Star Witness

chapter Twelve

A roar like a freight train filled the air, and the windows rattled more loudly. Dani lay shielded by Harte’s strong body. His hands covered her head protectively, and his cheek rested against hers. His long, rock-solid thighs were splayed across hers, his hard, heavy arousal pressing against her belly.

The wind roared and whistled, slinging trash and shingles and tree branches against buildings. She lay there, shielded by his body, as the tornado—because she knew without a doubt that it was a tornado—passed over them. Finally, the deafening noise died down.

Harte wasted no time pushing himself off her, and she knew why. She’d felt his arousal. Her cheeks grew warm. No matter how he felt about her, she knew he did desire her. He just didn’t want to.

“That was bad,” she whispered.

“Stay still,” he said. Without looking at her, he rose and looked out the windows. He whistled under his breath. “Lots of damage,” he said. “I see a couple of bicycle tires, twisted spokes.” He craned his neck. “I think that big crash was a screen door hitting the windows. There’s a huge crack in the window on the left. I’d expect the bulletproof glass to stay intact, but I’m amazed that all the windows didn’t shatter.”

“That was a tornado,” she said, wishing she could stop imagining deadly funnel clouds roaring toward them, sucking up everything in their paths. When the wind had been at its worst, it had sounded like a freight train.

He yawned exaggeratedly, popping his ears. “I think so. It’s so quiet it feels weird.”

“I don’t hear any sirens.”

Harte shook his head. “With this much debris and damage everywhere, the city will be focusing all its manpower toward clearing major thoroughfares and routes to hospitals for emergency vehicles.”

“At least we’re all right.”

He nodded as he pulled his cell phone from his pocket and checked it. “Hey! I’ve got bars!” he exclaimed. “Two bars.”

Dani’s heart leaped into her throat. “Call 911!” she exclaimed.

He paused in the act of pressing a button. “They can’t get to us. They probably can’t keep up with the injuries in the busier parts of the city. I’m calling Lucas.” He pressed a button and listened. “Oh, come on,” he muttered. Then his eyes lit up. “I’m getting through.”

Dani’s eyes stung. Finally, this awful nightmare would be over.

“Lucas!” Harte yelled. “Lucas, can you hear me?” He stepped out from behind the counter and moved toward the front of the store, checking the signal every few steps.

“Yeah, it’s Harte. I know, the connection does suck, but listen...” He paused. “Lucas? You still there?” Then he walked the line of the windows, from one side of the store to the other.

Dani held her breath, as if that would help hold together the fragile connection.

“Damn it, don’t fade on me now,” Harte said, then spoke loudly and distinctly. “Lucas, we’re at Delaughter’s Drugs, near Religious. Repeat—Delaughter’s Drugs. Pursued by armed men. Repeat—armed men.” He listened for a few seconds. “Lucas?” Then he threw his head back and growled.

“Do you think he heard you?” Dani asked.

Harte was frowning at his phone. “I don’t know.”

Dani fished down into her purse, her fingers brushing the cold steel of the SIG as she searched for her phone. She knew she needed to tell Harte about the gun, but she’d waited too long. She had no doubt how he’d react, and she dreaded the prosecutorial lecture she’d have to endure when he found out she’d been packing this whole time. She found her phone and pulled it out. It showed one bar. “Let’s send a text.” If the phone managed to get the text sent, then Lucas would at least see it once service was restored.

Harte nodded. “I’ll send it to Lucas and Ethan.” He quickly entered a message. In Delaughter’s Drugs near B & B, hiding from armed men. Send help! He pressed Send and pocketed his phone. “Give me yours. I’ll send the same text. That’ll be two service providers—two chances for it to get through.”

Another loud rattling of the windows announced the wind picking up again. Harte grabbed Dani and pulled her down behind the counter. “We need to be careful. One of these gusts of wind is likely to throw something hard enough at those windows to break them.”

They sat together, shoulder to shoulder. Dani closed her eyes, basking in the heat Harte’s body gave off and trying to pretend that she didn’t want him to pull her close and make hot, sweet love to her. But as much as she wanted him deep inside her, she craved his warmth and strength surrounding her even more. When he held her in his arms, she felt as if nothing could harm her.

“Harte? Where do you think they are—the men?”

She felt his shoulders rise and fall. “No telling. I tried to keep up with which direction and how far we ran from the warehouse. I think we made it about ten blocks. That’s a big circle they’ve got to search.”

“And you’re sure they were sent by Yeoman?”

“Don’t know who else it would be. Like I said before, I think Stamps would have more sense. Yeoman, on the other hand, deals in physical force. It’s what he knows.”

“It doesn’t make any sense. Why would he think killing me would solve his problem?”

Harte assessed her. “You’re the only person who can connect him with your grandfather’s murder. In his world, shooting you is the easiest way to get rid of you. It’s incredibly hard to prove somebody shot somebody without an eyewitness.”

She shivered and Harte immediately put his arm around her.

“Cold?”

His heat soaked into her, making her feel aroused and languid at the same time. “A little,” she said, “but mostly, I can’t shake the feeling that they’re right behind me, breathing down my neck.” She shivered again. “Should we be doing something—getting farther away maybe?”

Harte didn’t speak for a moment. He ran his palm up and down her arm. “I wondered about that. If Lucas or Ethan gets my message, they’ll come here.” He settled back against the wall and tightened his hold on her. “Look at it from those goons’ point of view. They’re looking for a needle in a haystack. And that car can’t be drivable after they rammed it into that freight door three times.”

“So they’re on foot, just like us. I guess that’s a good thing.”

“And like I said, they’ve got an awfully big area to search, and they have to search every building on each and every street.”

“They know which door we went out.”

“Yeah, but we made at least two right turns. We couldn’t see anything, which means they couldn’t either. If they’d been able to see us, they’d have shot at us.”

The wind rose again, whistling around corners and roaring past the broken door. “Here we go again,” he said. Rain pelted the glass windows, flung there by the whipping winds.

“Those windows are going to break eventually,” she said.

“They might,” he agreed, “but that’s why I put us here in the cashier’s cage. It’s metal, bolted down and we’ve got bulletproof glass protecting us.” He gave her arm a reassuring squeeze.

“Okay,” she said, not sounding convinced.

“Hey,” Harte said. “Trust me.”

She snuggled in closer to his side. Harte held her and listened to the storm. He could feel the tension in her stiff limbs, her fingers that were curved into a fist against his skin, her shaky breaths.

Lightning flashed almost continuously and the roar of the thunder and wind was near deafening. Above their heads, a vicious screech overrode the sound of the storm.

Dani jumped. Harte cupped the back of her head and pressed it to his chest, resting his cheek against her hair. “It’s okay,” he murmured, although he doubted she could hear him. “It’s going to be okay.”

He risked a glance upward, fully expecting to see that part of the roof had blown off, taking the ceiling with it. The screeching had sounded like nails being ripped out. But the ceiling appeared intact. With all the rain and wind, they’d know soon enough if the roof was damaged.

Then, as quickly as it had started, the roaring stopped. The lightning was no longer continuous and the thunder seemed farther away.

Dani didn’t relax a bit. Now that things had calmed down, he could feel her trembling.

“Listen,” he said. “I think the worst is over.” He took his hand away from the back of her head and touched her chin. “Look at me, Dani.”

Slowly, haltingly, she raised her head. “I—I’m sorry,” she muttered.

“For what? For being scared? I was scared too.”

She shuddered. “Not like me.” She sighed. “My father died more than twenty years ago and I’m still acting like a child.”

After a long time, she lifted her head. Harte looked down at her. “You okay?” he whispered, giving her a little smile.

She nodded, then dropped her gaze to his mouth. “Harte—?”

He looked at her parted lips, her soft whiskey-colored eyes.

“Dani,” he said, “I don’t think—”

“Don’t think,” Dani whispered, and brushed his lips with hers. She meant that admonition for herself as well as him. He’d held her and sheltered her. He’d protected her from the storm.

Sighing, she kissed him again. This time she touched his mouth with the tip of her tongue.

She wasn’t thinking about what would happen once they were safe. Right now she wanted him with an ache that had been growing ever since he’d kissed her that first time.

He didn’t move a muscle.

She withdrew and turned away, pressing her knuckles against her teeth. A short unamused laugh escaped her throat. “Sorry,” she said tightly. “It takes me a while, but eventually I get the picture.”

He closed his eyes and shook his head.

She cleared her throat. “I apologize. I guarantee it won’t happen ag—”

He pulled her back to him. His mouth came down on hers hard, his tongue parting her lips.

Dani gasped as he deepened the kiss. The ache inside her turned to a tingling thrill that surged through her like a lightning bolt.

He moaned deep in his throat and lifted her onto his lap. The only thing between them was two layers of thin cotton.

“Still think I don’t want you?” Harte muttered against her lips as he pushed his fingers through her damp hair and kissed her again, more fiercely than before. “Don’t ever make that mistake again.”

Any doubt she might have had disappeared into a silver haze of desire. His arousal pressed insistently against her, stirring her blood to a fever pitch as he slid his hands under the T-shirt and pushed it up. She raised her arms so he could pull it over her head.

His hands moved on her skin, trailing sparks like a wizard everywhere they touched. Her waist, her rib cage, the soft skin beneath her breasts. Finally, with exquisite slowness, he trailed his fingertips over the swell of her breasts until she arched, pressing them into his hands.

He skimmed his thumbs across her nipples. They puckered immediately and throbbed, they were so sensitive.

His kisses were sweet and erotic at the same time. One instant his tongue sparred with hers in a sensual dance that almost sent her over the edge. The next, he withdrew, only to return and plant light, unbearably sweet butterfly kisses onto every square millimeter of her mouth, cheeks and eyelids.

Just as she thought she couldn’t feel any more turned on, he bent his head and took a nipple into his mouth. He teased it with his tongue, then grazed it lightly with his teeth. A tight, choked scream erupted from her throat. Every touch sent electric shocks across her nerve endings from her fingers to her toes to her very core. He licked the tiny nub until it was wet, then lightly blew on it until Dani thought she would scream with pleasure. Then he turned to lavish the same attention on the other breast.

“Harte,” she rasped. “I can’t stand any more—” Her words were cut short by his rumble of soft laughter.

“You’re going to have to,” he said. He ran his palm down her body to the drawstring of the scrub pants. He untied it, then slid the material down over her hips and past her knees. She kicked them off, leaving her completely naked.

She didn’t care. She twisted until she straddled him, then leaned down and gave him back the kisses he’d given her. Putting her hands on his bare chest, she used her fingertips on his nipples, teasing them to instant arousal and drawing a pained moan from his throat.

“Do you like that?” she asked as she teased the erect tips unrelentingly.

“No—” he gasped, taking hold of her wrists. His arousal pulsed against her, belying his words.

Harte arched, thrusting upward in unfettered response to her playing with his nipples. It was an unfamiliar, slightly uncomfortable sensation, and yet each touch arrowed straight down to his throbbing arousal.

She peered at him from under her lashes, a seductive smile on her face, and then twisted her wrists out of his clutches. Placing her palms on his chest, she bent and kissed him again.

“Slow down,” he muttered, “or it’s going to all be over.”

“I don’t want to slow down,” she whispered in response. “I want you in me, now.”

“Too soon,” he protested. “You’re not ready.” As he spoke, he slid his hand down over her belly to the slight rise of her mound.

“Yes, I am,” Dani gasped, so turned on by the twin pressures of his hand and his arousal against her that she could barely breathe, much less speak.

When he curled his fingers into the patch of hair that hid her sexual center, then slowly, gently, slid a finger between her soft, sensitized folds, she cried out, certain she was going to faint. He pressed into her, testing her readiness to receive him.

Her thighs tightened involuntarily, whether to hold on to the sensations he was stirring or to slow down the inevitable explosive conclusion, she didn’t know. She was becoming lost in erotic ecstasy.

“Yes, you are,” he whispered.

In answer, she lifted herself and guided him into her. He pushed carefully and steadily until he was buried inside her. She moaned and threw her head back, losing herself in a climax that went on and on.

Harte felt Dani’s delicately intense contractions, and they triggered his own. With his breaths sawing in his throat and his muscles and sinews straining, he came, driving into her welcoming body as she met him, thrust for thrust.

Finally, drained, he collapsed back against the wall and Dani melted, as if boneless, atop him.