Running Scared (Mercenaries) Read online

  Her eyes moved constantly, taking in every person, every movement in the room. Survival skills. They all had them, the little things that kept them alive. She was petite, and her Asian heritage gave her an exotic look that he found appealing.

  “I am Saralyn, and as Jackson already told you, I would like your help.” She glanced over at him. “I’ve been on my own pretty much forever. I have no memory of my parents, but I do have one memory of a brother. He helped me escape, saved my life, but then he disappeared. I want to find him.”

  He wanted to go and fold her in his arms and make all the hurt go away. He knew what it felt like to lose your whole family and he knew that he would move heaven and earth if he thought even one of his own family were still alive. He gave her a reassuring smile, nodding for her to go on.

  “I’ve been working on this for a long time. I found a picture of him in a newsie feed a couple of years ago so I’m pretty sure he’s still alive. I’ve been hacking the government comps in the different provinces, moving on every time I hit a dead end. Jackson seems to think that your people can help me.”

  “What’s he look like, this brother of yours? Do you have a picture? Does he have any identifying marks? Tats? Scars?” Trace leaned forward, his face animated.

  “Down, boy. We haven’t agreed to take the case, yet.” A wry smile curved Kaeden’s lips. “Although I think our boy Jackson is going to be upset if we say no.”

  “Yeah, he’s sweet on the little thing.” Snake snorted. “I never thought I’d see the day Jackson would let a girl get under his skin.”

  Shotgun nodded, an exaggerated frown on his face. “Do you think she’s a witch? Or maybe using some of that Far East voodoo stuff on him?”

  Snake pretended to consider it. “Nah. I think she might have smiled at him. Maybe batted those long lashes. Girls do things like that, and poof. A man’s senses desert him entirely.”

  “Okay, guys, enough.” Jackson cuffed Snake lightly across the side of his head. “You need to hear the rest of this story. There’s a little more to it that you need to know.” He turned and nodded to Saralyn. She looked so calm and collected, standing in front of his team. He was proud of her and scared for her at the same time. She wanted to find her brother and that just might put her in the path of the men he suspected wanted her dead.

  “I’m not sure why the men were chasing us. Jackson here has some kind of conspiracy theory going because he knows I have a few quirks that aren’t normal.” She threw him an irritated glance. “I doubt it. I don’t remember but I’m sure those enforcers were chasing us for something normal like theft. We were orphans and we needed to eat. Other than that, there’s not a lot to tell. I always seem to be running, but again, my lifestyle doesn’t endear me to our government. They like people they can track and control.”

  Kaeden straightened up, a frown knitting his forehead. “What kind of quirks are we talking about?”

  Saralyn glanced over at Jackson, fear clouding her beautiful eyes. He knew she didn’t want to tell the team about her abilities but it was crucial that they knew everything before they formulated a plan. That they’d agree to help her was a given. He nodded, giving her what he hoped was a reassuring smile.

  Saralyn sighed. “I have an affinity for electronics. I can touch a computer and know what’s on the hard drive. My fingers let me connect somehow. Computers. Comm links. Security systems. If it’s electronic and it has any kind of motherboard or microchip in it, I can hack it just by touching it. I don’t know why, I just can.”

  The lost children.

  The thought hung in the air as the tension in the room escalated to a whole new level, the jovial atmosphere vanishing in the blink of an eye.

  Kaeden’s eyes narrowed. “You have no memory of your early childhood? Parents? Family? Just a boy helping you to hide from a squad of enforcers?”

  She nodded. “Not all that uncommon back then. Or now, for that matter.” She sounded defensive.

  “You must have heard the stories about the lost children. Did it ever occur to you that you might be one of those children?”

  She stared at him as if he’d grown a second head. “Don’t be ridiculous. You know those stories have been exaggerated beyond belief. Lab rat kids with super abilities? Sure, I can hack all kinds of information, but there’s one tiny glitch that makes it so very not useful. You see, I can take the information out of the computers but then it’s stuck inside my head. Besides, you know if even a fraction of what they say is true the government would never let those kids out of their sight. They certainly wouldn’t have butchered them all.”

  “Jackson.” Kaeden turned to face him. “Sounded to me like you know a thing or two that you might want to share with your buddies. What can our little princess here do that she shouldn’t be able to?”

  Jackson shrugged. Saralyn may consider her abilities to be quirks but there was no way she came by them naturally. The lost children fable was the only plausible explanation. “She told you the truth. I saw her mine info out of Trace’s computer with a touch of her fingers. I believe she is one of the lost children, which brings up two very important questions.”

  “Which are?” Kaeden cocked one eyebrow

  “Who is the person she thinks is her brother, and where is he now?”

  “Well.” A familiar grin creased Kaeden’s rugged face. “I guess we’re going to have to help her find the answers to those questions. Are you all in?”

  Heads nodded around the room, and Jackson strode over to Saralyn, dropping his arm across her shoulders. “When this bunch decide to do something, it gets done. We’ll find that brother of yours ASAP.”

  Chapter Two

  “Are you sure we shouldn’t be down there helping Trace?” Saralyn paced the width of the common room, feeling the tension in every muscle of her body. “What if he needs to know something and he can’t find me to ask?”

  Jackson chuckled, reaching out with one arm to pull her up against him. “Trace doesn’t appreciate anyone distracting him while he’s working, and just having you there would qualify as a distraction. He’s actually very antisocial.”

  Saralyn considered breaking free of the circle of his arms. She opened her mouth, tilting her head back to tell him to keep his hands to himself but the look in his eyes made the words melt away unspoken. Pure sensual heat blazed from their depths, igniting a matching flame deep inside her. Combine that look with the arousing male scent rising from his hard body, and she had to make a real effort not to melt against him like some pathetic doxy from the local bar pool.

  She pushed ineffectually against the iron band of his arms. “I promise I won’t go upset your antisocial buddy, so you can let me go now.”

  A spark of humor curved the corner of his sensual lips. “Relax. I’m not going to bite you. Unless you want me to, of course. It’s going to take Trace some time to get a line on your brother so we might as well kill the time exploring the spark between us.”

  Sunlight flooded through the window behind her, highlighting the rugged line of his jaw and the muscular line of his shoulders. Damn! Now that she was so close to solving the mystery of her past, the last thing she needed was some muscle-bound mercenary distracting her from her goal.

  She fixed him with a steely look. “While I appreciate you letting me ask your team for help in finding my brother, that does not give you any kind of rights to my body. So, if you don’t get your hands off me I’m going to have to hurt you.”

  Jackson stared at her in disbelief for a long second before he snorted out a laugh. “You’re going to hurt me? That’s cute.”

  Okay, that was the last straw. Drawing in a deep breath, she stomped down on his instep as hard as she could while giving him a sharp elbow to the diaphragm.

  Unfortunately the whole thing would have gone better if he hadn’t moved his foot at the last second and turned his body slightly so that the lethal elbow she’d intended to knock the breath out of him barely managed to make contact with the edge of h
is ribs.

  “Not nice.” His breath fanned across her cheek, warm and intimate. “You don’t really want to fight me and you know it.”

  “I don’t?” She kept her voice low, not wanting to attract the attention of the rest of the team. “What makes you think you have any idea about what I want?”

  “I can feel your heart beating against me, the rhythm increasing every time I touch you. Your eyes are sparkling with desire, and I’m willing to bet your pussy is getting wet in anticipation. I don’t have to be a rocket jockey to know that means you want to feel me buried deep inside you almost as much as I want to feel your hot sex closing tight around my cock.”

  He wanted her! The mental image that his words conjured up left her feeling breathless and needy. This was insane. Sex was a tool that she used to get what she wanted. She never let herself get emotionally involved, and yet she found herself wondering what Jackson’s preferences were, and if she’d live up to his expectations.

  Insanity!

  It was hormones. That’s all. She’d been celibate too long. She just needed to get laid and get him out of her system. Jackson was obviously willing. More than willing if that lump pressing into her belly was any indication. Reaching up, she wound her arms around his neck.

  Jackson chucked softly. “Now that’s more like it.” Lowering his face, he skimmed a soft kiss across her parted lips. “How about we retire to my room? Much as I’d love to take you right here on the floor, I don’t want the rest of the team wandering in and disturbing us.”

  It was her turn to chuckle. “Not into sharing? That’s too bad. Your sarge looked like he could make a girl very happy.”

  “I’m sure he makes Dee very happy. And she returns the favour, so you’re going to have to settle for just me. And no, I definitely don’t like the idea of sharing one luscious square of your tender flesh with my teammates. They can damn well go find their own women.”

  Saralyn jumped as his hand came down on her buttocks, just hard enough to smart. He didn’t want to share her. Now why did that send a hot thrill spiralling through her gut? “So where’s this room of yours?”

  “Not nearly as close as I’d like.”

  In the blink of an eye Saralyn found herself scooped up in Jackson’s muscular arms. Striding out of the common room, he headed down a long hallway and kicked open a door on the left. He ducked to avoid hitting his head on the low doorway, crossing the room to toss her on an overstuffed bed against the far wall.

  “Strip.” He grunted out the single word, and then proceeded to follow his own order. Saralyn sucked in a long breath as he skimmed his pants down over his hips, uncovering his cock. Long and thick, it curved proudly upward. Oh yeah. She needed to get herself some of that.

  Completely naked, Jackson pounced on the bed, straddling her. Flashing her a wide, sexy grin, he cupped her head in his hands. “So how come you still have clothes on?”

  His enthusiasm was contagious, and Saralyn allowed herself to return the grin. It was just sex, after all. “The sight of your magnificent body had me so captivated I couldn’t move.” She batted her eyelashes in an exaggerated flirt.

  “I can see how that could be a problem.” Barely suppressed laughter sounded in his voice. “I have that effect on a lot of women. Don’t worry though, I can help get you past it.” Reaching down, he grasped the bottom of her shirt and pulled it up over her head before flicking the front clasp of her bra open. The lacy material sprang apart, allowing her breasts to spill free. Cool air feathered across the sensitive mounds, causing her nipples to form into hard-pebbled peaks.

  “Gorgeous! Do you have any idea how exotically tempting you look?” Jackson’s eyes darkened with desire. Lowering his head, he traced each dark circle with the tip of his tongue.

  Saralyn gasped as shivers of pleasure washed through her. He was so large, so amazingly male. She felt incredibly open and vulnerable, her legs spread wide while she lay trapped beneath his superior weight with only the thickness of her jeans between him and her total surrender. She was operating purely on instinct, perfectly aware that it could lead to any number of undesirable results. And she didn’t care. Reaching down, she unsnapped the closure on her jeans.

  Jackson worked his way down her body, kissing and licking every available inch of bare flesh. She could feel the warm heat radiating from his bare skin as he worshipped her body with his mouth and hands. His tongue traced a line just above the waistband of her jeans, and he raised his head.

  Saralyn’s breath caught in her throat at the deeply sensual expression in his expressive eyes. Tension radiated in every line of his body, in the bold set of his face. Jackson was not some weak government official that she could manipulate with sex. She had a feeling that as a lover, he would be more addictive than any drug. The thought was intoxicating.

  His eyes glittered as he pushed the denim down over her hips, leaving her covered in nothing but a scrap of lace that revealed more than it hid.

  Saralyn moaned softly, her skin overly sensitive to the fleeting contact of his fingers. A crooked grin curved the corner of his mouth as he shifted his body down and sucked the lace into his mouth. His warm breath feathered across her hairless mound, sending flickers of erotic heat pulsing through her.

  Oh ye gods! How much more of this could she stand? She lifted her hips up off the bed and wriggled the lace panties down over her hips.

  Jackson chuckled softly and helped her to send the offending panties flying to the corner of the room before stroking one finger across the tiny bundle of nerves at the apex of her thighs.

  Saralyn gasped for breath, closing her eyes tightly as desire spiralled through her. She bucked her hips upward while Jackson teased her mercilessly, circling one finger just inside the slick entrance to her sex and then withdrawing it again.

  “More, damn it!” She didn’t recall ever begging a man before.

  “More what? More of this?” He eased a second finger inside her while moving the first back and forth across her clit.

  Saralyn grabbed his wrist and forced his finger deep inside her. Oh yeah. Much better. “Don’t be a bastard. You know what I want.”

  Jackson didn’t bother to answer, but sat back on his heels to bury a second finger inside her. A darkly evil grin adorned his ruggedly handsome face.

  Saralyn stared at his massive cock, hard and erect and promising to deliver everything she needed, everything she wanted. Part of her wanted to get up and run away, far from this man who could elicit such a pulse-pounding response from her without even trying. The other part of her wanted to impale herself on that delicious shaft. “Please.” The word escaped her lips, soft and pleading.

  “Now that’s more like it.” Jackson dipped his head to devour her lips. Was it possible for someone to be savage and gentle at the same time? His mouth moved over hers, plundering and worshipping in turn.

  He shifted his weight, and Saralyn could feel the tip of his massive cock pressing against the damp entrance to her sex. It was the most intensely erotic sensation that she’d ever experienced. “Damn you!” She arched upward, trying to impale herself on his rigid shaft. “I need you inside me.”

  “And I need to be inside you.” He cupped her face in his hands, staring straight into her eyes as he thrust deep, burying himself to the balls in her moist channel.

  Reality blurred. All she could feel, all she could think about was the incredible sensations created by the movement of his cock inside her. He surged into her again and again. She could feel him, hot and huge, stretching her to the very limits. This was what she’d been missing all her life. Sex had never been so mind-blowingly intense, so exceptionally powerful. Every fiber of her being felt alive, every nerve quivered with erotic heat.

  She moaned and whimpered as Jackson thrust into her again and again, groaning at each thrust as the tension between them escalated until the heat of their passion consumed her and a wave of pure sensual heat threw her up and over the edge into a fiery climax.

  Jackso
n let out a shout of triumph, and thrust one last time, unleashing his own climax and filling her with his hot seed. They clung to each other for endless moments, unable to summon the energy to move. Finally, Jackson rolled over and lay beside her, one leg thrown carelessly across her thighs.

  Saralyn felt good. Amazingly good. Replete. Satisfied. Totally and utterly spent. How had he managed to pull her so completely into his reality, so thoroughly into the sensual storm of his lovemaking? Never before had she lost herself so completely in the act of sex.

  She sighed contentedly. Maybe later she’d worry about it. Right now, she just wanted to close her eyes and snuggle against Jackson’s solid, reassuring bulk.

  Chapter Three

  “Hey, I found something!” Trace burst into the room and Jackson grabbed the sheet to pull it up over Saralyn’s sleeping figure.

  Normally it wouldn’t matter that the guys were so casual about their personal space. “Ever heard of knocking?” It was hard to be mad in the face of Trace’s boyish enthusiasm.

  “Knocking? Why? Oh, sorry!” He had the grace to look ashamed for a total of thirty seconds. “But guess what I found in the enforcers’ file server.”

  “My brother?” Saralyn poked her head out from behind Trace’s shoulder. The hope in her voice was palatable.

  “Um, not exactly. At least not yet. I found an internal memo and I think they’re talking about you.” He held out a tablet for Jackson to see. “If this is her, she really is what you thought.”

  “What you thought?” Saralyn frowned.

  Trace had the tact of a two-year-old with an attention problem! Jackson glared at him, and then sighed as Saralyn waited for him to say something. “I think what Trace means is that I suspect you are one of the lost children. You knew that. It’s doubtful that your abilities are the result of any kind of natural mutation, which leaves only gene splitting or a surgical implant to explain your exceptional talents.” He turned to take the proffered tablet.