SEAL's Deception (Take No Prisoners Book 8) (5 page)

Ben finally lay on the couch with his hands behind his head, convinced he wasn’t the right man for this job. He’d ask Stingray to fill in as the number one bodyguard, if he couldn’t keep his own act together. Risking the success of the mission wasn’t an option.

Y
asmin lay awake
past three in the morning before she fell into a disturbed sleep filled with cruel sheiks holding her prisoner, cloaked women throwing stones and one handsome SEAL fighting through a crowd of terrorists unable to reach her in time to save her from the rampaging women.

Waking with a start to the alarm clock buzzing on her nightstand, Yasmin stared at it, trying to remember where she was. A glance out the open windows revealed London, not yet awake in the gray light of predawn. One by one, the streetlights blinked out as the sun edged up on the horizon.

Today, she and her SEAL bodyguards would board Prince Khalid’s private jet bound for Riyadh, where they would use whatever means at their disposal to locate the purchased vials of deadly virus.

For a moment, doubt swept over Yasmin. Was she making a big mistake? Was she overly confident in her ability to fool the prince into thinking she was a princess? Dragging the SEALs into this charade could land them in a whole lot of trouble. She threw back the covers and swung her legs over the side.

No. They couldn’t execute this idiotic plan. It would get them all killed or imprisoned. She couldn’t let the SEALs go through with this insanity. Yasmin ran to the bedroom door and flung it open. “I can’t do this,” she said to an empty room.

“Ben?” she called out. No one answered. “Ben?” A strange, panicky feeling swept over her. He wouldn’t have left her, would he? She ran through the room, checking behind furniture, as if he’d be hiding with the thought of jumping out to scare her.

Well, she
was
a little scared. Had someone sneaked in during the night and dragged him off while she’d slept through it all?

A hundred different scenarios ran through her mind, each worse than the last. When she thought her head might explode, she saw the doorknob turn, and the door swung open.

Ben entered, carrying a paper bag and two cups of what smelled like coffee. Balancing the items carefully, he kicked the door shut behind him and glanced up. “Oh, good. You’re awake. The kitchen cabinets were empty, so I went out for coffee. I didn’t know if you’d like it, but I picked up a cup of cappuccino for you from the shop on the corner. Black coffee for myself.”

He was so casual and calm when she’d been about to come apart, worrying he’d been kidnapped, maimed or killed. She took several deep breaths and let them out before she could think or speak without screaming at him for leaving and scaring her half to death. “I love cappuccino,” she said. “What’s in the bag?”

“Scones.”

Swallowing the incomprehensible fear she’d felt only moments before, she settled in a chair at the tiny dining table and wrapped her hands around the steaming cup of cappuccino. “Mmm, this is delicious.”

“Glad you like it. I was afraid you’d want the coffee. I think of cappuccino as the sludge coffee becomes if you let it sit too long.” He held up his cup. “I like my coffee straight, black and watery; not thick like old oil in an engine. It’s almost a dying breed among coffee makers.”

Yasmin let Ben talk about coffee like she really cared. It kept her from having to come up with something to say when all she could think of was wanting to strip the SEAL out of his clothes and take him back to bed. Which wasn’t an option. Not with the cameras on them and an operation to launch.

Talking about what happened last night wasn’t what she wanted, either. Coffee was a good topic. Safe, not controversial, and it didn’t require a commitment they couldn’t agree on. Not that one night in the sack was a reason to commit to anything. No.

Sleeping with Ben didn’t mean anything more than scratching an incredibly satisfying itch. Once they found the vials, he’d go his way, and she’d go hers. They probably wouldn’t see each other ever again. End of story. Why bring up the subject, if their time together was ending soon anyway?

Talking about last night was completely out of the question.

“About last night…” Ben glanced over the top of his coffee cup, meeting her gaze head-on. “We need to talk.”

No! No! No! We don’t!
Yasmin broke away from his gaze and stared down into her cappuccino. What was wrong with this man? Men didn’t talk about sex; they just did it. Most of them walked away without a second thought.
Wham, bam, thank you, ma’am. I’m out of here
.

“What about it?” she asked, refusing to look into Ben’s blue eyes. Her breath caught and held, waiting for whatever he might say next.

“What happened didn’t have to mean anything.” He set his coffee on the table and leaned closer to whisper, “It was a mistake. I hope we can continue on without upsetting our arrangement. We should act like it never happened.”

A mistake. A lead weight fell to the pit of Yasmin’s belly. Why? This man was just a member of the team she’d have to work with to find biological weapons in a Saudi prince’s palace. Ben meant nothing to her, other than a well-trained SEAL to cover her six. Then why did she feel like he had just kicked her in the gut?

She looked up, meeting his gaze, raising her chin. “You’re right. Consider it forgotten.” Then, for the cameras, she added, “Leaky faucets are never something to dwell on. Especially when they aren’t handled properly. Besides, I’m meeting my future husband today. I have a lot to pack in order to be ready.” With a tight smile, she pushed back her chair and rose from the table.

Without another word, she left the living room, walked straight through the bedroom and into the bathroom. Once she’d closed the door, she leaned against it, dragging in deep, steadying breaths. What was wrong with her? She acted as though she was in love with a man she’d only just met.

Her heart banged in her chest and her stomach bunched at the memory of the night before. Her reaction to Ben’s lovemaking had to be a delayed euphoria from, granted, the best sex she’d had in…well, ever! That was it. She was disappointed he hadn’t felt the same. Yasmin pushed away from the door and crossed to the shower, turned on the water and stripped out of the nightgown that had started as a way to shake the big SEAL and ended up shaking her instead. She shoved the gown into the waste bin and stepped into the shower.

After a thorough scrub to get the lingering scent of Ben off her skin, she dried and went to work on applying makeup like she’d seen Aliya do. The process took her longer and several attempts to get some things right.

Thirty minutes after she’d entered the bathroom, she faced herself in the mirror, satisfied she looked so much like Aliya the prince wouldn’t have any doubt she was his fiancée. She’d applied thick black eyeliner, sweeping the line upward at the corners, adding luminescent eyeshadows in shades of gray and midnight blue. She’d contoured her face with foundation and several shades of blush to make her cheekbones appear higher. Mascara enhanced the length of her thick, dark lashes. And the final touch was a deep red, smudge-proof lipstick.

Yasmin had dried her dark hair and applied the curling iron to the lengths. Then she’d pulled up the sides, securing them with diamond-studded combs. Her disguise halfway complete, she left the bathroom wrapped in a towel and walked into a solid wall of muscles.

Strong hands gripped her arms, steadying her. “Do you always take so long in the bathroom?”

“I’m meeting my fiancé for the first time. I want to look my best.” She looked up into Ben’s eyes, and butterflies erupted in her belly.

He backed her into the bathroom and turned on the shower, still holding one of her arms. “What I said before was your chance to escape any unwanted entanglements. From my side of things, last night was anything but a mistake. Making love to you was mind-blowingly incredible.” He bent and claimed her lips in a kiss that stole her breath away. “Leaving you alone in that bed took every ounce of my self-control.”

Ben released her arms, raised his hands to her neck and tipped back her head. Then he swept the length of her neck with kisses, dropping lower to skim across her collarbone.

He reached the edges of her towel.

As she waited, Yasmin couldn’t catch her breath.

He didn’t disappoint. With one decisive yank, he tore away her towel, leaving her standing naked on the cool tile floor.

Her nipples drew up into tight little knots, and she shivered in anticipation of what he would do next.

“You’re beautiful without all the makeup,” he whispered. He traced a line from her neck down to the swell of her breasts.

Yasmin drew in a sharp breath, her chest expanding, offering her breasts to him, to lick, fondle and suck. Hell, she didn’t care. He could do anything, and she’d be helpless to stop him. Her knees wobbled, and her core ached with a need so great she thought she might explode if he touched her there.

Ben bent and pressed his lips to one of her nipples, flicking it with the tip of his tongue.

Yasmin moaned, clasped the back of his head and urged him to take more.

He did, sucking the entire areola into his mouth along with half of her breast.

Arching her back, Yasmin slid her calf up the back of Ben’s leg, pressing her sex against his thick thigh. She wanted him. Inside her. Now. Fumbling for the button on his trousers, she flicked it through the hole and lowered his zipper. His cock sprang free into the palm of her hand.

She moaned. “Commando?”

He chuckled. “The only way to go.”

Yasmin wrapped her hand around his thick, hard shaft and ran it down to the base, where she rolled his balls between her fingers.
Yes
. She’d thought about this all night long. “We don’t have much time.”

“How much time do we need?”

“Not much.” She backed away, tugging his cock, urging him to follow. When her bottom touched the cool marble counter, she scooted up onto the surface, spread her legs and guided him to her entrance.

Ben touched her there, dipping in, but not far. He leaned close to her ear. “I don’t have another condom.”

“Fuck!”

His chest rumbled with laughter. “That’s the idea.”

“I don’t care. Just pull out before…” She wrapped her legs around his waist, unable to think beyond what they were about to do. The operation, Prince Khalid, her hair and makeup and the other SEALs were so far from what was on her mind she couldn’t remember why they were important.

Ben stepped closer, pressing his cock into her slick channel. “You feel so damned good.”

“Ditto,” she moaned, pressing her heels into his buttocks. Something about him being fully dressed and her completely naked made her even hotter. “Can you make it go any faster?”

“You’re bossy.”

“You talk too much.” Reaching out, she grabbed his hips and slammed him into her. “Better.”

Ben inhaled deeply and closed his eyes, his fingers digging into her hips. “Ready?”

“Way past ready,” she said, willing him to go for it, fast and hard.

He pulled out so slowly, Yasmin wanted to scream. The move was an excruciating tease she couldn’t stand.

Then he thrust into her, driving hard and fast, just like she’d wanted it. The slapping sound of their bodies coming together was just one more thing that shot her to the heavens. Waves of sensation washed over her, and she rode them to the end.

Ben thrust once more and held her hips tight, buried deep for several long breaths, and then he pulled out at the last moment, grabbed a towel and came into the soft terry cloth.

A sense of pure feminine satisfaction settled over Yasmin as she slipped off the cabinet, washed herself and wrapped a clean towel around her body. “Apology accepted.” Flipping her hair over her shoulder, she walked out of the bathroom and dressed in a sleek white skirt suit, wrapped a soft black scarf around her head in the style of fashionable Muslim women and started to pack the clothes she’d need for her stay at the palace of Prince Khalid, her fake future husband.

All the while, she tracked Ben’s movements out of the corner of her eye, her body still on fire from the fast and furious lovemaking in the bathroom.

At the very least, she now knew Ben wasn’t immune to her. Though she’d promised not to get involved, she hadn’t been able to resist the handsome SEAL. Hopefully, by the time the operation ended, she’d lose interest in him and be glad when they went their separate ways.

She shivered, not from the cool air in the room. The tremor was her body’s reaction to her thought of growing tired of Ben. Fat chance. A lot more of what they’d done in the bathroom was needed to get bored with the man. Again, the fire inside sizzled, spreading from her core to her extremities. Well, damn. Being near Ben was a train wreck looking for a place to happen. Unfortunately, the disaster would probably happen all over her.

B
en paced
the length of the living area, his fists clenched in knots, his cock still on the hard side from making love to Yasmin in the bathroom. What the hell was he thinking? The problem was that he wasn’t thinking with his head. He’d been thinking with his dick.

A buzz on the intercom near the entryway jerked him out of his self-inflicted dressing down. “Princess Aliya, your car has arrived.”

Yasmin stepped out of the bedroom, dressed in a white skirt suit and white stilettoes, with a black scarf wrapped around her hair and neck. She rolled a small suitcase beside her. Though the outfit was probably meant to be conservative and sophisticated, it was sexy as hell.

Ben swallowed hard and walked toward her. “Is that all you’re taking?”

She laughed. “Hardly. I need a wardrobe fit for a queen.” She tipped her head toward the bedroom. “The others are in there.”

Ben slipped by her, inhaling the heady scent of her perfume, wishing they could stay in the flat and forget this insanely dangerous assignment.

His cell phone vibrated in his coat pocket, reminding him that he wasn’t the only man going along on this little airplane ride. He wasn’t even certain they’d be allowed on the jet. Thankfully, the three of them had been issued fake passports, and dossiers on their equally fake backgrounds, before they’d flown from Virginia to connect their CIA contact.

They had yet to meet with Princess Aliya’s escorts from the house of Saud. The escorts might have orders to bring the princess alone. Ben’s fists tightened. In which case, Yasmin wouldn’t be going anywhere. They’d hustle her out of there so fast, the Saudis’ heads would be spinning.