Chapter Four #3
“I was working, too. You know maybe I wouldn’t have gotten dragged down by that old dude if you’d been more open,” he said, his voice tight.
Henry Flanders had been posing as a Welsh vet to support LB’s mission. From the reports that “old dude” had gotten the jump on both Ben and Tim. “I don’t know the complete workings of the Agency any more than you do yours. Can’t we… It was never going to work, was it?”
The lights went out all of the sudden and they were plunged into darkness, only the red light of the timer providing any illumination.
Ben found her hand. “Maggie?”
“I’m here.” She moved close to him, bumping up against his chest, and she let her arms go around him. “I don’t want to lose you. I can’t see a thing.”
“Is the timer still ticking down?”
She let her head rest against his shoulder. “Yes. It’s on some kind of battery, but if I try to clip it, it looks like it triggers the system.”
Naturally.
“And the sensor that connects it to the bomb on top of the mountain is probably battery operated, too.”
“I think I can see enough to get around now.” Kenzie moved, her eyes adjusting to the low light. She tried the door again. It was worth a shot. “Damn it. Well, the power going out didn’t kill the security system. That door is not budging.”
Was Huisman up and moving again? Somehow she didn’t think he’d planned all this out and then actually killed himself. He’d counted on Ben’s squeamishness and her need to not have Ben watch her make entirely sure his childhood bestie was dead.
She hoped her father found him.
And she remembered she had a pen light. Lou had designed the nanite program with many pockets. She pulled it out and a single stream of light cut through the darkness. They needed to take inventory of their assets.
She opened the drawer of the bedside table. “Oh, look. The good doctor believed in safe sex. And a shocking amount of lube. Who needs that much lube? Ah, there we go.”
She’d found matches. She set down the small flashlight and struck a match. Lucky for them whoever had decorated this space liked candles.
“Do you think he used this place as his pleasure palace?” Somehow she didn’t see Huisman being much of a ladies’ man.
Ben hadn’t moved. Not an inch.
She looked at him, the soft light of the candles doing nothing to take away his stark masculinity. “You okay?”
“No.”
Despite the fact that he was angry with her, she couldn’t let him stir in his own misery.
She was in love with him and it might never work, but it was real for her.
“You need to have a little faith. We’re stuck.
There’s nothing we can do, but our people know what’s going on. They won’t let this happen.”
“But there’s no way for them to stop the bomb that’s five feet away from us.”
She’d already accepted this. “No. I don’t think they can, and they know what their priorities are. I’ve already assessed this and the most likely outcome is that my team takes out the big bomb and we die in here anyway.”
“Yes, I think you’re right.” He touched her, his hand moving over her hair. “I wish you weren’t here with me.”
“That’s funny because I was thinking that there was no place I would rather be.” She stepped in closer, tilting her head slightly up. “I’ve thought of nothing but that night at Top for weeks. I wish you had picked up on my signals long ago. I wish we’d had more time.”
His fingers tightened, and she knew he’d made some kind of decision. “Your signals suck, baby. All you ever had to do was this.”
He lowered his head and brushed his lips over hers. Fire sparked through her, but it was a warm, loving thing. There was passion in his kiss, but longing, too. A longing that matched her own.
Somewhere in the back of her head she knew the clock was still counting down, but time stopped for her. They hadn’t gotten the white picket fence and two point five kids. They hadn’t had a big wedding. They wouldn’t get to watch each other grow old and face it all together.
But they could have this.
One moment. One perfect moment where they were together.
When his tongue swept across her lips, she welcomed him inside, her hands going to his hips.
A long, satisfied sigh came from her chest as he deepened the kiss.
She wrapped her arms around him, giving herself up to the moment.
To this one bit of joy in all the hours of horror.
This was the way she wanted to go out. With him. Finally with him.
Somewhere out there her sisters were working, saving the world. They would never know the gift they gave her. Knowing her team would get the job done meant she could spend this precious time with him. She would be able to feel him inside her just once.
She could love him in the time they had left.
“Don’t cry, baby. You know I’m crazy about you. If this is all we get…” he began.
She rubbed her cheek against his. “We’ll take it. I want to be with you. Just once.”
“Maggie, I’m crazy about you. I’ve wanted to touch you since the moment I saw you. Well, most of the time,” he whispered against her mouth. He dragged his tongue across her lower lip, and she shuddered in his arms. “Sometimes it’s like you’re a different person.”
Because she was a different person those times, and her twin could be a lot. “Don’t think about that. That was all work. This is different, Ben. I want you so badly sometimes I can’t stand it. My friends know it, too. They know you’re the reason I haven’t had a damn boyfriend in forever.”
He kissed her over and over, drugging her with his closeness.
They’d never tangled their bodies together before, and the rest of the world seemed to fall away.
Nothing mattered except this moment with him.
Her parents would want her to try to get out, but she knew there was no getting out of this. This was fate.
His hands roamed over her back and down to cup her ass, pulling her against his body and letting her feel exactly what he was offering her. “Do you have any idea how hard it is to work with you? I get this way any time you’re around.”
She did not like the thought of him getting hard around Kala. She loved her sister, but Ben was the one thing she wanted for herself. Kala…she was happy. She had Cooper and Lou and Tash and she would be okay. They would all be okay. “Even when I’m busting your balls?”
“There are times when you seem more pissed off than others. I often wonder who hurt you.”
She let her hands find his chest. “One day I’ll explain everything, but for now, please kiss me again, Ben.”
There wouldn’t be time for explanations. Their bodies would do the talking, but she had faith that he would understand. When it was over and they were wherever spies went, he would know everything—including the fact that he was half of her soul.
He kissed his way from her mouth to her cheek and down her neck, each caress lighting up her skin.
“Baby, I want to see you.” There was a pleading frustration to his tone that let her know how on the edge he was. “I want to touch you. I know we don’t have much time, but I want to spend every single second we have left getting inside you. It’s all I want now.”
She could handle that.
“You know we have all the best toys.” She turned slowly, showing him there wasn’t a zipper anywhere and yet it fit perfectly.
“Nanites. They conform to whoever’s wearing them.
They’re also resistant to bullets and weapons.
Oh, push hard enough and you can still get a knife through there, but it gives me some protection. ”
He did not look impressed. At least not with the tech. His eyes were on her breasts. “How do I get it off you?”
“It’s easy,” she said. “It’s voice activated. Undress.”
The nanites flowed down her body like a metallic wave, the sensation oddly soothing.
Even her boots joined the group of mems. It was what Lou called the collective.
Apparently it stood for micro-electo mechanical systems. She liked to call it Bob.
She reached down, picked up the clothes she wouldn’t need again, and placed it on the nightstand. “Cute, huh?”
“I take it that voice control is only for you. Because I could find a definite use for that. Damn, but you’re gorgeous. Come here. It’s cold and I don’t want you to feel the chill for even a second.”
“I didn’t notice. I’m perfectly warm.” Somehow it was easy to forget the fact that they were going to be blown all to hell. It felt right to finally be here with him. “And I would never give you that code. I know what you would do with it.”
She was lying. If he was her top, she would wear those nanites like fet wear and give her Master the keys to unlock the kingdom.
The life they could have had…
He gave her a gentle smile, one that told her he knew what she was thinking. “I don’t have clothes that undress themselves. I think I need you to help me.”
She pulled his shirt free from the tactical pants he wore. She eased her hands under the sweater and thermals he was wearing underneath. Ben bit back a moan the minute he felt her hands on his flesh. She slid them up, running along his abs and up to his chest.
He was perfect. She loved the feel of his skin under her palm. “I should have known you would be needy. Lucky for you, I don’t mind a little work.”
“I should have kissed you the first time we met. I should have taken you into my arms in that bar in Sydney and not looked back,” he whispered.
That would have been a mistake because Kala would have murdered him and left his body in a dumpster.