Found Missing (Decorah Security Series, Book #14): A Paranormal Romantic Suspense Novel (12 page)

She didn’t allow herself to finish the sentence as she stepped outside and scanned the pool area. Her heart leaped when she saw Grant coming down the steps. He was dressed in faded jeans, but that was all he was wearing. He was barefoot and shirtless, and his gaze fixed on her. He walked with deliberate purpose, each step bringing him closer to her.

She forgot to breathe as he stopped in front of her, only inches away, a question in his eyes.

“Grant,” she breathed. “I wanted you here.”

“I wasn’t sure you did.”

“Never doubt how much I want to be with you,” she answered, hearing the slight quaver in her voice.

Every word she spoke was true. Forget that back in the real world, everything had been wrong between them. Here, everything could be right, because she was making the rules.

The thought gave her pause. Back in the real world?

He was watching her, and she knew that he wouldn’t reach for her. She must be the one because she had to prove that her words of reassurance to him were true.

In the great room of the safe house, Grant tried to focus on the laptop computer screen, tried to read the information that Teddy Granada had sent him. But keeping his mind on work was impossible. All he could think about was the woman who had walked upstairs—the woman who had walked away from him a little while ago.

It was his own fault, he supposed. He’d practically pushed her away because no matter how much he wanted to protect her—and trust her and help her heal—he couldn’t really let down his guard, not after all her deceptions. And he understood that it was because of his own fear that she could hurt him more than any other person in the world.

He knew that was true. But he was alone, and it was safe to admit how much he wanted her—and how much he wanted a future with her.

With a sigh, he set the computer on the side table, leaned back in the comfortable chair and closed his eyes, imagining that the two of them were together again in the VR, the way they had been the time he’d come down to the pool, and they’d made love. He’d been elated that she’d reached for him. Then the next day, she’d run away, and he’d known she was really saying good-bye.

He shoved that last part aside. She’d had her reasons for running, and he knew a big factor was her fear that he and the other Decorah people were in danger because of her.

But now it was like a miracle. They were back in the VR together, as though none of the bad stuff had happened. Not her running away. Not the shoot-out among the sleeping patients. Not her lies. And not his deception.

“
Grant, I wanted you here—so much
,” she murmured, and he also heard the words in his mind like when he and his brother communicated without speaking.

I w
asn’t sure you did.

Never doubt how much I want to be with you,”
she answered.

He had never encountered anything like this—but he let himself surrender to the experience, telling himself that he would deal with reality later. Right now, all he wanted was to get as close to this woman as he could.

             
oOo

Jenny shoved doubt away and reached for Grant, raising her arms so that she could cup the back of his head and bring his mouth to hers.

She felt instant heat—and relief—that the two of them could bridge the gap she had created by leaving the VR against doctor’s orders.

She’d done it because all the bad stuff was her fault. Much as she wanted to deny it, she knew it was true.

As Grant’s lips touched down on hers, he made a sound deep in his throat, a sound that told her he wanted this as much as she did.

And as he claimed her, he took the lead, moving his mouth against hers in nibbles and sweeping caresses and finally more intimately when she opened her mouth for him. Last time neither of them had known what to expect. This time each of them was sure of the other. And each of them knew how to give the other pleasure.

While he kissed her, he gathered her close, his hands moving over her back and shoulder and into her hair.  She could feel his erection, hard and bold.

When she moved against it, he caught his breath.

“Don’t. I want to go slow.”

“How is that possible?”

She felt him grin. “Because I’m not going to make love with you until you’re as hot as I am. Come inside.”

She watched him grin again as he knitted his fingers with hers and led her through the curtains into the private cabana. Only it wasn’t the cabana she had stepped out of a few minutes earlier.

It was totally transformed into a bedroom in a pleasure palace. The walls were draped with golden hangings. The floor under her bare feet was made of something soft that felt like a cross between plush carpet and well-tended lawn. And in the center of the room was a wide bed with embroidered pillows at the head and a silk coverlet.

“Did you do this?” she whispered.

“Yes. For you. I want everything to be perfect for you.”

“I want everything to be perfect for you, too,” she answered, then felt a dart of guilt. “What am I doing?” she asked in a small voice.

The expression of satisfaction disappeared from his face. “You don’t want to be with me?”

“Of course I do. But I’m making this up. It’s not real.”

“Yes it is.”

“But it’s only my dream.”

“No. It’s my dream too,” he answered, his voice firm.

She stared at him in disbelief. “How?”

“I don’t know. But I know it’s real. I’m here with you. Back there, we were uncomfortable with each other. I didn’t know how I was going to spend time at the safe house alone with you. And I think you felt the same. Neither one of us could admit how much we wanted each other in real life. But we can admit it here.”

“Lord, yes,” she breathed, so thankful that she wasn’t just giving herself forbidden pleasure.

He fumbled for the belt of the robe, opening the tie and sweeping the edges of the garment out of the way.

She’d deliberately worn nothing underneath, but now she felt exposed as he took a step back and looked at her.

“Beautiful.”

“I want to be—for you,” she said, admitting what she couldn’t say in reality.

“You’re perfect.”

He reached for her, running his fingers down her sides and over her hips, and the feel of his large hands on her naked body sent a shock wave through her.

He brought his hands inward, moving to her stomach and playing with her navel before reaching to cup her breasts.

She heard a needy sound escape her lips as he took her breasts in his hands, and her need redoubled as he stroked his thumbs across nipples that had hardened to tight points of sensation.

When she felt him go still, she raised her head, giving him a questioning look.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked in a gritty voice.

“Would we be here together if both of us didn’t want this?” she countered.

“Good point.”

Her gaze locked with his, she shrugged her shoulders out of the robe, letting it fall to the floor as she reached for his belt buckle and opened it before finding the metal button at the top of his jeans.

She kept her gaze on his face as she lowered the zipper. Both of them held their breath as she reached inside. She’d expected to encounter his shorts. But just as she’d worn nothing under her robe, he was naked under his jeans.

“Oh.”

“I guess we were both on the same wavelength.”

“Convenient,” she murmured, surprised by her own boldness.

He sucked in a sharp breath as she closed her fingers around his erection. “That’s good. Probably too good.”

“I want it to be good,” she answered.

He threw his head back, enjoying her attentions for a few more moments before lifting her hand away, then used his feet to drag his jeans down before kicking them away. 

Determined not to be shy, she reached around him, cupping his bottom, stroking and kneading her hands over his warm skin.

“That’s nice.” He did the same for her, but after gliding his hands over her bottom, he reached lower into the folds of her sex, caressing her there with knowing fingers.

“Oh, Lord,” she managed to say, her voice sounding almost like a moan.

His other hand went back to her breasts, squeezing and tugging on her nipples.

“I don’t think I can stand up much longer,” she whispered.

“Me neither.”

With the sumptuous bed only steps away, he lifted her up and carried her over, laying her on the horizontal surface. He looked magnificent standing over her.

He joined her on the bed, gathering her close, holding her for long moments as he brought his mouth back to hers.

They exchanged greedy kisses before his mouth moved to her ear, where he sucked on her lobe, then trailed his lips down to her neck and lower.

When he buried his face between her breasts, she clasped the back of his head.

He turned to the side, finding one nipple with his tongue, then moving so he could suck her into his mouth while his hand trailed down her body and into her slick folds.

As he stroked her there, she thought she would go up in flames.

“Don’t make me wait,” she pleaded.

He lifted his head so that he could speak. “I want you as hot as I am.”

“I am!”

“We’ll see.”

When he dipped into her vagina, she felt her muscles ripple around his finger. He gave her a knowing look, then trailed moisture up and around her clit, and she knew she couldn’t take much more.

Sliding her hand down his body, she caught his erection in her fist, squeezing and releasing, feeling the heat and power of him.

He gasped out her name.

“Do it now,” she answered, rolling to her back and opening her legs for him.

He knelt in the V of her thighs, then angled his body so that the tip of his penis probed her opening. And then he was inside.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” she breathed.

“Oh yeah.”

When he began to move, she matched his rhythm, knowing he was holding back, waiting for her to catch up with him. She was so hot that she climbed quickly to his level where she was helpless to do anything besides drive for her satisfaction.

She climaxed in a burst of ecstasy that carried her into space.

She knew he was with her as she felt his body go rigid, and heard his shout of satisfaction.

His weight pressed against her until he rolled to his side, gathering her to him, his breath still coming fast and hard.

“Thank you for this,” he murmured.

“At first, I thought I had only imagined I was with you.”

“No. You brought me here,” he answered, his voice ringing with conviction.

The declaration was comforting, yet she had to ask, “Now what?”

The question hung in the air between them. They’d both done what they desperately wanted to do, what neither of them could have admitted at the safe house. But they’d come together in this place that was beyond the realm of ordinary life. Really, it was beyond her previous experience. She’s been in the VR. And she’d been in the real world. This was neither. And she wanted to stay here with Grant.

The concept was tempting, yet she knew that it was outside the laws of time and space. She could pretend they were safe, but that only increased the danger for both of them. 

The insight made her clasp Grant more tightly, and in turn, he gathered her closer.

She snuggled against him, so glad to be in his arms like this.

“Thank you,” she murmured.

“I think you had a lot to do with the great sex.”

She flushed. “Well, I was thanking you for coming here.”

“You called out to me.”

“How?”

“I don’t exactly know. Like I said, maybe I could hear you because of the way my brother and I communicate mind to mind.”

“But you don’t have a mental experience where you step into the same location?”

Never. We just have conversations in our heads that nobody else can hear.”

“And how do you start the conversation?”

“One of us ‘calls’ the other. Kind of like you called me.”

“But I didn’t know I was doing it.”

He shrugged. “It worked.”

“Did it really?” she asked.