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  Sliding his hand down and through the folds of her pussy revealed slick, wet desire. His shaft jerked in response to her readiness to be filled again. Her pleasure first, he reminded himself and his organ swelled even more at the idea of making Tessa come.

  Giving her nipple one last tug made her cry out again. Joshua slipped lower down the bed, leaving a trail of kisses along her abdomen. He kissed her hip, thigh and down to the sensitive skin behind her knee. With each attention she squirmed as if needing more.

  Kneeling on the floor at the end of the bed, he reached up, gripped her hips and pulled her in one movement so her ass was at the very edge of the mattress. He positioned himself so her thighs hung one over each of his shoulders. The scent of sweet, musky desire filled his head and her glistening pink folds called for more attention.

  He remembered how sensitive her anus was and pressed his tongue to just above that small, puckered hole before licking his way along her crease. Her body jerked and a muffled cry filled the room.

  Joshua looked up the length of her body and found she had turned her face to one side and buried her mouth in the pillow. He was sure he was grinning like an idiot. He repeated the ice-cream-cone lick and her hips bounced again. His lips settled over the small bud and he sucked gently before swirling his tongue around the sensitive cluster. Her body jerked so violently he had to grip her hips to keep her in place so he could continue his attention.

  Juices gushed from her pussy and he lapped up the sweet nectar as if it were his last meal. Pressing his thumb into her tight canal while he sucked harder on her clit left her writhing and calling out into the pillow.

  He lightened his touch. Teased the sensitive bud and swirled his tongue around it while holding her hips in place. Her heels pressed violently into his back and her hands gripped his head. He didn’t know if she wanted to push him away or pull him closer and he had a feeling she didn’t know either.

  He slipped his thumb from her pussy while continuing to suck her clit then ran the wet digit down along her crease to her sensitive anus. Her body lifted and then pressed down as if trying to gain more than a light touch. Joshua applied firm pressure, filling the tight hole.

  Tessa screamed and her body convulsed violently. The orgasm tightened her hole around his thumb, juices flowed from her pussy, and his cock stretched his skin to the point of near pain.

  She was fantastic.

  Slowly he slid his digit out. Another smaller orgasm shook her. “I love how sensitive you are.”

  She leaned up on her elbows and looked at him. Biting her bottom lip in an irresistible way that was both innocent and sexy as hell, she smiled, put one foot on his shoulder for leverage and pushed herself onto the bed.

  Tessa’s gaze fell on his cock as soon as he stood. He was uncomfortably hard and her look engorged him even further. Unbelievably she rolled onto her stomach, pushed up on her elbows and knees, lifted her hips and looked back at him. “Fuck me, Joshua.”

  He wanted to say a dozen clever things. He knew five different languages, but he’d forgotten how to speak all of them in the moment.

  Grabbing a condom from the discarded box, he tore open the foil and rolled it on. As if her pussy was a magnet he knelt behind her perfectly round ass and thrust inside her. The muscles of her canal wrapped tightly around him and he froze in place. Tessa rocked forward and slid back, taking him deeper.

  Small pants and cries filled the room as she continued to work herself along his cock. She was slowly and methodically driving him insane. His balls were tight with the need to come.

  Joshua gripped her hips and quickened the pace, slamming forward with more force. She met each thrust, slamming back against him and rounding out the sounds of heavy breathing with a grunt or cry.

  He felt her body shift slightly, but was too engrossed in the sensations of her warm, tight pussy to pay attention to what she was doing until her fingers lightly tickled his balls.

  It was too much. He thrust harder and faster. Her orgasm pulsed around his cock and sent him over the edge. He reared back and slammed into her one last time while pulling her ass tight to his hips and trapping her there.

  * * * * *

  It was close to dawn when she shook in his arms again.

  “Tessa, you’re magnificent.”

  A sleepy smile pulled at her full lips and he kissed her forehead. He knew the moment she’d fallen asleep. Everything about her mind became an open book he was privileged to delve into if he chose. She hadn’t been this open when she’d slept in the back of the plane. He was honored by her trust though he wouldn’t invade her privacy.

  Pulling her close, he closed his eyes and hoped to get a few hours of sleep. It didn’t take long for him to doze. He perceived a familiar danger at the edge of his mind and he was instantly awake.

  Troth Banta.

  He thought he’d sensed Banta in New Jersey, but it was impossible. Banta was in prison. Yet it was most definitely the deadly mercenary’s aura Joshua felt.

  Untangling himself from Tessa, he searched the darkness outside the windows. Nothing. He opened the bedroom door and walked into the common area of the house. The danger ringing in his head lessened the farther he moved from the bedroom. Walking back, his heart was racing. How could the danger be inside the room when he knew only Tessa was there?

  He opened the bedroom door and she was still asleep. Her face was a mask of pain as some nightmare gripped her. Joshua sat back down on the bed and brushed an errant hair off her cheek. She flinched.

  It was impossible. Troth Banta was in a cell at a high-security lockup for his part in the events of the year before. The same events had nearly caused Joshua’s brother’s death and his sister-in-law to lose her mind. How could the maniacal mercenary be in Tessa’s head invading her nightmares?

  He touched her forehead and let his mind flow into hers. “Tessa, I know you’re afraid, but if you let me in, I will help you.”

  “Joshua?”

  “Yes, beautiful, it’s me. Let me see what haunts you.”

  In a stunning act of trust she shed her barriers and Joshua passed through to her dream. Inside her mind and behind her eyes he felt the body of her dead friend lying atop her. His face a few feet away was all she could make out of the destroyed tent and shattered furniture. Some other structure, maybe the large table, buried her even more completely in the aftermath of the attack.

  There was movement nearby. It might be a rescue party or it could be the enemy coming to finish the job.

  Joshua immediately detected Banta as the man walking through the rubble. Troth had always been just shy of nuts but Joshua could feel the insanity had grown in the past year. If he could have screamed at Tessa to stay still and keep cloaked he would have, but this was her memory, her nightmare.

  The shutters of her mind sealed, blocking Banta from her mind. Someone leaned down, obstructing the minimal light left in the tent and then a hand gripped the dead man’s face. Mere inches from Tessa those dark-skinned fingers drew something from the lifeless man. Even in death his expression contorted as a silver glow surrounded him. His skin turned gray as if he’d been dead more than a few minutes. The hand released him and boots blocked her view.

  It took every ounce of energy she had to keep her barrier in place. Whoever it was would scan the room for auras. The boots moved off and all the other noise stopped. She lay perfectly still for so long her body screamed for relief. Her efforts failed and she lost consciousness.

  Then she was in a helicopter with search and rescue. Banta was nowhere in sight.

  How was any of this possible? Banta was in prison. Even as Joshua thought it he knew there were a dozen ways the sociopathic mercenary could have bought his way free. Whatever he’d done to Tessa’s friend was even more troubling. If Joshua’s guess was right they were in big trouble and he was going to need some backup.

  Chapter Five

  She knew Joshua had been inside her dream. It was strange she hadn’t remembered that part of the
night they’d been attacked. Even in her nightmares she had managed to block the worst of the memory. Now she’d shown it to Joshua she remembered the horror of seeing Jake’s mind defiled after they had already killed him. What had that guy been doing to him and why?

  The bedroom was empty. After what he’d seen, she wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d left her, but he was at the edge of her mind, quieter than before, but definitely there.

  She pulled on her clothes from the day before, wishing she had time to do some laundry and walked to the bathroom. Once she was a bit more presentable she made her way into the common rooms. It was eerily quiet, but she found Joshua sitting cross-legged on the floor in the middle of the living room. He was wearing a pair of khaki cargo shorts and no shirt. Even relaxed his chest and abs were impressive. His eyes were closed and his palms rested on his knees.

  She quietly admired the way his arms bulged with muscle. Her nipples hardened against the inside of her shirt and her clit pulsed. He was beautiful. Of course he knew she was there, she had not shielded her mind. His eyes popped open and he smiled.

  “I’m surprised you didn’t leave me,” she said.

  His mouth turned down though his gaze never left hers. “I won’t.”

  “You’d be safer.”

  “People like us don’t look for safer.”

  She found herself nodding her agreement. She sat down on the floor in front of him.

  “Where’d you get the clothes?”

  “I keep some stuff of mine here for emergencies and vacations.”

  “What are you doing?”

  “Meditating.”

  “You didn’t strike me as the New Age or Eastern philosophy type.”

  That smile turned her insides to jelly. “A long time ago I realized if I didn’t find some way to keep the world at bay I was going to end up in an insane asylum. I spent a few years traveling around the Asian Pacific learning how to compartmentalize and block out the constant drone of thousands of minds. I’ve spent even more time studying with a shaman in Nevada.”

  “Does it help?”

  “I could show you.”

  She shook her head. “Another time. I don’t think I could quiet my mind right now.”

  “Okay.” He got up in one smooth motion and reached his hand down to help her up.

  Taking it, she noted both smooth skin and rough calluses as opposite and strange as the man himself.

  He kissed her cheek. “Do you remember the dream?”

  “I do now. I must have blocked that part out.”

  “I can understand why. Banta is a pretty scary guy.”

  Her heart raced. “You know him? Who is he? What did he do to Jake’s body?”

  “His name is Troth Banta and yes, I know him. A long time ago we served together and then he took one path and I took another.” Joshua moved toward the kitchen, running his fingers through his cropped hair.

  “Maybe you’d better start from the beginning.” She sat down at the table and watched him pour coffee and grab an apple from the fridge.

  “Do you want coffee?”

  “No, I don’t drink coffee.”

  “Tea, water, vodka?”

  “You’re stalling, Lakeland.”

  “I know, but the fact that Banta is involved takes this to a new level, Tessa. He’s all the way bad.” He sat down adjacent to her at the long table and sipped his coffee.

  “I’m a big girl. I can take it.” The words sounded confident, but his demeanor and reluctance left her heart racing and her palms clammy.

  He gave her a crooked smile, leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers. Tenderness and intensity shot through the kiss. He was both of those things and he had given her only a taste of what being part of his world could be like. In spite of their insane situation she wanted more of Joshua Lakeland and if there was a price maybe she was willing to pay it.

  “Troth was a great soldier. He and I were assigned to the same team. We were young and enthusiastic about whichever mission the powers that be might send us on. After a while you learn not all missions are for the greater good. Sometimes it’s just greed or worse. Anyway, Troth got himself in a jam with a crooked politician and nearly got the entire team killed. It wasn’t really his fault. He was a pawn in a game he was too ignorant to understand at the time. Once he realized he’d been used and not in a good way he started to change. He was angry and power-hungry. He stopped using good sense with regard to danger.

  “I was promoted and he stopped getting assignments. About a year later he went off the grid and started taking high-paying jobs from the private sector. His ethics plummeted to nonexistence. He didn’t care who he hurt or who got killed as long as he was making money and gaining power.”

  “What kind of power?”

  “He uses fear to control people. He’s one of the most skilled psychic probes in the world. He’s fast, telekinetic, telepathic and audiopathic.”

  “I’ve never heard of an audiopath.”

  “He can create and move sound. It’s a rare talent and very effective for throwing your enemy off the trail.”

  “What happened last year that landed him in jail?”

  “He was working for a guy named Oscar Thorn.”

  Tessa knew the name though she’d never met the man. “The millionaire who went to prison for insider trading?”

  “That’s the guy.”

  “What was Banta doing for him?”

  “He was his muscle and when his ex-wife needed finding and probing he sent Banta after her.”

  “He must have really hated his ex.”

  Joshua nodded. “Thorn is a dowser. He gathered up power. One of the things he gathered was Lena and her gifts.”

  “Didn’t you say your sister-in-law’s name is Lena?”

  He was smiling again, maybe because she had remembered his family or maybe at the thought of his brother’s wife, Tessa wasn’t sure. “The very same. My brother Kane is a bounty hunter. He was contracted to bring her in after she escaped prison. She was being held on a trumped-up charge, but she knew her ex would get to her, so she ran. Banta found them both and probed Lena. He came close to having Kane killed.

  “Banta had avoided capture when Thorn was brought in, but he just couldn’t leave it alone. He couldn’t stand that Kane had won. In the end he landed in jail with a cracked skull.”

  “I guess your brother got his revenge.”

  A wicked grin turned his lips. “I guess, but it was Lena and her floor lamp that bashed Troth’s head in.”

  She couldn’t help laughing. “I have got to meet your sister-in-law. I like her already.”

  “You would like her. If we live through this I’ll introduce you.”

  The idea that he might want to keep her in his life beyond their current situation started something bubbling in Tessa’s chest. It might have been joy. She shook her head. Better not to get ahead of herself. The fact still remained they were likely going to be killed and the future might be a pipe dream. “What was Banta doing to Jake?”

  She saw him tightening as if he were a rubber band pulled to its limit. All the joy of talking about his family washed away. “I don’t know. I suspect he was taking something from your friend, but I’m not sure.”

  “Jake was dead. What can you take from the dead?” Her voice rose higher when she was scared. Controlling her fear was part of her job, but she could never keep her voice even.

  He shook his head and downed the remainder of his coffee before getting up and putting the mug in the sink.

  “What aren’t you telling me?” she asked.

  With both his hands on the countertop he hung his head and for a long time she didn’t think he would respond. When his head came up and he looked at her the intensity in his eyes terrified her. “Back when Troth and I were working together we had a job in China. It was straightforward. We were to assassinate a Chinese Psi Agent who had gone rogue. The guy was powerful. He killed two of the people on my team but worse than that, once they
were dead he gathered their psi abilities and became stronger and harder to kill. It was no wonder his government wanted him taken out.”

  “Did you kill him?”

  “We did, but afterward Troth became obsessed with what we had seen.”

  “You think he’s learned how to do that?”

  “Gathering is…unusual, but that’s what it looked like.”

  The idea that anyone would steal the aura from her friends made her blood boil. Was that why she was being chased, why she’d been arrested? Was Banta trying to collect her psi energy? “What else?”

  “Look, this guy was strong before, but I could take him. Maybe I was the only person on Earth who could. Now, I don’t know. If he’s learned how to gather he might be unstoppable.”

  She couldn’t help smiling. Something about the great Joshua Lakeland feeling fear just the same as everyone else made him more human. A crazy happiness filled her chest. “Then we better find ourselves some help.”

  “We might be better off getting you someplace safe. Is there any chance you would go for that?”

  “No chance in hell.”

  He raked his fingers through his hair. “Yeah, that’s what I thought you’d say.”

  * * * * *

  When Will arrived home a short time later Joshua filled him in on what he suspected. The happy-go-lucky flushed right out of Will and his mind hummed with worry. Though not as much as Joshua’s did. She wondered if it was because Joshua was worried about her as well.

  In a moment Will shook it off. His grin returned. “I brought you some clothes.”

  “Thanks.” She looked down at the contents of the bag he dumped out on the dining room table. It was a colorful array of fabric. She tugged on a scrap of red and a very short, slinky halter dress unfolded.

  When she looked up at Will he blushed.

  Laughing, she rummaged until she found a T-shirt and a pair of shorts. “How’d you know my size?”

  “Lucky guess.”

  Her expression must have conveyed her doubt.

  “I also asked Joshua to take a look at your tags,” Will said.

  “Well, these are great. Thanks again.” She grabbed the bundle of ladies’ clothing and went back to the bedroom to change.