Hot Contract (19 page)

“Honey, I’m messed up. You’re just slightly
fucked.”

She took a deep breath. “Isn't this where you
give me the sales pitch?”

Keegan leaned back and tucked one arm up
under his head. “Why? I’m not out to sell myself.” He let his gaze
drop to her breasts. “You wouldn’t want to...ah, inch on over here
and dangle say...about here?”

He held his finger over his lips with a
hopeful look. She didn’t answer.

“We have time to talk,” he said, feeling
awkward again. “You know...ah, if you want to talk. About the
guy—the bastard, who hurt you.”

She leaned forward. “I don’t want to talk
about—oh! You stinker!”

Keegan sucked leisurely, eyes slitted.

Her shoulders twisted in a long-drawn out
shudder. “That feels really good.”

He rolled her nipple between his teeth and
flicked it with his tongue, stroking the smooth fabric of her bra
over her soft flesh. Her eyes went all glassy.

“All right,” he said. “Let’s try that
again.”

He rolled her under him and slipped down the
luxurious curve of her belly, his mouth tracing her delicate skin
to the dusky curls between her thighs. She pushed at his face,
thrashing wildly.

“You’re going to do that…thing, again!”

“That’s me,” said Keegan. “Terminally
persistent.”

“You don’t have to...I mean, I can’t imagine
why—”

Keegan gave her a long, swirling lick. Her
folds parted for him, giving off a musky perfume that got right up
in his nose and head. He held her hips so he could taste her more
deeply and slipped a finger into her.

“Don’t tense up, Jen. I’d never do anything
to hurt you.”

She moaned and began to shake, teeth
chattering. “Hurt,” she whispered, breathing hard. “Don't…hurt me.
Please,” she moaned hands up over her face, “don't hurt me.” She
jerked, eyes fixed on something he couldn't see. “I can't do this!”
she screamed. “I c-can't
do
this….”

Jesus, she was having a flashback. He tried
to remember what to do and came up with a blank. Cold worms
exploded in his gut as he watched Jen relive her…rape? He wrapped
both arms around her, but she pushed at him, pummeling him with her
hands as the rest of her body curled into a tight ball. She was so
small. When she talked, he forgot she barely came up to the middle
of his chest. A big man could overwhelm her easily. Like he was
doing now—Jesus, he'd never seen anything like the expression in
her eyes. Totally beaten and helpless, like mercy wasn't part of
her vocabulary—only endurance and an infinite capacity for
pain.

“Jen,” he whispered, “sweetheart.” He buried
his face in her hair, holding her while she shook. “Come back to
me.”

“K-Keegan…” Her arms unfolded in a rush and
locked around him, holding him like he was the only thing keeping
her sane. “I think I'm going c-crazy. I-I—“

“You're having a flashback,” growled Keegan.
“You're not fucking crazy. Jesus. Kualani didn't do near enough,
I'd have given the guy a Columbian necktie.”

Her laugh was small and strangled, but
genuine. Slowly, her arms relaxed until she was leaning against
him, arms looped up around his neck.

He looked into her eyes as his head lowered
and his lips covered hers. “Don't look away,” he breathed. “I want
you to know who I am.”

Her lips parted. “You're incredibly
egotistical.”

“If that's what you want to think.”

Her eyes closed slowly as they kissed,
tongues sliding together gently. “No,” she whispered finally.
“That's not what I think. It's…it's a defense.”

“I know.”

Her eyes flew open and she giggled abruptly.
“Damn it, Keegan. Stop making me laugh.”

His smile lit his eyes. “Want to try
again?”

“This?” she whispered, bringing his hand to
her. “Or this?” she asked, licking her way into his mouth.

He pulled her up over him, meeting her kiss
for kiss, wild and out of control. She loved it that she could do
that to him. Make him go out of control.

“Hell, this isn’t—” He tugged at his pants.
“Goddamnit! My zipper—”

“Hand me your knife.”

“No knives.”

She cupped him through the cotton, stroking
down his length with both hands. His eyes closed slowly. The zipper
came free and she pushed his pants down to where the thick flannel
bandage stopped her from going any farther. He wasn’t wearing
underwear, and she stroked down over the smooth curve of his ass
with her fingers.

“Condoms,” he said thickly, “front
pocket.”

She pulled the condoms out, ripped one open
and stared at the tiny circle. “This isn’t going to work.”

His hand closed over hers. “Take it...like
this.”

“It’s colorful,” she said finally.

“What the hell were you thinking? Japanese
condoms?”

“Penguins are cute, and they’re
peach-flavored” she said, pushing up against him.

“Kittens are cute. Penguins are just
wrong.”

He stroked a hand down over her shoulder and
stopped. His expression turned hard and angry. “Did I do that?”

“No.” She knew exactly what he was talking
about.

Keegan measured his fingers against the
bruises on her breasts. “Who?”

“I really don’t want to talk about it. Not
now—”

He slipped her bra down over her shoulders.
“The subject isn’t closed,” he told her, “it’s shelved for later.
Tomorrow or...I can’t believe I’m going to let this go, stop
looking at me like that.”

“Like this?” she whispered, lifting her face
to his.

He kissed her deeply as she arched her hips
and settled over him. She slid down on him, inch by inch—until the
mind-blowing pleasure ran perilously close to pain. A faint,
terrified tremble started in the back of her knees. He was big, and
she'd only had sex once. Was it supposed to feel this way?

Keegan cupped his hands around her face,
holding her until she had to look into his eyes. “Look at me,” he
said. “Look at me, Jen. Tell me who I am.”

“K-Keegan,” she said.

He rolled up over her and held her tightly.
“You aren't fat. You aren't frigid. And if you don't move—just a
little—my balls are going to explode.”

Jen twitched—just a little, and was rewarded
by his groan.

“You're killing me. Do that again.”

He stretched her until she could feel every
inch of him sunk deep within her, but he wasn't trying to hurt her.
He didn't get off on pain. He was funny and honorable,
and…Keegan.

She took a quick breath. “I don't want you to
die…of exploding b-balls.”

“You know I'm just shitting you, right?”

Her laugh choked on her lips, but it was
still a laugh. “If you're trying to impress me with romantic
language, you might want to try harder.”

“Damn, Jen. I—” He shook his head and gave
her a hard, deep kiss, pushing her knees back over her
shoulders.

Looking down over her belly she could see his
length disappearing into her curls. The sight was incredibly
erotic, and she shivered uncontrollably. His eyes glittered, and
this time—he twitched.

Pleasure kicked her in the gut. “How
many...of those condoms, do we have?”

“A box,” he ground out, “back at the
campground.”

He moved slowly, letting her get used to his
intrusion in her body. The way he was eating her with his eyes made
it hard to think.

“I won't break,” she told him. “This isn’t a
one-time deal. We have a whole box, remember?”

The look he gave her was pure sex. “Only a
box?” He slipped his hands under her ass. He pounded into her, hard
and fast, taking her with thrusts that shook her breasts and sent
them bouncing. “Make it three,” he said breathlessly, “and you’ve
got a deal.”

Her thighs quivered, trembling in a way
they’d never done before. His fingers curled, lifting her as he
reared back.

“Keegan? It feels strange. Damn it! I think
I’m going to come—”

“Come? Jesus, I’m going to detonate a
nuke.”

She clung to him but still flew apart,
shattering around him as he threw his head back and bit down on his
lip, letting out a low groan.

Her entire body throbbed. “Omigod...” she
whispered, collapsing in utter exhaustion. “Omigod.”

His arms were tight, holding her to him as if
he could force them together to make them one. “Yeah,” he said
hoarsely, “that about sums it up.”

He pulled back, only to stop when she refused
to release him. “C’mon, Jen. Let me up. These things aren’t
reusable.”

She grinned lazily. “Maybe if we don’t
move?”

“No.”

“Or—”

“No.”

“All right." Jen caught his mouth in a long,
sweet kiss. “I’ll listen, this time. But be warned, I’ve upped the
ante to four.”

Keegan swung down to sit on a rocky
outcropping and rubbed his arm. The back of the hill rolled down
and away from him in ripples of broken lava. No-fly on one side, a
bullet hole in the other. Between lingering nausea and a constant,
all-over ache the way down looked just as hard as the way up.

“What am I supposed to be looking for
again?”

Jen slipped into place beside him on the
narrow ledge and shaded her eyes. “Production wells. We built up
instead of out, so they should be easy to see. We can take a
bearing and come out near the Project.”

“Honey, I don’t want to burst your bubble,
but it’s going to be dark soon. We should get back on the road.
This place is like a minefield.”

“If we make for the wells, we’ll cut across
the North Quadrant ring trail. The markers are tagged with
luminescent paint.”

His mind stuttered. Jesus, he knew exactly
what he’d do with glow in the dark paint. “Jen, about today. You
know, I was wondering if this—today, you know, I mean—I mean if it
meant anything to you.” He trailed off, hoping he’d managed to
sound coherent long enough for her to get what he was working at.
“The sex—”

“Wasn’t sex,” she said tightly. “It was love,
we made
love
.” She turned to look at him. “What part did you
misunderstand?”

Keegan took a deep breath, scrubbing at his
face. Shit, he couldn’t fall apart now. He turned his head to keep
her from seeing the look in his eyes. “StallingCo—”

“Is not a nice company, and we’re not nice
people.” She loosened her grip on him and straightened her
shoulders beneath her stained pink ruffles. “Please don’t have
second thoughts.”

The growing fear pounding in Keegan’s heart
half-clotted his words. “Jen, I—”

“No need to explain,” she said tightly. “If
anything, I expect the last couple of weeks have taught me that I
can’t run from my past. I’m Jen and Guinevere Morgaine, and if you
can’t deal with the fifty percent of me that's genetically messed
up, this isn't going to work.”

“StallingCo is a fucking giant. Your world is
so damned big. How,” he cleared his throat, tried again, “how the
hell can you want me?”

“I can’t change my family. It's unfair to
ask.” Her eyes closed. “I don’t live at StallingCo and I want my
job back. I don’t think I’ll ever lose weight—”

“Honey, we both have issues.”

“Piles of issues.” She finally looked into
his eyes, the line of her mouth taut with unhappiness.

He started to look at her, lost his nerve and
looked away again. He wasn’t afraid of much, but Jen was right
there on his short list. He gathered the courage to look over into
her eyes.

She shoved him and he fell over off the ledge
into the grass. She followed him down, threw a leg over his hips to
complete his capture and sighed, fingers curled loosely against his
bare chest. “We can wait until sunset.”

Keegan sat up on his elbows. “Umm, Jen. Think
you could give me a hand?”

Jen grinned, one finger hooked in his pants.
“If that’s what you want....”

****

Fallon closed the front door and held it
tight while Corlis looped a restraint over the knob and ran it back
over the rail. They'd taken two bags of weapons from the trailer.
Fallon picked up the largest while Corlis slung a slender black
duffle over her shoulder.

She held out a grenade launcher and a long,
flat-headed screwdriver. “Found these in the evidence room,” she
said, letting her fingers touch his.

Her knuckles were bruised and her hand was
filthy, but he held on to her anyway, his heart up in his throat.
“Thanks,” he managed.

She shrugged.

Was it his imagination that she was holding
on to him as hard as he was holding on to her? He didn’t want to
move and break the moment, but he had to touch her cheek and from
there it was a short distance to her lips.

She closed her eyes and turned her cheek into
his cupped palm. “There’s ammo,” she breathed.

“I can use ammo," he said softly. Corlis was
touching him on the doorstep of a freaking police station, out in
the middle of nowhere. Hell, he wanted to do her right up against
the door.

She took a step closer. He could feel the
heat of her body and see the uncertainty in her eyes. She pecked
him, a quick brush of her lips on his, and pulled back quickly,
shoes scuffling on the worn wooden steps.

“Corlis.”

She turned back to him, her expression
closed.

He leaned into her and very gently settled
his lips over hers. “The pictures don’t bother me.”

Her lips parted and for a second, he thought
she was going to say something, but she nodded instead, before
starting away.

“Get something inconspicuous,” she called
over her shoulder.

A ragged row of silver gray trees sheltered
them from the main road. Lights flickered through the branches,
coming from out on the highway, headed up the mountain.

Fallon dumped the bag and pointed to a little
brown two-door near the entrance to the parking lot. “That
one.”

"You get it, I’ll dump these.” She took the
bag, popped the trunk on a police cruiser, threw the bags in and
broke the key off in the lock.