From A Dream Read online

  “See you soon.”

  She opened her eyes and looked around. From the dim light shining through the space above, she guessed it was just a little past dawn. So she had slept a bit. She frowned when she noticed it was not her fluffy pillow under her head, but, in fact, was her jacket. Sitting up slowly, she ran a hand over her face. She frowned. The transmitter hadn’t worked.

  Standing, she turned, picked up the small knife from under her jacket, and tucked it into her boot. At least the case had been able to come with it, she thought as she turned her foot one way and then the other to make sure it wasn’t visible. She picked up the watch and tucked it into her pocket and then looked down at the pen light. She didn’t need her coat right now. She pushed it under the edge of the material and then went and stood beneath the hole. “Hello?” she called out.

  * * * *

  Jennah looked across the table at the man on the other side. His face was puffy and a deep reddish blue. She looked quickly back down at the cereal in the bowl. His nose wasn’t looking very good this morning, not good at all. She smirked at the dish and quickly took another bite.

  Lester came over and leaned down to him. “You better get going.” The angry smaller man nodded and gave her a look that told her good things were not coming her way.

  She hadn’t heard back from Dom yet, and she was beginning to worry that something wasn’t going right. She sat and watched the other man leave, and then Lester turned and grinned at her.

  “Boss will be here in a couple of hours to meet you, Officer Best.”

  She forced herself not to react to what he said, to not give him the rush he was looking for in scaring her. Her heart was pounding so loud that she wasn’t sure if she looked as carefree about all of it as she was trying to. “I look forward to meeting Warden Light.”

  He chortled. “I think he’s been relieved of the title of Warden.” He shook his head and sighed. “Too bad, really. The best time I served was under his leadership.” He gave her a wide grin and turned back to the window.

  She inhaled deeply and composed her thoughts before reaching out to Dom. “Dom, there’s a slight change in the event.”

  “What?” His voice was hard.

  “The warden is on his way here.”

  “Shit! I’ll get back to you in two .”

  “I’ll be here.” She sat there, trying to figure out what that meant to her getting out of here. If she was in the hole when the team got here, there was nowhere in that small space she could hide to stay away from anyone who came down to get her. It also made her a sitting duck for anyone who wanted her gone from this life. She thought of Dom, of all the months he’d been in prison, and knew what he must have felt, what he must still be feeling. “Dom. Wait until he’s here and take him. I want this ended once and for all.”

  “Jennah, that’s too risky. What if he brings more goons with him? I can’t get you out safely if I’m dodging bullets.”

  “Just get him, Dom. I’ll be fine.” She swallowed. “By the time anyone got down to me in that hole, you’d be on top of them.”

  “Babe . . .”

  “Just wait until he’s here. I want you to have your freedom back.”

  “What the fuck good is it to me if something happens to you?”

  Her eyes watered at the emotion she could hear in his words. She looked down quickly in case Lester turned around. “Please, Dominic, I want him on the other side of prison bars. I’ll be fine. I’m going to see if I can get a few minutes in the bathroom and then work on something down there so I have some way to defend myself.” She thought of the knife in her boot as she waited for his reply. She’d already looked at the cot frame. There wasn’t much to work with, but she could try to unbolt a leg and use it, but she’d really prefer one of her Springfield’s. “Do you have my gun?”

  “Yep, gonna use it to put a hole in anyone that goes near you.” His voice was hard and cold now.

  “You’re a cop. You can’t just shoot people without a good reason.”

  “I have a good reason. I’m pissed right off!”

  She shook her head.

  “We’re going to hang back until you give us the go. That he’s there.”

  She couldn’t have been more surprised. Obviously, Brody was on the other end reasoning with him.

  She exhaled slowly. “Okay.”

  “Babe?”

  She hid her sigh of relief. “I’m here.”

  “Can you get to the bathroom now?”

  “I was just going to see about that.”

  * * * *

  Shaking his head to clear the fog, Dom looked around and figured they’d landed where they wanted to be, in the grungy bathroom. Tess released his arm and held her hand over her lips. He nodded. She held up the transmitter and then pointed toward the window.

  He nodded again. She jerked her head toward the shower stall and it was then that the sound registered. “Jennah.”

  “You’re here? Just give me two seconds—this water feels too good to not grab a quick rinse.”

  He grinned and pulled his jacket off, and then his t-shirt quickly followed. Tess turned back from the window after securing the transmitter and raised her eyebrows at him as he undid his belt. He held his hand over his lips, much the same way she had done to him, and jerked his head toward the door. With a skeptical look, she went to the door and turned her back to him.

  He dropped his pants onto the floor and stepped into the shower as quietly as he could. Jennah stood facing him with her eyes closed as she rinsed her hair. His heart accelerated and caused his body to throb. She was the sexiest woman he’d ever laid his eyes on. An instant case of lust burst through him, and he felt like a pervert for even considering it while she was being held captive. She flipped her long hair to the side of her neck, and he had to swallow as it plastered to her breast, molding to its slope perfectly. This had to go right. He couldn’t be without her.

  “Dom, I’ve been thinking . . .”

  She hadn’t realize he was there yet, and he decided he liked it that way so he could look his fill of her. “About what?”

  She paused in rinsing her hair and turned sideways to let the water run down the front of her body. He watched it cascade down over her perfect breasts, run steadily over her nipples and flat stomach before sliding over those hips he loved so much to the drain in the floor. “What if you don’t like the way I look all fat and pregnant?”

  His eyes moved up to see the stress in her brow. Even with her eyes closed, he could see worry. “Baby, the idea of you round and growing our child inside you makes my heart pound with excitement.” He wasn’t lying. With the images of her swollen with their child and seeing her right there in front of him, he had never been this hard in his life, and his heart was beating in triple time to keep up. He had only intended to climb in and join her so he could hold her for a brief moment before he went back out and took down anyone who got in his way to get her out of here, but . . .

  She turned and began wiping the water from her face. When she opened her eyes, she paused only for a second and blushed before offering him a surprised little smile. His gaze caressed her face and then drifted down over her wet form. “Mine,” he growled to her.

  She smirked. “I see you came armed.”

  He felt no shame in his body responding to her this way. He couldn’t stand there and just look for a second longer. He’d been so afraid he’d never get to hold her again, to touch her. He reached out and pulled her into his arms. Without giving her the chance to object, he lifted her up toward his mouth and crushed her lips beneath his. She didn’t struggle or try to stop him. She only wrapped her arms around him and returned his heated kiss with as much fire as he felt for her.

  He lifted his head and looked down into her eyes. “Do you feel okay?” He held her close to him with one arm and lowered a hand to rest opened over her flat stomach. “I can’t wait, Jennah.”

  She rested her head against his shoulder. “I’m fine. I’d really like to g
et out of here, though, and go home.” She leaned back and looked up at him. “We don’t even know if I am. It could be a false alarm.”

  He nodded with his eyes roving all over her beautiful face. “Do you want to be?”

  She smiled and nodded. “I know I’m probably getting close to too old to try, but yes, I do.”

  He searched her eyes. The look she was giving him, that soft and understanding one, the one that made him feel like he walked on water, gripped him so tight at that moment he never wanted it to end. He lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her as tenderly as he could. He should be getting dressed and getting back to Brody to see if the transmitter was working, but he couldn’t stop. He didn’t want to let her go. He’d never felt this desperate to be close to someone in his life. He never wanted the feelings to go and leave him alone in his empty life again. Jennah was his life.

  She clung to him and accepted his kiss. She was always receptive to him, always so responsive. It set his blood on fire each time he touched her. He lifted her against his wet body and turned to rest his hand behind against the cold tiles on the wall her. “I think we should make sure.”

  He brushed kisses down her soft throat as her hands moved up into his hair. When she grasped it tightly, his body responded by hardening for her even more.

  “Make sure?”

  He loved that he was distracting her so much that she could barely breathe the words through his mind. He moved back to her mouth and plunged his tongue into it. He reached down, cupped behind her ass, and slid her up against the hardness of his body. Reaching behind her, he slipped his hand over her to see if she was as ready as he was. He found her swollen and hot. Lifting his head while he grabbed the other leg, he boosted her right up to his chest and took a hard nipple into his mouth. He felt her quiver in response to him, and he sucked harder. “I want you carrying my child. Now!” Her legs tightened around his waist.

  He looked up at her face. Her lips were parted, and her eyes heavy with need when she looked back at him. He could see the hesitant look as well and knew better than to be thinking of something like this at this very moment, but he had to have her. He craved being inside her so much that he felt like an addict too long without his drug. He lifted her and gently bit one nipple, which caused her hands to tighten in his hair. Before she could catch her breath, he jerked her down so that he filled her completely in that one movement.

  She pushed her face into his shoulder to smother any sound. She was so wet and tight, but he knew it wasn’t from discomfort. “Forgive me, babe. I can’t help myself. I need you so much.”

  Her answer wasn’t in his mind. It was in her movement as she levered herself up on his shoulders and slid back down him. He loved the way her legs strangled his waist when she moved, the way her small hands grasped at the hardened muscles at his neck.

  He felt primal and dominant, like he had to stake his claim over her, and part of him was ashamed to feel such a thing. But she accepted this was what he needed right at this moment and gave herself to him.

  He grasped her waist tightly in his large hands and lifted her off him slowly. When he dropped her down quickly, he thrust upward as hard as he could. He heard her make a sound in her throat and looked at her face to see she was as close to the edge as he was feeling. At this moment, he didn’t care where they were or if they could be heard. He pulled her back down onto him and then braced one hand on the wall behind them. While he held her weight in the palm of his hand, the muscles in his arm strained to hold her where he wanted her.

  He felt her tight muscles clenching around him, milking him with each stroke, and that only made him move harder into her. He felt her hand grip his forearm as she tried to hold herself up with him pumping into her. He watched himself moved in and out of her, and it only inflamed him more to see his possession of her. Looking up, he watched her turn her head and bite into is arm at the same moment her hot muscles closed around him, convulsing.

  Leaning forward, he had to push his own mouth against her neck to keep from calling out when he felt the edge closing in on him. He thrust once more and then shuddered from the force of the orgasm exploding inside her. He knees threatened to buckle at that same moment. Wrapping his arm around her tightly, he turned and rested his shoulders against ice-cold tile.

  “I’m sorry.”

  He couldn’t even catch his breath inside his head to finish.

  She lifted her head from his chest and stretched up to kiss his lips softly. “Don’t be. I needed to feel close to you, too.”

  He grinned. “Close? I wanted to consume you.”

  She blushed and he loved that she still did that from time to time. “You can consume me whenever you want, Detective.” At the thought of his title, they both realized where they were and that their time was probably getting dangerously close. He kissed her lovingly and then lowered her feet to the floor again. He grinned when she turned and looked at the partition around the stall. He filled her head with chuckling. “I’ll go out and take the heat for our indiscretions. You get dried off. I don’t want you to get a chill.” He kissed her quickly. “I’ll see you shortly and take you home.”

  She nodded as he flipped the shower off. With one lingering look at her, he moved the curtain back, reached out, and grabbed his pants. She smirked at him when he tried to pull them up over wet legs. Rolling her eyes, she reached up, grabbed the towel down, and held it out to him. Drying quickly, he winked at her and pulled his pants all the way up, and then he turned and stepped out of the stall.

  Tess glared at him and pointed to an imaginary watch on her arm. He shrugged. “Okay, we have to go. I’ll let you know when we’re coming in.”

  “Be safe, Dom.” Her words caressed his mind and it made him feel like a soothed beast.

  * * * *

  Jennah paced around her tiny dirt space. She pulled the watch out of her pocket and looked at it for the tenth time since she’d returned from the shower. “Dom?”

  “Yeah, beautiful?”

  She smiled at his words. “What’s happening?”

  “We’ve got the signal loud and clear. Just organizing the team, and then we’re going to head your way and get set up. One hour, baby, and you’ll be at home with me and they’ll be behind bars again.” He paused. “Are you in the clear?”

  She looked around her. “I’m back in my little hole, if that’s what you’re asking.”

  “Good. Let me know if they bring you out for any reason.”

  She heard him sigh loudly.

  “If anyone comes down there with you once I’ve given you the signal, you use that knife.”

  “And if it’s one of the team?”

  “They’ll know to announce who they are before tangling with you.”

  She laughed softly. “Okay. If you happen to be in the area, please toss me down a gun. I’d feel better.”

  She loved the sound of his chuckle that filled her mind. A scuffling noise made her turn quickly toward the opened hole. “Hang on, I’ve got movement here.”

  “I’ll be waiting.”

  From A Dream

  Chapter Six

  Dom stomped back over his tracks for the third time. If he didn’t hear from her in the next few minutes, he was going in regardless! Brody looked at him from the tree he leaned against.

  “You need to take it down a notch, Dom. The hostility is smothering all the oxygen in this area.”

  Dom glared at him and then looked down at the snow. “I’m trying. She should have contacted me by now.” Tess came through the trees and headed toward him. She looked tired. “You’re sure you’re rested enough to be in on this?”

  She frowned and ignored his question. “We have an SUV headed this way.” She kept the phone against her ear and looked at him.

  He nodded. “Jennah, we’ve got someone heading your way.”

  “I’m still in the hole.”

  “As soon as he’s inside, let me know. We’re not giving them time to settle in.”

  “W
ill do.”

  He wanted to say things to her that he needed to tell her, but he had to keep his mind on getting in there as smoothly as possible. He clenched his jaw, trying to keep his resolve. He was getting her out of there and that was all there was to it. He looked over at Brody. “Tell everyone to move in closer and be ready.” He listened to Tess giving the order as she turned to walk back the way she’d come. Brody nodded and started to turn.

  “Brody?”

  He stopped and turned back to him.

  “As soon as you’re clear, you go down that hole and stop anyone else from trying to.”

  Brody stood there for a few moments, then nodded his head once and turned back toward the trees. Dom watched him go, and then pulled the earpiece from where it dangled inside his vest. He shoved it into his ear and touched the collar at his throat to depress the switch in the throat mic. “Com check,” he said quietly. He stood watching in the direction of the cabin as the rest of the team did the same.

  “We’re set on this end.” He waited to hear her, needed to so he could do this.

  “I heard the door open, Dom. They’re either outside or on their way in.”

  “We’re on it.” He pressed the collar again. “Who’s got a sight on the cabin?”

  “I got it.”

  He recognized Troy’s voice. “Is there movement?” He started to slowly work his way along the path that he’d paced for the last hour.

  “Two males in the doorway. The target vehicle is there, no movement from it yet.”

  “Can anyone else see the vehicle?” He could feel the adrenaline flowing through him now. “He’s outside, Jennah.”

  “I’ve got the other side of it,” Tess answered.

  “I’m ready.” It took his full focus to keep his stride steady at the quiet response he got from her.

  “Can anyone see inside the vehicle?” Dom demanded.

  “We’ve got movement,” Tory reported.

  “I need a count, Troy.” He’d reached the trees facing the small bathroom window. He could be to the cabin in less than a minute if he had need. And he had need, but wouldn’t move and jeopardize Jennah’s safety until he got the signal.