Chapter 19
Chapter
Nineteen
July 14 th
8:53 P.M.
He couldn’t get enough of this woman.
Even though she was sitting on his lap, her arms around his neck, her lips millimeters from his, her body soft and pliable, and his to enjoy for the night, to treasure, it wasn't enough.
Cooper needed more.
Needed forever, and he knew how precarious forever was right now.
As badly as he needed to rage against Willow’s plan to play bait, to refuse to go along with it, to tell her she was on her own if she wanted to stupidly put her life on the line, he knew he could do none of those things. Willow needed to do this, and if he tried to stop her and squash her spirit, the chance he wanted with her would slip through his fingers.
This was who she was.
It was who he’d fallen for.
Her strength, bravery, and determination to do what she believed was the right thing to do. How could he possibly ask her to be someone that she wasn't when the person that she was was so utterly, mind bogglingly amazing?
“Cooper?” Her voice held a thread of vulnerability as she said his name, a hint of doubt he needed to erase.
“I want you so badly I can't think straight,” he admitted, dotting kisses to her lips between each word. “And I'm so afraid I'm going to lose you.”
An understanding smile curled her plump lips up. “You won't lose me. Want to know why?”
“Why?”
“Because I have the very best team watching my back. They would never let anyone hurt me.”
The confidence in her voice carved out some of the fear sitting heavily in his chest and replaced it with a sliver of that confidence. “I would die before I let anyone lay a hand on you.”
Terror flared in her turquoise eyes. “I don’t want you to die. I don’t want anyone to die. Well, I'm not adverse to the professor’s death.” A tiny smile erased a little of the terror in her eyes. “But tonight, I don’t want to think about anything else. Tonight, I just want you.”
“You have me, honey. Tonight, and every night for the rest of our lives.”
Wrapping an arm around Willow’s waist, Cooper stood. Her legs immediately locked around his hips, pressing her hot center against the hard ridge in his pants. Burning desire laced his veins, he’d never felt such a deep need for a woman in his life. It was like a craving, this clawing feeling that if he didn't get inside her soon he was going to die.
Tonight had to be gentle though. Willow’s body was a roadmap of the trauma she’d endured these last few weeks, and even though he was positive she would argue the case, it couldn’t handle rough right now.
Not that he cared.
He wanted her any way he could have her.
Hell, he wanted her every way he could have her.
But tonight was their first time and it had to be special.
Carrying her over to the bed, Cooper set her on her feet and touched a brief kiss to her lips before licking and nibbling his way down the slender column of her neck. He paused at the point where her pulse was fluttering and let his lips linger there, drinking in the reassuring knowledge that she was alive.
So many times in the last few days he could have lost her.
But she was still there.
Still standing.
Nothing short of a miracle.
While he trailed kisses down to her collarbones, his fingers found the hem of her T-shirt and pulled it up and over her head. Since she’d been unconscious when he dressed her earlier, he hadn't bothered to put on a bra or panties, although his brothers had packed both in the bag they’d brought for Willow, so her beautiful breasts were bared for him to admire.
Not even the bruises mottling her skin could hide their beauty.
Dipping his head, Cooper bent his knees enough that he could take one pebbled nipple into his mouth and suckle on it. Willow moaned, her head falling back, her fingers tangling in his hair, holding him in place like he had any intention of moving any time soon.
When he finished lavishing attention on one breast he moved to the other. Swirling the tip of his tongue on her nipple had Willow’s body trembling and he filed that information away to use when he got her naked.
By the time he finally tore his lips away from her pert breasts and kissed a line down her stomach, Willow’s eyes were dark with desire, and he was so hard it took all his restraint not to just strip her and bury himself inside her.
Instead, he forced himself to take his time, savor every second, live in the moment.
His thumbs hooked into the leggings she was wearing, and he took them down with him as he knelt before her. As much as he despised seeing her body littered with black and blue marks, each one was a testament to Willow’s strength and bravery.
“Do you know how amazing you are?” he asked, looking up at her.
Her fingers were still in his hair and softly played with the strands. “I'm determined.”
“You're the most incredible woman I've ever met,” he corrected. “I want to give you the world. ”
“I don’t need the world. I just need …”
“What?” he prompted when she didn't continue.
“I don’t want to be alone anymore,” she whispered.
“Oh, honey, that is one thing I can promise you without a shadow of a doubt. You will never be alone again. Not ever,” he vowed as he nudged her legs apart.
“Cooper,” her fingers tightened on his hair, “I've never done this … with a guy’s tongue … no one’s ever put their mouth …”
His eyes lit up as desire licked at his skin. “So, I’m going to be your first.”
“What if …?” Willow’s gaze darted away before steadfastly returning to meet his. “What if I don’t like it?”
“Then I’ll stop. But trust me, honey, you are going to love it,” he promised as he buried his face in the apex of her thighs and breathed deeply. “So sweet, so perfect,” he murmured, nudging her legs further apart.
Since she made no move to stop him, his tongue darted out and he swept it along her center, making Willow moan.
The sound was enough to snap some of his control and he dove right in and feasted. Each moan, each sharp intake of air, each time her fingers tightened in his hair, it spurred him on. He licked and suckled, alternating between thrusting his tongue as deep inside her as he could get, and lavishing attention on her bud.
Willow’s legs began to tremble, and he gripped her hips, holding her in place, and upped the pace.
“Cooper, I'm … oh …” She gasped. “I'm … I can't … I'm going to …”
“Let go, honey, I’ll catch you when you fall,” he whispered, his lips still around her bundle of nerves, and when he sucked it into his mouth and swirled the tip of his tongue around it just as he’d done earlier with her nipples, she fell apart for him.
Not letting up until he’d drawn out every last drop of pleasure from her, by the time Cooper pulled back, Willow’s cheeks were flushed, her eyes closed, and the sweetest smile on her lips.
Now she knew she could let go with him, that she was safe.
Scooping her into his arms as he stood, he carried her the last few steps to the bed and laid her down. As he stripped out of his clothes, and sheathed himself with a condom, Cooper couldn’t take his eyes off her.
Damn, she was perfect.
Everything about her.
“Inside me, Cooper, want to feel you,” she murmured, opening her eyes and smiling up at him.
“Can’t wait, honey,” he said as he climbed on the bed, stretching out on top of her.
Entering her in one thrust, Cooper stilled, enjoying the feel of her tight body around him, her heat, the fluttering of her internal muscles. It felt like coming home.
Slowly he began to move, thrusting in and out with as much restraint as he still had left. Willow moved with him like they’d been doing this all their lives. Her legs hooked around his hips, drawing him deeper, and he found her lips, kissing her with every drop of emotion he felt.
Balancing his weight on one hand, his other slipped between them, touching her where their bodies joined, building her quickly toward another orgasm because he sure as hell wasn't coming alone.
The second she cried out, her internal muscles clamping around him as pleasure tore through her body, Cooper let go, let his own release gather him up and toss him around in a whirlwind of ecstasy.
They were both breathing hard by the time they floated back down to earth. Willow’s eyes were soft as she looked at him, and he touched another kiss to her lips before easing out of her. Disposing of the condom, he went into the bathroom, ran a washcloth under warm water then returned to the bedroom and cleaned Willow up.
Then he pulled the covers down, lay beside her, drawing her into his arms, and tucked them both in. “Sleep time now, honey,” he murmured as he touched a kiss to her temple.
“Are you staying here all night?” she asked, voice already turning sleepy.
“Wild horses couldn’t drag me away,” he promised.
Maybe wild horses couldn’t drag him away from the woman snuggled against his side, but there was somebody who could.
Tonight, he got to sleep with his girl in his arms, but tomorrow morning she was going to play bait for a dangerous man who had already tried to kill her several times over, who wouldn't hesitate to do it if given the chance.
All it would take was for one tiny thing to go wrong and he could lose her forever.
July 15 th
9:23 A.M
This seemed like a much better idea when she sat safe in a motel room surrounded by six strong, skilled warriors.
Now …
Now Willow was thinking maybe this wasn't her best plan ever.
Saying goodbye to Cooper before the guys dropped her off had felt wrong somehow. Almost like she was tempting fate. That her stubborn determination to bring down Tarek Mahmoud whatever the cost was going to wind up costing her far more than she was prepared to pay.
Only it was too late to back out now.
After spending the night sleeping peacefully in Cooper’s arms, they’d woken early, made love again, then showered together and gotten dressed. When she put back on the dirty, blood-stained clothes she’d been wearing when the helicopter crashed, she’d gotten her first foreshadowing that something felt wrong.
But she’d brushed it off.
Even though things felt wrong, and she wished she had Cooper and his brothers at her back, Willow still knew her plan was solid. This was the best way to ensure they got their man. If they didn't, she didn't want to be responsible for what Allah’s Warriors would do if they were left to freely indoctrinate young men and then follow through with their plans.
This was for sure the right thing to do, so why did it feel so wrong?
Glancing around, Willow tried to check if anyone was watching her, but nobody was around .
What if she was wrong about this?
What if there weren't any of the professor’s people around here?
The entire plan depended on someone spotting her and getting word to Professor Mahmoud. While she and Cooper had been having sex and sleeping tangled together in one another’s arms, the rest of the guys had been busy planning. Normally, Willow would feel guilty for sleeping on the job, she should have been there, helping work through the details, but this time she knew the best thing she could do for all of them was rest.
Even with the few hours of sleep, she was running on one step away from empty.
It would take her weeks to fully recover from this ordeal, but at least she was no longer dying of thirst. The guys had pumped her full of painkillers so the throbbing in her head, and her arm, and her chest, and pretty much every single muscle in her body, was dulled to a more manageable level.
Still, the sun felt too hot against her already sunburned skin, and the filthy clothes felt stiff and scratchy against her body. As much as she wished she could have stayed in one of the outfits they had packed for her, that would give away the fact that she’d been rescued.
For this to work, it had to look like she’d wandered alone in the desert since the crash and then taken refuge in the first building she found.
The guys had located what would have been the closest village to where the helicopter crashed. It sucked to know that she and Cooper had walked in the wrong direction, and had they come this way, they might have found help before things became so dire and she almost died.
Still, if they’d come this way then maybe they wouldn't have met up with his brothers when they did and been caught and captured for real.
Before the sun rose this morning, she’d said her goodbyes to Cooper and his brothers about a half mile from the property at the closest edge of the village to where she would have come if she’d walked out. Then she’d hidden out in there, used her bloody T-shirt to pretend to use the well water to clean herself up a little so it looked like she’d stumbled upon the place quite at random .
Then she’d sat there, huddled in a corner, and waited for the sun to rise so she could “sneak” away. All that time she’d imagined what it would have been like if she really had found this village alone, how scared and hurt she would have been, and how terrified she’d be found. Just because she was determined to fulfill her vow to her father and do good with her life didn't mean that sometimes she wasn't afraid.
She got scared plenty.
She’d been terrified while being held hostage by Tarek Mahmoud. She’d been terrified when she and Cooper were caught. She’d been terrified when she realized the helicopter was going to crash. She’d been terrified when she crept toward Cooper in the wreckage unsure if he was dead or alive.
And she was terrified now.
Just not enough to back out of the plan.
So instead of standing stock still looking around like her head was stuck on a swivel stick, Willow made herself keep walking.
Walking was the last thing she wanted to do. Her aching feet protested each step, and her muscles screamed at her to let them rest and recover. But she couldn’t do that. She had to keep walking through the town, had to play this like she would have if she hadn't met up with Prey’s Charlie Team.
Which meant walking and then finding someone to make contact with.
Hopefully before she had to figure out who she would have trusted enough if she’d been in the position she was pretending to be in for real the professor’s men came for her.
Willow was so afraid she was going to mess this up somehow. Not only were lives on the line because of what Professor Mahmoud and his people had planned, but the lives of a man she cared deeply about and his brothers were also at risk if she made one wrong move.
It had killed Cooper to stand back, to let her go, to drive away and leave her behind even if she was wearing a tracking device sewn into the hem of her shirt. So long as the professor believed she really had just walked out of the desert there would be no reason for him to check to make sure she wasn't wearing anything.
The problem was, Willow was all too aware that all it would take was for one tiny thing to go wrong and this would have a very different outcome than they hoped.
“You can do this, Willow. Don’t go and give up on yourself now. You promised your dad you would make your life mean something, and you have every motivation in the world to do this and then get home safely.”
That was true.
Everything she had always wanted but never allowed herself to admit was all wrapped up in that six foot two package of lean muscle and huge, warm heart that was Cooper Charleston.
Now that he’d opened her mind to what she could have, of what could be waiting for her on the other side of this mission, she wanted to grab hold of it and refuse to let it be ripped away from her.
But it could be.
Far too easily.
As she kept walking, getting closer to the center of the village, there started to be people out on the streets. Willow was aware of every curious, suspicious glance thrown her way, and as badly as she wanted to shrink away from those scrutinizing looks, she couldn’t.
She wanted to be spotted.
Had to be if this was going to work.
The village was small, and she was starting to lose hope that there would be anyone who was part of Allah’s Warriors. What were the chances that they had someone in every village in the entire country?
Slim to none.
But this village was one of the closest to the crash site, and by now the professor had to know that both she and Cooper had survived the crash. He’d be looking for them, and she had to believe that he would be watching all the towns and villages they could reach.
The eyes on her made her skin prickle uncomfortably and she wished that one of those sets of eyes belonged to Cooper. She’d feel so much safer if he was within eyesight of her, but he wasn't. If any of the professor’s men spotted him close by but not with her, they would tip their hand.
So, he was probably a couple of miles away. Sitting with his brothers, waiting for the tracker she wore to indicate she was no longer walking so he could follow. Follow but not intervene until he confirmed that Professor Mahmoud was with her.
This had been her plan, and she couldn’t back out.
Couldn’t be weak now.
Not when she was so close.
Keep walking, that was all she could do. If this didn't work out, she wanted to know she had done everything within her power to get the professor. At least when she got home and wrote her article, the world would know who he really was, and he’d be a target of every agency of every country across the globe.
Just then, she heard an engine rev and tires squeal as a white van rushed up beside her.
Four men jumped out of it, grabbing at her even as she screamed and backed away.
Hands closed around her arms, lifting her off the ground.
Zip ties were secured tightly around her wrists.
A bag was thrown over her head.
And her body connected with the floor of the van with a bone jarring thud that had her moaning in pain as she was tossed inside.
Looked like playing bait had worked because she’d just been kidnapped.