Linked by deception, p.20
Linked by Deception, page 20
It was my turn to murmur, “Beautiful.”
I wrapped my fingers around his stiff length and slowly began to pump, enjoying the silky slide against my palm. My thumb brushed over the leaking tip, smearing his need over the heated core of him. Then I leaned in and used my mouth and tongue to trace teasing lines along his stomach.
His hands went to my hair, holding but not stopping me. “Evangeline, mon ange.”
Oh, I have no intention of being anyone’s angel. Switching directions, I tongued a path to his cock and then took him deep, sucking hungrily. His groan sank through me, his fingers flexing against my scalp, his hips pumping as I licked and laved and sucked.
“Enough.” He tugged my head back, keeping me from my play.
I continued to glide my hand over him even as I pouted. “I wasn’t done.”
His thumb swept over my bottom lip. “That’s not how I want to finish.”
Still holding my hair, he forced my head back as he bent and took my mouth in an insatiable kiss that tore through me until I was nothing but sensation. I lost my concentration. Somehow, I found myself on my back, underwear gone, while Wyatt stretched over the edge of the bed, leaning over me. Since the position gave me unfettered access, I let my hands roam and my mouth follow, his firm muscles flexing under my hands and mouth.
Then he twisted and sank onto his heels as he tore open a condom wrapper. As he started to roll it on, I came up halfway and took over. Taking my time to tease as I ensured our protection. He didn’t let me play long. Once it was in place, he leaned forward, forcing me to lie back. Then his hands and mouth swept over me, need and longing taking me deep.
When all that mattered was assuaging the burn that left me restless and hollow, he stopped teasing and got serious. His mouth tempted me as his hands slowed, taking us from frenzied hunger to an almost painful anticipation as he slid himself through my heated center. He shifted his weight, not leaving me but adding just enough space so he could watch us. His hips rolled as he teased me, pushing the want higher. “Ah, cher, such temptation you are.”
We were pressed so close I could feel his deep groan against my chest. My heels dug into his ass as I helped the delicious friction by rolling my hips so that I rode along his length.
“Stop teasing, Wyatt.” I followed my demand with a series of punishing nips along his neck and chest. “You promised no games.”
His head came up, his eyes glittering with an intensity that held me still, waiting. For what I wasn’t sure, but there was nothing playful in his heated gaze. He cupped my face and dropped his head. “This is not a game, Evangeline.” He was so close that his lips brushed mine as he spoke. “Last warning. You let me in now, I’m not leaving.”
I knew my next decision would make or break us. Under the desire, fear lay in wait. Swallowing hard, I drew my hands up from his waist in a gentle glide and mimicked his hold, cradling his face between my palms. Searching his eyes, I found what I needed to take that last step into the frightening unknown. “If you ever try, I’ll hunt you down and make you regret it.”
His body stilled, and since he was covering me, I felt how deep my words had hit. Male satisfaction joined the hunger in his face, his eyes taking on a fierce, proprietary light. “No huntin’ needed, mon ange. I’m well and truly caught.”
Then he took my mouth as he sank inside me. The crumbling remains of my emotional walls drifted into dust as our groans were muffled by our kiss. As he moved, he filled every hollow, including the ones deep in my heart. It was a sensual dance designed to fan the flames into incendiary heights. My world became nothing but his taste, his touch, and the sensation of him riding me with a rough tenderness that spoke to something much deeper than lust.
As the fire threatened to implode, our movements lost their grace, becoming more frantic until we were poised on the beautiful edge. When he found the perfect spot, I tore my mouth from his and arched my neck, nails digging into his shoulders, body ready to fly. “Wyatt!”
“Now, love!”
Following his guttural command, I let go and flew, hearing and feeling him follow me. It burned through both of us, tearing away the remaining barriers. Caught in the bright, explosive beauty we created, I didn’t fight it but let it burn through me instead, trusting that when I drifted back down to reality, he’d be right where he promised—at my side.
Chapter 19
Rabbit
It was hard to leave Jinx sleeping. She was the picture of feminine temptation, wrapped in sheets that played peekaboo, offering tantalizing glimpses of the luscious skin. Our night together had taken the edge off my hunger but had also created a deeper addiction—to her taste, her touch, her heart. I tore my gaze away, hoping to dodge the urge to get back in bed and wake her in a totally different way.
Coffee would be required when she woke. I dressed as quietly as I could, letting her sleep. I nabbed my laptop, since there were some tweaks I had to make in the program, not to mention that I needed to get information to Ricochet and the team. Slipping my keycard and phone into a back pocket of my jeans, I couldn’t resist bending down and brushing my lips over the tangle of Jinx’s hair. I pulled back to find her lashes lifting, revealing her sleepy gaze minus her normal guardedness.
She gave me a smile filled with beauty that hit me like a shot to the heart. I never thought I’d see that look from her. It was a gift, especially after the night before.
“Hey,” I said. It came out husky.
“Hey.”
“I’m heading down for coffee.”
Her gaze went to the laptop. “You expecting a long line?”
I grinned. “Got a few things I need to get to. Might as well multitask.”
“Mmm.” Her lashes drifted back down. “What time is it?”
“Almost seven. Go back to sleep. I’ll wake you when I get back.”
“Okay.” She snuggled deeper into her pillow.
It sucked, but I left her there because that damn clock was still ticking. Zane’s patience wouldn’t last long. Before it ran out, I wanted the players in place to make sure we took him and his boss down once and for all.
I made sure the door locked behind me and headed down. I’d done a quick internet search and found her preferred coffee supplier a couple of blocks away. Now that we were out from under Zane’s baleful eye, leaving Jinx behind so she could rest was a hell of a lot easier and less risky than taking her. Still, I kept a mental eye on my surroundings as I made my way to the coffee shop.
Images from the night before kept diverting my attention. Not that I minded—in fact, I had to work hard not to flash a smile and tip an imaginary hat at every person I passed. It was corny as hell, but it was the truth.
As much as I fantasized about Jinx and me, the reality left my flimsy imagination in the dust. Her surrender had left me stunned and humbled. I thought for sure I would have a hell of a battle on my hands. Never had I expected her to take the first step toward making us something more than partners and friends.
But I wasn’t complaining—hell no. I wasn’t about to question my luck when it came to her. I wasn’t stupid. I knew a serious conversation loomed in our future, probably after we got out of this mess. Until then, I was going to do my damnedest to convince her that she’d made the right decision.
This morning, however, I was going to make sure she got some uninterrupted sleep after our rather busy night. We’d called up room service after the first time and enjoyed our dinner in bed. It was an eye-opening experience. Jinx was cautiously playful, and it took a bit of coaxing, but I managed to soothe that wary edge she carried until I got honest-to-God giggles from her.
I also managed to take my time during the second round, driven to gentleness by an awareness that we’d just walked out of a hospital hours before. Sore muscles didn’t stop her from taking over a third and final time, when she all but stole my heart with her teasing touches and slow, drugging kisses. We finally fell into an exhausted sleep in the wee hours.
I woke early, as was my habit, and lay in bed, enjoying the fact I finally had her where I wanted her—in bed, curled in my arms. The connection we shared as friends hadn’t been marred by the sex. In fact, our physical intimacy added a depth that I’d never found with another woman. Maybe I was getting jaded, but I was bored by the predictability that came with my previous hookups. With Jinx, nothing was predictable, and that filled me with a deep sense of satisfaction. Sex with Jinx wasn’t about feeding my horny curiosity. I could scratch that kind of itch easily enough and had done so in the past.
I knew things had changed for me when months after meeting Jinx, those encounters with other women became fewer and fewer and further and further apart. I hadn’t actually advertised my growing boredom, since there was no sense in giving the team—including her—fuel for their teasing or speculation. It took me a while to figure out that I wanted more from her. I wanted something real and lasting. What I didn’t want was my teammates’ opinions. I knew how they viewed me—player, flirt, charmer—but those labels weren’t accurate when it came to Jinx. If I’d shared my feelings, their input would have set me so far back in Jinx’s opinion that I’d never live long enough to even take a chance with her. So I kept my growing feelings quiet.
I found the coffee shop and held the door for a guy who was juggling two trays filled with various drinks. Despite the early hour, I was in line for ten minutes before I made it to the counter. I put in my order and claimed a recently deserted table set toward the back against the window. I was going to take an hour and get some work done, which would give Jinx time to rest.
First up, I tried my hand at accessing the police report on the car accident. I didn’t get far because the test results on the ECU weren’t back yet. Since we were hours out of the accident, it was a long shot, but not having a face for Elena’s partner was like a mosquito bite. I couldn’t stop scratching at it.
With effort, I turned my attention to the more immediate concerns of Zane’s program and ensuring that the information remained contained. Before long, I was splitting my attention between communicating with the team as we set up the details on a possible sting and tweaking the program I was creating. The Rosetta Stone type of program Zane wanted had its own set of challenges, but it was doable. What was making me twitchy was trying to rework it so it became a virtual double agent, sending the same information Zane wanted to the good guys without giving away the game to the bad guys.
Normally, creating a complex program like this would require days of coding, test runs, and deliberate breaks, but we didn’t have days. Hopefully, what we were able to hand over would hold together long enough to satisfy Zane and his employers before the cavalry swept in.
I continued to work on the program, pausing once to read a report from one of my contacts who was working Elena over. It made for interesting reading. It seemed that Elena’s fall from hacker grace was precipitated by a devil’s bargain between her now-identified partner—Keith Alders—and the FBI. Despite Alders’s skills at hacking, he was also the one who’d tripped the alarm on the electronic safe in the dark web. There was one more key piece of information that hadn’t been widely shared—that electronic safe had been nearly empty when Alders hit it. He took what little remained, but my contact was scratching his head as to why Alders would try for a nearly broke account. I had my own opinions about that, but I wasn’t ready to share. For the moment, Alders’s whereabouts was the agency’s main focus. I planned on making a call to help those searchers out when I got back to Jinx, but for the moment, I stayed on task.
In between the coding and texts, I edited the list of potential targets, trying to narrow it down as much as possible. By the time my allotted time came around, I’d downed two cups of coffee and demolished a muffin. After sending one last update and directing the program to run another fail-safe check, I put in Jinx’s order and went back to pack up.
I backed up my work on an encrypted flash drive then gathered my stuff before going back to get Jinx’s drink. I wove through the group of waiting customers and had my hand on the cup when someone stumbled into me hard enough that the drink wobbled then tipped, the coffee spilling out, landing stinging drops on my hands. I hissed.
“I’m so sorry!” a woman said, anxious and embarrassed.
Shaking my hand, I turned to find a red-faced brunette either on her way to or coming from a workout, trying to steady the cup in her hand as she stared in mortification at the mess on the counter. Behind her, some guy continued to rudely shove his way through the small crowd around the counter.
As the baristas began cleaning up the mess, I gave the redhead a small grin to help ease the sting of the stumble. “It’s good.”
She snatched up some napkins and began dabbing at her hand. “You sure you’re okay?” She didn’t wait for my answer but continued blithely on, her gaze behind us. “I wish they had a little more room here.” She tossed the napkins into the nearby trash, shaking her head. “Seems like every day it gets a little more crowded and people get a little more impatient. Let me buy you a replacement coffee.”
“No worries, ma’am,” the young barista said as she wiped away the last of the coffee. “We’ll get you a new one.” She flashed me a grin and turned away.
“Oh, okay.” The redhead seemed flustered.
I muttered, “No harm done, darlin’.”
She gave me another smile, this one brighter than her initial one, and her embarrassment was replaced by feminine interest. “Well, I’d be happy to make amends.”
“None needed, thanks.” My mama hadn’t raised me to be rude, but as much as I appreciated the intent behind her offer, I had something much better waiting back at the hotel. “Got someone waiting for her caffeine fix.”
Her smile dimmed with disappointment, but she was quick to shrug it off. I turned to wait for Jinx’s new coffee just as the woman was saying, “Lucky her.”
She said goodbye and left. I waited patiently at the counter and, once I had Jinx’s coffee in hand, headed back to the hotel. Fortunately, the return trip was incident-free. I snagged an elevator as a mixed group exited. I hit the key for our floor, my nose wrinkling at the overly floral scent that lingered like a cloud from the recent occupants. The doors slid shut, and by the time they reopened, that unforgiving scent had left its mark as a dull ache in my temples. Out in the hallway, I sucked in deep breaths, trying to dispel the scent’s hold. A few doors down, I passed a maid’s cart that had stopped near an opened room. Hopefully, they hadn’t woken Jinx.
With my thoughts occupied, it took a second for me to recognize that our door wasn’t latched completely. My good mood winked out in an instant, replaced by a primed vigilance. Scenarios ran through my mind, not all of them innocent.
Not about to walk into an unknown situation with my hands full, I didn’t miss a beat as I passed the door and went a few more doors down. I stopped and set the coffee on the floor. Then keeping my approach as quiet as possible, I retraced my steps.
I did a visual sweep of the hall. Other than the cart, nothing was out of place. The seeming normalcy didn’t ease my rising tension. I’d left my weapon behind, figuring that going on a coffee run wouldn’t require firepower. I was regretting that decision.
Angling so the door was at my back but keeping enough distance so the laptop bag wouldn’t touch the wall, I used my palm to push the door open enough to slide inside. It swung wide, and cool air and quiet were the only things to greet me. The curtains were still drawn, shrouding the room in a false dark. Light cut a path from the bathroom to the desk. When no one lunged at me, I slipped inside, keeping a hand on the door as it began to shut. I stopped it before it could close completely.
Even as my instincts blared, there was a sense of emptiness to the room. The room was called a suite, but everything was in one large space. The flat-screen TV hung on the wall opposite the bed, and a couch stretched between, delineating the space. Opposite the door was a window with a panoramic view. It wound around the corner housing the desk but was currently covered by blackout drapes. The bathroom was on the far side of the bed, the closet on the other side. The open layout meant it didn’t take much to scan the room. It also meant there was no sense in calling Jinx’s name, because she definitely wasn’t there.
I hit the switch on the nearby wall, and light washed away the shadows. First, I noted the rumpled bed, sheets, and blankets in disarray. A towel was tossed across the foot of the empty bed. Moving closer, I put hand on it. Damp. The next thing I noticed left me biting off a variety of creative curses. The chair I swore I’d left tucked into the desk was shoved up against the corner window, and one of the drawers was half-open.
I rounded the end of the bed and pulled up short when I realized the blankets weren’t just messed up—they were half-pulled from the mattress. Dread hit me like a Taser shot. I tried not to think about the implications as I continued my inspection.
Taking care not to step on the bedding pooled along the side of the bed, I went into the bathroom and found more evidence that Jinx had grabbed a shower—wet shower stall, plugged-in hair dryer, brush beside it, and toothbrush and toothpaste resting on the side of the sink. Every disquieting sign took my dread higher as I tried to ignore the images flashing through my mind.
I left the bathroom, my gaze on the floor, looking for anything that would tell me what had happened while I was out getting her damn coffee. I made my way around the bed. Between the closet and the bed, the device that was both alarm clock and Bluetooth speaker lay on the floor.
At the partially open closet, I tried to open the door, but something held it closed. I pulled out my phone, hit the flashlight, and leaned in. The suitcase stand was on its side, and Jinx’s suitcase was on the floor, her clothes spilling out. Even knowing it might get me nowhere, I turned my phone around and dialed her number. A faint buzzing sounded. Homing in, I found her phone half-hidden between the bed and the nightstand on the same side as the alarm clock. I reached in and pulled it out, checking it for any clues as to what in the hell had gone down.
