by Cindy Dees
He murmured easily enough, “I won’t do anything you don’t want. Say the word and I’ll stop. You have my word of honor.” His hand shifted to her elbow and he drew her lightly toward him. She tried to brace herself, but the boat was rocking slightly and chose that particular moment to roll toward him. She overbalanced and threw out her hands to catch herself. Acres of warm skin sprang up under her palms and she gasped in surprise.
Hake gave a tug on her wrists, pulling them out from under her, and she fell on top of him unceremoniously. “Sorry,” she grunted. “Just being a klutz.”
He fell silent for a moment, then asked reflectively, “Why are you so tense about having sex with me?”
“I’m tense about not having sex with you,” she snapped.
His voice, rich with amusement, tickled her ear. “There’s no need to worry about it not happening. It will.”
“That’s not what I meant—” She broke off. He knew that; he was teasing her. “You’re incorrigible.”
“Mmm. I’ve heard that before.” His lips touched her temple lightly and she about jumped out of her skin. “What’s the problem, Casey? Why not sit back, relax and let things unfold naturally between us?”
“Nothing’s unfolding here.”
His fingertips traced her shoulders lightly. “Would it be so terrible if something did?”
“It’s just…wrong.”
“What’s wrong about making each other feel good? Exploring the attraction between us—and don’t try to deny that it exists. I’ve been playing this game too long not to know sparks when I see them.” She remained stubbornly silent and he continued. “You’re a consenting adult, as am I. You’re sensuous and passionate. Why not savor both? Here we are together and alone. We’re even already in bed and half-undressed. All you’d have to do is let down your guard and it would be right there for us to enjoy.”
He must be a deadly negotiator to sit across a conference table from. “It’s not that simple,” she replied stubbornly.
He relaxed beneath her, which she somehow found even more threatening than if he had continued to push his case. “What’s not simple about this, Casey?”
He was asking for it. She took a deep breath and fired both barrels at him. “This may be simple for you. See a chick you want to bed. You go after her, get the prize and move on to the next attractive female who comes along. That’s fine for you, but it’s not how I operate. I want the real deal. A relationship and feelings and long-term commitment.” She hesitated but then forced herself to press on. “I happen to be attracted to you, Hake, which means I want more—and won’t settle for less than—an actual relationship.”
He chuckled beneath her. “Here we go. The lady’s thrown a set of conditions on the table. Let’s negotiate and close this deal, then. What constitutes a relationship in your mind?”
She frowned. “Spending time together. Sharing personal stuff. Having feelings for each other.”
“I’d say we’ve started doing all of those already,” he replied. “Now all we have to do is sustain them.”
“Ah, but here’s the kicker,” she added grimly. “There has to be a possibility of more.” That would stop him in his tracks for sure.
“As in, say, marriage?” he asked. Abruptly all humor was absent from his voice.
Ha. That had gotten to him. But as the idea of marriage rose before her and thoroughly alarmed her, she surprised herself by being the first to temporize. “Well, a long-term commitment, if not actual marriage.”
His voice floated out of the dark. “I think I can agree to that.”
She froze, stunned. “I beg your pardon?”
“My father has decreed that I must marry within a year. I currently have no serious wifely prospects in mind, but as of this week, I’m officially open to the idea, like it or not.”
“What about true love?” she asked, aghast. “Finding your soul mate?”
He shrugged, his chest moving against hers in a way that completely distracted her for a moment. She felt the turbulence of his thoughts, but he declined to answer. “What will you do?” she asked in a hush.
“I love my family. And if I haven’t found my soul mate after all the women I’ve dated, I highly doubt I’m going to now. I will search for the least objectionable candidate I can find and marry her.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. She couldn’t imagine what it must be like to be forced into something so important and personal by an outsider.
His hand smoothed over her hair. “You’re kind to worry about me,” he murmured. “But I don’t deserve your concern. I really am a cad when it comes to women. I’m probably way overdue for a comeuppance.”
“I don’t know about that. You’ve been completely honest and forthright with me. And not every man affords women that courtesy.”
“Don’t try to make a hero out of me, Casey. You’re the hero here. I’m the useless playboy.”
She lifted up on her elbows to frown down at him. “The way I hear it, you’ve been spectacularly successful in your own right.”
“In business, perhaps. In love, not so much.”
“Why’s that?” she asked. “What inside you is keeping you from loving someone?”
“I haven’t a clue,” he answered soberly. “Care to take a stab at it?”
She answered thoughtfully, “My guess is you’re afraid that women will love your wealth and fame and not you. I think you’re secretly a romantic and don’t want to get your heart broken, so you hold all women at arm’s length emotionally.”
“That’s some theory you’ve got there,” he mumbled.
“Does it ring true deep in your gut?” she pressed. If only she could see his face. She leaned across him and reached out, fumbling for the lamp on the nightstand.
“What are you doing?” he demanded.
“I want to see your face when you answer so I can read whether or not you’re lying.” The light flicked on and they both squinted in its glare. She stared down at him expectantly. “So, am I right?”
He exhaled hard. “Maybe.”
Oh, yeah. He might be having trouble admitting it to himself, but all the signs were there. Who’d have guessed the big, bad playboy was such a softie inside? She spoke quietly, “I think you’ll do fine with marriage. Just let your wife see this side of you and you’ll find happiness.”
He snorted. “And where am I going to find a woman I can trust with these feelings?”
“You mean besides me?” she commented wryly.
His gaze snapped to hers. As she watched, his eyes widened and then darkened. Alarm started buzzing in her own gut. “What?” she finally asked as he continued to stare at her.
“You are a woman, aren’t you?” he asked, apparently speaking mostly to himself.
She laughed. “Last time I checked.”
“I’m serious,” he retorted.
“So am I.”
Reluctant humor shone in his gaze. “You certainly can give back anything I dish at you, can’t you?”
She blinked down at him, not sure what he meant. “I guess so. It kind of comes with the territory when you’re a woman working in a male-dominated world.”
He shook his head in what looked like disbelief. “A belly-dancing commando. Who’d have guessed you’d turn out to be so wise?”
Right. As if her life was a shining example of smart decisions, particularly when it came to love. Casey made a face. “I may be a lot of things, but I highly doubt wise is one of them.”
His fingers traced a line across her shoulder and under the hair at the back of her neck while his thumb caressed her neck lightly. “You underestimate yourself. I think you’re a rather brilliant Hershey bar.”
She laughed, and maybe that was why she was surprised when his lips touched hers. Her humor evaporated in a nanosecond, leaving her equal parts shocked and nervous. What was happening between them?
But then, even that fled her mind as his mouth moved across hers. She’d never heard of a man tasting
so good—dark like coffee, with a bite like whiskey, but sweet as well, like vanilla. She sipped of him to her heart’s content, and he was generous, opening himself to her explorations and not rushing her. His teeth were smooth and even, his lips firm and warm. And his tongue was ever so clever, dancing lightly with hers.
His hands were not idle while they kissed, stroking along the undersides of her arms and down her ribs to her hips, raising goose bumps from her hairline to the tips of her toes. Eventually, she tore her mouth away from his and pushed herself up to a sitting position, straddling his waist with her thighs. She had to get control of this situation. Of herself.
Except, somehow, she wasn’t in control at all. His hands trailed lightly down her body starting at her neck, down the valley between her breasts and across her belly. She shivered, craving more. A sound of need escaped her, stunning her. She had no memory of consciously making a decision about him, but apparently she had.
“You know my condition, right?” she murmured.
He nodded solemnly. “I can’t promise you happily ever after, but I will give you everything I’m capable of in the meantime.”
Was it enough for her? A real relationship…for a little while at least. It was as risky as heck. She was bound to get hurt, but the ride promised to be spectacular right up to the moment it crashed and burned. Hake was patient beneath her, waiting still and silent for her to wrestle it through. And that was probably what tipped the scales. “This is insane,” she mumbled.
“Indubitably.” A dazzling smile lit his face. “Welcome to the asylum.”
She just shook her head. But inside, the little voice in the back of her head was doing back flips of excited anticipation. She was really going to jump off the cliff and fly with Hake!
Getting their clothes off took a little maneuvering, but in a moment, Hake settled her back on top of him astride his hips, naked as the day she was born. He seemed in no hurry to proceed and merely looked at her, a slow smile spreading across his face.
“You’re beautiful,” he murmured.
It was hard for her to accept the compliment, especially from him, but she made herself let the words flow through her until she had absorbed them. “Thank you. You’re pretty beautiful yourself.”
He smiled as he reached up to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear. “Come here, Casey. Let me show you just how beautiful you are to me.”
She leaned forward until their mouths met. He reached out to turn off the light, and the last thing she saw before darkness enveloped them was Hake’s gaze glowing with appreciation. Their joining was achingly slow and entirely perfect.
As the sensations piled one on top of another, each more delicious than the last, her body undulated in rhythm with the rocking of the boat beneath them. The twin movements amplified one another until everything was a tangle of limbs, a slide of hot skin on hot skin, a flurry of urgent kisses and gasped words of pleasure.
Hake surged over her, giving himself entirely to her and she to him. They rode the wave together until it crashed around them with an explosion behind her eyelids that all but rendered her blind and deaf. She cried out and Hake’s hoarse cry mingled with hers as they surrendered to it together.
He rolled to his back and she collapsed on his shoulder, spent. His chest rose and fell hard, and perspiration slicked his skin against hers. He still smelled of coffee and whiskey and vanilla, but now a new note was added to the bouquet. Startled, she recognized her white orchid perfume on his skin.
A force moved within her, shifting and expanding before settling into a new place, deep in her heart. She liked the smell of herself on him. A lot. Nearly as much as she liked the feel of her body on his. Or her mouth on his. Or her hands on him.
His voice came out of the dark. “Thank you. I’ve never received a gift to compare.”
“You probably say that to all your—”
He forestalled her, pressing a finger to her lips, as if he would protect the specialness of the moment. She subsided, letting the silence of it wash over her. They had shared something special.
But how special?
Special enough to hold his attention for a long time to come?
She forced the doubts out of her mind. There would be time enough tomorrow for regrets and recriminations. For tonight, it was enough to know she’d touched him as deeply as he’d touched her.
When she emerged from his shower the next morning, steamed to perfection, she was alarmed to see Hake talking on her cell phone.
“Ah, here she is,” he said. “It was a pleasure speaking with you, Vanessa.”
Casey’s eyebrows shot up. He was already on a first-name basis with her boss? In minor shock, she took the cell phone he held out to her. “Hi, boss. I gather you met Hake.”
Vanessa laughed. “Sounds like you’re going to have your hands full with him. Good work talking him into cooperating with us. After I spoke with his father, I was skeptical of your chances. Marat seems to think his son is more than a little willful.”
“That’s a word for him,” Casey replied drily.
“We got your message about the tracking devices. We concur with you—leave them in place. But in the meantime, we’ve got a problem. Rumors of Hake’s death are rattling the European banking community. The British prime minister has asked the president of the United States to have us reveal that Hake is alive so there’s not a nasty shock on the London Stock Exchange.”
“But that’ll expose him to the terrorists!” Casey protested.
Vanessa sighed. “I know. The good news is I think we can make lemonade out of this particular lemon.”
“How’s that?”
“If we have to show Hake anyway, why not use him as bait to draw out the terrorists? If we flaunt him loudly enough, they’ll be honor-bound to make another try at him. I’ll need you to work with his security team to protect him while we taunt the hostiles into showing themselves.”
Casey winced. On the one hand, she loved the idea of getting to spend more time with Hake. But on the other hand, she purely hated the notion of using him as bait. “Have you decided when and where you want to put on this dog and pony show?” she asked in resignation.
Casey listened carefully as Vanessa described what had been arranged for them. Her boss finished with, “Got all that?”
“Yes, ma’am. We’ll be ready.”
“I’ll relay the necessary instructions to Captain Soderling,” Vanessa replied. “Get some rest. You’re going to have a busy day tomorrow.”
Now that was an understatement. She disconnected the call thoughtfully.
“What’s up?” Hake asked from beside her.
“You and I are going on a little trip tonight.”
“Oh, really? Where?”
Protocol dictated not upsetting the protectee. Except it felt weird not telling Hake everything. She knew it had been a bad idea to get involved with him! One night and already duty and obligation were clashing. She dodged carefully. “We’ve got a few hours to rest while my boss makes the arrangements. I’ll fill you in once the details are finalized.”
He studied her intently. “If I threaten to torture it out of you, will you tell me what’s going on?”
She grinned down at him as he lounged beside her. “You can make all the threats you like, but you can’t take me in a fight.”
“You think not?” he asked. “When this is all over, we’ll have to give it a go. I wrestled at Cambridge, you know.”
“Let me know if you need me to lose intentionally to save your fragile ego.”
“Don’t you dare,” he retorted, laughing.
“All right,” she said mildly. “But I warned you.”
He chuckled.
“What?” she demanded.
“You are completely unlike any other woman I’ve ever known.”
“Is that good or bad?” The question was out of her mouth before she could suck it back behind her teeth.
He grinned widely. “I’ll let you know when I’ve r
eached a verdict.”
She stuck out her tongue, and he pulled her down to him. Their lips met. As their kiss spiraled out of control and it became clear that breakfast would have to wait for a while, Vanessa’s parting words echoed in her ears. “Casey, stay out of trouble.”
Right. No problem. A boy and girl thrown together in a life-threatening situation…tons of stress in need of burning off…a fancy yacht and a world-class playboy who kissed like a god…it all spelled Trouble with a capital T.
Chapter 10
H ake stared at Casey across the breakfast table. “Your government sent a bunch of women to Bhoukar to protect my family? Do you know nothing about my country?”
She smiled tightly. “Actually, we know quite a bit about it. We’ve run several successful missions in Bhoukar. In fact, we have a standing offer of both hospitality and military assistance from the emir any time we’re in that part of the world.”
His country’s dyed-in-the-wool traditionalist leader supported a group of women soldiers? Hake felt his jaw sagging. “So, what’s the plan?”
“We’ll use the tracking devices on this ship to mislead the terrorists into believing we’re sailing up the Irish coast. But meanwhile, you and I will head elsewhere. When we’re in place, we’ll spring the trap. With you as bait, of course.”
“Of course.” Hake sounded grim. Smart man.
She met his gaze equally grimly. “I don’t like it any more than you do. Maybe less. But I’ve got direct orders from my superiors, and the stakes are huge. My hands are tied.” She smiled lamely at him. “If everything goes well, we’ll nab your terrorists and they’ll never bother you or your family again.”
“And if things don’t go well?”
“Then people will die.”
He shuddered at how matter-of-factly she said that. “Have you ever killed anyone?”
“Yes,” she answered shortly, looking at a spot over his shoulder.
“How many?”
She made eye contact with him then. Her gaze was closed tight. “Do you seriously want me to answer that question?”
