Hidden Agendas

by Lora Leigh

  “Do you know where I would lay the perfect love bite?” he asked softly, moving then, pacing closer to her as she felt her breath slam out of her lungs.

  “Where?” The question was breathless, filled with an awareness of the sexual animal suddenly pacing ever closer.

  She felt stalked. Her virginity was on the endangered species list and the ultimate hunter was now stalking it relentlessly.

  It was too sexy.

  It was too dangerous.

  He stopped in front of her, staring down at her breasts as they rose and fell harshly, her nipples spike hard and pressing against the thin material of the sleep shirt that asked “Am I awake yet?”

  “Should I tell you, or show you?”

  Show me. Show me.

  “Telling me would work fine.” She stepped back again, only to come up against the low arm of the couch and the realization that he had very neatly maneuvered her into it.

  “I’d rather show you.” His head lowered.

  Emily whimpered.

  She stared into the dark emerald of his eyes, mesmerized, watching as lust, hot and wicked, filled them and she felt herself sinking beneath a wave of sensual, sexual excitement.

  The wave became a fury of pleasure a second later. His lips touched hers, a sipping kiss that had her hands reaching for him, suddenly desperate for more. She couldn’t imagine feeling no more than this whisper of ecstasy.

  His lips were perfect for kissing. Like rough velvet stroking over hers a second before his tongue licked over her curves and his teeth nipped at the bottom curve.

  “Are you going to open for me?” he asked as his hands settled firmly on her hips. “Or do I have to take it?”

  Excitement tore a path of destruction along her senses as she flinched beneath the whiplash of sensual heat.

  Emily inhaled roughly. “If you have to ask for it, then you don’t need it. Do you?”

  Mistake!

  No sooner had the words left her lips than her senses were screaming. With a hungry growl he took her kiss. His lips slanted over hers, his tongue whispering past them, licking at them, driving her crazy with the need to touch it as she felt him jerk her against him.

  The next instant the world was tilted. She found herself stretched above him, one hand dragging one of her thighs over his as the other tangled in her hair and held her to him.

  Oh God. She was straddling him. She could feel his cock between her thighs, rubbing against her as his lips and tongue destroyed her mind.

  Her hands were buried in his hair, holding him to her, trying to devour him as pleasure became a force she couldn’t fight.

  She had always fought before. She knew how to fight sexual desire. She knew how to fight attraction to her bodyguards and her father’s potential grandchild donors. But she couldn’t fight this.

  She felt his hand move from her hip, dragging her nightshirt up her body, but she couldn’t stop him. She was too busy trying to hold on to that kiss.

  Lips that eased back and forced her to follow. That slanted over hers and dragged a hungry cry from her throat. Lips she couldn’t stand the thought of never kissing again.

  His kiss was a firestorm, burning away objections and suspicions and leaving her adrift within the most pleasure she could have ever imagined.

  She had never known pleasure this good. This hot. This dominating despite the fact that she was on top. Wasn’t she supposed to be in control?

  “There, sugar,” he whispered against her lips as he drew back again, forcing her to open her eyes as she nipped back at his lips in retaliation.

  “Don’t stop. Please, Kell . . .” Oh hell, she was going to beg.

  His lips dipped from hers, his tongue trailing over her jaw, before his cheek scraped against her neck. Emily couldn’t stop the shudder of reaction. The rasp of a newly growing beard sent a hard tremor racing through her as pleasure swamped her.

  It was so good. So good, she moved her head, turning her neck into his cheek to feel it closer, rougher.

  “Like that?” he whispered as his hands moved beneath her shirt, his fingers callused and hot on her back as his teeth suddenly scraped over her neck.

  Like it? No, she didn’t like it. It was destroying her, stealing her strength and her common sense and leaving her weak beneath his touch.

  “Yes,” she panted.

  “Like this?” He stretched beneath her then, his hips rolling and lifting, grinding the hard ridge of his cock deeper between her thighs as fireworks ricocheted in her mind and exquisite sensation sent her reeling.

  Her hands gripped his hair tighter as she fought to hold on to control. Hell, right now, she just wanted to stay conscious as his lips turned into hers again, and his hands moved, lowered and pushed beneath the snug leggings and the lacy band of her panties to cup the cheeks of her rear and squeeze.

  She was a goner.

  “Oh shit! Boy, was I wrong!”

  Kell jackknifed beneath Emily, gripping her and jerking her to his side away from the door as his gaze sliced to the woman standing in the open doorway.

  He had expected this. Before joining Emily and Kira on the patio he had contacted Ian and had him watching the front door, just on the off chance that it wasn’t Kira who decided to breach the unlocked portal later.

  The other woman was staring at them in shock, her gray eyes wide and filled with startled amusement and a hint of mocking acknowledgment.

  “God, I didn’t lock the door,” Emily muttered beside him, fighting to straighten her clothes as Kell rose to his feet.

  “Did you forget how to knock, Ms. Porter?” he asked her lazily, noticing the understanding that filled her eyes when she recognized the tone in his voice.

  “I never knock unless the door is locked.” Kira waved the question away. “Emily always leaves the door unlocked for me.”

  Kell turned to stare down at Emily.

  “I was a bit distracted if you’ll recall,” she muttered, the blush on her cheeks frighteningly endearing as he gazed at her.

  He turned back to Kira. “The doors will be locked for now on,” he informed her. “Did you forget something?”

  She cocked a hip, propped her hand on it, and watched him coolly. “Nothing in particular. I just wanted to see if Emily wanted to do a little shopping later.”

  “She’ll be with me,” he answered for Emily as she rose from the couch behind him.

  “He needs to go grocery shopping,” Emily snapped as she obviously regained control of herself. “Maybe some other time, Kira.”

  “Grocery shopping.” Kira’s gaze raked over him. “Well, honey, one thing about it, I don’t think you have to worry about buying beef while you’re out. It looks like you have plenty in residence as it is.” She fought down her laughter as she waggled her fingers at them then turned and left, closing the door behind her.

  Kell moved to the door, locked it carefully, then turned back to Emily.

  “Lock the doors from now on,” he ordered.

  “Of course.” She breathed in roughly then, staring around the room for long seconds before coming back to him. “That can’t happen again.”

  “What can’t happen again?” he asked her suspiciously.

  “On that couch.” Her hand fluttered to the furniture. “It can’t happen again.”

  “Fine. We’ll go straight to the bed the next time.” There wasn’t a doubt in his mind now exactly where this was leading.

  A frown snapped between her brows.

  “I mean it can’t happen again at all,” she snapped. “Ever.”

  Not even in his worst nightmare would it never happen again. Kell stared back at her, remembering the heat of her pussy through two layers of clothes, the hunger in her searching lips and how her hips had moved, grinding onto his cock with an inborn sensuality that still had him gritting his teeth in hunger.

  “You’re fooling yourself, Emily,” he said softly. “I didn’t take you for a woman who denied the obvious. It’s going to happen again. And often.
Don’t doubt that.”

  She licked her lips; the pouty curves were swollen from his kiss, but restrained. Tight with the effort it cost her to control the need rising inside her.

  “I won’t let myself have you, Kell. Don’t fool yourself. That.” She waved to the couch again. “That was a temporary lapse in judgment. Nothing more.”

  “Why won’t you let yourself, sugar?” he asked her gently, seeing the shadows in her eyes, the sharp pain that seeped into the blue depths.

  Her lips twisted cynically. “I already have a father who feels the need to control me, Kell. I don’t need a lover doing the same thing. And I sure as hell don’t intend to hand my father the son-in-law he’s dreamed of by giving him the opportunity to force you into a marriage neither of us wants. So give it up. Find someone to babysit and go out and get your piece before coming back to work. Just like the others did. Don’t worry, I won’t tell on you. Unlike my bodyguards, I know how to keep my damned mouth shut.”

  Hell, it was no wonder she hadn’t let any of those morons her father hired touch her. Not that he completely blamed the bodyguards, living in the same house with her, knowing she wanted nothing to do with them, that would suck. They would have to find relief somewhere.

  “And what did you do, Emily?” he asked her then. “When you needed to be touched? Held?”

  “Why, Kell, I just reminded myself of the price.” She sneered. “My freedom. Once I put it all in perspective, it was really quite easy. I’ve lost enough independence since I reached the age where my father could safely marry me off. I’d really rather not lose any more if it’s all the same to you.”

  “And how would you lose that independence with me, Emily?”

  Bleak acceptance filled her gaze at that point.

  “I’m not on birth control, Kell. I can’t take it. The pill, the shot, the IUD, the inserts. I’ve tried them all. My body rejects them all. That leaves a condom. Condoms break. Babies are made, and once they are, if you don’t marry me my father will destroy you. Careerwise, lifewise, personally, and professionally. And I won’t marry you. Because I know the type of man you are.”

  “Do you?”

  Her laughter was mocking. “Your wife will stay at home, have your babies, and toe the line while you’re gone. You’ll play your war games with your buddies, watch ballgames with them when they’re home, and screw your wife when you have nothing better to do. Thank you, but no thank you. Being a virgin for life sounds a hell of a lot sweeter than marrying a big, tough, Alpha asshole with more damned testosterone than common sense when it comes to his wife.”

  Kell listened to her voice rise with each sentence. When she finished, her teeth snapped together, her lips compressed, and she turned her back as her fingers raked furiously through her hair.

  “Is that what your father did?”

  Her laughter was bitter now. “Mom was leaving him when she was killed. Because he loved her too much, she said. I didn’t understand that. Daddy loved us. What was there to hate about that?” She shook her head as Kell felt the helplessness that flowed from her. “After she died, he was devoted to me. He taught me how to fight, how to hunt and track, and he was teaching me to mountain climb. Then I turned eighteen.”

  “And he decided to marry you off,” Kell finished.

  She turned back to him. “As you well know. Hell, you’ve been around long enough to know about the fights we’ve had over it.”

  “So why didn’t you sleep with one of the boys from college? Hell, I think I would have halfway understood if you picked a married man. Why stay a virgin, Emily?”

  Her expression sobered. There was no mockery, no cynicism. “Because it wouldn’t be enough,” she whispered sadly. “You miss what you’ve had worse than you miss what you haven’t. I don’t want to miss more than I already do.”

  “Why, Emily?” he ground out again. “If you’ve gone to these extremes to keep your father from winning, despite your love for him, then why give up? Why not live as you want to and tell him to go to hell?”

  “Because he didn’t tell me to go to hell,” she whispered miserably. “I can’t hurt my father like that, Kell. I love him too much.”

  “It seems to me, Emily, that he doesn’t care to hurt you or to use that too developed sense of responsibility you have against you,” he pointed out. “What you’re forgetting, though, is the fact that you have a responsibility to yourself as well. Now, I will end up in a bed with you. I’ll protect you as best I can, but if the rubber breaks and you end up pregnant, your father won’t have to threaten me to take care of my child or my woman. I’m not a kid anymore. I know how it’s done now. I guess it’s just up to you to decide if you’re going to take what you want, or if you’re going to stay daddy’s little girl forever.”

  Seven

  HE WAS GOING TO END up falling in love with her.

  Kell accepted the truth about the time they were going through the produce department and he caught Emily eyeing the cucumbers just a little too intently before trying to sneak a glance at his thighs.

  Comparing size. The little vixen was trying to figure out dimensions by comparing the bulge with the cucumbers.

  He covered his grin before choosing two of the cylindrical vegetables and putting them in the cart. Then he chose the rest of the salad fixings before heading for the fruit.

  “Any preferences?” he asked as she paused next to him, her face still flushed.

  “Watermelon.” She eyed one with particular interest.

  Kell let his lashes drift over his eyes as he stared at it himself. He knew how to eat watermelon. At least, how he intended to eat it with her. He put it in the cart before moving her to the fresh meat section.

  She let him choose, watching the cart warily before they headed to the canned foods and flour and sugar section. By the time he pushed the cart to the check-out stand he could see the worry in her face.

  “I can’t pay for all this,” she finally muttered as he threw a handful of chocolate bars into the cart. “I’m a schoolteacher. We don’t make big bucks here.”

  He frowned down at her. “The groceries go on my card and are turned in to the expense account. It’ll be handled by your father at the end of the month.”

  “Boy, are you in for a surprise then.” She sighed. “Just give me the bill after you pay for it. I’ll get some money out of the ATM. I know I don’t have enough cash and I didn’t bring the credit card.”

  She was chewing at her lower lip as she stared at the food. “You eat a lot.”

  He pushed the cart into the check-out bay and moved ahead as the cashier dropped the back bar and began pulling items toward her across the scanner.

  Surely she hadn’t been paying for her bodyguards’ food?

  “Hi, Miss Stanton.” The cashier flashed Emily a smile that gleamed with braces. “Are you having a good summer?” She slid a sidelong look at Kell.

  “It’s quiet, Kimmy,” Emily answered. “How’s your brother enjoying his vacation?”

  “He’s doing great. Mom told me to tell you thanks for the tutoring you did after school let out. Mark’s doing a lot better in reading now. He should be good to go to the first grade.”

  Emily nodded with a small smile. “He’s a smart kid. He just needed some extra help.”

  “Well, he’s taking to reading, I know that.” The girl laughed as she scanned the items quickly while talking. “I took him to the library the other day and loaded him up. Is this your new bodyguard?” She nodded to Kell.

  Emily’s shoulders slumped with resignation. “No, Kimmy, this is my, umm, friend.” She cleared her throat as Kimmy paused with the scanning.

  She blinked at Emily, then turned and stared at Kell in amazement. She flushed when he winked slowly and grinned back at her.

  “Wow,” she breathed out in obvious admiration. “Miss Stanton, that is so righteous. And he’s drop dead, ya know? Does he have any brothers?”

  “Let’s hope not,” she muttered, barely loud enough for Kell
to hear before forcing a smile and answering the girl with a quick “no.”

  “Too bad.” Kimmy sneaked another look in his direction. “Really and truly drop dead, Miss Stanton.”

  “Thanks, Kimmy,” she said as the final sale rang up.

  Kell felt an edge of anger as her face paled just slightly at the cost. Pulling out his billfold, he handed the girl his credit card, but he wanted to hit something instead. It was more than obvious she had been paying for the food her houseguests consumed. And men, being men, especially the men Kell knew Stanton had hired, ate a lot.

  “This one pays too.” Kimmy looked back at him with new respect. “I’d keep him for a while if I were you, Miss Stanton.”

  Emily said nothing but as Kimmy handed the receipt toward him she reached for it. Kell beat her, smiling in triumph as he dangled the receipt out of her reach.

  “There you go, show her how a real man takes care of her.” Kimmy at least seemed to be enjoying it.

  “I’m trying, Kimmy.” He winked again. “She’s stubborn though.”

  “Yeah, she’s pretty tough.” Kimmy nodded. “But she’s killer cool, man. Don’t forget that.”

  “Kell. Kell Krieger.” He reached his hand out to her, watched her blush prettily and accept the handshake.

  “Kimberly Aikens,” she squeaked. “And you are so drop dead.” She sighed with teenage hormones and obvious pleasure.

  “So are you,” he said, chuckling as the bag boy sliced him a glare and Emily frowned back at him with disapproval. “Goodbye, Kimmy.”

  “Goodbye,” she breathed out wistfully. “And please be sure to come back soon.”

  He lifted his hand in farewell as Emily shot him another disgruntled glance.

  “Stop flirting with the check-out girls,” she hissed. “It’s disgraceful.”

  “You won’t flirt with me.” He grinned. “It’s an ego boost.”

  “You are so wrong,” she snapped out. “And I want that receipt.”

  “Forget it.”

  “Now.”

  He paused by the Trailblazer. “It will cost you,” he murmured as he pulled her keys from his jeans pocket and smiled down at her in satisfaction. “Are you sure you want to pay?”