Hot Zone (Elite Force 2)

“Don’t take this the wrong way, Hugh, but is it okay if I hug you?”

“A hug? Uh, sure.”

He looked so uncomfortable, she almost lost her nerve. She closed the last step between them and wrapped her arms around him. God, he was so much bigger than she’d even realized. Her head tucked under his chin and her arms couldn’t make it all the way around his back. And he smelled so damn good, like Dial soap and vital man. He palmed the middle of her back, but other than that made no move closer. Somehow that turned her on all the more. She could hear his heart beating faster. The heated gusts of him breathing harder steamed through her damp hair. He was every bit as moved—hell, as turned on—as she was. Yet still, he restrained himself.

That honorability stroked her as firmly as any bold touch.

She inched back but didn’t let go of him. She couldn’t. Her brain clamored for the ultimate outlet to the frenzied storm inside her. And with an answering lightning crackle all but radiating off him, her words from their time together underground, about missing sex, came roaring back to fill the wake of her adrenaline letdown. What would it be like to grab him by the shirtfront, haul him into the nearest private nook, and give herself a temporary respite from the worries, the fear, the horror of the past days? Something dark and wild in his glinting green eyes said he could deliver everything she needed and more.

Was she making a fool out of herself even thinking these thoughts and holding on to him this way, this long? And if so, what the hell did it matter? She wouldn’t see this guy again once she left the Bahamas.

Right now, she was overwhelmed and confused and needing to take charge of something in her life. She needed to feel alive, as tangibly strong as the beat of his heart against her chest, a reminder of his health and vitality, the sheer force of his will that had driven him to find her. To stay with her.

Without him… She shuddered. Words weren’t enough to express what she felt for him.

It wasn’t just gratitude that flowed through her veins right now. Her whole body hummed with a primal need to celebrate the moment and the man.

“Hugh?” Her fingers moved restlessly along his shoulders. “About that thing I said when we were stuck together, about how I miss…”

“Sex.” He chuckled lightly against her hair before stepping away. “Hey, I know that was just the stress and the situation talking.”

She looked up and met his glittering green eyes boldly. “What if I was serious? What if I’m hoping you feel the same way?”

He went still, his slow blink the only sign he’d heard her. “I would worry that I might be taking advantage of a vulnerable woman. I would be concerned you are mixing up feelings of gratitude with something else. That you’re in need of an adrenaline outlet.”

Possibility hummed through her veins. He wasn’t laughing. He wasn’t leaving. He was only spelling out questions about her motivations, more concern for her.

“I have to cop to the adrenaline thing. I could definitely use an outlet for all I’m feeling. And yes, I’m grateful, but I’m also grateful to your friend who pulled out Joshua, and the doctor who took care of my hand. But believe me, I’m not imagining what sex would be like with them.”

His eyes flamed at her words, but he stayed silent, apparently not yet completely convinced she knew her own mind.

“What if I assured you I am completely aware of what I am saying, of what I need more than anything? And right now I want to have life-celebrating sex with you.”

Straightening, he towered over her, his eyes glowing with unmistakable heat. “I would find the nearest supply closet and take you up on that offer faster than you can say ‘Let’s get naked.’”

Chapter 6

His body in overdrive, wanting, needing to be inside Amelia, Hugh kicked the supply closet door closed and turned the lock. For extra security, he yanked a trash can across the room and jammed it under the knob.

The place was private, quiet, a hall away from the staff. Even the antiseptic scent of cleaners burned off the hellish stench outside their haven. He hadn’t come here expecting this, but he also couldn’t think of anything he wanted more than to be here with her.

Inside her.

His eyes adjusted to the dark just as she yanked a string overhead. The single bulb flickered to life inside the eight-by-ten closet full of shelves that had been stocked full of hospital supplies, with a small utility table wedged in a corner. Amelia stood in front of him in her borrowed scrubs, her hair still damp.

His hand gravitated to stroke a strand, finding it even silkier than he could have imagined. Everything about her was so damn delicate, he had to remind himself this woman was tough. He’d come here to check up on her, just to lay eyes on her. He couldn’t trust anyone else’s word. And now it appeared he was going to lay more than his eyes on her. If he had his way, he would explore every inch of her body with his hands, his mouth.

And she was in his arms again, not just to hug but to hold on, to caress and explore his body. He angled his head toward her just as she arched up on her toes, her face tipped. Mouth to mouth they met, tasted. Her tongue explored just as fully as his did. She tasted like toothpaste and coffee. Her hands scaled along his back, shoving his survival vest to the ground.

His mind shouted this was a damn stupid idea in spite of everything she’d said. She was still reeling from the trauma. He wasn’t all that steady either. During that aftershock at the beach cottage, his mind had filled with images of Amelia and the kid trapped again, needing help, calling out to him. He’d been off like a shot to check up on her. And yeah, he knew this was tied up in the past.>Hugh had come back. The first visit she could chalk up to curiosity and following through on his mission. The fact that he’d come a second time moved her more than it should. She’d sworn never to let a man’s presence matter so much again. Damn it all, she felt too vulnerable, too exposed and raw after her ordeal. That had to be the reason for her out-of-control reaction to this man.

She stepped into the hall where he waited, the brighter lights bringing into sharp focus his face—his eyes that burned with a wild and untamed look. Her stomach took a tumble.

His gaze held hers for another of those lightning-crackle moments, which felt all the more powerful in the night quiet of the hospital.

She wished she’d brought her water bottle to wet her dry mouth. “Why are you here? Did you find out something about my brother?”

“I’m sorry, but no.”