“I’ve been
watching you for a couple of weeks now.”
“What?”
The word cracked out like a whip.
“I wasn’t
going to approach you until I was sure it was safe and you were the person I
remembered you being. So, yes, I’ve been watching you for a couple of weeks. I
can see you’re trying to live a normal life but it isn’t working for you.”
Before she could object to this presumption, he pressed on, “You’re bored. And
lonely. You ran away from your past but you didn’t tie up any of the loose
ends.”
Rachel
choked on a sudden rage. “Why you arrogant—”
“I’m not
insulting you,”
“How the hell do you think your wild goose
chase will give me closure?”
He smiled
at her, a flicker of admiration in his eyes. “I bet you haven’t been angry like
this in weeks, months maybe. You’ve been living in a stupor. I can help you
feel alive again.”
The most
terrifying thing was that Rachel believed him. She was furious and resentful
and wanted to lash out at him.
But she
also felt alive. For the first time in a really long time.
There was
no way she was going to admit it to him, however. She stood up so suddenly her
chair wobbled. “I’ve had just about enough of your condescending presumption.
You don’t know me. You don’t know anything about me. Don’t pretend you do.”
He didn’t
touch her but he leaned into her, so close she could see the tiny lines beside
his eyes and mouth and the pale scar that slashed through his left eyebrow.
“Thane killed your partner,” he said in a thick murmur, “He destroyed your
relationship with the CIA. He’s the one who pushed you into changing the course
of your life. You need closure as much as I do.”
“Maybe
you’re right about that,” she admitted, determined to be reasonable no matter
how much she wanted to claw lines down his face. “But that doesn’t mean I just
jump into some fool’s mission because you say so.”
“It’s not
just because I say so.” He planted one hand on the wall beside her shoulder.
“It’s because you know you want to.”
Rachel was
panting now in short, fast gasps she couldn’t control. He was all physical
presence—big and strong and masculine and intimidating. “What happened to you?”
He leaned
even closer, his warm breath blowing against her hot cheeks. “I’m the same as
I’ve always been.”
“No,
you’re not.” Her lips parted. They felt dry so she licked them. Then realized
it was a mistake.
A fire
ignited in his eyes—which looked greener now than gray. “Do you want me to be
weak like I was before?”
“I don’t
want you to be anything.” It was a lie. She wanted him to be on top of her,
inside of her, all around her. “And you weren’t weak. You were—”
“Pathetic,”
he gritted out. Clearly just the memory of his physical limitations after his
imprisonment still rankled. He pressed his chest into hers. “I’m not pathetic
anymore.”
“You
weren’t—” Her objection remained incomplete. Because her lips were covered by
his, muffling the sound of her words.
She sucked
in a sharp breath through her nose as he pressed his mouth against hers in a
hard and demanding kiss. Her hands fisted in his t-shirt as her mouth opened to
his instinctively, her tongue finding his and fluttering frantically. Both of
his hands were pressing against the wall on either side of her but he didn’t
need his hands to completely overwhelm her.
She moaned
into his mouth and arched her back against the wall, rubbing her breasts
against his hard chest.
Then she
realized what she was doing.
With a
grunt, she pushed him away. Not gently.
He tore
his mouth from hers but he didn’t back up. He held her trapped between his arms
and the wall.
Flushed
and gasping, Rachel struck out at him again. Once more, he blocked her blow
with his hand.
“Why did
you do that?” she demanded, struggling against his strength for only a moment.
Then she stilled and instead tried to get in the position to throw him to the
ground.
“I was
checking to make sure we still had chemistry.”
His
response distracted her from the move she’d been about to make. “Chemistry?”
“We’ll
need it,” he explained, holding her arm above her head in a move that reminded
her far too much of her bathtub fantasy. “We’ll go in as mercenaries and we’ll
have to pose as a couple. If you went in unattached, he’d jump you before you
got down the hall.”
“He’s like
that, is he?” Rachel had forgotten her indignation in her professional
assessment of the situation and strategy. Now that she thought about it, she
did remember the rumors about Thane’s sexual kinks.
“He’s a
sex fiend. His estate has become a kind of sustained orgy. We’ll have to at
least pretend to participate.”
Rachel’s
mouth dropped open. “Participate?”