Covert Vengeance

by Kaylea Cross

  Jesse backed her up against the Aston Martin he’d been admiring when she walked in, bending his knees to bring the ridge of his erection tight to her core. She moaned into his mouth and made room for him, leaning back and wrapping her legs around his thighs.

  He rocked his hips into her, his mouth still fused with hers, both hands now cupping her face. The possessive, romantic way he held her made something flip low in her abdomen.

  His teeth nipped at her bottom lip, his tongue soothing the slight sting as he cruised his way to her jaw and down the side of her neck. Amber sighed, tipping her head to the side to give him room as she ran her hands over his shoulders, savoring the bunched power of his muscles.

  He’d told her he wanted more than one night, that he wanted to see where things went between them. The concept was completely alien to her but she wanted him too badly to pass this up.

  She pushed her breasts into his chest and rocked with him, rubbing all over him like a cat. He gave a low hum of approval, dragged his tongue along a sensitive spot that made her gasp, one big hand coming down to cup her breast.

  Every nerve ending there tightened and tingled, pulling the nipple into a hard point. “Touch me,” she demanded, growing restless. She’d waited long enough for relief from this constant state of arousal around him. It was time for him to do something about it and give her what she needed.

  To help him along she grabbed the hem of her top and began to pull it upward. He grabbed it from her and drew it over her head, and the look on his face as he stared at her bra and the valley of her breasts sent another wave of heat through her.

  Strong, callused hands slid up her back and made short work of the hooks on her bra. He drew it off her, his intent gaze searing her naked breasts.

  She sucked in a breath and sank her teeth into her bottom lip when he cupped her in those big, gorgeous hands and bent to rub his face all over her, the scrape of his goatee on her skin making her shiver.

  The stroke of his tongue on one nipple made her eyes slide closed. She braced both hands on the hood of the car and leaned back, pushing her breasts out. Jesse took immediate advantage, taking one tight peak into his hot mouth.

  Amber grabbed his head as sensation splintered through her, streaking from her captive nipple to the sweet ache between her thighs. She moaned and let her head drop back, allowing the pleasure to take hold, losing herself to him and this moment.

  The sweet, tender suction, the skillful stroke of his tongue punched more arousal through her. She was wet already, her clit throbbing, begging for attention. But she wanted to see him too. Wanted to stroke his bare skin, nip it and drag her tongue across it.

  She gripped the back of his shirt and peeled it upward. Jesse raised his arms while she drew it over his head, immediately returning to cupping her breasts while he drove her crazy with his mouth. He’d been shirtless the first time he’d kissed her but she hadn’t been able to explore or appreciate him properly.

  Now she took the time to do just that, forcing her eyes open while she traced the powerful contours of his chest, shoulders and stomach. A rumbling sound came from deep in his throat and he pushed into her touch, seeking more.

  Through the haze of arousal she recalled the bruises all over him. Laying her hands on his shoulders, she smoothed her hands across his skin, gently running them over his back. She trailed soft, sexy kisses over his shoulder, up his neck until she could capture his earlobe in her teeth. “Want you,” she whispered.

  “You’re gonna get all of me.” He grasped her jaw in one hand and slanted his mouth over hers in a kiss that wiped her mind blank and made her toes curl in her boots.

  His tongue plunged between her lips to stroke and tease while his hands eased down her ribs to the top of her jeans. She lifted her hips to help him, almost lightheaded with the need to feel his touch between her thighs.

  Jesse yanked the denim down her thighs, past her knees to her ankles, then pushed her knees apart. Cool metal met her ass as she sank back down. She braced one hand behind her on the hood, stroked the fingers of her other hand through the back of his hair as he gripped her hip with one hand and drew the fingertips of his other up the inside of her thigh.

  Her muscles pulled taut, the breath catching in her throat as he paused for just an instant, the pad of his index finger hovering right over the top of her sex where her clit pulsed.

  “Spread your legs more,” he commanded, his voice a low, hungry rasp that heated her blood.

  She did, straining against the restriction of the denim trapped around her ankles, his hot stare setting her on fire. The confident, dominant way he handled her shot her arousal even higher. Her whole body was strung taut with anticipation, waiting for that first, sweet touch where she needed it most.

  Jesse pulled the front panel of her panties aside, a low groan easing from him as he dragged a finger down her slick folds. She bowed into his touch and raised her hips, demanding more. Then his touch inched upward.

  She had barely a second to absorb the pleasure that shivered through her when he stroked the edge of her swollen clit, then he sank to one knee, gripped her thigh and lowered his dark head between her legs.

  “Oh, God, Jesse,” she gasped out when the velvet heat of his tongue touched her. She’d expected hard and fast, for him to try and claim and conquer. Not this slow, melting tenderness, as if her pleasure mattered to him.

  Her muscles quivered, sensation punching through her as he covered her with his mouth and proceeded to drive her out of her mind. One hand held her panties aside, the other locked around the outside of her thigh while he stroked and sucked, plunging his tongue into her needy core before moving up to lavish attention on her most sensitive spot.

  Her fingers knotted in his short hair, pulling him to her even as she rolled her hips against his wicked tongue. Then the pleasure stopped abruptly, cool air washing over her heated flesh as he rose to his feet.

  She gasped. The sharp whimper of protest died on her lips at the stark hunger in his eyes as he grabbed her hips and pulled her off the hood, setting her on her feet before spinning her back around to face the car.

  Chilly metal met the hot skin of her stomach, the hard hand between her shoulder blades urging her to lean forward as he yanked her panties down her legs with the other. Bracing her hands on the hood, she shifted her feet, arching her back and ass while she tossed her hair over her shoulder to look back at him.

  Jesse’s expression was set, intent as he tore his jeans open and shoved them down his thighs along with his underwear, giving Amber her first view of the dark, thick length of his erection.

  Hungry for the feel of him inside her, she reached back to touch him.

  “No.” Jesse caught her wrist and pulled her hand back into place on the hood. “Stay like that,” he told her, the low command setting off another burst of heat inside her.

  The rip of a condom packet followed, then he slid a muscled arm around her hips, his forearm protecting her from the hard metal, and the startling heat of his erection pressed against her ass.

  She wiggled her hips, getting more frustrated with every passing second. “I need—”

  “This.” His hand delved between her splayed thighs to cup her, two of his fingers snuggled up on either side of her clit. She caught her breath as he tightened them, began to slide them up and down slowly.

  She could only nod, her entire body sagging under the sudden lash of sensation. God, the way he touched her. The way he held her spellbound, dying to see what he’d do next. It shook her even as it pushed her higher. “Yesss.”

  He made a low sound of approval, his free hand coming up to grasp the side of her face as his long fingers slid down to curl around her jaw. “Now. Watch,” he ordered, making her heavy eyelids snap open.

  With deliberate care he angled her face, directing her gaze to the mirror propped up against the far wall of the garage. “Watch us.” His lips caressed the tender spot below her ear.

  Amber could only stare, spel
lbound, as the mirror reflected their positioning. Her naked body draped over the hood of the car. Him curved over the length of her back, one muscular arm locked around her and his hand grasping her jaw, his caramel-toned skin a stark contrast to hers.

  She didn’t even recognize the woman staring back at her. Her hair was tousled, her cheeks flushed, eyes heavy-lidded with arousal and her parted lips swollen from his demanding kisses. It was like he’d transformed her, held her captive with his overwhelming sensual force.

  Each slow caress along her clit had her panting, the hot, hard, tempting length of his cock against her ass making her frantic with the need to feel him inside her so she could come.

  “More,” she whispered, angling her face to nip at his fingers as she rubbed her hips against him. “Give me more.” For the first time ever, she wanted to be claimed. Craved it, even, because he made her feel things no one else had.

  It was so dangerous, but she couldn’t stop this and didn’t want to.

  As if he’d been waiting for those words, Jesse shifted his body, and the heat of him pressed against her entrance. Those talented, stroking fingers kept pushing her closer to the edge, the tantalizing pressure of him lodged against her and the promise of fulfillment pulling a whimper from her throat.

  “Watch,” he commanded again, his lips grazing her neck.

  With effort she focused on their reflection once more. Meeting her gaze in the mirror for a heart-stopping moment, he pressed into her slowly from behind.

  Amber’s eyes fluttered shut, her head falling back on a moan of pure bliss at the slow, heated stretch as he filled her. “Jesse,” she gasped out, the combined sensations of his stroking fingers and his thick length filling her stealing her breath. Her sanity. He’d wrested control from her and she didn’t want it back.

  He growled deep in his chest and curved more tightly over her, his hips, stomach and chest plastered to her. “Beautiful,” he whispered, dragging the length of his cock almost all the way out of her before surging forward gently again.

  Ecstasy splintered through her. Amber writhed in his grip, unintelligible moans and cries filling the air while he stroked her inside and out. She was trembling now, her whole body drawn taut as the promise of release hovered in a tantalizing glow at the edge of her consciousness. Being at his mercy added a new, vulnerable edge, his demand for her to surrender absolute. It turned her on like nothing ever had before.

  “Where, Amber?” he demanded in a hot whisper against the spot where her neck and shoulder met. His teeth scraped over it, triggering a rush of goosebumps. “Tell me where you need me. Here?” He angled his hips, stroked the thick head of his cock right over the sweet spot inside her.

  Her helpless cry of pleasure answered for her, her muscles quivering as her body climbed closer, closer.

  “There,” he confirmed, satisfaction filling his voice. He repeated the motion over and over, dragging her right to the edge of orgasm before pausing.

  “No,” she whined, desperate to come. He was so exquisitely hard inside her. So thick, and he was hitting exactly the right spots. “No—”

  Her protest was cut off by another searing, heart-stopping kiss, his fingers tightening on her jaw as his tongue tangled with hers. She had no choice but to endure the wait, consumed by his kiss, overwhelmed by him while her body eased back from the precipice. Finally she moaned and sagged in his hold, a shudder rolling through her as she surrendered to his will.

  Then he began all over again.

  Amber lost all sense of time and space as he worked her body, building her pleasure, relentlessly hitting every sweet spot while he muttered to her in a mix of English and Spanish she only caught fragments of. She barely recognized her own voice when she reached the edge of the peak the second time, her cries of release a mix of pleading and triumph.

  This time he didn’t stop. Her core clenched around him while the orgasm finally snapped all that beautiful tension free.

  “Yeah, belleza,” he groaned in a dark voice. “So gorgeous when you come for me.”

  The dark possession in his voice only added to the sweetness of the release as he cupped her sex with his palm and drove into her deeper, faster. Amber splayed her hands on the hood to brace herself and pried her eyes open in time to watch him in the mirror for those last few moments.

  He was beautiful and fierce in his pleasure, face taut, eyes closed and his head thrown back as he absorbed every moment of it. A long, loud groan wrenched from his parted lips, the muscles in his arms and shoulders standing out in sharp relief as he drove deep and let go, pumping into the condom.

  Dragging in a shaky breath, she struggled to regain her wits as he rested his damp forehead against the back of her shoulder and held her close, still buried inside her.

  Jesus.

  She dragged her tongue across her lips, willing her heart rate to return to normal. She’d never felt anything like that before. All the sex she’d had up to that point was suddenly a cold, pale substitute for what they’d just shared. And it was a stunning revelation to admit that yeah, she had liked giving up control to him.

  As if sensing her thoughts, Jesse’s eyes opened, that dark, intense stare meeting hers in the mirror. Seeing past her shields to the heart she kept so closely guarded.

  Amber jerked her gaze away and stared down at her splayed hands still braced on the hood, shaken. Holy shit.

  This whole experience had shifted something for her. He was addictive. She already wanted more. So much more than this one time. Her mind was already leaping ahead to envision what it might be like to be in a relationship with him.

  The dreamy haze evaporated instantly as she thought of the coming op. Stanislav was gunning for her. There was a good chance she wouldn’t make it back alive.

  She dealt in life and death. She had no business dreaming about frivolous things like romance or a future with a fellow assassin.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Uh-uh. No way was he going to let her withdraw from him now. Not after the way she’d responded to him, the way she’d let him in, and he didn’t care that she was uncomfortable with it.

  Determined to stay on the inside of her protective shields, Jesse nuzzled the soft curve of her neck where it met her shoulder and trailed kisses up it, stroking his fingers over the edge of her jaw until he met the corner of her lips. He turned her face toward him more, fitting his mouth across hers in a slow, thorough kiss. She moaned and twisted her body toward him, reaching up one hand to curl around his nape.

  He smiled against her lips, sucked at the plumper lower one before easing away to search her eyes. They were still a little dazed, confusion mixing there along with a deep satisfaction.

  He’d be lying if he didn’t admit to being proud of both. “I knew it would be like that with you.”

  Surprise lit her eyes, then she ducked her head and started to turn away.

  He caught her chin between his thumb and fingers, stilling her. She thought she’d manipulated him into having sex, but he’d gotten inside her on a far deeper level than just physical, and it had rattled her. Hell, the strength of the growing bond between them rattled him a little too.

  “Hey.” He pressed a soft kiss to her lips. “Come here.”

  Before she could protest he gently eased out of her warmth, quickly dealt with the condom and shushed her as he pulled her jeans back up. After tugging his own over his hips, he eased to the floor and pulled her into his lap as he leaned back against the side of the car and gathered her close to his chest, her head tucked beneath his chin.

  He kept one arm locked tight around her and stroked his free hand over her hair, the soft, smooth skin of her bare back. The slightly puckered scar at the left side of her waist, maybe from a bullet graze. Then her Valkyrie mark on her hip below it.

  A circular brand containing the image of a crow with its wings spread, a sword in its talons, and below it a scroll containing the word Valkyrja. Each operative received it when they graduated from the program. Harsh, bu
t badass, and on her, insanely sexy.

  After a moment Amber relaxed and leaned into him with a contented sigh that filled him with satisfaction. “Warm enough?” he murmured, more fulfilled than he could ever remember being.

  “Mmhmm.” She ran her fingertips over his shoulder and the pad of his pec. There was something uncharacteristically tentative about it that tugged at his heart. As though she couldn’t stop touching him, but had never experienced this kind of intimacy before and she wasn’t sure what to do with it.

  Enjoying the closeness, and most of all, her willingness to stay here with him like this, he kept stroking her back and trailed kisses over her hair, the side of her face. With every passing second he could feel the connection between them strengthening.

  “God, Jesse, what are you doing to me?” she groaned, and buried her face in his throat.

  He cradled the back of her head with one hand and smiled into her hair, pleased by the adorable bewilderment in her tone. “Holding you. Enjoying you. Is that so bad?”

  “Yes.”

  He chuckled softly. “Well, I like it.”

  Almost in defeat she sighed and wound her arms around his back, laying her cheek in the hollow of his shoulder. “Well, I shouldn’t.”

  But she did. It made him damn happy. And hopeful that there was a chance she might let him all the way in eventually. “Do you think the others are still waiting on us?”

  A silent laugh shook her. “Doubtful.”

  “Good, because I’m not ready to share you with anyone else yet, not even your sister.”

  She peered up at him through those pretty green eyes. “I’ll let that slide this time, because I like you, and because you just rocked my world.”

  “You rocked mine too, if that helps.”

  “A little.”

  He tucked her head back down to kiss the top of it, his heart squeezing at the way she snuggled into him. Ah, damn. I can’t let you go. He might only have known her for a little while, but he knew this kind of softness from her was rare, and he reveled in being the one to receive it.