Retrieval (10 page)

Deep breaths and every mind-clearing exercise she could remember calmed her somewhat, but the darkness of her dreams threatened to cloak her day, and a band settled around her chest. She stroked King’s night-sky coat, and she found solace in the connection she had with the animal. She began to settle, and let her mind wander. Her thoughts drifted to Sebastian. The band eased, but her stomach tightened.

She’d known last night the room was rigged with cameras and listening devices. The unmistakable electric buzz of the equipment had given her a headache. This morning, the buzz was still there, but she was better equipped to mute it, and she knew that he was coming soon in search of answers. So be it. If he wanted answers, he was going to have to come off the hip with some himself.

Seconds later, a firm knock rattled her door.

She didn’t respond. She didn’t know if she wanted to lull him into a sense of complacency, or if she was just being surly. He was going to come in with or without her permission either way.

King tensed beside her then settled back down with his head on her hip.
Traitor
. Irritation shot through her. The way the dog had presented himself so properly to Sebastian yesterday and was now acting like it was normal for him to be knocking on her door made her a little angry. Even though she’d prompted King to be nice, she hadn’t asked him to lie down in front of Sebastian and get his proverbial tummy rubbed. At least not this soon. The dog could have the decency to make him work for it a little.

She was lying on her left side facing the door when Sebastian entered, and she tried, Lord above did she try, to use the pain in her body as the reason behind her quickened pulse and increased breathing. But she knew better.

It was him.

He was a gorgeous man, though some might say a little too rough around the edges to define male perfection. His face appeared carved from granite most of the time, but his eyes were definitely angel kissed. Before she could censor the thought
perfect for me
it came unbidden. Her breath hitched.

She so didn’t need this right now. Why not in two years when she was a successful surgeon who wielded enough power in the field of medicine to bring a despot like Smythe-Ward to his knees. That would allow Sky and her sisters to live openly and without fear of being taken prisoner by their vile father.

But nooooo. It had to happen now when she was unprepared. Why hadn’t she learned to erect barriers to prevent the unforeseen from ripping her life to shreds? She mentally banged her head against the walls of her mind and closed her eyes to get her bearings.

Taking a deep breath she opened them and was met by slivers of azure light.

His eyes were lasers, and they cut mercilessly into her soul. If she let them, they would see everything she’d managed to hide from everyone, including herself, her entire life. She couldn’t let that happen. She had to maintain control, and that included not giving in to the baser instincts.

This morning he seemed even more remote than usual, and goodness, she didn’t have the strength to fend off his questions. His potent effect on her combined with the lingering pain from being shot yesterday wasn’t going to let her put on her brave front.

“Hey, you up yet?” Sebastian asked carefully. She’d slept almost twelve hours straight.

“You can see I am. What do you want?”

Pain, and a deep kind of female panic, gave her words an acidic bite. His brows rose and then furrowed together.

“I received a call this morning from the man who hired me to locate you. After your little excursion in the cornfield and then again here with your sisters, I felt it was time we talked.”

A slight hesitation in his voice led her to believe he was holding something back.

Skylar levered herself up and proper her back against the headboard. “So now you want to talk, hmm? Just yesterday we were making wedding plans, and today you want to get serious and
talk
,” she forced out between clenched teeth.

She struggled to get comfortable. “Move over, King. Good boy.” She glanced at Bastian and said, “So let’s start off on the right foot then.”

Holding her hand out she said, “My name is Skylar McKannon.”

When he made no move to shake her proffered hand, she turned the appendage palm up and shrugged her shoulders.

“You don’t wanna shake? No skin off my back. So I could ask you your name. But I gotta be honest, I already know it along with your age, Social Security Number, date of birth, your mother’s and father’s names, and many other very, umm,
interesting
facts. Let’s see, what’s next? Do you like to play Parcheesi? No? Hmm … yeah, I’m not a big fan either. I’m more of a Uno or Trivial Pursuit kind of chick.” His face had darkened. She could take nonverbal clues. “Not what you wanted to talk about? Okay, then, your turn.”

“Your sarcasm is duly noted, but not altogether appreciated considering I came in here to offer you my help, not be raked over the coals of your misplaced anger,” Sebastian said quietly.

He looked at her like she’d grown another head.

“Misplaced anger? You have got to be shitting me.”

A mischievous grin played about his lips and just that quickly, her anger dissipated, leaving her even more tired and grouchy, but also, chastened.

“Sorry, I guess I get a little grumpy when I’ve been hounded to ground, shot, and then forced to make my sisters leave and go where I can’t be to protect them. Now, I’m sitting here with this really smoking-hot man in my room, who by the way, is one of the ones hounding my ass while also pressuring me to marry him, and you expect me to what? Turn cartwheels, lick a lollipop, and smile?” she queried in a strained voice.

She tried to rouse enough gumption to move her legs to the side of the bed and stand up.

*

Lick a lollipop? Yes, that.
Sebastian shook his head, trying to clear it of the mental image of her licking a sweet treat. She was quick; he’d give her that. If he wasn’t careful, he’d fall prey to her wiles, because he had no doubt she was trying to get him complacent, so she could do some of her magic stuff and give him the slip.

Then again, a little slip didn’t sound so bad as long as it was her slipping over him, or him slipping into her. He cleared his throat and tried to surreptitiously move himself into a more comfortable position. His jeans were tight thinking of Skylar sliding along his body as she moved to take him deep …
Get a grip, man!

She has to be a job, and then his heart told him what his brain refused to acknowledge:
She’s already more than just a job, dumbass.

“I’m hot, huh?”

“Come on—this ain’t Lake Skylar McKannon your fishing in, doofus. Look in a mirror man. Of course you’re hot, and you damn well know it.”

“Doofus?” he asked, not sure he’d heard correctly.

“No, no, no. I said
Bastian
. I only call dense people doofus. You, my good man, are not dense. Deaf maybe, but not dense. So come on … I thought we were doing introductions. You know meet and greet, get to know each other before the wedding, blada, blada, blada.”

“Are you always so verbose?”

“Ummmm, yeah, no, not really. Must be that you bring out the wordiness in me.” She lifted a perfectly arched eyebrow as she smarted back.

“Yeah? Well, that’s not what I want to bring out in you, just so we’re clear.” He was delighted when her cheeks went pink.

“As muddy water,” she replied tartly, not giving an inch.

*

She moved to stand, and he immediately moved to her side, wrapping a large hand around her back and placing the other hand on her shoulder. His warmth enveloped her, and his smell; oh good Lord, his smell. Deep dark chocolate, with just a hint of cedar wood, it was like ambrosia to her starved senses.

She’d known, damn it. She’d cautioned herself that if she got too near him it would be impossible for her to resist the pull. His body was solid. She outlined the delineation of his musculature, gazed at the tanned skin of his arms, and took in his scent, so that it became a manifested taste in her mouth.

As she’d fled Chicago last night, she’d convinced herself that it was an aberration, the intensity of her response to him. Surely she’d imagined the magnetic pull between them in the hospital, the impossible spark and intensity of lust that had flared in her room last night as they’d tried to crawl into each other via their mouths.

She was such a liar, because even now her body betrayed her. It pushed pain aside and readied itself for the consummate act that would, if given time and opportunity, happen between them. Her breasts were full, heavy, as her nipples strained against the soft cotton of a T-shirt she was sure was his. The friction of the material against her distended nipples made her ache.

Moisture pooled low, seeping through the sheer lace of her underwear, making her aware of her femininity in the most amazing way. She squeezed his arm, held on to him, and then she made the mistake of looking up—into eyes that were as heated as she knew her own to be.

Blue that pure should be cold, but was instead a blistering heat. It scorched her. He took a swift breath. Arousal pulsed, filled her womb with clenching warmth that swept through her entire body. It was a vicious conqueror as it unfurled long tendrils of want and need between them.

He lowered his head, ran his nose along the line of her neck. “This is crazy,” he murmured.

For a moment he seemed to fight himself.

“You say that a lot around me. But I’ll agree, Bastian—this is straight nucking futz,” she whispered on a sigh.

She barely noticed when he turned her around and sat on the bed leaving her standing between his legs.

“Please don’t say ‘fuck’ right now, okay? You say it, and it … just don’t say it.” Sebastian pleaded with her as he angled his head up, and their breath commingled.

“I didn’t, I said numphhh—”

His lips cut her off and upended her world. She spun into the chaos his scent and mouth created in her body.

She’d thought him a master kisser, yet she knew that somehow it was them together that brought on this maelstrom of feeling. She twined her tongue around his as he retreated, drawing her further into the depths of his mouth. His taste was all she’d remembered from yesterday and more. He nipped her lips, her chin and then returned aggressively for more tongue play. All the while his hands roamed up and down her back making her moan in rising need.

“Touch me,” Sebastian demanded.

He gave her no chance to resist his command, instead he pulled his own T-shirt off and placed her hands on the hard muscles of his chest.

She inhaled sharply, the heat from his skin sinking deep and warming places she’d not realized were cold.

She wanted to see him, wander over his body like a lost woman in a foreign land. She wanted to take her time and delve into every hollow created by the planes of muscles surrounded by warm, tanned flesh.

But all she could do was mold his pectorals, move her hands around his back and press closer to his fire.

“Yes, baby, yes, like that,” he whispered gently, laving her mouth and chin and throat with his silken tongue.

“Bastian.” His name was a moan, a plea. Fire took hold of her insides, and it writhed with flames so hot she wondered if she could survive the intensity of it.

“What, baby? You want more?” he asked her in that husky, deep, velvet voice that sent shivers into her, through her.

She couldn’t form words to answer. He must have taken her silence as assent as he began to remove her top, slowly, exposing her underwear first. The shirt continued to ascend, the voyage of the soft cloth against her skin torturous as it exposed her stomach. Chills danced over her as the cooler air of the room hit her heated flesh. Then the journey continued as he moved the shirt up and over her breasts. Finally it was over her head.

Standing there in a daze, her body tight and needy, Skylar wondered if she was in too deep. Then thought was eclipsed as his lips first touched one stiff peak. She would’ve fallen if he hadn’t caught her up and placed her on the bed with him.

She looked up at that moment to see him rising above her, his massive body dwarfing her much smaller frame, and it was the sheer difference between them that drew her roughly back to reality. His face lost that intently sexual look of a male claiming his female and became more concerned.

“What is it?” he asked, his breathing rough, his hair tousled by her hands.

God Almighty, he’s the hotness.

He cupped her face with a big hand while his other arm braced his body up and off hers. His eyes searched hers, taking periodic forays along her upper body, only to return more heated than before.

“This is like getting the milk before you buy the cow,” she murmured as she averted her eyes and sought refuge in their teasing banter.

He closed his eyes and swallowed. His muscles strained to keep him in place as he took a deep breath and pushed himself up and off the bed. His actions served to bring their pelvises into contact, and before she could prevent, it a whimper escaped her at the feel of his thick, denim-covered shaft rubbing against her lace-covered flesh. He grimaced and then quickly pulled his T-shirt back on. Not looking at her, he handed hers back to her, so she could do the same.

“I’m sorry, that shouldn’t have happened,” Sebastian informed her in a clear, concise tone.

Regret speared through her midsection, and she felt a physical ache in the region of her heart.
I
knew and went ahead and did it anyway.

“I’m the one who should apologize. I just thought…” She trailed off, unsure exactly what she’d been thinking.

And then it hit her; she hadn’t been thinking at all. She’d been feeling, and that alone was so new to her that she was powerless to stop it when her body so clearly loved the way he played it.

A hard knock at the door made her jump, and she berated herself for losing control. That had never happened before, being in such a fog that she didn’t know her surroundings, and what was going on within them completely.

“I’ll be out in a minute Mo,” Sebastian said firmly before turning back to her. “You have nothing to apologize for.”