Cut and Run (31 page)
“I
am
on your side.”
“Why is it called the Phoenix program, anyway? Seems an odd name for some agents with premonitions,” Phoebe commented.
Scott took her hand in his. “Have you ever heard of the Stargate program?”
Lines formed on Phoebe’s forehead as she visibly searched her memory. “The name sounds vaguely familiar. But I can’t place it.”
“I remember hearing about it,” Ethan said. “Got declassified sometime in the 90s, right?”
Scott nodded. “Yes, the Stargate program was a top secret CIA program the government started in 1975. They were trying to train a select group of agents in remote viewing and extrasensory perception. However, the results were disappointing. The CIA shut it down in 1995. Sheppard was involved in Stargate. It hit him hard when it didn’t succeed.”
“But you have ESP. You have premonitions. So it must have worked,” Phoebe insisted.
“Because Sheppard made sure the program was resurrected—in secret. He made it his mission in life to find people like him, people who possessed the gift of premonitions. He knew they existed, because he found me five years before Stargate was shut down. When I turned eighteen, he used his influence to get me into the CIA training program and in secret, he created the Phoenix program with me and him as the first two agents. He called it Phoenix, because the program rose from the ashes of Stargate. He believed in this. And he was proven right. The Phoenix had a gift. And it’s real.”
“I never knew that about Sheppard,” Ethan admitted.
Scott looked at him. “He was dedicated to his work. It’s time for the Phoenix to rise again.”
Ethan smiled. “Where do we start?”
“We’ll have to monitor the news. We know our enemy is doing the same. That’s how whoever hired the assassin must have been alerted to me. We have to be faster than he is.”
Ethan nodded. “We know what we’re looking for. We know how the others think, how they were trained. You of all people can run this. That’s why Sheppard gave you that list. He wanted you to take over should anything happen to him. He wanted the program to survive. I think we owe him that.”
“This time nobody will be able to stop us,” Scott prophesized. “Because this time we’ll work together, not in isolation. That was the only flaw in Sheppard’s thinking. He kept us separate from each other, thinking we’d be too powerful if we worked together.”
But together they could prevent the impending disaster that both Scott and Ethan had seen in their visions, and fulfill their destiny.
24
Phoebe watched as Scott entered the bedroom, his hair still damp from the shower. He wore pajama bottoms, but no top. The sight of his virile body made her feel better instantly. The anxiety caused by her ordeal at the hands of an assassin was finally seeping from her and making way for more pleasant sensations. She was safe now. Safe with Scott, and because of him.
“You tired?” His rich melodic voice sank deep into her body as he walked to the bed.
She shook her head. “Not that tired.” She pushed the duvet lower, exposing her naked torso.
Scott’s lips curved upward, turning into a smile. “I’d hoped for that.” He loosened the knot that held his pajama pants up and let them drop to the floor.
Instantly Phoebe feasted her eyes on his nakedness. His cock hung heavy between his legs, thick and long…and rising with every step he made toward her.
When he lifted the duvet and slid underneath it, her mouth went dry. It felt like an eternity since he’d made love to her, and only now did she realize the extent of her need to feel him inside her. But this would have to wait for a few minutes, until she’d said what was on her mind.
Scott reached for her.
Before her courage could desert her, she said, “I’ve decided to move in with you.”
Scott froze in his movement. “Phoebe—”
“No, please hear me out,” she interrupted him and clamped her hand around his wrist. “About what I said to you and Ethan today, I meant it. I can help you. I know how to get the news before the general public does. I have contacts. I can find out stuff that you and Ethan won’t have access to. Please!”
He sighed. “Phoebe…”
“You need me. And you know as well as I do that I can’t go back to my old life. Whoever sent the assassin will send somebody else, and then they’ll force me to give up your hiding place. And I can’t stand much pain. I’m going to crack. That’s why I’ll to have to live with you.”
A chuckle broke from Scott’s lips.
Surprised, she glared at him. “What’s so funny about that?”
“You, making a case for why you want to live with me.”
“But those are all valid reasons.”
He shook his head. “There’s only one valid reason why I’d let you move in with me.” He freed his wrist from her grip and slid his hand to her nape, pulling her face closer to his. “So, are you gonna give me the right reason, or do I have to torture it out of you?”
Her eyes searched his, and her mind went blank. One valid reason? What was he talking about?
“Phoebe, I’m waiting.” There was no menace in his voice. Rather, he sounded amused.
“I…I…I’m thinking.” Still, her mind remained blank. Maybe she didn’t do as well under pressure as she’d previously thought.
“Oh, Phoebe, is it really that hard? Maybe I should tell you the reason why I was going to ask you tonight if you wanted to stay with me.”
“
You
wanted to ask
me
?”
“Yeah, but I guess your mouth works a little faster than mine. I suppose since you’re a reporter, that’s to be expected.” He chuckled. “Though it seems you’re a little tongue-tied right now. Maybe I should use this opportunity to say what I have to say.” He stroked her jaw with his thumb. “I’ve fallen in love with you, Phoebe. I don’t know how it happened, but it did. When I saw the assassin’s hands around your neck, it felt like he was choking me instead of you. I never want to feel like that again. You see, that’s why you need to move in with me. Because I can’t live not knowing whether you’re safe. And the only way to make sure you are is to have you by my side.”
Her mouth dropped open and her eyes welled up with tears. Scott loved her.
“So, how about you tell me now why you really want to move in with me, hmm?” he murmured, his breath ghosting over her lips. “Preferably before I throw you under me and make love to you all night.”
“I love you.” The words suddenly burst from her.
“Now was that so hard?”
Scott’s lips descended on hers and robbed her of her breath. His mouth was warm and his tongue demanding as he kissed her. His hands on her skin wiped away the last of her tiredness, arousing her body and her mind.
He pressed her into the sheets, and she welcomed his warm and hard body and let herself fall. His hands explored her, caressed her heated skin, touched her naked breasts and squeezed them gently, almost reverently. As if he worshipped her. She wrapped her arms around him and slid her hand to his nape, caressing him there.
Phoebe greeted the visible shiver that raced over his back with female satisfaction. She clearly wasn’t the only one who was out of control.
Scott drew his head back and looked at her. “I need you, baby.”
Phoebe felt a smile tug at her lips. “You have me, body and soul.”
Lust and passion shone from his eyes. “Then you won’t mind if I take what I need, will you?” His hand moved down her front and slid between her legs, cupping her sex.
Her breath hitched, and she licked her lips. “Anything you want.”
“Anything?” The glint in his eyes turned wicked.
Her heart rate increased. She laid her hand over his and pressed against one of his fingers, pushing it into her. Her back arched away from the mattress as she felt the invasion. Slowly, Scott began to thrust his finger in and out of her.
“I take that as a yes.”
Phoebe hummed her acquiescence and closed her eyes, luxuriating in his touch. But her pleasure was short-lived when he suddenly pulled his finger from her. Before she could protest, he’d rolled her onto her stomach. A moment later, his hand was back between her legs, and he was bathing his fingers in her wetness.
Instinctively, she spread her legs, and he slipped into the space she’d made for him. Then his hands gripped her hips and he pulled her onto her knees, so her backside pointed up. She should feel exposed in this position, vulnerable, but all she could think of was having Scott inside her. She braced herself on her elbows.
“I’m sorry there won’t be any foreplay tonight, Phoebe. But if I don’t take you now, I’m going to burst. You understand that, don’t you?”
Already she felt the tip of his cock at her sex. Then he plunged into her without preamble, seating himself to the hilt. The power of the impact made her lose her balance and drop her face into the pillow. Her surprised gasp was swallowed by it before she was able to lift her head again.
The contact of flesh on flesh felt intoxicating. She’d never experienced a thrill like this, and she instantly realized why: Scott wasn’t using a condom. But before she could react, he was thrusting harder and faster, extinguishing any sane thought from her mind. Moans came over her lips, sounds of pleasure she couldn’t keep inside her, then his name.
“Scott! Oh God!”
Her words seemed to spur him on even more. His heavy breathing filled the room, and his moans and grunts bounced off the walls. His cock was iron-hard and relentless. And impossible to resist. Scott had never been so wild before. Passionate, yes, but not so out of control. Instinctively she knew why: they’d faced death together and triumphed, but the narrow escape from danger had made them both realize how precious life was.
Phoebe welcomed Scott’s wildness. It felt as if he wanted to imprint himself on her, to leave his mark, to brand her. As if to show the world she was his, and anybody who hurt her would be dealt with swiftly, and with deadly force.
As she moved in sync with him, she felt their emotional connection too. This was no frantic fucking, no mindless coupling, but a melding of body and soul. Despite the apparent dominance in the position Scott had chosen, she didn’t feel subservient or weak. She felt like an equal partner, one who could drive her man wild with desire.
“Oh fuck, Phoebe!” he groaned between hard thrusts. “I’m coming!”
Scott took one hand off her hip and slipped it to her front, bringing it to her sex, moistening his fingers. Then he rubbed over her clit while he continued to thrust into her from behind.
“Come with me, baby!”
With more pressure his finger continued to rub over her center of pleasure, adding to the pleasure she gained from his thrusting cock. Her heartbeat accelerated and she panted, her body preparing itself now, knowing what was coming. She tensed. A moment later, a wave of pleasure washed over her and a moan burst over her lips.
Behind her, Scott groaned and his cock suddenly jerked inside her. She felt the warm spray of his semen fill her and his thrusts slow until he finally stilled, before he collapsed and rolled off her. Immediately, he pulled her to him, cradling her against his heaving chest, nuzzling his face in the crook of her neck.
“Oh God, Phoebe, that was amazing.”
She sighed contentedly and squeezed his hand, but there was something that concerned her nevertheless. “Scott, we didn’t use a condom.”
“Yeah, about that.” He hesitated. “I had another premonition.”
Instantly alarmed, Phoebe turned her head and pinned him with her eyes. Was he trying to tell her that an assassin would get her in the end, and that’s why there was no need to be concerned about a pregnancy? Her heart raced uncontrollably. “About what?”
“Our future…our family.”
“Our family?”
Scott moved his head to bring his lips to hover over hers. “I saw a little boy on a sleigh. I was giving him a push down a hill, and you were waiting for him at the bottom of it. You looked a few years older than now, and your winter coat was showing a big bump. You were pregnant again.” He rubbed his palm over her flat stomach.
Relief and surprise collided inside her. She would live? And she and Scott would have children together? A future? A home? Overwhelmed by this news, she couldn’t utter a single word.
Scott pressed his still semi-erect cock against her and grinned. “So why don’t we continue practicing now?”
Phoebe stroked his thigh, before slipping her hand onto his cock, making him hiss in a breath. “Yeah, why don’t we?”
~ ~ ~
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SPRING 2015
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