He sighed. “It’s almost here,” he whispered. “Just don’t fight it when it comes and it’ll be less so.”
“When what comes, and less what?” she asked impatiently.
“I don’t know for you. Besides the pain and sleepiness, I mean,” Armando said. “The drug inhibits and when it stops inhibiting, your brain tries to double everything it thinks your body is missing. There’s a chemistry imbalance and wham! You’re in a lot of trouble.”
Helen frowned. She turned and watched Heath touch the face of the woman he was interviewing. “Is he trying to seduce her?” she asked. “I don’t think that’ll work when the woman is worried about her husband, you know.”
Armando glanced at the couple for a few moments. “All information has a price. All traitors have a price. She might give her body up for freedom. And if she does, what else would she give up? Maybe the possible location of her husband?”
“And that’s what Heath does? He seduces prisoners?” Helen asked slowly.
“Not necessarily. He likes to play with their minds. Everything’s an illusion, as usual.”
She was mesmerized by Heath’s hands. They were massaging the woman’s head now. Boy, that would feel good on her at this moment; she was beginning to have a slight tension headache. What was he saying to her? His hand went lower and unzipped the back of the woman’s dress. Because the woman’s back was toward her, Hell couldn’t see her expression—what was she thinking? She wasn’t fighting him. If it were her, she’d be kicking Heath’s ass. But those hands. He was massaging the back of the woman’s neck now. Thatwouldfeel so good. She thought about Hades massaging her neck in a similar way when she was tense. That led her to thinking about Hades’ hands, which wasn’t good, because that further led her to think about what Hades’ hand had done to her…
“Helen,” Armando’s voice cut in. “Look at me.”
She did, startled that she had forgotten he was there. “What?”
“How long has it been since you had sex?”
“What?” she asked again, not sure why he was bringing that up.
“Because what Heath’s doing to that woman is turning you on plenty, so much so you have the horniest look on your face. I know when a woman’s longing for some pleasure.”
“What?” She felt stupid but that was all she could say at the moment. “What are you talking about?”
“Answer me first, how long since you had sex? Because if it’s been a while, your body chemistry is just about to overcompensate your needs. Let me demonstrate.” Armando moved closer. He reached out in the semidarkness and trailed a hand up Helen’s thigh. At the small gasp she let out, he nodded. “You see? You’re sensitive to my touch.” He came even closer and added, “That’s your reckoning, my dear, which is a lot better than mine.”
“I…don’t know…what you’re talking…about,” Helen said obstinately. But she suddenly felt flushed with fever.
“I’ll prove it to you,” Armando said, and kissed her.
Helen burst into flame. Or at least, that was how it felt. Every sense zeroed in on the touch of his lips moving against hers. It was as if she had been cold for a very long time and had now found a source of heat.
She opened her mouth and kissed him back. His tongue danced with hers sensuously and he moved even closer, his hands on her hips, pulling her hard against his body. She twined her arms around his neck, dug her fingers in that long hair, desperately pulling him even nearer. The heat surrounded her, softening the edge of the tension headache, and she gave in to the tactile pleasure of his caresses for a few minutes.
It didn’t feel right—wanting a man so desperately so suddenly—but she found she had no control at all. She wanted the kiss to go on; she wanted to feel him hard against her. She wanted that heat that was spreading like slow hot lava inside her, moving downward, following his hands as they squeezed her buttocks lightly, as they moved down some more to part her legs. Everywhere he touched, the heat stayed and grew.
Armando broke off the kiss. “I want you,” he said thickly, “but is this what you want?”
All Helen wanted was his lips back where they were. “I feel hot all over. Kiss me some more,” she demanded.
He sighed. “I was right, wasn’t I? You haven’t had sex in a long time.” His slow sinuous caresses stopped, even though he still held her against his body. She could feel him hard and hot against her lower stomach. “We could continue, Hell. I’d be too happy to oblige you, but you might not be a happy camper when it’s over, especially if you have a boyfriend.”
“Why?” She could barely think, even though logic was telling her that she shouldn’t be feeling like this so suddenly. All she wanted—she struggled with the urge to reach down to touch him—was to find out whether that part burning against her was really that sizzling hot. “Armando, how do I stop this?”
“I don’t know. When your body decides it’s back in balance, I guess.”
“What do you do when it happens to you?” She pulled away from him and his hands dropped, freeing her. She wrapped her arms around herself, the loss of heat almost unbearable. She had expected pain, but this—she was totally flummoxed. “Is that why you don’t tell the medics what’s happening to you? That you get to feel like this, that all you want to do is…is…”
Helen waved her hand impatiently. Saying it crudely was too close to the truth. He was right. She would really be mad at herself if she let this control her.
Armando shook his head. “I told you, the serum is different for everyone. I don’t go through what you’re experiencing, Hell. I have…normal male needs. I suffer from…” He shook his head again. “Regardless, it’s pretty obvious what you suffer from. Like I said, I’m happy to oblige.”
“No, thanks,” Helen said, licking her lips, desperately trying to ignore how sensitive they felt. “I think I’d better cut this meeting short before I—”
She glanced over at the two-way mirror and was surprised to see the room on the other side empty. Had she been so lost in one kiss that she didn’t see two people leaving a room? That shocked her, that she could be distracted so easily.
