Bisman's Holiday
Chapter Twenty: It's All a Matter of Timing
LUCAS HUMS WITH PLEASURE as Josie runs her fingers through his hair. It is full dark now, and they are outside on the porch swing. Lucas lies stretched out full length on the swing, his head resting in Josie's lap at one end and his feet propped up on the armrest at the other. Alexei has once again retired to the loft to give them some privacy on the lower floor of the cabin, but it is such a lovely evening that Josie and Lucas can't bring themselves to go back inside yet. The cicadas are whirring all around them and a lone mourning dove is cooing sadly not far away. A bullfrog belches from the ravine, and several more join in before they go silent again. Far in the distance, Lucas hears a chorus of barks and yips that sound almost like laughter.
"Coyotes," Josie murmurs before he even thinks to ask.
"Really?" he asks in surprise. "I thought they were out West in the desert, California, Arizona…"
He suddenly discovers his knowledge of American geography is sorely lacking as he knows he should be able to name several more desert states, but can't.
"Actually, I think they're native to the Great Plains," Josie tells him, "but they're one of the few species to expand their territory since human encroachment. They're incredibly clever and adaptable, and they're starting to interbreed with domesticated strays around here."
"That doesn't sound good," he says upon hearing the dour tone at the end of her statement.
"It's not," she replies. "Mixed pups are harder to domesticate, make unpredictable pets, and are less fit to survive in the wild. Of course, that's just my opinion. You'd have to educate yourself about them to know anything more than what I think."
He hears the pack barking again. Maybe it's just his imagination, but they sound closer. He knows they seldom attack humans, but…
"Where's Boo?"
"I made sure he's safe inside," Josie answers on a chuckle.
Even in the dark, Lucas blushes to realize that she has followed the thread of his thoughts and knows he is worried for the cat's safety. It should probably worry him that he is so transparent to her, but the concern dies in the back of his mind as soon as it sparks another thought.
"It's no wonder you beat me," he says.
"Hmmm?"
"At poker," he says.
"Oh, that!" Josie laughs. "I guess women's intuition is a distinct advantage."
Lucas can't imagine what he's said that is so funny, and when he turns his head to look at her suspiciously, she laughs even harder.
"You…were cheating," he declares, stunned that he never realized it earlier.
She dissolves into giggles.
"How?" he demands.
Josie shakes her head and continues chuckling.
"Tell me," he says. He tries to sound intimidating, but he isn't very successful as he's now laughing along with her.
Josie just shakes her head again.
Not realizing how precarious his position will become, Lucas twists around and reaches up to tickle her ribs. Josie yelps and stands up so quickly that Lucas tumbles from the swing to land in a heap on the floor. As he lies there groaning, the swing comes forward and hits Josie in the back of the knees, making her drop into the seat hard.
"Are you ok?" she asks, her concern well masked by her laughter.
"That depends," Lucas grumbles. "Will feigning injury get me an admission of guilt?"
"Not in this lifetime," she tells him.
"I want to know how you did it," he demands, wrapping a hand lightly around her ankle.
She leans forward, tucks a finger under his chin, tips his head back, and places a sweet kiss on his lips.
"It'll cost you," she says silkily.
Then she gets up, shakes him loose, and walks away.
The swing comes forward and bumps Lucas on the shoulder, but it doesn't distract him from watching her bottom sway as she strolls along the porch and into the cabin. As the screen door falls shut behind her, he scrambles to his feet to follow her inside.
SHE WASN'T JOKING, Lucas thinks as Josie's wicked mouth traces a meandering trail down his torso. Somehow, this interrogation isn't going quite as he had intended. He'd started out planning to make her divulge her secret to beating him at poker, but she's already stolen his breath and his strength and his will to resist.
And my sanity if her lips stray much furth…
"Urrrgh! Josie! Please, stop!" he pants as her tongue does something to him that should be physically impossible.
"What's the matter?" she asks teasingly. "Don't you like it?"
"More than you can imagine," he tells her.
"Then what's the problem?" she asks, now sounding truly concerned.
"It's our last chance," he says. "If tonight has to last me the rest of my life, I want it to be more than just you…servicing me."
He doesn't know whether his answer is crude, pathetic, or overly romantic, but it is honest, and he hopes that is enough. For a moment, Josie frowns at him thoughtfully, then she smiles sweetly and moves to kneel beside him.
"I want that, too," she says softly.
Lucas sighs in relief and kneels up facing her.
"I'm glad," he says, and leans down to place a kiss on her lips.
MAKING LOVE IN REAL LIFE is nothing like the movies. Cinema invariably overlooks the awkward moments and uncomfortable pauses. Redford and Streisand weren't performing on a hardwood floor in front of a staring cat in The Way We Were, and Richard Gere didn't have to accommodate Debra Winger's bad back in An Officer and a Gentleman. But with a thick quilt, some strategically placed cushions, and a shoe thrown just hard enough to make a point, they manage to perfectly unite, each of them giving and receiving pleasure equally.
Lucas kneels on the floor, sitting back on his heels, arms outstretched, palms up, an expression of rapture on his face, like a supplicant before an altar. His goddess beams down at him, and the knowledge that she is pleased with him warms him to the core. When she steps into his embrace, settles astride him, and begins to move, it is all real again, and it is wonderful.
At first, her movements are slow, graceful, and gentle, and it is a struggle for Lucas to restrain himself to match her leisurely pace. Just moments ago, she had him on the brink of exploding. Even now, her every touch tingles, every breath against his skin sets nerve endings alight. To maintain control, he focuses on the things he is doing to her instead. He delights in the silkiness of her hair as he runs his fingers through it, the salt of her sweat on his lips when he places a love bite on her collarbone.
It is almost over before they begin as her every muscle clenches tight around him. Her legs squeeze around his waist, and her arms lock so tight around his upper body that he can barely breathe. Her hands are fisted in his hair, and the way her teeth have latched onto his earlobe, he thinks she might draw blood. They spend an eternal moment frozen in place until they finally manage to drag each other back from the precipice. Neither of them wants this night to end, but the best they can do is to make the most of the few hours they have left.
"Slowly," she whispers softly in his ear.
His entire body is tense and aching with the animal urge just to take her now, but as certain as he is that she would happily accommodate him, he will not let himself do it. This is their last chance. It will be the memory they each hold onto for the rest of their lives. They must share equally in creating it. It has to be about both of them.
"Touch me," he pleads on a ragged gasp.
"Where?"
"Doesn't matter."
Gradually, her fingers untangle from his hair. One hand kneads the muscles at the back of his neck while the other glides up and down the length of his spine, the fingernails lightly scraping against his skin. The rhythmic motions relax his tense muscles, and eventually he can breathe again.
He begins placing kisses on any exposed flesh his lips can find, her neck, her jaw, behind her ear, her forehead, her eyelids, her cheeks, her lips, until she leans back from him. With one hand still hooked round the back of his neck to keep herself from toppling backwards, she puts a finger to her lips kisses it, then transfers the kiss to him by touching his lips before she lets the finger slide down over his chin, along his neck, and down his midline to his navel.
Lucas shudders as she dips her finger inside, and she chuckles softly.
"I have been obsessed with your belly button since the first time I saw it," she says.
"Why?"
"It's so…tiny…really, and perfect…and really fucking sexy," she says as she lightly rims it with her fingertip. "I keep wondering what it would be like to kiss it."
"Oh, God!"
Lucas can only moan as she slides off him and leans down to satisfy her curiosity.
Her mouth is warm and wet and far too inquisitive, her lips are soft, and for reasons that he cannot explain, he has to thrust his hips when her tongue delves inside his middle. He has never imagined that his navel could be such a strong erogenous zone, but in less than a minute, he is begging her. For mercy.
"Please," he whimpers. "Please. I want…I want…"
"What, Lucas?" she asks huskily.
He can only make a keening whine as she licks around the edge of the aperture.
"Tell me," she encourages him.
He tangles his fingers in her curls and brings her up to face him.
"Both of us, together," he finally manages to gasp.
"So do I," she tells him with an eager smile, "but I couldn't go the rest of my life without having done that to you, and it seemed like my last chance."
Lucas gives a harsh laugh that turns into a needy sob at the end.
"You're absolutely bloody bonkers, you know that?"
"Yes," she says, and settles astride his hips once again.
LUCAS AWAKES WITH A CONTENTED MOAN. The last thing he remembers is an explosion of light and sensation overwhelming his consciousness. He is about to let himself slip back into a comfortable doze when something warm and wet slides against the ridges of his ear.
He smirks and says quietly, "Josie, if that's the cat, he's going to become a pelt."
Sharp teeth clamp down lightly on his earlobe and he hears a husky chuckle.
"Listen to you, threatening my cat," she says, "and I didn't even make you wash first. You're an ingrate."
He rolls over on his side to look at her and says, "My apologies. I'll have to find a way to make it up to you."
"You're welcome to try," she says with an inviting grin.
Her skin is shimmering with perspiration. A drop of sweat has pooled at the notch between her collarbones, and that gives him an idea.
"Perhaps we should start with getting you cleaned up," he says.
He dips his head to lick the moisture from her skin, and can't stop a lusty laugh when he hears her emit a shuddering gasp.
"MAYBE, IF WE DON'T GO TO SLEEP, morning will never come," Josie murmurs as she presses a kiss to Lucas's breastbone.
He pulls her closer, moves so that their bodies are touching in as many places as possible. He wishes there was a way for them to share the same skin.
"I wish it was that easy," he sighs, and rubs her back.
"Why can't it be?" she asks.
"Fine, come back to England with me," he offers.
"Stay here with me," she counters.
"That's why," he tells her.
Josie sighs.
"I guess it's all a matter of timing," she says. "If we had met four years ago, just after I retired from the Corps and before I started teaching, I would have left with you in a heartbeat. Now, I have a niche here, a place where I belong, commitments, expectations, family responsibilities. I have a life."
"And if Harry had sent me here two years ago, just on the heels of coming home from Russia, when I still felt like I wasn't really wanted, needed, or trusted, I would have stayed," Lucas tells her. "Now, Harry relies on me. My team looks to me for leadership, especially now that our Section Chief is in hospital. I have assets who won't trust anyone else. My career's back on track, it's everything I imagined it would be when I first joined up as a naïve kid."
Josie snuggles against him.
"I'm not sure whether that's wonderful for us or whether it sucks," she murmurs sleepily.
"I think it's a little of both," Lucas mutters into her hair. "It's just life."
THE ROUGH TONGUE CARESSING HIS ELBOW definitely does not belong to Josie, but the sun is already well up in the sky, so Lucas doesn't mind the intrusion so much. Alexei is puttering about in the kitchen area. Since he is obviously busy cooking, Lucas doesn't bother him to step out. Instead, he wakes Josie and they quietly pull their clothes on under the covers.
"What's for breakfast?" he asks when he and Josie approach the table.
"Ah, good morning!" Alexei greets them. "Did you sleep well? The bloody cat kept me awake all night."
Lucas smirks and translates for Josie.
"We slept fine, thank you," she replies with a chuckle.
Lucas translates, and adds, "And thank you for keeping the cat occupied and allowing us to have the night together."
"I was happy to do it, my friend," Alexei says. "I am sorry the two of you couldn't find your happy ending."
"As am I," Lucas admits, "but it may be for the best. Knowing what I do would have caused her too much worry."
"She will worry for you anyway," Alexei says.
"Perhaps," Lucas agrees, "but not as much as if she were with me every day."
"Excuse me! I'm feeling a little left out here," Josie interrupts teasingly.
"Sorry, we were just talking about the cat being a bloody nuisance," Lucas says.
"No, you weren't," Josie insists. "Not in that tone of voice."
"No, we weren't," Lucas admits, "but I'm not going to translate. Now, I think I paid my dues last night. Are you going to show me how you cheated at poker?"
THE MORNING PASSES IN A BLUR. Lucas can't believe that even after fetching Josie a drink, he failed to notice that she could read his cards in the highly polished glass cabinet doors behind him. They wash the breakfast dishes, pack their gear, and before they know it, the time has come to head out into the woods and verify the body dump.
Of course, Boo wants to tag along, and, of course, he manages to slip out as they are leaving. It takes the three of them working in concert almost ten minutes to corral the wily cat and shut him up safely in the cabin. As they tramp away, Lucas can't help looking back over his shoulder. The sight of the cat sitting in the windowsill watching them abandon him is as comical as it is pathetic. When Josie catches him glancing back, she nudges him slightly with her elbow.
"In five minutes, he will forget that he wanted to come with us," she says. "Less, if he spots another housefly."
Lucas huffs a quiet laugh and falls into step beside her.
They walk for about fifteen minutes before Josie stops them.
"We need to move as quietly as possible from here on," she whispers. "If our friends are dealing honestly with us, they should have come and gone more than an hour ago. If they're still out here, they are up to no good and there is likely to be a fight. I don't want them to know we're here until we are right on top of them. If you vary the timing of your footsteps…"
"You'll blend in better with the natural environmental sounds, I know," Lucas says.
"Learned that in spy school, did you?" Josie teases.
"Actually, my dad taught me," he replies. "He's an avid birdwatcher, and I used to tag along when I was a boy. We used the same technique to creep up on nesting water birds."
"You are a man of many talents," she says.
Lucas just grins in reply before he translates the important bits for Alexei and gets a nod of understanding.
It is impossible to be completely silent when walking through the forest. Even in high summer, deeply shaded woods have dried leaves on the ground. But by being deliberate in their movements and taking care to lift their feet and set them down on top of the leaves rather than shuffling through them, Josie, Lucas, and Alexei manage to walk the last few hundred yards to the body dump coordinates without sounding like a herd of buffalo trampling the underbrush.
At the base of the final hill, Josie indicates an uprooted pine.
"If anyone is waiting for us, we will be able to see them from behind good cover," she whispers. "If it looks like trouble, don't shoot until I give the word."
"If it looks like trouble…"
"Remember where you are," she interrupts him, "There are rednecks in the trailer park downstream from the cabin who will know the sound of gunfire if they hear it, and you don't have a silencer for you weapon. They will also know that there is no reason for anyone to be hunting these woods at this time of year. Fire one shot, maybe two, they'll think it is one of the neighbors shooting a groundhog digging in the flower bed. More than that, and they will know someone is up to something. I'd rather not risk them calling the police, or, God forbid, coming to investigate the matter themselves."
"Well, then, what do you plan to do if there is trouble?"
"I guess that depends on whether we can find another way out of it," she replies.
Lucas doesn't like her answer.
"I'll wait as long as I can," he promises, "but if I think the time has come to shoot, I'm not waiting for your permission. Sorry."
Josie clearly doesn't like his answer either, but she's not going to argue the point.
"Fine. Just give me a chance to handle it first," she whispers, and before he can reply, she's creeping up the slope toward the fallen tree.
SOONER OR LATER, things have to start going our way, Lucas thinks when he peers down the far side of the slope to find three burly men and a tall redheaded woman in a trench coat and trouser suit who broadcasts FBI waiting for them.
Two of the men are carrying Kalashnikov rifles, a dead giveaway that theirs is no more an officially sanctioned operation that Lucas's mission, and one of them has an American M-16. All three have silencers. Josie makes sure Lucas knows about the silencers by pointing her hand in the shape of a gun, pointing at the tip of the finger that represents the barrel, and mouthing, very slowly, the word si-len-cer.
Lucas gives her an unamused smirk and she sticks her tongue out at him.
"So, what's the plan?" he whispers as he crouches down beside Josie and Alexei.
"I'm going to…"
Before she can finish, she's cut off by a whispered curse from Alexei.
"What is it?" Lucas demands.
"I left the skylight open."
"So?"
"The cat…"
"I very much doubt that the bloody cat can climb out of the skylight!" Lucas growls, sotto voce.
"He already has," Alexei replies, and gestures into the woods.
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