Page 37 of Factory Thief

I’m really growing concerned I might fall for him and fall hard. He’s smart, determined, sexy, and doesn’t care one whit I’m a professional criminal. Most men might would find that a bit hard to swallow, if not an instant deal breaker. Experience has demonstrated that most men run away from a woman like me, but Jack’s not running, is he?

Well, he’s running, but not away from me.

He’s running to me.

Why does that scare the hell out of me?

Looking into his handsome face, those caring eyes full of attentive affection, I can’t resist. I have to kiss him. It’s just the sex. It has to just be the sex making me do this…

Freshly showered, it seems the time has come to defile our newfound purity. Our mouths meet in a sizzling hot kiss. Jack’s hands go to my breasts, gripping me as tightly as he had that first night in the jail cell.

I think back to how much I wanted him when he lay stretched out naked on the motel bed, standing up at full mast and demanding my attention. I had to resist then. Not this time.

I grasp his shaft. Our moans and sighs grow louder.

The best thing about our situation?

There are no layers of clothing between us to slow our mutual passion.

That and we’re on a soft bed without salt caking our skin and ocean stench filling our nostrils.

If I had expected a decrease in heat from our prior encounter—as if something magical were lost on a repeat performance—I would be sorely disappointed.

He rolls me onto my back and splays my thighs wide. Jack slides between my legs. A long moan rips from my throat. God, he feels so good inside me. The way he looks at me while we make love, the utter and total focus, drives me wild.

Jack’s not imagining himself with someone else. He’s with me in the here and now, and that makes him a hundred times sexier.

The headboard cracks against the thin walls, drawing our neighbor’s ire, but we don’t care. We heave together and collapse in a sweaty pile, limbs entangled in the lover’s carnal embrace.

Afterward, I have to wonder if it’s just sex to Jack, or does it mean something more?

Do I mean something more?

Is he falling for me the same way I’m falling for him?

I know I shouldn’t give in to the emotion building between us, and yet…and yet I’ve never felt this way about anyone else.

After we get the evidence we need to expose the wrongdoings of the Xtera Pharmaceuticals Corporation once and for all, what happens then?

Will Jack and I still have a relationship?

Will the heat of our passion fade like a sunset as soon as this caper ends?

As I lay there in his arms, I know one thing for sure: I don’t have any answers.

JACK

Iawaken while darkness still cloaks the land. Dawn’s cheerful rays have yet to pierce the veil of night, and it takes me several moments to remember where I am.

But I instantly know who I’m with.

The soft warmth of Victoria curled up beside me is more than enough recompense for the momentary confusion I felt upon awakening. I check the time on the antique radio alarm clock pasted on the bedside table.

Five forty-five AM. The sun will be up soon enough. I carefully disentangle myself from Victoria and watch her sleep. She seems almost angelic, her face and body in repose, robbed of all the salt and vinegar which stiffens her movements and expression when awake.

I’m starting to fall for her…no, come on, Jack. Don’t kid yourself. You’ve already fallen and fallen hard. In fact, I don’t think I’ve even hit the bottom yet. This woman doesn’t deserve the things that have befallen her.

She’s been risking her life to protect me, not just against the Xtera corporation but also from her own handlers, the Factory. I know Victoria is afraid of the Factory. I can see it every time she talks about them, even if she’s trying to defend their actions. Being as she’s a smart woman, if she’s afraid, then I should be, as well.

---