It was as if she were performing a sacred ritual, so slow and precise did she unroll the condom over him, the whole time her gaze focused on his shaft as her fingers touched him to cover him with the rubber. Jake gritted his teeth, clinched his fists, and bore it.
“Now what?” she asked when she finished.
“Now this,” he said and pulled her onto his lap so that she straddled him. Twisting them around, he leaned back against the headboard. With his hand, he guided his cock into her. “Ride me.”
She snickered. “Like a horse? Why not, you’re built like one.”
He looked into her eyes and smiled. “I seriously doubt that, but hey, I have no problem with you thinking so.” She sank down on him and he hissed. “You have no idea how long I’ve thought of us doing this.”
“Me, too, Jake. Me, too.”
She then obeyed and rode him hard. Had she thought of them together like this for as long as he had? Her breasts bounced in front of his face as she found a rhythm she liked, and he gave into the temptation to suck a nipple into his mouth. Yeah, maybe he could be faithful to one woman as long as it was Maria. He stopped thinking as a pressure built deep within him, a need to claim her, make her his.
“Jake!” She stilled, then trembled, as she shattered around him. Her inner muscles clinched around him, and she buried her face against his neck, her breaths warm on his skin.
“Maria,” he answered and let go, coming so hard he stopped breathing for a second. “Maria,” he gasped, his mouth pressed into the valley of her breasts. Maria. Her name a song, one too beautiful to ever belong to him. But there she was—his fantasy—straddling him and calling his name.
She nuzzled his neck. “When can we do this again?”
He chuckled and slid his hand down her side, cupping her bottom. As soon as possible he wanted to say, but he needed to think about what he was getting into with her. Then there was the conversation he needed to have with her brother, hopefully without any fists involved. He wouldn’t sneak behind Kincaid’s back to see the man’s sister.
Jake gave her one last long kiss. “Up, Chiquita. We need to get you home.”
Her eyes searched his. “Damn you, you’re already sorry.”
She pushed hard on his chest and swung her legs over the edge of the mattress. He grabbed her hand. “You’re wrong. I’m far from sorry, but I have to put all my focus on the operation. You’re a distraction I can’t afford right now.”
“Whatever.” She pulled away and headed for the bathroom.
“I hate that word,” he muttered.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Maria grabbed an orange soda from the fridge.
“Where the hell have you been all night?”
She squeaked and spun, banging her hand on the refrigerator door. “Ouch! Crap, Logan, you scared me.” Reaching over to the light switch, she flipped it on. Her brother sat at the kitchen table, a cup of coffee in front of him. “I thought you were spending the night at the hospital.”
“I did. Came home to shower and change. Answer my question.”
“None of your business.” She plopped down at the table. “I’m twenty-four years old. I don’t need your permission to spend the night away from home.”
His lips thinned. “He’s no good for you.”
“You’re probably right, but then again, he might surprise us both.” She traced a finger through the condensation the soda bottle had made on the table. “I want him, have for a long time. The only way you’re gonna stop me from going after him is to lock me in my room. Even if you dared to, I’d find a way out and head straight for Jake.”
“Then understand this. The day he hurts you, and that day will come, I’ll fire him. After I kill him, that is.”
She reached over and grasped his hand. “No, you won’t. If he screws up on the job, then fire him, by all means. But I’m going into this with my eyes open, and you can’t get rid of him if it doesn’t work out for us, no matter the reason. That just isn’t fair to Jake.”
One of the best scowlers in the world scowled. “You really piss me off sometimes, you know that? First you won’t listen or take my advice, then you tie my hands so I can’t beat the shit out of him when the time comes.” His eyes softened. “I just don’t want to see you hurt, brat. Is that so wrong?”
God, she loved her brother, her protector. She stood and walked behind him, wrapped her arms around his chest and kissed his cheek. “No, and I love you for it. I need to change and get over to K2. Jake will be there all weekend planning his mission, and I intend to help. I want everything to go as safely as possible for him and his team.” She also wanted to make sure he didn’t end up back at one of his hangouts later. No more cheap perfume on Jake if she had anything to say about it. Logan’s grunt said he’d give her the necessary rope to hang herself.
He pushed away from the table. “I’m headed back to the hospital, but I’ll stop by later.”
After changing into jeans and a sleeveless top, her hair pulled up in a ponytail, Maria backed Sally out of the garage and drove to K2. She wished Logan hadn’t assigned this mission to Jake—she didn’t have a good feeling about it—but it was what Jake did for a living, and she wasn’t about to complain.
As it was Saturday, the front door of K2 was locked. Maria pushed the code on the inner door, and walked into the main room. Jake stood over a table with maps spread out in front of him as his two team members, Rick Bayne and Brad Stewart, looked on.
“Hi,” she said.
Rick and Brad gave her big smiles, but Jake’s expression remained blank. He wasn’t happy to see her. Too bad. “I’m here to help. Give me something to do.”
“There’s really nothing I can think of,” Jake said.
She met his gaze, let him see the determination in her eyes. “Then think harder.”
“What about letting her confirm our in-country contact’s able to fulfill our list of requirements?” Rick suggested.
“After that, she could do the background on our target,” Brad added. “Both those chores together would save one of us three or four hours computer time.”
Maria shot Brad a grateful smile. The guys had nicknamed him “Elaine” because he had the hots for Elaine on Seinfield. Rick they’d named “Tennessee.” She could sit and listen to him talk in that sexy southern drawl all day.
She took Jake’s sigh as a sign of surrender, and grabbed a pen and paper off the table. “Contact and target’s name?”
Information in hand, she left them to their planning and walked into the office she used whenever at K2. As soon as she graduated, it would be hers permanently; the plan was for her to take over the legal side of the business. From the day Logan had bought her a computer at the age of ten, she’d fallen in love with the thing and all the wonderful information hidden in such a little box.
Growing up poor and considered trash by her schoolmates, she’d spent her lonely hours looking up famous actors, reading about their privileged lives, envying them. From there, she’d ventured into studying ways to get rich so she could one day buy a pretty dress or spend a day at a spa. She’d learned the stock market inside out, researched companies and their potential for investment.
When she was fifteen, she’d begged Logan to give her a thousand dollars to play with. Bless her brother, he’d handed it over without the first blink, and she’d appreciated that it hadn’t been easy at the time for him to come up with that much money. In eight years, she’d grown that one thousand to over fifty thousand, and she now handled all of her and Logan’s investments.
There was nothing she couldn’t find on a computer, and the thrill of discovery still elated her. Brad had claimed it would take one of them four hours, but it took her a little less than two to complete. She was contemplating what she could do next to help when Jake stuck his head in the door.
“How’s it going?”
&nb
sp; She slid a file to the end of her desk. “Here’s the background on Chad Sinclair, aka Abdul Haq. Everything’s in there from the moment he took his first breath to now, what he likes to eat, his first girlfriend, and so on. Your contact in Egypt has managed to obtain all the items on your list but two—three pairs of night vision goggles and the C4. Why do you need C4?”
He grinned. “Never know when you might want to blow something up.”
Jeez, boys and their toys. He better not blow himself up. “Well, anyway, he e-mailed that he’s meeting a source tonight and should have everything you asked for.”
“Good.” He approached her desk and picked up the file on their target. “The guys want to go to Seaside for a fish sandwich. Want to come with us?”
“I really should run by the hospital and say hi to Dani. Why don’t you come with me and we’ll get a quick burger or something after.”
He glanced at the doorway, indecision on his face. “Probably better if I don’t,” he finally said. “You don’t need to come back. Go and enjoy your new nephew and the rest of the weekend.”
Stupid, stubborn man. “I’m coming back this afternoon, and I’ll be here tomorrow. This operation is happening too fast, and you guys need all the help you can get.” She stood and picked up her purse. “See you in about two hours.”
Deciding to turn the tables on him and see how he liked it, she stopped at the door. “I want to thank you for last night. It was the most amazing night of my life, but I’m putting whatever’s happening between us on hold until you’re home safe. I suggest you do the same.”
It was the most amazing night of her life? Jake stared at the empty doorway. He’d tried all morning to put her out of his mind, but she was there anyway. Her soft sighs, the way she clinched around him when she came, how she’d called out his name when she’d shattered—how was he supposed to put that on hold?
He could give her a thousand amazing nights, wanted to. Angry she could so easily put them on the back burner, he slapped the file against his thigh. Striding into the main room, he thrust the folder at Bayne. “Memorize this. You, too, Stewart.”
Sally was backing out of the parking space when he opened the passenger door and jumped inside the Mustang. He glared at Maria and dared her to say one damn word. All he got from her was a sweet smile and silence. Why he was so pissed off, he hadn’t a clue other than the fact she was very talented at messing with his mind.
Hadn’t she just given him the space to concentrate on his mission? Wasn’t that what he wanted? He’d never been so indecisive in his life about anything, and now she had him acting like a yo-yo on the end of a string. This was all new to him, this wanting only one woman, and he didn’t have a road map for the trip she was taking him on. Small wonder he’d gotten drunk the night before.
Halfway to Pensacola’s Baptist Hospital, Maria reached over and slipped her fingers around his. As the warmth of her hand seeped into his, his blood pressure lowered along with the irrational anger. There wasn’t another woman on the planet who could have such an effect on him. That had to say something. He just had to figure out what.
He expected her to say something funny or, more likely, a snarky comment. God knew, he deserved it. She didn’t say anything, just held his hand and drove. He leaned his head against the seat and let everything go except for the way her hand felt in his—like that was where it belonged.
When she had walked into K2 earlier, he’d had to bite his tongue to keep from ordering her to leave. As part owner, she had as much right to be there as he, more even. His fear she would disrupt his concentration had been groundless. She’d stayed out of their way and he’d been comforted by her presence in the building. For sure, she’d saved them a lot of time.
“Thanks, by the way,” he said.
“For what?” She glanced at him with those warm chocolate eyes.
“For helping us out.”
A pleased smile spread across her face. “No problem.”
That was another thing about her. He’d known her for years, and she was always ready with a smile, rarely got upset about anything. It wasn’t that she never lost her temper. She did, and when it happened it was something to behold, but it never lasted long and next thing he knew, she was laughing again. Maybe because of the horror of her childhood she’d learned not to let things she couldn’t change bother her. Someday, he’d ask her.
“Here we are. I can’t wait to see baby Evan again. I hope Dani’s awake so I can tell her how beautiful my nephew is. She was asleep yesterday when I was here.” She chatted on about babies and how she couldn’t wait to get Evan home so she could spoil him.
Jake walked by her side, listening to her as they rode the elevator up to the fourth floor, smiling in amusement at the way her hands were constantly in motion as they walked down the hall to Dani’s room. If he tied her hands together could she still speak?
She came to an abrupt halt. “Why are you chuckling?”
Because . . . he was happy, content. Contentment. He rolled the word around in his mouth. It was something he’d never strived for, but he liked the feeling. He put his arm around her shoulders and got her moving again. If he told her he was laughing at the way her hands waved around in the air when she talked, she would probably slap him with one of them.
“I was chuckling over your enthusiasm for babies. I just never realized you liked them so much.”
“Well, who doesn’t? I adore Regan and love playing with her. Now I’ll have two kids to spoil rotten.”
The sparkle in her eyes as she talked about babies mesmerized him. Did she want to have children someday? He’d always pictured her as a lawyer, a career woman running K2 alongside her brother. Never had he imagined her as a mother, but suddenly he could see her with a babe in her arms, a little girl or boy with black hair and coffee-colored eyes.
“You want kids?” he asked.
Her lips formed into a soft smile. “Yeah, someday.”
Something very new to him took root and branched out, traveling through his veins like a fast-growing weed to all parts of his body. A possessive need to bind her to him—to be the one to give her babies—hit him with such force that he almost turned and walked away.
Snotty-nosed kids running around at his feet had never been on his agenda. He needed a vacation. Alone and somewhere quiet so he could think all this shit through. Was he ready to give up his lifestyle for a wife and kids? Even a week ago, he’d have given an adamant “no, not happening.” Now he was picturing a woman—specifically, this woman—with his baby in her arms and liking it.
It was too much, too fast.
Still reeling, he followed her into Dani’s room. The boss didn’t comment about his being with Maria, but his expression wasn’t particularly friendly.
“Hey, you two. Isn’t he beautiful?” Dani said of the bundle cradled in her arms.
“You make a beautiful mother, Dani,” Jake said. And she did. There was a glow about her, a shining kind of thing he couldn’t put his finger on. Would Maria look like that when she held her child in her arms?
Maria perched on the edge of the bed and trailed her knuckles over the baby’s cheek. “Oh, he is beautiful, and his skin’s so soft.”
Jake glanced at the boss. Damn if he didn’t glow, too. The new father’s eyes shone with pride as he gazed at his son, and Jake found himself envying Kincaid. He needed to get out of this room before he started begging Maria to make a baby with him.
“Your son’s a handsome devil, boss. Fortunately, he takes after his mother in looks. Listen, I’ll step outside and give you guys some privacy. Dani, it’s great seeing you. I’ll stop by the house tomorrow after you get home. I have something for little Evan.”
Dani lifted her gaze from the baby and smiled. “I’ll look forward to it. Thanks for stopping by, Jake.”
He fled the room and walked down the hall a ways before st
opping and leaning back against the wall. What was wrong with him? All that domestic bliss scared the bejesus out of him . . . at least, it used to. Now, here he was staring at babies as if he had a damn biological clock ticking inside him.
“Get your act together, Buchanan,” he muttered. He needed his mind to be alert and not cluttered with thoughts of a sexy, black-eyed girl holding his child in her arms.
“How’s the operation planning coming?”
Hell. He’d not even noticed the boss approaching. That just proved his point. If he didn’t concentrate on the task at hand, someone was going to get hurt . . . or not come back at all. He pushed off the wall.
“Good for the short amount of time we’ve had to work on it. Maria’s been a big help by saving us a lot of time on the computer.”
Kincaid’s eyes, always intense, glinted with a hard stare. “I know she spent the night with you.”
Jake resisted the urge to look away. “She tell you?” That surprised him. He hadn’t thought Maria would’ve spilled the beans.
“No, I was home when she came back this morning. I all but forbade her to see you again, and she all but told me to butt out of her life. So, even though I don’t like it, that’s what I’m gonna do. You’re going to end up hurting her, Romeo, but she’s also made me promise not to fire you when you do.”
He would’ve liked to have been a fly on the wall during that conversation. “I guess you can still kill me, though.”
“No, she also managed to get me to promise not to do that either.” Kincaid hardened his eyes. “That part really pisses me off.”
“You know, I just might surprise you and make her happy.”
“Funny, she said the same thing.”
“Are you done with your bitching? I was headed to the bathroom.” He had no wish to discuss Maria with her brother.
“For now. I have to be in Washington Thursday. My flight leaves a few minutes before yours, so I’ll pick you up.” He turned away and headed back to his wife’s room.
Someone Like Her (A K2 Team Novel) Page 13
