The Midnight Hour - Brenda Jackson [21]
Tori nodded, her signal that she understood the danger they'd almost walked into. Even in this life-threatening situation, she thought his voice sounded low and sensuous and instead of thinking of revolutionaries with guns, she had a momentary vision of naked bodies underneath satin sheets.
When they heard footsteps, probably from a night watchman, her thoughts were snatched back to the present. Drake pulled her closer to him and tried to ease more into the tree trunk to keep them from being discovered.
"Shh," he whispered and held her tightly to him, embracing her closely.
A shiver coursed through Tori at the feel of being pressed so close to his body. His chest was squashed against her spine and she felt the lower portion of his front compressed right up to her bottom. One of his hands was around her waist, holding her tight and the other, she knew, held up a pistol, aimed and ready to shoot at a moment's notice. She also held a Beretta 9mm, cocked, aimed and ready to fire.
Tori wondered how she could think of the sensuality of their positions when their lives were so dangerously close to coming to an end if they were discovered. Yet, she couldn't put out of her mind the feel of Drake's hot breath against her skin, and the way his hand was wrapped around her waist and the feel of the way his groin area was cradling her backside.
She tried forcing away the thoughts of how they'd once made love in the jungle when they'd been almost out of their minds with sexual need, and the only private time they could find was sneaking off from camp and finding a secluded spot under the low-hanging branches of tree limbs. Drake had captured her scream in his mouth when she had come apart while her body had responded to his deep, hard and unyielding thrusts.
The passion they'd always shared was strong, uncompromising, and profound. It was only during those times that they'd been truly unguarded and in some ways reckless. In the past, his gaze across a campfire had a tendency to be burning, seductive, hypnotic, and the lovemaking that eventually followed whenever they made eye contact would end up being scorching. They'd satisfied each other tremendously sexually; it was all those other times that he'd wanted to play leader and she his follower that would drive her crazy.
"I think the way is clear now," Drake whispered a short while later. "We need to hang east and be on the lookout for more revolutionaries mulling about."
She nodded and felt immediately lost when he dropped his hand from her waist and eased them out of the indentation of the tree trunk. Tori turned and watched as he sheathed his gun back into the holster at his waist before she did likewise with her own revolver.
"Do you think you can cover another five miles tonight?" he asked, searching her face for signs of fatigue.
Tori frowned. If he still had ideas about leaving her behind, he might as well toss them out. They had already covered a lot of ground and she knew it would be better to catch the revolutionaries off-guard at night. That meant they needed to keep pressing forward before daybreak. When dawn hit, their plan was to have gotten Robin Thomas safety onboard the military ship that was waiting offshore for them.
An hour later they continued pressing forward to their destination. Occasionally, they would crouch for cover when they heard voices. The trees, shrubs, and other natural plants served as their cover, protecting them from being seen. The route they were taking had been one the informant had given them and the same one naval intelligence had advised as the best one to use. The house where Robin Thomas was being held was reported to be the home of the head honcho in charge and was located in a clearing at the foot of a private tropic-like beach.
Parts of Drake and Tori's gear contained tracking devices so the military ship, along