He hesitated before finally saying, “I can do the recon by myself if you want to stay here or even go help your dad rally the troops.”
“I’m not letting you walk into a fight by yourself.” Safara picked up her sword. “I have to do this, Eli. Lives depend on it.”
Next, she tapped the badge pinned to her shirt. “I swore an oath to serve and protect. I mean to keep that promise.”
His heart did a slow roll in his chest. Damn, she was magnificent. A man could face anything life threw at him with a woman like her at his side. Too bad it wouldn’t be him. But the image of her with another man, sharing what the two of them had shared during the night, had him clenching his fists. Too bad the lucky bastard, whoever he might be, wasn’t standing right there in front of him. The two of them would have a heartfelt—and possibly hands-on—conversation about Safara and how she deserved to be treated.
“Eli, are you okay? I don’t know where you went in your head just now, but it can’t be a happy place.”
No, it damn well wasn’t. He wasn’t about to explain that he was imagining how good it would feel to beat the crap out of some guy he’d never met. Eli had no right to stake a claim on Safara when he had no future to offer her. Right now, though, he wasn’t thinking about right and wrong. They had places to go, bad guys to round up, but he wasn’t thinking about that, either.
There was only one thing he wanted—needed. And that was Safara. Anywhere he could have her, any way he could have her.
Smart woman that she was, she backed away. “Eli? What’s going on?”
He followed her step for step. “Nothing is going on. In fact, a few things are about to come off.”
To show her what he had in mind, he peeled off his shirt and then reached for the button on his jeans. She swallowed hard and took another step back. Didn’t she know never to show weakness in front of a predator? And God knows he was feeling pretty damn predatory at the moment. If she’d shown any real fear, he would’ve backed off instantly. But she wasn’t looking scared, not with the way she just licked her lips and dragged her gaze down his body to stare at the front of his jeans. He tugged the zipper down an inch. When her eyes flared wide and hot, he tugged it down a little more.
He glanced at the sword clutched in her hand. “You’d better set that down unless you plan to use it on me.”
“We don’t have time for this, Eli.”
Despite her protest, she carefully laid the sword on the table. He prowled another two steps in her direction. “We should make time.”
She started to back away again, but then her chin came up in challenge as she stood her ground. “What’s really going on here?”
“I already answered that question. I think it’s your turn to take something off. Anything at all would be fine, but I’m thinking your jeans would be a step in the right direction.” He grinned at her, letting her see the hunger raging through him. “I’d be glad to help with that, and I promise to make it worth your while.”
“I don’t know what’s gotten into you.”
Truth was, he didn’t, either. However, he did know exactly what he wanted to get into her. She was right about one thing, though. They really didn’t have time for a long, drawn-out seduction. It was time to end the discussion and get with the program.
Using those fancy Paladin reflexes she’d told him about, he lunged close enough to grab her by the waist and pressed her against the nearest wall. As he captured her mouth with his, he reached for the snap on her jeans. After popping it open, he slid the zipper down. With his fingers teasing at the waistband of her panties, he rested his forehead against hers. “Tell me you want this, too.”
She stared into his eyes for a few heartbeats before nodding. “Yes.”
Her sad smile made it clear that he wasn’t the only one who knew their time together was nearly over, and the world outside was going to demand its due from them both. That’s all it took. He kissed her luscious mouth, loving that she gave as good as she got. He worked his hand down inside her panties to palm her core and gently squeezed.
She gasped and rocked her hips hard against the pressure. He broke off the kiss and stooped to peel her jeans and panties down to her ankles, where the process came to a screeching halt thanks to her boots. He dropped down to one knee to untie them. It took him two attempts to get the job done thanks to shaky hands and the temptation to stay right where he was and pleasure his woman a different way.
Instead, he carried her across the room and tumbled them both onto the couch in a tangle of arms and legs. By now she was just as eager to finish what he’d started. He shoved his jeans out of the way and got down to business. This was no gentle wooing, there was no finesse, just the overwhelming urge to make Safara his again, even if only for these last few minutes. They came together again and again, the urgency building with each stroke and each touch.
She chanted his name between demands for more. He willingly gave her everything he had, including his heart. When the tempest between them reached its crescendo, he was pretty sure he died for the second time. Maybe he just wished he had, because if this was his last time with Safara, he wasn’t sure he wanted to go on living.
But unfortunately, life went on. They both had rogues to hunt and two worlds to protect. He kissed her one more time. It was soft and sweet and tasted so damn sad.
17
They were almost back to the highway when Eli’s phone rang. He stopped long enough to fish it out of his pocket. He muttered a curse after seeing the number and swiped his finger across the screen.
“What’s wrong?”
Why would he assume there was a problem? She waited while he listened for several seconds before saying another word. When he did, it was both colorful and obscene. “Fine. I’m parked at the bottom of the road that leads up to my cabin. Safara and I will wait here for you.”
Eli shoved the phone back into his pocket. At first he didn’t seem inclined to explain what was going on, but finally he turned the engine off and slouched back in his seat. “That was Doc. He and Mike are about five minutes out.”
Then he banged his fist against the steering wheel hard enough that she half expected it to break. “Why does everything have to go all to hell at the same time?”
