyes. I’ve seen it so many times.” Tender lips caressed her temple, nuzzling against her, kissing her everywhere. He knew her too well. Knew her every thought, her every want and need. Just because she’d never seen it or sensed it didn’t make it not true.

Lifting a hand, she framed his face, her fingers reaching for the bottom of his ear, teasing it. “No, I was thinking how wonderful it feels to be right here, just like this.”

The earthen color of his eyes burned molten and hungry, desire flowing like a speeding electric current between them.

“Really?” A quiver rode his chest. The pulse in his neck beat faster. She imagined running her tongue up the side of his neck to nibble on the ear right in front of her. She craved to feel, to please, hopefully as much as he did.

Angie nodded, then licked her tongue across her bottom lip, watching as he latched onto its slow progress.

He groaned, and the sound sent a shock to every nerve, every muscle in her body until it sat like a hungry hunter low in her body. She squirmed, unable not to, forming herself against him completely. Braced by the solid strength of his thighs, along with the hard heat of Mark’s chest touching hers, she ached. His eyes shut, and his head fell to the door behind him.

“God.” He moaned.

His arms tightened around her, and suddenly clothes were too confining everywhere. Mark shifted, the length of him burning into her. Hot, hard, and sexy.

When he opened his eyes, their sultry need rocked her. “You’re making it hard to stay sane, much less honorable. I don’t want to add this to your problems. You’re more important to me than sex.”

A hungry groan gusted through a stiff jaw when she answered him by sliding her palm upward, curling it delicately beneath his ear.

Angie had never seduced anyone, never been consumed by a raging need like this either. Sex with Neil had been normal, pleasurable—but not intoxicating. Every touch from Mark sent lust roaring through her body; every brush of skin made her want more, crave more, searching for it.

“I’m not asking for honorable, Mark,” she told him, giving in and doing what she’d been imagining for the last ten minutes. She licked a path from his pulse to his earlobe with her tongue, discovering drugging warm velvet and male strength, animalistic desire at its rawest. The shock struck her clear to her toes at the contact. The clean, musky taste of him added fuel to the flames. He was as addictive as chocolate and twice as mind-warping as tequila. “I’m asking for right now.” A shudder racked his frame when she repeated her torture, punctuating her words with a teasing caress. At the pinnacle, she stopped to nip his earlobe between her teeth, then soothed him with her lips.

Her hand drifted down his shoulder, and her fingers flared across his stomach in appreciation, finding the taut expanse for the first time. A solid wall of muscle and skin. It clenched repeatedly under her fingertips. She didn’t stop her exploring there. Falling lower with a silken touch, she brazenly cupped him through his jeans. He felt amazing in her palm, hot and full enough to fill her hand. The proof of his desire drove her blood pressure and hunger skyrocketing.

A growl erupted, filling the tiny room. Mark snapped straight and carried her to the bed in caging arms. Files and pages flew out of his way when he swept an arm to clear it. He laid her on top of the bedspread as though she were a precious gift. Lips as hot as brands found hers, delving and devouring her until she was writhing beneath his solid chest where he propped over her on flat hands. Warm skin and thick hair slid beneath her fingers, pulling him closer, tighter, demanding more.

Mark’s intent fingers deftly removed her clothes, his lips following, dropping searing kisses as inches of skin were revealed. She gripped at the closest fistful of cloth and yanked, the hem of Mark’s shirt popping free of his jeans. Stripped from his chest, it went flying, forgotten. Her nails scraped gently down his abdomen in awe. Exposed muscles rippled, clenching and shaking beneath her questing fingers. A six-pack to envy.

“You’re incredible,” she whispered. She caught the appraising fire in his stare, spearing her through to the last sane thought she had.

When she tried to speak, he swooped in and claimed her, obliterating any words before she could utter them. Angie sank into the kiss, loving the driving, then gentle pressures he used. The trailing touches, then the path he wove with his lips and tongue down her throat until he reached the swell of her breast.

“I’ve imagined you so many ways, Angie. Sweet and sultry,” he whispered between fiery caresses, his breath hot and panting over sensitive skin. “Demanding and playful, just like you. Just like this.”

She arched when his lips wrapped around the tip of one breast. Bliss flared across her vision when the hot slash of his tongue over the peak plunged her deeper into euphoria. His fingertips teasing her other breast had her crying out and moaning shamelessly, pleading for more. The sensual rolling and tugging matched the pace of his tongue on taut flesh.

Sparks sizzled like embers thrown from a fire. She locked her arms over his head, holding him prisoner. Her thighs tightened, then quivered. Her spine bowed as the pulse of her own blood raced through her body.

He increased his attack on her senses. Hotter, harder, and her reaction was explosive, carrying her over the cliff’s edge into an undiscovered land of passionate release. Lightning roared through her body, making her feel liquid and boneless.

She gasped, sucking in oxygen as he curled around her, keeping her pinned to Earth with the comforting length of his own frame. Her fingers danced over his shoulder as he dropped a languid trail of sipping kisses up her neck.

“That was incredible,” he murmured. “I’m going to enjoy learning this side of you, Angie.” A devilish grin appeared on his lips. “And I have many, many fantasies to share with you.”

Her heart thundered in her chest as she shook with ripples of pleasure. “I hope you plan on starting today.”

“Today and tonight and every minute I get to spend with you.” He rose on his palms until he hovered over her, his chocolate gaze imprisoning her.

The warmth of skin slid along her arm when she curled it tighter over his shoulder. “Show me.”

His fingers toyed with the snap of her jeans, and that hungry grin reappeared on his lips. “I plan on it.” The snap came free with a twist.

Her jeans were tugged free, leaving her burning in need when his gaze found the powder blue underwear she wore. Tender fingers removed the strip of fabric when she raised her hips. He stared at her for a smattering of seconds with pure adoration in his expression.

“Your turn,” she said, anticipation making her voice husky.

The tease of skin as he undressed for her was tantalizing and agonizing at the same time. She knew Mark wasn’t conceited about his body, but right then, he did know how to take pride in it as he removed his jeans and underwear with a slow show for her benefit. Her heart thudded as he exposed himself to her—warmed, smooth skin and one full erection.

She actually felt her lip quiver. Angie felt alive, more alive than she had in months. She felt beautiful; the proof was in the heat of his gaze. A wantonly playful thought crossed her mind.

With a hand she beckoned him closer. She rested a palm on his thigh, caressing the tight muscles beneath her touch. Her splayed fingers barely covered the expanse in her view. Enjoying the light dusting of golden hair on his thigh, she slid within the vee of his legs and cupped him. His head reared back and hissed air filled the room. His entire body was rock solid and pulsing.

Daring herself to take what she wanted, she leaned forward and licked him. A low growl was his answer, the sound falling to her. Emboldened, she swept his length with her tongue, quivering in anticipation to the newfound desire and electricity whipping between them.

“Angie,” he ground out, his fingers twisting into her hair.

His plea fell on deaf ears. She’d thought she’d known what it meant to give and receive pleasure. Feeling his skin dance beneath her lips like molten silk made her feel powerful. Stronger, deeper, and so intense, she thought she’d explode.

His hands loosely encircled her arms, bringing her up until their mouths were fused. With a tenderness hot enough to melt her, he lowered them to the bed, his long, hard body blanketing hers.

Those sparks he’d ignited grew to wildfire proportions, teasing with small strokes, taking her over the edge of sanity one agonizing, tortured inch at a time.

Labored breath rushed passed her ear as he stilled, driving her crazy. She whimpered and moved beneath him, needing something and needing it now.

His withdrawal was slow. Lips trailed down her neck to nip at her shoulder, returning to leave a blazing trail until he found her mouth. He rocked against her, plunging, to swallow her growing cries.

Energy exploded in brilliant colors when she found her release, so deep and so consuming she felt weightless. His arms tightened, holding her closer, holding her together as she shattered in ecstasy. Seconds later, his own voice filled the room, chasing hers as he followed her into passionate oblivion.

 

* * * *

“The sun’s setting,” Mark said, coming into the room after leaving to buy dinner for the two of them. She knew he’d also picked up his car from where he’d left it earlier. A single-strap bag hung on his shoulder, a bag with boxed containers in his other hand. She blew a few strands of loose hair away from her face, twisting the thickness to lie behind her in a rope, the braid long gone. Relieved to see him, she offered a smile. He leaned in and found a kiss.

Her lips curved against his when he released her, warm and lingering. The man gave great kisses. He was melting her to the consistency of warm butter pretty easily with them either way.

“I peeked, but I didn’t open the curtains or the door.” She had been watching for him, worried, making sure he was all right but not letting it show on her face. It wasn’t that much of a stretch to think someone would hurt him now, too.

Sitting in the middle of the bed, she indicated the photos and drawings of the Jahehn caves and campsites in front of her with a wave of her hand. “I’ve put these in some order.” The pages on the floor had been reshuffled with those from one of her other boxes of documents. “I have another two boxes worth to try to find something, some clue to their nervousness about it being found, and maybe where it could be.”

He placed the food on the table, to drop his bag to the floor. “Then it’s a good thing I did come,” he said with a teasing purr of humor. “You can’t read a map sideways. I know you won’t remember all the details. It’s been too long since you catalogued everything from the first dig.”

Angie stuck her tongue out at him but didn’t argue. Sadly, he was right. She was horrid at reading maps. She was always making scenic detours if she wasn’t well prepared.

Symbolism and Native American mythology and etymology were Mark’s expertise. It was one of the reasons they’d worked so well together for so long. Her research blended with his specialty, and her obsession fascinated his need to know more about North American tribes and the way they communicated. She chuckled lightly, surprised to realize how seamlessly those two studies had merged together over the years to suit them both.

With a cautious eye, she grabbed a fry from her takeout, eating it slowly in case it was all she would be able to stomach, while she reviewed notes splayed out before her.

“You know,” she mused, tapping one of the photos before her a moment later. “They were such a complex society, I’m really surprised others haven’t jumped all over this to try to find out more. Like this one.” She showed him a page with numerous shapes and sizes of a moon crescent. “Obviously they understood the changes of the world environment around them.”

He wiped his hands on a napkin and reached for the photo, nodding. “I’d say they understood their environment as well as could be depicted in that time frame. They didn’t have a written language like modern Homo sapiens, but they were able to communicate fairly well between their branches. Looking at this, it’s very similar in style to the Olmec language and the Mayan hieroglyphs of the pre-Columbus European invasion.”

She felt reenergized reliving their lives, delving into their world again. Studying another stack, she said, “By these, it looks as though they believed in the animal hierarchy in a way that they could connect with themselves. They had totems similar to many of the current and past tribes. It’s almost as if they revered them. They really felt a kinship with the wildlife.” Many of the photos were from the canyon, but there were just as many from Canadian sites, too. She palmed a notebook and sat on the edge of the bed, flipping pages one at a time, eyeing the individual drawings. “I know several of the tribes even today have the same connection, but deciphering their drawings and their ritual structure, the Jahehn somehow communed with the wildlife. At least, to them they did.”

Angie paused a few pages in. “Here’s the talisman shape again.” She traced the interlocking circles with a finger, noting the information written with it on the page. “This was found in the cave we dated those bone splinters from.” A frown pulled her brow down in thought, and she searched over her shoulder to the other loose pages. She held them together a moment later. “And here it is again in this canyon. It was only one of three caves we were able to get into because of the time limits.”

“And funding.”

A muttered grumble escaped. “Yeah, that too. And the distance between them.” She stared at the two images, thinking to when they had found those glyphs. “I wonder what else could be in those caves.”

“Spiders, rocks,” he suggested, giving her a grin. She smiled at his teasing.

This was how it had always been with her and Mark, talking about the history surrounding them. Only now it felt…better. Stronger.

How long had she missed his most obvious facets? He was the perfect complement to her own work. He understood her in a way Neil never had. She peeked up from the photo, watching him through her lashes as he ate. How long had she taken him for granted?

When she had wanted, craved, needed just a little sign of understanding from Neil, Mark had always had her back, and had been her rock in the hardest of times. A repentant sigh escaped and he cast a glance her way.

“What was that for?”

Angie gave him a lopsided smile. “Just realizing how selfish I’ve been, and how badly I’ve mistreated your knowledge. And you.”

He cleared his throat, but his gaze never wavered from her expression. “So what does that mean?”

“It means… I’m sorry. I’ve ignored so many things right in front of me, and now I’m running out of time to make it all right.”

His hair whipped as he snapped his head in argument. “There’s nothing to apologize for. You didn’t know there was anything else around you. You were in a committed relationship. I was the one who needed to find a way past it.” He stopped, and his gaze deepened to a molten heat, hungrily sweeping her form. He leaned forward until his face was barely a few inches away from hers. “But now that it has changed, I’m going to take full advantage of the opportunity.”

“You are, huh?” she challenged him, feeling her temperature starting to spike at the lazy, sexy way he watched her. Damn, he could make her melt into a mass of womanly nerves in nothing flat.

“As often as possible,” he warned, that devil’s grin popping up just before he stole a kiss from her lips.

He straightened into his chair and said, “You never did say why finding this talisman was so important, especially with the council not wanting it to be found. You could always back off and leave it alone.”

She heard the hopeful note in his voice but she couldn’t do what he wanted. Her shoulders hunched beneath the weight, while she blankly stared at the pages in her hands. “I wish I could. Honestly, Mark, it’s almost like I feel driven, like I have to find it.”

He propped himself against his chair, giving her his full attention. “Why would you feel like that?”

She picked up her feet and crossed them before her on the bed, circled by pages of information on the culture she’d spent her life researching.

“You were almost right when you first got here.” Chills made her skin prickle, but she pushed them away. “I am searching for the talisman because of the legends that we’ve deciphered from the syllabic language hieroglyphs.”

“Which one?” He leaned on his shoulder, crossing his arms and ankles, listening to every word.

Her voice barely worked when she spoke again, because she was finally admitting, really deep down acknowledging that her one last chance to live lay somewhere out in that canyon, if she were even remotely lucky. If it still existed. The one fact she had denied for weeks had become the real truth after all.

“There are writings that it had healing properties,” she whispered, the room so silent she heard the thud of her own heart. The rustle of the curtains as the air conditioner swirled the air drafts through the room seemed loud. “It’s the only chance I have left.”

He burst upright. “It is not the only chance you have, Angie!” Mark leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, refusing to let her escape as he reached for her hands. “This isn’t like you. I know there’s a way to help you. There has to be. You can’t really believe in this, in what you’re saying. Maybe there’s something psychological, and the shit with Neil compounded it.”

She shook her head, already positive of at least this one answer. “No. This was going on long before he started to drift away. Well before Ilene.”

He eased the pages from her hands, then tugged until she was sitting on his lap, her head cradled on his shoulder. He carefully pulled her hair from her face, her only protection from his searching. “Angie, there has to be something. Damn it! You can’t be dying. Maybe going into the canyon will help, but you can’t believe this artifact is going to do what you swear doctors themselves can’t do.”

She swallowed the rush of tears when his arms encircled her. “I have nothing left to hope for, Mark.”

He pressed his cheek to her. “Maybe you just need something to live for,” he breathed. Silence sat long and heavy in the room. Even the near silent kick of the room air conditioner turning off didn’t cut through it. Mark shifted, pulling her in as tight as he could. “If this is what you really need to do, then all I can do is make sure you’re happy doing it.”

The final note of acceptance in his words brought the dampness full-force into her eyes. He rocked her, holding her as she clung to a last, impossible hope.