He gently ran his fingers up the curve of Fairchild’s spine, which was left exposed by the scandalously low back of her dress. Her skin felt warm and smooth as silk. Her muscles softened slightly under his fingertips.
“You look unbelievable,” he whispered.
He meant it, too. He literally couldn’t believe that a woman could look as good as she did right now. He’d been with lots of females over the years, more than he could even count, butnone of them had meant a damn thing. To be honest, he’d mostly been humoring his companions, Reece and Nash. Those two had always liked the ladies, and they’d especially likedsharing, so Dutton had gone along for the ride. He’d viewed it as an opportunity for bonding with his brothers-in-arms, nothing more.
With Fairchild, however… things weredifferent.
She smiled at his compliment, and he could see all the tension drain out of her body. She faced him and ran her fingers over his lapels.
“Thanks,” she said. “So do you.”
Her high heels gave her a few extra inches, but she still had to stretch to make her mouth reach his. She kissed him, slow and wet, and his cock throbbed painfully inside his compression shorts.
It was going to be a miracle if he could actually make it to their suite without tearing off her dress and fucking her harder than any woman had ever been fucked before.
The elevator eased to a halt. A soft chime rang, and the doors whispered open. A gust of warm, perfumed air washed over them. Together, they stepped outside.
For a moment, Dutton felt as though he’d stumbled into a dream. Overhead, Calyxia’s dome arched across a permanent night, almost invisible against the star-filled sky beyond. Below, gleaming resort towers rose in the middle distance, their surfaces terraced with manicured gardens and elegant balconies. Tropical plants lined the footpaths on the groundlevel. Exotic birds fluttered softly through the temperature-controlled air.
And everywhere—everywhere—there were bodies, nude and writhing in the dusky illumination of the glow-globes hovering overhead. Some tangled wantonly in the grass. Others mated half-submerged in fountains and pools. Their moans drifted on the breeze like music. The air was laced with the scent of their sin.
Dutton glanced over at Fairchild. Her face was unreadable, but her eyes tracked every detail like a soldier scoping the terrain. God, she was so—
A knuckle prodded Dutton’s ribs, snapping him out of his daze. It was Reece.
“Don’t forget your specs,” the team leader said.
“Right.”
Dutton dipped a hand inside his jacket and pulled out a pair of glasses. To the casual observer, they would look like nothing more than expensive designer eyewear, but in reality, they were so much more than that.
Due to the undercover nature of the mission, Dutton and his teammates had been forced to deactivate their eye-augs. The soft red glow of the implants would have given them away immediately.
That was where the specs came in.
As Dutton slid the lenses into place, his view of Calyxia was transformed, rendered in infrared heat vision. Glowing orange and yellow bodies copulated in fields of mauve and darker violet.When they rolled over, they left human-shaped heat-stains on the grass.
A quick double eyeblink switched modes, and the specs transitioned to ultraviolet vision—blink-blink—then metal-detection mode. That was the one Dutton wanted. He gave a subtle nod to signal that he was ready.
“Alright,” Reece said. “Let’s move.”
The team leader strolled forward, walking at a leisurely pace, looking every bit the businessman on vacation. Fairchild walked along beside him, performing a sexy supermodel strut, one foot in front of the other, like she was walking a tightrope in her high heels. Dutton followed a few paces behind her, savoring the view.
During the course of their week-long journey, his high-carb cooking had had the intended effect. All of Fairchild’s muscles were still there, but now they were covered in a nice, thin layer of fat. When she walked,everythingjiggled. And when they were in bed, she didn’t just jiggle; she—
Reece cleared his throat, breaking into Dutton’s thoughts a second time. The team leader lifted a meaningful eyebrow.
“Dutt… maybe you want to walk up front?”
Of course. Since Dutton was the one wearing the specs, he needed to take point. That way he could keep an eye out for their targets. Behind him, Nash chuckled. The youngest Merc was bringing up the rear, guiding the small hover-trolley that held all of their luggage.
“That’s right, Dutt. Get your ass up front where you belong. You’re blocking my view.”
Fairchild must have heard the comment, because she glanced back over her shoulder with fire in her eyes. For a second, Dutton feared she might chew Nash out. Instead, she just smiled sweetly and kept walking, putting a little extra bounce into her step.
Damn… she was really getting into character, wasn’t she?
That was good. Real good.
