Stealing Carmen Read online

Sweat was rolling off them both. His words only made her pound back on him harder. Driving him into her with sharp, short pumps that would soon rob him of reason. But before that could happen, the amazing bitch on his dick had to come. That was one thing he couldn’t give up. Wouldn’t sacrifice to the mind-melting sexuality she demanded from him.

  “Show her to me. Give her to me, Carmen. Come. Come on the cock. Let it go.”

  Carmen’s head snapped up with a guttural scream as her channel contracted on him in a shattering orgasm. He came on the next thrust, pushing in hard and deep, losing all control and pounding her with short thrusts. Mindless fire consumed his soul. Then there was nothing but the bellowing roar of the beast in him.

  It felt like a long time later when an insistent ringing roused him. He was lying on her collapsed body, still semi-hard and buried deep in her cunt. At first he thought he’d burst a vein in his brain and the ringing was the result.

  It didn’t stop. He raised his head and looked over at the bedside table. His cell phone was ringing. Looking down at her sweat-soaked back, stringy hair and basic lethargy he automatically checked her pulse.

  Gingerly lifting his hips and slowly pulling out, the woman he was suspended over mewed softly, pushing her bottom up as if to keep him in her. Reaching down he withdrew the dildo from her ass as well and she groaned. Jack grinned a goofy sort of expression he was glad she couldn’t see. Grinned until the damn phone interrupted his thoughts again.

  Looking up and glaring at it as if that would make a difference, he rolled himself off the bed. T-shirt still on and pants around his knees with boots below them. He’d fucked her clothed. Shaking his head, he hitched the pants on his ass and ambled into the bathroom. Jack got rid of the condom and dropped the little dildo in the trash with it before kicking off boots and stripped down to face the sink. He rinsed face and neck, washed his hands and took a clean washcloth from the cabinet by the tub.

  Baby girl needed some care and the damn phone could wait. Back in his bedroom, she hadn’t moved. Surveying her splayed form, Jack glanced down at the small washcloth in his hand and shook his head. She’d been rode hard and deserved more than the little square in his hand.

  Turning back to the bathroom he flipped on the water. When he had a tub of warm water, he returned to the bedroom. Scooping up her lifeless form seemed to wake her.

  “Hey. What?” Carmen asked groggily, and looked around as he strode to the bathroom. “Wait. You shouldn’t carry me. I’m too heavy. You’ll hurt your back.”

  Jack looked down at her and raised a brow. Standing in front of the tub he regarded her worried face. “I will? Damn, you should have told me sooner so I could fake a good pull and get out of what they’re calling me for.”

  Carmen smiled her embarrassed, blushing grin. Jack stepped in and sat down. In the tub, curtain closed, was as far as he could get from the world reaching for him through the phone. He wasn’t ready to face the future just yet. Figuring how to make his future safe for her to live in it was a complicated operation. He needed to simply hold her a few more minutes.

  “Relax, we’ll just rest a while.”

  He leaned back, arms along the back of the tub and Carmen melted all over him in hedonistic abandon. He closed his eyes and smiled. Damn, she felt good. Sexy and soft, her body caressed him, conforming to his ridges and angles. Resting on him she brought him a peace he’d not known existed. Perhaps it was the trusting way her body molded to him. Or it could be her complete lethargy that covered a quietly bubbling sexuality. Whatever it was, it was damn good.

  However long they stayed there like that was difficult to tell. Water cooled and he pulled the plug. They stood and he turned on the shower. Gently taking her hands he placed them behind her neck. “Lace the fingers,” he instructed.

  He took the washcloth and set about cleaning her, caressing every curve and crevice. Requiring she bend as he took the showerhead on a hose down and rinsed her ass carefully, inserting two fingers to hold her open. After she straightened, he did her hair. When he was done, he had her sit on the edge of the tub and wait for him to finish his own quick rinse.

  The slight hitch in her breathing was noted and he turned to her. Her mouth was at his crotch and he stepped up, placing his legs on either side of her knees. Holding the base of his cock he looked down at her seriously and presented the head to her lips.

  Carmen’s hands clenched beside her on the porcelain. Her mouth opened and her eyes shot up to his face as he fed her as much of his tool as she could handle. His member swelled in her mouth and she had to pull back, stroking him. Jack reached above him to grip the shower curtain rod with both hands. Looking into her eyes he slowly probed her mouth.

  “You wanted that, baby?” he asked softly.

  Her head nodded as her lips sucked the head, licking around the rim, flattening over his slit to take in the drops that escaped there. Jack gazed down at her, soaking up the sight as her mouth ate at him.

  “We don’t have time,” he stated flatly to cover the clawing need in him. The sight, the feel, everything about this moment drew him with more than just the sexual. He was already backed on his heels emotionally. She kept being more. More than he’d known, more than he could handle and remain in control. Withdrawing his cock he turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. Taking her hand he stood her before him and dried her damp body.

  The phone was ringing in the bedroom again.

  “You know who’s calling?” Carmen asked as he dried himself.

  “Yeah,” Jack grimaced, and turned so she wouldn’t see it on his face as he put the towel on the rack. Looking at her almost hurt. She was an angel of mercy, both personally and professionally. The man stealing his way into her life could be called an angel with a much darker mission. The type who ran in the company of four horsemen. He didn’t want to face his ugly world for a few more minutes. “If I pick up that phone the world ends in seventy-two hours for one reason or another. I’ll have to run. I don’t want to. Not yet.”

  “Superman’s cape getting heavy? Have you trained your replacement yet?” she wanted to know.

  They strolled into his bedroom. The bed was a mess. Sex hung heavy in the air and Jack went to pick up his phone then led her into the living room.

  “No. I don’t have a replacement. I should see to that,” he agreed.

  “I don’t mean to pressure you, Jack.” Carmen hesitated as he lay down on the couch and pulled her down with her back into his chest, wrapping himself around her soft body from behind.

  She fit him. All sloping curves and soft skin. There was nothing hard or ugly about this woman. She snuggled into him as if they’d been doing this for years, totally relaxed while one of his hands cupped her breast and the other rested on her hip stroking it absently.

  “But as a citizen of Metropolis, I’m damn grateful Superman is up there in the sky. Until the sidekick gets some skills, I need him there.”

  Jack chuckled and nuzzled her neck. “You sending me off, woman?” His fingers pinched and rolled her nipple as he said it. Giving her a little tug at the end. Handling her as they relaxed was necessary. His response to her didn’t seem to be abating. The length of his hard cock pushed between her ass cheeks and he loved the feel of that.

  “No.” Her neck arched for his lips as he nibbled. “I’m telling you I don’t know what you do or how you do it, but it doesn’t sound as if you like it anymore. Your heart isn’t in it if you can ignore that phone again.” It had started ringing on the floor beside them where Jack had dropped it. “And I’m not staking a claim or doing any other needy-woman thing. When you leave, I’ll still have a responsible job, lots of friends and my everyday frustrations. Only thing that will be different is I’ll have an amazing memory of Superman in his prime.”

  Jack insistently shifted her so she lay on her back looking up at him. His back was to the couch as he loomed over her, his hand cupping a breast, thumb stroking over the reddened nipple. “And if Superman comes back? Will
be you be off scrapping with Wolverine?”

  Carmen reached up and stroked his cheek, her smile soft as her eyes caressed his face. “No, Batman is more my kinda guy. You know. Dark, tortured and a superhero. I go for those mysterious men who blink in and out of my world with no warning.”

  Jack slowly lowered his lips to the plush velvet of her mouth. Their first real kiss and she was busy being sure he knew there were no strings attached. Two years ago he’d have been thanking his lucky stars and beating feet outta the house, eager to face the next challenge. Always on the hunt.

  Her mouth opened under his. Her tongue shyly met his and he slid around it, sinking into her. God! She was sweet. A damp mystery and a hot flame in his hands. Kneading her breast as he ate of her soul, his hand slowly slid down her shuddering chest, around her side to slide over hip and back across her belly to cup the apex of her legs. Nothing more. He just held the gate to paradise as the wolves howled at his door in the form of his phone.

  Reaching for the phone as he lifted his mouth from her, he couldn’t take his eyes off the peace in her face as he flipped the phone open. The conversation was short. The result exactly what he’d said it would be but with an unexpected twist. The closing line being his promise to be “there” in an hour.

  “You can’t be anywhere from here in an hour,” Carmen accused softly.

  “Sure I can. Remember the cape? It’s industrial size on the tarmac at the community airport.”

  “Oh.”

  Neither of them moved. He remained over her, looking down into her eyes. “I have to go.”

  “Yes. You do. Should I be packing sandwiches or something? I don’t know what Lois Lane is supposed to do.”

  He cupped her face, gently kissing her eyes shut. “You’re supposed to lay here and let me look at you ‘til I leave,” he informed her as he shifted over her and stood.

  “You’re a romantic,” Carmen marveled softly as he stood by the couch gazing down at her.

  “Now you’ve just turned mean, woman.” Jack was smiling as he sparred with her. “There isn’t another living soul who’d call me a romantic.”

  Carmen chuckled and stood.

  “I thought you were going to lay there ‘til I left,” Jack objected mildly when she grabbed his hand and led him into the bedroom.

  “You were having a hard time finding your clothes,” Carmen stated as she went to the bed and began stripping off the sheets.

  Jack pulled on clothes. She didn’t ask where clean sheets would be, there was a linen closet in the hall, just like on her side of the building. She had the bed remade by the time he was arming up.

  She sat on it and solemnly watched a small gun go in one boot. A closed blade in each front pocket, a dagger in an ankle holster. A gun on his hip and one in a shoulder holster. Last the baseball jacket.

  “What airport is going to let you out of your plane?” Carmen mused as he gathered up the last items—wallet, phone and change.

  Jack glanced at her as he finished. If she were a spy trying to pump him for information, she’d done a damn good job of not appearing interested for two years. He was pretty sure the lady was exactly what she seemed, but he still couldn’t tell her details about his life. They would be burdens that could get her killed.

  “I’ll be the mostly unarmed guy when I land where I’m going.” He strolled over to his naked baby girl sitting on the edge of his bed and gazed down at her. Carmen’s pretty eyes looked up at him with calm clarity. She really wasn’t going to get all girly about him leaving, but then why should she? It was one incredibly short event. She’d enjoyed submitting but what did he know of how she thought?

  “Carmen, about what happened,” Jack started seriously.

  Carmen held up her hand. “You don’t have to explain. I understand you have to leave. What happened between us was great. The most amazing experience of my life. It doesn’t bind you, Jack. I’m a big girl. I can handle it. All that stuff you said at the beginning was nice though.”

  “Oh yeah?” he asked softly as he pulled her up into his arms. “You’re okay with it being kind lies? You’re doing better than me. I want this. I want you. This connection doesn’t happen often and all dominants are not like me. I’m trying to impress on you that there are a lot of bad guys out there who would hurt you. Not just physically.” His arms around her naked body tightened.

  “I wasn’t lying when I said what I did. The phone call changed everything. I thought I’d have more time before this one came up. More time with you. This mission is different and I don’t know when I’ll be back. I can’t ask you to wait around.”

  “I’m not a flighty teenager, ya know,” she informed him with a smile as she looked up at him.

  “No, you’re not. But I’ll be gone a long time. No idea when the cape will land here again and I can’t say anything about what you do next. I’m concerned though. Experimenting, exploring that amazing submissive in your soul could get dangerous, baby. I’m feeling remarkably possessive of her.”

  “I haven’t seen Batman buzzing around the place. Seems a sure thing the submissive will be here when you get back,” Carmen mused softly.

  Neither of them were making promises, they couldn’t, but Jack was uncomfortable with leaving her. Damn, he wished he’d had time to imprint himself on her in a much more permanent way. Logically it was a good thing for her that he hadn’t.

  She didn’t deserve to wait as long as he suspected this would take. It was the one hunt he’d been after his whole career.

  He couldn’t tell her any of that. Leaving her wondering if he was dead or alive would be cruel. Not even he was that selfish.

  He had to go. Had to leave her to her normal life and that shit was eating at him. She was so vulnerable right now. A brand-new natural submissive who was just beginning to explore her needs. She didn’t realize how strong this lifestyle was. It pulled at a person like a drug habit. The needs would build and some day she’d look for what she needed. That scared the hell out of him. Who would she meet? What sort of bastard?

  There was nothing to say. He captured her mouth in a hard, demanding kiss while one hand held the back of her head, controlling her. The other spanned the small of her back, holding her soft belly against his cock. Even with pants, belt and everything on, her flesh moved him.

  Wrenching his mouth off her he turned to the door and strode out. Leaving her in his bedroom was the best he could do. A memory was all he had a right to take with him.

  Chapter Four

  Seventeen months later

  Sleet was icing the runway. They didn’t want to let him land. Jack swore viciously as he circled. “Look, buddy. I put this bird down on wheels or you’re keeping the entire fire rescue team up all night picking pieces of me off a field. Those guys are gonna be mad as hell at you for wreckin’ their Christmas Eve like that.”

  The lone traffic controller finally flipped on landing lights. “I’m not calling the emergency until you’re a smudge on the runway,” he threatened in exasperation. “You’ll never make it to the hospital in time.”

  “Fine. It’s on me,” Jack snarled. He knew he could land the damn plane and he wasn’t flying another two hours away to do it. Two hours’ flight time would mean four or more driving back up in these conditions. He had a much better chance of surviving one landing than that many hours on the road in a rental. He’d spent way too many long hours getting his ass here from the other side of the planet and he wasn’t stopping now.

  He really was a fucking romantic. Carmen had seen right through him. Who arrives on Christmas Eve and expects the little woman to be waiting when she hasn’t heard from him in seventeen months?

  Jack concentrated on getting the plane on the ground. It was a near thing but he eventually came to a skidding halt, the nose protruding way off the runway. The voice in his headset had been yelling useless instructions as he skidded in. Jack hadn’t minded. The guy needed to feel as if he were doing something useful while he watched a near crash. Now t
he man in the tower was silent.

  “What? Disappointed?” Jack asked as he gingerly turned the plane and headed to the tie-down areas. Being both alive and on the ground improved his mood.

  “You took a fu—freaking year off my life, bast—buddy,” the voice responded. “I don’t know who you are, but next time you crash into an airport, do it somewhere else.”

  “Well, you’re new here or you wouldn’t have Christmas duty. You’ll get used to me,” Jack reassured the flight controller.

  “Don’t tell me this is your home field.”

  “Yep, it is now.”

  “Fu— nuts.”

  “If I’m lucky,” Jack responded with a chuckle to what the guy really said, though not quite how he meant it.

  “Right. In that case give me her name so I can call her and let her know how near death you came. Any woman worth her salt will take your head off for attempting that landing.”