Chapter 30: Lovemaking

Harm was in the kitchen starting dinner when Mac slammed the front door. He decided on homemade pizza as kneading the dough provided a stress relief not unlike chopping wood. He had created two personal pizzas, hers topped with different meats and his with veggies. He'd been about to place them in the oven until his wife had thrown the door.

It startled him and as Harm headed to the living room all he saw was a flash of drab green disappearing into their bedroom. He waited several minutes for her return and when Mac didn't, Harm gave chase.

He found a trail of clothing leading to the bathroom, her jacket hung on the doorknob, her tie and blouse on the floor. Still wearing her skirt, Mac kneeled over the toilet dry heaving. He stood by and wordlessly hurried to the linen closet grabbing a washcloth that he ran under the faucet and pressed to her neck.

The cool cloth felt good and when she made to throw up again, Harm rubbed a hand up and down her back. "Easy, Marine."

"I hate throwing up." She stated, flushing the toilet and sitting on the floor. He was still pressing the cloth against her skin and she felt thankful that Harm was around.

"Don't think anyone actually enjoys it."

Mac also felt ashamed. Her intent had been to lock herself in the bathroom and take a long, long shower in efforts to avoid him. She wanted to evade his questioning eyes and the unsurmountable things he wanted to know. It was the reason why she'd walked to the small park nearby and sat there thinking.

If the hypnosis did a damn thing it was only to manifest what she already knew. Memories of Nazanin were amplified now, living within her as if she really were two persons. Those memories came with feelings like the ones Nazanin had for her husband which were not unlike the ones Mac felt for Harm.

"I was hypnotized." She said and then snorted at how stupid that sounded. "God, that sounds…" Mac pursed her lips together and swallowed down more of the bile that rose. "I didn't exactly agree to it...I just...it was...weird."

"Does it actually work?" He rewet the rag and pressed it to the back of her neck thankful that some of the pallor had gone.

"Somewhat…"

"Can you talk about it?"

She bit her lower lip and looked up at him with sad eyes. "It was nothing but her memories, things I guess I knew but...It was me. She is me… Christ, Harm...I want to forget about Nazanin and her thing with Farid...I want to rip it out of my system and burn the hell out of it."

But she couldn't because she lived it. Nazanin's life had been real.

"I'm sorry, Mac."

"I am too." She sighed and pressed the back of her head against the tiled wall feeling absolutely drained and a little worthless. Eugenia had been able to extract some information both from when she was initially taken and from her life as Nazanin.

They now knew what Sadik had been after. As Mac had been moved from Paraguay to Egypt there had been many conversations from his men spoken in Farsi. Human trafficking, Stinger missiles, an army he was creating to fight the infidels in smaller attacks at big, public events. But that had been nearly four years prior.

There was nothing after the crash in Cairo and how Nazanin came to be. But there were details about why she was taken. "I was sold to Farid's uncle Afshin. That's why I was taken to Egypt. There was a...a limousine waiting at the docks the day we arrived...I was gonna be separated from the others…"

It made sense, some of the arguments that Afshin had with Farid and why her husband vehemently defended her against his father and uncle. "So Afshin sold you to Farid?"

"No. That part is still a blank...I just remember waking up at a hospital, Farid telling me I was his wife." She sighed heavily. "I don't think Farid is bad, Harm...Not completely."

"He hurt you. Hurt the others."

She nodded slowly, unable to disagree that, in some respects, Farid was a bad man. And yet this bad man protected her against his family and against Sadik. "He kept Sadik away from me too." But, there was no denying Sadik had been at her home in Tehran more than once. "But he may be using Sadik for something or vice versa...I remembered something before we left to Paris…"

The sound of a helicopter had woken Nazanin from a fitful sleep. She wasn't sleeping well since the procedure although, medically she was fine and had healed. Or so Farid's doctors had said. Mentally, she felt anguished and the fact that her husband was somewhat alienating her made the grief far worse. She deserved that,.of course. You don't simply rip a child out of your body like she had and try to keep that kind of secret from the man she...loved.

It was done and she needed to move past it, part of her knew how to do that. Nazanin felt that deep inside she knew how to deal with the intense weight of emotional pain. She championed it several times in her life even if she didn't remember specifics.

After showering and dressing, she made to leave her rooms only to find two of the guards blocking the door. They were cold with her, brash when one spoke. "Farid said you go nowhere without his approval."

"But I wish to walk in the gardens."

"It cannot be. Stay inside." The guard that was normally caring for her spat in an angry voice. He was the youngest of the group, the one that doted over her hand and foot. His cold tone made her frown.

If this were punishment, it was silly of her husband to simply lock her up when the mansion had passages built into the walls - hidden corridors which led to different areas of the sprawling home. She knew them all like the back of her hand and a day in the inception of their marriage when he'd showed her where each led - just in case. Determined, Nazanin pushed at a hidden latch in the shelving of her living room and leaned her body into the secret door. It opened with a little effort and once inside she pushed against it again until Nazanin heard the 'click' of the lock.

The corridors were dark, frighteningly so which was why a small wood table sat at every entryway in the corner, a top was an unlit candle and matches. She felt for them in the dark and was careful with her niqab as she struck the match and pressed the tiny flame to the wick. It smelled damp and musty and she minded her footing as she walked over uneven flooring until she reached the

The passage from her room exited at the main living room where one could use several other passages to navigate most of the house. She glanced at each secret entryway when voices, loud male ones echoed in the hall. Frightened that she'd be caught, Nazanin slipped back into the passage but didn't let the latch click fully closed.

She noticed the men were now all in the sitting room and from her hiding spot Nazanin could hear them speak. The improperly closed panel left the tiniest of gaps for her to look out of and she found the three Ahmadi men along with the man who had harassed her at a gathering.

He was different, hair dyed jet black, his skin colored lighter than the brown he had before. The only reason Nazanin recognized him was the voice - that voice which terrified her. This Sadik was a terrible, terrible man but why had he returned to her home? Farid promised the man would never return.

Nazanin jumped when the man slammed his hand onto a table in the center, demanding the attention of the three Ahmadi men who were bickering. Javad, Farid's father stood, clearly angered by Sadik's audacity. "How dare you! Who do you think you are?"

"Allah's messenger." Without warning, Sadik produced a knife which he rammed straight into Javad's gut. Nazanin bit back a gasp, her hand coming to cover her mouth as she stood in the dark passage. For some reason her other hand came down to her belly pressing against where she felt an imaginary knife slam into. She could see the evil in the man's eyes much as if he'd been standing in front of her.

Sadik held his hand still as a threat emanated from his lips. "If I turn my fist and pull, you will die here. No one will be able to seal the wound in time...Don't tempt me." Instead, he drew the knife out slowly, almost surgically and pushed Javad into Farid's arms. "When we make a deal, I expect it to be fulfilled."

"What of the girl? What of that deal?" Afshin said.

Farid stared at his uncle with hatred in his eyes. "We've discussed this...she is not meant to be touched. Nazanin is mine...You agreed to this uncle.

"You decided not I."

A malevolent laughter echoed in the large room coming from that bad, bad man who was now wiping the blade of his knife along a curtain. "You are fools. The woman is an infidel...one of them. Soon she will bring your demise. No matter." He sheathed the knife beneath his suit jacket and grinned. "I want what you owe me. I want it in diamonds and I want it in four weeks time. I made your family, I can destroy it."

Javad lay in the ground with his hand pressed against the bleeding wound. "Allah will punish you for this."

"Allah doesn't have the guts to try."

Even after the men dispersed in effort to take Javad to a doctor, Nazanin remained hidden in the passage. She braced herself against the stone wall and stood in the darkness. She couldn't stop shaking, her body had begun to almost convulse. For some reason, when she closed her eyes she could see another man laying on the ground in the middle of a field. He was bleeding and her hand covered the wound trying to stop it. She watched as the light in his eyes dimmed and a sense of desperate agony stretched out over her heart gripping it fiercely.

In the distance she could hear a voice and that malevolent laughter that came from Sadik Fahd. He would haunt her forever...

Mac sat in the tub, warm, lavender scented water easing the tension from her body. After telling Harm all that she could remember, he'd run a bath, helped her remove what was left of her clothing and gave her privacy to use the head and brush her teeth.

Harm returned with a can of ginger ale and when he made to walk away, Mac stopped him. "Can you stay?"

"Of course." So he sat on the floor with his back against the tub. Instrumental music played softly from the living room and he let out an audible sigh when Mac's hand ran through his hair. They had been sitting together quietly letting the music wash over them the only sounds of water occasionally breaking the surface. "That feels good."

"It does, doesn't it?" She smiled and dug her fingers a little deeper, scraping his scalp which made Harm moan. "You're too tense, flyboy."

"Tell me something I don't know...So what happens now?"

"They'll probably call me back in."

Harm didn't want to consider that the agency could possibly want more out of her but, it was a possibility. And he would have to shoulder more of this angst because he swore to himself that he would. "You can't."

"It's inevitable and I can't hide away forever. Maybe another round of hypnosis might help me remember more."

"Mac…"

"I love you." She said suddenly as if reading that his thoughts had turned dark. Mac liked the way his body instantly eased from just three little words. She loved telling him because she liked the way it felt when she said it outloud. "I love you."

"I know." He took her hand, pressing his lips to her palm that was now healed save for the discolored skin. "I love you too…. I spoke to , he spoke to me, showed up here."

"And?"

"Annnnd...I'll see someone. I don't want to but, I'll see someone." Harm heaved another sigh. Admitting he had a problem wasn't a strong suit but the feelings he kept bottling up were bound to erupt and Chegwidden was right, he needed to do this for himself. "I have this...this...anger inside. I don't know how to stop it."

"You can't change things. You can't blame yourself either. We're too late for that."

"I know." He sighed again when her fingers dug back into his hair, pulling lightly on the strands. Why did that feel so good? He felt his body relax, the tension in the air easing to nothing. The track on her CD player changed to one that was a little more sultry and then he heard Mac giggle lightly. "What's so amusing?"

"Memories." Her fingers rolled down his head to the back of his neck, over the shell of his bent ear.

"Good ones?"

"Mmm hmmm. The bed and breakfast in Oregon." Mac's voice was soft, seductive even.

They'd been sent across the country to investigate a crash of a military plane that was not where it should be. Just a month or after being married and Harm had the idea to extend their TAD for a day longer. "Oh, that place."

"Mmm." Mac loved this place, the tiny bed and breakfast Harm found on the internet. It sat along the ocean on a cliff overlooking the Pacific. What she loved the most was the large tub. It was deep, long and perfectly fit the two of them.

A large window was just in front, views of the craggy cliffs and the water made for the most romantic of settings. Soft music played from the bedroom, the scent of honey and ginger hung in the air.

One strong arm wrapped around her just beneath her breasts the other was below the water. His fingers spun lazy circles on her leg moving higher and higher and higher. "I wonder…" Harm's voice began thick and sexy, instantly arousing her. The fact that he could do that by just talking amazed her but ever since spending their first night together, she was much more attune to her awareness of him.

"Mmm?"

His lips came to her neck, teasing her skin with a soft kiss as he spoke. "How fast can I make you come with just my fingers?"

Mac bit her lower lip as he said those words, the nether part of her anatomy tingling in anticipation of what Harm's wonderfully skilled fingers could do. He hadn't touched her there yet although his hand was a mere few inches away resting on her inner thigh.

"Or how slow." He decided because as alluring it was to make her come, Harm wanted to pull it from her slowly to have Mac insane with lust for him. His hand cupped her sex giving a gentle squeeze. "It's sexy to hear you come, Mac."

She felt the evidence of his own arousal beginning to press against the small of her back and when Mac reached around to touch, a hand at her wrist stopped her. "Harm?"

"No. Later." He couldn't put into words how much he wanted to please her, to touch her, to stroke her body like an instrument and hear the sounds she made. His fingers rolled over her most sensitive spot, moving with more pressure and then easing off completely.

Harm felt her legs tense and try to close to keep his hand still. "Slow, Marine...trust me."

"I do. I do trust you." She enjoyed the tips of his nibble fingers pressing against her, slipping between her sex. One finger parted her and Mac eagerly celenched at it. "Oh, Harm…"

Her body felt flushed and tingly, the building orgasm slowed when his finger pulled out completely. Harm's mouth found her neck, nipping and kissing her skin, grinding as she groaned when he stopped touching her. "I love you, Sarah."

One hand was at her breast, gently kneading the soft globe, a finger running circles around her nipple in time with his other hand between her thighs. Mac's hands held his legs, her grip tightening when he stroked her again and didn't stop until the delightful sounds of her passion echoed between the walls. "I love you too."

"That was pretty incredible." Harm said, attempting to ignore the tightening of his groin. They made love in that tub once and spent a good time later using most of the towels to mop up the watery mess they made. "I'll take you back one day, I promise."

"I'd like that...But I want you today. Now...Forever." Mac sat up and brought her arms completely around his torso, resting her head against his shoulder. "I don't want to think of Farid anymore...I don't want Nazanin's memories of him….I don't want her stupid feelings….I love you, I want to be with you.. I want you to...to make me forget him."

She whispered into his ear and Harm shivered at her tone of voice that still held that edge of seduction if not a twinge of apprehension. "Love me...Help me forget him."

Harm stood and helped her up, his arms enveloping her tightly as his mouth found hers. Mac's skin wet through his shirt, he felt the warmth of it spread to his flesh underneath as he raised her up and carried her to the bedroom.

"I want you...I want to feel you inside of me." She said when Harm placed her on the edge of the bed and stepped back to pull off his clothes. Mac watched, her eyes scanning his body appreciatively. She ignored the bullet wounds and scars, moving up from his hardened length and back to his eyes.

They hadn't made love since back at the cabin, when her memories were her own and no trace of Nazanin could be found. Now she wanted him, needed him to love her body and soul and erase Farid from her system if just for the night. Maybe forever.

Harm didn't dare speak, he was too afraid that this was some sort of dream or that speaking would break her desire for him. God, he wanted her too and had been waiting for her sake. He didn't want Nazanin or Farid or anything else to come between them. She bit her lower lip as his hand moved down his body to touch himself. He knew her depths would feel like warm velvet wrapped around him and as much as he longed to bury himself into her, Harm had other ideas.

He wanted her hot and bothered, wet from both her arousal and his tongue when it stroked her intimately. Her legs spread instinctively as his head ducked between her thighs, his mouth finding her warm and waiting. He drank from her deeply like savoring sweet nectar, his tongue pressing against her sensitive flesh until she raised herself up to meet the wanted invasion. "Oh, Harm…"

Her breath caught with each swirl of his tongue, the lancing movements that forced Mac to press herself against him again and again. She threaded her fingers through his hair urging his eager mouth to nibble and suck. Each pull of his lips sending waves of tingling warmth spreading through her body. "Oh!"

Farid was never this way with Nazanin, never pleased her in such a way so that she was wanton with desire for him. She lay with him because he was her husband and maybe enjoyed some of the sex but, Harm...Oh Harm. There was no one like him.

Earth Shattering and completely exquisite was the dizzying feelings he gave her and with tightly closed eyes all Mac could do was feel. One hand was still in his hair, the other still clutching the sheets. Her head rolled side to side on the mattress and she couldn't stop moaning his name the faster his mouth took from her. "Harm...Oh, Harm yes...I love you."

Beneath the palm of his hand, Harm felt her start to shake, the tension building so that Mac dug her heels to the mattress and rose up to meet his hungry mouth. He loved having her like this, tasting the depths of her core when his tongue penetrated her. She would lose herself in him and every part of that arrogant, male pride didn't let him stop until Mac came.

The sound of his name on her lips was something of a siren's call and he wanted to plunge his hardened length deep and lose himself in her forever. He ached for her so badly Harm felt like he could go up in flames at any moment.

One final nibble and her body trembled, her breathing turning so erratic so that his name was now cried in broken syllables. Mac's legs closed involuntarily and Harm came up to his knees

stroking up and down his rigid staff as he watched her ride each aftershock.

His eyes scanned over the almost flawless skin, glistening from a fine sheen of sweat. The radiant beauty of a woman that was properly pleased took his breath away. "You're so beautiful."

Mac was flushed, her cheeks tinted a delightful shade of pink. She was breathing hard, the rise and fall of her chest making his eyes drop to her breasts. As he touched himself, he bent over taking one taut nipple into his mouth. It swelled more beneath his tongue and the sucking motion that stoked the fire in her body again.

His heart may have skipped a beat the second Mac touched him and her small hand stroked his iron hard length milking a bead of arousal out of it's tip. As she touched him, Harm's hand moved down her body, down the valley of her breast, over her tummy and lower until one finger parted her folds.

Mac moaned against his lips when he kissed her again and the movement of her hand on him quickened. Their ministrations dizzying in their efforts and Harm wanted so badly to feel her warm depths wrapped around him. He needed her like the very breath he took.

She arched up to meet his fingers, shaking when they curled upwards. Damn, he was good at this but Mac wanted more...she needed so much more. "Harm, I need you...Now."

He would have laughed at how in sync they were if he wasn't desperately in need of Mac - his wife. His wife and no one else's. She'd parted her thighs, her need nearly had Mac begging for him to join them intimately and everything afterwards happened in some sort of slow motion.

When he kneeled between her legs, when the tip of him slid over her folds, wetting himself with her juices. When his mouth found hers and they kissed slowly. When her tongue found his, swept over once twice and then she felt him enter her. "Oh!"

No, it never, ever felt this way with Farid. Nazanin never knew the simple pleasures that a man could extract from her. She would never know the sort of power a woman could have over a man by simply tightening her body around his.

Harm was barely inside of her, holding onto the last shred of control so that he could look at her lying beneath him. She was heartbreakingly beautiful and he felt undeserving of her and the way Mac looked at him with such love and affection. "I love you, Sarah."

Sarah. She was Sarah/Mac and Nazanin would never be part of her again.

One leg draped over his waist, the other lay straight next to his and she called his name when Harm pushed deep and stopped to look at her. "Ask me who I am, Mac."

She laughed, throaty and sexy because the expression on his face was too cute for words, the way his brown furled as he shook from the effort it took not to thrust into her. "Who are you?"

"Your husband."

"My only husband." Mac corrected, her hands coming up to frame his face. "I love you, Harm."

His heart beat wildly in his chest both from the restraint of holding back and the feelings he had for this woman - his wife. Mac felt so damned good wrapped around him and when her hips ground into him from below, the control snapped in two. "You're not playing fair."

"Maybe I am?"

He pulled out completely and then took her to the hilt with one quick thrust, plunging deeply into his wife. "I know what you like." Harm said, that arrogance returning to his voice when her body trembled beneath his. His voice was gravely, thick with arousal and it served to make her body clutch at his greedily. He was still moving slowly with one occasionally deep thrust that stole her breath and Mac wanted more from him, so much that she ran her nails down his spine, stopping to let them bite into his rounded six.

An animal-like growl escaped from the back of his throat and Harm came up onto his knees, his hips pushing forward to thrust in and out of her faster. The sounds of skin on skin mingled with that of the music from Mac's CD player and the symphony of their pleasure. Each hard stroke made her forget Farid a little more. Every intense gaze from him, Mac felt to the depths of her soul. They remembered how to move together, how their bodies fit like pieces of a puzzle. Oh, how loved her, his body pushing feverishly in and out of hers as she shook beneath him.

Mac's climax was violent as were the aftershocks that made her tremble. She grasped his shoulders, held onto him when with one final thrust she felt Harm come. His hot seed spilled into her and with one final yell of her name he pulled out and collapsed next to her.

A blue minivan was stopped just a half block away from the apartment, far enough to avoid suspicion but he could still see the hue of light glowing from apartment 201. The Assassin was still there, still watching, his eyes squinting to change the perspective of the window he'd stared at for nearly a day now.

The minivan wasn't his first choice of vehicle for the assignment but it's darkened tints hid him away and the varying storage holds gave him places to stash a multitude of weapons should they be needed. There was also room to stretch or sleep, something he would need as he was in for another long night and maybe a few more to come. His phone rang and he rolled his eyes as he raised the receiver to his ear. Of course the voice on the other end would bark orders and claim to command him. He nearly laughed at that concept, lone wolves were never reigned in.

There had been a time where he followed rules and now he was his own man, feared and revered just the same. An oxymoron that made him laugh bitterly. If they only knew the truth of what he was - the fact that Farid had let a wolf right into his home. "She arrived over an hour ago. He hasn't left."

The Assassin let out a breath and he quickly cut off the person on the phone. "I'll bring her to you and what about him?"

He had two employers at this point, two with very different opinions on what should be done. Farid wanted Nazanin back at all costs...all costs even if it meant murdering the bastard who took her. The Assassin wasn't afraid of death, he'd made a living out of it time and time again but he knew the Commander wouldn't let that woman go unless he put a bullet in his brain.

Those kinds of actions were dirty, messy and often led to investigations and questions. He would have to be immaculate, not leave a single trace and from what he'd learned, the building had cameras everywhere. There was likely no one scanning the images but it was a chance he wasn't willing to take. Disposing of bodies was also not his forte, it wasn't needed in the Middle East where having someone find a rotting corpse had better visual effects.

"I'll grab him too." His other employer wanted them both. An easier proposition if the man wasn't so big. He would fight, the Assassin knew which meant other methods would be needed - stealthier arrangements. He should break in now because he knew they were too busy with one another to realize someone had broken in. And yet he couldn't bring himself to just barge in; not when they were together.

He had zero doubts the pair were being intimate. The photos on the mantel showed the picture they tried to hide. Did that mean that Nazanin was a spy? A plant sent by some agency to destroy Farid? Whatever the case, his job was to bring her home. Any other discoveries would be at the interaction between husband and wife, Farid would want answers from her. "No, I don't think he'll let her go without a fight."

In the morning, before the sun rose, he would take them both.