Rekindled (Titanium Security Series) (18 page)

His eyes flashed up to hers, the muscles in his jaw flexing beneath the silver-flecked stubble. “Don’t. Don’t ever hide yourself from me.” Before she could protest he took her wrists in a firm grip and pulled them away, then surprised her by burying his face against her abdomen. She gasped. His breathing seemed unsteady as he took several deep inhalations. Grace’s stomach muscles clenched. She swallowed at the feel of his warm breath on her most hated reminder of the attack. “Baby, I’m sorry,” he whispered, his voice ragged as he nuzzled the puckered flesh. “So, so sorry I couldn’t stop this from happening.”

Her heart squeezed tight and she immediately wanted to reassure him. “Wasn’t your fault,” she whispered back, needing him to forgive himself for that.

Alex shook his head, his lips brushing over her skin in a whisper soft caress. “Wish I’d been there to help you heal.”

Grace blinked back tears and pulled one hand free to stroke his hair gently. “You’re here now.” Helping her heal the deepest part of the wounds, even if he didn’t realize it.

He stilled at her words for a moment, then began kissing and nuzzling her belly. She softened, relaxed against the leather. His lips and tongue following the length of the scars, telling her without words that he wanted to take the memory away and that she was still beautiful to him. Her throat tightened, arousal chasing away the chill inside her. The self-consciousness fell away, replaced by the heat licking across her skin.

His tongue was warm and damp. She wanted it lower, soothing the terrible ache between her legs. A tremor ripped through her. She ran her hand through his thick hair, exhaling as she allowed herself to lay back and savor what he was doing to her.

As though he felt the change in her, Alex kissed the spot just above her belly button and raised his head. The desire and longing she saw reflected in his gaze melted her inside. He lifted a hand to trace one long finger over the curves of her cleavage, his expression focused, absorbed. She curved her spine when he slid his hands behind her to unhook her bra and draw it off. Those big hands cupped her flesh reverently as he rubbed his thumbs over the throbbing peaks, sending an electric current right to the ache between her thighs.

“So sexy, Grace,” he whispered, and bent to take a nipple into his mouth. Grace closed her eyes and gripped his head tighter as the pleasure shot through her. He sucked and nibbled one then the other, until she was squirming against the leather and tiny whimpers were coming from her throat. More. She needed more or she’d die.

One strong hand curled around her hip in a dominating grip as the other trailed slowly over her ribs and side. His palm skimmed over her pelvis to the inside of her thigh and traced up and down the sleek, sheer thigh high. The sensation was even more intense because of the thin barrier. She ached so badly for him to slip those skilled fingers beneath her panties and stroke where she was wet and hot. Her legs began to quiver.

Alex made a soft sound of reassurance and trailed his fingers over the silk panel at the front of her panties. She was so wet, almost embarrassingly so, and there was no way he hadn’t noticed. Grace bit her lip and prayed for him to end her torment as he continued to tease her. Then, just when she thought she couldn’t take anymore without begging, he finally slipped his fingers beneath the satin and lace to trace through her damp folds. She sucked in a breath and raised her hips, squeezing her eyes shut at the erotic torture. So damn
good
.

“Okay, angel,” he murmured against her breast, and eased a finger into her. He pushed slowly, letting her feel each sizzling millimeter of the penetration. Before she could enjoy it fully he pulled out and added another, curling them to find and stroke the glowing pulse inside her.

“Oh…” Grace dug her fingers harder into his scalp and tried to remember to breathe as the beginnings of release started to coil deep in her core. She whined when he withdrew his fingers, whimpered when he slid them up to circle her swollen clit. She was trembling, already beginning the climb and it wouldn’t take much for him to send her over the edge. It was so effortless with him, and yet unbelievably intense. She’d been craving this for so long…

Alex pulled his hand free and released her nipple from the heat of his mouth. Grace lifted her head to protest as cool air washed over her heated flesh, but stopped when she saw the intent look on his face as he grasped her panties and tugged them over her hips and down her thighs. She knew that look, knew it meant she would come screaming when he finally allowed it and she couldn’t wait.

He drew them all the way off and tossed them aside, then put those powerful hands on the insides of her knees and pushed, opening her to his heated gaze. The muscles in her legs automatically tightened as her mind rebelled at being so exposed. He killed all her resistance with a single, blistering look and moved between her thighs to drape her knees over his broad shoulders, her high heels resting against his back. Stretched, held open, she could only quiver in his grasp and watch as he lowered his dark head and put his mouth to her softest flesh.

A sob of need shot out of her at the first melting kiss he gave her. Slow. Seductive. No man had ever taken this kind of pleasure in doing this to her, but Alex clearly got off on it as much as she did. She reached for him once more, grabbed fistfuls of his hair to anchor herself as he reduced her to quivering mindlessness. His mouth was hot, that wicked tongue laving her nice and slow, giving her just the right amount of pressure as he licked his way up and feathered across her straining clit.
Oh. My.
God
.

Alex answered the unintelligible plea she made with more of those decadent caresses, using the flat of his tongue to make her shudder and writhe. And he wasn’t nearly done. His fingers bit into her hips as he plunged his tongue deep inside her, stroking that hidden hotspot along her inner wall. Grace bucked her hips and mewled, helpless under the growing tide of pleasure. Not about to be rushed, he held her steady and continued tormenting her, alternating between deep licks and tender sucking kisses around the swollen bundle of nerves at the top of her sex.

The muscles deep in her belly drew taut, her thighs trembling on his strong shoulders as the pressure grew. Only when she was desperate, when every muscle was locked in a plea for release and raw moans tore from her throat did he work two fingers inside her and settle that wicked mouth over her most sensitive spot.

Her hands clenched in his hair as her inner muscles clamped around his fingers. She was so close. “Oh, Alex…
God
,” she choked out.

He made a low sound of approval and increased the pressure of his lips as he sucked, his tongue flickering oh so softly against that swollen bud…

Grace bowed up and let the cries spill free as the powerful orgasm took her. Shuddering waves tore through her, shooting out to all her nerve endings. She heard the sounds she made, knew they were echoing off the walls and didn’t care who heard her. Alex knew just how to touch her, knew exactly how to draw it out to keep the orgasm at its most intense.

He stayed with her, lips and tongue cherishing her, fingers still buried inside her until the waves began to ebb at last. At last she collapsed against the butter soft leather with a ragged groan and fought to get her breath back as the world spun around her. Alex withdrew his fingers and smoothed his hands up her legs, over her hips, her stomach. He pressed a trail of hot, lingering kisses across her abdomen and this time she was barely aware of her scars.

Grace opened her eyes and looked down the length of her torso at him. Her legs were still draped over his shoulders, the thigh highs and heels making her feel wickedly sexy and feminine. But it was what Alex had just done that made her feel cherished. Loved.

Her throat tightened. As the realization hit home she ran reverent hands over his hair. She adored this man, believed he’d hated leaving her. She’d do anything for him.

Alex lifted that silver stare to hers, burning with needs not yet quenched, his sexy mouth curving in a wicked smile. “I love doing that to you.”

Another wave of heat flashed through her. She slid her legs off his shoulders and sat up to reach for him, wanting to tear his clothes off and feel him inside her, but he threw her off guard by easing away and standing. Before she could protest, he bent and scooped her up into his arms. Sighing at the effortless show of strength, Grace wound her arms around him and snuggled close to his chest, wishing he was naked so she could feel his skin against hers and wrap her hand around that erection bulging against the front of his dress pants. But when she snaked a hand down between them to grab at his belt, he blocked her with his arm and made a quiet negative sound.

Confused, she studied his face as he strode to the wide bed and placed her in the middle of it. He slid her heels off and tossed them on the floor, then slid her stockings off and dropped them beside the bed. He flipped down the covers, kicked off his shoes and laid down next to her. Grace rolled into his body, sighing in bliss when he wrapped those strong arms around her and cradled her. He kissed her temple, her cheek and jaw, nuzzled at the side of her neck where it sent shivers cascading through her.

She didn’t understand why he’d stopped at foreplay. “Don’t you want more?” she whispered, unable to hide the uncertainty in her voice.

He snorted a laugh against her skin. The thick length of his erection pressed insistently against her stomach. “Yeah. But it’s been four years since I got to do this and I’m not done savoring you yet.” He lifted his head, gazed down at her with a possessive tenderness that turned her heart over.

She ran her hands over his shoulders. “Take your shirt off. I want to touch you.”

He hesitated a moment, then sat up, unbuttoned his shirt and tossed it aside. When he turned back to her she drank in the sight of those powerful muscles he still worked hard to maintain. She placed her palms against his chest, enjoying the heat and power under her hands. For a few moments he seemed content to let her pet him. Then he took her chin in his hand, tipped her face up and claimed her mouth once more.

And with that he started arousing her all over again, worshipping every inch of her from the top of her head to the tips of her toes that curled when he hit just the right spots with his fingers and tongue. He built the pleasure relentlessly, pushing her higher and higher, then held her there on the knife’s edge of release for endless seconds before at last easing her over into ecstasy. Reduced to a limp, trembling puddle of bliss in the aftermath of the second orgasm, she let herself drift.

Grace was vaguely aware that the lights were off as he settled her into the curve of his body once more. Despite her resolve to stay emotionally detached, something inside her had shifted and she realized she no longer needed to protect her heart from him. Her eyelids were too heavy to keep open. Warm, sated and protected, despite her best intentions she lost the fight to stay awake.

Malik sighed as he settled back into the sofa with a hot mug of tea. He rested his left hand atop his stomach and examined the new, light bandage he’d wrapped it in. The incisions were sore, the entire hand swollen but he could already flex his fingers a little more than yesterday.

The safe house where he was hidden was quiet and well-protected, tucked into an affluent, residential neighborhood where everyone kept to themselves. For the first time in days he felt safe and relatively relaxed. Authorities all over the country were searching for him but he’d managed to slip out of Islamabad after disposing of Sharif. He and the handful of men with him were using throw away phones and kept calls to an absolute minimum to decrease the chance that anyone hunting him could ping the signal and triangulate his location.

As expected, at the pre-arranged time, his phone rang. He already knew who it was without looking. “Good to hear from you again.”

“I see you’ve been keeping busy,” his ISI contact replied in a wry tone.

Sharif, he meant. “It was a detail that I needed to take care of personally,” Malik answered with a shrug. Afterward his security team had whisked him out of Islamabad and driven him to Karachi, where he could escape by either air or water if necessary. At the safe house he’d slept most of the morning away. Since waking he’d been dealing with testing various contacts, trying to get a feel for who was still loyal to him in the Pakistani regime and the military. Sharif’s death would no doubt send shockwaves through the entire institution, but it would also send a critical message: no one crossed Malik Hassani and lived. He was fairly certain the message had been received.

Now he had other, more important, things to attend to.

“And what about Rycroft?” the contact asked.

Malik had already decided against a personal attack. Sharif had been alone, and easier to eliminate than he’d anticipated. Rycroft would be even more on guard now, especially since he knew Malik had been in Islamabad last night. He hoped the NSA agent was worried. Malik would find him and kill him eventually, but not in any way Rycroft anticipated. “It’s too much of a risk right now. We’ll use the woman to make him come to me. I assume you’ve got everything in place?”

A slight pause. “There may be a hiccup.”

Malik didn’t tolerate hiccups, particularly from a man as connected and resourceful as this one. “Explain.”

“The security presence has been stepped up. Both for the team and the new venue.”

“So?”

The man huffed out a grudging laugh at Malik’s lack of concern. “So, it will be harder to take them all off guard now. It’s possible that someone has leaked our plans.”

Doubtful. Not this quickly, not unless the man speaking to him now was responsible for a leak. Which Malik also doubted, since he had already been promised a posh job as head of intelligence once Malik took power. From experience he knew that was the best way to gain people’s loyalty. “Then make sure we have sufficient force there to carry out the operation.” He wasn’t worried that it might fail. Rycroft and his team wouldn’t be there, and he would only have been able to bring in minimal additional security. Even with the handful of trained men Malik’s ISI contact had assigned to the task, with the way things had been planned out, they should be able to carry out the op without much difficulty. “Any word on Bashir?”