Her face went flush.

"Don't be embarrassed," he said, teasing the corner of her mouth with his lips.

He'd always wondered what "good" girls dreamt of. The scenes in the romance novel he'd read had shocked him more than the first time he'd read a Penthouse letter. He still had a hard time believing Marianne read such things.

"I don't know," she said with a small shrug. "I think of someone dangerous. Deadly. A larger-than-life officer or agent who can come in like Rambo and yet still be tender to me." Her brown eyes seared him with a heartfelt longing. "Someone who sees me."

He frowned at her words. Who in their right mind couldn't see her? "I see you, Marianne," he whispered, kissing her, tasting the warmth of her mouth.

Her tongue was heaven. He loved the sensation of it stroking his while her breasts were flattened against his chest.

Marianne sighed as he left her lips and trailed scorching kisses over her. His lightly whiskered cheek scraped her while he moved down to her shorts.

She lifted her hips as he slowly, sensuously slid them down her legs and left her completely bare to him.

She'd never felt more vulnerable.

Kyle's gaze locked and held hers as he rose to his feet and kicked his boots off.

She held her breath as he reached to the waist of his unbuttoned pants and then slid them and his briefs down his long, hairy legs.

If she lived to the end of time, she wouldn't ever forget the way he looked standing there in the dim light of the lamp, his cock erect, his body perfect. He was pure male beauty. Completely unadorned and completely stunning.

With a charming smile he moved to a small backpack and pulled out a box of condoms and an army green bandanna.

"What are you doing?" she asked as he started folding up the olive green cotton fabric.

"Remember the scene with Ren in the cavern?"

Her face heated up instantly. "What about it?"

His smile turned ravenous. "I couldn't find the chocolate sauce, but..."

She stiffened as he put the bandanna over her eyes. "I don't know about this."

"Trust me, little teacher. I promise you, you won't regret it."

"I'd better not."

He knotted the blindfold over her eyes. Marianne swallowed as she tried to see through the fabric.

It was useless.

She had no idea where Kyle was. Not until she heard the sound of foil tearing. Then Kyle was back, his warm hands urging her toward the back of the cave.

"What are you doing?"

It felt as if he was seating her on a large rock that he had covered with one of the blankets. "I'm going to take my time savoring you, little teacher."

He rested her hips against the rock, then nudged her legs open.

Marianne leaned back, unsure of why she was allowing him to do this, and yet it was so wildly erotic that she couldn't bear the thought of stopping him.

Her entire body sizzled and throbbed with anticipation. With demanding hunger that longed to feel him deep inside her.

He trailed his hands from her knees, up the insides of her thighs. She shivered in expectation of him touching her where she ached for him.

He didn't, and she almost whimpered in disappointment.

Instead his hands skimmed up her ribs, massaging and tormenting her more.

"Touch me, Kyle," she whispered.

She felt his lips touch her breast. Marianne groaned as he swirled his tongue around her nipple, drawing it deep into his mouth while his hand skimmed down the outside of her thigh until he finally trailed it to the center of her.

His long, hard fingers parted her nether lips before they stroked her swollen cleft. She shivered as he massaged her clitoris.

She hissed as he finally gave her a modicum of relief.

Kyle growled at how good she tasted and at how well she responded to his caresses. He liked a fiery woman, and this one had more fire than her share.

Wanting more of her, he left her breast and kissed his way down to the part of her he wanted most.

She actually yelped the first time he licked her cleft. Laughing at her reaction, he spread her nether lips wide and ran his tongue over the hard edge of her clit, sucking and teasing her until she was on the brink of climax.

Marianne struggled to breathe. She leaned back on her arms, giving him as much of her as she could. Never in her life had she felt anything more incredible than him tasting her.

Wanting to see him, she started to remove the blindfold only to find his hands stopping her.

"I thought you wanted to be Ren," he said.

She hesitated. Ren was the kind of woman who would be in this cave with a stranger, not Marianne Webernec. Marianne always played by the rules. She always played it safe.

Today she didn't want to be a Goody Two-shoes.

"Okay."

Kyle kissed her shoulder, then turned her over so that she was leaning on her arms and stomach against the rock. Her back was completely exposed to him.

"Mmm," he breathed, running his hand over her hips as his nails gently scraped her skin and made her tingle all over. "You have the nicest ass I've ever seen."

He licked his way down her backbone until he reached the sensitive spot at the base of her spine. His hands massaged her thighs, sending ribbons of pleasure through her while his tongue delivered stroke after ecstatic stroke to her flesh.

He slid one finger down her cleft, making her shiver again. "Do you want me inside you, Marianne?"

"Yes."

He slid two fingers deep inside. She moaned at the ecstasy of his touch as he teased her unmercifully while she slowly rode his fingers.

He leaned his body against her so that she could feel his erection against her lower back as he rained kisses on her neck and shoulders.

She was breathless and weak from the pleasure of his touch. No one had ever been more attentive to her. With Kyle, she actually felt beautiful.

Desirable.

And that made her melt.

He moved his hand and then shifted behind her.

Marianne moaned as he slid himself slowly, inch by lush, incredible inch, inside her until he filled her to capacity.

Kyle growled at the feeling of her body welcoming his, of the way she felt as she lowered herself from her tiptoes down until he was even deeper inside her. It took every piece of control he had to make love to her slowly, gently, when what he really wanted to do was ravish her.

Since the moment he'd met her, he'd wanted nothing more than to have her.

And she was so worth it.

He held himself perfectly still as she rode him with soft, long strokes.

Grinding his teeth to hold off his orgasm, he cupped her breasts with his hands and let her take her satisfaction first.

Every woman had a rhythm to her, and Marianne's was sweeping and sweet. Slow and sensuous like a gentle breeze.

He savored the sensation of her hips grinding against him, of her sweet low moans of pleasure.

He leaned forward, over her back, and braced one hand beside hers on the rock so that he could use his other hand to stroke her clit in time to their movements.

Marianne groaned aloud as he touched her again. She reveled in the feeling of him behind her and in her while his hand teased her, and when she came, it was so intense that she screamed out.

"That's it, baby," Kyle whispered in her ear. "Don't hold back on me."

She didn't. Nor did he. He continued to stroke and tease her until the very last tremor had been gleaned from her body.

Weak, she fell forward.

Kyle picked her up and carried her back to the air mattress on the floor and removed her blindfold. His smile was dazzling as he covered her with his body and entered her again.

Marianne arched her back, groaning as his hard shaft slid back into her sensitive sheath.

Kyle's heart hammered as he thrust against her, wanting his own satisfaction. Her legs and arms were wrapped about him, cocooning him in her softness.

It was all he'd ever wanted.

Her body was paradise.

And when he found his own release, his head reeled from it. Growling, he buried his face in the fragrant sweetness of her neck and let the pleasure rip through him until he could barely breathe.

Every spasm, every wave shattered some part of him until he couldn't do anything more than whisper her name.

Now, that had been the best sex of his life.

Weak and spent, he gathered her into his arms and held her against his chest.

Neither spoke for the longest time as they lay there, sheltered together, completely relaxed.

Kyle didn't care if he ever moved again. Nothing could top what he'd just experienced.

"Do you think Tyson will be back after us?"

It took him a second to remember who Tyson was.

"No," he said. "I secured the perimeter. I'd know if he was anywhere nearby."

"You sure?"

"Absolutely. I made certain this place was safe from any intruders."

Marianne sighed as she lay in the shelter of his arms.

Kyle ran his hand over her soft skin as he savored the feel of her breath on his naked skin. He'd always loved the sensation of feminine flesh against his, but never more than he did at this moment.

How strange that he'd been honest with her when he'd never told any woman what he really did for a living. Not that there was any code of silence they had. BAD had been set up as a covert, ghost agency. The government, even those who had commissioned their bureau, denied all knowledge of their existence.

The BAD agents answered directly to Joe, who only answered to the president, and not even the president would acknowledge their mandate.

Each and every member of BAD was an orphan who had been recruited to lie, steal, cheat, and/or die or kill for their country. Whatever it took to secure their objective, they would do without anything as cumbersome as morals or ethics getting in their way.

They were the modern-day Spartans who either returned with their shield or upon it.

There was no such thing as family for them. The agency was the family.

In this world they only had each other, and up until now that had been fine with Kyle. But his last bout with terrorists that had almost cost him his life had got him to thinking...

He had been trained zealously to guard his country. But what was he really fighting for?

It wasn't until Marianne had smiled up at him that he'd remembered.

He fought for those who couldn't fight for themselves.

"Kyle?" Marianne paused as she traced one of the smaller scars along his ribs. "What is this from?"

He glanced at it and the two similar ones that were below it. "A bullet."

Marianne frowned at his words. From the sincerity of his eyes, she could tell he was being truthful. "It looks recent."

"About a month ago."

Her jaw went slack. "And these?"