Bringing Benjy Home (Security Ops)

by Brant, Kylie

  When the waiter disappeared, Trey returned his attention to Jaida. She was looking almost recovered from her ordeal, a process he hoped the meal would complete. But nothing could detract from her appearance. She’d pulled her hair into a chignon at the base of her scalp. The look was coolly elegant, and one he’d often admired on the women he’d dated.

  He didn’t like it at all on her.

  He was used to seeing her with that sheaf of hair tumbling over her shoulders and down her back. He preferred the look. He liked to think that at any moment he could reach over and bury his hand in its washed-silk texture, or fantasize about having it spread across his chest. Right now his fingers were itching to find just how many pins he’d have to dispense with to send the mass of hair cascading.

  The thought made his loins grow heavy. So did her appearance. He’d bought clothes for women before, and he had an eye for color and sizes. The dress he’d purchased for Jaida was a perfect frame for her unusual coloring and highlighted her exquisite figure. The straps were narrow pieces of material that defied gravity and left her shoulders and arms completely bare. He traced the neckline with his gaze. It delved to the top of her breasts, hinting at the delicate cleavage below. Although not snug, the dress draped her curves enticingly, ending several inches above her knees.

  She had had the attention of every man in the room when they’d entered, and he’d been torn between the desire to cover her with his suit jacket and the urge to take her back to the motel room. He’d done neither. Instead, he was sitting across from her, suffering from the constant arousal that had been simmering in him since they’d shared the cabin.

  “What’s the matter?”

  “Hmm?”

  “Is there something wrong?” she asked again. “A moment ago, you looked, so . . . fierce.” Her voice tapered off, and she wished she hadn’t spoken. That intense, hooded regard was focused on her now, bathing her with heat.

  “No,” he answered belatedly. “There’s nothing wrong.”

  “Is it the woman we had arrested?” she insisted. “You never told me if she’s given the police any information that would be useful.”

  Trey shook his head. “So far all they know is that her name is Maria Kasem. She’s refused to tell them anything more. I’m hoping to talk Garven into letting me speak with her tomorrow.”

  “I could help.”

  “No.” His answer was immediate and so emphatic she blinked. “I know what you’re offering, but you’re not coming to the precinct with me, and you’re not going to talk to Maria. And you most definitely are not going to touch her.”

  Her chin went up at his autocratic tone. “It isn’t your decision to make.”

  Too late he recognized that he had angered her with his orders. But he wasn’t about to back down.

  “You need rest between your visions. You’ve told me that yourself.”

  “I’ve had rest.”

  “Not enough,” he disputed with finality. “And you know as well as I that what happened at the park was more intense than you’re used to. Your body and mind need time to recuperate, and that’s just what you’re going to give them time to do.”

  “We’ll see.”

  It was apparent from her airy drawl that she didn’t consider the matter closed. His mouth flattened. He’d been wondering earlier what would keep her safe from unscrupulous people who would use her gift for their own ends, but perhaps a bigger fear was who would protect her from herself. She didn’t seem to have an ounce of self-preservation.

  The wine arrived then and was presented to Trey for his approval. He signaled the waiter, and the man poured two glasses, setting one in front of Jaida, then him.

  She eyed hers warily. “I don’t usually drink.”

  “One glass won’t hurt you,” he said. He watched with a slight smile as she sipped cautiously from her glass. She probably shouldn’t have more than one, anyway. With her strange metabolism there was no telling what effect an excess of alcohol would have on her. But he wouldn’t let her drink to excess. He’d hoped that a little wine would relax muscles that were probably still much too tight and relieve some of the strain she’d been under. But instead, the strain on him was increasing.

  The wine moistened her lips, making them glisten in the table’s candlelight. He imagined himself leaning across the table and licking the moisture away. She’d taste of wine and the sweetness that was uniquely Jaida.

  She looked up from her salad a few moments later to see Trey stabbing at his with fierce intent. For once she had a few seconds to watch him unobserved, and she savored the opportunity. The black suit and white shirt he was wearing provided a perfect foil for his dark good looks. Complete with a subtly patterned tie, he appeared remarkably similar to the man who had first approached her in the meadow in Arkansas.

  He’d become so much more now. She’d known from the first time she’d seen him that he wasn’t what he seemed. A master at pretense, he had from the beginning been able to shield his thoughts, while wielding that polished charm. That ability had made her wary and angry by turns. She would have done well to continue viewing him with only those two emotions. But the possibility of maintaining a distance from him had vanished the first time he’d touched her. She somehow knew that the flame that sprang to life under Trey’s touch was not something she’d ever experience with anyone else. She accepted the fact stoically.

  It was not quite as easy to accept the fact that the man who evoked such a response would soon disappear from her life.

  “I’m not tipsy,” she insisted, preceding him into his motel room. “And I’m not the least bit tired. We should have gone for a drive or something.”

  He smiled. No, she wasn’t tipsy, as he’d teasingly suggested, but the small amount of wine had flared color to her cheeks. Regardless of her protests, he’d brought her straight back to their rooms. It wasn’t late, but he didn’t want her to exhaust herself.

  He changed the subject to distract her. “I have to get up early tomorrow, if I want to catch Garven at the precinct.”

  She was immediately disarmed. She had failed to consider that Trey had probably gotten by on very little sleep since Benjy was found. “Wouldn’t he have called you if Maria Kasem had named her accomplice?”

  Trey undid the knot from the tie and pulled it from his shirt. “I’d certainly hope so. I told him to. It appears she’s keeping quiet, at least for the time being. I don’t know what she’s hoping to gain.”

  He kicked off his shoes and undid the top two buttons on his shirt. Her mouth went dry. He was still fully covered, but his actions were as seductive as if he were doing a striptease. His open buttons revealed a wedge of muscled chest, with an intriguing thatch of black, curling hair.

  He paused in the act of unbuttoning his cuffs. Frowning, he took a step toward Jaida. “What’s wrong?” She was completely still, her gazed fixed on him.

  She backed hastily away. “Nothing.”

  He surveyed her for a moment, noting the way her gaze kept slipping away from him and then sneaking back. Masculine satisfaction curled inside him. Deliberately, he finished unbuttoning his cuffs, then rolled them back on his forearms. She was watching him raptly, and his eyes drooped to half-mast. He strolled toward her.

  “Are you sure you’re feeling all right?”

  She moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue and shook her head dumbly. Her head screamed a message to her feet, but she remained rooted to the floor.

  “Because your face is flushed.” He used the tip of his finger to trace across her cheekbones. “Right here.” His finger trailed lower, until it rested against the pulse pounding at the base of her throat. “And your pulse is racing . . . here.”

  Jaida swallowed hard. It didn’t seem fair that he was able to call forth her reaction to him so effortlessly. Then she made the mistake of looking in his eyes again, and what she saw there scorched her.

  Desire. Raw and unbridled, it simmered in his green gaze as it rested on her. Their eyes r
emained locked as his finger continued its liberties and wove a meandering path across her shoulder, and followed the narrow strap of her dress down to its neckline. Her breathing grew more labored as Trey traced an invisible line across the top of her breasts. Oxygen was in short supply when his finger dipped, for one leisurely moment, into the cleavage exposed.

  He cupped her shoulders with his hands, enjoying the prickling sparks of electricity that jumped between them. “It’s like fireworks going off beneath my hands every time I touch you,” he said huskily. “You feel it, too, don’t you, Jaida? You have from the first. That’s why you pulled away from me that day in the meadow.” She was trembling, and automatically he caressed her shoulders.

  “Yes.” Her response was little more than a whisper. She watched a satisfied smile tilt his lips, and he skated his hands slowly down her arms. It was frightening to be held like this, to feel the current skitter crazily between them. She tensed involuntarily, wondering for a moment if his touch would elicit another vision or bring her yet another peek into his feelings, his past. But nothing existed except the chemical reaction between the two of them. The sensations he was causing within her seemed too strong for anything else to interfere.

  Beckoned by the open neck of his shirt, her hand moved of its own volition. It hovered timidly, until Trey rasped, “Touch me.” He guided her hand inside his shirt, and her fingers curled in the crisp, dark hair on his chest. Exhilaration filled her at the shudder that escaped him then, warring with the sensuous wonder of touching him as she’d been longing to do. He unbuttoned the rest of his shirt quickly, pulling the tails from his pants.

  Unbidden, both her hands came up to explore his muscled chest, rubbing and kneading it rhythmically. His fingers went to the zipper hidden in the back of her dress. In the next moment he was dragging the narrow straps from her shoulders, freeing her breasts.

  The dress hadn’t allowed for a bra, and the air-conditioned air in the room was cool on her sensitized nipples. He watched them grow even tauter under his gaze, then his arms snaked around her and brought her into contact with his torso. He caught her gasp in his mouth.

  Hungrily he kissed her, without the restraints he was usually so careful to keep in place. A woman like her should scare the hell out of a man like him. He’d lived his life with his guard raised, yet she could read him with a touch. He should have been running in the opposite direction, but the connection between them was too rare, too tempting, not to stay.

  He lifted his head, desire clawing at him. The look of drugged wonder on her face did nothing for his control. “Do you remember what I told you the last time I kissed you?”

  She blinked eyelids that seemed weighted. Yes, she remembered. She remembered everything about him. “You said when it was over . . .”

  “We’d finish what was between us,” he grated. “Now’s the time, Jaida. If it’s not what you want, too, this is your chance. Walk out that door, back to your room.”

  He must have thought he was giving her a choice, but she knew there really wasn’t one at all. He had been right all along. The feelings between them were too strong to deny. She’d be a fool to believe that he felt anything but passion for her.

  She’d be a bigger fool to walk away from it.

  He waited, but she didn’t move. She stood there, breasts bare, watching him with eyes that managed to look both anxious and beguiling. When she spoke, her soft drawl made her words seem even more provocative.

  “I’m not going anywhere.”

  Chapter 13

  Jaida’s words had Trey releasing a pent-up breath, one he hadn’t been aware of holding. Then he drew her into his embrace again, not quite gently, and shuddered with the exquisite sensation of her skin touching his own. He wanted to believe that he hadn’t been lying, that the choice had indeed been hers. But he’d spoken the truth that night in the cabin. This thing between them was unavoidable.

  Her gasp distracted him then, as she reacted to the sparks leaping between them. He knew without a doubt that she felt them, too, that she always had. This woman had been entwined in his life since the first day in the meadow, the first time that he had touched her. Their fates had been sealed irrevocably from that day, as had this night. This long-awaited night.

  Impatiently he tugged at her dress, which had draped at her hips. His movement sent the dress to form a pool at her feet. He released the pins from her hair, five of them, and her hair tumbled over her shoulders.

  He surveyed her then through slitted eyes. With that pale hair and light skin, she looked like an ice princess, all haughty and cool. That appearance was in direct contrast with her personality, he knew, and the contradiction was driving him crazy.

  Deliberately, he traced a finger down one breast to encircle the hardened nipple with a feather-light touch. Primitive satisfaction filled him as he watched her shiver and gasp. It was his nature to retain control of every situation, to be unwilling to relinquish it. Now, at this moment, he had no doubt of his capability to do just that.

  Jaida forced her eyes open, when they wanted nothing more than to remain closed in a helpless response to his touch. What she saw when she opened them almost made her weep.

  Desire, the strength of which weakened her knees, was evident on Trey’s face. But so was a primordial male satisfaction. She knew he was firmly in control of his emotions, and she had a sudden urge to flee. Even as his mouth went to her neck, she was aware of being at a great disadvantage. He was still wearing his pants and shirt. The clothing represented, to her, the guard he kept over his own emotions. Others would be stripped of their defenses, appear vulnerable, but not Trey. Never Trey. And though she knew better than most what made the man the way he was, his continued defenses now made her angry in a way she didn’t totally comprehend.

  The cord along her neck was nibbled, and she flinched slightly at the stinging kisses he dropped there, to be soothed immediately with his tongue. Her eyes fluttered to half-mast and she became aware of the care he was taking to avoid touching her anywhere else. Despairingly she wondered if making love to her was something he could do without reciprocating any answering emotion other than need. She didn’t question if it was love she felt for Trey; love seemed a far too weak description for the flood of emotion that overwhelmed her each time she felt his touch. She only questioned how fate could be so cruel as to give this man such power over her emotions, without providing her with a like control over his.

  He bracketed her body, resting his forearms against the wall on either side of her. Still he kept a few inches between them, and that distance represented emotional miles to her. Her throat was sealed with a necklace of hot, moist kisses, and her head fell back to rest against the wall. Her lips parted slightly, and it became more difficult to concentrate on her morose thoughts under the wicked distraction of his mouth.

  He moved lower, skirting her breasts, concentrating on the smooth, pale skin of her waist and stomach. He sank to his knees, and she felt the hot kisses trailing down the outside of one thigh, the flick of a tongue across the back of her knee. Her eyes remained closed, her neck arched, her breathing growing ragged. He forged a matching path with his lips on the inside of her leg, and her knees parted to allow him greater access without her direct volition. His mouth scorched a path up her inner thigh, before pressing a kiss against her center, at the apex of her thighs. She jerked in involuntary response to that bold kiss. She could feel his heat through the thin, silk panties she still wore, and a strangled cry escaped her.

  Jaida reached for him then, doubts swirling away. Her fingers dug into his shoulders, and he obeyed her unspoken demand, rising to fix his mouth over hers. Her lips opened beneath his, and her kiss evoked a response of its own. Without thinking, Trey closed the gap between them, pressing her close against him. He wasn’t aware of the action of her hands until he felt her fingers smoothing over his chest, and he shuddered in response. He shrugged out of his shirt and it fluttered, unnoticed, to the floor. Her hands were stroking over hi
s shoulders and down his biceps, making an exploration out of their journey. His muscles tensed as he attempted to counteract his body’s natural reaction to her touch, a reaction that had seemed predestined from the start.

  At first he’d been curious about the chemistry that leaped to life between them when they touched, and at times he’d evoked it deliberately, stoking the flames, savoring the uncustomary reaction. Fires were springing to life everywhere they touched. As gratifying as her response was, his own was just as involuntary, just as out of control.

  Out of control wasn’t a natural state for Trey Garrison.

  He shook his head slightly, trying to clear it, unfamiliar with the fog of desire that had every other thought fading away. His mind wasn’t obeying his command to focus; Jaida’s touch was making a shambles of his carefully erected defenses. When her mouth went to his chest he groaned and took a step back. He wasn’t consciously aware of his own attempt to recreate that distance between them, or of his failure to do so. Jaida followed him step for step, matched him stroke for stroke. His hands came up to delve in her hair, and he cradled her skull in one large palm, unconsciously guiding her lips to the places on his chest that would give him the most pleasure. The scrape of her teeth across one tight nub on his chest may have been by accident or design, but the effect had his breath hissing out between his teeth. He clutched handfuls of her long, blond tresses and rubbed them against his chest, closing his eyes in sybaritic pleasure. This was too much like the fantasies he’d had about her for days. But it was more than the fantasies, much more.

  Reason edged further away. His hands stilled in her hair, sanity flickering feebly from a great distance. He’d anticipated this moment from the first time he’d touched Jaida. But in the recesses of his mind he was aware that this was going to cost him far more than he’d ever given another woman. Then she tilted her head to look up at him, her deep-blue eyes dazed now with passion, and that distant warning in his mind was effectively silenced.