Chapter 28
28
Evasive driving techniques—losing a potential tail—were great, but they weren’t exactly a beeline to sex. And Fairbanks was hardly a big city with endless neighborhoods to wend their way through. After barely a day, Gil knew the layout well enough to take the most circuitous route possible back to the Parks Highway, the only road headed south.
His hope was that the tracker would fool any potential pursuers into thinking they were still in the hotel room. He’d left the light on, blinds halfway closed, a sweater slung on the back of a chair visible from the outside.
And—he’d left the truck in the parking lot, and sprung for a new vehicle. One thing about Alaska, there was no shortage of beater cars with ‘for sale’ signs in their windows. He chose a 2001 red Subaru that needed a new battery. He took a Lyft to Costco and back to take care of that detail.
“I’ve noticed a lot of Subarus on the road,” he told Ani when they finally headed away from the hotel. He’d picked up a camouflage hunter’s cap for himself for even more blending in. For Ani, he’d grabbed a package of hair ties and a bandanna. She’d put her hair into two braids, fashioned the bandanna into a head scarf, and tucked a yellow daisy under the edge. Now she looked like a twenty-five-year-old hippie chick headed to a music festival.
He couldn’t wait to get her all to himself again.
“Have you noticed anyone following us?” She kept nervously checking the rearview mirror.
“Nope. No John, either.”
“Hopefully he’s on his way back to Indiana. What do you think he meant about me working for a competitor?”
“I can’t say, but it must have to do with this virus. What if Victor found a treatment, and he was trying to sell it to someone? Then you stumble into the middle of this and they think you’re working for the competition. You are a doctor, after all. Maybe that seemed like a red flag to them.”
“It sounds like a stretch.” She let out a long sigh. “What about those diplomatic plates?”
“Can we believe that part? He lied about Mrs. Bigelow.”
“He did! She’s such a sweet lady, too. Who would lie about Mrs. B?”
He glanced over at her, amused by her outrage. “You doing okay?”
She turned to him with a smile so brilliant it was a good thing he was wearing his new aviator shades. “I am so good, you have no idea. My only worry in the world right now is that we won’t find a hotel that’s safe enough.”
“Really? You’re not worried about the people who blew up the Institute?” he teased. “Not poor Victor? The CDC?”
“They can all kiss my ass. All I want is you.”
Had he ever heard the gentle and compassionate Ani say “kiss my ass” before? He liked seeing this side of her come out. Ever since John had shown up at the Reel Inn, she’d seemed different. More free. More…kiss my ass.
If he got the chance, he’d kiss any part of her he could get his hands on. They just had to find a place to make it happen.
Carlo Creek. A pizza joint snuggled at the foot of a mountain in Denali National Park, with beer on tap. And rooms to rent. Oh yeah.
He swung into the lot and parked behind an alder bush, then watched the highway to see if anyone followed suit. “I think we’re clear. Stay here, I’ll find out if they have a room.”
“Maybe the third hotel will be the charm,” she said lightly.
And it was.
Minutes later, they were alone in a room the size of a postcard, with a postcard-worthy view of a creek flowing through lush pushki growth. Mosquitoes swarmed outside the window screen. He’d pulled the Subaru behind the B&B, completely out of sight of the highway. With the door shut, shades drawn, for the first time in hours he felt confident saying, “I think we’re safe.”
Ani put her finger to her lips. They both went still. The tumbling water of the creek nearly drowned out the sound of chatter drifting from the outdoor terrace of the pizza pub. Such a happy sound—people eating dinner together, enjoying each other’s company while the creek added a burbling lullaby. Civilization and wilderness coexisting.
The only light in the room came from the daylight filtering around the edges of the window shades. The space felt like their own secret cave. Magical. Private. Safe. A place where everything was possible because incredibly, after some crazy twists and turns, and two vehicle purchases, they’d made it here. This radiant dark-haired goddess with the flower in her headscarf was here with him, gazing at him with eyes that trusted, and tempted.
Ani unzipped her jacket and tossed it aside. Underneath, she wore a clinging black top that plunged low enough to reveal the mouthwatering curves of her cleavage. Everything about her was so sumptuous and golden, even in this cave of a room. Her bare skin picked up the light peeking from the window shades and cast it through the room. She glowed.
As he watched, she gingerly extracted herself—arms, then head and torso—from her top. They hadn’t really been naked before, so he’d just caught bits and glimpses of her. Now he feasted his eyes on every luxe curve and shadow of her body.
Even though he was still clothed and she was nearly naked, somehow all the power in this situation rested with her. He sensed that she wanted it that way, that she wanted to be…adored.
He could do that.
When she was completely naked, he strode toward her and dropped to his knees before her. That shadow between her legs pulled him like a puppet on a string. He had to taste her. Had to glory in her curves and heat and wetness. He dove in the way a bee might bury itself in a flowerhead and feasted.
When she was gasping for breath and digging her hands in his hair, he backed her onto the bed. As she sprawled there, legs akimbo, breasts swelling, a lustful picture to file away in his brain, he stripped off his clothes. Remembering the box of condoms, he opened the carton and brandished one in the air.
“Got you, you little fucker,” he told it. Goofy as hell, but right now he felt silly and filled with light.
Ani bent one knee up and crooked her finger at him. “Need help getting it on? I’m a doctor.”
“Not really a pediatrician thing, is it?”
She smiled lustfully. “You got me. I just wanted a chance to feel you up.”
“Oh, you’ll get that. Never fear.” He was already erect just from the taste of her, and it took barely a few seconds to roll the condom on.
She watched with hazy eyes. “I forgot what a sexy move that is. Is it always that sexy?”
“Protection is sexy?”
“I guess it is. Or maybe it’s just you. You’re sexy.”
“Sure glad you think so.” He gritted his teeth at the sensation of the condom on his penis. Maybe it was a good thing that the pleasure was going to be just a little dulled. If it wasn’t, he might come the second he felt her heat surround him.
As it was, it took every bit of his concentration not to. He took her slowly at first, easing in, familiarizing himself with her satiny heat, letting her adjust to his thickness. It didn’t take long. A few moments later they were grappling each other with greedy hands and legs, rolling over so she was on top, then him, then her, their hips pumping and grinding.
He felt as if he’d been starved for her ever since he’d set eyes on her on his brother’s porch. That one moment had sparked a hunger he had to satisfy. But now that he was inside her, he thought it might never be satisfied, that it would burn and grow and deepen…
Pleasure took over the primal part of his brain and blocked out everything else. Hard thrusts, a man taking what he needed, a woman equal to it, driving him on, legs clasped around him, her body arching into the most graceful bow imaginable. He’d never seen anything so beautiful, and he knew he never would.
Her full lips whispered his name, her eyes a dark shimmer under lowered eyelids. Gil…Gil…
The word traveled through him like the call of a siren across an empty ocean. And he knew he was lost.
When a man like him fell, he fell hard and irrevocably. And now he knew why it had never happened before. Because he’d never made love with Ani Devi before.
Once he knew she’d reached her peak, he let loose a deep groan and emptied himself into the warm clench of her body. It felt like a promise in physical form. I am with you. This is us, together.