Utah, p.12
Utah, page 12
The room was much like his, with tasteful furnishings and a fluffy white comforter on the bed. Liza entered, closed and locked her door behind her. She carried Tayla to the bed and laid her on the comforter. The little girl was fast asleep, exhausted from a long day and more fun than she’d had in a long time.
Utah’s heart squeezed hard in his chest.
If it were up to him, that little girl and her mother would have a lot more happy days ahead of them. He hurried into his room and closed and locked his door. He shrugged out of his tuxedo jacket, tossed it onto a chair and came back to stand in the connecting door.
“Did you see the stack of clothes Sadie McClain brought for Tayla?” Liza asked softly.
Utah entered the room to inspect the little outfits, amazed at the variety and bright colors. “Tayla will love wearing these,” he said. The colors were as bright and cheerful as the child. How could one so young, who’d lived in such a harsh camp, be as happy and upbeat as Tayla?
“She’s been a little trooper,” Liza said. “I wanted so badly to get her out of there but was afraid they’d hurt her if I tried to escape. I could never have made it out without PJ’s help.”
“This PJ, is she one of the trainers or another one of the assassins?”
Liza hesitated while pulling a frilly sock off Tayla’s foot. “She wasn’t a trainer.”
He nodded. PJ had been an assassin. “Had she been assigned a target yet?”
Liza frowned for a long moment and then nodded. “She said she didn’t kill him, though. He died in a car accident before she got to him. They threatened to use Tayla to force me to make the kill. I wonder what or rather who they used to force PJ to go after her target.” Liza looked down at her sleeping daughter. “I guess, once you’ve killed, you can’t go back. You’re a murderer. They know it and will use that against you as well.” She looked up at Utah. “Did Hank get word to the congresswoman to be on the lookout for an attempt on her life?”
Utah nodded. “He had Swede pass on that information to their regional office in West Yellowstone.”
She sighed. “They’ll send someone else. They don’t give up.” Liza stared down at Tayla. “I’ll do anything to keep my daughter safe. But killing someone?” She looked up, her gaze locking with Utah’s.
He gripped her arms. “That’s not who you are.”
“No. It’s not.” She leaned her forehead against his white button-down shirt. “And it wasn’t the example I wanted to set for my daughter. I’d never be able to look her in the eye. You know how she loves people. Even when we were imprisoned at The Camp, she saw the best in everyone around her. She would never forgive me.”
Utah pulled her close. “You did the right thing by getting out.”
Her fingers curled into the fabric of his shirt, her fingernails scraping his skin. The contact sent electric shocks skittering across his nerves.
“I couldn’t have done it without PJ,” she said. “Now, I can’t even return the favor. I don’t know where they’ve gone. I don’t know if she’s still alive…”
He stroked her back in long, even caresses, loving how soft yet muscular she was beneath the pale blue dress.
“How does an organization like the TCW persist?” she asked, looking up into his eyes.
He brushed his thumb across her cheek. “They’re good at hiding. Montana isn’t only known for its big sky. There are a lot of mountains, caves and hidden valleys where people can disappear indefinitely. Hank and his team are on it now. If anyone can find them, Hank’s team can. Swede is a master at the computer. From what I’ve heard, he's good at hacking as well. There’s not a database he can’t tap into.”
“They tend to live off the grid,” she pointed out. “They ran the electricity off a generator.”
“How did they give you your assignment? How did they tell you Congresswoman Lightfeather was your target?” He tipped her chin up and looked into her blue-eyed gaze.
“A computer tablet,” she said.
“They had to have internet capability to show you Lightfeather’s image on the tablet.”
She nodded. “They had computers and monitors running off the generators and a portable satellite dish. You saw the camp. All that equipment, the stoves in the mess hall, beds from the bunk house, the generators, computers…everything. They were all gone when we got there today.”
“Which means they took them to their next location. If they’re on the internet, Swede will find them.” Utah gave her a gentle smile. “And you need to sleep in case things go sideways anytime soon.”
He bent and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
“Why did you do that?” she asked, her voice breathy, her eyes rounding.
“I don’t know. It just felt…right.”
She nodded, her eyes wide, her full lips slightly parted.
A strong urge to really kiss her washed over him, threatening to overwhelm him.
Liza was a beautiful woman. With her hair curling around her shoulders and the dress emphasizing the delicate curves of her body, she was irresistible.
Utah fought the desire building inside. He forced himself to remember where they were and who she was. This woman had been through so much at the hands of evil men. He didn’t need to add to her trauma by making unwanted advances.
He stepped back, letting his arms fall to his sides. “Go to bed, Liza, before I do something we’ll both regret.”
He turned and walked away.
“Utah,” she called out softly.
He stopped but didn’t face her, afraid that if he did, he wouldn’t be able to walk out of the room. “Yes?”
“Do what?” she whispered.
“Huh?” He faced her, a frown pulling his eyebrows downward. ‘What do you mean by do what?”
She took a step toward him. “What would you do that we both might regret?”
Chapter 11
Another step brought Liza to stand in front of him. “I can’t image regretting anything you might do.” She laid a hand on his chest. “Were you going to do this?” Leaning up on her toes, she pressed her lips to his in a gentle kiss. She leaned back and stared up at him, an eyebrow cocked in challenge, her heart racing. Fear gripped her. Fear that she’d read him wrong. That he wasn’t as attracted to her as she was to him.
He stood still, his hands at his sides.
Not ready to give up, she tried again. “Or something more like this?” she said, her voice husky. Her arms encircled his neck and brought him closer.
For a moment, she thought he would reject her advances. For a moment, her heart dropped to the pit of her belly.
Then Utah cupped the nape of her neck with one hand and wrapped an arm around her back, drawing her as close as he could get her.
They’d have to be naked to stand any closer.
The thought of Utah naked made heat coil at Liza’s center and spread throughout her body.
He deepened her kiss, pushed past her teeth and caressed her tongue. The sweetness of wedding cake and Utah made her want more.
Emboldened by his touch, Liza pressed her breasts against his chest and hooked one of her calves around the back of his thigh.
A soft sigh and the rustling of sheets pierced Liza’s haze of desire, reminding her they weren’t alone in the room. A small child slept nearby.
Utah lifted his head and stared down into Liza’s eyes. “Maybe we should stop here. I don’t want to start something that will make you uncomfortable after all you’ve been through.”
She cupped his cheek and gave him a saucy smile. “You didn’t start this.”
He grinned. “True.”
“And you have made me uncomfortable. A good kind of uncomfortable…” She frowned playfully, “if you leave me hanging.”
His gaze went to the child sleeping with a hand tucked beneath her cheek.
“She sleeps hard for the first few hours.” Liza looked up at him, her head tilted.
“Are you sure this is what you want and not just some way to thank me for saving your life?”
She reached for the bowtie around his neck and tugged it loose. “I’ve wanted this from the moment I saw you standing there in that tuxedo. I don’t know why, but seeing you so formal after being confined in that dirty camp made my heart beat faster and my blood burn.” She pulled the tie from around his neck and tossed it aside. “Now, if I’m making you uncomfortable, tell me.” She paused with her hands on the top button of his shirt. “You might not feel the same way I do.”
He grasped her face between his hands and stared into her eyes. “Sweetheart, do you feel like you’ll explode if you don’t kiss me, and you’ll die if you don’t strip every last item of clothing off your body and mine?”
Liza nodded, her tongue sweeping across her suddenly dry lips. “That’s how I feel.”
“Same,” he said, his jaw tight. He lowered his head until their lips were a breath apart. “I want you so badly, I can barely breathe.”
“Then what are we going to do about it?” She rose on her toes, closing the distance between their mouths.
He crushed her to him, claimed her lips and kissed her long and hard, diving deep to caress her tongue in long, sensuous strokes.
Kissing her was a start but not the end of what she wanted him to do.
The urgency of her need made her break the kiss. “I want you. Now. Inside me.”
He bent and swept her into his arms, strode through the connecting door into his room and straight to the bed.
He set her on her feet and turned her slowly around, pressing his lips to the curve of her neck. His fingers found and pulled the zipper on the back of her dress, lowering it all the way down to the small of her back. He followed the zipper, brushing kisses against the exposed portion of her back.
Liza shivered, her need escalating with each touch of his lips and brush of his fingers against her skin.
Straightening, he pushed the straps over her shoulders.
Liza gave a little shimmy, and the dress slithered over her hips and pooled in a sea of light blue at her feet. She stepped out of the dress and turned to face him, wearing nothing but a pair of lacy white panties.
Utah moaned and reached for her.
She captured his hands in hers and shook her head. “Not yet.” Liza reached up and flicked open the buttons on his shirt, working her way down his chest in swift, efficient movements until she reached the waistband of his trousers. She tugged the shirttail free and pushed it over his shoulders. It fell off his back but caught on his wrists. The look was sexy as hell, but he wasn’t naked enough.
Liza made quick work of unbuttoning his cuffs, and the shirt joined her dress on the floor.
When she reached for the zipper on his trousers, Utah caught her hands. “Taking too long,” he bit out. He toed off his shoes and shucked his trousers, boxers and socks.
When he finally stood naked before her, she smiled, took his hand and cupped her breast with his palm. Her eyelids closed, and she drew a deep breath, letting it out slowly.
He let her set the pace even though she wanted him to grab her up, toss her on the bed and make love, hard and fast. She respected him for that. But he’d nailed it.
Too slow.
Liza opened her eyes and stared up at him. “I wanted to take it slowly and commit everything to memory.” She drew in another deep breath and let it out all at once. “But I can’t. I want you so badly that slow is not an option.”
“Thank God. Because I will explode if I don’t have you. Now.” He scooped her up, laid her across the bed and came down beside her. “But I want all of you and your release. I want to know that I make you as crazy as you make me.” He kissed the side of her neck and flicked his tongue across the pulse beating wildly at the base of her throat.
“You already make me crazy with wanting you,” she said.
“Then let me make you crazier.” Utah leaned up on his hands and bent over her, trailing kisses across her shoulders, her collarbone and lower. He swept a tongue across one of her nipples, setting fire to her nerve endings. The tip tightened into a hard little nubbin.
Liza sucked in a breath, her chest rising.
He sucked the breast into his mouth and pulled gently, alternating between flicking the tip with his tongue and rolling it across his teeth.
Her breathing grew ragged, and her core heated as he moved from one breast to the other and treated it to the same sensuous teasing.
When he moved lower, Liza’s breaths came in short gasps, anticipation building, muscles tensing.
His hand slid between her legs and cupped her sex, his finger dipping into her slick channel.
Liza writhed beneath him, the crazy he’d promised in full force, making her hips buck.
Utah parted her folds and swept his tongue over her clit.
Liza moaned and tensed as sparks ripped through her senses, setting her body on fire. She reached for his head, her fingers sliding into his hair, pulling him closer, urging him to do more, take more, make her burn.
He flicked her again and again.
The pressure inside intensified, growing until it exploded in a kaleidoscope of sensations, blasting through every inch of her body.
Her hips rocked, milking the feeling, riding it all the way to the end.
When she fell back to the mattress, she still ached for more. Liza gripped his arms and pulled. “Inside. Now.”
He chuckled and climbed up her body, pausing to kiss her. Then he leaned over the side of the bed, opened the drawer on the nightstand and rummaged inside. When he found what he was looking for, he rose on his knees and tore open a packet.
Liza took the condom from him and rolled it down over his cock. Holy hell, he was big and hard.
For her.
Cloaked, he dropped down and kissed her again, his cock nudging her damp entrance.
He deepened the kiss and pressed into her slowly, allowing her channel time to adjust to his size.
Once he was all the way in, he held steady, breathing in and out.
Liza could tell he was holding tightly to his control. She wanted him to lose that control.
Grabbing his hips, she pushed him out and pulled him back in, setting the pace, increasing the speed and intensity with each pass.
He took over, pumping hard and fast.
Liza raised her knees, dug her heels into the mattress and raised her hips to meet each thrust, sending him deeper.
When his body tensed, hers tensed. She twisted her hands in the comforter, rocked up and shot over the edge, her orgasm rippling through her in waves.
Utah thrust one last time, going deep. He threw back his head as he came, his cock pulsing in her channel.
They rode their releases together, coming back to earth in a tangle of blankets and sweat.
Utah kissed Liza, stealing her breath away with his tenderness. Then he rolled to his side, taking her with him.
For a long moment, they lay in each other’s arms.
Liza loved the feeling of him still inside her and lying skin to skin. She embraced the joy of the moment, trying not to think beyond it.
As their passion cooled, so did her skin, bringing her back to reality. She stole a glance toward the open connecting door.
“We should dress,” Utah said.
Liza pressed closer to him. “I know. I’m not sure how Tayla would react to finding us this way.”
Utah chuckled. “I’d rather not put her to the test.”
They rose from the bed, ducked into the bathroom and quickly rinsed in the shower. Utah wrapped her in a towel and sent her to her room with one of his T-shirts.
Liza dried her body and pulled the T-shirt over her head. The soft cotton felt delicious against her sensitized skin. Knowing it was a shirt Utah had worn made it even better. She climbed into the bed with Tayla and pulled the comforter over her daughter and herself.
A shadow in the connecting door made her heart flutter.
Utah entered, wearing shorts and nothing else. He crossed to the bed and bent to brush a kiss across her lips. “Just so you know. I don’t consider what happened to be a one-night-stand.”
She looped her hand behind his head and brought him down for another kiss wanting to believe him, knowing it couldn’t be so.
She was fooling herself if she thought she could stay there with Utah. The people who’d held her captive for ten months wouldn’t let her go that easily.
“What happened was beautiful,” she whispered.
His eyes narrowed briefly, but he didn’t push. “Sleep. We’ll figure things out in the morning.”
Her gaze followed him until he disappeared into the other room. He was so close, but so far out of Liza’s reach, it hurt her heart.
She lay next to Tayla, knowing her time with Utah was nearing an end. She’d have to move on soon or risk her own life and, more importantly, the life of her daughter.
Chapter 12
Utah lay for a long time, staring at the ceiling in the dark, listening for any little sound coming from the other room.
He wanted to go to Liza and hold her in his arms all night long. When he’d told her their lovemaking wasn’t a one-night-stand, he’d meant that he didn’t want it to end there. In the short time they’d been together, he’d fallen under her spell.
She was a beautiful woman, a dedicated, loving mother and a survivor.
And their passion had been off the charts.
He knew she was planning on running. The only way to stop her from doing that would be to bring down the entire TCW organization. If the network was as widespread as Liza believed, bringing them down would be nearly impossible. But, if they could capture the people in charge, the rest of the organization might collapse.
Cut off the head of the snake.
Bringing TCW down was the only way he’d keep Liza from leaving. Until that happened, she wouldn’t feel safe unless she got herself and Tayla far away from Montana. Even then, they might not be safe.
He couldn’t do much until morning, but then, he planned to go to Hank and come up with a plan. And if Utah couldn’t convince Liza to stay, he’d damn well go with her.
