Deep Rising (An Outside the Lines Novel) (Entangled Select) (15 page)

Her smile was slow, and tremulous, and beautiful. “Yes, Jared.” In the breadth of a heartbeat, he got to his feet, lifted her into his arms, and pressed her against the wall. He groaned as her arms and legs wrapped around him, and he kissed her with all the pent-up passion he’d struggled to contain since the first time he had seen her on this very porch. The scent of her skin and hair, that familiar floral scent that heated his blood every time, the feel of her curvaceous body pushing against his, demanded he offer more of himself and take all she had to give. Her hands fisted in his hair, and she clasped his face, mercilessly teasing him with her lips and tongue.

There was something fitting in consummating his desire in the place where it had first sparked. There was something “fitting” about Lana. It surpassed her looks and grit. She felt like home.

He drew back, drew a breath.

She laughed. “We don’t really know each other.”

He begged to differ. People didn’t surmount the difficulties they had without working together. People didn’t connect the way they had in spite of all the obstacles stacked against them. They knew each other better than they realized. Of that, he had no doubt.

“What happens when the adrenaline wears off?”

She consumed him, body, mind, and spirit.

Jared smiled. “It won’t.”

…

“Your leg,” she protested.

“It’ll hold. Your room or mine?”

“Doesn’t matter.”

He shouldered the door to her bedroom. His tongue did something crazy against hers and she groaned until he did it again. If he kept kissing her like that, they wouldn’t make it to the bed.

With her legs hooked around his waist, she rose up and down, grinding against him in her efforts to get closer. “Jared.”

He caught her by the hair and slipped his tongue back into her mouth.

She tugged at his shirt.

“Wait, darlin’. Watch your arm.” He set her on the bed. “Let me undress you.”

She sank against the pillows. He towered above her, eyes narrowed, mouth tight. He was primed for sex, but he didn’t move toward her. He just stood there, staring.

“What are you waiting for?” She grabbed the bottom of her sweater.

His hands clamped on her wrists. “I’ve wanted you for a while. I don’t want to rush. I plan to savor.”

Her mind reeled at the thought, and her body melted at the possibilities. His words sparked a low burn in her body and it throbbed in time with her beating heart.

He took his time. Removed her boots, her socks. His hands rubbed along her sides, inching up her sweater. He bent and kissed beside her navel.

“I feel like I’m unwrapping a present,” he muttered against her stomach. “Do you have any idea how good your skin smells?”

No. But she knew he generated some pretty fabulous pheromones of his own. They seeped from his neck, making her want to bury her face in his throat and lick his skin.

Mindful of her bandaged arm, Jared carefully peeled off her knit sweater. He traced her bra, lingering over the hardened peaks that pushed against the lace.

“Touch me,” she pleaded. But he kept his touch a teasing caress, his pace agonizingly slow.

His palms molded completely around her breasts and he plucked at her nipples.

Lana groaned and nearly arched off the bed.

“You’re so friggin’ hot,” he muttered. “And I’ve barely begun.”

He leaned over her and something hard and long within his jeans pressed against her side. She needed to touch him. To rip off his clothes and drag his body atop hers. She grabbed his hips.

He smirked. “I like that you’re anxious.”

“Good.” She hooked his jeans and tugged him closer. “That cocky smile used to annoy me,” she admitted.

“And now?”

“I find it adorable.”

He kissed her shoulder, nibbled along her collarbone to her throat.

“Lose the clothes, Jared.”

He smiled against her neck. “A gentleman never rushes a lady.” His teeth scored her earlobe. Heat speared through her system.

“Jared.”

“Even if I were in the mood to take you fast, you’re hurt, darlin’.”

Lana didn’t want to think about her injuries or his. Right now, she was so high on pleasure she didn’t feel any aches or pains. “I need to touch you.”

He shook his head. “You first. I want to relish every inch.”

Unsnapping her jeans, Jared tugged the fabric down her legs. A couple of contusions marred her thighs, but they’d diminished to faded yellow bruises. He kissed them. She should’ve known he’d infuse tenderness with heat. She should’ve recognized from the start that this man threatened her on every level.

He kept his injured leg straight as he sprawled at the foot of the bed. Bending over her, he ran his hands along her feet to her ankles, up her calves to the sensitive flesh behind her knees.

Her eyes slid shut and she moaned.

His touch stimulated every nerve. The insistent stroke of his hands, rising along her legs to the very junction of her thighs before retreating, caused Lana to lose all patience.

“Touch me,” she demanded.

His fingers danced over her skin, inching so close and then abruptly withdrawing. With each maddening ascent he drew closer, and she grabbed for him, wanting to touch him, hold him, kiss him.

He leaned over her body, fusing their mouths, giving her his tongue. He kissed her hard, his mouth hot and possessive. His lips shuddered against hers, no, his whole body trembled, and she wanted to believe he was as vulnerable to this turbulent onslaught as she.

He gasped for air, buried his head in her neck. She dug her fingertips into his shoulders, along his strong back. “Take off your shirt.”

Buttons popped as he dragged it over his head.

She traced the muscled perfection of his chest and abdomen. She’d witnessed firsthand his strength, but his lean body was a phenomenon of masculine design. Her palms kneaded at his chest. She teased the tiny disks of his nipples. He moaned, bringing his hands to her breasts.

Lana arched into his palms.

“Yes,” she breathed, feeling him push aside her bra to stroke her. He grazed her nipples and she could’ve screamed at the acute pleasure.

It had been so long. Her body knew where it was headed, and it wanted to get there
now
.

She grabbed his waist, lifted her hips against his.

“Lana,” he muttered against her neck. “Careful of your arm.”

Lana ignored his warnings. She wanted to feel him, to sample each and every inch of his body. It established a primitive need, an all-encompassing desire driving her past the point of reason, compelling her to devour this man until they became one, joined, and the madness found some repletion.

She raked her nails down Jared’s back while he kissed her neck. With both hands he held her breasts, rasping his thumbs and then his tongue over her nipples.

She writhed beneath him. “Please,” she murmured.

His answer was a throaty chuckle.

This slowness in him was as ingrained as his Southern style. It lay concealed in his speech, in every unhurried caress, in this leisurely exploration of her body.

Right now, she wanted him fast and hard and deep.

She brought her hands to his shoulders, tugging to draw his mouth back to hers. The motion jarred her shoulder, reminding her to go slowly, if not for the torturous ecstasy of it, then at least to spare her still-recuperating arm.

She nipped at his lower lip. He’d shaved that morning, and she ran her lips along his smooth jaw before targeting his sexy mouth. She used her tongue and lips and every artful technique she knew to incite his passion.

Jared pulled back. “If you’d kissed me like that on the beach, we never would’ve made it to the boat.”

Through everything they had been subjected to he’d adhered to her side. A man in his position could have used or abused her in any number of ways. And whereas Jared’s every instinct must have compelled him to hurt her, he’d protected her instead.

“I want to take care of you, Lana,” he whispered.

Yeah, she had no doubt he’d take care of her in bed. They’d barely gotten under way and she already strained toward an orgasm. But his care extended beyond this act and this room. It enveloped who he was and how he’d stayed by her side, tenderly nursing her back to health. And in those first days, when they’d clashed at every turn, he’d still been more lenient and caring with her than another person in his position would’ve been. And it had cost him. She understood that now. She also recognized why she had felt drawn to him. He was steady. The type of man who’d stand by her side no matter the consequences.

She kissed him again, telling Jared with her body what she could not express with words.

His fingers streaked down, finding the satin cloth of her panties and removing them. His palm molded, pressed. He touched her again and again, making her climax with the slow, circling movements of his fingers. She reveled in the exquisite sensation of her body coming alive.

“It’s never been like this,” she whispered.

“Not for me either,” he agreed.

Then finally, gloriously, they were joined, one, complete.

Chapter Eighteen

“Can you imagine how it’ll be when we’re both healed?”

Lana chuckled. “I might not survive.”

Side by side, hands intertwined, they gazed at the ceiling.

“Would you mind moving?”

Lana shifted away from him. “I’m sorry. You should’ve said something sooner.”

Jared chuckled. “My leg’s fine. I meant moving from Washington. I need to see to my nieces and nephew.”

“I work three months on, and roughly three months off. Depending on the demands for monitoring. I’ve actually been thinking about applying for a data position or maybe even returning to the classroom.”

“You’d make a wonderful professor.” He brought her hand to his mouth and kissed her fingers. “I know it’s abrupt and I know this probably isn’t what you were envisioning—”

“Jared, no one plans for a CIA operative to arrive on their doorstep or to participate in a black ops mission to protect the world as we know it.”

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Jared asked. “I know you didn’t sign up for an instant family and an ex-CIA agent who’ll probably never acclimate to civilian life.”

Wow, it really was all or nothing with this man.
When he made up his mind, he was in, 100 percent. Funny, but she was the one a little slower on the uptake this time around. Her mind would catch up. Being with him just felt…right. “My life hasn’t been the same since you entered it.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Lana rolled on her side and placed her hand over his heart. “We accomplished something magnificent. We did more good for this planet, for millions of people, than I ever believed I could accomplish.”

“No one will ever know, though. We can’t tell.”

Yeah, she’d all but signed her life away while in the hospital with forms and disclaimers. Her debriefing had been very specific: stay silent and deny all involvement.

“No regrets?”

“Not for any of it.” She reflected on the tempestuous events leading to the most deeply moving sexual experience of her life. A connection had forged between them. She didn’t know how long they would traverse the same path, and it didn’t matter. In this moment, everything was as it should be. She smiled at Jared. “This works. Doesn’t it?”

“Yes. We suit.”

He didn’t say anything more and she didn’t press. Strong relationships, the lasting ones, didn’t flourish overnight.

“What’s the ranch like?” she asked him.

“Sprawling, rugged. Raising and breaking horses isn’t an easy livelihood, but we’ll have a big check from the Company to fall back on. I’ve always dreamed of raising thoroughbreds. Now that I have the time and finances, I reckon I’ll give it a try. You don’t have to work unless you choose to.”

She’d mentioned wanting to settle down and have a family, but that didn’t mean she was looking to sit idle or settle into some Suzy Homemaker role.

He acted like they’d reached some foregone conclusion and she’d stay indefinitely. But he conveniently neglected to talk about love or marriage. It was just as well, Lana decided. She wasn’t ready to discuss them.

Struggling to adjust to the incredible highs and lows of her experiences with Jared, Lana battled for control of her thoughts. Perhaps everything stemmed from some latent stress response or a misconstrued attachment to danger—for both of them. Time would tell. She let go of his hand and studied her palms. Scarred ridges marked where the rope had torn her hands.

“That situation in Guatemala shook you up more than anything we encountered in Hawaii?”

His voice dragged her back. “When I was in Guatemala, I thought I was going to die. It was horrifying. I think that’s why when I got shot in Kilauea it didn’t affect me so much. Not to say I wasn’t terrified both times. I’m not cut out for combat. It just isn’t me. I hate to think of anyone risking their life.”

“Darling, you are sneaky!” he mumbled. “I already told you, I’m out. I have a couple of loose ends to tie up, but then it’s over.”

“What loose ends?” she asked, rising on her elbow.

“Something’s been bothering me since the tube at Thurston.”

She’d had her doubts about that too… “Let me guess, because my brother wasn’t surprised to see me?”

He nodded. “At the time I dismissed it, because, well, no offense, the man’s crazy.”

“None taken.”

“But then I started thinking about his reaction to you, and the way the SEALs were slow to arrive. And how the terrorists had managed to kill an entire team before we got there. Military operations are meticulously orchestrated, Lana. And at this level, we’re only working with the best operators in the field. You being in that tube should’ve given your brother at least a moment’s pause.”

“But it didn’t. It almost seemed like he expected me.”

“Yes.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I need to go to Langley, to speak with my boss face-to-face. If there’s a leak, he needs to know about it. Going back to when we lost our trail on The Wolf and were unable to pick up Sergei’s when he first bought the bombs—that never sat well with me. At the time it seemed coincidental, but I’m beginning to think someone on the inside has been playing us from the start.”

“That’s a frightening thought.”

“It sure is.”

Lana shuddered.

“I know just the thing to take your mind off conspiracy theories,” Jared whispered, rolling atop her. He froze abruptly, groaned, and dropped back onto the bed.

“Leg throbbing?” she guessed.

“Like someone took a sledgehammer to it.”

“Do you want one of the painkillers the doctor prescribed?”

“No.”

“You can relax around me. I won’t think you’re less of a man for taking something to dull the pain.”

“Less of a man?” He grabbed her hips and lifted her astride him.

Lana gasped. “You’re all man, Jared.” She lowered her voice, her head, and kissed him softly. “More than I ever dreamed.”

She set out to show him the kind of woman she was.

…

Later, much later, when the sheets were a bit more rumpled and their passion had been sated for a third time, Jared drew Lana against his chest and stroked his fingers along her spine. He traced each vertebra, running his hand along the smooth skin of her back. He meant what he’d said about them suiting. She was perfect, this woman, perfect for him. He’d been around the world, lain with too many women to count. With Lana, he had found something rare.

Glancing at the clock, he noted the time, half past two in the morning. Lana slept with her head in the crook of his arm and her leg thrown over his. The pressure of her leg resting on his thigh had awakened him, and now, as minutes passed, thoughts of their future plagued him, preventing him from obtaining some much-needed rest.

He needed to tie up the situation—all aspects of it. Get to the bottom of it quickly before someone else got hurt. Then, he’d hightail it out of Dodge before they could drag him back into the trenches. He’d completed his job, accomplishing enough good deeds for his country and mankind to cover him for three lifetimes. He deserved a break, a change, a chance at happiness and that house on the hill with the two and a half kids, dog, and white picket fence… He deserved it more than most.

An odd noise echoed outside the bedroom window. The call was probably intended to sound like an owl, but the garbled noise bore no semblance to any bird he had ever heard. Hell, it sounded like the call he’d use as a kid in a backwoods version of tag. The call echoed again. Closer.

Jared slipped from the bed and bent to his discarded pants. He claimed the gun he kept clipped to his belt. He pulled the sheet over Lana, obscuring her from view. He silently cocked the weapon and stalked through the house.

A blur of movement caught his eye.

They were already inside!

Jared fired automatically, killing the first man. Carefully passing into the kitchen, he scanned the porch and sitting area.

A second man materialized in the doorway before slipping into Lana’s room.

Moving silently through the den, Jared tackled the man before the assassin could squeeze off a shot. He spun on the floor and knocked away his opponent’s weapon with a sharp kick. Another kick snapped the man’s knee, but the stocky prowler scrambled to his feet and Jared had to tackle him once again. They collapsed on the hard floor and Jared pummeled the man, punching and kicking with more fury than form.

The man struck out, landing a solid blow to Jared’s chin. Jared captured the man’s wrist and bent it backward, snapping it like tinder. The man shrieked, releasing a high-pitched wail.

“Please,” he begged.

Yeah, like he’d have clemency for the man sent to kill him.

“Let me go!”

“Shut up!” Jared growled. He dragged the man into the living room and commenced with beating the intruder into submission.

“Who are you?” Jared yelled as he subdued the assailant.

The stout, shaggy-haired man didn’t respond. His eyes rolled back in their sockets and his skin flushed. The man wavered on the edge of consciousness.

Jared slapped him across the face and repeated his question. He bent the man’s wrist until the defeated man whimpered.

“Who sent you?” Jared shouted.

“J-Jared?” Lana cringed at the entrance of the room, the bedsheet barely wrapped around her. But her hands were steady as she leveled his spare Glock at the intruder. “Go and dress,” he told her. She didn’t need to see this. “Hurry, now.”

“What about you?”

“Grab my gun and place it on the floor behind me. Keep your weapon within reach while you change.”

The moment she left the living room, Jared grabbed the man by the throat and squeezed.

“No. P-please, no.”

“Tell me who sent you.”

“Can’t.”

With eyes bulging and mouth agape, the man remained unforthcoming. Jared recognized that no amount of torture would break the man’s silence.

Jared considered knocking the man unconscious, but the assassin had intended to kill him. To kill Lana.

“Mercy,” the man pleaded.

Jared had none.

After lowering the lifeless body completely to the ground, he waited a moment to determine if he’d face another attacker. Nothing stirred.

A cursory search of the man’s pockets yielded nothing. No wallet. No ID.

Taking his gun from the position behind him where Lana had placed it, Jared swept the cabin. His reconnaissance didn’t yield any more assassins. If someone wanted them dead, they should’ve been killed weeks ago when they first came home from the hospital. But the hit hadn’t come until he spoke to Gordon and only after he and Lana had discussed the possibility of Sergei expecting them, which meant bugs had most likely been planted in Lana’s cabin. A leak existed in the Company, or this comprised one hell of a fluke.

Coincidence, my ass. There was a mole.

Lana rushed to his side, her gaze riveted to the dead man. The first assailant lay only a dozen feet away from his comrade. “Are there more?”

“I don’t know.” Jared exchanged the gun for the sweater she offered. He hastily dressed and reclaimed his weapon. “There isn’t anyone else in the house but that isn’t to say there aren’t more assassins outside. Wait here. I need to check the area before we can escape.”

“I’ll go with you.”

He shook his head. “Too dangerous. Stay inside. I’d kill myself if I shot you by mistake.”

“Okay. I’ll wait.”

“I’ll knock four times. If anything else moves—shoot it.”

She nodded, a little numbly, but he knew she would adhere to his instructions.

Wasting no more time, Jared slipped onto the back porch. Keeping to the shadows, he ducked behind the cast-iron stove. If the assailants thought to use infrared goggles, the heat signature from the stove would obscure his image.

He didn’t think anyone else waited outside. They would’ve rushed the cabin with more men, especially after the gunshots, at which point they had to recognize their cover was blown because both assassins had carried guns equipped with suppressors.

Jared mimicked the garbled owl’s call that had initially sparked his suspicions as he slipped from the cabin. No response. He cupped his hands around his mouth, called again.

Nothing.

Feeling a bit more confident, Jared raced down the steps and slipped into the trees. The cast on his leg dramatically hindered his movements, making it difficult to run freely. The awkward plaster forced him to swing his leg around with each step.

Once within the relative safety of the trees, he circled the cabin. The hit men must have elected to come in on foot because he failed to locate any cars or helicopters. Their ambush indicated a measure of desperation. It suggested haste, ill planning. Again, the suspicious circumstances forced him to consider a security breach. Why else would they suddenly become targets? The level of vulnerability they had endured while in Hawaii would’ve enabled the rankest amateur to complete a successful hit.

Circling the cabin, he saw two sets of footprints in the snow. He followed their trail through the woods and onto the gravel-lined driveway. The footprints crisscrossed, making it impossible to know which path they’d selected, but he saw Lana’s truck and he considered the possibility that the bastards had tampered with it.

He crouched and rolled beneath the Cherokee’s underbelly. Running his fingers along the brake line, he noted secure hosing. No incendiary devices attached. No bricks of C-4 or bundles of dynamite. He checked along both doors, no wires.

They had either neglected to rig the truck or had not been prepared to.

He would have constructed a pipe bomb and attached it to the heating vent beneath the hood. If the orders to assassinate the people within the cabin passed on to him, Jared would not have overlooked this obvious precaution.

He took the front steps, knocked four times on the door.

The door creaked. A gun greeted him first, with Lana standing to the far side, out of view. A quick glimpse, and then she ripped the door open. He grinned.

“You’re a quick study, aren’t you, honey?” He kissed her quickly. “We’re safe for now. But we need to go. Ready?”

She handed him the keys to the Jeep and a heavy parka. She stepped outside and slammed the cabin door behind her.