Saffron (3 page)

Her eyes had been calm and he’d felt a kick to his gut like he was training in hand-to-hand combat. There’d been dirt and dust covering her face and he had been unable to refrain from touching her. The kiss had followed.
And now it’s all I’ve been thinking of.

He’d retired early, since it was his turn to head down come morning and, doing what they did, they couldn’t afford to be tired, or off their game even a little bit. When Shade had woken him, he’d just managed to strip all the clothes off his dream Saffron and he’d been so close to sinking his length deep inside her.

Now he was not only horny as hell, he was also pissed off that she’d left the building. After all, how many different ways can a person be told not to go out at night?

“Which way?” he demanded as they neared the door.

“Off to the left, Boss. I tried to tell her, but she just told me not to worry about her. Said she could take care of herself.”

He shoved through the door and paused when Shade’s hand settled upon his shoulder. “I won’t kill her, Shade, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“You don’t need to scare her, either,” he said.

“The hell I don’t. She needs to understand this isn’t a metropolitan area where cops walk around and most of the time you’re safe. I don’t need her impulsiveness costing these men their lives because they feel like protecting a woman.”

“Like you did underground?”

He narrowed his eyes.
How’d he know about that?
“Something like that,” he stated, glad for the low lighting to hide his blush.

“Yes, I know about that. Flare told me. Said he saw you kissing the lovely doc down there.”

Shit!

“Let it go, Shade.”

He chuckled. “I’m just saying, Boss. Maybe you’re just scared she’ll get hurt and you’re pissed she left without telling you.”

“I told her not to go out after dark!”

“Maybe I should go get her,” Shade reiterated.

“Like hell, she’s my pain in the ass and I’ll deal with her. It’s time that little she-devil and I have a chat.”

Shade stepped back, his white teeth flashing in the shadows. “If that’s what you want to call it, Boss. Don’t forget we leave in the morning.”

“Night, Shade.” Kenric continued on his way out into the darkness, while Shade vanished back into the building.

Moving with the stealth that had got him through a few tours in the Middle East, he soon spotted her. The moon offered the only light and it silhouetted her body in a way that should have been illegal. His cock, which still hadn’t quite softened after his erotic dream, hardened the rest of the way. Saffron walked slowly.

He paused a short distance away from her and recognised the second she knew she was no longer alone. She didn’t jump, just stopped her forward progression.

“Damn it!” He closed the distance between them. “I told you to stay inside after it got dark.”

“Hello to you, too, Kenric.” Her voice was as soft as his was hard.

“Don’t you hello me. What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“I don’t need a babysitter, Kenric. I told your man to stay back in the compound—I don’t want him in trouble or risking himself by coming with me.”

Anger boiled close to the top. “So you figured going out into the night, in Somalia,
alone
was wise!”

“I was fine. Safer probably than now, with your loud voice. I know what I’m doing.”

He grabbed her wrist and jerked her close to his chest. “Don’t fuck with me, Saffron,” he ground out. “This is not the friendliest place on earth.”

Her body stiffened and he felt as though her words were drenched in ice. “Do not assume that because I am female I am helpless. I need not your permission to go anywhere, not even down that hole. Push me too far, Kenric, and you will see that. I don’t answer to you and you would do well to remember that piece of information.”

His skin prickled and he lifted his head to scan the area, suddenly feeling on edge. As if something powerful were out there. Watching. Waiting.

“Look,” he said in a calmer tone, having realised that she wouldn’t scare and wasn’t at all intimidated by him. “We need to talk.”

“Fine. I have a blanket over here.”

“Not out here. Inside.” He rolled his eyes when she hesitated. “Now, Saffron. You come with me or I’ll carry you.”

“I’d like to see you try,” she muttered, turning her back on him.

He struck like a snake, grabbing and tossing her over his shoulder before she knew what had happened. She struggled until he smacked her on the ass and retrieved her blanket from the ground. Saffron hurled curses at him and wriggled as he carried her back to the safety of the compound. His temper had barely cooled when he kicked open the door to his bedroom and dumped her unceremoniously on his cot, where she bounced before stopping.

“How dare you!” she seethed.

“Oh I dare, Saffron Eshe. And, since you can’t seem to be trusted not to endanger yourself, consider us roommates. So get comfortable, because we’re sharing that bed tonight.”

She watched him from beneath lowered lids. “Go to hell.”

“Been there and back a few times, darlin’.” He whipped off his shirt and dropped it on the lone chair in the room. “Lose the boots—I don’t allow them in my bed.”

“Fuck you.” Her voice had become a bit raspy and from the flaring of her nostrils he’d bet she was aroused.

“Normally I’d say name the time and place, but I’m due down in the hole tomorrow, bright and early. You’re coming with me so I can keep an eye on you. Lose the boots, darlin’—don’t make me tell you a third time.”

He removed his weapons and boots but left his pants on. By the time he’d turned off the light, her boots had joined his on the floor. It was a tight fit on his cot but he didn’t mind so much. Having her curves pressed up against him made him wonder about his rash decision, though.

She was between him and the wall and he spooned with her, curving his arm about her midsection and tucking her close. He buried his nose in her hair and closed his eyes with her unique scent filling him.

“This isn’t a good idea,” she muttered.

Truth be told, he’d had the same thought, given his physical reaction to the way they fit together.

“Shoulda thought about that beforehand, darlin’.”

He moved his hips and brushed his hard length along the curve of her ass. She burrowed back into him and he smothered another groan.

“I thought we were going to talk
.
”

“We will. Tomorrow. Right now you’re thinkin’ too much, Doc. You’re coming with me tomorrow, so get some sleep.”
Please, because I can’t go to sleep until you stop moving around like that, tempting me.

By some miracle she didn’t argue—just nestled into the pillow and yawned. She mumbled something he didn’t understand and for a moment he was going to ask her what she’d said, but he let it go. His fearless doctor had finally calmed down and hopefully he could get some much needed sleep.

Saffron lay in his arms, quiet and listened to the deep, even breaths he took. It had been many,
many
years since she’d allowed herself to fall asleep in a man’s arms. And this prickly one moment, protective the next, pain in her ass man, was the one she had let it happen with. She closed her eyes and allowed herself to rest.

She woke to find herself lying on top of Kenric. Her legs were caught between his and he cupped her ass, holding her tight against his groin. His hard shaft teased her even between their clothing. Her own hands wrapped around his body and she could feel scars along his back with her fingertips.

“Keep moving like that, darlin’, and we’re going to have something else to discuss between us.”

His words froze her to the spot. Lifting her head from where it had been snuggled into the crook of his neck she stared down at him in the early morning light. She dampened her lips with her tongue as she took in his stubble-covered cheeks and jaw, bow-shaped mouth, and such icy, clear blue eyes.

“Well, since we’re already going to have a chat…” she trailed off, lowering her mouth to his firm lips.

A low growl erupted from him as he rolled them over and dominated the kiss. Pinned beneath him she closed her eyes and gave herself over to the feel of his muscular physique moulding to her. She felt small and feminine. Her belly exploded with butterflies as he slid one hand up, under her shirt. His callused palm created havoc on her insides. He cupped her breast and she whimpered, desire flooding her.

Arching into his touch, Saffron dug her nails into his back as he tugged on her nipple. Liquid fire flowed through her veins and she felt moistness flood her pussy. His tongue danced with hers, stroking deep and teasing her.

He broke the kiss and rose up. His eyes burned into her as he grasped the bottom of her shirt and pulled it off over her head. Bare, she lay back before him and ignored the clenching in her belly as he ran his gaze over her, hungrily.

“Beautiful.” The word was deep and guttural.

He reached for and undid the button of her cargo pants and lowered the zipper. Their eyes locked as he tugged the garment down over her hips. She lifted and he worked them off her body before dropping them to the floor. Then he lowered his large, hard frame back over her.

“You too,” she whimpered, wanting his pants gone.

“Patience.”

She sank her hand into the hair at the back of his head. “Now!”

He snapped the waistband of her panties and thrust two fingers deep inside her. Stars exploded from behind her eyes as she came with a hard pulse. She clamped her lips together to keep the scream contained.

“Now?” he asked, pistoning his fingers within her.

She couldn’t find a single line of thought. All she knew was pleasure. She gasped again when his mouth covered one pebbled nipple, rolling it and nipping it. Waves of unending bliss submerged her in a fog of delight. He scissored his thick fingers inside her, stretching her and filling her.

“Yes,” she said.

“Mine,” he growled around her tip, vibrating against it.

Saffron manoeuvred her other hand between them and opened his pants. Sliding in, she found his cock. She curved her fingers around his hard and thick length. He jerked against her palm and she began stroking him.

He delivered a light bite to her breast and rose up above her, withdrawing his fingers from her core. His eyes burned as he removed her hand from his pants then shucked them as well as his boxers. Erect and long, his shaft jutted out, pearlescent drops on the large, mushroom-shaped head. Her slit flexed and she reached for him, only to be stopped by his hand pushing hers back.

Their gazes melded as he sucked her essence from his fingers and her stomach flip-flopped. She felt branded. He lowered himself, settling between her spread legs. He didn’t blink as he nudged the head of his cock into her.

He sank into her in a slow, continuous motion. Her breath caught as he stretched and filled her, beyond anything she’d felt before. Just when she thought she’d found her control he moved and everything went haywire again. He rubbed the sides of her channel with each stroke. Her pussy contracted around him, desperate to keep him embedded deep.

“Jesus!” He slid his arms under her shoulders and sank a hand into her hair.

Goosebumps popped up along her skin as he moved within her. Back and forth he thrust. Speed increasing with each powerful flex of his hips, he kept her hovering right on the plane between heaven and hell.

“Do you feel how tight you are around my cock, darlin’? You’re so hot and wet.”

His words were murmured in her ear as he continued to thrust into her. She could feel the sweaty dampness on the back of his neck and she gripped a handful of his hair as she held his shoulder with her other hand.

“Uh, uh, uh,” she panted as each motion forward came faster and deeper.

“Come for me again. Come around my cock like you did my fingers.”

She did. Coming so hard she bit his shoulder as her body arched up into him. She closed her eyes as she launched into bliss. He grunted and powered deep into her, skidding the metal cot into the wall with each stroke. She lost count of how many times, before he erupted, coating her womb with his seed.

The force of his release triggered another of her own and soon they were both floating down together. Her heart pounded within her chest and she could feel the sheen of sweat on her skin—the morning air was cool on it.

Every fibre of her being wanted him to hold her, but she refused to stop him when he withdrew from her and got off the bed. He didn’t look at her when he reached for his pants, drawing them on.

“We eat in twenty and then we head down. I expect your stuff in here by the time we leave.”

She bristled but didn’t say a word, merely rolled out of bed and stood before him naked, rumpled, and marked from their time in between the sheets. His facial hair had abraded her breasts and her lips were kiss-swollen. His pupils dilated and he sucked in a deep breath as he stared at her nude body.

“Thought we had to talk,” she said.

“Get dressed. We’ll talk at breakfast.” He grabbed his boots and shirt before storming out of the door, slamming it behind him.

It took her a few moments before the cloud he seemed to drape over her was gone and she shook her head.
What the hell am I doing? I can’t be sleeping with him.
Even now, her body wanted more. All the man had to do was touch her and she got muddled in the head.

Saffron made herself and her clothes disappear briefly, then came back to form in the room she’d been given. She dressed herself with a thought. She had just popped open the latches on one of her silver cases when a knock came at the door.

“It’s open,” she said. “Good morning, Shade.”

“Morning, Dr Eshe.”

“Saffron, please.”

He approached the side of the bed and stood looking down at her. “Saffron. What are you doing?”

“Checking the chemical compound of a fragment I brought back. It will be slightly different than normal if it is near a deposit of petroleum or natural gas.”

He sat down on the other side of the case and watched her. “So you could tell if we were near one or not?”