“You’re empty, kid.”
Her face screwed up in confusion.
“No, that doesn’t make sense. I don’t remember…”
Noah looked at the scorched remains of what might have once been a bedroom doorway. There was no way that they’d have been blown back from it safely. Jacqui followed his gaze and the look on her face said it all. Perhaps she’d never been that scared after all. Not scared enough to do anything about it, anyways.
She’d shielded them. Noah supposed it had happened reflexively, and she hadn’t even realized it.
“What do we do, Noah?”
The bodyguard looked at her. There weren’t many options. The windows were barred. He could see the pin was welded to the door. She could unlock it, he knew. It wouldn’t be hard. It would be just like the time before, no struggle at all. But she needed power, and there wasn’t an alternative.
Noah grabbed her head and pulled her lips to his. He could see the panic setting in, and he’d have to use that. His arms wrapped around her, holding her tight, and finally she started kissing back. Her body pressed into his, arms entwining around his waist, her feet straining to bring her lips closer to his, to bring her closer.
The air in the room seemed to sense the panic turning to arousal, and it buzzed softly, driving both of them further and further into arousal.
Noah’s hand slipped around the back of Jacqui’s neck, pulling her in as his other pressed against her through her jeans. He had made love to a great many clients, but this was an emergency—this was going to be fucking, plain and simple. The difference played out on his face, as his lips started to tighten against his teeth, his expression lustful, almost angry.
Jacqui pulled away.
“Are you sure?” Her voice said she didn’t want to stop.
“No,” Noah answered.
And then he was pulling her blouse open. He fumbled with the buttons, more than one popping off into the room. Her breasts bounced eagerly out when he pulled her bra up. He sucked a nipple hungrily, tugging at the button of her jeans with one hand. She reached down to help him. She pulled her jeans down over her hips.
Losing her balance, she hopped across the room, bumping into the table.
Noah watched a glass of water start to tip, as if it were in slow-motion. Time, it seems, was slowing down. He followed Jacqui across the room and steadied the glass. He picked her up, her legs wrapping around his waist as their lips met once more. He laid her down on the couch, kneeling between her thighs and pulling her panties to the side.
He didn’t go for her pussy right away, though. He breathed on it, so close that Jacqui could almost imagine what it would feel like for him to bury his tongue in her folds. And then he kissed her thigh, his lips softly touching her dark ebony skin. His thumb started to rub her lips softly, never quite venturing all the way into them. Jacqui moaned in frustration, tangling her fingers into her bodyguard’s hair.
The energy was moving through both of them, now. Like licking a battery, only through their entire body. She pulled his face into her. She wanted it now, and he would give it to her. His tongue moved, and with it his hands, rubbing and spreading and thrusting. Jacqui squirmed under him. She was so close now. At any second she would cum. And then she did. Moaning, pulling her lover’s hair, she pressed his face into her mound. He pulled her clit between his lips, sucking as she rode out the orgasm.
She wasn’t sure when she closed her eyes, but when she opened them Noah had taken his cock out. He rubbed it against her entrance.
“Ready?”
Jacqui let her eyes shut again, nodding slowly. He pushed against her, sliding in easily. Her pussy stretched to accommodate him, buried deep inside. For a moment, he held himself still here. He drew her breast back into his mouth, grazing the dark nipple with his teeth.
Then the moment was broken, and he thrust into her. He used her hips as a handle, riding as hard and as fast as he could.
“Right there,” Jacqui cried out.
She was close, Noah knew. It would only be another moment for him, as well. After days of wanting, of looking without touching, it was a matter of time. With the situation around them, it was not the time for luxurious, slow lovemaking.
She squeezed around him, and he let go. His cum shot out in ropey strands, hot and thick. He buried his face in her neck, breathing in her scent. He could hear Jacqui gasp when his cock, still half-hard, twitched inside her.
“Noah?” Jacqui’s breath was ragged, and her forehead gleamed with sweat.
“Yes?” He rolled a brown nipple between his fingers, watching it pucker and swell.
“Can we, ah… do that again?” Noah stifled a laugh.
“If you insist. But” He looked pointedly around the room, a grin wide across his face. Still in an awful slow-motion, flames licked the far wall, and they watched as the white wallpaper yellowed and then burnt. “Not now.”
It didn’t occur to Noah that it might not work until he let his breath out, hearing the heavy metal sound of the lock opening. He pulled the gun out of his coat pocket. The time for tactful negotiation had passed.
They walked out of the room, and the sound of everything around him came back forcefully. The heat of the flame behind them washed over him suddenly and he felt a little bit sick. But he had a job to do, still, and he forced himself to wear the mask of professionalism that he wore with all of his other clients.
The sounds of footsteps echoed through the stair well, from above. Noah knew that the door had to have been locked manually, somehow; someone would be nearby who knew how to get to the bottom of this. Someone was running from the scene of a crime, running away from the only exit. There would only be two types of innocent bystander: The gawkers and the runners. And the runners would be making a beeline for the lobby now. Noah pocketed the pistol again and he ran.
Jacqui’s shoes slapped the cement flooring behind him, and for a moment Noah considered telling her to wait. But at the same time, he thought, there’s not going likely to be a happy ending. She should come, if for no reason other than to say goodbye to her brother.
They rounded the corner shoulder-to-shoulder. For his concerns, Noah noted, she was running as fast as he was, if not faster. She put her shoulder down into the cross-bar on the roof access door, flinging it open. Noah came through nary a second later.
A young man, hardly old enough to drink, stood on the roof. His figure was rail-thin, and if they’d passed on the street Noah might have felt bad for him. He had the face of a man who was down on his luck, creased with agitation and adrenaline.
He held Jacqui in a headlock. His free hand was behind his back. Noah knew he was going for a gun. He made the decision to shoot then. It was just a matter of time. He waited for a clear enough shot that it didn’t risk shooting Jacqui instead.
Then something unexpected happened. Jacqui lifted her knee high and brought her heel down on her brother’s foot hard. A sickly pop rang out and Manus’s grip loosened just enough that she pulled free. The young wiry man screamed out in pain, stumbling across the roof. Seeing that his plan had failed, and without recourse, Manus reached once more for the gun.
Noah waited just a half-second. Long enough to be sure that he wasn’t shooting an unarmed man. Then he pulled the gun from his coat and fired. Jacqui’s breath came in fast, ragged spurts. Noah put his arm around her, pulling her into a comforting embrace.
“Come on, miss Jones. I’ll take you home.”