Free Mary Wine by Dream Surrender Page B

back onto his knees he considered her as she lay in his bed. the globes of her breasts gleamed against the navy blue of his sheets. her nipples were beaded into hard little nubs that his mouth was watering to taste.
    and he was going to get that taste. “one way or another, loren. right here in this bed, i will have you. soon.”
    * * * * *
    “no self-pity” was definitely one of her rules, but loren didn’t think it applied to contemplating her temptations. twenty-four hours later she was still thinking about it. well, him. them. loren just didn’t know anymore. it was just possible she was one of the stupidest humans on the planet.
    rather ironic when you coupled that with toby’s intelligence level.
    at thirty years of age, you’d think she’d have managed to gain some level of comfort with her own sexuality. all loren felt was the awkwardness of inexperience. her breasts were still sensitive. of course that might just be due to the fact that all she’d done all night long was dream about rourke and the way he’d run his hands over her.
    her head was killing her and there was only so much help that a girl could expect from coffee. loren rubbed her forehead but headed back to the kitchen for another cup
    of coffee anyway.
    her cell phone rang, piercing the silence. loren reached for it happily.
    maybe her real problem was boredom. four days on this mountain was getting old. there was a limit to the amount of e-mail she received. even the spam ads were looking interesting this morning.
    48

    nothing but static came through the phone. loren jabbed the off button and went toward the kitchen. most of her calls came through as static. the military element surrounding her seemed to cut the satellite signal on her civilian cell phone. she was even in the mood to listen to her mother tell her how wrong she was.
    pouring the steaming coffee into her mug, loren smiled as she caught the rich aroma. rourke campbell sure did know the value of good coffee. his kitchen didn’t stock the bargain stuff, no sir.
    it was pure columbian roast. there were about fifty firefighters in los angeles who thought lousy coffee was a test of manhood.
    stepping onto the porch, loren considered her son. toby was still infatuated with the panthers. that wasn’t something to worry about just yet. in fact, loren found herself rather grateful for the aircraft. when toby got bored, it was best to run for cover.
    all manner of interesting things tended to happen when her son was searching for something interesting. things like, the fbi showing up on your doorstep. toby had hacked into too many top-secret files to count, and he was rarely caught. it had been a relief when dr. jasper caught her son. the nasa scientist had a lot in common with her son. the man had given toby direction.
    movement caught her eye and loren turned toward two of the rangers who were standing guard. a third was slowly moving toward her. he walked with the heavy steps of a dying man. loren knew the walk instantly. it was a shuffle and pull, like the person was trying to wrench his body away from the ground.
    his face was chalk-white. he had every piece of gear strapped onto his back and his eyes stared forward. he shuffled again as his fellow rangers noticed him but they didn’t break through the man’s shock.
    “don’t touch him.” loren issued her command as she stepped out of the man’s path. bright red blood ran down his checks just like tears.
    his teeth were stained red. he stumbled forward again and stopped directly in front of the house. his arm moved
    up and cut a perfect salute toward the front door before he dropped to the ground in a boneless pile.
    the rangers moved forward and loren launched herself at them. surprise gave her the ability to shove both men off their feet. but that same fall took her down with them. one solid fist hit her jaw and her head snapped back with the blow.
    “he’s infected.” both men looked at their comrade before they began