Callan let her open the door before he quickly exited the vehicle, Merinus limp in his arms, and strode inside. He laid her on the bed, noticing the white robe that lay on the mattress, the remains of her dinner on the table. The television was on, the sound turned down, a low light burned beside the bed. He moved away from her, reluctant, regretting the need to leave before she awoke. He touched her cheek, a fleeting caress, then before he could stop himself, he leaned over, touching his lips to the corner of her mouth, his tongue barely glancing the soft curves. She was as soft and as sweet as he knew she would be.
“Callan, we need to hurry,” Sherra whispered from outside the door. “Before someone sees us.”
Merinus’ lips parted, a low groan vibrating in her throat as her head turned, unconsciously seeking more of the caress. Her tongue touched his, hesitant, unsure. He fought to keep the kiss light, to deny his need to stroke the heated depths of her mouth as he wanted to. He contented himself with a soft tangle with her tongue, then drew back quickly and forced himself to leave the room. He closed the door softly behind him as Tanner’s truck pulled in beside the jeep. Following Sherra he
jumped into the cab quickly, silently, watching the door as Tanner reversed. He stared straight ahead, ignoring Sherra’s worried look, ignoring his own needs pulsing hot and demanding through his blood stream. Son of a bitch, he wanted Merinus. He wanted to lay against her, stroke every sweet curve of that slender body before burying his c**k so deep inside her that neither one of them would ever be free. As they pulled out of the parking lot, Callan watched as Dayan pulled into a small, secluded parking area within sight of Merinus’ door. She would be watched carefully until he could leave. He should have left sooner, before those damned mercenaries had somehow figured out his attraction for her. Before they decided to use her against him.
“Call Taber in when we get to the station,” he told Tanner, his voice cold as he made his decision. “We go after those bastards tonight.”
“Sure thing, Callan.” Tanner’s voice was edged with fury. He may not be personally involved, but Merinus was a female, she was supposed to be protected, no matter the cost. The younger man rarely came to violence until faced with the abuse of a female, young or old.
“Sherra, you go back to the motel, send Dayan back.” Callan knew Dayan would be pissed, his answer was to ignore the bastards. “You stick around and watch out for her, take Dawn if you want to.”
Sherra was more than capable of protecting herself, but Callan hated sending her alone anyway.
“Get a piece of them for me.” Memories and bitterness filled her voice.
“For all of us then.” Callan nodded as Tanner pulled into the Gass Up. “Let’s get things together and we’ll head out.”
They knew where the soldiers camped, though the men were unaware of it. Like the others before them, they thought their training and their precautions would hide them from the instincts ingrained in Callan’s DNA. They would find out otherwise.
CHAPTER FIVE
Merinus woke up aching the next morning. Not the flu or summer cold kind of ache. The utterly female ache of needing a man. How a virgin was supposed to know what that ache meant, she wasn’t certain. But there was no doubt that was the cause of it. Her cunt was slick and creamy, her panties damp, too damned damp to suit her. Her br**sts were swollen, her ni**les distended and hard, and she could have swore she tasted cinnamon on her lips.
Her lips were sensitive. She ran her tongue over them. They weren’t swollen, just sensitive enough for her to be very aware of them. Then she remembered the night before. She frowned, her brows snapping together in instant ire. Damn him. He hadn’t even stuck around long enough to wake her up?
She jerked to an upright position, then groaned roughly as her sore muscles protested the effort. Oh hell, now that just hurt. There was no cause for those bastards to act that way. She groaned roughly as she reached for her cell phone. Kane was supposed to take care of this. She keyed his number in swiftly as she stood to her feet. Waiting on Kane to answer, she shed her clothes and pulled on a big, soft cotton T-shirt until she could get to a hot shower.
“Where the hell were you last night?” His voice came over the line with a stern, cranky tone.
“Watching soldiers,” she informed him tensely, knowing better than to tell him the truth. “There are two on the ridge above the Lyons’ house. I thought you had that taken care of.”
His contacts in the private and government sector put him in a place where he would have, or should have known those men were being sent out there. There was silence across the line.
“Damn,” he finally cursed quietly. “Pull out, Merinus. Someone’s gone to the trouble to hide these bastards from me. I’ll bring Dad and we’ll come in—”
“And I’ll head for another paper at the first offer,” she cut in. “You aren’t pulling me off this, Kane.”
“Dammit, Merinus, it’s not safe anymore.”
“So find out who they are and give them a call. Tell them you’ll rip their balls off and feed ‘em to your favorite dog or something,” she suggested. “Make them pull back until I can finish this. Don’t start making excuses, either. I know you can do it.”
Kane was slick, and he could be mean when he had to. Merinus knew that. No one messed with him, and most people in his little world owed him enough favors that he rarely had to ask for anything twice.
“Geez, Merrie, why don’t you just pounce on them yourself if you have all the f**king answers?” Kane bit out.
Merinus bit her lip, painfully aware of the bruise across the left side of her face now. Yeah, that one worked really well.
“Okay, I can do that,” she mused thoughtfully. “They looked kinda big, but hey, maybe if I throw your name around a little—” She should have thought of that one yesterday.
“Dammit,” he cursed. “You would, too. Okay. Okay. Just hang on a few hours and let me see what I can find out here. Stay out of trouble, dammit, until I can find something out.”
“I always stay out of trouble,” she lied smoothly. If Kane knew the trouble she was getting into he would come down, tie her hand and foot and haul her back to New York so damned fast it would make her head spin.
“Yeah. Right.” He grunted absently.
“I’ll be waiting on you.” Evidently he was already hard at work on his trusty little computer.