More Than a Mission (15 page)

G
reat, Lucia thought as she flipped from one camera feed to the next and realized that someone was jamming the signal. And with Aidan deciding to go incommunicado, she had no idea whether or not he was in any kind of trouble.

Over and over she tried to restore the signal, but the cameras were unresponsive. Whatever was screwing up the transmission was pretty powerful. Which meant that she might be able to track its location and shut it down.

But first…

She rose from the table and snatched her binoculars from the tabletop. Hurrying to the windows, she searched the beach, but there was no sign of Aidan or Ms. Moore. Shifting downward, she noticed the lights were on in the cottage. Through the window, she was able to pick out Aidan and Lizzy as they…

Well. It sure didn't look like Aidan was in any kind of trouble. Well, at least not of the physical kind.

Emotionally…That was a whole 'nother issue. She had sensed his indecision during this assignment. Realized that he was either unwilling or unable to get past his attraction to the Sparrow.

There was more going on than just the mission. That was not good. And as for what was about to happen in the cottage…

Lucia walked back to the table holding her laptop and the surveillance monitors. She needed to find what was jamming the cameras and how Elizabeth had managed to activate it with Aidan literally at her side the whole time.

She would give the Sparrow credit. She sure seemed to know her spy stuff.

Let's hope Aidan realizes that, Lucia thought.

 

Aidan wrapped his arms around Lizzy's waist and dragged her close. Her shirt accidentally rode up with the action and his forearm brushed along her bare back. It was slightly damp, probably from their mad dash up the beach.

It was happening so fast. Too fast, he thought, doubting he had the patience to finish this upstairs in her bedroom.

As she eased her hand beneath his jacket and under the hem of his T-shirt, he knew he couldn't wait.

He gripped her to him tightly and bending his head, he laid his forehead against hers, brushed a kiss there before moving lower to meet her lips in a kiss.

Opening his mouth against hers, he tasted her, savored the slick slide of her tongue along his. Imagined it sliding along…

He groaned and pulled away, his breathing rough. “Lizzy, I can't—”

She placed a finger on his mouth, a sexy smile on her face. “I won't let you run from me now, Aidan.” She didn't wait for his answer, choosing instead to stand on tiptoe and run her tongue along his jaw and then down to the side of his neck, to the sensitive hollow close to his shoulder where she gave another lick before a bite.

He cradled the back of her head in his hand and she gave another quick bite before licking and sucking at the spot.

He hadn't gotten a hickey since high school. He had forgotten how good it felt. How wonderful it was to put the bite on her, he realized as he brought his face to the hollow between her neck and shoulder. Bit and sucked and licked until they were both moaning and clutching each other.

They finally eased away from one another. Breathing heavily. Bodies tense with need.

He was certain of one thing. It was going to be…

Wild, he thought as she hopped up and wrapped her legs around him, bringing herself hard against erection. “Lizzy?”

“Touch me, Aidan. Like you did before,” she urged, her hands locked behind his head, drawing him close.

He kept one hand at her back while he jammed the other under the edge of her tank top, moved it upward until he was cupping her breast. Her nipple was a tight peak in the center of his palm. He gripped it between his thumb and forefinger, rotated the peak and she let out a little gasp of pleasure, tightened her legs around his waist.

In the back of his mind came the thought that this was wrong. That Lucia would be watching and hoped she knew the meaning of discretion and shut off the cameras because…

He wanted to hear more. Feel more. Taste more. Smell more: he wanted everything with her.

Somehow he bared that breast to his gaze. Her nipple was a sweet caramel color against the cream of her skin. As he brushed his lips against it, Lizzy let out another little gasp and his erection tightened painfully at that sound.

He needed to be inside her. Hearing her pleasure spill from her lips as he moved within.

But first, he had to taste her again.

He licked the tip of her. Sweet. Hard against his mouth as he closed his lips around her nipple and sucked.

She gripped his head to her with one hand. Eased the other one under his shirt. Her palm was soft against his skin. Warm.

He didn't know how it happened, but they were suddenly on the edge of the large sofa in the middle of the room. She was leaning back against the soft, welcoming cushions, her legs open. He was immediately there, drawing himself against her as he continued caressing her breast.

She held him close, and he moved his mouth on her. Sucking. Biting.

He wanted her to do the same. All over him. Which meant they had way too much clothing on.

Elizabeth must have felt the same way since she eagerly reached for the hem of her tank top and ripped it off, revealing herself.

It distracted him for a moment. He sat back on his heels and looked his fill. Placed his hands on her midsection and traced the indentations in her abs. Slowly shifted upward until he was holding her breasts in his hands. Rubbing his thumbs across the distended tips of her nipples.

She surged forward, slipped her hands beneath his jacket and eased it off.

His T-shirt followed quickly as he removed it and knelt before her again. She ran her palms all along his skin and he leaned close, shifted his hands to her back to bring her nearer.

She did the same, but encountered the hard ridges of scar as she did so.

He sensed her hesitation and immediately reminded, “Shrapnel. Army, remember?”

With an accepting bob of her head, she traced the edges of his scars with her fingers, as if to soothe, although the hurt was long gone, Aidan thought.

A shudder ripped through his body at her actions and he gripped her tight, buried his head against her neck.

Her comforting brought a change in what had been happening between them. A banking of the fires for the moment as they held one another, drawing succor from the embrace.

Finally he eased away, reached up and brushed a lock of her hair back from her face. “You're…beautiful.”

She smiled. A slow, comfortable smile that did something funny to his insides. “Thank you.”

He brought his hand down to her shoulder, where he traced the straight line of it. Moved down a little further and ran his thumb along the classically defined edge of her collarbone.

He bent his head, ran his lips along that strong line before urging her upward so that he could kiss her breasts again. Lick her nipples before sucking on them gently.

She cradled his head to her and kissed it. Urged him on with soft cries that told him how much she liked what he was doing. When she leaned back onto the cushions of the sofa, he took the moment once again to admire the strength in her, the lean muscles along her midsection that were impossible to resist.

He laid his hands there, running his finger along the ridges before replacing his hands with his mouth. He paused to kiss the tempting indentation of her navel before reaching the edge of her low-rise black jeans. She shifted her hips up then, and he smiled against her belly.

“Impatient, Lizzy. That's not a good—”

She silenced him with a kiss that rocked him with its intensity. When she pulled away and sat on the edge of her couch, her sherry-brown eyes were liquid heat. Warm as her gaze, her hands ran down his body while he kneeled before her. They felt even hotter as she eased her fingers beneath the waistband of his jeans before she undid the snap and dragged the zipper down the nearly painful length of his erection.

He was so hard, he immediately sprang out once she released the zipper. She wasted no time in wrapping her hand around him.

“Very impatient,” she confessed.

Almost lightheaded from the surge of desire, he somehow managed to kick off his pants and tightie whities while leaving his wallet, with his condoms, within easy reach.

He was standing before her, ready to kneel again when she leaned forward and kissed the tip of his jutting erection. It trapped his breath somewhere in the middle of his chest, but then she took him into his mouth and his breath disappeared completely.

She was amazing, he thought as he held her head to him. Her mouth was hot and eager as she sucked on him and then withdrew to lick the tip. She bit around the head of his penis while with one hand, she cupped his balls.

His knees nearly buckled and it took all his control not to come right then. Somehow, he mustered his strength, reached for her and urged her to stand. He undid the zipper on her jeans, parted them and slipped his hand beneath to encounter nothing but sleek warm skin.

He was so on the edge, he couldn't waste the time to take off her pants. Easing his hand downward, he found the center of her. Applied pressure to the bud nestled between her damp lips. He stroked her until she was clinging to him, her breasts against his chest. Her hand stroking up and down the length of him, wet from her mouth.

He met her gaze again and saw her need. Saw her indecision, as well. At least he wasn't alone in what he was feeling.

She grabbed hold of his shoulders and he finally eased a finger inside her. That action dragged her eyes closed. He didn't know why, but he needed her to see him. He needed to see what she was experiencing through those amazingly expressive eyes.

“Open your eyes, Lizzy,” he said in soft tones.

It was a battle to do what Aidan asked. It wasn't just the pleasure she was experiencing from the way he was moving his fingers inside her, or the way her breasts brushed against his smooth chest. Maybe it was that she might give up too much of herself if she did so. Too much of what she was feeling. Hoping for.

“Lizzy, please,” he urged, and in his voice there was something that said she wasn't alone in her yearnings or her fears.

She did as he asked. Those gorgeous eyes of his were a fusion of lighter and darker blues, like the ocean during a storm, revealing to her as much she had feared.

Cradling the side of his face, she traced the line of his cheek and then shifted downward to the edge of his lips. She moved her thumb across them and he bit down on it, which created a tsunami of desire that swamped her senses.

“Lizzy?” he questioned, his gaze searching her face. Making it impossible for her to do anything other than tell him the truth.

“I want you to kiss me…there.”

Aidan groaned, but hastily removed her jeans.

She sank onto the giving cushions of the sofa, opening her legs as he knelt before her. He rubbed his hands up and down her thighs nervously and his gaze as it skittered up to hers was equally tense.

“Aidan?” she asked and cradled the side of his face.

“You're like no one I've ever met,” he confessed and dropped a kiss on the palm of her hand.

“I hope that's a good thing,” she said, feeling exposed on too many levels.

“It is, only…I might not be able to stop after this.”

She laid her hands over his to still the motion of his hands as he moved them on her thighs.

“Who said we had to stop?”

His hands trembled hands beneath hers.

He looked up, his gaze intense. Compelling. Troubled.

She suspected that she knew the reason why. Leaning forward, she cradled the back of his head and kissed him. A reassuring kiss. One that said, no matter what happens, it's okay.

And it was.

When he finally parted her with a hesitant kiss and then licked the swollen bud of her clitoris, she nearly jumped out of her skin. It had been too long and Aidan…Aidan knew just what to do even before she thought it, much less gave voice to it. He slowly licked until she was pressing toward him. Then he sucked and slipped first one finger inside, followed by a second.

She was writhing on the couch, holding his head to her when he bit down on that nub and sent her over the edge.

“Aidan.”

She cried his name out and he rose, was suddenly poised at her entrance. Somehow he'd managed to get a condom on. She couldn't recall when or how. Come to think of it, she couldn't remember anything other than how wonderful he was with his hands and mouth.

And although she had just had one of the most satisfying orgasms of her life—even if her experience was limited—she was suddenly on the edge again, wanting him to enter her and ride her to another.

She met his gaze, her breathing still shaky. Reaching for him so that he could join with her, she was surprised when he inched away a bit and shook his head. But when he grinned, she realized with relief that it wasn't about stopping.