“Valerie.” He grumbled the dark warning.
But he didn’t move, didn’t leave. He gripped his waistband, but didn’t push her away as she unbuttoned his shorts and lowered the zipper. She tugged his boxers down just enough to free his thick erection.
No, he definitely wasn’t immune to her. She smiled.
“I’m not begging,” she said and stroked his hot skin, curling her fingers around his steely length.
His entire body went taut, and his breathing stopped.
The hard cement made her knees ache, the cold air seeped through her jeans, someone could discover them at any moment… She couldn’t care less. Until now, she had never craved the taste of a man.
A low groan rumbled from deep in his chest when she took him into her mouth, sucking him from base to tip, reveling in the feel of him against her tongue. Triumph raced through her at the urgent plea of his hand on her shoulder, his fingers suddenly tangled in her ponytail.
She caressed his balls through the fabric of his shorts with one hand and kneaded his buttocks with the other. His hips pumped, seeking more, his increasingly harsh breaths mingling with the occasional sounds of a car or truck passing on the freeway.
He never threw back his head or closed his eyes, never completely stopped scanning for potential threats, but he grimaced and bit his lower lip and furrowed his pale brow. She’d never seen him so emotionally laid bare.
Something unfurled inside her, making her heart flutter and sing.
“Val—” His breath caught. Every muscle in his body tensed, and he shoved against her shoulder.
She held tight to his backside and gave her head a small shake, making a noise of protest deep in her throat. She wanted all of him.
He came then, hips jerking as his breath shuddered from his lips in silent surrender.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Las Cruces, NM
Monday, 10:30 p.m.
SCOTT MANAGED NOT TO MAKE a sound as he came in a glorious burst of light, but it was damned hard. He wasn’t holding back a mere moan, or the need to call out Valerie’s name, he wanted to give a fucking victory cry.
He’d tried to hold on, to hold out, but her wicked mouth had sent him rushing headlong into heaven far too fast.
Then again, the faster the better.
Sure, he’d been flying high from getting sucked off by the gorgeous woman he’d been jonesing for all month. Out under the sky in the open air, no less—like something right out of a fantasy—but that had also left both of them unprotected, totally vulnerable, with no one watching their six. Jesus.
Fucking.
Christ.
He tucked himself into his pants and zipped up, still shaky from the mind-blowing release.
He hadn’t let a woman go down on him since… well, since before he left the Marines. Years. And it had never been like that. Not once.
Part of him wanted to go apeshit on Valerie for pushing herself on him, for keeping after him until he let down his guard. Part of him wanted to haul her back to their room, kick out her “old friend” Alan, and make love to her all night. The first option wasn’t fair to her, the second would only make their situation worse.
If she had looked even a little smug, he might have chewed her ass anyway, just to relieve the frustration and confusion building in his chest. Instead, she sported a nervous smile as she wiped her mouth, dusted off her knees, and stood.
He probably should have reached out for her, held her…done something. What exactly was the appropriate post-blow-job-next-to-a-parking-lot response? He hesitated, and her face fell as she turned away without a word. Scott scooped up his crumpled pop can and followed her back to the room, his chest hollow.
An hour later, Valerie and Alan navigated their secret online world while she munched on the candy Scott had finally remembered to give her. He knew how to lie on a rocky hill covered in brush for three days straight watching men come and go from a compound. He knew how to spend a night on a rooftop waiting in silence for someone to present as a target. He knew how to wait years for freedom from a tiny cell.
He did not know how to watch others try to save his ass while he did nothing.
Even more dangerous was that without a distraction, Valerie was all he could think about. The determined look on her face when she’d reached for him. The feel of her cool fingers against his hot, needy skin. Her mouth wrapped around him…
