“Joshua, forget the radio for now. The morning news programs won’t be on for a while. We can find out what’s happening later.”
He frowned at the radio then turned off the power. “Tired?”
Lindy knelt beside him and plucked the radio from his hands. “No, as a matter of fact. I’m all keyed up.”
Their gazes met, and she could tell by his expression he was defining keyed up.
Lindy wouldn’t keep him guessing for long.
Tossing the radio into the straw beside her open bag, she patted his thigh, gesturing him to uncross his legs.
“You do realize you’ve seen a lot more of me naked than I’ve seen of you.” As he realigned his position, she scooted forward and grabbed his T-shirt. Working the hem upward, she smiled when he raised his arms to assist her without prompting.
“I’m not complaining.” His voice was muffled as she pulled the shirt over his head and tossed it aside.
“But do you really think that’s fair?”
His chest gleamed all bare and touchable in the soft light. Splaying her hands, she smoothed her fingers over the firm swells and ridges, examined the feel of his warm skin.
These solid muscles were a result of hard training, and she wondered what he did to stay in shape. He sailed and fished. That much had been in his profile. Did he have a gym in his villa? Work out at the country club?
“All’s fair in love and war, Lindy. You’ve heard that.”
“Quite.” She pressed full-bodied against him, dragging her hands down his arms and hands to curl her fingers over his in seductive strokes. “What are we—love or war?”
“We started as war.”
“Meaning you think love could factor eventually?”
“I didn’t say that.” He tilted his head back and caught her chin with his lips, an openmouthed kiss that made her shiver. “Do you think love could factor?”
She chuckled, running her fingers over his hands then up his wrists. He had beautiful hands, long-fingered and strong, just perfect for… With a move that would have impressed even the difficult-to-impress Malcolm Trent, Lindy had her cuffs out of her bag and around his wrists before he could topple her.
He reacted a split second too late.
Click. Click.
“I take it the cease-fire’s over.” He flexed his arms behind him, not the most comfortable of positions.
“Trust me.” She rolled to her side and rose to her knees, biting back a smile that she’d taken him so completely off guard. “Why do you look so surprised?”
“I didn’t know you carried cuffs.”
“You’re admitting you didn’t notice them in my bag when you were planting Lady Kenwick’s brooch?”
“We haven’t established that I planted anything.”
“What was that about all’s fair in love and war again?”
He eyed her with a scowl.
“Oh, Joshua. Chill. I just want equal time. You’ve seen me naked—”
“Almost naked.”
“What?”
“Almost naked. I never got your bra off last night. It was still tangled under your arms.”
So it had been. And the memory of standing in that rain, feeling his hard body pressed around her, in her, earned a shiver that had nothing to do with the night.
“I want equal time. If I don’t take precautions, you’ll start touching me and distracting me—”
“You’re admitting you can’t resist me when I touch you?”
He might be smiling but everything about him was earnest. This man knew very well he’d taken her apart at the seams in two countries now. To deny it would have made her a liar.
Now it was her turn.
She wanted to learn all she could about him, wanted to explore this attraction between them and understand what it was about Joshua Benedict that made him so different.
She wanted to satisfy her hunger before they resurfaced in the real world again, where they would be at odds in their goals and pitted against each other by circumstance.
Right now, the moment was out of time, a break from reality. There was no right or wrong in this place, no judgment, no ambition. They had no commitments to anything but learning as much as they could about each other through touch, sharing all the things they couldn’t trust each other to share.
Lindy reached out to stroke his neck, grazing her fingers over the pulse that throbbed low in his throat. Then she leaned toward him….
Joshua’s chest rose and fell on a sharp breath when she pressed her mouth to his shoulder. Dragging her parted lips along his neck, she nibbled her way up the column of his throat, sampled the salty taste of his skin.
Somewhere between escaping the chancellery and running from the law, Joshua had worked up a sweat, and Lindy found the taste of him earthy and real, a departure from the polished man she’d spent every waking hour chasing since crossing the big pond.
So many surprises. The difference between the surveillance photos to the dishy man in person had only been the first. Polished, steel-nerved Joshua Benedict with stubble on his cheeks and worn black jeans showcasing his long legs. This earthy persona suited him as easily as the man who’d worn a custom suit that cost more than her month’s salary or the man dressed in burglar black rappelling down a ten-story building.
She liked the differences, thought they each revealed something about the man. She also liked the way his heartbeat quickened beneath her touch. She aroused him. His arms gathered and flexed as if he struggled not to pull her against him.
Well, she’d taken care of that little problem, hadn’t she?
He still might have flipped her over—Lindy didn’t entertain any illusions that he needed his hands to overpower her. Obviously he’d decided to let her explore him as he’d explored her during their breathless encounters in the dark.
Fair was only fair, after all. She was glad he respected that, liked that he didn’t have to be in control all the time, could respect her enough to let her take the lead.
Lindy took it.
Skimming her hands down his ribs, she slid her fingers into his waistband, teased the smooth skin there, taunted him with the promise of where she was headed. His stomach contracted, and she laughed, her breath whispering against his skin, a warm gust that rebounded against her lips, and made him shiver.
Rocking forward enough to throw her weight, she urged him backward. With her mouth still pressed to his throat, she rode the length of his body as he sank onto their makeshift bed.
She wondered if his bound arms hurt, but when his body unfolded underneath her, compliant, tantalizing, Lindy forgot to ask.
Dragging her tongue along the curve of his neck and shoulder, she savored the sound of his hard exhalation, the contraction of muscles that assured her he was feeling more pleasure than pain.
And here she was only warming up.
Hovering over him, her mouth to his skin, breasts to his chest, hands between them, she worked the fly of his jeans, one popping button at a time, a study in teasing moves and lingering promise.
“If I’d have known you wanted me this much, I’d have let you catch me sooner.” Joshua’s laugh was husky and low, a sound that filtered through her in a purely physical way.
“Those are fighting words.”
“Is that a promise?”
“Bold words for a man in handcuffs.”
He was taunting her, she knew, but when his gaze caught hers, the candor she saw there made her chest feel tight. She forced her fingers to continue exploring onward, grazing the soft cotton of his briefs, the hard ridge of hot skin below.
Body parts that she’d only briefly made the acquaintance of the previous night were suddenly subject to her whim, and Lindy experienced a thrill of pleasure, of power, as she rose upright, intent on maneuvering his pants off.
“Hmm. Who do we have here?” She barely recognized her voice, a needy, demanding sound between them.
“You expect me to lie here while you have your way with me
?”
There was irony in his voice and she reached for the flashlight, sliced its beam across his body. “Yes.”
“I don’t know if I can do that.”
“You’ve got no hands.”
“I’ve got my mouth.”
That sent a shiver of pure anticipation through her. “You’ve got London on me.”
“London?”
“I came. You didn’t.”
His smile dazzled the shadows beyond the light. “You think you owe me?”
“More like equal time.”
“Then these handcuffs were probably a good idea.”
She liked that he admitted how much he wanted her, although the truth didn’t come as much of a surprise. Restraint hadn’t been a big part of their interactions. She might have been the one mostly naked, but that was because he hadn’t kept his hands to himself.
“Then kick back and enjoy the ride,” she said. “I’ll make it worth your time.”
“I’m counting on it.”
What was it about them that made every exchange a dare, made every glance and every touch challenge her to earn a response from this man?
Lindy didn’t know. She only knew that since meeting him, she hadn’t wanted to touch him more than she did right now. She tugged apart his waistband, her fingers suddenly stiff as she caught his briefs and began maneuvering the whole lot over his hips. Bit by bit all sorts of yummy terrain came into view as she coaxed his pants down, down, down….
Lindy had to unlace his hiking boots, otherwise the pants wouldn’t budge, so propping the flashlight in her lap to give her light to see by, she fumbled with the laces.
“If I had free hands, I could hold that for you,” he pointed out.
“Is that a promise to keep your hands to yourself?” She couldn’t help but laugh. “Somehow I doubt it.”
“Never know, will we?”
“Got it under control.” And she did. She removed the man’s hiking boots and cotton socks to reveal feet as strong and attractive as the rest of him.
She sliced the beam along his body to find out just how dishy.
Seriously dishy.
“If I’d known what you kept hidden under all those expensive clothes, I wouldn’t have been the only one naked.”
“Almost naked.”
“Right.”
The man was bloody to-die-for. Long, lean, sculpted, his body was a study in finely honed muscle, the solid strength of a man. And he had great legs. Long, strong with a stretch of hard thighs, not showy with bulging layers of muscle, but just perfect. The kind of legs made for admiring in cutoff shorts while he stood on the deck of a boat with a fishing pole.
Funny how Lindy kept coming back to the boat. She’d only seen one photo of his boat during her briefing, and he hadn’t even been on it. But the image of him playing skipper, the wind picking up his hair and the bright sun tanning his skin to that touchable golden brown was the one sticking in her imagination.
Or maybe certain body parts were to blame; his erection stood as erect as a mainmast.
“What’s turning you on the most right now?” She aimed the beam onto the target and affected a casualness she was far from feeling. “Being alone with me in the dark or being at my mercy?”
“Knowing how much you want me.”
“Confident bloke, aren’t you?”
He shook his head. “I see it in your face.”
“Cheeky bastard.”
He only laughed, a sound that made her ache to wipe the smile from his face and show him exactly who was in control.
Or maybe it was the sight of him making her ache.
Lindy flipped off the light.
Time for diversionary tactics. She intended to turn this man’s knees to pudding, and his cheeky attitude along with the breathtaking sight of his naked self was a potent combination.
Kneeing her way between his outstretched legs, Lindy closed her eyes and let her hands guide her up the tight expanse of his thighs. This was a routine skill she’d learned during training—shutting down one sense to heighten the others. While she appreciated night-vision goggles as much as the next agent, she couldn’t always count on having the necessary equipment.
Right now she had everything she needed.
Moving to the music of Joshua’s shallow breathing, she kneaded his muscles with firm strokes, felt his skin warm to her touch, eased the tension from a body she suspected had seen as little sleep as hers had. Willing herself to absorb the tranquility, she followed the rhythm, let the methodic motion soothe away her own manic exhaustion.
He exhaled heavily into the darkness, a heartfelt sigh. She resisted the urge to open her eyes and look, instead savored the hush of their breathing combined in the dark, the tranquil sounds of the late night floating up from below.
She hadn’t noticed them before, but now, with her senses so heightened, she noticed everything about the moment, the whisper of a breeze through broken boards, a croaking toad.
Sounds that reminded her of growing up in the country, of her home. A real home where there were people who cared for her and not just a droopy corn plant that only perked up because she’d finally watered it.
It was an odd thought, Lindy knew, especially when she was wedged between this sexy man’s legs with her hands mere inches from his crotch. Maybe exhaustion made her mind wander into strange places, or maybe that was Joshua’s doing. He’d been messing with her reasoning since she’d first set eyes on him, prompting her to take risks she wouldn’t normally have taken.
Like staring so hard she wound up busted for loitering. She’d bypassed protocol entirely when she hadn’t identified herself to the Italian authorities, and Malcolm would be fishing her out of a jurisdictional swamp if she was apprehended now.
Then there was getting naked with a bad guy.
That was the biggest risk of all, Lindy knew. Because when she grazed her fingers behind his knees, felt him shiver, she didn’t think of him as a bad guy at all.
Just a man.
And a man who coaxed the most amazing reactions from her. A man who challenged her in a way she couldn’t remember being challenged. A man who constantly surprised her.
A man who was proving himself a worthy match.
Yes, that was the biggest danger of all.
The thought roused her from her steamy daze, and Lindy remembered the whole point of noodling her way into his pants.
It wasn’t to put him to sleep.
So she bent low over him and pressed her lips to the inside of his thigh. He trembled, and she knew the time had come to start creating new tension, to tease his body to life.
Nibbling her way along that sensitive area between his hip and his groin, she explored all his intimate places, thrilled when his erection lunged eagerly. But she never zeroed in on the target. Her sex grew liquid with wanting, with anticipation, a startlingly intense response to touching this man.
And tension built. His. Hers. Along with the tension came a question.
Did Joshua Benedict have a breaking point?
Lindy intended to find out.
10
WHEN JOSHUA opened his eyes he found Lindy nestling her cheek against his thigh, her silky hair teasing his sensitive skin. The expression of dreamy want on her face made her more beautiful than ever before.
She obviously wasn’t through with him yet. Lazily she thrust her tongue out to stroke his erection, a move not meant to skyrocket him to oblivion, but to build pleasure. And she accomplished that goal big.
He lay galvanized as he clung to his restraint, fighting the languid pull of sensation as his body temperature rose and pleasure eroded his will, lured him into this fantasy.
Nothing was real about the way he felt right now.
During their previous encounters, he’d been centered on her pleasure, her undoing. Just watching her respond to his touches and hearing her sighs had tested him in a way he hadn’t been tested before. Yet external circumstances had controlled the situations and shi
fted the balance of power to his favor—until a stormy rooftop where he’d lost his control completely.
Now he was a captive audience.
He used the dull ache in his arms to center him through this haze of pleasure. Handcuffs.
Leave it to Lindy.
A part of him felt pleased she’d needed restraints. He liked knowing he affected her control, too. He liked knowing she went to pieces in his arms, even though the knowledge wasn’t proving much comfort now. Not when he couldn’t reciprocate by touching her. Not when he couldn’t coax those breathy sighs from her lips.
The balance of power was hers tonight. She proved it by slipping her fingers around his erection and lazily tilting him toward her lips. For a breath-stopping instant, Joshua stared at his undoing in the sight of her head lowering over him in a slow, consuming move.
Then all he could feel was her mouth.
The warm caresses of her tongue. The gentle sucking motion that pulled sensation from every part of him. The knowing fingers wrapped in a tender choke hold, and the easy rise and fall of her hand. Up and down. Up and down.
His chest constricted so tightly he grew dizzy. He tried to take in a decent breath to dispel the effect. He shifted his arms to sharpen the ache of his bound wrists, but still the urge to lift his hips off the blanket, to rise up and meet each stroke, to ride her face until he could ease this sweet torture overwhelmed him.
Which was, of course, what Lindy wanted.
Even in this white heat, he recognized exactly what she was doing—testing him.
Joshua vaguely remembered being impressed with himself for making her come apart in his arms. He’d known Lindy was using their attraction to draw him in, but he’d also known their passion had a double edge. He’d liked turning the tables, proving she’d underestimated him.
He should have known he’d invite retribution.
She guided her free hand to join the game. Suddenly her fingers slipped below his balls and gave a firm squeeze. His hips bucked against his will, driving his erection deeper inside the recesses of her mouth.
He could feel her smile.
Into Temptation Page 14
