In a flash he was on her, fondling her breasts as he kicked off his underwear. Lizzy smiled as she kissed the top of his head. She had the brawny operator wrapped around her finger. It was him, and only him who she wanted in her bed.
She couldn’t imagine being with anyone as solid, as sheltering as James Cane. His strength chased away her cowardice, and when he looked at her with those hound-dog eyes, she felt like she could climb Everest.
A future with this handsome soldier still fell somewhere off her radar, but she could enjoy the moment, and what a moment it was. She sensed his thrill of arousal. His expert tongue swirled along her entrance, and her lady parts clenched at the electric touch. She came. Then he made her come again with explosive pleasure. After what seemed like hours of torturous bliss, John pulled back.
He ran a finger up her swollen folds and sat back to sheath himself. “Are you ready, Lizbug?”
She nodded as he raised her knees up to her chest. “Open your legs up… that’s it, honey. Just like that.” When his finger touched her, she jerked.
“Easy. This is fun, remember? If it hurts, tell me to stop.” He slipped a large finger in and used his other hand to massage her clit. As he stroked and rubbed, she began to pulse. He rubbed the tip of his shaft over her entrance, then slipped it inside.
“You’re so tight, shit.” Pulling out, he worked the tip slowly back in. “You okay, baby? How does it feel?”
“Different. Kind of full. It’s not bad.”
“Not bad? Guess I’d better try harder.” One hand fingered her, and he leaned towards her. “Look at me.”
Lizzy stared into his intense gaze.
He pushed a little farther in, then pulled out. “I’m so lucky to be here with you, feeling your hot little flower clenching around me. You’re amazing.” He pulled out. “Can you feel me fucking you, baby?”
His dirty words turned her on, and Lizzy groaned as he pushed slowly back in. “You like that? My cock likes it, likes it way too much.” John paused, allowing her to get used to his size, and she relaxed. Her muscles twitched, craving release, begging him to move. He bent and kissed her slowly, gathering her in his arms as he pulled out and drove himself all the way home.
No pain. Her body slowly adjusted, and she wrapped her legs around his waist.
His arms shook as he held onto his control. “Lizbug. Holy hell.”
“I’ve waited so long for this. Please.”
Hard muscles caged her in. The slow rhythmic pumping of his powerful hips held her captive as his cock drilled her into the mattress. Passion rippled through her. This was what it was like to be with a man. Sweaty, messy, warm and oh, so good.
Too soon, muscles tensed under her fierce grip, and John shouted his release into her neck. She knew he’d held back, controlling his frantic pumping action, stilling too quickly and growling into her shoulder.
He’d barely come down before rolling her to the side.
“Are you okay, honey?”
She nodded. “That was good.”
John groaned. “So, we’ve graduated from ‘not bad’ to ‘good,’ and you didn’t come.”
“It was my first time. I didn’t feel any of the pain that girls talk about.”
“It doesn’t have to be painful.”
“I liked it, can we go again?”
“Easy, tigress, give me at least thirty minutes.”
Lizzy gave him half that. By lunch, she’d come twice, with him inside her. The feel of his hard thighs slamming against her hips was intoxicating. His male strength, driving her towards shuddering ecstasy. She loved the way he’d slow his pace back down, before taking time to roll his hips, grinding his pelvis against hers. It felt so intimate, a large sweaty male buried fully inside her. Then he’d pause to roll his thumb between them before gradually building back up to thrusting wildly.
Trying out different positions was fun—the poor man looked sated by the time they climbed in the small shower. That didn’t stop her from falling to her knees and wrapping her mouth around his delicious man bits.
“Oh, shit!”
“Strike first, strike hard, no mercy.” She winked and applied herself with gusto as he groped for the shower wall, almost sliding on his butt.
***
Johnny woke to a guitar strumming in the next room. Shadows darkened the bedroom as dusk fell. Was his cock still attached? He reached down—awakened from its nine-month dormancy with the most thorough workout of its existence. He adjusted himself cautiously as he rose, pulling on his briefs.
Maybe if he hid his dick from the budding nympho down the hall, she’d forget it was there. Who was he kidding? Johnny loved every minute of having her eager hands and mouth wrapped around his dick. No woman had ever matched energetic Lizzy in the bedroom, and this was only her first day. The notion that she was a petite and delicate flower was blown to all hell. His phone beeped, and he checked the incoming message.
Walking down the hall, Johnny poked his head cautiously around the corner and spotted Lizzy sitting cross-legged in a furry white bean bag chair. He’d noticed the monstrosity that first day in her apartment. It looked like a stuffed yak.
Lizzy wore his oversized T-shirt and a pair of fluffy gray socks. God, she was small enough to fit into his go-bag. An unfamiliar melody filled the air, and she hummed along, slipping in the occasional word while perfecting the tune.
He lay down on the floor and leaned his head against the yak bag. A warm breeze slipping in from the open balcony door stirred the lace curtains. When she finally paused to tune a guitar string, he asked what she was playing.
“It’s ‘Leave a Trace.’ By Chvrches, a Scottish band. Chvrches is spelled with a V, not a U.”
“Nice, it has an eighties vibe to it.”
“That’s why I’m totally obsessed. They’re a synth-pop band with an electric dance feel.” Lizzy pulled out her phone and played the original.
He didn’t say anything, but Lizzy’s voice was just as phenomenal. He handed back the phone. “Lizbug, you kind of sound like Avril Lavigne. Kind of look like her too.”
Judging by the haunted look passing over her sweet face, that was apparently the wrong thing to say.
Johnny twisted to look up. “What did I say? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” She glanced away.
“Talk to me.”
“Don’t get me wrong, I think Avril Lavigne is amazing, but so did Ivan. For months, he’d insist that I play only her songs for him. Over and over. He pushed me to apply to one of those singing talent shows and would critique my performance for hours, telling me how Avril sang it better. After I recovered from his assault, I packed my guitar away.”
“That son of a bitch.”
“One day in therapy, the counselor encouraged me to start playing again. It was over a year before I played in front of anyone. Abigail was the first person. Then months later, that night at her house was my second go-around—the night that I played for you and for Max. Don’t ask me to play Avril. It reminds me of Ivan. I’ll get there eventually, just not today.”
Johnny didn’t trust himself to speak, wanting to punch holes through walls. Instead, he pulled her down and feathered a kiss over her temple.
“You sing like a goddamn angel. That pretentious, talentless ass-tard knew what an asshole loser he was and tried to bring you down to his level by breaking you down.”
“I know. That’s what my therapist said.”
“That one time you sang for me, I recorded it—without your consent—and I’m not sorry. I’ve listened to that grainy recording at least a thousand times. It’s my lifeline in the field.”
“John…” She stroked his scruffy cheek.
He waded back out of the touchy-feely quicksand that threatened to sink his toughened heart and rolled to his back on the bean bag, wanting to broach what had happened in Johannesburg.
While chasing an elusive terrorist, he’d befriended Lizzy, intent on using her to get close to Abby. Except he’d fallen hard and fast. He’d wanted to tell her so many times who he really was, even though saying something might have compromised the mission. The last night he’d spent with her, they’d had dinner at an Italian bistro. He’d played with her hand, marveling at her delicate fingers nestled in his large palm. He’d closed his fingers tightly around hers and opened his mouth to ask her to go for a walk—suddenly ready to confess his subterfuge—when Kris Muller joined their group. Abby introduced Muller as her childhood friend. Johnny despised Muller for the way he’d treated Abby and for the way he’d targeted Lizzy that night. When Johnny’s control finally snapped, it was too late. Lizzy panicked and left. The next time he saw her, she’d almost died in a shootout.
Johnny shifted on the squishy bag. “I’m sorry I let you down in South Africa, that I almost got you killed. I didn’t protect the one person who mattered most to me and I’ve hated myself ever since.”
She didn’t say anything and for a moment he wondered if she’d heard.
Finally, she spoke. “You put me at risk, but you also protected me, and you did the same in Peshawar. I’m still learning to trust and I can’t promise that this affair will change anything.”
“So, for now, I’m a friend who scratches your itch?”
She ran a hand along his shoulder. “More like a friend that strokes my itch… long, delectable, pounding strokes.”
He pulled her down for an upside-down kiss, she toppled sideways and giggled.
As she rolled upright, Johnny remembered his earlier text.
“I have news. Brianna and Suzie were sentenced today.”
“Oh, God.”
“They’ve both been fortunate and will serve only two months. My agency negotiated a transfer to an all-women’s minimum-security facility, with decent dormitory accommodation in Karachi. It’s not ideal, but physically they should be safe.”
“Two months though.”
“Prosecution pushed for a twelve-month sentence. And there are at least twenty thousand pending cases for the Peshawar High Court. The girls were handled quickly, instead of waiting months for their trial.”
“I want to see them.”
“No. It’s too dangerous. Ryker will visit them next week.”
“I can—”
“No, Lizzy. We went through a great deal of trouble to extract you. You’ve been flagged, you can’t go back.”
She fiddled with the yakky fake fur of the bean bag, twisting it in her fingers before saying, “Thank you for caring and please thank your superiors. I’ve had nightmares—imagining stonings or dirty cells with piles of hay in the corner.”
“They’ll both have a bed; the facility is well run.”
Lizzy hugged him hard. He stood and pulled her to her feet. “It’s my last night to chill before I’m back in the middle of bum-shitting nowhere weighed down by fuck loads of battle rattle. Pull on that cute dress and let’s roll—I could eat an entire cow at that bistro down the road, the one with the German beer.”
Johnny didn’t want to think about leaving her. Their fragile new relationship—whatever it was—may not withstand a lengthy amount of time apart. Switching the relationship from casual to concrete would take time. Uncertain deployment schedules ate into that opportunity and Johnny prayed he’d be back with Lizzy within the week.
Embrace the suck, Johnny thought as he walked gingerly into the maintenance shelter and laid out the plate carriers next to the holsters and radio equipment. Thanks to a sex-crazed little blonde, and the baking heat in the warehouse, his joystick didn’t feel all that joyful.Velcro crackled as Slater pulled apart a plate carrier. “You okay there, bro? You’re embracing that Wyoming cowboy swagger.”“Fell in the shower,” Johnny muttered.“Damn shame. My grandma can lend you a non-slip shower mat if you need it—”“Screw you.” Another hour with Lizzy’s luscious mouth and body and he would’ve been wheelchair bound. He’d forgotten how tough she was; it stood to reason that she’d take to bonking with the same amount of enthusiasm as she climbed trees.Johnny didn’t mind her climbing all over him like he was a giant oak, already counting the days until he could
KenyaOne Month Later“I’m still pissed that we left without the Scythian all wrapped up for HQ in a neat little camo bow,” Slater said.Donnie agreed. “At least we’ve made progress and trained up a generous contingent of indigenous forces. If the phantom Horse Lord steps back onto Ethiopian soil, the welcome committee is ready.”Johnny glanced at his two weary comrades as he drove. He’d been away from Lizzy for a month and it felt good to be back in Nairobi. He couldn’t wait to surprise her—he couldn’t wait to catch up on sleep. Four weeks of hunting, then training the local military took its toll. The Scythian had slipped out of their grasp, rumored to be back over the border in Somalia. MIT2 wouldn’t give up and awaited more intel. In the meantime, Max had taken the red-eye out of Addis Ababa to Fort Bragg in California, with meetings lined up with MIT&rsq
Two days of hard grafting and the fence was up with cameras installed. They’d even set up a basic alarm system that alerted the staff to intruders on the property.Lizzy invited the men back to her place for dinner and left the orphanage early to dash home to cook a delicious roast. As the food simmered away, she slipped into the shower. Soaping up, she let out a loud shriek when firm hands wrapped around her waist.“James Johnny Cane! Do you want me to keel over from fright?”Already naked, he twisted her around and shoved her against the tiles. “That’s what happens when you give your ‘friend’ a key to your apartment. Now don’t move. I need to get clean and then please my woman.” He wrenched the soap bar from her hand. He’d already sheathed himself in a condom and she ran her eyes over the very male picture he made.“I’m not your woman.”“At this moment, you’
The sofa wasn’t large enough for the mighty chaperone spread across its awkward cushions. Lizzy sat down wearily on an armrest and watched John sleep.When they’d first arrived, he’d offered his help. As a medic, he was more than qualified, but Garrison refused the offer. John didn’t argue, instead situating himself in the front room.At three in the darn morning, they were finally done. It looked like the family had viral stomach flu—a norovirus—and after a round of IVs and anti-nausea meds, they all slept like babes.All that time, John waited patiently, the diligent soldier always guarding her back. Why her? She didn’t deserve his loyalty, still kicking him in the nuts when she should be thanking him.She’d worried that if John ever found out about her past with Ivan, he’d treat her as carefully as her family did. But nope. He never tiptoed around her. John attacked life like a sledgehammer. He neve
She had a bladder the size of a peanut. Lizzy slammed out of the aircraft lavatory. Her phone buzzed again for the fifth time and she slipped it out of the apron pocket to glance at the screen. John had sure meant it when he’d said to keep her phone nearby. Two missed calls and five texts from the man. She should just switch it off and place it in her damn carry-on.He seemed concerned over her insistence on working the flight. She knew he was right to be worried. She felt like dog poop. As soon as she landed in Johannesburg, she’d see the family doctor.Talking to John was out of the question. He wanted space, well now he had it, and it would probably be a long time until she saw him again. With her packed flight schedule ahead and his covert work, they probably wouldn’t see each other for months.It was better that way. It gave her time to mourn the loss of their budding relationship and to get back to earning a living. She’d bid for mo
As Max pulled up, Johnny jerked open the door and surged out. He ran for the already cordoned entrance. Slater and Donnie dragged him back as Max dug in from the front. Johnny was living a nightmare.“Don’t touch me. Don’t. I was just with her. Yesterday, I held her. She was alive, and I just spoke with her, a few minutes ago. I heard her voice.”“I know, bro. Stay with the vehicle; Slater will hang with you. You hear me, bud?”Johnny struggled and stared at the pathetic array of flashing lights lining the entrance. With no integrated emergency services and a lack of resources, many incidents in Kenya had poor response times. Lack of specific training of emergency personnel, poor coordination, and a lack of standard operating procedures were invariable challenges when it came to militant attacks. They’d all arrived too late.“I need to see her.”“I can’t let that happen.”
Thanks for my boots, bro.” Johnny pulled on clean socks and grabbed a scuffed Magnum boot.Donnie placed a heavy duffel bag down carefully. “No problem. I had to swing by to grab our equipment. We’re now fully prepped, the rest is in the truck.” Donnie glanced around the workroom. “How many of these amigos have bigger egos than MIT2? What do you reckon? Think we’re still top dog?”There was a mother-load of brass and bluster sandwiched in the walls of the newly set up base of operations. That was what happened when the most infamous terrorist on the planet kidnapped an American diplomat’s son.The British contingent was gathered around a laptop in the far corner. SBS boys and possibly Scotland Yard. The majority of the Americans worked for the United States Special Operations Command. The CIA made their presence known, and Task Force Green—known to civilians as Delta Force—stood near the back. All the G
The nausea was back, and so was the fever. Lizzy shifted on the metal floor of the van, trying to get comfortable. Her side and back ached, over and above the throbbing muscles in her shoulders from the brutal angle of her arms, restrained with electrical tape. Try as she might, she couldn’t stay awake, instead drifting in and out of a delirious fog.“Do you think they’ll leave us here to bake? How long has it been?” the kid asked with a raspy voice. He’d cried over his mother’s death for most of the journey.“Hell, if I know. It has to be at least a hundred degrees in this metal box,” Captain Stuart said, before banging his feet against the panel door. “Hey! We’re cooking in here!”Was it hot? Lizzy couldn’t stop shivering. The captain yelled in frustration, and she studied his profile. They’d beaten him pretty badly when he’d kicked out at one of the mercenaries who’d gro