Chapter Eight
Felix Barrera took one of his specially blended cigars out of the humidor in his den, inhaled it for a moment then lit it with his sold gold lighter. He took a moment to blow perfect smoke rings while he waited for Ruben Vidal to arrive. Lately his specially ordered, hand-rolled cigars seemed to be the only thing that calmed him down.
There was still no trace of Melinda Clayton, which royally pissed him off. He’d had men following every member of the Albado family and that had led nowhere, which pissed him off even more. He was sure the bitch was in that house somewhere, but the question was, where? His men had gone through it top to bottom, but there hadn’t been a trace of her. How the hell had the Albados managed that?
His men should have done it tonight. A good way to start the weekend. Except everyone in the Albado family had been out. He didn’t want to raid an empty house. It was important to him that the people who lived there, who had committed the sin of protecting an enemy, should witness the search and be punished for it. The fact that the house was empty frustrated the fucking hell out of him.
“Still nothing?” he asked as Ruben walked into the room.
Vidal shook his head. “Not even a sniff. And let me tell you, I’ve had people looking everywhere.”
“The checkpoints are still up?”
“Si! And I just did an all-points check and they are now all in place. We’ve pretty much locked down the city as far as they’re concerned, although where the hell would they go, anyway?”
Barrera shrugged. “The marina. The airport, maybe trying to sneak onto a private plane. Depends on how stupid they are.”
“Okay, I’ll change the teams at eight in the morning. How long do you want to keep them going?”
“Until I find that stupid bitch. Whatever it takes.”
“Well.” Ruben shrugged. “There’s no way she can get to the water without us knowing it. Every single road out of town, even the narrow ones, has a checkpoint.”
“The airport is out. She can’t get on a commercial flight without my being notified and I have men watching every private plane leaving here, even checking the inside before clearing them for takeoff. I keep telling myself we’ve got her, but then why don’t I have my hands on her? How has this bitch made herself so invisible?”
Ruben frowned. “I’m still not so sure why you have such a hard-on for this female. I didn’t see anything about her that stands out.”
“It’s my instincts, Ruben. Instincts I’ve developed over all these years. There’s something about her that smells like trouble, and I’m going to find out what it is. Then I’m going to find her and peel her skin off one layer at a time. We have to find that Clayton woman.” He bit down on the cigar. “I can’t believe she got off the island without any of us knowing. We keep a tight rein on every place a boat can land at Santa Marita and control every aircraft in and out of the airport. We’re missing something here. You need to take another crack at digging around the internet.”
“I was pretty thorough the first time, but there really was nothing to find. On the surface, she looks like the most boring person in the world.”
“On the surface.” Barrera pounced on the words. “I know you hit all the usual places, but dig deeper. There’s got to be something there. My senses tell me she’s not just some nosy tourist, and my senses never let me down. I reached out to my connection on the dark web but he hasn’t gotten back to me yet.” A situation that pissed him the hell off. “I can’t just sit on my ass waiting around. Especially since I have this itchy feeling that who she really is could spell big trouble for us. What about handing it off to Marta? She’s smart and keeps her mouth shut. Can she dig into the dark web, too?”
“Yes. I will get her on it right now. She’s the best tech we’ve got. I don’t know why you go outside for someone to do this.”
“I don’t trust women,” Barrera snapped. “Just remember. If she fucks up, it’s your head, too.”
“No worries. I like my head just where it is.”
He pulled out his cell and selected a preset number. Barrera listened while he explained to the woman on the other end exactly what he wanted. Then he disconnected.
“She’ll be on it right away, jefe. If there is anything to find, she’s the one to discover it.”
“And you set up the checkpoints?”
Ruben glanced at his watch. “It’s getting late. I’d think if she was trying to sneak out of the city, she’d want to do it in the dark. We’ll keep doing all-points checks. In fact, maybe I’ll tell all the guards whoever finds and stops the woman gets a bonus.”
“Bueno. Bueno. I cannot let that bitch slip through my fingers. If she tries to leave town, I want her to be in for an unpleasant surprise.”
“Okay. We’ll make it happen. And the whole Albado family is out of the house tonight? That’s why you scheduled the raid for tomorrow?”
“Yes. They are. The parents are having dinner with friends at Casa Valentina and the daughter is spending the weekend with her boyfriend. I want them there when I do it, so if I find even the least little trace of that bitch, I can spell out for them exactly how they will be punished. To their faces.”
“All right. But, Felix, if this Clayton woman was still in the house, would they go off and leave her? With no lights on and none of the window air conditioners running? She’d fry in there.”
“I know. I know.”
Barrera blew another smoke ring. He was holding on to his self-control only with the greatest effort. He was not used to being thwarted in anything or short-stopped or in any other way prevented from getting what he wanted. If he didn’t find that bitch soon, he was going to start killing people out of frustration.
Ruben looked at his watch. “Meanwhile, Gerard Moreau and his people will be here in thirty minutes. I suggested they land at your private dock and we can move along from there.”
“Good, good. Let’s get ready to meet them. I just hope that fucking bitch doesn’t end up doing something that blows this all up.”
“What can she do? She’s one person, an insignificant female. Worst case, you can make an example of her if you find her. It will be a lesson for others, including Moreau, that you don’t fuck with us.”
“True. Yes, true.”
“And keep in mind, Moreau may want a lower price if they’re buying more product.”
“No.” Barrera flicked a collar of ash into the glass dish with a sharp movement. “No discounts. Does Sinaloa give discounts? Juarez? Tijuana? Los Zetas?” Irritation rose. “Are we a discount operation? We give them good product at a fair market price. And we are already pricing it just a hair below the others. Tell them no deal.”
“I figured, but I had to run it by you.”
“Go ahead and check with the blockades. Then we need to get down to the dock.”
* * * *
They swam through the water in familiar silence, clad in full SCUBA gear. Elias had ferried them out to the dive spot in a smaller powerboat that Ed had told them he used for taking out his diving customers. Ed dove with them, prosthesis and all. He didn’t mind blending in with the crowd after he was there, but he didn’t want to do the whole arrival scene with his boat.
The distance from where the five former SEALs slipped into the water to the very isolated little cove where they’d surface was two miles. They’d done more than five miles in BUD/S, so this was a snap. And Ed had assured him he’d practiced a lot with the prosthesis. He’d never do anything to hold them back.
They surfaced in a tiny cove surrounded by very large boulders. Between that and the road was a long thick stand of trees that stretched at least half a mile in each direction. Rocket thought Ed was right when he said Santa Marita had a lot of hiding places that Barrera’s men never paid attention to. From what they had learned about him, he probably wasn’t smart enough to think of them as danger spots.
And that was good for them.
Now, if they could just get Mallory out of the Albados’ house and here to this little cove, they could execute the rest of the plan and get the fuck out of here with their asses still intact. Ed had gone over the process with them at least a dozen times. Rocket just hoped it worked. In a setup like Santa Marita, with a dumb, power-hungry, bloodthirsty man at the helm, anything could go wrong. Been there, done that.
Emerging from the water, they divested themselves of the SCUBA gear, leaving them dressed in jeans and T-shirts. Then they retrieved their handguns and sat phones from the waterproof bags attached to their dive suits. Rocket checked to make sure the little baggie he’d stashed in there before donning their gear was still safe. To him, it was almost as important as his gun.
They carried everything to a car that sat waiting for them in the trees. Ed dumped all the gear into two large waterproof bags and stored it in a compartment in the floor in the back. He dug the keys from beneath the front floor mat and they all climbed in. Looking like regular tourists—or as regular as they were in Santa Marita—they drove slowly through the trees to a crappy dirt road and finally to a narrow badly paved side road.
“Do I even want to know whose car this is?” Blaze asked. “I thought you were low key here?”
Ed shook his head but grinned. “Not really. It belongs to another guy who does odd jobs now and then for me. Lets me borrow it when I need to.”
Blaze chuckled. “Why do I get the feeling these odd jobs you have people doing aren’t the kind you want to discuss?”
Ed glanced over his shoulder. “Rocket, text Mallory and tell her to be ready.”
“I guarantee you she is, but I’ll do it anyway.”
“Tell her to get up on the roof,” he added. “Mateo’s home, waiting for us. I stopped by there to scope out the streets and the area and checked in with him.”
“Who else in in the house?” Rocket wanted to know.
“Just Mateo’s sister, Lucia. Not a problem there. His parents are at the home of friends. But no matter. The streets are so busy no one will pay attention to us. And Barrera’s men are either watching trouble spots or partying themselves.”
“Okay, then let’s do this.”
They rode silently after that, no one saying a word as they made their way into town and the residential area where the Albados and Mateo lived. Rocket noticed that Ed had been right. People were strolling the streets, or sitting on doorsteps with their drinks. Cars drove slowly with celebrants inside, saluting with beer bottles. Ed had made sure the Galaxy men had their props so they could blend into the environment. Now they just needed a little luck.
When they pulled up in front of Mateo’s house, he was waiting for them on the stoop, his party face on. Ed had told them it would look better if they all went in, since little groups of people were going in and out of other houses up and down the street. They all greeted Mateo as if he were a long-lost friend and followed him into his house. But once they were inside, it was all business.
“This way,” Mateo told them, led them up to the roof and pointed. “That’s the Albado house, right there. Across from us.”
Rocket guesstimated the distance then turned to Mateo.
“Ed says you have the grappling hooks?”
The man nodded. “I got them from him earlier today as a grocery delivery.” He walked to the edge of the roof and grabbed a large plastic sack sitting there. “Ready when you are.”
While Ed and Blaze unpacked the grappling hook and the machinery to shoot it across the alley, Rocket texted Mallory.
We’re here and ready to rock and roll.
The answer came back at once.
Me, too. Take a look.
He looked across the alley and up and saw her kneeling at the lip on the edge of the roof. She raised a hand to him. He raised his back.
You can do this.
Yes. I can. In fact, I did it once before.
What????? Mallory?
But she wasn’t answering him. Damn woman, he thought, even as he forced back his fear for her.
“Okay.” He nodded at the others. “Let’s do it.”
Blaze took the grappling hook pistol from the bag and locked all the pieces into place. While he did that, Viper took the trailing ends of the rope ladder and he and Eagle each wrapped one around their waist. Then they sat down, making the ladder taut and reducing the chances it would swing free with Mallory on it. Blaze shot the hooks across the alley and they landed perfectly on the raised edge of the Albado roof.
Mallory tested to make sure the hooks were set then climbed over the lip and onto the rope ladder. He had to admit, even as he watched with his heart in his mouth, that she seemed to know what she was doing. Still, he didn’t draw a full breath until she made it to the bottom of the ladder and Ed and Mateo helped her onto Mateo’s roof. Ignoring everyone else around them, he pulled her against his body and wrapped his arms around her as tightly as he could. He was dying to kiss her, but he didn’t want to do it with an audience.
“I’ve got you,” he whispered.
“Thank you,” she whispered back.
“You’re amazing.”
“So are you.”
“Did you bring your gun?”
“Gun?” Ed whipped around and stared at them. “What gun?”
Mallory pulled it out from beneath her T-shirt. “This one. Inez gave it to me. Bullets are in my pockets.”
“I hope to Christ you know how to use it. Let’s get going. We’re not out of the woods yet. Mateo just got a call from his commander that Barrera is setting up checkpoints around the city. The guy told him to boot out any company and get his ass to work.”
“What do these checkpoints consist of?” Blaze wanted to know. “Do they have barricades up, stopping every vehicle?”
“I’ve only seen them do this a couple of times. They usually park a cop car—or a private one if they use up their fleet—and have a couple of patrol guys standing there. Vehicles have to slow down to pass them and give the police a chance to get a good look at them. They’ll only stop someone who looks suspicious. Mallory had to show her phony ID to one of the idiots who approached, so my guess is it’s available on the internet, they pulled it down and everyone has her picture.”
“Shit.” Rocket scowled. “That sucks.”
“We may get lucky and find a way out they haven’t set up yet.”
“Then let’s move,” Blaze agreed.
Ed and Blaze yanked on the rope ends of the ladder, freeing them from the grappling hooks, and rolling up the ladder. Inez would have to get up there and dispose of the hooks. They left the house as a noisy group of partiers, waving goodbye to Mateo, holding beer bottles, scrunching Mallory in the middle of their group, and laughing as they climbed into Ed’s vehicle. They stuffed her into the middle seat, Rocket and Blaze each putting an arm around her and Rocket leaning forward to kiss her. He wasn’t about to let anyone else do it, and for a moment the taste of her, after all this time, almost made him forget what this was all about.
“You can save that for later,” Blaze told him. “We need to get the fuck away from here and back to the cove. You said Elias would be meeting us with a Zodiac.”
“He is. We didn’t bring you in on one because we didn’t want to give any warning of your arrival. Leaving’s different. We’ll be gone and away before anyone can do anything.”
“You’re right about moving out of here,” Rocket agreed. Then he whispered in Mallory’s ear, “We’ll have plenty of time when we’re out of here.”
She didn’t say anything, but she pressed closer to him.
They did okay for a few blocks, heading away from the residential area they were in. But then they ran into a roadblock on a street which they backed away from.
“Checkpoint,” Ed murmured.
“Uh-uh,” Eagle agreed. “Let me see if there’s another way to get to our launching point.”
But after they’d run into two more checkpoints and backed away from them, Ed drove them away from the area and out toward what he told them was La Jungla—the jungle.
“Very thick and overgrown. It’s on the edge of town, past the fields where Barrera grows his dope, and no one ever goes there. The entrance isn’t even visible—there won’t be a checkpoint, though, and no one can find you in there. Barrera’s men are not going to want to try hacking through miles of it to find you. If he thinks you’re in there, it’s more likely he’ll decide you’ll die there and save him the trouble.”
“And we’re supposed to—what—sleep in the bushes?” Rocket asked.
Mallory was quiet, letting him take the lead.
“Got it covered. Remember I mentioned the cabin on stilts—a jungle hut of sorts—that I, uh, have access to on the far side of the island? I set it up some time ago for a sort of op I was involved in.”
“A sort of op?” Eagle glanced over at his friend. “Jesus, Ed. Exactly how many things do you do besides dive tours and fishing expeditions?”
“Just enough to keep my hand in. As I said, I keep it stocked in case of emergency, which I think you’ll all agree that this is.”
Again, there was a long moment of silence.
Rocket shook his head. “I guess we don’t have a choice. Any idea how long this will be for?”
“My guess,” Ed answered, “is no more than a couple of days, while Barrera tears up the town since he won’t find you at the Albados’. When he doesn’t find you, he’ll move on to someone or something else.”
“Yeah, right,” Blaze snorted. “I know his type.”
“And I know Barrera,” Ed insisted. “He has a short attention span. Something else will come along to piss him off. Some unsuspecting tourist will do something, or one of his men will mouth off. If it doesn’t happen by itself, I’ll make it so.”
“I’m not sure I even want to know what all you do,” Viper said. “Just as long as you can get all of us out of here safely.”
“You can count on it. Now let’s get you to your jungle hideaway.”
They had driven for about fifteen minutes past acres of rich green fields before the narrow, paved street changed to a short dirt road barely large enough for a single vehicle. It was almost invisible, thickly overgrown as it was. Ed had the headlights on dim as he moved through the dense flora and fauna that concealed what was obviously a little-used entrance.
Blaze leaned over from the back seat. “Won’t Barrera send his men to search this area?”
“No.” Ed shook his head. “No one goes in here because it’s so easy to get lost. Besides, there are a lot of stories about La Jungla and Barrera’s men are very superstitious. They won’t even look for you here. That’s why I set up the hut here.”
He drove them slowly into the thickness of the jungle, maneuvering around trees and immense bushes. No one said a word for the next ten minutes, until the lights landed on a wood hut with a thatched roof. It sat on stilts in the middle of a miniscule clearing surrounded by giant, thick-leaved trees. A ladder led up to what passed for the door.
“And you have this why?” Eagle asked.
“I had, um, a friend who needed a place with some privacy for a little while here on Santa Marita. Until he could be, uh, extracted. I had a friend who had a friend who did a deal with us, and when the crisis was over, they decided I should keep this in case I had to help someone again. And so here you are.”
Eagle shook his head. “I’m not sure I even want to know what all you do besides your touristy stuff, but thank you.”
“Come on. Rocket, let’s get you and Mallory settled.”
Rocket climbed the ladder first, glad to discover that it was a lot sturdier than he expected. The hut was basically one room, with a large pallet on the floor with pillows and two thick quilts, a couple of sling chairs, and a small counter against one wall that held a camp stove.
Mallory was right behind him, followed by Ed. The others waited below.
“There should be enough here to take care of you for a couple of days,” Ed told them, opening cupboard doors to show them the supplies. “Sorry there’s no indoor plumbing, but there is an efficient outhouse right behind us.”
“Wow,” Rocket snorted. “Thanks.”
“Also, not far from the hut is a waterfall that beats any shower you’ve ever used.”
Rocket lifted an eyebrow. “All the comforts of home, right?”
“It’s fine,” Mallory assured Ed. “From everything I learned about Barrera, I don’t want to cross paths with him.”
“No, you don’t,” Ed agreed. “Okay, be right back.”
He hustled down the ladder and over to the vehicle, opening the rear door and rooting around. Then he was back with a canvas gym bag. When he opened it, Rocket saw a Glock .42 nestled among boxes of bullets. He handed it to Mallory.
“There’s ammo in here for both of you. Mallory, I had no idea about your skills with a handgun or how big a piece you could handle, but this little sweetheart packs quite a wallop.”
She smiled for the first time that night.
“I actually took firearms training and try to hit the range once a week. Thank you. This will be great.”
“Not that I expect you’ll need it, but I always believe in being prepared.”
Rocket shook his friend’s hand, doing his best to convey his thanks.
“I owe you big-time for this,” he told the other man. “I’ll forever be grateful.”
“Save your gratitude until we get you all safely out of here.”
“I’ve got my sat phone.” Rocket pointed to his pocket. “It was in the waterproof bag with my gun. You have the number?”
Ed nodded. “And I know your partners do, too. All right, we’re gonna get going. I want to scope out Santa Marita and see what Barrera’s got going on tonight. See if I can find out how long he’ll have checkpoints at all the streets leaving each town.”
Rocket climbed down the ladder so he could shake hands with each of his partners. No words were said, but they exchanged silent messages.
We’ve got your back.
We’ll get you out of this.
I trust you with my life. Our lives.
Then they climbed back into the vehicle and Ed drove it slowly out of the jungle.
Now it was just the two of them. Rocket looked at the woman standing in front of him. It was the first chance he’d had to take a good look at her. She hadn’t changed much in five years. Not much at all. Her hair was a richer auburn and probably still as wild, but now it was restrained by a ponytail holder. Her body was just as toned. He wondered if she kept it that way through exercise or running from bad guys when she got herself into impossible situations. The T-shirt she wore clung to breasts that his hands itched to cup, and worn jeans hugged a body that still made his mouth water.
Okay, he’d better get them up into the hut before he stripped off her clothes and took her right there on the jungle floor. Besides, he had no idea what her memories of that night were, if they were pleasant or if she regretted every single moment. Right now, her safety was primary.
“Let’s get back up into our hotel room,” he joked. “No telling what’s roaming around out here.”
Mallory frowned. “You mean like apes and tigers and things like that?”
“No.” His mouth quirked in a tiny grin. “None of those. But they do have jaguars. Will that do?”
She gave a tiny shiver. “What else?”
“Spider monkeys. And snakes. Lots of snakes. Oh, and bats. They seem to thrive in jungles like this.”
“Damn, Rocket. I hope you’re a crack shot in case one of them decides to come after us.”
“Not to worry. I’ve got it. But let’s get up there before we have to deal with any of them.”
Mallory climbed the ladder ahead of him, and keeping his shit together was one of the hardest things he’d ever done, what with her very appealing ass practically smack in his face. But at last, they were in the hut, standing there, looking around.
“Let’s see what Ed means by keeping this place stocked.”
He wandered around the small room, opening cupboards to reveal canned goods, boxes of dry snacks and one cupboard filled with bottled water. There was also one with towels and toiletries like toothpaste and mouthwash.
“Glad to see he thought of our personal hygiene,” Rocket joked.
“I hope we won’t be here long enough to drink up all that water.” Mallory looked around the room. “Although we could be hiding away in worse places.”
“Like the cave in Afghanistan?” He tried to inject a little humor into his voice.
One corner of her mouth turned up in a hint of a grin. “It had its advantages. You agree?”
More than he could express. He closed the distance between them in three long strides until a sheet of paper would have barely fit between them.
“I have great memories of that cave.” He stared into her eyes, the color in them darkening almost to a forest green. “Can I assume you do, too?”
She drew in a breath and let it out slowly. “Memories I haven’t been able to wipe out of my mind.”
Rocket took a moment before replying. “Same goes.”
“But you never tried to get in touch with me,” she pointed out.
“No, I didn’t.” He chose his words carefully. “I know this probably makes me sound like an asshole, but that was my usual method of operation. The SEALs came first for me in everything. And all the time. I had convinced myself that a relationship—any relationship—would distract me and diminish my ability to operate fully.”
“How very macho and patriotic of you.” She shook her head. “I wasn’t expecting a proposal, Rocket, just something that told me you recognized the hot connection between us. Plus…” She shrugged. “Plus I wanted to thank you again for saving my life.”
“I’m guessing you didn’t try to locate me, either.”
“Do you have any idea how hard it is to locate one of your guys? Even after you’re out of the military? The government guards that information like it’s the secret to world domination.”
Rocket chuckled. He couldn’t help himself. Then his smile disappeared.
“You’d be surprised how many people think they have a grudge against one of us. Or want revenge for something.”
“Alicia said she used every bit of influence she had to learn how to contact you.”
“Okay. So now here we are. Once again, some asshole wants to eliminate you and once again, I’m going to be your way out of here. But we’re all alone here in the jungle. No one except Ed and my partners even knows we’re here. From what Ed told us, I don’t think more than a few people even know this hut exists. What do you say we put all that aside and concentrate on the here and now, and see if what happened five years ago was more than just physical attraction incited by the danger?”
She nibbled on her lower lip, a tiny gesture that made his semi-dormant cock instantly spring to life and push hard against his fly.
Jesus, Rocket, keep it in your pants at least until you find out how she feels.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this when I could be killed in the next twenty-four hours. Barrera will chop off my head, literally, if he locates me. I’m worried about Inez and her family and wondering why he didn’t execute the raid on their house tonight. And the chances of my getting out of here alive are fifty-fifty at best. Right?”
He couldn’t help himself. He just had to touch her, so he cradled her face in his palms.
“One. You will definitely be getting out of here alive, because you have men arranging it who don’t make mistakes and who successfully complete their missions. Two. I personally am not going to let anything happen to you, even if I have to do this all myself. Which, by the way I won’t. Have to, that is.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“Three. We’re all alone here in the middle of noplace and I am dying to get just one taste of you.”
She didn’t say anything for a moment, so long that Rocket wondered if he’d be spending time with his good right hand. Then she leaned closer, just enough that he could touch his mouth to hers, feeling her soft lips beneath his firm ones. And damn! She tasted just as good as he remembered, a flavor that was distinctly Mallory. He ran the tip of his tongue over her lower lip. A slow swipe over the velvety flesh sent heat coursing straight through his body.
Jesus!
He hoped he had enough discipline not to get to the finish line before she did, because he wanted them both to enjoy every minute.
When he thrust his tongue into her mouth, sliding it over her tongue, a soft moan rolled from her throat and she pressed her body against his. She lifted both hands to run her fingers through his hair before cupping his head to hold it in place. He drank from her mouth, slipping his tongue everywhere, tasting, licking.
She gave as good as she got, using her own tongue to duel with his, the slide of the soft flesh so erotic he thought his cock would explode. He sucked her tongue slowly into his own mouth, letting his teeth graze gently against the surface. The delicious noises she made set his nerves on fire. He broke the kiss only with great reluctance, then released the ponytail holder so her hair cascaded wildly to her shoulders. He thrust his fingers through it, holding her head in place so he could kiss her again. But then he pulled back.
“W—What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” He shook his head. “Well, something. I want to do this right. While fucking you against the wall appeals to me at this moment, it’s not what I want after five years apart.”
A tiny laugh bubbled from her mouth.
“Me neither,” she told him, “although I must confess that the moment I saw you again, I wanted you the same way I did five years ago.”
The tiny knot of tension in Rocket’s insides eased. Okay, then. He wasn’t going to have to convince her, because she had the same feelings he did. If possible, his cock swelled even more.
“We have no place to be,” he told Mallory, “and no one waiting for us, at least right now. I don’t want to rush this, Mal.”
“Neither do I.”
He wasn’t sure whose hands were shaking more, his or hers, as he slowly unbuttoned her blouse and drew it down her arms. His breath caught at the swell of her breasts above the line of her bra, and the dark nipples visible through the lace fabric. He pushed the blouse down her arms, tossing it to the side, and swiped a tongue across the rounded flesh. Then he placed his lips around one of the nipples and sucked it into his mouth, fabric and all.
Mallory gripped his upper arms, holding herself in place, head thrown back as she arched into his mouth. Another moan slipped from between her lips, the sound so erotic it made him clamp his teeth down on her flesh. When he’d teased the little button until it was swollen and hard, he moved to the other one, finally unfastening the bra and tossing it to the side with her blouse.
Holding tight to his control, he dropped to his knees, unzipped her jeans and slid them down her long, toned legs. The lacy bikini panties came next, leaving every bit of her exposed to his sight and his touch. Pressing his face between her thighs, he inhaled her scent, one that had stayed with him all these years.
Then he rose to his feet, yanked off his shirt and dropped it on the pile of clothing. Next came his jeans
The last thing to go were his boxer briefs, which he had to remove carefully since his dick was sticking almost straight out. Then he lifted Mallory in his arms and carried her to the pallet, stretching her out on the thickly padded fabric. He couldn’t believe his hands were actually shaking. He’d thought about the possibility of this moment for so long that he could hardly deal with the fact that it had arrived. He stretched out next to her, loving the feel of her naked skin against his.
He didn’t know where to start first, which part of her to taste, to touch. He started with her mouth again, stringing kisses along the line of her chin to her neck, aroused even more by the sexy sounds she was making. Palming one breast, he turned his mouth again to the other one, scraping his teeth over the nipple, giving it gentle little bites. It was already aroused from his previous attention, so it didn’t take long until he had it swollen and dark, and turned his attention to the other one.
Mallory writhed and moaned, the sexy sounds urging him on. When he moved his mouth down over the soft swell of her stomach, pausing to tease at her navel, the little sounds grew even louder. Weaving her fingers into his hair, she pressed his head harder against her body, urging him on to more and more.
He was ravenous for her by the time he slid down to the tempting mound of her sex, opening her with his thumbs so he could taste the slick pink skin he exposed. He didn’t have to nudge her thighs apart. She let them fall wide open on her own, thrusting herself up to his mouth. He traced the flesh on either side of her opening with long swipes of his tongue before taking gentle bites of her clit.
“Oh! Oh! Oh!”
Mallory thrust her heels into the pallet to lift herself closer to his mouth. And when he slid two fingers inside her, she pushed hard against them, riding them, crying out in obvious pleasure as he added a third finger and beginning the delicious glide toward orgasm.
When he eased his fingers out, she gave a small cry of disappointment. “Don’t stop. Please.”
“Not stopping,” he assured her. “Just marking my territory.” With that, he slipped his slick fingers down the cleft of her ass, teasing her hot, tight opening. “One of these days,” he murmured, “I’m going to fuck you here and it will be the best thing you ever had.” Then he pushed them back into her hot, wet slit.
“Oh, god.” Her inner walls clamped down on his hand, squeezing his fingers.
He was torn between bringing her to orgasm with his hand and letting her slick walls squeeze his demanding cock, and the cock won out. He grabbed the little plastic baggie, pulled out a condom and rolled it on, his hand actually shaking with need and desire. Then, kneeling between her thighs, he spread her legs wide, pushed them back so she was completely open and exposed to him, and drove into her with one hard thrust.
“Look at me, Mallory.” He hardly recognized his own voice. “Open your eyes and look at me.”
When she did, he saw the same heat and hunger flaming there, and something indefinable speared through him. Then he could think of nothing except the feel of Mallory and her heat.
They were both so close to the tipping point, so ready for each other, that it took only a few hard pumps of his hips to drive them both over the edge. The moment he felt her inner walls spasm, he fell over the edge, taking her with him. Nothing existed except him and this woman. She had wound her legs around him and now she dug her heels into the small of his back, locking his body to hers while the intense orgasms shook them both.
He had no idea how long it went on, only that he’d never felt such pleasure. And when at last it subsided and Mallory’s legs fell limp to the side, he cupped her head in his palms and gave her a long, slow kiss, sliding his tongue over hers in a lazy motion. At last, he forced himself to withdraw from her body, easing away from her and rising slowly to his feet.
“Don’t move,” he told her. “Just give me a second here.”
He disposed of the condom in a wastebasket stuck in a corner, then lay back down again next to Mallory. They were both sweaty, and the lack of air conditioning didn’t help the situation, but he didn’t care. He was mentally cursing himself for not making time to find her in the past five years.
Stupid schmuck.
“I have to tell you this.” He brushed damp strands of hair from her forehead, looking hard into her eyes. “I never thought I’d say this, but I’ll be kicking myself for a long time for being so stupid and self-focused that I let the past five years go by without looking for you.”
Her lips, slightly puffy from kissing, curved in a little smile.
“But maybe we weren’t ready for each other. I’m not sure that I was, so obsessed with hitting all the danger spots and writing these books.”
“Which I discovered have all hit the bestseller lists. Congratulations.”
“Thanks. I wasn’t sure I’d get out of here to write the next one until Alicia told me you’d agreed to come and get me out of here.”
He couldn’t help smiling. “Just as long as we don’t make a real habit of this.”
She sighed. “I promise to try, okay?” A small grin teased at her mouth. “Maybe someone could point me in a different direction if they were around enough.”
He quirked an eyebrow. “Are you offering me a job?”
She frowned. “I thought you already had one.”
“I might be persuaded to handle two.” All traces of humor disappeared. “I definitely want to talk about it when I get your ass out of here.”
“Okay, then.” She studied his face. “We are getting out of here, right?”
He nodded. “That’s a promise. Now, we need water so we don’t get dehydrated, and we should get some sleep because we don’t know what tomorrow will bring.”
Mallory nodded, but she was pretty sure she wouldn’t be sleeping much tonight. Not with the danger to the Albado family hanging over her head and Barrera determined to find her. Only Rocket’s steady presence settled her at all. The fact that not only had he come to get her out of this mess but also that the chemistry between them was still there and he wasn’t fighting it gave her a bright ray of hope.
But they couldn’t stay isolated in this hut forever. She’d just have to trust that his friends would make this happen.