Maya Banks - No Place to Run

He threw back his head, closed his own eyes and pounded forward one last time before his release gathered in his balls and shot up his cock. He erupted painfully, the pleasure so staggeringly intense that he lost himself for one brief moment.

His hips still flexed spasmodically as he carefully lowered himself onto her limp body. She trembled as their flesh met, and her lips brushed over his jaw as he laid his head against her shoulder.

He was still buried deep and he had no desire to move. She felt good surrounding him, holding him in her body. He moved his hips again, a shudder rolling down his spine at the nearly painful sensation over his cock.

“Did I hurt you?” he asked against her skin.

She hummed, a content purring sound that told him he’d done no such thing. Still, she spoke softly against his hair, reassuring him that he’d given her as much pleasure as he’d taken.

Though he hated to move, he knew he was crushing her. Carefully he pushed himself up and then withdrew from her body. Damn but he was still hard.

He reached up to untie her and then rolled away to discard the condom. When he moved back, she immediately curled into him all soft and limber. Her hands moved over his body almost frantically, as if being denied the ability to touch him had made her all the more desperate to do so now.

He caught one of her hands and tugged it down until her fingers circled his cock.

“See what you do to me? I shouldn’t be hard again for two weeks after that, but I seem to stay that way around you.”

She laughed softly and ran her hand up and down his length, exploring every inch.

“Think he’ll wait long enough for me to grab a shower? Do you mind?” Her nose wrinkled in distaste. “I smell like beer.”

He nuzzled her neck, licking over her pulse. “You smell wonderful, but yeah, go get a shower.” He felt a twinge of guilt for having ambushed her as soon as she’d walked in. He should have let her shower and rest. She’d been on her feet the entire evening.

She reached up and kissed him before rolling away. He watched her, enjoying the gentle sway of her hips and ass as she walked naked to the bathroom.

She was one hundred percent woman. Soft and feminine, with curves in all the right places. She was everything his job wasn’t, and maybe that’s why she appealed so strongly to him.

He lay there for a long moment, and finally after five minutes, he figured he’d given her enough time to wash. If she hadn’t, he’d finish the job for her.

He got off the bed and went into the bathroom, where the steam from the shower had already fogged the mirror. She was standing motionless in the shower, her body blurred by the glass.

It was enough to send his blood roaring to life. God almighty but he couldn’t explain her effect on him. It was crazy and left him feeling unbalanced.

He opened the door, and before she could turn around, he slipped into the shower with her, his body molding to hers. She started to turn, but he stopped her, holding her still.

He lowered his mouth to her neck, where little droplets of water beaded and rolled down her skin. Her knees buckled and she threatened to fall when his teeth sank into the slim column of her throat. He caught her and held her tight.

“Put your hands on the wall.”

She put her palms on the tile and slid them up until her arms were above her head. He arched against her then reached down and hooked her right leg with his hand. He pulled up, lifting her while he held her steady with his other arm.

While the water beat down on them, he thrust into her, finding her warmth all over again. It was never enough. It would never be enough.

In the back of his mind, a warning flashed. He hadn’t used a condom, but he was lost in the feel of her silky heat against his bare flesh. His mind screamed stupid, but the male roared that she was his and he’d take what was his.

She tightened around him. Her fingers curled into fists against the shower wall. She threw her head back, arching into him as he marked her neck with his mouth.

His.

It was primitive and hard core. It puzzled him even as he knew it couldn’t be explained.

“Mine,” he whispered.

His release when it came was quicksilver. A lightning flash that was intense and painful and had him arching to tiptoe as he strained to get deeper.

She made a small sound, and her hands slid down the walls as if she’d lost any remaining strength. She sagged and he caught her gently to him. He was filled with an odd tenderness as he reached up to turn the water off and then settled her into his arms.

He stepped from the shower and put her down long enough to wrap a towel around her. For a long time they stood there, her forehead resting on his chest as they both tried to catch up.

She snuggled sleepily into his arms, and again, guilt assailed him as he imagined how tired she must be. He kissed the top of her head.

“Let’s go get some sleep. You’re exhausted.”

She turned her face up to his and smiled even as her eyelids drooped. Then she rose up on tiptoe to curl her arms around his neck.

“Take me to bed,” she whispered.

SAM woke with Sophie in the crook of his arm, her head resting on his shoulder. He was tempted to roll over and slide between her legs and wake them both up with a quick orgasm. But she looked tired and a little fragile, like maybe she’d had a rough night at work.

He pulled her closer and ran the tips of his fingers up and down her arm. The strands of hair closest to his mouth fluttered with his every breath, and he hooked a finger around them to pull them away from her cheek.

Her eyelids fluttered and opened, and sleepy blue eyes stared back at him.

“Good morning,” he murmured

She responded by snuggling deeper into his side. Her sigh was all he heard, and her arm crept around his waist, linking them tighter together.

He chuckled lightly and kissed the top of her head. “Content?”

“Mmm hmmm.”

It was easy here in this hotel room. Everything else seemed a world away and they were removed from reality. He wasn’t stupid enough to embrace that, but it was nice, just for a while, to get a sense that the only thing that mattered was right here and right now.

“Feel like eating something?”

She raised her head. “What time is it?”

“Seven.”

Before she could respond, a knock sounded at the door. What the hell? He frowned, then eased from underneath Sophie.

“Stay here and out of sight.”

He yanked his jeans on and went to the door, opening it just a crack. The man from the front desk stood there holding a sealed envelope.

“For you, señor. It was marked as urgent.”

Sam took the envelope. “Thank you.” He closed the door and turned the envelope over in his hand. It didn’t have a name, but then he hadn’t used his real name here. It was only marked “304 Urgent.” Underlined three times.

He glanced up at Sophie, who sat up in the bed, the covers drawn to her chin. Then he ripped open the seal and pulled out the single piece of paper.

At first he didn’t make sense of the short message. When realization hit him in the gut, his first reaction was disbelief. Was someone fucking with him? He needed to get back to his men. This could be complete bullshit, but it was the first potential break KGI had caught in their mission to take Alex Mouton and his extensive arms network down.

For two weeks Sam and his brothers had posed as buyers, trying to make contact with Mouton. And nothing. Either the man was a suspicious bastard or he had no interest in gaining new clients. Which told Sam that his current clientele was paying him a fuckload of money.

A chill slithered up his spine. Why the anonymous warning? Who had known what the Kelly Group was really after? They’d been careful. They’d done everything right. Blended in with the locals. Given no one any reason to believe they were anything but who they said they were. Even Sam’s illicit liaisons with Sophie had gone a long way in building his cover. Because what kind of dumbass came on a covert op and then spent his time fucking a local waitress to distraction?

“Sam, is something wrong?”

Her soft voice settled over him, soothing some of the tension. He crumpled the note in his hand after committing it to memory. He shoved it into his pocket and focused again on Sophie. Sophie who sat naked in his bed. Sophie who he wouldn’t ever see again.

He crossed the room and slid onto the edge of the bed beside her. She stared back at him, her eyes puzzled, and there was a hint of something else there. Fear?

He touched her cheek in an effort to reassure her. “I’ve got to go. Something’s come up. Something important.”

She bit her bottom lip. “Okay.”

He inhaled, hating what he had to say next.

“I don’t know when—if—I’ll be back.”

Her face became impassive. Her usually expressive eyes were shuttered and distant.

“I understand.”

Before he could say anything else, she leaned up and wrapped her arms around his neck. The sheet fell, baring her breasts. She kissed him. Just once. With all the sweetness she’d brought into his life in just a short time.

He savored the taste and the sensation and knew he’d never have this again. Regret tightened his chest.

“Be careful,” she whispered.

He touched her cheek and then kissed her again. “Always.”

SOPHIE waited long enough that she was sure Sam wouldn’t return to the room, and then she hurriedly dressed, making sure she left nothing behind. In the bathroom, she twisted her hair in a quick knot and thrust a pick from her bag through the knot to hold it.