Bare Witness (10 page)

“I’m going to call Sam and tell him to order that guy to get Piper out.”

“If he does, Constance will be left for dead, and we may not know who is behind this. Plus, this guy is a merc, Nigel. Do you know what that means?”

“I know that he works for Liberty Investigations.”

“He’s a gun for hire, and we don’t know how good he is with kids.”

“Piper isn’t like other kids,” Nigel said.

He had placed his trust in Liberty Investigations, and even though the car they’d hired had been sabotaged, he wasn’t going to change his mind now. He knew they were doing their level best to get Piper back.

And he was doing the same.

“What else can we do?”

“At this point, nothing. If you are the praying kind of guy, then I’d do that.”

He had already prayed for God to watch over his daughter.

“Are you the praying kind?”

She looked over at him with those serious wide eyes of hers. “I never really have been.”

“Why not?”

She shrugged. “I always thought if there was really someone up there, he would watch over those who couldn’t protect themselves, and keep them safe. Yet the innocent still keep being hurt…”

“So therefore, there isn’t a God?”

“Something like that,” she said, turning away and ending the conversation.

Nigel realized then that someone or something had harmed Justine’s innocence, and that person or incident had shaped her into the woman she was today.

T
hey had to stop for gas just before dawn. Anna’s contact hadn’t sent any messages, and that was more frustration than Justine had ever experienced before, waiting to hear from the contact about Piper.

She’d seen Nigel reread the text message conversation he’d had with his daughter a bunch of times, but she knew it wasn’t enough. She’d been teasing him when she’d said that he only talked about sex when he was worried about Piper, but she did realize he needed the distraction.

And she needed it, too. They were about to explode from exhaustion and tension.

“Is there a shower we can use?” she asked the attendant in Spanish.

“Upstairs. You have to pay for the water and the room.”

“No problem,” she said. She paid the man and then turned to Nigel.

“Why are we showering? I need to get the grime off me. We’ve had a long night and this will refresh me. Do you want a shower?”

“With you?”

“No. But you can go first if you want.”

“That wouldn’t be gentlemanly.”

“I’m not one to stand on ceremony.”

“I am.”

Another thing they didn’t have in common. She didn’t need proof they were different. She knew they were. But there was this small part of her that kind of hoped they weren’t. That there would be some kind of magical thing that would change all that.

He looked back at the attendant and asked if he had any clothes they could buy. The man pointed to a rack filled with T-shirts that advertised the city they were in, and wildly colored skirts. Nigel paid for two T-shirts, and they followed the man upstairs to what appeared to be his private apartment.

“You take time,” he said in broken English before he left.

Nigel looked around the sparsely furnished room. “Humble.”

“Very humble,” Justine agreed, but she didn’t care. Trappings didn’t matter too much to her. They never had. She knew that safety and contentment came from inside her, not from the things that were around her.

“Go ahead and shower,” he said.

“Um…don’t take this the wrong way, but I’d feel better if you were in there with me.”

“Now you’re talking.”

“Not for sex. Just so I can make sure you’re safe.”

Justine didn’t want to think about getting naked while Nigel was in the same room with her. The two sexual encounters she’d had as an adult had involved very little nudity, mainly just clothing pushed out of the way for the sake of intercourse.

“Lead the way,” he said.

She walked into the bathroom and checked out the small claw-foot tub. There was a small spigot suspended over the tub. It was primitive, but it would get them clean, and that was all that mattered. She put the lid down on the toilet seat and gestured to Nigel.

“There. Now you can be comfortable.”

She checked out the window and then locked the door. “Do you still have your gun?”

“Yes. Am I going to need it?”

“I hope not, but you should get it out in case you do. I have the Glock with me and a little Beretta. Do you want one of them?”

“No. I have my gun right here. I will keep us safe while you shower,” he said.

Those were words she’d never heard before. No one had ever kept her safe. She guarded everyone in her life. “I…okay.”

She took off her boots and socks, and then climbed into the tub, preparing to draw the shower curtain.

“Don’t.”

She hesitated. “What do you want?”

“Get undressed out here. Let me see you, love.”

She hesitated, as this was what she was afraid of. She didn’t know if she could do it. The longer she hesitated, the more nervous she got, and finally she just shook her head. “I don’t think I can.”

He stood up and came closer, but didn’t crowd her. The tub was behind her and there was plenty of space all around them.

“I want to see your body, Justine. Don’t you want me to see your body?”

She did and she didn’t. She was so unsure of herself, she wanted to say screw it and just grab the guns and leave.

“I’d rather see your body,” she said at last. She’d wanted something to happen between them and she’d never been a coward. Was she seriously going to start being one now?

“Fair enough,” he said. Stepping back, he unbuttoned his shirt and shrugged out of it. He dropped it on the floor at her feet. He had on T-shirt underneath his Kevlar vest. And she could see the muscles of his arms and chest defined by the cotton shirt.

“Your turn now.”

She reached for the hem of her T-shirt, and even knowing that her entire torso was covered in Kevlar, she still hesitated.

Nigel leaned over and brushed his lips over hers, soft and gentle. “You don’t have to.”

She put her hands on his face, staring up into his eyes, and realized she wanted to. She kissed him with all the passion she’d been trying to pretend she didn’t feel. Then stepped back and drew her shirt up and over her head.

Nigel skimmed his gaze over her curvy body. The black Kevlar vest against her pale skin was a nice contrast. And it fit her perfectly. She wrapped one arm around her waist, keeping her eyes on his chest.

“Okay, take off your vest.”

“Only if you kiss me first,” he said. He had the feeling this was going to be the only chance he had to make love to Justine, and he wasn’t about to waste it.

She shook her head. “You have to kiss me.”

He leaned over, careful to keep distance between their bodies. The room was light and he made sure that he didn’t crowd her. But he didn’t keep his kiss light. He thrust his tongue deep into her mouth, tasting her as deeply as he could. He ran his fingers over the edge of the vest, tracing a path between her soft skin and the tough Kevlar. He found the Velcro fastenings and undid them while his mouth was on hers.

He wanted her completely naked, and he wanted her that way right now. He finally got the vest loosened and drew it off her body, stepping back and letting the kiss end between them.

He caught her wrists before she could draw her arms over her chest again. She wore a plain cotton bra under the vest and her breasts were full—bigger than he’d expected. Her nipple was beaded against the fabric of the bra.

He reached out and lightly stroked her nipple with his fingertip. She shivered and shifted her shoulders.

“Kiss me again, Nigel.”

His name on her lips was like an aphrodisiac. It went straight to his groin, hardening him and making him impatient with the slow seduction he was trying to give her.

He brought her closer to him, wrapping one arm around her waist. “Okay?”

“Yes,” she said, leaning up on tiptoe and drawing his mouth down to hers. She rubbed her lips back and forth over his, then traced over the seam of his lips with her tongue. He opened his mouth to breathe and got a taste of her breath, and then her sweet tongue.

He felt her hands moving over him, unfastening the vest and removing it with a surety he knew he didn’t have. Then her hands slid under his T-shirt, and he was the one shuddering at the feel of her hands on his naked flesh. Her touch was electric and drove away thoughts of anything except Justine.

He caressed her back and the fragile curve of her spine, running his hands further down her back and cupping her ass, drawing her closer to him. He rubbed the tip of his erection against the junction of her thighs. She moaned and wrapped one leg around his waist, trying to lift herself onto his body.

He unfastened her bra, pulling back to draw it off her body. God, she was exquisitely made. But as he looked closer, he saw scars on her torso. There were two bullet wounds. One under her ribs, and another right above her spleen.

She had a knife wound on her one of her breasts, and a long scar that ran from under her arm around to her back.

“Sorry I’m so ugly.”

He shook his head. She wasn’t ugly. He lowered his head and traced all the scars on her body with his tongue. Worshipped those wounds she’d gathered in her life. This body was the epitome of what she was. It showed Justine as she really was. Sexy and sure and confident and wounded. A wounded warrior that he wanted to worship.

Her skin prickled under his touch, and she moaned when he got to the knife wound at her breast. He hesitated, letting his breath caress her first. She put her hands in his hair and shifted her body so that her nipple brushed his lips. He rubbed them back and forth over her distended flesh, enjoying the feel of her. He touched his tongue to her nipple and she moaned.

“Okay, love?”

“Yes,” she said her voice low and breathy. “But I need more.”

“I’m not done,” he said, before sucking her nipple into his mouth. He held it lightly with his teeth and suckled her. He felt her shifting against him as he sucked strongly on her flesh. He reached for her other breast, the one unmarred by scars, and caressed that nipple with his thumb and forefinger.

Her body arched in his arms, and he felt her hands on his head, trying to draw him away from her breasts. But he wasn’t done yet. He hadn’t tasted his fill of her breasts or her body. He wanted to stretch her out on a bed and spend hours just exploring her. But there wasn’t time for that. There was just this small bathroom with the naked lightbulb.

He kissed his way up her body from her breasts to her sternum, and then to the base of her neck, biting her lightly and sucking on the flesh. She clutched at him again. Said his name in that breathy voice one more time before he captured her lips with his and took complete control of her. He cupped her ass and drew her closer to him. Let her rock her center over his cock. He rotated his hips until he heard her moan really deep in her throat and felt her fingernails dig into his shoulders.

He knew she was on the edge of a powerful orgasm by the way she was breathing and moaning and arching toward him. He slipped one hand between their bodies, but was frustrated to find a thick belt. He couldn’t undo it one-handed, so had to settle for caressing her through her pants.

He traced a path over her zipper and knew he’d found the right spot when she grabbed his wrist and held his hand to her body. Her hips were rocking against him and she wrenched her mouth from his to cry out his name, to moan it loudly and with such passion that he knew he’d never forget it, never forget this moment in this bathroom in a small town in Peru.

His world was falling apart around him, but he’d found himself in her arms.

Justine had never experienced an orgasm before with anyone else in the room. And as Nigel held her and drew out her orgasm, she wanted to scream. She was pretty sure she might have.

She finally figured out what emotional connections were all about, because in this moment, she felt closer to Nigel then she’d ever felt to any other person. It was almost like that moment when they’d been attacked at the airport and they’d fought side by side.

She stopped shaking and felt so incredibly alive in that moment. She liked the feel of Nigel’s chest against her bare breasts. Her nipples were still hard and sensitive and as she brushed them against his warm skin, she realized she wasn’t ready for all this touching between them to stop.

“That was nice,” she said, quietly.

“I’m glad you liked it,” he said, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. “Any bad moments?”

She shook her head.

“Good. How do you feel about doing some more touching, and maybe losing those trousers?”

“I…”

He leaned down and kissed her so softly and so gently. “If you want to stop now, we can.”

“I’m not sure that I want that.”

“Then, why don’t you take off that belt?”

She looked down at the belt and realized he hadn’t unzipped her pants. She couldn’t believe she’d come that hard from him just touching her breasts and between her legs.

She looked over at him and found he was staring at her breasts. “You have an incredibly sexy body.”

“Even with the scars?”

“Hell, yes. Everything about you turns me on.”

She blushed and turned away, unfastening her belt and drawing it through the belt loops. She dropped it onto the floor and turned back to him.

Nigel had finished stripping. His body was incredible. He was solid muscle from his neck to his toes. She slowly let her gaze drift down his body. His cock was hard and strong, sticking out from his body. She reached out to touch him, starting at his neck and running her fingers over his chest. She took her time caressing his pecs and then moved lower. He had a wound on his left side. A knife wound that looked like someone had been aiming for his heart but had been knocked off target at the last second. She remembered the feel of his lips on her scars and leaned down to trace the scar with her tongue. His hands came up to her hair, resting lightly against the back of her head as she kissed the length of that scar.

His skin tasted faintly salty but smelled delicious. She had never really had the chance to explore a man’s body before. She wanted to take her time, but she knew this wasn’t the right moment for it. Yet she couldn’t rush. She took her time touching him. Experiencing the different textures of his body. The softness of his skin, the hard strength of the muscles underneath, and the springiness of the hair curling on his chest.

“I need you, love,” he said.

She looked up at his serious eyes. His erection brushed her stomach as she wrapped her arms around his body and drew them together. His skin was both warm and cool from the breeze in the room. He wrapped his arms around her and tucked his chin on the top of her head. She was completely touching him, skin to skin, and she wanted more. She needed more.

She had no idea what to do. All of her sexual encounters had taken place with her lying on her back. As she glanced around the small bathroom, she knew there was no place for that type of lovemaking.

“I want you, Nigel.”

“Good.” He bent again to kiss her and started building the passion inside her once again. His hands were on her breasts, pulling at her nipples and making her squirm, as moisture pooled between her legs. He skimmed his hands down her back and drew her up on her tiptoes. He lifted her up.

“Wrap your legs around my waist,” he said.

She did and he turned and leaned back against the bathroom wall. “Put me inside you, love. Take me.”