“Why did they go to that warehouse?” he asked.
“Because Classified’s specialized processing plant for radioactive chemicals was based out of Susanville at the time. Since then, they’ve grown and moved to Las Vegas. But back then, that warehouse was the closest, quietest, and least secure government facility that could house the chemicals until they were picked up and hauled to the processing plant. It was also remote, allowing fewer eyes and lower risk should the chemicals . . .”
“Contaminate? Catch fire? Explode?”
“I’m . . . surmising some of that, but . . . yeah.”
The thrill of victory—definitely the sweetest victory he’d ever experienced—was within his grasp and it spilled through Mitch in a fiery storm.
He dropped his forehead to Halina’s. “Baby, you deserve a great big present for that news.” He reached into the front pocket of his jeans and drew out the ivory disk. Propped on his elbows, Mitch held it above her chest. “This is the ferrite bead I told you about. The one Quaid carved and made into a necklace for you.”
“Ferrite.” The inflection of interest in her voice was nearly a sexual purr . . . or maybe that’s just where Mitch’s mind was wedged, but it lit him up.
When Halina let go of his shoulder to take it in her hand, Mitch pulled it out of reach with a hot grin. “Say my name like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you just said ‘ferrite.’ ”
She laughed, but the awe in her gaze was all for the carved disk, her fingers caressing the rough surface.
“It’s supposed to do something with the electromagnetic energy raging through your body,” Mitch said. “Insulate it or tamp it or something. But you know me. When they start talking in genius tongues, my mind goes to the ballpark.”
“He mentioned it earlier in passing but I didn’t know . . .” She pulled in a soft sound of surprise, then murmured, “Oh . . .” followed by a hum of pleasure that made Mitch’s cock pulse hard. “I can . . . I think I can already feel it . . .” She looked up with a light of hope in her blue eyes Mitch hadn’t seen in a long time. “It’s so . . . I don’t know how to describe it other than . . . quieting. Not calming exactly, but like all the white noise in my body has been turned down.” She closed her eyes, tilted her head back, let out a deep breath. “Oh, God, that’s so nice.”
Oh, God . . . Mitch’s gaze caressed her gorgeous face, the curve of her neck relaxed in relief . . . that was so nice. “Mmm-hmm.”
She was smiling when she opened her eyes and met his again. And there was no missing the desire there now. Clear as sunlight sliding out from behind the clouds. And the longer she held the disk, the longer the emotion stayed. No more flickering on and off like a light. Halina looked at him like she used to. Like she wanted to eat him. Feast on him.
“I . . .” he said, a slow smile growing, a fast burn devouring him, “think I’m going to owe Quaid. Big-time.”
She huffed a breathless laugh, but her gaze strayed to the disk, and her smile drifted away. “Even if this did work to control the electromagnetic power, even if we could be together without the aftermath of visions . . .”
She didn’t have to say the words for Mitch to know what she was thinking. He put two fingers under her chin and lifted it until her watery eyes met his.
He cupped her face tenderly. “I need you to trust in me, Halina. I need that more than I need to drill Schaeffer into the ground. You can count on me to have your back. Always. No matter what. No one, and I mean no one, including the goddamned universe, is going to dictate my future. I’m asking you to believe in me.”
Her gaze softened, but he knew that look—she hadn’t changed her mind. “This isn’t about you or me now. It’s about . . . fate or whatever you want to call it. I can trust in you to the ends of the earth, Mitch, but that’s not going to change the fact that you’re asking me to allow you to put yourself in death’s path.”
He released a frustrated breath. “I can’t argue with your visions, Halina. I’ve seen how deadly accurate the team’s powers can be, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to hand my fate over to the ether. Quaid told you that these are most likely various possible outcomes you’re seeing, not the ultimate, absolute future. And you’ve told me yourself that every decision a person makes changes those possible outcomes.”
“They’re not just possible outcomes, Mitch. They’re the most probable ones. When something as powerful as the universe tells you the probable outcome of your future, I think it would be wise to listen.”
“Christ.” He dropped his forehead to her chest just below her chin. “You should have been a lawyer. No one argues like you do.”
Her fingers combed through his hair and he sighed, dropped his mouth to the cold skin above the edge of her top, and left a hot, open-mouthed kiss, followed by a lick. A sound rolled through her throat and shot right to Mitch’s groin.
“You know what would be great for you?” He kissed again. Licked again. He wanted to do it all night. “Not thinking so much.”
He tugged the edge of her blouse and bra down to expose one perfect nipple and closed his mouth over it. Halina drew a sharp breath. Mitch sucked hard, drawing her breast from his mouth until only her nipple remained between his lips. Then he soothed the abuse with long strokes of his tongue.
Halina dropped her head back, lips parted, and a sound of need and want came from deep in her throat.
“I have to admit,” he murmured, releasing the fabric and moving his hands down the hem at her waist. “Right here, fate did real good.”
While Halina’s mind was still lost in a haze, Mitch pulled her shirt over her head, moving his mouth up her belly in hungry nips and licks and kisses. With every movement, paper crinkled.
He pushed up on his hands, then his knees. He sat back and tugged his shirt over his head. Unfastened his jeans. Then hers. Kissed her luscious body as he tugged them over her hips and stood to ease them down her legs.
When he straightened, she was sitting up, reaching for the waistband of his underwear. Even though he wanted to get his hands on her, he let her pull his boxers down his hips, over his erection, and push them down his thighs.
But too quickly, the fingers of her other hand wrapped around his erect shaft. Sensation tore through his cock, rocked his balls, and shimmered through his pelvis. Mitch’s legs turned into steel poles, welded to the floor, and he couldn’t move.
Mitch didn’t remember closing his eyes. Or gripping the nearby bedpost. Or opening his thighs to make room for her other hand to stroke and tease.
Before he found the ability to open his eyes, Halina took him into her mouth. The slow, slick ride in washed his entire body with a sizzling heat wave. Stuttering in air, Mitch gripped both her hair and the bedpost and lifted his hips toward her mouth. She was hot and lush and perfect. Fire coated every nerve ending in his cock.
“Fuck, that’s good.” The words were a guttural growl. Not anything he would have recognized as coming from him.
She sucked him slowly, luxuriantly, as if they had all the time in the world, as if she’d never tire of having him fill her mouth, as if she’d rather have his cock on her tongue than chocolate.
“Love . . . the way you . . .” Mitch pulled in an extra breath, made a sound deep in his throat. Electricity arced from her mouth through his body. “But you . . . gotta stop . . .”
“Mmm,” she hummed in complaint, before sliding him fully into her mouth again.
Mitch pulled in a harsh breath, swore. Wanted this to go on and on and on. The pleasure she brought him was so excruciating it melted his brain. But he couldn’t. He wanted her too badly.