“You don’t think I’ve been thinking about being with you too? I think Dani finally sent me away because I was driving her crazy talking about you.” She pulled out of his embrace and retreated to the couch. “I’ve never done that before, spent so much time focused on one man.”
“Maybe we could take the focus into the other room.” He scooped her into his arms.
“You mean like the bedroom?” She sighed in surrender.
“That would be the room I was referring to, yes.”
“I like that idea.”
Hunt picked up the pace to the room. “Wait until you hear some of my others.”
Chapter Seventeen
Sunlight slashed through the thin curtains, splintering the darkness. Its long rays targeted Carley’s face and Hunt chuckled when she groaned. She wasn’t any more eager to face the day than he was.
He glanced at the clock on the bedside table and grimaced. Three hours’ sleep wasn’t a lot to run on but he’d had to shuffle a lot of papers and help interview each of the women who’d been rescued. He’d finally managed to crawl into bed a little after six in the morning.
Carley distracted his thoughts by rolling over onto her side and covering her face with the thick blanket, clearly establishing her intent to seek the darkness of sleep again.
Taking no pity on her, he tugged the blanket free, brushing the hair away from her face. “You planning on sleeping all day?”
“I’m seriously considering it,” she mumbled.
He kissed the top of her head.
“Did you get much sleep?” She nuzzled his neck.
“Not much.” He began to stroke her back, pulling her even closer. “But it’ll have to do.”
“I’m glad you’re here,” she whispered, her voice husky from sleep.
“Me too.” The admission should have strangled him. But the smile on Carley’s face gave him a pat on the back, a good, solid “atta boy”.
She propped herself up on one elbow and continued to smile at him. “Is everything wrapped up?”
He ran one finger down the length of her nose without answering the question. It would only bring on a conversation he wasn’t ready for, wasn’t sure he wanted to be ready for. Leaning in, he kissed her. “I’m going to go grab a shower.” He flung the blanket to one side and rose from the bed, stark naked. He felt her eyes on him as he walked across the bedroom floor.
“Hey.”
He glanced over his shoulder. “Yeah?”
“Do you really need to take a shower right now?”
Hunt pivoted slowly. “You got something else in mind?”
She patted the warm side of the mattress that still bore the imprint of his body. “I have several ideas as a matter of fact. And none of them require clothes.”
His eyes flashed as he began to walk toward her. Once he reached her Carley got up on her knees, fisted her hands in his hair and tugged him down onto the bed. Their bodies tangled, rolling against the mattress as one.
“You know, I was thinking.” She twisted and turned until she managed to gain the upper hand. Holding his shoulders down against the mattress, she stared down into his face, her gaze holding his. “You didn’t answer my question when I asked if everything was wrapped up.”
Shit. The determined look on her face told him he needed to distract her. His hand crept between their bodies. “Isn’t there something you’d much rather be doing than talking?
“You know, you can tell me the truth. I’m a big girl and I can take it.” Her breath came out in heavy pants.
His arms going around her waist, he rolled with her until her back lay against the sheets. Their bodies fit together like two pieces of a puzzle. Perfectly positioned. “Hunt?” She kissed his neck, raked her fingernails up and down his back.
His jaw clenched. “Do you really want to talk right now?” As he asked the question, he slipped into her body, stretching her, whispering her name.
She arched beneath him, taking him fully inside. “Maybe not right this minute.” Her hips matched his stroke for stroke, giving, taking while her heart beat in rhythm with his.
Their hands joined, lifted, suspended in midair while their bodies connected. Joined with her, he touched her, not just physically. Mentally. Spiritually. Everywhere.
Carley had never believed in fate but if such a thing did exist, she believed she was fated to meet Hunt Chandler, fated to be with him like this in this moment. Maybe not forever but for now. These were memories she’d take with her when she left on her next adventure and he returned to Virginia.
A tear leaked out of her eye, trickled down her cheek. But she didn’t look away. She wanted him to see what she couldn’t tell him. How much she cared.
Hunt watched the tear track its way to her chin and he lowered his head to lick the saltiness. He wanted to tell her not to cry but he understood the raw emotion twisting her body into a knot. He felt it too. It was powerful, unique and would change him—if it hadn’t already.
His lips sought hers seconds before his release hit. He squeezed her tight, his hands digging into her hips. Carley buried her face in his neck and held on. Her legs tangled with his, her breasts against his chest, and she imagined she could stay like this for a long time. Until his next words…
“Come to Virginia with me.”
Carley stiffened and pushed against his shoulders. “What? What are you talking about?” She managed to squeeze her way out from under him and, snagging the top sheet, slid off the bed. Holding the Egyptian cotton up to her chin, she stared at Hunt, who lay there looking up at her like he’d just come up with a brilliant idea.
“I’m surprised you still have a job.” She hedged for time.
“Actually, I’m up for a commendation.” He propped his head in his hand. “My team got an overlapping case of amnesia so they’re not giving the director anything to use against me.” He shrugged. “Not that it would have mattered. I wouldn’t change anything I did.”
“Not even if it meant losing your badge?” He had no idea how important his answer was.
“Not even. Somewhere in the middle of all of this, Carley, I realized that I’d finally found something, someone, who was more important to me than my job. That’s why I want you to come with me.”
Damn the tears filling her eyes. How she wanted to throw herself into his arms and give a resounding yes but the white elephant in the room had to be let out. “I wish it was as simple as my saying yes.”
“Why isn’t it?” He sat up, still gloriously naked. “Don’t tell me you haven’t thought about it.”
“I’ve thought about asking you to quit the FBI and come with me,” she returned, watching the smile slide off his face.
“Now who’s not being serious?” Hunt got to his feet and wandered to the edge of the bed, closer to her. “If you think about it, this makes sense. Neither one of us really wants to leave the other.”
“But you want me to give up what I do.” She’d wanted to tell him her decision to quit, but in her own time, in her own way.
“It’s not like it’s a career, Carley. It’s theft.” Hunt frowned at her. “You can’t stand there and tell me with a straight face that you haven’t been thinking about quitting since the day we met.”
Yeah she’d thought about it, had thought of nothing else since she’d come clean with her sister, but Hunt’s words made her feel like she was beneath him and pissed her off. And right now she needed distance from him before their words escalated into a major fight.
Hunt folded his arms across that impressive chest. “Well?”
Wrapping the sheet around her like a security blanket, Carley spun around and tried not to stomp toward the bathroom. “You can let yourself out.” Though the words came out with determination, she really didn’t want him to leave…even if it meant a battle.
She wanted to know Hunt was willing to stay, to fight for what he wanted, what they both wanted. Maybe it was because a part of her was scared he didn’t really want her as much as
he thought. Or he was just enamored with the idea of reforming her.
“What?” His attention secured, he followed her. “What are you talking about? I’m not going anywhere, not until we finish this conversation.”
“And I agree to come back to Virginia with you.” Carley hurled the words at him like daggers, her eyes just as sharp as she spun around to face him.
Knowledge dawning in his eyes, Hunt retreated to the bed and scooped his pants up off the floor. “You don’t want to come with me because you don’t want to give up the money, the lifestyle your talents afford you.” He slipped into his pants, dragged them up over his hips and secured the fastening. “All you had to do was say so.”
Almost panicked, Carley watched him finish dressing, but she couldn’t watch him walk away. Not again. Not when she might really never see him again. “Wait. I never said I didn’t want to give it up but my life isn’t as simple as just walking away. I have things to finish.”
“You mean jobs? After all of this can you really go back to the life you’ve been leading? Stand there and tell me you can, that this thing that’s happened between us means so little that you aren’t willing to give it a shot.”
He was throwing too much at her and her chest tightened with panic. It had nothing to do with the money. She had enough to live on comfortably without completing one more job but in this line of work you didn’t just walk away without consequences.
She flipped her hair over her shoulders, tightened the sheet over her breasts. “There are people out there who know me, Hunt, and things I’m committed to. I can’t just call and tell them I’m quitting. They won’t accept any reason I give them.”
His belt through one loop, he paused. “If you’re scared I can protect you, and Dani. You don’t have to do this on your own.”
She gave a little laugh. “Dani is another subject altogether. She’ll need me here. I don’t know for how long.”
His gaze lifted, fixed on hers. “But she’s not going to need you forever.”
“I can’t leave her until I’m sure she’s okay and safe, although it seems like her boyfriend Scott isn’t such a bad guy. He’s been staying at the hospital with her too. But I’m still not going to leave her just yet.” Carley pushed back the panic, recognized that her fear came from a far deeper place than just the risk of leaving her clients in the lurch.
“I wouldn’t ask you to. I’ll fly in from Virginia as often as I can, or the two of you can come to Virginia. It doesn’t matter how we do it, Carley, just as long as we do it.”
Carley took a deep breath, took direct aim at the remaining obstacle. “I can’t escape my past, Hunt, and I won’t be ashamed of what I’ve done.”
“I don’t recall asking you to be ashamed.” He started walking toward her. “And I’m not asking you to change who you are, just what you do.”
She couldn’t fault him for that, and once she’d realized she’d started to have feelings for him she’d known this was one hurdle only she could remove. How else could she love an agent with the FBI and still be a thief?
“I’ve built a steady business, Hunt.” She ignored his grimace. “Yes, I’ve built it illegally but you knew that when you asked me to go to Virginia with you. It’s going to take me time to close it down.”
He stopped walking. “Can you do it without—”
“Stealing again?” She offered him a weak smile, recognizing he was as torn as she was.
“I wasn’t going to put it so bluntly but yeah, that’s my question.”
“It won’t be easy.”
“I can help you.”
“I’m not giving you my client list so you can bust them.”
Hunt grinned. “Old habits. But you have to admit, it would shut down the operation pretty quick.”
“Some of these people are my friends, Hunt. They don’t deserve that even if they were helping me break the law. Don’t ask me to do that.” Even as she made the demand, she read his expression, the agreement in his eyes, and her shoulders relaxed. “I’m not sure what I’ll do with myself if I walk away from the only life I’ve known.”
“You’ll think of something. I don’t doubt you’ll come up with something as equally daring as your previous career choice.”
“And if your friends ask what I do for a living?”
“You were an acquisitions dealer.” His grin flashed. “Which is actually not a bad idea for a legit career path. I’m sure there are museums in Virginia that could use someone with your expertise.”
“I doubt they’d approve of my means of acquiring the antiques.”
“So you’ll find a way to do it legally. Carley, you can do anything you want to do, that includes coming with me to Virginia when the time is right.”
She met him halfway across the floor. “Why do you want me to come with you?”
“Isn’t that obvious?” He tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.
“Enlighten me.”
“I fell in love with you the first time I saw you.” His arms looped around her waist.
How was it possible to love someone so much in such a short amount of time? Carley stood on tiptoe and kissed him. “I don’t know when I first started loving you. Maybe that’s because it came on so subtly. One minute I needed you to help me find my sister and the next I just needed you.”
Hunt dipped his head into the curve of her neck. “We’re going to make this work, Carley.”
She leaned away from him to see his face. “You really fell in love with me the night I kicked your ass?” Her hands slid up the wall of his chest. She loved the hardness of his muscles beneath the softness of his skin but mostly she loved standing so close to him, holding him and being held like she was cherished. The last time she’d felt this way had been before her father died.
Hunt laughed and squeezed her tight. “Yeah well, if we can call you an acquisitions dealer, I think we can come up with a better story than that when someone asks how we met.” He planted a solid kiss on her lips.
Carley grinned and tapped one finger against her cheek. “Let me think about that.” She tipped her head to one side, giving the impression of contemplating the idea. Then she shook her head. “Nope. I think I like the original story best.”
“Well I’ll just have to see what I can do to change your mind.”
“You can try, but I’m a hard sell.”
“Really? You haven’t seen how convincing I can be.” He danced her toward the bed.
“It might take a while to get me to come around to your way of thinking.” She tipped her head back to give his lips access to her throat.
Hunt kissed the smooth column of her throat, nibbled her ear. “I’ve got nothing but time. How about you?”
Carley hooked one leg around his and dragged him down to the bed. “Nothing but, Agent, nothing but.”
The End
About Rachel Carrington
Don’t you hate having to find something clever to say about yourself? As a writer, you’d think words would come easy to me. Not when it comes to touting my own abilities. So a short and sweet bio would be, well, um, give me a minute. See, my problem is I never do anything short. And as for sweet, well, that’d be telling. But I’ll give it a shot. I’m long-winded, aggressive, outgoing, charming as hell and have a BS degree. I like to take long walks down by the shore, listen to country music, drink wine—no, wait. That’s the personal ad I’m writing. See? I told you I’m no good when it comes to talking about me. If you want to know more, what little there is to know, you can visit my website. Happy Reading!
Rachel welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website and email addresses on her author bio page at www.ellorascave.com.
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Also by Rachel Carrington
C
hoices
Her Lover’s World
In This Life
Hot Magic 1: Indigo Spell
Hot Magic 2: Unchained Spell
Hot Magic 3: Breaking the Spell
Long Hard Winter
Sin’s Touch
‘Til We Meet Again
Print books by Rachel Carrington
Choices
Hot Magic 1: Indigo Spell
Hot Magic 2: Unchained Spell
Hot Magic 3: Breaking the Spell
Lover From Another World anthology
Ellora’s Cave Publishing
www.ellorascave.com
In Too Deep
ISBN 9781419937576
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
In Too Deep Copyright © 2012 Rachel Carrington
Edited by Ann Leveille
Cover design by Syneca
Photos: Konrad Back and jctdesign/Shutterstock.com
Electronic book Publication September 2012
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