by Kaylea Cross
“You didn’t abandon them,” he argued, his voice calm. “Those parents all knew the risks of sending their daughters to the school—” She shook her head in denial but he kept on going. “—and the Pakistani government is responsible for protecting its citizens. Your foundation built a school to give those girls a chance at a future, which is more than anyone else has done for them in their lifetime. Now it’s up to the local police and military to keep them safe.”
“Who may or may not be Taliban sympathizers,” she pointed out glumly.
He was silent a moment, watching her. “You can’t save the world, Khalia. Believe me, I know.”
She stopped pacing and looked over at him, something in his tone pulling at her. “I’m not trying to save the world. But I damn well feel like I should be doing something other than hiding out here with you.”
He stood so fast she took an instinctive step back. It was on the tip of her tongue to apologize for snapping at him but the absorbed look on his face made her stay silent. He erased the space between them with two strides, until he stood close enough for her to smell the shampoo and soap he’d just used in the shower. His nearness and the heat radiating from him made her dizzy, scrambled her thoughts.
In the midst of all that dark stubble his lips looked incredibly soft. That black shirt was stretched taut across his chest and shoulders, emphasizing the firm planes of muscle. She’d felt them against her on the drive back to Islamabad. Now she wanted to run her hands over them, feel his hard body pressed full length against hers. His size and nearness woke every feminine cell in her body. Staring up at him, she watched his pupils dilate in response to her arousal. An instant wave of heat suffused her.
Though he had to feel the tension simmering between them, Hunter laid both hands on her shoulders and squeezed, the contact setting off tiny shocks in her belly. “You did what you came here to do and you helped get those girls to safety today. You don’t have anything to feel guilty about.”
His words banked the fire building inside her. Oh, but she had a lot of things to feel guilty about. Because right now all she could think about was how scared she’d been today, and how much she wanted him. “You could’ve been killed today because of me.”
His gaze softened and the hint of a smile played at the corner of his mouth. “I could’ve died from a fall in the shower just now, too.”
She shook her head, frustrated that he was making light of it. “I put you in the position to have to fight off those militants.”
He lifted the hand resting on her right shoulder to brush a lock of hair away from her temple. She sucked in a quiet breath as his fingers grazed her skin, sending shocks along her nerve endings. “The job did that, not you. I knew the risks when I signed on. I’ve faced worse things than we did today. And yet here I am, safe and sound.”
The touch was so gentle, almost a caress. She couldn’t help but lean into it. His eyes darkened from caramel to amber. The air between them felt electric, crackling with tantalizing possibility. She wanted to touch him, be held in those strong arms, have him pin her beneath him on the double bed behind her and strip everything away with his hands and mouth until she was naked and his for the taking. She wanted to stop thinking, seize the moment and feel alive.
To hell with waiting. She placed her hands on his wide shoulders, reveling in the strength and solidity of him beneath her fingertips. Swaying forward, she rose up on tiptoe to kiss him, unable to fight the unbearable hunger a second longer.
Chapter Ten
Hunter saw the kiss coming in plenty of time to avoid it if he’d wanted to.
He didn’t and it was impossible for him to keep his professional distance any longer.
Still jacked up from the battle, seeing that hungry, hopeful look in Khalia’s eyes sealed the deal. He settled his hands on her waist, his attention narrowing to the way her lashes fluttered closed as she leaned up on tiptoe, the tempting curve of her lips rising to meet his and the arc of raw sexual energy leaping between them. The tentative weight of her hands on his shoulders sent a ripple of heat across his skin and made his cock harden. That she was leaving in the morning made it easier to ignore just how bad an idea this was. But he wanted her too badly to stop it.
Threading his fingers into the curly mass of her hair, he squeezed, bringing her head back before their lips touched and eliciting a tiny gasp that made the sexual fire inside him burn hotter. His way, the grip told her, and he loved the way she stilled and watched him, waiting.
Three heartbeats, four, then he lowered his head and kissed those soft, cool lips. The feel of that tender flesh parting beneath his made him desperate to get inside her, any way she’d let him. Forcing back the need to rush, to take, he allowed her to explore him with tiny brushes of her lips until she surprised him by reaching up to grip his head between her hands and pull him down to deepen the kiss. He took over with a low growl, gripping the curve of her hip with one hand to pull her tight against his suddenly overheated body.
Fisting his other hand in her hair, he angled her head to glide his tongue across her lower lip with the last of his restraint. She made a soft sound in the back of her throat and opened, allowing him in. Hunter took her mouth, licking and caressing, holding her in place while he tasted her. She kissed him back just as wildly, wriggling in closer until every luscious curve was plastered to him. His throbbing cock wedged against her abdomen, making him want to rip away the offending cloth between them and plunge into her to ease the relentless ache. Christ, no woman had ever set him on fire this fast.
Still clutching his head, Khalia rubbed against him in a full length caress and moaned into his mouth. The plaintive sound burned right through him. He dropped both hands to her ass, picked her up and walked her backward to the wall where he pinned her with his weight and fisted both hands in her hair. Her legs immediately came around his waist, squeezing tight, fighting to get closer. He stroked his tongue into her mouth, so slowly she whimpered and bowed up against him.
Hell yeah.
He did it again, and again, absorbing her cries. Those soft, needy sounds drove him crazy as she met each caress of his tongue with a raw hunger that shook him. She was burning in his arms and he was more than happy to put out the flames for her.
Right after he stoked them as high as they’d go.
He kissed the corner of her mouth, over her chin to her jaw and up to her earlobe. Capturing it between his teeth, he nipped gently as he brought one hand up and trailed his fingers down the smooth column of her throat. He could feel her pulse pounding beneath his fingertips, hear the ragged breaths she took as she tipped her head back to give him better access.
Settling his mouth over her pulse point, he licked at it, absorbing the shiver that sped through her, and lowered his face to nuzzle just inside the collar of her shirt where her neck met her shoulder. She hissed in a breath and pressed her breasts harder against him, goose bumps rising across her skin. He loved the response. Holding her against the wall he continued to taste her, nibbling and sucking a path up her neck. Her hands pulled his head in close, her hips pressing against his erection in erotic circles.
Hunter moaned against her smooth skin. More. He wanted more of her, to taste every inch of her and hear her scream his name.
Flicking his tongue against a spot he found that made her shiver, he reached down to cup her right breast where the distended nipple beaded against her shirt. He molded the soft weight of her in his palm before brushing his thumb softly across the hard peak. She whimpered and struggled to get closer, pulling his head up to meet her kiss. The throb between his legs was agonizing. He wanted to take her shirt in his hands and wrench them apart, tear it open to expose the lace he could see through the thin material. Wanted to peel the bra cup aside to feel her naked breast in his hand, pull that tender center into his mouth and suck until he had her begging.
The way she rubbed against him told him she was at least halfway there already. He couldn’t wait to slide his fingers into her
hot center, his tongue in her mouth while she exploded around him then took him with her.
His cell buzzed in his pocket. He blocked out the sound of the incoming text message, too lost in kissing the hell out of her, plucking at the sensitized nipple and loving each ragged sound he dragged out of her. It buzzed again and this time he barely noticed.
He gripped the neckline of her shirt, about to tear it apart when a loud jangling startled him into jerking his head back. Khalia gasped and opened her eyes, staring up at him with a lust-glazed expression. Her mouth was swollen and wet from his kisses. The solid hold on his head didn’t ease up.
The phone kept jangling. A fucking annoying ringtone he now regretted choosing for his boss’s number.
Fighting back the driving need to strip her naked and finish what he’d started, somehow he found his voice. “Sorry. Have to answer.”
She nodded and licked her lips, watching him with unfulfilled hunger in her gaze.
With a reluctant sigh he eased back and let her feet drop to the floor. When he was sure she wasn’t going to fall, he pulled out his phone and stared at the taut peaks of her nipples while he answered. His jaw clenched. “Phillips.”
“Just got off the phone with someone else from the State Department,” Tom said. “They know something about the attack today, I know they do. They just won’t tell me what it is.”
Taking a deep breath, trying to find his center after Khalia had tilted his world on its axis, Hunter rubbed a hand over his face and turned away from her. “Okay, so…”
“So I need you to help me go over their heads and find out what they know.”
He wasn’t following, probably because his brain was oxygen deprived since most of his blood was still pooled between his legs. “And you want me to do that how?”
“This is big, Hunt. Way bigger than I first realized. There’s a leak someplace. Has to be.”
Ah, shit. He’d wondered about that. “Got it.”
“I need you to get Gage to call in a favor at the NSA.”
That wiped any remaining traces of lust from his brain. “Oh, Christ. Why me? Why can’t you tell him?”
“He’ll listen to you. He and I’ll just get into an argument, and you know I wouldn’t be asking this of him if I wasn’t desperate for answers. Do it and get back to me ASAP, yeah?”
Not like he had an option on that one, did he? “Yeah. Bastard.”
“And proud of it. Get on it.” Tom disconnected without waiting for a reply.
Hunter hit end and turned to face Khalia. Her cheeks were flushed but her eyes had cleared. She also had her arms folded over her breasts, which was a damn shame. “I have to go see Gage for a few minutes.”
She nodded, looking uncertain. “Is everything okay?”
He didn’t see any reason to cause her more worry. “Yeah, everything’s fine. Gotta have this talk in person though. You okay?” He meant with what they’d just done and what they’d almost just done. And most definitely with what he wanted to finish when he got back.
Her smile was strained, a little forced as if she was suddenly unsure of herself. “Yeah.”
He’d make it up to her after this fun little convo with Gage. “Lock the door behind me. I’ll be back in a little while.” With lingering sexual frustration putting his mood in the shitter, he made the trip down and across the hall, rehearsing how he was going to word this. Because Gage was going to be pissed as hell no matter how he said it, and he’d prefer to end the conversation with his face intact.
At his knock Gage opened the door and stepped back to let him in with an expectant look on his face. “What’s up?”
Hunter stopped in the middle of the room and met his gaze, deciding it best just to put it out there. “Tom needs a favor.”
Because he was a smart sonofabitch, Gage’s expression immediately turned wary. “And apparently he needs a messenger, too.” He eyed Hunter with a raised brow, his southern boy drawl laced with a hard edge.
Yeah, this wasn’t going to go well. “He thinks there’s an Intel leak somewhere in the chain and he wants us to look into it. Starting with you contacting Claire.”
At the mention of that name, Gage’s face went eerily blank. “You’re shittin’ me.”
Hunter shook his head. “No, man, I’m not.” He held up his phone, screen out to show the ignored text message if he wanted to read it.
Gage’s eyebrows crashed together in a glower as he set his hands on his hips. “He has other contacts. He can start with them instead.”
Hunter barely refrained from scrubbing a hand over his face. “Gage. Just call her. See what she can find out.”
Gage’s jaw clenched, his eyes simmering with resentment at being placed in the position he now found himself in. “Fuck.”
Well, at least it wasn’t a Fuck no, or a Fuck you, followed by a sucker punch to the face. “Want me to…?” He pointed over his shoulder at the bathroom, raised his eyebrows.
“No, I’ll go,” Gage muttered, eyes shooting daggers at him as he stalked past and threw the bathroom door shut with a bang that rattled the framed picture on the wall beside it.
Releasing a breath, Hunter dropped into a chair by the table that matched the one in Khalia’s room, wishing he was still with her instead of here. If Tom hadn’t called, he’d be buried inside her as deep as he could go right now, absorbing more of those sweet little cries as he took her to heaven and back. He swallowed a groan at the thought and focused on the matter at hand. How the hell long was this gonna take, anyway?
No yelling from the bathroom. That had to be a good sign. Unless Gage was still working up the guts to dial.
While he waited he texted Tom. He’s calling now.
Sighing, Hunter leaned his head back and closed his eyes. Would be real interesting to see what came of this.
Gage had faced the attacking line of Taliban fighters that afternoon with barely a rise in his heart rate, yet at the prospect of this phone call, his hands and feet were cold and his heart knocked against his ribs. He scowled at his phone. Talking to Claire always made him feel like he’d swallowed a mouthful of hydrogen cyanide, the acid burning him alive from the inside out.
Pushing out a hard exhalation, he stared down at the screen of his phone. He still had her number programmed in it, because apparently he was a fucking closet masochist. Or a goddamn hopeless romantic, he wasn’t sure which. Either way, when it came to her, he was fucked.
Well, hell. Stalling wasn’t going to help, was it? He hit the call button and raised the phone to his ear, part of him hoping she wouldn’t pick up. It was early back on the east coast. Maybe she’d slept in or was in a meeting. On the fourth ring he was just starting to get his hopes up about getting voicemail when she answered.
She’d seen his number and picked up anyway. That had to mean something.
“Hello?”
Gage closed his eyes. Her voice.
In all the months they’d been apart he’d never forgotten the sound of it. Low for a woman and slightly husky, it was pure sex. One syllable from her, and he was thinking of the countless hours they’d spent tangled naked together in sweat dampened sheets, that sultry voice praising whatever he was doing to her aroused body, crying out his name in ecstasy as she came around his fingers or tongue or cock…
Dammit. Now his tongue was stuck to the roof of his mouth. His suddenly dry as sand mouth. “Hey, it’s Gage,” he managed.
“Yeah, I saw your name come up.” The cautious note in her voice made it clear that the past six months without speaking to each other hadn’t made her memory of him grow any fonder. But at least she’d answered rather than let it go to voicemail.
The tightness in his chest expanded, making his lungs feel overinflated. “So…how are things?”
“Fine. Gage, what did you want to talk to me about?”
She’d always been a straight shooter. He scrubbed a hand over his closely shorn hair, leaned against the edge of the vanity. “I’m calling in a favor.” Tom
is so gonna pay for this.
“What kind of favor?” Now her tone was suspicious.
“We’ve run into a situation here—”
“Where’s here?”
“Pakistan.”
A pause. “Go on.”
“There’ve been some…problems on this job and Tom thinks there might be a leak—”
“You’re working for Tom?”
That would be the thing she zoned in on. They’d met through Tom at a security conference in DC. Nine hours after that he’d shown up at her hotel room door and things had burned out of control between them ever since. “Yeah. Have been since the spring.”
“You never told me.”
Yeah, because we haven’t spoken a single fucking word to each other since March. “Well, anyway, with everything that’s happened on this job Tom thinks there’s something going on between Pak officials and the TTP. They’re getting help somewhere. We just don’t know from whom.”
“And that’s where I come in.” She didn’t sound happy about it. Not that he’d expected her to.
He pushed out a breath. “Yeah.” This entire fucking situation depressed him. How the hell had they come to this? He’d bought a ring for Chrissake, had the whole romantic proposal mapped out in his head before she’d suddenly brought his world crumbling down on him in a pile of rubble. Not so long ago they would have done anything for each other. Now they could barely have a civil conversation.
“Is this official, or off the record?” she asked.
“Off the record.”
She made an incredulous sound. “Are you serious? I could lose my job for something like that.”
“I’m not asking you to do anything illegal,” he said quickly. “Anything you could find out would be a big help. We’d all appreciate it.”
He could almost feel the anger deflating out of her on the other end of the line. “What’s happened over there?”
She had security clearance, maybe even a higher one than him, so he didn’t see the harm in telling her the basics. “I’m part of the detail for John Patterson’s daughter.”
