The sounds she made became low and guttural. And him? He was growling, panting, encouraging her ever higher with dirty talk that, in any other situation, would make them both blush to the roots of their hair.
He was lost in the slide of flesh. In and out. Give and take. Two bodies striving for one mutual goal.
He could have died on the spot and been happy doing it. He was inside Samantha. Samantha, Samantha, Samantha… Her name became a refrain that matched the rhythm of their bodies. Sliding his hands beneath her butt, he gripped her plump cheeks and lifted her higher. Increasing the pressure, the friction. Thrusting harder. Deeper. Over and over again. When she whimpered, a desperate, kittenish sound, he knew she was close.
“Come for me, sweetheart.” He buried his face in the crook of her neck, kissing the salty sweat from her skin and feeling her heart thunder against his lips. He wanted to tell her more, tell her everything. Who he really was, what he really did, how he really felt, but all he could say was, “I want to feel you come all around me.”
She grabbed his ass as if begging him to make the pleasure stop and simultaneously pleading for more. He chose the second option, pistoning his hips faster. Harder. His balls pulled tight against his body, aching for release. And just when he thought he couldn’t take any more, her thighs clamped around his hips, her back bowed, and she gave herself over to passion, crying out his name.
Feeling her body coil and release around him, feeling her bathe him in her ecstasy, forced his own release. He could no more hold back his orgasm than he could hold back the rising of tomorrow’s sun. He let go…of everything. Every doubt. Every fear. All his pain. And came into her.
The whole time, she held him like she never wanted to let go.
Chapter 18
The dream began as it always did. With Julia nudging him awake…
“Ozzie. Ozzie! You have to go. There are rules about fraternizing on the job, and I don’t want to get caught.”
“I’ll leave before sunup,” he assured her, tossing aside the warm, damp sheets to search for a breath of air. The hotel’s AC units hummed nonstop, but they held little sway over the staggering heat and humidity of the Malaysian night.
“No.” She punched his shoulder. “Get up, Ozzie. I’m serious.”
He groaned and opened one eye, seeing his clothes in a heap over by the door. He had given his all for the last two hours, and his aching muscles and heavy eyelids told the story. As did the rumpled sheets and the musky scent of sex filling the room.
Yep, he had shown Julia Ledbetter the time of her life. And now she was kicking him out. He should be used to it, but the truth was, it stung.
Every damn time.
With a grunt, he pushed to a stand and padded over to his pile of clothes. Finding his boxer briefs, he pulled them on and turned to find Julia luxuriating in bed.
“That was fun.” She bit her lip and smiled coyly. “We should do it again sometime. You think you’ll ever get another assignment to assist the Secret Service?”
By do it again sometime, she didn’t mean take his number and try to make a go of it. She meant if their paths happened to cross, she wouldn’t mind a repeat of the night’s Olympic sexual performance.
He wanted to snarl and snap. Instead, he flashed her an easy smile and said, “We can only hope, right?”
She giggled, lifting her arms over her head and stretching. “Yes, we certainly c—”
BOOM!
A terrible, earsplitting sound.
A blinding white light.
The acrid smell of smoke and burned skin.
And inexplicable pain…
Ozzie opened his eyes to see his own hot, wet blood spurting from what remained of his leg. Curling tendrils of pungent vapor filled the room. On the burning bed was Julia. Her hair was gone. So was her flesh. And her eye sockets, empty of her eyeballs, seemed to stare at him accusingly.
If he hadn’t seduced her, perhaps she would be in the bath instead of the bed. If he hadn’t seduced her, maybe she would still be alive.
Terrible guilt drove a dagger into Ozzie’s gut. He blinked at Julia’s charred remains, watching her, the whole scene, morph in front of his eyes.
Gone was the hotel room. Gone was the smoldering bed.
