by Desiree Holt
His lips curved in a semblance of a smile. This was obviously a man who did not have much humor in his life.
“So what, then?”
She shrugged. This was going to sound so stupid. “I don’t know, exactly. But there are so many rumors of his under-the-table deals and his dirty operations, I was sure I could get proof of something to hang him with. People like him are arrogant enough to keep records, thinking no one will ever look.”
“And to have a hold on the people involved in their crap,” Grey added.
“Of course.” She waited for him to say something else, but she’d already figured out that wasn’t his style. He could outwait anyone. She blew out a breath. “Okay, I’ll ask. What are you after him for? I assume you found what you were looking for since you’ve been working away on that sophisticated piece of equipment.”
“I might have.”
Okay, yeah, Mr. Closemouthed himself.
She waved a hand at all the paraphernalia stacked around the small living room. “What is all this, anyway?”
He gave her that half-grin again. “What’s the old saying? I’d tell you but I’d have to kill you.”
“I’m going to assume you don’t actually mean that.” More silence. “Okay, listen. Ask me whatever you want. I have no choice but to trust you because you have me at a distinct disadvantage. I might actually be able to help you. It’s possible I know things about Bostic you don’t. Or maybe have other information you need. I’ve been keeping track of him in a notebook. And before you ask me if I’m crazy, I’m not. But I wanted to make sure I didn’t forget even the tiniest fact I learned or heard.”
He leaned his elbows on the table, steepled his fingers, and gave her a look with those slate-grey eyes that sizzled her nerve endings—and it wasn’t just fear she was feeling. She hadn’t felt desire for any male in longer than she cared to remember. How was it all her girl parts were standing up and demanding attention from this stranger who probably knew seventeen ways to kill her?
“You still haven’t told me why you’re after such a high profile politician,” she reminded him.
Another of those long, penetrating looks. Then he sat back. “This goes against everything in me,” he said. “I just want you to know that.”
“But—”
He held up a finger. “But my gut is telling me to take a chance, and my gut is hardly ever wrong. I hope this isn’t one of those times.”
Something that had been twisted inside Athena’s gut unwound itself, and the tension gripping her since she woke up on the crummy couch eased. She had no idea who Grey Holden really was, but she was damn sure of one thing. Meeting him was the luckiest thing that had happened to her in a very long time.
“I promise you it won’t be. So, what’s your story?”
“It’s not pretty,” he said.
He was right. It wasn’t. When he finished, the anger she felt for the man they were both after burst inside her like a fireball. This went way beyond forcing sexual advances on young interns and brutalizing them. The thoughts it conjured up made her sick to her stomach.
“He’s not the only one in this dirty business,” Grey said. “But I’m going to make sure at least he won’t be doing any more damage to our own military.”
And Athena made a silent commitment to help him all she could.
Chapter Six
Grey looked at the woman sitting across the table from him. She was almost as much a hard case as he was, but he could tell Lucky’s story had moved her deeply. Some intangible something gave him the sense he could trust her, so he walked her through the basics of his plan, making sure she understood all of the risks involved. He also checked her out on some of the electronics he’d purchased. He wasn’t yet ready to read her in on everything he’d found on Bostic’s thumb drives, but he gave her a brief overview. By tomorrow, if his gut still told him to trust her, he’d be ready to formulate some plans with her. She knew far more about Bostic and about Tampa than he did, and it paid to take advantage of that.
They had finished the pot of coffee, although they were both so fueled by adrenaline he doubted they’d even needed it. What they did need, however, was some rest so they could get to the meat of the planning. He had been meticulous about leaving no trace at Bostic’s house, but with the appearance of Athena and his haste to get them both out of there, anything was possible. He’d managed to plant a couple of high-octane listening devices that would feed into a sophisticated recording system he had set up. Tonight, he’d check them for any conversations. For good measure, he wanted to drop a couple in the man’s office in Titan Towers. Maybe Athena could help with that. They needed a workable plan.
And some space from each other. How in the fucking hell this woman made his cock harder than steel and his balls ache just from looking at her he had no idea. He certainly hadn’t been looking for anything like this. He had business to take care of. But every time their hands touched or their gazes locked for a split second, the power surge was enough to light up all of downtown Tampa.
“We should probably get some sleep.” He rose from the table and collected their empty mugs.
Athena rose with him. Every one of his nerves went on high alert, but he wasn’t about to let it show. He needed activity, not rest. Too bad the activity that kept popping into his mind was off-limits. He wondered if Athena felt the crackling sexual tension that filled the room like some giant power surge. He made a supreme effort to chase the thoughts from his mind, but her next words knocked that sideways
“I’m too juiced to sleep.”
“I learned a long time ago,” he told her, “how to tune in my body to power naps. Thirty minutes and we’ll be ready to roll again.”
He watched her look around, her eyes finally settling on the couch.
“That will do. I’m guessing you aren’t exactly prepared for guests here.”
His laugh held little humor. “You’d be right on that one. You can sleep in my bed.”
Shit! Did he really say that?
Athena stared at him, a question plain in her eyes.
“I, uh, mean, I’ll take the couch,” he corrected himself.
“I hate to put you out.” She lifted her arms and did a full body stretch.
Grey’s eyes were drawn to the way the T-shirt lifted, exposing a strip of skin between the hem and the waistband of her jeans. The soft material pulled more tightly against her breasts for a moment, reminding him of how they’d felt pressing against him when he’d carried her out to his car.
And just like that, his cock got so hard he was afraid if he bumped into something it would break.
What the fuck?
He had a healthy sexual appetite. No doubt about it. When he was between missions, he indulged it fully. But when he was focused on a goal, like now? Never. Really, never. So what was it about Athena Madero that pushed all his sexual buttons when he had business to take care of?
She had removed the baseball cap and taken down her ponytail, leaving her thick black hair to fall in rumpled waves to her shoulders. He itched to run his fingers through it, to see if it was as soft as it looked. Her eyes, which at first he’d thought had a hard look, he now realized had a cauldron of emotions swirling in them, hinted at unexplored depths. He wanted to strip away that camouflage black outfit and see what was really beneath it.
Really, Grey? For fuck’s sake. Get your shit together here.
He blinked, suddenly aware she was saying something. Oh, good going. Pay attention, asshole.
“Sorry. What did you ask?”
She tilted her head and gave him a look of curiosity. “Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
He hadn’t meant to spit the word out, but he was far from okay. In the middle of planning a delicate mission, he had a raging hard-on for a woman he knew next to nothing about. He looked at her and she swiped her tongue slowly along her bottom lip, a purely automatic gesture, but it sent heat waves right to his balls. He needed to get the fuck away from
her.
“I mean it about the couch, Grey. I’ve slept in worse places. Forget chivalry, okay?”
Maybe that was for the best. He could lock himself in his room until morning.
“Let me give you some blankets and stuff.”
She followed him to the linen closet in the short hallway where he rooted around for bedding. When he turned to hand it to her, she was right there, so close to him in that narrow hallway he could almost count her eyelashes.
What the hell. Dropping the bedding and dragging her up against his body. He had one fleeting moment to notice how well they fit together before winding her thick tresses around his hand to hold her head in place and bringing his mouth down on hers.
Jesus!
The contact was like nothing he could imagine. Her lips were soft and warm, pliant beneath his, molding to him. He traced the closed seam of her mouth before exerting enough pressure to force her to open. When he swept his tongue inside, the fiery electricity that shot through him singed every single nerve in his body. Her tongue was a liquid flame, dueling with his, following the erotic dance he was leading her in. When she moaned into his mouth his pulse leaped into the stratosphere.
Tightening his grip on her hair, he wrapped one hard-muscled arm around her and pulled her in tight to his body. He felt the outline of her sex where his harder-than-concrete cock pushed into it, and the softness of her breasts against his chest. Her nipples pierced him like diamonds. He wanted nothing more than to rip off both their clothes and plunge himself into her.
It was only the need to breathe that forced him to lift his mouth from hers. When he tilted her head back he saw astonishment in her eyes that matched exactly what he felt. He could try to tell himself he just needed to relieve stress, but that came after a mission, not in the middle of it. He tried to tell himself to move, but his muscles seemed frozen in place. Athena didn’t seem any more able to break away than he did.
“What the fuck are we doing?” he asked at last, barely recognizing his voice.
“I-I thought maybe you could tell me.”
“I want you,” he growled. “This is neither the time nor the place, but I don’t care. I have to have you.”
“Yes.” The word slid from her mouth on a puff of air. “I don’t…. I haven’t….”She stopped and shook her head. “Yes. Just yes.”
Apparently the same insanity gripped both of them. He swept her up in his arms and carried her into his darkened bedroom. Grey bent just enough to turn on the bedside lamp before standing her on her feet. At least the bed is neat, he thought irrationally.
“I want to see every single inch of you.” He couldn’t believe how aroused he was, his cock already demanding immediate attention. “Let me do it. Please.”
He was shocked to see a slight tremor in his hands as he lifted the hem of the T-shirt and eased the garment over her head. There should have been nothing sexy about the utilitarian bra she wore beneath. Just your basic black. But it cupped her breasts like loving hands, the upper swells tempting him. Impulsively, he lowered his head and ran his tongue over the creamy mounds, sending a shiver through her body.
He left the bra in place while he popped the button on her jeans and slid the zipper down. When he eased the fabric over her hips, he saw she wore bikini panties that matched her bra. Nothing fancy, like the bra, but on her, for some reason, they looked like naughty lingerie. He stopped for a moment to trace the top line of the panties with the tip of one finger. Another shiver from her.
Damn!
Okay, he’d make her shiver plenty.
Sliding his hands behind her, he unfastened the clasp of the bra, slid the straps down her arms, and tossed it to the side. Doing his best to control himself, he palmed her breasts, rubbing his thumbs over the nipples. She sucked in a breath at his touch and arched slightly. Taking one nipple into his mouth he pulled it deep into his mouth, grazing it with his tongue, reveling in the little mewling sounds she made. She grasped his shoulders to steady herself, her fingers digging hard into his muscles. He moved to the other breast, giving it and its diamond-hard nipple the same treatment. She moaned and pressed herself to him, her sensual cries urging him to do more. More.
He moved higher, grazing his teeth along her neck. “Kick off your shoes.” He murmured the words in her ear before taking a little nip at her soft lobe.
She did, and when she stepped out of them, he pushed her jeans the rest of the way down. She clutched at his shoulders while she kicked them to the side. Grey urged her back onto the bed, her ass resting on the edge of the mattress, and knelt between her legs. Very carefully, he laid kisses along the inside of her legs, starting at one ankle, working his way up to the top of a thigh. When he reached the rise of her cunt, he pressed his face to it, inhaling the spicy scent of her musk before reversing the path with the other leg. He couldn’t help licking at the skin a little along the way. She just tasted so fucking good.
But what he really wanted to taste was the essence of her. The core of her. The cream in her cunt. Impatiently, he dragged her bikini panties down her legs and tossed them, not even looking where they landed. He didn’t give a flying fuck. He had other things on his mind. Grabbing her ankles, he planted her feet at the edge of the bed, spreading her knees wide. His mouth watered at the sight before him, her beautiful cunt with its trimmed curls, the pink of her lips glistening with her juices.
Unable to help himself, he spread her lips with his thumbs and thrust his tongue into her, curling his tongue to capture the cream. The sweet essence of it invaded his body, pumping his blood and setting his pulse to pounding even harder. What the hell was happening here? He enjoyed sex as well as any man, but no woman had ever consumed him the way this one did. Certainly not in the middle of planning.
Then his brain shut down as he feasted on the sweetness of her pussy, nipping her sensitive clit, soothing it with his tongue then licking the length of her slit. He punctuated his caresses with occasional thrusts into her very hot channel, relishing the intoxicating taste of her. The soft little cries drifting from her mouth only incited him more. Using his thumbs to spread her open like the petals of a flower, his wide shoulders pressed against the inside of her thighs, he licked and lapped, reveling in each drop of juice he sucked.
When her body tensed and she dug her heels harder into the edge of the bed, he knew she was close and bent harder to his task. Thrusting his tongue deep inside her, he pinched her clit hard, once, twice, and sent her tumbling right over the edge. She convulsed and shuddered, her cries louder as she thrust herself at his mouth, riding his tongue. Her inner walls clamped down, spasm after spasm racing through them as she exploded with incredible force.
He held her in place, soothing her with more of those licks, until little by little, the tremors subsided and her breathing evened out. Finally, with one last swipe of his tongue, he rose and bent over her, his face close to her.
“You okay there?” he asked in a soft voice.
She blinked. A tiny smile teased at the corners of her mouth as she looked up at him from beneath lowered lids.
“I think so. I’m not sure what hit me, though.”
“That’s just the first act,” he told her in a low, rough voice.
“Does the second act involve removing your clothes?” she teased.
“Damn straight.” He pressed his mouth to hers. “Taste yourself on me. See how great your flavor is.”
When she slowly swiped her tongue across her lower lip, he thought his cock would explode.
“Don’t move,” he ordered, pushing himself to his feet. “I’ll be right back.”
He hurried to his bathroom where he grabbed a condom from his Dopp kit. Back in the bedroom, he was pleased to see she hadn’t moved even an inch. His gaze locked with hers and never drifted as he divested himself of his shoes and socks, shucked off his shirt, jeans, and boxer briefs. When he was fully naked, he shifted her on the bed so he could climb up beside her, pulling her warm body against his. The scent of her
musk tantalized his nostrils and sent hot messages through his body, which was already beyond primed.
He took a moment to stroke his hand down the length of her spine and the curve of her ass—a mighty fine ass—enjoying the feel of her satiny skin. The anonymous black outfit had disguised a body that pushed every one of his buttons. Later, he’d try to figure out why. At the moment, he was only interested in one thing—his cock inside her. His little foreplay had stretched his control to the limit.
“Uh-uh,” he told her as she slipped a hand between them and reached for his cock. “Do that and it will be all over before it starts.”
“I thought you’d have a lot more self-control than that.” There was a touch of humor in her sultry voice.
“So did I,” he told her in a strangled voice. “Go figure.” He pressed a hard kiss to her soft lips before rolling her over onto her back.
“So quick?” she teased, but her breathing was still choppy.
“I like to take my time,” he ground out, “but somehow you just push my damn buttons.”
He rose up on his knees and expertly rolled the condom on his now excruciatingly swollen cock. He wasted no time positioning himself between her legs, bending her knees back to give himself better access.
“I promise next time to pull out all the bells and whistles.” Next time? Was he crazy? “But right now, I’m on the edge of the ledge.
“Do it.” The words came out in a feminine growl. “Do it now.”
Placing the head of his dick at her opening, he let out a long breath and pushed forward.
Jesus!
The sensation of being in the tight grasp of her very hot and wet walls nearly made his eyes cross. Then he began to piston in and out of her body, back and forth, driving into her hard. Sucking in his breath as she clamped around him like a vise, milking him. Holy shit! Everything faded away. The only thing he was aware of was his body joined with hers and the orgasm thundering up from deep inside his body.
Perilously close to the edge, he managed to reach between them for her clit, massaging and pinching it to bring her to the edge again. Sweat dripped from his face, his pulse roaring in his ears as he rode her hard and fast. His lungs begged for air as he pounded into Athena over and over.
