Her head fell back as he rested his chin on her shoulder. “I can’t resist you,” she confessed. “I should, but I can’t.”
“Who says you should?” He slipped the dress off her shoulders. “This is a no-regulations zone. O’Reilly’s gone. Arroyo’s in the other wing. And work is a long way away. There’s no one here but us.”
The red silk whispered down her legs and she stepped out of it, allowing Kellan to drape it over the closet door. When she turned to him, she was naked except for her panties and sandals. Her gaze traveled up his trousers and paused on the ridge of his erection under the fine wool.
“This isn’t fair. You have more clothes on than I do.”
With a sudden movement he scooped her up in both arms. “Didn’t they tell you? All’s fair in love in the war zone.”
He laid her on the bed and, sitting beside her, took one of her feet in both hands. Gently he undid the narrow leather straps of first one sandal and then the other, taking time to caress the sensitive skin at the arch of her foot. The shoes dropped to the floor unnoticed as he slid his hands up the smooth, tanned skin of her leg.
But Linn wasn’t the kind of woman who could lie passively while a man made love to her. She needed to participate. And right now what she needed most of all was to touch him. The comforter puffed around her hands as she rocked onto her knees and crawled over to where he sat. Her breasts brushed his naked back and she heard him draw in a breath. “You still have too many clothes on,” she reminded him softly.
In seconds he’d taken care of that little problem. Half lifting her, half pushing her onto her back, he carried them both the length of the bed and lay with his head cradled on his bent arm, his gaze full of heat.
“Your turn.” He hooked her panties with one finger and she lifted up enough for him to pull them off, taking his time on the journey down the length of her legs. With a flick, they landed on the bureau. He lay down beside her. “Now we’re even.”
The late-night stubble felt rough under her finger as she trailed it along his jaw and touched his mouth. In greeting, he moistened it with his tongue. “I suppose everyone tells you how beautiful you are,” she said.
“That’s what I was going to say.”
Her hair moved on the pillow as she shook her head. “It’s true. When I saw you on the other side of the glass that first day I couldn’t take my eyes off you. Couldn’t concentrate. You were like a silent explosion, and I’ve been trying to find all the pieces ever since.”
“Maybe you need new pieces.” With a hand flat on her belly, he traced the outline of her hipbone with his fingers. “Or some help to look.”
“Maybe.” She was finding it more and more difficult to remember how to string words together. The feathery touch of his hand traveled up her ribs until finally he cupped a breast. He changed position and touched her skin with his tongue. A sound escaped her throat and it seemed to spur him on to taste her, and the swirling sensation of his tongue on her breast was glorious. Nipping and sucking, he tasted every sensitive cell until it was all she could do not to beg him to move lower, to ease the ache he had created low in her belly and between her legs.
She reached for him to share some of the pleasure he was giving her. As her hands closed around his swollen length, he gasped. “Linn, if you do that I’ll—”
And like an alarm telling her that she’d gone too far, the cell phone on the bureau rang.
“Oh, my God,” Kellan groaned. “Somehow they always know.”
“It’s O’Reilly. Has to be. I can’t just let it ring.”
He fell back on the pillow, one arm across his eyes, and she lunged for the wretched phone. If she could have pitched it out the window she would have.
Instead she sat on the edge of the bed and resigned herself to losing the moment. “Hello?”
“Hey, baby,” O’Reilly said in his late-night DJ voice. “Miss me?”
I swear, I’m going to so enjoy putting you in the slammer. “Unbearably.”
“I didn’t think you’d be awake.”
“We’ve just gone to bed.”
“Dean, too?”
“Of course, Dean, too.”
At the sound of his alter ego’s name, Kellan sat up. His gaze heated as it traced a line from the phone to her shoulder. Then he moved in on her and dropped a kiss on her shoulder blade.
She shot him a “don’t you dare” look, and he grinned.
“Has your errand been a success?” She hardly knew what she was saying. Kellan moved her hair aside and his lips began to travel along the back of her neck with excruciating care. Goose bumps trailed his light kisses like the tail of a comet.
“Sure has,” O’Reilly replied. “Enrique wants to have a conversation with Dean. He seemed to like you.”
“I hardly spoke to him.” Kellan had reached her ear now, and she shivered, trying to pull away. It was impossible to keep a conversation going when he was doing everything in his power to distract her.
And it was working.
“He has an eye for a pretty woman,” O’Reilly said. “And he trusts my opinion about Dean. Much as I can’t stand the guy personally because he has something I want, he’s a good investment. And I know how you feel about those.”
Was he going to stay on the line all night? She had what she needed—the assurance that Arroyo was going to do business with them. She had to get rid of him before she gave herself away by moaning.
Kellan slid off the bed altogether and knelt in front of her. Then he leaned in and took her nipple into his mouth. His tongue was so skilled, his lips persuading the sensitive nerve endings to utter pleasure.
Linn’s whole body shuddered. “Richard, I’m exhausted. I really must say good night.”
“I had planned a nightcap of phone sex with you, but you’re right. I’m in the car on the Golden Gate right now and I don’t want to cause an accident.” He laughed.
Kellan nibbled on the inner curve of her breast.
“Good night, darling,” she rasped. “I’ll see you at breakfast.” Then she stabbed the off button and tossed the phone aside.
“You!” was all she could manage to say before he lunged at her and they fell back on the bed together.
“Yes, me,” he said. “Right here, right now and all the time.”
This time she took the lead in dishing out the most pleasurable punishment she could. Rolling on top of him, she promised, “I’ll show you,” and kissed him. It was a full-body kiss, the kind that needed lips, chests and legs. The kind that was a direct prelude to—
“Kellan,” she gasped.
“Mmm?” He nuzzled her throat, his body seeking entry to hers.
“Protection?”
He froze. After a second that seemed suspended, drawn out in midair, they looked at each other. “God.”
“You didn’t bring anything?” She should have. She should have known something like this would happen. That they couldn’t be trusted anywhere alone together.
“No. We’re working. I didn’t expect—”
Something small and joyful beat its way around her heart. He hadn’t expected to make love to her. He’d planned to do the right thing, to treat her as an equal and not let the operation be sidetracked by sex. Much as they both wanted that sidetrack now.
Man, did she want it.
“I’m sorry.” He rolled onto his back. “That was close. The scary thing is, I didn’t even think about it.”
A wicked smile began at the corners of her mouth. Stroking the line of hair on his belly that pointed the way south, she said, “I’ll take that as a compliment. But meantime…”
His eyes widened as he got her drift. “God—Linn—I didn’t mean—”
“Let’s see if we can find a way around it.” She felt raw, powerful, wicked. As un-Linn-like as it was possible to be. She lowered her mouth to his belly and rubbed her cheek on the hot skin covering the sheets of muscle. Despite his obvious strength, he seemed content to let her take the lead for once, and
she took shameless advantage of it.
His skin tasted faintly of salt, a flavor that became stronger the closer she got to his erect cock. Her leisurely journey took a brief holiday on the sensitive skin where his thigh met his torso.
“Linn.” The word came out through clenched teeth, and she smiled.
“This will teach you not to distract me during phone calls.”
“I promise I’ll never do it again. Just—”
His cock batted her cheek as she changed direction, begging for her attention. When she finally relented and took him in her mouth, he sucked air in through his teeth. She stroked him with her tongue, as if he were candy and she had all day to make him dissolve.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw his fingers curl into the sheet, turn over and twist the fabric in his fist.
Gently, she took his testicles in one hand and massaged them, feeling how engorged they were in their sac. With her lips, she drew him up and then plunged down on him as she would have done if they had both thought to bring protection.
Through fingers and lips, she felt the tension building in him, then the moment when he relinquished all control and allowed her to pace the responses of his body.
It was like a gift, the most intimate she had ever received.
She could have drawn it out, could have made it slow and torturous, but that was for another time and place. A place that belonged to them. For now, in this hostile environment, she could give him what he needed.
She increased the pace, moving on him with suction and with her tongue. She felt the orgasm coming as he did, felt the veins flush with their burden of fluid, and with a muffled cry, he exploded into her mouth.
12
LINN CRAWLED UP Kellan’s body to pillow her head on his shoulder while she caught her breath. His chest heaving, he rolled to meet her and wrapped his arms around her, cradling her against him.
Several minutes passed while their breathing slowed and the world stopped spinning around the core that was the two of them on the bed.
“I should forget protection more often,” he murmured at last, into her hair.
“You’d better not.” She kissed his jaw, tasting the fresh salt of sweat. “Wouldn’t want to slow us down.”
“I don’t think anything will slow you down. That was amazing. Fearless. Just like you.”
Fearless? Where he was concerned, that was the last word she would have used.
“Do I have something to be afraid of when I’m with you?” His chest was so warm, his arms so strong. His legs trapped hers with their weight. It had been a very long time since she’d been held like this, and she’d never felt this sense of safety. Rather than smothering her, his closeness protected.
“That depends.” He loosened his hold and nuzzled her throat. Her body, which had found some on-hold state of high arousal, kicked into gear with a jolt.
“On what?”
Lazily, he moved on to her breasts, tasting his way around each curve, and she began to lose the thread of words. “On you. On how you feel.”
He reached her nipple and bit it gently, then laved it with his tongue as if to make up for the tiny violence.
“I feel your tongue. Your mouth. That’s so good.”
“That’ll do for a start.” He suckled her for long pleasurable minutes, his mouth hot on her skin, his hands gentle. He traced her ribs, one by one, and discovered the dip at her belly button. Her toes curled, her knees rising to meet him.
“Kellan, please.”
“In good time,” he murmured. “Your skin is so soft.”
Each muscle responded to his slow kisses down the length of her thigh, and when he licked the skin at the back of her knees, she shivered. Now she knew how he felt, and the urgency built deep inside, where she had been soft and damp and waiting for what seemed like hours.
Slow kisses made the return journey up her other leg, making the tendons behind her knees tighten with anticipation. When he finally arrived at the apex of her thighs she was ready to scream.
“Ready for me?”
A strangled moan was all she could manage in reply.
At last, after an eternity of anticipation, she felt the roughness of his cheek stubble on her inner thighs.
Fearless, she thought. He’s the one who’s fearless. Not me.
Her muscles loosened and she parted her legs, giving him complete access and complete control in her turn. When his tongue touched her vulva, she jerked and her fingers tangled in his hair.
“Okay?” He lifted his head.
“Please—”
He seemed satisfied at incoherence for an answer. His tongue flicked out and stroked her, once, twice, learning her shape. Then he found her clit, and Linn learned what it meant to be completely unable to gain control—and not even want it. Because there was nothing quite like Kellan’s tongue making love to her, bringing her on, holding her back, intensifying the pleasure with each movement.
Without breaking his concentration on her clit, he slid a long finger into her vagina and stroked her from within.
A fireball seemed to explode behind her eyes and her orgasm exploded under his tongue, beating outward to the rhythm of his fingers. Flakes of light and sensation seemed to flash along her veins, right out to her fingers and toes, and flying out into the dark.
And this time she wanted him there to hold her when she came back down.
KELLAN WOKE SLOWLY, feeling warm and snug and boneless, despite the cool gray fog obscuring the view of the vineyard and slipping misty fingers into the open window.
He couldn’t move his arm, but it didn’t seem to matter. Lazily he rolled his head on the pillow and saw that Linn’s dark hair was spread on his shoulder, her cheek buried somewhere between it and the pillow.
What a night. She had played him like an instrument until finally he’d had to turn his face into the pillow so the whole winery wouldn’t hear him shout.
His body tightened and swelled at the memory. They had to get out of here and explore these possibilities further. She had not asked him to leave or spend the night on his own side of the bed, either. In fact, she’d grabbed him when he’d tried to give her a bit of space, and had promptly fallen asleep on his arm. As far as he was concerned, that was real progress.
The lock snicked and the bedroom door swung open. O’Reilly stuck his head in.
“Hey,” he said. “Rise and shine. How’s the hangover?”
Kellan’s arm tightened protectively around Linn’s naked body. Good thing the fog had moved in during the night to drop the temperature and make them pull the covers up. She shifted and murmured something into his shoulder.
“Get the hell out of here,” Kellan snarled, trying to look as though a killer hangover were giving him a bad temper. The snarl was real enough. He could swear Linn had locked the door.
O’Reilly grinned at him. “Arroyo wants to have breakfast with you. I wouldn’t keep him waiting. Sleep well?”
Beside him, Linn’s legs jerked as she woke up completely and realized what was going on.
“I had one beer too many, I guess.”
The grin got cockier, if that were possible. “Gotta watch that tendency. Who knows what you might miss out on.”
“What are you saying?”
The dealer shrugged. “Ask your lady.” His gaze moved from Kellan to the woman beside him. “Good morning, sweetheart.”
“Ask her what?” He gave her a warning squeeze.
“What she does when the lights are out.”
There was nothing quite so pitiful as a guy who thought he was playing mind games. Too bad Kellan had to act as though he believed him.
“Screw you, O’Reilly. Now get out of my face so I can get dressed.”
Laughing, O’Reilly shut the door, and Kellan shot the bolt home. Then he came back to the tumbled bed and bent over Linn. She was still gazing at the door, as if she were afraid O’Reilly was going to come back in as soon as she threw the covers back.
“Didn’t
you lock the door last night?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“I guess I should have expected something like it. We’re lucky there was a lock at all.” He frowned at the door, then glanced back at her. “Time to go to work. Arroyo wants to have breakfast with us.”
She drew in a sharp breath through her nose and threw the covers back. The phone, which must have been buried in the comforter since she’d tossed it away last night, flew up and landed on the carpet. He picked it up.
“I wish I’d known he had a master key. I’d have blocked the door somehow.”
“Talk about rude awakenings,” Linn said. “I wonder if he’s going to spend the rest of the day making up for lost time.”
“What, because he saw me as winning you for the night after he got called away?”
“Something like that.”
“I hope not. I hope Arroyo’s being here keeps his mind on business.” Kellan caught her hand. “Hey. I got ripped off.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean I wanted to wake up slowly. Maybe make love again. Probably not a good idea now, though.”
He pulled her up against him and kissed her. She kissed him back, her body soft and pliant under his hands, but something was missing. Some heat or concentration that had been there last night had vanished this morning.
She pulled away a little. “If Tricky Ricky can walk in on us at will, I think I’d rather save this for a safer place.”
He nodded. “Does that mean that once we get out of here, we can see each other?”
“Let’s take one thing at a time.”
It looked as if he was going to have to be happy with that, because she slipped out of his arms and went into the bathroom. “I’m going to take a shower.”
Ten minutes later she came out, dried off briskly and pulled on another set of lacy underwear.
“Did you buy out Victoria’s Secret?”
“What?”
He gestured at her bra. “So far I’ve seen pink, taupe and now green. I never would have expected that of you, Investigator.”
His Hot Number Page 13
