Ethan fought to stay conscious by breathing slowly and blinking his eyes a few times. He’d been hit by a large chunk of wood from the door during the explosion. He felt the slickness of blood oozing down the back of his head, and when he reached back, his hand came away red. He felt Ann’s unconscious body under his and when he moved to sit up, he felt a wave of dizziness hit him. He continued to breathe slowly.He knew they needed to get moving. Shaking his head lightly, he demanded that his body start functioning. He looked down at Ann and noticed a large knot on her forehead. Gently he pushed her bright blond hair aside to take stock of the wound. She might have a concussion. Running his hands over her, he felt for any broken bones or other lesions.“Get your hands off me,” she moaned as she tried to push his hands away.He smiled. Good, she was alive and awake.“We need to get out of here. The place is on fire.” He watched as her eyes slid open. She was glaring at him. God, he love
He watched silently from the crowd as her blond head disappeared into the masses. How could he lose sight of her so quickly? She’d been an easy target to follow the first night he’d been here. The fact that he had a dozen men out looking for her assured him that she’d be easily found by the morning. There was no place she could hide for too long. She didn’t know anyone here and there wasn’t a place that would take her in that he didn’t have eyes or ears on.He wanted this all tied up nice and clean by the time he had to go back to the States tomorrow afternoon. He couldn’t afford to be out of sight for too long. He needed to be seen, to be in the public eye, where he belonged.He spotted one of his men across the crowd and watched as the man crossed the crowd to meet him.“Have you spotted her?”“No. Somehow I lost them after they entered the street. We’ll find her; she couldn’t have gotten that far.”They were supposed to have her in their hands before the explosion ripped through th
Ethan watched her eyes blink several times.“Austin knows what happened. It’s all over the news that we were killed in that explosion. I called them to set the record straight,” he said and then started eating.“Did—did you tell them about my meeting with Heitor?” She twisted her hands in her lap, looking very nervous.He shook his head no, and she relaxed a little in her seat. “I didn’t see any reason to tell them what happened, other than we were alive.“What did Anthony say?” She leaned closer to his chair. “I didn’t talk to Anthony. I talked to Dave.”She gasped and starting choking. He quickly slapped her back lightly a few times until she could breathe smoothly again.“Easy, Princess. There’s nothing to get worked up about.”She glared at him, “Would you stop calling me that. Besides, there is plenty to get worked up about. You talked to Dave Myers, the head of the network.” She quickly stood up and started pacing the floor. He watched her for a few seconds, then decided to go b
Ann walked into the dark room and felt around for a light switch. When the room flooded with light, she gasped. It was full of tall shelves stocked with everything from flashlights to rubber hoses. She almost tripped over her backpack as she started walking the aisles. Why would Javan have all this stuff? Who was he? How did Nathan know him?Taking the bag, she started walking the aisles, grabbing a flashlight, grabbing a handful of batteries, a box of matches, and other basic items. When she reached the back, her bag was heavy with stuff she thought she’d need. She’d spent four years in the Brownies growing up and knew what it took to go camping.She spotted a small silver box on the top shelf and took it down. Inside was a silver .45. She reached in and felt its weight, knowing she had to make room in her bag. She grabbed a box of bullets and before placing the gun in the small side pocket of the bag, she made sure it was unloaded. Her father had forced her to take gun classes a few
Ethan walked at a steady pace as he watched the back of Ann’s dark head. She defiantly fit in to the crowd now. Before, heads had turned when she walked down the street and men had seemed to fall aside with their tongues wagging. At least that’s what he always imagined. She had that effect on men, kind of like the coyote in the cartoons when steam shot out of its ears, and its eyes did the slot machine spin.Okay, so it wasn’t that bad. If he wanted to be totally honest, that’s the way he’d felt when he’d first seen her. She’d walked across the room in a hot red outfit, and he’d lost control of his wits. Not only had his temperature risen, well… he shook his head and cleared the image from his mind.They’d been walking for almost an hour and already he could tell she was slowing down. So far they hadn’t run into any trouble. When Ann stumbled, he reached out and took her arm. She yanked it free and glared at him. He smiled at her in return, which only caused her to frown. The small c
“What?” He threw the glass across the room and watched as it shattered against the wall. “You promised me you’d have her by morning. I don’t know if you know it, but it’s after one. I leave in less than five hours. I don’t care what you do or who you have to hire. Find that woman or you can forget about ever working in Brazil again.”He could feel the vein in his temple bulging as he looked across at the two men. He turned his attention to the larger man.“I told you, I don’t think the cameraman was who you said he was. He has to be from some kind of military forces to have disappeared like that. Maybe he’s an agent? All I know is that I have over a hundred men out looking, not to mention all the loyalists who have their eyes and ears out. Miss Rhodes has disappeared from Rio.”He leaned over the table and looked at the man. Even though the man was bigger than he was, he wasn’t afraid of him. After all, he was the one with all the power. If he didn’t like how the man was doing his job
Ethan watched Ann across the small space as she slept. He’d sat across from her last night at Javan’s and watched her, much like he was doing now. She slept like he’d dreamed of doing for years, like the whole world had dropped off and she had no cares.He knew the hike had been hard on her. Hell, it had been hard on him, but he was used to being uncomfortable and tired. He’d done it all his adult life and had no plans of letting up any time soon. He liked his job and the travel. He liked helping people out and working with his buddies from his time in the corps. He was very glad that he and Javan had patched up their relationship. He’d been his best friend for so many years. Ethan had hated knowing the man was not around to call when he got in a tight spot.But above everything else about the job, Ethan liked the danger and the thrills he got when he outmaneuvered his opponents. It was like a game to him. He’d always been good at it. When he was a kid, he’d played paintball wars with
Ann felt the cold stone on her back and Ethan’s breath on her neck. She wouldn’t regret this move. She’d always taken what she’d wanted and she’d wanted him. Especially after walking out of the cave and seeing him standing naked under the water. She would have had to be a saint not to want to jump him. His muscles were impressive in clothes, but bare, she just wanted to lick him up and down.As she felt his breathing slow, she knew he was going to be pissed at her for maneuvering him so easily. She’d never seduced someone like that before and she felt liberated in doing so. Actually, she wanted to do it again, but doubted they had the time or could spare the energy.Her hands felt a few small scars on his back that she’d seen the other night when she’d been following him. Reaching down, she ran her hand over the larger one along the lower part of his spine.“How did you get this?” she asked as he held himself still.“Hmm. I should have been looking behind me instead of in front.”She
Ethan watched Ann fluff his pillows for what seemed like the hundredth time. He smiled, enjoying her pampering him. He knew she was just concerned about him and he enjoyed every minute of it. It had been a close one. So close he’d made a decision, one he had yet to talk to her about. There had hardly been a time when they were alone.When he’d woken in the ICU, she was there and so were a half dozen nurses. Then when he’d come to again, he’d been in a private room with his parents hovering over him. It had been nice having them there, but he wished for some time alone with Ann.Then she had left for the evening, promising she’d be back first thing in the morning. She had walked in five minutes after his parents and Roberta had. Now her family was there, chatting and acting like he was a hero.Blake was there as well. The kid had grown tall, but still looked the same. Ethan could tell he was glad he was okay, even if he played it cool. Javan had even stopped by at one point before headi
Ethan was fighting for his life. There were two of them, he’d spotted them instantly when he’d entered the large stadium. His eyes had scanned not the stage, where Ann was focused, but instead the roof and upper bleachers of the large stadium. It had taken him only a few seconds to see the dark spot hovering in a private booth area. The nose of the rifle stuck out from the box. With his mind totally focused on getting there quickly, he lost track of Ann. He knew she’d make it to her father and hoped to God she had enough sense to stay down. When he reached the opening to the booth, he threw himself in and charged the man, covered in darkness. He didn’t see the second man come out of theshadows until the knife was already on a downward arch.Trying to block it, he felt the blade hit his rib cage, tearing his shirt and the skin below. Turning, he connected a solid blow to the skinny man’s nose, shattering it and sending blood splattering all over both of them. Paul, the senator’s assis
Ann and Ethan spent the next few days locked in the editing room. They had gone over every inch of footage that had been uploaded from Rio before the incident. There really wasn’t anything other than crowd shots they could use.She’d been enjoying their time together. There was hardly a moment when they weren’t together. Javan had even been moved over to watching Blake instead.Ethan had been spending all his time with her. He slept in her bed, they ate dinner together, they ate breakfast together. He sat across from her when she worked in her office. They had been spending a lot of their evenings in the editing room together. She couldn’t explain it, she just enjoyed spending her time with him. He was easy to get along with, and she didn’t want to be apart from him.She’d woken the other night to an empty bed and had instantly felt empty herself. Then she’d heard him talking on the phone in the other room. She’d quietly rushed in and smiled when she’d seen him pacing her living room.
“I can’t believe it. It’s taken almost a week and they are finally going to let me run my piece from Rio. They want it edited a little more and some more back story, but the executives want it by Friday.” Ann was so nervous, she was pacing her small office.Ethan sat across from her and looked bored. “Are you listening to me?” She picked up the nearest item, which happened to be a stress ball, and tossed it athis head. He caught it and proceeded to squeeze it playfully as she smiled.“I’m always listening. I knew they were going to run it. It’s a good piece. Plus, you had an excellent cameraman.” He smiled and tossed the ball back at her.She caught it and set it back on her desk, then walked around and sat in her chair. There was so much to do in the next few days, she didn’t think she’d have time. Preparing a piece this big took a team and her team… she closed her eyes on the flash of memory that popped into her head. Well, her team was dead.“I’m going to spend the next few days g
Ann was bored. Since returning home, she’d gone to work, gone to the grocery store. Her kitchen was now fully stocked with groceries. When she’d arrived home last night she had realized there wasn’t anything to eat since she’d left for a long journey. She’d visited her family and done other boring everyday tasks, but was still bored out of her mind. How could she ever get back in the swing of a normal life after what she’d gone through with Ethan?She’d been happily surprised to see Javan yesterday at the store. When they’d come back to her place, he’d come in and installed several small cameras throughout her place. She’d talked to him and had found out that he’d had to leave Rio on account of helping them escape. She felt bad, but was happy that he was going to be helping Ethan out now.She was in the middle of watching the evening news, when the doorbell rang. She hadn’t even heard a word the announcer said since she’d been too busy thinking of Ethan again.Knowing it was the pizza
The next morning Ann marched into her office with a plan. There was no way she was going to let Anthony fire her. She walked out of the elevators and past the secretary with her head held high. She avoided talking to anyone; she just wanted to make it into her office. She was so focused on getting there, she didn’t see the man sitting behind her desk until after she’d closed the door, leaned back on it, and released a sigh of relief.“Was it that bad?” Dave asked from her chair. She couldn’t help it, she squealed. She’d only met Dave Myers once before, on the day she’d been hired almost five years ago. He was an older gentlemen with silver hair. His suitsalways looked pressed and he never had a hair out of place. He had a reputation for being a hard-ass and she’d done everything she could to avoid dealing with him directly.“Oh,” she stood up straight and ran her hands over her skirt, trying to make sure she looked perfect.“Come in, Miss Rhodes. I’d like to hear all about your adven
She smiled again. “Thanks, Daddy. I knew you’d have all the answers. What can I do now?”“Well, if he doesn’t come back on his own… If I know anything about my little girl, you’ll find a way to make him crawl back.”That night she lay in her bed for a few hours listening to the sounds of the city around her. She missed the sounds of the jungle and of Ethan sleeping beside her. She missed his warmth, his smell, his touch.She knew she was going to have a hard time falling back into a pattern. How could she ever go back to a normal life after what they’d been through? Did she want to? More importantly, did she want to do it all alone? Even though they’d only known each other a few months, she couldn’t stop thinking about him.The shadows on her ceiling did little to soothe her as the light hit the leaves that were starting to fall from the large tree outside her window. She turned and hit her pillow a few times, trying to get comfortable. She’d had no problem sleeping in the dirt or wet
The next morning they met his parents for a day trip to the beach, something they’d done since he was a kid. Usually they’d spend the whole night sleeping in a tent or sleeping bags under the stars if the weather held out.This time they had stayed late enough to have some of his dad’s homemade mussel soup. He’d laughed as he taught Ann how to dig for mussels. She’d been a little grossed out at first, but after he’d showed her how to collect the first few, she’d rolled her sleeves up and been totally focused.She’d even helped him collect wood for their fire. He’d always enjoyed having a campfire on the beach. Something about the smell of burning wood and the salt from the ocean made him feel like he was truly home.As they sat on a large piece of driftwood in front of the fire, he pulled her close as he watched his parents laughing about a story they were telling.It was almost like life was going in slow motion for a few minutes. His mind flashed from seeing the same scene as a chil
She’d toed off her own heels as she walked her way back to just below his hips.His erection sat between them, proud and erect. She knew he wanted her to touch him, but she leaned over and started kissing and rubbing her hands over his chest again.She wanted this to last. She wanted to enjoy every inch of him, slowly. “Ann, your killing me.”“Don’t rush me. I’m enjoying myself too much to go fast.” She smiled as she nibbled her way down his chest. When she reached his belly button, she dipped her tongue in and swirled it around the sexy spot. He had a light covering of hair that trailed down to his sex. She followed it until finally, she gripped him lightly in her hands. She watched as his eyes closed and he moaned while arching his head.“You like it when I touch you?”“God, yes!” He almost jumped when she swirled her tongue around the head, lapping at him as she used her hands to stroke his length. She cupped his balls as she used her mouth to please him.His hands plunged into her