Extrasensory (37 page)

Dan knew the man would be a long time recovering from this but he also knew how to help him. “Right now,” Dan interrupted, “what you need is a good attorney who can help you wade through all the contracts for Oscar and make sure the company’s on solid footing. He’ll bring in a good forensic accountant too, just to make sure all the change is in the right place.”

“You know someone like that?” Chase’s skepticism was obvious but he couldn’t keep the note of hope from his voice.

Dan nodded. “Phoenix uses him a lot. I called him on our way back from Galveston. My brother Ed is picking him up in DC in the morning and flying him here to meet with you. He’s cleared his calendar and can spend at least two weeks with you.

He’ll be here about noon.”

Chase was stunned. “How the hell did you get him to do that?”

“Let’s just say he owes me a favor or two. And he’ll be able to help you rebuild your executive team. Listen to him. He knows what he’s talking about.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

“This is where you man up, tiger,” Dan told him. “You’ve got a great reputation and a valuable new commodity. Don’t let that go to waste.”

“I guess you’re right,” Chase admitted. Then one corner of his mouth turned up in a hesitant smile. “But listen. Tell Mia thanks for everything. She’s the one who started this or I’d never have known anything was going to happen. I’m sorry I gave her such a hard time but she’s made a real believer out of me now.”

“I’ll do that. She’ll be happy to hear it.”

“And thank you, all of you, for what you did. For what you’re doing. I just… I can’t…” He couldn’t finish.

Dan cleared his throat. “All right. Here’s what I think. You need to call everyone into that big hall and give them a pep talk. We’ll be right with you. Assure them the company is stronger than ever, especially with all those requests I see in that pile to discuss Oscar. Then go back to the hotel with Rick. Have a good dinner and a bunch of drinks. We’ll send someone to clean out Joy’s stuff so you won’t have to take care of it.

And tomorrow, we’ll start a new day. I’ll make my calls to get everyone here as soon as we’re done.”

After the general meeting, which went very well, Dan watched as Rick led an unresisting Chase to his vehicle. Mike had flown back to the airport. He’d hang around another day to see if he was needed, then head back to Baltimore.

Finally Dan looked at Mark. “You, my friend, can go pick up your wife because I plan to spend the night at the hospital again. And as soon as Mia can be moved, I’m taking her to the cabin in Maine. You might think of bringing Faith up there after a while. I have a proposal for the two women.”

“Care to give me a hint?”

“Nope. I want to firm it up in my mind first. Meanwhile I need to go show Mia I’m in one piece.”

* * * * *

Although it was June, the weather in Maine still had a chill cutting through it. That didn’t deter the Phoenix partners from using the cabin that was their retreat. Perched on the edge of a bluff, isolated from everything except by air and a long, serpentine road, it was a place where they recharged their batteries and planned the most secret of their missions. This was the place where Rick Latrobe’s brother, a sniper in Mark Halloran’s former Special Ops unit, had been hidden away to recover from a blown mission.

Mia’s recovery had been long and painful. Dan took himself out of the agency loop completely while she was still in the hospital, staying there day and night. A happily married friend had once told him when he finally lost his heart he’d lose it completely and never want it back. That friend was right.

When she was released from the hospital, he moved into her house with her and oversaw every minute of her physical rehab. She’d always have scars to remind them of the disaster but Dan paid careful homage to them with his lips when at last they were able to make love again.

A week ago the doctors and therapists had signed off on her final papers. Now, with the Carpenter Techtronics disaster well behind them and Mia mending beautifully, Dan had commandeered the cabin for a week of rest and relaxation. Mark and Faith would arrive later that afternoon.

At the moment the two of them were laying in bed, naked, a condition that Mia had finally had to tease him into.

“I still think it’s too soon for any kind of physical activity,” Dan said for the tenth time.

Mia grinned at him. “The doctor said mild activity. And it’s certainly been mild so far.”

“I don’t want to do anything to hurt you,” he protested.

“It will hurt me a lot more if I have to lie here like this much longer without something happening.”

For two days Dan had treated her as if she was made of spun glass, hardly daring to kiss her, much less touch her anyplace else. By this afternoon she’d decided if she didn’t take matters into her own hands, nothing was going to happen anytime soon.

When he sent her into the bedroom to take a nap, she’d waited ten minutes then called out that she needed help.

If only she’d had a camera to capture the look on his face when he walked in and she was lying on the sheets stark naked.

“Mia.” He swallowed visibly and clenched his fists. “You need to cover yourself up before you take a cold.”

“What I need,” she told him in a voice as sultry as she could make it, “is for you to come over here and reassure me that I’m still a living breathing woman and not an invalid.” She patted the bed next to her. “And right now.”

“Sweetheart, I don’t—”

“Dante Romeo, if you don’t get over here right now you may never get in this bed again. I’m tired of being treated like I’ll break any minute. I may not be up to any swinging chandelier calisthenics but some slow, quiet sex would do us both a lot of good.”

She’d amazed herself at her boldness, but she knew they had to get past this. She’d managed to coax him out of his clothes, salivating at the golden sight of him, and entice him onto the bed with her. But she could tell he was still holding back.

Mia maneuvered herself onto her side and trailed her fingers along one muscular thigh, fingertips dancing over the skin until she reached his cock. His mind might be holding him back, but his body was in a state of total readiness. His cock was rock-hard, the vein that wrapped around it pulsing with the heavy beat of his heart. The bead of fluid that sat on the slit told her just how close to orgasm he really was.

Teasingly she spread the viscous fluid across the velvet-smooth head with her thumb, watching his face darken with passion as she did so.

His big, warm hand stroked her back, fingers tracing her spine before dropping to the curve of her buttocks and then gently into the warm crevice.

“Just as soon as you’re in fighting shape,” he said in a voice like warm honey, “I’m going to fuck you here. Something tells me I’ll be the first.” His words sent shivers skittering over her skin and something dark rising from deep within her. She squeezed her thighs together against the increased throbbing and the fresh spate of her liquid.

He rolled toward her. “I’m right, aren’t I?” His other hand moved up to cup her cheeks, his warm breath like a soft breeze.

“Y-Yes.”

“Would you like that?” His thumb brushed over her bottom lip, stroking it lightly.

“Answer me, Mia. I can see it in your eyes.”

She ducked her head. “Yes.” She could barely get the word out. “I’d like that.” His probing fingers touched the tiny, tight brown hole and pressed lightly. Just once. “Soon, sweetheart.” His grin was hungry. “Keep that in mind.”

“I can tell what thinking about it’s doing to you,” she said with a throaty laugh. His cock had hardened and flexed in her grip.

“You, too.” He moved his hand to probe between her thighs, finding the wet swollen flesh of her cunt. Sliding one finger inside.

“I want you,” she told him.

“Then let’s see what we can do without putting you at risk.” He rolled her onto her back and knelt between her thighs, his eyes drinking in the sight of her wet folds. With gentle fingers he opened her labia, bent his head and took a slow, thorough lap. Mia felt lightning zap her, from her womb to her breasts and moaned softly.

“You like that, sweetheart? So do I. You taste like heaven. I could eat you like ice cream.”

And he proceeded to do just that, using his tongue to lick at every surface, rasp against her clit and thrust inside her quivering channel. It seemed like forever since they’d last made love and the residual pain from her injuries faded beneath the heat he generated in her body. The more he licked the hotter she got until her skin felt too tight and her breasts ached.

“Oh, please,” she begged. “Please, Dan.”

“Let’s make this work.” His own breathing was none too steady.

He reached into the nightstand drawer and fished out one of the condoms he’d stored there—”just in case”, he’d said at the time. It only took him seconds to roll the latex on. Then he pulled the pillows this way and that until he was sure Mia was properly cushioned before kneeling between her thighs. He braced himself on his hands as the head of his shaft probed at the entrance to her pussy.

Very slowly he inched his way inside her, each slow glide setting off fireworks that rocketed through her, until he was all the way in, the head of his cock bumping the mouth of her womb.

“Here we go,” he said, his gaze holding hers.

And with slow, steady strokes he moved in and out of her, watching her carefully as he increased his pace. Impatient, she wrapped her legs around him and pulled him more tightly against her, raising her hips to meet him thrust for thrust.

It seemed forever that his cock slid in and out, stretching her, stimulating all those tiny little nerves in the wall of her pussy. And little by little the coil of need and desire wound so tightly deep inside her began to unwind, moving higher and higher. She’d thought she wanted it hard and fast, but this was even better, stretching out the voluptuous feeling that roused every one of her senses.

It went on and on, stretching her on an unbelievable rack of pleasure. His eyes darkened until they were as black as onyx, lit only by the fire of passion burning deep inside him.

When he tensed Mia knew he was close, as close as she was, and silently she signaled him to increase the pace. By that time she was so close that it took only seconds before she convulsed with her orgasm, taking him with her. They shuddered together, gripped by the release of an incredible need.

When they were spent he rolled to the side, taking her with him, and she knew he didn’t want to risk his weight on top of her. She tucked her head against his shoulder and pressed her palm against his chest, feeling his heart beat the same erratic tattoo as hers. Listening to him gasp for breath as she was doing.

And then finally they were both quiet.

“I never thought it possible to love someone this much,” he said at last, fingers threading through her hair.

“Me, either.” She sighed. “To think all of this started with just a vision.” He chuckled. “Both of them.”

Realizing what he meant she felt herself blush and buried her head against his chest.

“It’s okay, sweetheart. “I just hope the real thing was as good for you.”

“Better.” She raised her face for his kiss.

* * * * *

Faith and Mark arrived late in the afternoon, bringing lobsters for dinner.

“I can’t believe you’ve been in Maine for three days and Dan hasn’t taken you to eat what the state’s famous for,” Faith teased.

Mark brought agency news with him. There were several corporate security contracts pending plus four new covert missions for the government. Rick was busy sorting them out and prioritizing, putting the teams together and deciding which ones they’d have to turn down. For the moment Dan and Mark were enjoying the little break.

After dinner the four of them sat on the porch now, dressed in heavy sweaters and jeans. Even in June the nights in Maine were still cold. Tomorrow Dan and Mia would be married at the city hall in Bangor, with Mark and Faith as witnesses. The Hallorans would stay on through the weekend, then head back to Texas to give the newlyweds some additional days of privacy.

“Dan, you’ve been as edgy as an expectant father for two days,” Mia commented. “I know when something’s chewing on your mind, so…what’s up?” Dan swallowed the last of his coffee, rose from the glider and leaned his hips against the porch rail.

“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about an idea that came up during this case.” He looked at Faith. “Remember when you showed up with your ability to telecommunicate with Mark? You gave me a short course on the value of psychic gifts, not to mention the vast network of people who have them. At first I was very, very skeptical. You know that. But without you, Mark never would have been rescued.” She and Mark smiled at each other and twined their hands together.

“Then,” Dan continued, “along comes Mia with her precognitive ability and gives us the clues to avert a major—and I mean
major
—disaster. And while trying to get her help to translate her visions I discover there’s a whole world of people out there not being tapped into.”

“So what kind of plot are you hatching?” Mark asked. “I know something’s been rolling around in your brain.”

“I had Andy do some research on this, now that it’s become his fascination of the week. Are you aware the government has been doing testing in parapsychology for some time in labs they’ve set up?”

Mark shrugged. “I can’t say I’m surprised.”

“I learned that parapsychological activity is called Psi activity,” Dan continued.

“From the Greek letter, Psi.” Faith interrupted. “Picked for its relation to psyche, which means soul or mind.”

Dan nodded. “It includes telepathy, empathy of many kinds, precognition, clairvoyance, reading auras, channeling…lord, I didn’t realize just how many different types of psychic abilities there are until I started looking.”

“Research has been ongoing for a long time,” Faith told him. “There are still a lot of skeptics but there’s real proof that Psi-enhanced people have been able to help in a number of tricky situations.”

“Yes. Like you and Mia did. You brought Mark’s capture to our attention, helped us rescue him and take down some very traitorous people. And Mia, without your visions, Lucas and Joy would have gotten clean away with Oscar and Carpenter Techtronics would be digging itself out of a very big hole. Although the world is a long way from accepting the influence and effect of parapsychology and Psi phenomena, I see it as a very useful tool when standard methods don’t or can’t get the results you want.”