Hot & Bothered (A Hostile Operations Team Novel - Book 8) Read online

  “We’re going to get them out, Emily.”

  “I know you will. I just need to find them for you.”

  He reached over and skimmed his fingers along the back of her hand. “We’ll find them. If we’re lucky, Mendez will know something soon—and you won’t have to meet Mustafa again.”

  If she never had to look at Hassan Mustafa’s face again, she’d be thrilled. But somehow she didn’t think it was going to end that easily. She’d meet him, carrying half a million in cash, and pray he really knew where the hostages were. She fully expected him to lie about it—but then so did everyone here.

  He could lie, so long as he knew their true location. Because he would share it, of that she had no doubt. Willingly or unwillingly, he’d spill before it was over. HOT would make sure he did.

  “I hope that’s true. Still, I’ll go if I have to.”

  “I know that.”

  She looked up at him. “You won’t try to stop me?”

  His eyes glittered in the darkness. “Didn’t say that.”

  She reached for him, her fingers landing on one rock-hard pec, her palm flattening against smooth skin. “You can’t interfere, Ry. The hostages… Their lives, the baby’s life—”

  Her voice choked off and he caught her hand, dragged it to his mouth. “I won’t interfere, Emily—unless your life is in danger. You come first with me, you got that?”

  She nodded, the lump in her throat too tight to speak. He turned her hand over and kissed her palm. When his tongue touched the center, she gasped—but she didn’t pull away. Instead, she brought her other hand up and laid it against his jaw, her fingers trembling at the emotion running through her.

  She always felt so much with this man. Too much. The veil over her feelings was incredibly thin with him.

  He turned his head and kissed her other hand and she cupped his cheek. It was rough with stubble that scraped her palm.

  “Think I need to get back on the floor,” he muttered, grasping her elbows and gently removing her hands from his face.

  Emily swallowed the hard knot in her throat. Her body ached, her skin was on fire, and her breasts tingled. Being left alone in this bed suddenly felt like the end of the world. She craved connection with him, even if it was temporary. Closeness.

  “What if I don’t want you to leave?”

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  EVERY CELL IN RYAN’S BODY stood at attention. His cock grew harder, if that was possible. His brain warred with his dick and the primal urge he had to push her back on the bed and bury himself inside her willing body.

  “I want to stay. I want to strip you naked and lick every inch of your body. I want to make you come so hard you won’t remember your name—and then I want to do it all again.”

  His voice was a growl, and Emily’s breath hitched.

  “But you’re fragile right now, and I’m not sure it’s the best idea,” he finished before she could say anything.

  She shook her head. “Oh Ryan, you are the most amusing man sometimes.”

  Hell, he was amusing a lot of the time. But this time wasn’t one of them—or so he’d thought. “I’m not being funny.”

  “Yes, you definitely are.” She reached for him again, stroked her soft fingertips along the roughness of his cheek. “I’m pregnant, not dying. Pregnant women have sex.”

  He caught her hand and pressed it over his pec, holding it there. Feeling the brand of her skin against his. The sweet heat.

  “How would you know? How would I?” He was kidding this time, but he knew she’d decide he was being serious.

  “I know because I’m a woman. And I can read and write and everything, Ryan.”

  He snorted. “Who’s being amusing now?”

  “Ask a stupid question…”

  “All right, so it was a stupid question. But Em… you weren’t exactly happy with me earlier.”

  “I don’t have to be happy with you to want you. And you’re right, I wasn’t happy. You had no business telling Nick I’m pregnant. I’m still not happy about that.”

  He rubbed a hand over his face. Yeah, he’d gone full caveman on that one. “Thought you’d moved on from that.”

  “Nope, sure didn’t. I was too tired to argue about it when you came back. I’m awake now.”

  He wasn’t sure why he’d said it, except that he’d had this possessive urge to claim her and their baby. To let everyone know that she was his and he was taking care of her.

  “I’m tired of pretending there’s nothing between us,” he said. “I’m tired of hiding from everyone and acting like you’re a stranger.”

  She stroked her hand down his chest, back up again. His body reacted to her touch as if someone had set off a nuclear reaction in his core. It was everything he could do not to move, not to strip the T-shirt from her body and lick his way down to her pussy.

  “It’s better for you that way,” she said. “Safer for your job.”

  “Yeah, well, I’m changing the rules. I don’t fucking care about that anymore. I care about you, about us and this baby. You’re my priority, Emily. Don’t you get that?”

  Her head dropped. “I’m trying. It’s hard for me.”

  “I know.” He blew out a breath. “I want you so much, but I want to prove to you that this isn’t just about sex. Which is why I’m returning to the floor.”

  “You’d deprive us both of comfort just to prove a point?”

  His heart thumped. “You aren’t making this easy.”

  “I don’t intend to.”

  Her hand slipped down to his groin, rubbed him through the pants that were too tight across his cock now. He couldn’t stop the groan that left his throat.

  “You want this,” she said. “So do I.”

  “Jesus, you’re a hard woman to say no to. Brandy was right that I should have kept saying no—but I didn’t want to. I don’t want to now either.”

  “So don’t. I need you, Ryan. I need to know that you’re with me, that you care the way you say you do.”

  He let out a choked laugh. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’re the player in this situation and I’m the virgin you’re trying to seduce.”

  She laughed. “You are so far from a virgin it’s not funny.”

  He took the tray from her lap and set it on the floor. While he was twisted away from her, she took the opportunity to climb over him and settle with her crotch riding his erection. He gripped her hips and held her against him, flexing his body so he pressed into her most sensitive spot.

  “Oh,” she gasped, wriggling her hips against him. “Oh Ryan, that feels amazing.”

  His head pounded. His heart throbbed. And his cock ached to be inside her.

  “You make it impossible to say no.”

  “Good.”

  He slid his hands from her hips, let his thumbs do the walking down to the vee of her legs. Her panties were wet as he rubbed his thumbs over the soft cotton.

  “I’ve never been with a pregnant woman before,” he murmured.

  She snorted. “Makes two of us. I’ve never been pregnant before.”

  “Don’t want to hurt the baby.”

  She moaned a little when he kept stroking his thumbs over her panties, pressing against her clit. “You won’t. The baby is oblivious in his own little world.”

  “His, huh?”

  “I don’t know that for sure. Just taking a guess.”

  He gripped her again and turned them both until he was on top and she lay beneath him with her legs around his waist.

  “You make me hot, Emily. Always have. But this… this idea that you’re carrying my baby in there… I’d take a bullet for you both. I’d endure the worst kind of torture to keep you safe. I’d let the Freedom Force have me before I let them have you.”

  She popped a hand over his mouth. “Don’t say things like that. Please don’t. I can’t stand the thought of anything happening to you, and certainly not because of me.”

  He kissed her palm, pulled it away. “Don�
��t worry, honey. They aren’t getting me—and they damn sure aren’t getting you. We’ll finish this mission and we’ll go home. We’ll figure it out, okay?”

  She nodded. Her other hand came up and threaded into his hair. “Please kiss me. I’ll die if you don’t kiss me.”

  Fuck. He already knew he was lost. Already knew he wasn’t getting out of this bed without thoroughly making love to the woman beneath him. She stole his ability to reason. If she didn’t, she wouldn’t be pregnant, would she?

  But right now, he just didn’t fucking care. All he cared about was getting inside her, taking her with him on a hot, sensual journey that would make the world fade into nothingness.

  “Whatever you want, honey. Whatever you need.”

  Ryan dropped his mouth to hers and found heaven.

  *

  Emily’s heart threatened to beat out of her chest as Ryan kissed her. Their tongues danced and tangled, and Ryan’s cock swelled. Emily shifted her hips and ground herself against him, wanting more of the sweet pressure against her clit that he’d been giving her with his thumbs.

  She was primed, hot and ready. It surprised her how much she wanted this, how desperate she was to join her body with his. She’d been angry with him, frustrated with his stubbornness and his lack of confidence in her ability to do a job.

  But now—oh, now—she didn’t care about any of that. Her body ached with desire. Her core tightened and her pussy grew even wetter if that was possible.

  Ryan shoved her T-shirt up and off, then backed away and yanked her panties down, sliding them over her legs until she was naked beneath him. She lay there trembling, wondering what he would do next. When he only sat above her without moving, she reached for the button at his waist. He hadn’t removed his pants when he’d returned from the kitchen, and she wanted them off.

  “In a minute,” he growled, dropping down and putting his hands beneath her ass, spreading her wide.

  “What are you doing?” As if she didn’t know.

  His eyes twinkled wickedly. “Honey, I’m about to eat your pussy. You need a good licking.”

  Emily gasped as his fingers slid up the wet seam of her cleft.

  “Better put that pillow over your face to muffle the screams,” he continued. “Or everyone in this compound’s going to know what you’re up to in here.”

  It was unbelievable that he could make her blush—but he managed it. Her skin was hot. “Oh, you’re bad!”

  “So bad I’m good, baby. Hold on.” Ryan’s tongue slipped into her wet heat and she grabbed the pillow out of instinct.

  Then he licked his way from the bottom to the top, and she turned her face into the pillow as instructed. When his tongue curled around her clit, she moaned long and low.

  “Ryan, please.”

  “Please what, Emily?”

  “Please stop torturing me!”

  He chuckled. “Torturing you? I’ve barely started. I’ve licked your sweet pussy twice.”

  Twice? Only twice? God, she would never survive this.

  “You haven’t done anything but tease!”

  “That’s right, baby.” He dropped his head again and licked the swollen folds of her pussy. His tongue dipped inside her again, tasting and teasing, and she rocked her hips up, hoping for more.

  But he laughed and pulled away. Then his tongue flattened over her clit, pressing into the bundle of nerves, and she made a noise very much like a whimper. No, it was a whimper. Hell.

  Next he curled his tongue around her clit again, flicking it hard and soft, hard and soft, until she thought she might scream.

  So, yes, she balled up the pillow into her fists, and she pressed her face into it—because the sounds coming from her, while not especially loud, were somewhat embarrassing. And had the potential to go up a few octaves if he didn’t stop.

  Which she didn’t want him to do. Never stop. Never stop.

  Ryan spread her with his fingers, opening her for better access, his tongue flicking faster against her clit now. The tension inside her body grew taut, ready to explode—

  And Ryan stopped what he was doing and moved down to thrust his tongue inside her again. Just when she thought she might scream with frustration and yes, even pleasure, he went back to her clit. This time he sucked it into his mouth, sucked almost too hard, but not really.

  It was mind-blowing, skating on the edge of pleasure and pain. Not pain because it hurt, but pain because it was too good. Too intense.

  He flicked her clit while sucking, and Emily squeezed the pillow tighter. She was about to blow. About to come apart in this tiny bed in the middle of a compound full of hardened warriors. Sure, some of them were probably having sex now too—there were women here, though not many—but she could hardly care about them when she was so close to heavenly bliss.

  She kept one hand on the pillow while she reached down and put the other on the back of his head, pressing his face into her pussy. She felt him smile, felt the rumble of a chuckle in his throat—

  The vibrations—and his wickedly good tongue—sent her sailing off the edge. Her body shook, her legs trembled, her breath caught in her throat. Her back arched, her breasts thrusting into the air. Ryan reached up and pinched one of her nipples gently, and she nearly zoned out.

  Oh my God, it was so good. So intense. More intense than the first night with him, and that had been pretty incredible.

  She moaned her pleasure into the pillow—hell, maybe she screamed it. She wasn’t certain. Ryan kept licking her until she let him go. Then he kissed his way up her body to her breasts, sucking her nipples into his mouth one after the other.

  They were so sensitive her back arched and she gasped as she felt the tug of sensation all the way to her pussy, her toes. She shoved the pillow out of her face so she could breathe.

  “Why are you still wearing pants?” she asked when she could manage to speak.

  “Because I’m taking care of you.”

  “They need to go, Ryan.”

  He rolled to the side and laughed as he flicked a button open. She reached for him, helping him unbutton his fly before he kicked the pants down his legs and off. She’d forgotten he was wearing briefs, but she went after those, pushed them down until he could kick them off as well.

  “You’re kinda insatiable right now, you realize that?”

  “Yes. Are you complaining?”

  “Hell no. What kind of man complains about a woman wanting his dick?”

  “Exactly.” She reached for him, wrapped her hand around the smooth, hard flesh of his cock. “I definitely want this. I want you.”

  She said the last a little shyly, which was silly considering what he’d just done to her. But she was shy with him. Shy in the sense that her heart was so engaged and she knew his wasn’t. She was afraid, afraid of what sex with him meant to her—and yet she needed it too. She couldn’t walk away. Couldn’t say no.

  Didn’t want to say no.

  Ryan rose above her, settled himself between her legs. And then he paused, looking down at her while she held his cock and tried to guide him into her body.

  “I want you to know that I realize what a gift this is,” he said softly. “Your body. Your pleasure. I’m thankful you chose me.”

  Her heart felt like it might crack wide open and spill all her feelings out into the air between them. She swallowed hard, unwilling to let that happen. Sex was one thing, but love would surely make him think twice.

  “This isn’t the time to make me cry,” she whispered.

  He grinned. “Not unless you’re crying my name, sweetheart.”

  Before she could think up an appropriate answer, the head of his cock slid inside her slick walls.

  “We good?”

  She blinked up at him. “You aren’t even there yet. Barely there. Of course we’re good!”

  “Hey, for all I know, you’re supersensitive now that you’re pregnant.”

  “I am—in my nipples. This is all good—and that little bit of you is a huge
tease.”

  “Huge. I like the sound of that.”

  “Ryan.”

  “Yeah, baby?”

  “This isn’t the time to make jokes.”

  “Honey, I’m hurt. You saying my cock isn’t huge after all?”

  She wrapped her legs tighter around his waist and tried to pull him into her by force. It didn’t work because he was much bigger and way stronger than she was. She growled at him.

  “Stop teasing me, Ryan!”

  He slid deeper inside her, her body stretching to accommodate him. No, he definitely wasn’t small. The walls of her pussy gloved him tight, but it wasn’t uncomfortable.

  “Still good?” He didn’t sound so humorous now. He sounded… strained.

  “Yes. Still good. Please, please finish it.”

  He reached down and put a hand under her ass, lifting her to him—and then he slid home and they both groaned.

  “God, that’s good,” he said.

  “Yeah… wow.”

  He pulled out and pushed back inside her again and again, slowly, until she made a sound of frustration. The next time he slammed into her a little harder.

  “Yessss…”

  That was pretty much all he needed to hear, because he started moving harder now, faster, driving her deep into the mattress. The bed frame was old and it squeaked like crazy.

  She didn’t care. She also didn’t care that she was moaning his name, begging him for more. He took her mouth, kissed her deeply, his tongue like hot velvet. They moved frantically, bodies slamming together, bed rocking, hips meeting forcefully with each thrust.

  If she could get closer to him, she would. If she could be a part of him, she would. But this had to be enough, this beautiful melding of two sweat-slick bodies.

  “Ryan, Ryan…”

  “I’m here, Emily. I’m with you.”

  He reached between them, found the sensitive pearl of her clit, stroked it in rhythm to the way he pounded into her. She gripped him tight, her hands raking down his back, grasping hard muscle and hot skin.