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  His hand went into her hair, cupping her head, feeling his resolve, which he normally held in check, trying to break free.

  Heavy footsteps on the stairs forced them apart. She looked up at him as if in shock.

  The crime scene unit came through the door, led by Kate.

  THEY ENTERED THE U-Haul rental place just after three o’clock.

  Sienna walked to the desk and presented the receipt to the clerk. She flashed her badge. “Can you tell me what the license plate is for this truck and the destination?”

  “It’s our policy not to give information out on our customers. You’ll have to get a warrant.”

  “This is police business and a matter of security.”

  The clerk gave her a long-suffering look. “Sorry, lady. Get the warrant.”

  A man entered the office. “Hey, mister, could you give me a hand here? I think the door is stuck on the truck you gave me. If that’s the case, I want another one.”

  The clerk moved from behind the counter and as soon as he was out of sight, A.J. went around to the computer.

  “What are you doing?” she hissed.

  “We don’t have time to get a warrant. It’ll take the rest of the day.”

  “A.J., there are certain procedures that I have to follow.”

  He grinned. “I don’t.”

  She simmered while he fiddled with the keys.

  After a moment he looked up. “Jot this down.”

  He gave Sienna the license plate number and with a huff, she wrote it down in her notebook.

  “The destination is Guaymas-San Carlos,” A.J. said.

  They exited the rental place and got back in the car. “That wasn’t exactly legal.”

  “He’s my brother, I have a right to know where he went. Besides, the guy didn’t even know we looked.”

  “You can’t just arbitrarily not follow laws you don’t like.”

  “We’re wasting time.”

  She sat back in her car and put her hands on the wheel, tightening her fingers. “Looks like we’re taking a trip to Mexico,” she said, picking up her radio and alerting the state police to be on the lookout for the truck. Though she was sure that David would have already left the country by now.

  The dispatcher called over the radio to tell them to meet a state trooper at the border crossing. He had information regarding the truck.

  It took them twenty minutes to get there. They parked and got out.

  “Detective Parker?”

  “Yes.”

  The state trooper approached, flipping through his incident book. “I stopped that truck last night. It had a taillight out.”

  “Anything suspicious about the truck or driver?”

  “No, all routine.”

  “Did he say where he was headed?” Sienna asked.

  “Guaymas-San Carlos. It’s a small beach community.”

  “I know it. It has a seaport.”

  Back in the car, A.J. looked over at her. “You think he’s trucked the guns to this place to ship them out?”

  “Possibly. I don’t like the trashed apartment. It suggests that someone else is looking for him and they’re not very friendly.”

  “All the more reason to get going. How long?”

  “It’s a three-hour drive, so buckle up.” She picked up her radio again and requested that the Mexico police detain the vehicle and the driver of the U-Haul.

  IT WAS much later by the time they pulled into the sleepy little town of Guaymas-San Carlos. Just as eager to get there as he was, Sienna had floored it, using her siren all the way. The radio had crackled around four o’clock that the Mexican police had found the truck and the driver. The address they gave was a hotel on the beach.

  A.J. glanced at her as she pulled up to the quaint structure. He was out of the car almost before they stopped.

  She was close on his heels as they approached the vehicle. The driver was sitting on the veranda of the hotel, a tan-shirted police officer close by. When A.J. reached them, the driver raised his head.

  “That’s not my brother.” The relief he felt was short-lived. If David wasn’t here, where was he?

  “What the hell is going on!” the driver demanded.

  “SDPD,” Sienna said, flashing her badge.

  “Not again. Don’t you people talk to each other?”

  “What do you mean?” Sienna asked.

  “I was already bothered by another cop.”

  “From San Diego?” Sienna asked.

  “Yeah. He was looking for someone named Buckner. He was quite insistent. I told him I didn’t know the guy.”

  Sienna pulled out David’s picture. “Was this man at the U-Haul rental place when you were picking up your truck?”

  The man studied the picture for a moment. “Yeah. He was hovering around the counter when I was signing up for my truck. Asked me if I’d seen his keys.”

  “He switched the plates,” A.J. said quietly.

  “Can I go now? I have another delivery to make.”

  “I just need to take down your information in case I have to contact you.”

  A.J. walked toward the beach. He stood there watching the water roll to shore. The adrenaline in his system buzzed and he took a deep breath.

  Sienna walked up to him and stood close.

  “I had half an idea to disarm both you and the cop and get my brother out of there.”

  Sienna turned toward him. “When did you change your mind?”

  “When I realized that it was irrational, stupid and the reaction of a protective brother, not the honorable actions of a Navy SEAL.”

  Sienna stared out at the ocean. “It’s hard to separate the two. If David means as much to you as my sister means to me, I know how you feel.”

  “Do you find it hard to separate your cop role from your personal life?”

  Sienna winced. “Yes, I do. I’ve missed my dress fitting for my sister’s wedding three times. I was so proud and happy when she asked me. I really want to go.”

  “Did she understand?”

  “No, she was angry. She had every right to be. I told her when she asked me that it might be difficult to get time off.”

  “You really should make time, Sienna.”

  “I know.” She was silent for a moment. “Let’s get back to San Diego.”

  When they got in the car, she said, “Although I understand your motives, A.J., I need to know that you’re going to keep it together during this investigation. I need to be sure of the guy guarding my back.”

  “You can be sure. I love my brother and I want to make sure he’s safe. But you have my word. No more foolish thoughts.”

  THE TRIP BACK was more leisurely and they’d stopped for a quick dinner in Tijuana.

  When they reached the division, A.J. got out of her car, but then leaned back in. The thought of being alone tonight didn’t appeal to him. He wanted Sienna wrapped around him. He needed that comfort.

  “I want you to follow me back to my apartment.”

  She looked up at him, her hair and eyes flaring in the darkness. “A.J., I don’t think…”

  “That’s right. Don’t think,” he said.

  “But…”

  “I don’t want to be alone. Please come home with me,” he pleaded. He wasn’t sure what he wanted from this woman, but he was very sure he wanted her close, skin-to-skin close.

  “Lead the way,” she said softly.

  In short order, he was unlocking his apartment door, kicking it shut with his foot.

  He shrugged out of his jacket, but Sienna stayed his hand when he went for the buttons on his shirt. “Let’s take it slow.”

  Her hands replaced his, the material pliable against her fingertips. A.J. nuzzled her temple, his gentle breath fanning the soft hairs away from her face.

  “Do we have to go this slow?” he rasped softly.

  “Impatient? Don’t SEALs have to lay in wait for sometimes hours on end?” she whispered, her mouth going to the heated steel muscles she
bared. With each button she undid, she kissed the exposed skin, trailing her fingertips along his hard muscles.

  He moaned softly on an indrawn breath when her tongue came out and licked his flat nipple. He swallowed as excitement coursed through him. “Do that again,” he told her.

  She did, this time gently sucking the hard nub.

  Breathing hard, his whole body jerked, his head falling back, his eyes closing in sensual rapture as a fiery heat gripped his groin in a tight flaming fist.

  His whole body screamed and ached. She looked like a figment of his imagination; the soft illumination in the room seemed to attract to her like a diamond did to light, and even light couldn’t resist her. How was he expected to? Just a man, a mortal man. Her eyes were a luminescent green like moss glowing in the moonlight, the dark red strands of her hair softly curving against her cheekbone. His hands itched to be buried in the soft mass.

  “Hurry, Sienna, please,” he breathed the words and she responded in a husky voice.

  “How do you ever get through a mission?”

  Heat hit him smack in his stomach, geysered through him turning his blood into volatile liquid.

  She drew back, quickly stripping off her clothes. He felt his control slipping its bonds liked a caged tiger escaping a hated prison. He hungered with a voracious appetite for the woman before him.

  He wanted her beneath him.

  Now.

  Her hands swept over the wall of his chest and caressed every inch of his skin. His breathing quickened at the powerful feelings that threatened to overwhelm him.

  As his hot mouth slammed into hers, he wanted his kiss to possess her until the need for him was a starving need in her bones. He moved her toward the bedroom and his bed; he could feel her heart hammering against his.

  No words were necessary as he backed her purposefully toward the bed. Where she touched he burned; where she didn’t touch he ached.

  With quick breaths he was able to rein in his passion. Her hands went to his pants and he thrust against her hands as she palmed him through the denim.

  “Do you have protection?” she asked.

  Everything inside him stilled and he swore and backed up, running his hands through his hair. “No.”

  She smiled. “I do.” She walked over to her purse and as she bent over, he got a tantalizing view of her backside. She turned toward him with foil-wrapped packets in her hand. “I thought SEALs were supposed to be prepared for anything.”

  “Honey,” he said softly, “Those aren’t standard issue.”

  “It’s a good thing that I’m always prepared.”

  “Will you stop waving those around and get back over here?”

  “I think you’re overdressed. Why don’t you take off those pants and show me what is standard issue?”

  He laughed and took the two steps to her, pulled her into his arms and took her mouth again.

  She gasped and twisted against him at the instantaneous hunger that enveloped her body, at the glorious feel of his hard-muscled frame.

  “Why don’t you take them off me?”

  His thighs were solid and powerful flush up against hers, his chest was unyielding like rock. Sienna could barely draw in breath. There was a very small voice in the back of her head that said, Be careful. She mentally slapped it away. This was her daring fling and she was going to take it. Two times with him wasn’t a commitment. It wasn’t love. It was just sex.

  But fantastic, unbelievable sex that overpowered her senses and made her come harder and hotter than she’d ever thought possible.

  5

  SHE MANEUVERED him toward the bed. When she got there, she pushed on his chest and he tumbled backward. “Are you a pushover, A.J.?”

  “For the right woman, I’d do anything.” His eyes traveled down her body and she shivered. She’d never done that before. And he had the nerve to lie there with all that glorious muscle primed just for her. His muscles were thick, but cut, delineated in shadow and light from the soft glow of the lamp. His skin was a burnished copper and smooth as silk. In addition to the golden medallion he had around his neck, his dog tags glinted silver in the light, flashing at her.

  A warning?

  Feeling too much for him wouldn’t be smart. He was a SEAL and he wouldn’t fit into her orderly world. He’d already proven that by pushing his way into her case and getting the U-Haul information against her wishes.

  But she couldn’t worry about that now. This was a physical thing. Chemistry.

  She placed the packets on the nightstand and leaned over him, running her hard-peaked breasts against the smooth skin of his chest and abdomen.

  His body went rigid and with his head thrown back, he groaned.

  Her tongue came out and trailed a path down his ridged stomach to the snap of his pants. “Damn it, Red, you’re killing me.”

  “If I take them off, I’ll take them off my way.”

  “Mmm,” he moaned softly when she used her mouth to undo the button and pull down the zipper one slow metal tab at a time. “I like your way.”

  She gripped the waistband and tugged. A.J. lifted his hips and she discarded his pants in a heap on the floor.

  She bent over again and kissed the satin smooth skin at the waistband to his black boxer briefs. “I don’t think these are standard navy issue, either.”

  “I wear white all…” he gasped as her tongue came out and licked his sensitive skin, “…the time,” he rasped, his breathing ragged.

  His erection strained against the black cotton and Sienna couldn’t resist the invitation as she gently bit him through the briefs, then she took the head of his penis in her mouth.

  He gasped and his hips came up off the bed. “Ah, Red, that feels good.”

  She gripped the waistband of his underwear and the tip of his erection peeked out. She suckled him, running her tongue around the velvet skin. With a quick movement, she pulled the underwear down and took all of him into her mouth, sucking hard.

  When she released him, she said softly, looking down at him, cupping his hard, hot arousal in her hands, “This is not standard in any way.”

  His body bucked and she found herself grabbed and pulled underneath him.

  “You are killing me.”

  Her hips undulated in an uncontrollable movement.

  “No woman has ever made me laugh and want to be inside her at the same time.”

  Her eyes widened at his tortured tone.

  He rubbed his shaft against the part of her that ached for him. His voice caught and then he continued, “How much longer are you going to make me wait?”

  She gazed up into his tightly restrained face, her heart skipping a beat at his pleading words.

  She touched his face so softly it was almost imperceptible. His body responded as an electric shock coursed along his skin and he closed his eyes. Leaning forward, he gently tasted her lips with his tongue, so sweet.

  His eyes dropped down to her breasts, to the hard peaks of her nipples. He could see her creamy skin, her flat stomach, and the dark red thatch of curls at the apex of her thighs, the long sleek legs. His eyes moved up to her face. “Damn,” he whispered softly like a man dying and on his last breath. Slowly he reached out with one hand, inexplicably drawn to what enticed him. He’d always been fascinated by the beauty of a woman. But Sienna transcended femininity. The need for her eclipsed everything; every argument he could conceive slipped away like melted honey and the burning hunger once again consumed him.

  He gently traced the tip of her nipple. Sienna gasped. She arched her back, a sensuous invitation that he could not ignore.

  His hands were all over her body, caressing her, kneading her flesh. He rose to his knees, his eyes flashing like burning sapphire coals.

  He moved over her, rubbing himself against her stomach. Sienna felt the glide of his body, the thick shaft of hot skin against her stomach. He slid lower to push against the slick, wet heat of her.

  She felt the tension tighten in her body as he mas
saged the hot core of her. She gasped and moved her hips in an erotic dance against the velvet tip that teased her, sent tingling sensation deep inside her to a place she never knew existed, a place that promised shattering pleasure beyond her imagination.

  “Sienna.” It came out on a groan as she moved against him.

  She never would have guessed it would be like this with him and that thought brought with it uneasiness.

  He positioned himself across her body, greedily taking her taunt beckoning nipple in his mouth, sucking it forcefully against the roof of his mouth. Her body bucked.

  “Yes, that’s it. That’s it, sweetheart. Let yourself go.”

  She loved the sleek moist feel of his muscled skin against her body, beneath her hands, all that powerful energy. He was so male, so desirable. When his mouth took her hard tingling nipple, she convulsed against him; the spiraling energy that had built inside her broke over her in a wave of ecstasy ebbing and flowing, consuming and as vast as the ocean.

  Her release pushed him over the edge, too, knowing that he wanted to be inside her, deep inside her, wanted it more than he’d ever wanted anything.

  She reared up and grabbed one of the foil packets and ripped it open, sheathing him with one long caress that brought a deep moan to his lips.

  She lay back as he moved over her, between her legs. He reached down to guide himself into her, his other hand clenching on the coverlet next to her head. The throbbing need spiraled tighter and tighter, building, escalating higher and higher. He smothered a groan as her wet, hot, satiny flesh yielded to him. His voice was little more than a hoarse growl as he sank into her. Thrusting into her, unable to keep his body from the fulfillment he wanted her to experience with him and the consummation he craved. She jerked against him with a soft cry of pleasure.

  His lips closed over hers and she opened her mouth to his probing, frantic tongue, soothing her hands down the clenched, sweat-soaked muscles of his back.

  He thrust frantically into her, never before this out of control. He was and he didn’t care. He had to move; motion was imperative, essential. He ached to bring her to release again and join her in the spiraling ecstasy. Her caressing hands moved down his body to his buttocks, bringing him closer, deeper. In response, he drove forward harder, lifting her hips off the bed with the force of his thrusts. He became frantic at the feel of her taking possession of his body, the sweet pressure building in a blinding delirium as he responded to her encouragement, her eagerness to have him all, and the full length of him deep inside her.