Undercover with the Heiress

by Nan Dixon

  “I had the best time tonight. Thank you.” She waited for Kaden to run his card through the reader on the courtyard gate. She’d been to black-tie parties, openings and her mother’s charity dinners, but she’d never relaxed like she had tonight. “The music was a lovely surprise.”

  “I had fun, too.” He held her hand as they moved along the paths.

  Would he ask her up to his apartment? She hadn’t been interested in a man in so long she didn’t know what she wanted him to do.

  She’d actually forgotten he was just a handyman. That would never happen at home. She and Gwen had known everyone’s social status and net worth.

  Kaden walked her to the carriage house door, never saying anything about going back to his place. And she couldn’t invite him into Gray’s home. Talk about awkward.

  “What’s going on in here?” He tapped her head.

  She swallowed. She couldn’t confess she was stressing out about sleeping with him. “Why?”

  “You’re tense. When we left the pub, you were relaxed. Now?” He squeezed her shoulders. “You’re a ball of nerves.”

  “I don’t understand where we’re going, what we’re doing.”

  “I don’t know, either.” He pulled her into his chest, wrapping his hands around her butt and anchoring her to his body. “Let’s not overthink this.”

  Didn’t he know she needed to analyze everything? Her family may not acknowledge her IQ, but she was compelled to scrutinize the minutiae of her life. “I don’t know if I can do that.”

  He bent close, brushing his lips against hers. “Try.”

  Shivers ran straight to her core. He scraped his teeth on the shell of her ear and the shivers turned to lightning that arced through her body. She pressed close, running her hands up his chest and lacing them around his neck.

  “How will I keep my hands off you?” he muttered, clutching her tight and fusing their mouths together. His tongue moved in and out, and she met it stroke for stroke. He tasted of whiskey and temptation.

  His hand slid under her shirt and up to her breast.

  Touch me.

  He chuckled like he’d heard her, cupping her breast and sliding his thumb across her nipple.

  Her moan probably woke the guests in both mansions.

  “Shush.” He covered her mouth with his, pinching her nipple. This time she groaned. Her hands slid to his butt and she hung on as he tormented her breasts.

  He ripped his lips away and rested his forehead on hers. His gasps were strong enough to blow her hair off her cheek. Her breaths matched his.

  “I’d better let you go before your brother finds us.” Kaden’s voice sounded rusty.

  She mewed a complaint. Right now she wanted to be alone with Kaden. And naked. To have him pull her up the steps, into his apartment, and take her against the wall or door or floor, or on the bed.

  He led her up the last steps and brushed a kiss on her forehead. “I hope I see you tomorrow.”

  “Me, too.” She sagged against the door, watching him walk away. Her body was on fire. Was this what the guys who’d kissed her meant when they’d called her a tease? Not fun.

  She headed to her room, not wanting to talk to Gray or Abby. Then it hit her. Kaden had whispered, “How will I keep my hands off you?”

  She’d obviously given him the green light. Why would he need to do that?

  CHAPTER NINE

  KADEN TUCKED IN the clean sheets and replaced the comforter. He dusted the bureau with a dirty towel and tossed it into his laundry pile. He was ready to shut off his computer, but pulled up the camera that covered the Carleton House courtyard.

  Courtney sat at a shaded table. She worked between a laptop and her notebook where she scribbled her day care ideas.

  Her sundress was the same color as her Caribbean blue eyes and left her shoulders bare. He could give the straps one sharp tug and find only Courtney underneath.

  In the living area, he picked up the newspaper and dropped it in his recycling bin. Then he washed his lunch plate and glass. Finally, he locked his weapon on the top shelf of the closet.

  This was as clean as he could get the apartment. No skivvies decorated the floor and a fresh box of condoms occupied the nightstand.

  He should avoid Courtney. Around her, he forgot why he was in Savannah. Not just for his granddad, but to capture Heather.

  But he couldn’t stay away.

  He shut down his computer and headed to the courtyard. Nathan, Cheryl and the kids would be away from the apartment all day. First they planned to walk through their new house, then make paint decisions. For dinner, they were heading to Nathan’s parents’ home. With both Nathan and Daniel there, Issy would be safe. If Heather showed up, Nathan would delay her and call him.

  He could spend the evening with Courtney.

  She glanced up as he moved toward the table. Her smile beamed. “How’s your day going?”

  Better now. He took a chair. “Good. Did some paperwork.” And he’d checked in with Roger.

  She frowned. “You have paperwork?”

  Way to blow his cover. He’d completed his weekly task force report. “You know, paying bills.”

  She still frowned.

  “Don’t you have bills that need paying?” he asked.

  She chewed her lip. “My father does that.”

  “Honey, you’ve led a sheltered life.”

  She shut the laptop a little harder than necessary. “I know.”

  “Sorry.” He grabbed her hand. “I wasn’t making fun of you.”

  “It’s just, everyone is so...industrious down here. Sometimes I feel like an idiot.”

  “You’re not.” He twirled the ring on her finger. “Do you have dinner plans?”

  “I’m not very hungry.” She shrugged. “I was going to eat B and B appetizers and call it dinner.”

  “What about eating with me?”

  “You want to go out again?”

  He shook his head. He’d spent most of the night just replaying their kisses. “I’m thinking of getting delivery. Pizza. Chinese. Whatever.”

  “What do you want?” she asked.

  “You.” His voice was a low growl.

  “Oh.” She blinked, her blue eyes growing even larger. “Oh.”

  He’d lost his cool. “Are you okay with that?”

  “I couldn’t sleep last night.” She gathered her notebook and the computer, hugging it to her chest.

  “I couldn’t sleep, either,” he choked out. Damn, he wanted to be her notebook.

  She chewed her lip.

  Was she going to run? She should. Maybe it was worrying about his granddad, or working undercover, or just twiddling his thumbs waiting for Bole to show up, but he felt like he was dangling over a cliff.

  “Let me just...” She held up her things, then raced into the carriage house through a sliding door on the side of the building.

  He watched the door, his fingers rattling against the glass tabletop. He’d been too intense and scared her away. What was he thinking? They barely lived on the same planet. He came from drug dealers. She was all money and sophistication. He’d never dated a woman like her.

  He stared at the door she’d escaped into, willing it to open. Damn it. He stood, ready to go knock on the glass.

  She exited through the main door.

  Relief flowed through him like the swish of a basketball through the basket, and hitting only net.

  “You look worried,” she said. “Did something happen with your grandfather?”

  “I was watching that door.” He pointed at the slider. “I thought you were brushing me off.”

  She laughed. It would have been irritating if it wasn’t so musical. She linked their arms and tugged him along the path. “I ne
eded to leave a note for Gray saying I had dinner plans. And I couldn’t go out the sliding door, because it doesn’t lock from the outside.”

  “You could have said something,” he grumbled.

  “I figured you understood what I meant when I said I hadn’t slept last night.” She stopped and stared into his eyes. “I was thinking of you. Of wanting to be with you. Naked.”

  “Okay.” His breath whooshed out. “Same page.”

  He cupped her elbow and hustled her to the carriage house.

  “You really were worried.” There was that laugh again. Something she hadn’t done much of when he’d first met her.

  He swiped his card. “Not anymore.”

  Climbing the steps took forever. Somehow the hall had grown as long as a football field. He almost sprinted to unlock his apartment.

  Courtney walked in as he held the door. “This is just like Cheryl and Nathan’s place, but reversed.”

  He pushed the door shut, grabbed her hand and spun her around, backing her up against the wood.

  “This is what I wanted to do last night.” There was an unfamiliar growl in his voice.

  Courtney’s mouth dropped open.

  He covered it with his. Filled it with his tongue.

  She moaned, the sound vibrating their lips. Her fingers clutched and crept under his shirt. She smelled like dark exotic flowers and tasted of lemons.

  He planned to savor her.

  Courtney’s leg wrapped around his calf. He reached down and tucked it higher. Then rolled his groin against her center. Heat poured off their coupled bodies.

  His fingers worked the knot of her dress free. She arched her neck, her head thumping on the wooden door. The fabric slipped away from her breasts.

  He stared. Her pink nipples tightened into sharp tips.

  “Kaden,” she choked out, her arm covering all her lovely pale skin.

  “Don’t be embarrassed.”

  “I just... I haven’t had a Pilates class since Boston.” She clutched the fabric over her stomach.

  “You don’t need a class like that to keep you in shape. You’re beautiful.”

  She stiffened and wouldn’t let him tug her arm away.

  Commenting on her beauty was the wrong thing to say. Had the FBI’s psychological classes been wasted on him?

  She’d told him no one saw beyond her facade. Her father saw her as an ornament.

  “I see you, Courtney.” He touched her heart. “Inside, where you’re beautiful.”

  “Thank you,” she whispered.

  Courtney wasn’t the kind of woman you banged against a door before zipping up and going on with your life. He eased away, taking her hand, and led her down the hall. “Come with me.”

  She clutched the top of her dress to her breasts. As they passed Issy’s old bedroom, she stopped, taking in the princess kingdom mural. “Wow. That’s incredible.”

  “If you like that, you’ll love the bed I’m sleeping in.”

  “Four-poster. I do like it.” She toed off her sandals, then stood in the center of the room, her bottom lip caught between her teeth. Panic flitted across her face.

  He took her shoulders in his hands. “Are you sure you want this?”

  Her blue eyes were bottomless. Her breath came out in little puffs, fluttering against his neck. “Y-yes. I—I don’t do this... Not often.”

  “Do?” What was she talking about? Then it dawned on him. His eyebrows shot up. “You don’t sleep around?”

  She shrugged, her lip caught between her teeth. “It’s just... I was never that interested before.”

  Was this an innocent act she used to drive men wild? Sometimes he didn’t understand Courtney. But this seemed real. And she’d picked him. Damn.

  “We’ll go slowly.” He pulled her hands away from the top part of her dress. “It’s been a while for me, too.”

  “You? But you’re beautiful.” She helped him ease the fabric down over her lovely breasts.

  He winced. “That’s not what you tell a man.”

  “Okay. Handsome. Strong. You know what I mean.” She tugged on the bottom of his shirt. “I’d like to keep the nakedness...even.”

  “My pleasure.” He tugged his shirt over his head. Leaning in, he brushed his chest against her breasts. “Heaven.”

  She ran the heels of her hands up each side of his chest. He shivered. Her thumbs lingered on his nipples, brushing back and forth until they formed small, hard nubs. Then she pinched them.

  His breath heaved out. He wanted to throw her on the bed and bury his body inside hers, but he’d promised to go slow. Backing her against the bedpost, he pulled up her hands and wrapped them around the wood above her head. Easing her dress down, he kissed each delicious inch of exposed skin. Then he dropped to his knees as he slipped off her dress.

  Her peach-colored thong was like a red cape flashed in front of a bull.

  He dropped kisses on her hips, sliding his hands around and cupping each luscious cheek. His tongue sought out the small indentation of her bellybutton.

  Courtney’s eyes were half-closed, her head flung back. With her back arched and her hips thrust forward, she was an erotic dream he would never forget.

  Kaden kneaded her ass and her feet slid apart. Planting kisses on the inside of her thighs, he worked his way up and inhaled her essence. Heat poured off her, warming his lips as he pressed a kiss on her silk-covered center.

  Courtney moaned.

  He did it again, eliciting another groan. Slipping a finger under the silk, he stroked. Finally, he pushed away the last barrier between her flesh and his mouth. His hand caressed the full length of each silky leg as he lifted each foot and tossed her clothes aside.

  “Kaden,” she whimpered.

  He held her hips, helping her rock a little with each slide of his tongue. His erection jammed against his zipper, but he ignored the sweet pain.

  “Please.” She pulled on his hair. “I don’t want to come without you.”

  Courtney hid generosity behind her facade. She had so many layers. He wanted to peel each one back, like the clothes he’d stripped away, and find the real Courtney Smythe.

  * * *

  HAD SHE SCREWED UP? Courtney wrapped her arms around her stomach, suddenly cold without Kaden’s touch. He stood, unzipping his shorts.

  She should help him, be the vixen everyone expected her to be in the bedroom. Instead, she sank onto the bed and curled her arms around her chest.

  “What’s wrong?” Kaden, still wearing his shorts, sat next to her.

  She was naked.

  Why couldn’t she reach out and touch his erection? She wanted to. She wanted to be the woman she pretended to be. The sexy, confident woman that men desired.

  “I’m fine,” she lied.

  He stared into her eyes. Lacing their hands together, he kissed one temple, then the next. Then his lips cruised her face and neck, and somehow she was on her back and his mouth was on her breast. “Oh—oh.”

  He chuckled. “I think you said that before.”

  She found some strength and pushed him so he was lying on his back. “My turn, okay?”

  “Not just okay.” His hands tightened on her hips. “Fun. Wonderful.”

  Wonderful. Her body might have been hot from his touch and his kisses. But the way he said wonderful warmed her soul.

  She kissed him, easing her body down so they were skin-to-skin. Her hands roved his arms and chest, exploring the muscles she’d ogled for so many days.

  But he wasn’t naked. She slipped his shorts down his legs. When she brushed against his erection, he groaned.

  “I want you as crazy as I feel,” she murmured.

  She kissed her way down his abs. Num. Then took a deep breath and cupped him, drawin
g out another groan.

  “Stop,” he grunted.

  Ignoring his plea, she tugged on the elastic of his underwear and skimmed it down his legs. He sprang free. Fascinated, she stared.

  “Come back here.” Kaden sat up and kicked off his underwear, stopping her when she started to lower her head. “Nope. It’s been too long for me.” He pulled her until they were side-by-side on the bed. “I don’t want to embarrass myself.”

  He brushed a kiss on her lips and she leaned into his heat. Everything in her body went liquid and churned with energy. She wanted to melt around him, over him.

  “Do you have protection?” she gasped.

  He shifted and the drawer squealed as he pulled out a condom. “Would you?”

  Her hands shook as she ripped open the packet. Why couldn’t she fake her way through this? She tried to stroke it on him, but the trembling got worse.

  “Hey, hey.” He took over. “Do I scare you?”

  She sat on her haunches, her head drooping. “I’m just... Don’t expect much.”

  “What I expect is we’ll give each other pleasure.” He brushed a kiss on her forehead. “That’s all.”

  “Pleasure.” How could he always say just the right thing? “You’re wicked smart.”

  “I am.” He grinned.

  He laid her on the bed and settled between her legs.

  She inhaled as he entered her. Would it hurt? But this was Kaden. Each inch he stopped and pulled back, letting her adjust.

  “Please,” she gasped, trying to pull him deeper.

  He slid home and waited.

  She lifted her hips, willing him to move. “You’re torturing me.”

  He released a strained chuckle. But he stroked in and out, setting off waves of heat and longing. It wasn’t enough.

  She shifted and he took the hint and rolled over, taking her with him.

  “Is this what you want?” he gasped.

  “Oh, yes. Yes.” She placed her hands next to his head and worked her hips in tight circles. There. There was the spot. She wanted this—being with Kaden—to be perfect.

  “I like this view.” He grinned and she smiled back.

  Everything inside her quivered. His hands clamped on her hips as he rose beneath her, grinding into her and stretching her legs wider than she thought possible. His smile morphed into clenched teeth. “Courtney.”