Baring all that hard, delicious muscle. Feeling the rasp of crisp chest hairs
against her palms, the dampness of his sweat beneath.
She twisted under him, feeling his knee press between her thighs, and saw stars explode
behind her closed lashes as he pressed against the sensitive flesh between her thighs.
“Hell yeah.” He groaned against her lips as he worked her jeans loose. “Burn for me,
Chaya. Just a little bit. Burn for me wild and sweet, sweetheart, just like you do in my
dreams.”
His voice was rough, tight with arousal, and she knew it could become guttural. That his
drawl could slur his words and make him sound drunk with passion. She wanted that
sound. She wanted him drunk on her.
“Natches!” She cried his name as his hand pushed beneath her open jeans and his fingers
found her. Found the slick, too-thick layer of juices that prepared her for him, that
betrayed her need.
That need was killing her.
She twisted, arched to him as his lips slid down her neck to her breasts. His teeth rasped
the tender tip of a nipple as his free hand pulled the cup of her bra beneath the swollen
mound.
Then his mouth was covering it, his lips closing on it, sucking it inside with tight, hard
pressure that sent sensation ripping to her womb.
Long, broad fingers speared inside her vagina, drawing another cry from her. Flesh
unused to any touch but her own since he had taken her so long ago. Too long.
She came instantly. The stretching heat, the feel of his mouth sucking her nipple, his
tongue lashing her, it was too much. She exploded in a prism of light and color, his name
on her lips and in her heart.
Oh God, she was never going to be free of him. And in this moment, exploding around
his fingers, she wondered if she ever wanted to be.
She struggled to open her eyes, then lost her breath as she watched him. He pulled his
fingers free of her, lifted them, and tasted her. Right there, beneath the sun, the breeze
whipping around them, he opened his lips and sucked the taste of her from his fingers.
“Natches.” She could barely do more than breathe his name when his face suddenly
stilled, his head lifting, like an animal scenting danger.
“Son of a bitch Cranston.” He was jerking her bra in place and pulling her shirt down
when she caught the sound of a helicopter coming closer.
Pulling back from her, Natches let her fix her jeans, his green eyes filled with mocking
amusement as the helicopter flew around the sheltering trees and came over the clearing.
It couldn’t land, but she knew who it was. The Department of Homeland Security had
found her. They had nearly seen more than she could have safely gotten away with.
Natches drew farther back from her, his expression hardening. “Come on. I’ll lead you
back to the main road. Then you can call Cranston and tell him to meet with me. I’ve had
enough of this crap. It ends now.”
What was going to end now she wasn’t certain, but she was more than ready to get the
hell out of there, away from him. Let Cranston deal with him, because she knew, as sure
as she was standing there she knew, there wasn’t a chance in hell that she could handle
him.
ONE
Somerset, Kentucky
October, One Year Later
Natches Mackay sat silently in the jeep and watched as Chaya Dane hauled her luggage
into the hotel she had reserved in town. The Suites were just that. A nice hotel that
offered a variety of live-in suites with a bedroom, a small living room, and a kitchenette
for those required to be in town for an extended stay.
Chaya was registered for a two-week stay but the luggage she brought wouldn’t have
kept one woman for four days. A single large suitcase, an overnight bag, and a laptop
case. She was definitely traveling light.
Eyes shaded behind the dark lenses of his sunglasses, he rubbed the short growth of beard
at the side of his jaw and considered this new development.
It had been a year since she had been in town. A year since he had
Elizabeth Amelia Barrington