“The accommodations will be up to Rio,” Steele said through his teeth.
“Great,” Cole said glumly. “I think the man’s idea of first-class accommodations is having a rock for a pillow.”
“Rio has a nice place here,” P.J. piped up.
Steele raised an eyebrow while Cole turned sharply. “How the hell do you know what Rio has?”
P.J. shrugged. “He told me about it. Sounds like a nice place. He worked on it for years. Pretty high-tech too.”
“You had an actual conversation with Rio?” Cole asked in disbelief.
“Yeah, he’s cool.”
Cole’s gaze narrowed. “Just how well do you know him?”
“We talk.”
“When the hell do you have time to talk? When we’re all together for a mission, there sure as hell isn’t time for chitchat.”
“Duh, I have a life outside our missions, you know.”
Cole’s mouth popped open. Granted he didn’t know jack about what his team members did outside the job. If he was honest, most of the time they lived, ate and breathed the job. Sometimes they spent weeks together, day in, day out. It was hard to imagine anyone’s life outside the team.
“I saw him when he was in Colorado a few months back,” she said with a huff of impatience. “He knew I lived in the area so he looked me up. We had a few drinks. Talked shop.”
Cole scowled again and glanced over at Steele to see how he took the news. He appeared as unruffled as ever, but then that was Steele. He never interfered in their private lives. When they were on a mission, their asses belonged to Steele. No questions asked. They followed his command without question. But when they finished, they each went their own way, and until now, Cole never gave a thought to how his teammates lived when they weren’t together.
P.J. was a good looking, very in-shape woman. She was smart. Sharp as a tack. And she could damn well look after herself. Any red-blooded male would be tripping over his tongue to hook up with her.
Now it was going to bug him to wonder what had happened between P.J. and Rio. Not that it was any of his business. P.J. was just a teammate. Nothing more.
But as they slipped farther down the river, Cole couldn’t help but imagine P.J. with Rio.
He scowled harder.
Thirty minutes later, they docked at a bend in the river. It was a moonless night and they were far enough from any town that the entire area was shrouded in a cloak of darkness. Cole’s eyes rapidly adjusted and he caught movement at the other end of the dock.
He pushed P.J. back and stepped in front of her, then barked a low warning to Steele and pulled up his rifle.
Rio rippled out of the shadows and murmured a greeting to Steele and his team. P.J. shoved by Cole and then got into his face, her eyes spitting fury.
“What the fuck was that, Coletraine? You ever pull a stunt like that again and I’ll cut your balls off.”
“Yeah, we’re clear.”
Hell, he didn’t know what had possessed him to do that. She had a right to be mad. He’d treated her like she was someone in need of protecting. Not like an equal.
“Let’s go,” Steele said shortly. “We’ve got until dawn to scout and get into position.”
CHAPTER 36
SARAH yawned and gave a gigantic stretch as she pried open her eyes. According to the clock at her bedside, it was already past noon. Noon? Holy cow.
She bolted upward and started to leap out of bed but then she flopped back onto her pillow and stared up at the ceiling. Why did she have to hurry? There was absolutely no place she had to be. Nothing to do other than whatever she wanted.
It was a nice feeling to know that she was safe and that she could slow down and stop the incessant worrying that had plagued her for so long that she’d forgotten what it felt like to just be.
She had Garrett to thank for that. Well, and Marcus, but mostly Garrett. The man had made her feel like living again. She smiled and yawned lazily. After a moment, the sounds coming from the bathroom pricked her ears and she realized Garrett was showering.
Feeling devilish, she scooted from the bed and hurried into the bathroom. Sure enough, he was in the shower and steam rose, fogging the shower doors and the bathroom windows. With a grin, she shed her nightshirt and opened the shower door to see Garrett standing with his eyes closed, face turned up into the spray as water cascaded over his muscular, lean body.
All the breath left her as she simply stared. He was so gorgeous. Sweet merciful lord. but the man was simply lethal.
Water slid over his belly, down through the dark hair of his groin and then down thickly corded legs. She frowned when she spotted a large, ugly scar on his upper leg that she hadn’t noticed before. It was old but large. It didn’t look like it had been stitched well. There was a mass of scar tissue, still angry looking, white at the edges and dull pink in the center.
When she glanced back up, she saw that his eyes were open and he was staring at her. His cock twitched under the onslaught of water and stiffened until it rose toward his navel.
She smiled.
He scowled.
“It’s disgusting how little control I have around you,” he muttered.
She stepped into the shower and shut the door behind him. Water bounced off him and pelted her as she sidled up to him and pressed her body to his. They both moaned when their flesh met. His erection was pressed between them but she was aware of his length, pulsing against her belly, growing more turgid by the moment.
“I thought I’d give you a little help,” she said as she reached for the washcloth and the liquid soap.
“Oh, I can always use your kind of help.”
He stretched his arms up to rest on the walls of the shower so she had full access to his body. She lathered soap onto the cloth and began at his shoulders. Gently, she lavished attention over his entire body, taking special care around the still-vivid bruises at his midsection.
She might have washed his behind more than necessary, but she was mesmerized by the full cheeks and the contrast between them and his lean hips and muscular legs. The pale globes were a stark contrast to his tanned arms and legs. It was all she could do not to lean over and take a bite out of his ass.
She knelt and rubbed up one leg and then the other. Each time her gaze was drawn to his thick cock thrusting upward from his groin. Deciding it needed extra special attention, she tossed aside the cloth and curled her hands around the base, guiding it down toward her mouth.
“Oh hell,” Garrett groaned.
He dropped one hand and thrust it in her wet hair just as she sucked him deep into her mouth. He trembled from head to toe and thrust impatiently over her lips.
Before she could really get into it, Garrett reached down and hauled her up into his arms. He slammed her against the wall of the shower and devoured her mouth like he was starving.
“No condoms in here, damn it,” he said in frustration.
He spun around, threw open the shower door and stepped out. She shivered as cooler air hit her wet body. Garrett stalked through the bathroom and into the bedroom. He tumbled her onto the bed and before she could take a breath, he flipped her onto her belly. She heard the nightstand drawer open and then slam. Felt his hands gripping her hips and pulling her to the edge of the bed.
“That’s the last condom,” she teased. “Better make it good.”
His fingers slipped between her legs and pushed inward as if testing her readiness. She was wet. She was definitely ready. She squirmed impatiently as his hand left her.
Firm hands gripped her legs, spread her and then he thrust into her from behind.
She cried out at the instant fullness. The indescribable pleasure at having him buried to the balls inside her body. The tightness, the sensitivity. Her heart raced. Her blood pounded through her veins. Her pussy pulsed and clenched around him. Every nerve ending was on fire, sizzling like the shortest of fuses.