Price Of Honor

Chapter Sixteen

Dusty didn’t think. She just went by instinct. Viv’s eyes were so bright, so intent, eclipsing every other thought in Dusty’s mind, in her memory. Viv’s mouth was curved into a faint welcoming smile, her lips parted a breath, looking full and soft. They were soft, when Dusty’s mouth touched hers. Moist, warm, silky lips that tasted like fruit and spring breezes. For an instant, she froze, absorbing the sensation like sunlight on her skin after coming out of a cold dark place. She shuddered from the heat.

Viv’s hands cupped her face, holding her there as if she might retreat, but she wasn’t going to. She wanted more. She tilted her head, let her mouth glide over Viv’s, and the tip of her tongue skimmed the inside of Viv’s lip, skated over her tongue. Taste exploded down her throat, a fireworks of light and color. Her chest tightened and her breath caught as if a fist had landed in her middle, but she didn’t care. She would gladly go without drawing another breath as long as the honeyed touch of Viv’s mouth remained.

Viv played with the hair at the back of Dusty’s neck, sending a cascade of shivers down her spine. She moaned, a sound she’d never made before and had no control over.

“Oh yes,” Viv whispered against her mouth, and pressed close until their bodies touched.

The swell of Viv’s breast against hers was mesmerizing, at once soothing and exciting. Dusty stroked Viv’s side, feeling the cool satiny shirt slide beneath her fingers. She couldn’t stop exploring, captivated by the wonder of Viv’s body. She ventured higher and found her palm cradling the undersurface of Viv’s breast. Even through the layers of satin and silk, she sensed the elegant curve of her flesh and molded her fingers to the contours. Viv moaned and Dusty stilled. She hadn’t meant…but she had.

“Did I—”

“You have a beautiful mouth. Beautiful hands,” Viv whispered. “Don’t stop.”

“I don’t want to.” Dusty kissed her again, deeper, trying to go slow, trying to savor every moment of exploration. They still sat side by side, food forgotten. The kisses were endless and not nearly enough to sate the hunger surging through her belly. Her arm was trembling, she didn’t know why.

Viv drew back, her breath coming fast. She stroked Dusty’s face, cupped her jaw. “I’m about to melt.”

“Is that bad?”

Viv shook her head. “No, it’s very, very good.” She pressed her hand to Dusty’s chest, her fingers fanning out over Dusty’s collarbone, brushing lower over the top of her breast. “Another few seconds and I’m going to start tearing your clothes off. I need a minute.”

“As long as you want,” Dusty said. “But I don’t think I’d mind.”

“I might.” Viv laughed shakily. She didn’t want to stop any of it. She wanted Dusty’s mouth on her again. The kisses were more than kisses, they were invitations to open herself to something she’d never experienced, to take and give and fly. “I’ve never felt quite so out of control before.”

“I’ve never felt anything like any of this before.”

Viv fought a moment of panic. Dusty’s words cut through to her core. What was she doing? All she could think of was being naked with Dusty on top of her, inside her, driving her up and over. She’d never been so consumed by need before. Never been so lost in a woman. Dusty was tender and totally commanding without even realizing it. The combination was thrilling and terrifying. Dusty’s hands on her skin took her out of the fetters of everyday life and into some place of light and color and passion, and oh God, she wanted to come.

She shivered.

“Are you cold?” Dusty lifted her into her lap as effortlessly as if she were a feather and kissed the side of her neck.

“Anything but.” Viv wrapped her arms around Dusty’s neck and slid her tongue into her mouth, seeking the heat and safety and wild place that only Dusty had ever taken her. Dusty’s palms spread over her back possessively, and she was gone again, lost to the pleasure. When she came back to herself, her hand was under Dusty’s shirt, her fingers stroking Dusty’s bare stomach. Hot flesh and hard muscles glided beneath her skin. She didn’t remember tugging Dusty’s shirt from her pants. She jerked and pulled away, but Dusty caught her wrist and pushed her hand back against her belly.

“Leave it.” Dusty’s voice was gravelly, her stomach rigid beneath Viv’s fingertips.

“Sorry. I just needed to touch you.” Viv feathered her fingers up and down the faint ridge in the center of Dusty’s abdomen. She wanted to see her naked so bad. Wanted to touch every inch of her. She groaned. “I’m not usually so crazy.”

“I like it.”

“Oh, me too,” Viv whispered. “Me too. Only…”

“Only?”

“I want everything all at once,” Viv said. “But I don’t want it to be fast either. I don’t want to miss a single thing.”

“Then we should have supper,” Dusty said. “I don’t want this to be over too fast, either. I don’t think I want it to be over at all.”

Viv pressed her forehead to Dusty’s. “You do realize you’re the sexiest woman in the world?”

Dusty laughed. She knew some things about herself. She was tough, she was good at her job, she wasn’t afraid to die. She also knew she didn’t stand out, didn’t impress, didn’t catch anyone’s eye. “I don’t think so. I know sexy when I see it. I’ve been looking at it since the second I saw you.”

“Where did you learn to say the things that make a woman want to surrender?” Viv’s tone was playful and just a little serious too.

“I never said anything like this to anyone.” Dusty kissed her again because her mouth looked so damn delicious. “You taste so sweet.” She wanted the soft fullness of Viv’s breast back in her hand again, in both hands, but if she did that she’d want more and Viv might let her, and then they wouldn’t have the slow. And the slow was important. “I’m going to think about you naked every second I can until it happens.”

“Will it?” Viv’s eyes were searching, her tone a little uncertain. “Happen?”

“If I have anything to do about it.”

“Then I’ll think about your hands on me, your mouth on me, every second until it does.” Viv pushed her fingers into Dusty’s hair and kissed her again, and again and again and again. So hungry, so damn hungry. When she couldn’t breathe anymore, she slumped against Dusty’s chest and pressed her face into Dusty’s neck. “God, you destroy me. I think I could come from kissing you alone.”

“That would be unbelievably awesome,” Dusty whispered. “Do you want to try?”

Viv chuckled weakly. “You’d probably have to carry me back to my cabin.”

“I could do that.”

Viv raised her head, dropped a line of kisses along Dusty’s jaw to the corner of her mouth, to her lips. “I believe you, and the thought is incredibly sexy. I’d just as soon keep you to myself for a while, though.”

“A secret?” Dusty asked, a cautious note in her voice. “You don’t want anyone to see us together?”

Viv pulled back until she could look into Dusty’s eyes. “No, not that. I don’t care who knows that we’re dating. But the special part, the private part”—she took Dusty’s hand and carried it to her breast—“this part, that’s mine. Ours.”

Dusty moved her hand down to Viv’s side again. “If you want to go slow, you can’t do that.”

“Really? Are you so weak?”

“Yes,” Dusty said instantly.

Viv laughed. “Mm. Good.”

“Are we dating?”

“We damn well better be, after this.” All the same, Viv waited breathlessly.

“Yes,” Dusty said firmly. “I might need some practice at that too.”

“If you’re as good at it as you are at kissing, you don’t need any practice.”

Dusty kept one arm around Viv’s waist, picked Viv’s wineglass up from the floor, and handed it to her. “I’ve never actually dated anyone.”

Viv sipped her wine, taking her time sorting the millions of questions she had. Dusty was like a closed flower, holding its secrets in the heart of its bloom. She didn’t want to damage the beauty of her, pushing and probing. “Why not?”

“When I was a teenager, I didn’t know how to go about it. Then later I never met anyone…any woman…who made me want to figure out how. Until you.”

“Does that make me the first?” Viv rather liked that idea, even though it wouldn’t have mattered. She’d had lovers, and she felt like a virgin in Dusty’s arms.

“Once,” Dusty said, “on an away trip—overseas—after the principal had left and the detail was waiting for transport home, I was sharing a room with another agent. Everybody tends to party pretty hard after an assignment’s over. She’d been partying a little more than usual, and when we got back to the room, she kind of…” Dusty lifted a shoulder.

“Put the make on you.”

“That’s a good word for it.”

“So, you went to bed with her.” Viv wasn’t jealous, she really wasn’t. Much.

“No. She was a little too drunk. After things kind of got a little out of hand, I left and slept with Atlas.”

Atlas’s tail thumped at the sound of his name.

Viv stared. “In his crate?”

Dusty laughed. “No, in the kennel shed next to his crate. At the airfield.”

“If you ever feel like you need to go sleep with Atlas when we’re together, just tell me.” Viv kissed her. “And I’ll go sleep with him.”

Dusty took Viv’s empty wineglass and set it aside. “That’s never going to happen.”

“How do you—”

Dusty’s mouth on hers told her everything she needed to know.

*

Sweat streamed down Franklin Russo’s face. His heart jackhammered in his ears. Nora rode him like he was a goddamn mechanical bull in some redneck barroom. She braced her hands on his chest and drove her hips up and down in a fury, pounding his dick and beating his balls into stones.

“I’m gonna come,” he groaned.

Nora bared her teeth, her hair flailing around her face as she threw her head back and glared at him. “Don’t you fucking dare.”

He grabbed her ass, tried to slow her down, but nothing would stop her now. She closed her eyes, chanting yes, yes, yes.

He gritted his teeth when the explosion churning in his balls let loose. “Oh fuck. Oh fucking Christ.”

She came with a high, keening wail, her nails scoring his chest. A hoarse cry tore from his throat.

Thank God. Franklin panted, the ache in his loins slowly easing.

She kept going, even after he grew soft and started to slip out. She reached back, tried to get him up again, but he was done. Finally she dropped beside him on the bed and let out a long sigh. “God, I needed that.”

“Yes,” he said, feeling as if he’d been run over by a steamroller. She reached for his cock, but he covered her hand and drew it to his chest. “You’re the sexiest woman I’ve ever known.”

She laughed. “You mean I’m the only woman that ever wore you out.”

“I’m not worn out yet.” He was lying and she probably knew it, but she was smart enough not to say it.

She kissed him briefly. “So, what’s the emergency?”

“Maybe I just wanted some time with you.”

“You don’t need to sweet-talk me, Franklin.” She pulled her hand free, slid it down his stomach, and wrapped her fist around him. He didn’t get hard. “I know what I want. And I know what you want.”

“I want the White House,” he said. “And I want you there with me.”

“We’re on track for that.”

“Powell is going to gain a lot of mileage with voters with this goddamn train trip of his. We need to do something to counteract it.”

“I agree. We keep working the donors behind the scenes, but we need some grassroots appearances to offset what he’s doing.”

She stroked him as she talked and goddamn, if his cock didn’t start to get hard. His heart banged against his ribs. “Such as?”

“Let me review his talking points today. We’ll start by countering some of those with infomercials. But I want you out and visible very soon. No more thousand-a-head dinners for a while.”

“Good. Wherever you need me to be.”

She straddled him and slid down onto his dick, even though he was only half hard. “Right now, this is where I need you to be.”

He stifled a groan. He was tired and a little sore, but he gripped her hips and started to thrust. “Just get me where we both want to be.”