“How much you love me.” She whispered the truth to him. “Beautiful. Feminine.” He made her feel sexy, but she was going to skip telling him that. It was the way he looked at her, so focused. He could have been a feral predator fixed on his prey with the intensity with which he regarded her.
His face was carved with deep lines of lust, but raw love shone through so clearly in his dark velvet eyes. She needed him to want her exactly the way she was. She needed the look on his face and the possessive hunger in his eyes.
He lowered his head to hers and once more took her mouth. Lightning seemed to arc between them, igniting a firestorm of absolute need. Her stomach clenched, and deep inside her core she went hot and liquid.
This time, when he lifted his head, it was to take little nips over her chin, along her neck and throat. Each time his teeth gave a tiny sting, his tongue followed, easing that ache and sending heat spiraling down her spine. Then his mouth was on her left breast, his tongue stroking and teasing her nipple. Only then did she realize he had somehow managed to strip off her shirt, leaving her completely naked. She didn’t have time to be embarrassed or think too much about her lack of clothing in front of him. It was impossible to think clearly when his very clever mouth was wreaking havoc with all her senses.
Then he shifted. It was a subtle movement. Very gentle. Not in the least raising alarms. She was so focused on the sensations he was inducing with the heat of his mouth, his stroking tongue and his nipping teeth, that she failed to notice at first that they had changed positions. She was lying on her back, Diego blanketing her, yet the weight of his body was mostly off her.
She wanted to feel him. All of him. Every inch of his naked body. She took the opportunity to run her palms down his back, shaping his subtly defined muscles. She loved the feel of him. She felt as if she were melting into him. Merging with him. And maybe she was. He was kissing her again, and she was lost to her surroundings, her head spinning. Little colorful lights burst behind her eyes.
Then he was kissing his way down to her chin, her throat, her breasts. There seemed to be a direct line between her nipples and her core. Seeing his focused expression, his need, those lines of sensuality carved deep into his face, brought her to even more of a fever pitch. She knew great sex started in the mind, and Diegofilled her mind with love, with erotic images, with his own stark hunger for her. Those things were definitely as much of a turn-on as what he was doing to her body.
“Diego.” She whispered his name. Her talisman. The only time she’d experienced sex, it hadn’t been good. She trusted Diego, she did, but there was a small part of her ready to panic, to fight the moment he got rough. The moment he showed he was out of control.
He gave her gentleness. So very gentle, almost worshiping, as his tongue and hands moved over her body, sending flames flickering through her.
Diego.This time, she flooded his mind with adoration. With her hunger. Her need. Mostly with overwhelming love. She hadn’t known she was capable of loving a man so deeply.
The angles and planes of his face were stamped with pure sensuality. His tongue felt like a hot brand sweeping over her. He was so incredibly gentle. She could barely catch her breath as he built the need and hunger in her body. Each time his tongue moved in her, a firestorm erupted through her body, and colors burst behind her eyes like so many stars. Her heart beat too loud, sounding like thunder in her ears. A glittering pleasure rushed through her, detonating like dynamite.
The entire time waves of pleasure rolled through her, she stared into his eyes as he blanketed her body with his once again. With her fingertips, she traced the lines in his beloved face. She loved the hard angles and planes of his features. His dark velvet eyes, so brown at times they appeared black. She could stare at him for the rest of her life. The love shining in his eyes and carved into his face always took her by surprise.
She felt him hard and thick against the slick heat of her body. She ached for him. Ached to share the same skin with him. To be one instead of two. He wrapped one fist around his heavy cock andlodged the crown in her. She expected to be scared, not excited. He began to slowly sink his body into hers, and the exquisite burn consumed her.
Her blood thundered and roared in her ears with her pounding pulse. She felt his heartbeat in the thick cock pushing against the sensitive walls of her channel. He thrust gently with his hips, slowly filling her. She touched his mind to ensure he was feeling the same kind of pleasure she was. She surrounded him with her—with fiery silk and the intensity of her love.
He gripped her hips and surged deeper until he was buried completely, locking them together. The fire was scorching, threatening to consume her.
I had no idea it would be this good, she admitted, concentrating on the mixture of sensuality and love etched into his masculine features. Her head tossed helplessly from side to side, but she never lost eye contact with him. It was the most intense thing she’d ever experienced.Diego.She breathed his name into his mind on their intimate path.
His body moved in hers, making the earth tremble and the stars in the midnight sky stream in little comets while the firestorm burned out of control. It felt like flames roared through them both, the intensity of his thrusts driving them higher. Deep inside, the tension coiled tighter, building, always building. Then his fingers dug deep into her hips, and she gave herself up to him. To the fire. To the storm. To that molten intensity that the two of them created.
“Love you so much, Warrior Woman,” he said while her body clenched hard around his.
“Love you beyond anything, Diego,” she whispered, meaning it.
19
The insertion into the Congo was by HAHO—high-altitude, high-opening jump—from a good twenty-seven thousand feet air to ground level. Entry wasn’t going to be a picnic. It never was when they went into a jungle, in the dark, in unfriendly territory. The glide would take them nearly forty miles, using their compass and land features map for their directional reference.
The Congo rainforest was the second largest in the world. The forest was spread over six countries. The trees were taller than in other rainforests because the elephants, gorillas and other animals limited the density of smaller trees, which could be found in other rainforests throughout the world. That was both good and bad for the team.
The fact that Bridget was in the Congo was shocking to everyone. It was the last place anyone thought Whitney would take her, which was probably why she was there. They had monitored General Pillar’s secure line, and he had warned his good friend Whitney that the GhostWalkers had threatened him and he wasresigning his position for health reasons. That warning was enough to get Whitney moving, as he often did when he felt threatened. Not one GhostWalker had ever considered that he would establish a laboratory in the Congo.
That warning was also enough to get the general killed. A week after the meeting with him and two days after he warned Whitney, Pillar was dead. His death appeared to be suicide, but as the GhostWalkers had a satellite in the air monitoring his house specifically, they were able to see the assassin enter and leave the house. The assassin was a supersoldier, a man who supposedly had been killed in action several years earlier. It was clear he was part of Whitney’s army.
The GhostWalkers were loaded down with a list of claymore mines, C-4, blasting caps, time-delay igniters and forty feet of det cord explosive. They had ten minutes of fuse time, frag grenades, and red, green and white smoke grenades. They each had three hundred and thirty-five rifle rounds and three magazine pistols, and the snipers were bringing several rounds for the SVDs. They each carried two extra battery sets for the radios issued to them. They also carried a UV water purification device and a trauma kit. All pretty standard.
It was also very standard that if they were compromised, they would be on their own. Normally, they were sent out on a mission. Even then, the government would deny all knowledge of their existence. This mission was not approved by their government, nor did anyone know about it. The GhostWalker teams had initiated, planned and were carrying out this covert operation on their own.
GhostWalker Teams One and Four were parachuting into the Congo to retrieve Bridget and destroy the laboratory. If possible, they would locate and kill Whitney. GhostWalker Team Two was their extraction team. They would be flying a CV-22 Osprey, a tilt-rotor aircraft designed for low-level penetration into hostile enemyterritory day or night. The Osprey would be accompanied by two AH-6 gunships for cover. The light craft carried formidable artillery.
The third team was their backup in case of an emergency. They were ready to engage in battle, work to retrieve or supply any possible support needed. Every single GhostWalker was on board, ready to help.
Joe gave the order at 02:00. “Suit up. We’re thirty minutes out. Check oxygen. Double-check one another’s gear.” Gino checked Joe’s gear.
Joe signaled the men at 02:20. “Final in-oxygen check. Five minutes, we depressurize.”
