Live Wire

by Lora Leigh

  She didn’t want to leave? Then she could put up with him. He wasn’t going anywhere without her. He may not be able to keep her but damn if he wouldn’t ensure he could keep her safe.

  When Tehya walked into the bedroom, wrapped in nothing but a towel, she was greeted by the sight of Jordan obviously making himself at home. And in her bed nonetheless.

  He was sitting on the bed checking his weapons and he lifted his head at the sound of the bathroom door opening.

  Jordan’s gaze darkened with aroused interest the instant he caught sight of her. It flicked over her, taking in the still damp shoulders, and suddenly nervous grip on the towel.

  Lust flared in the darkening depths, and for a second, Tehya swore it stole her breath. Instantly, her nipples hardened as a phantom caress to her clit had it aching in need.

  She hadn’t come earlier. He had teased her nearly to the point of orgasm, only to end up pissing her off once she had felt that weapon at his side.

  He hadn’t come for her because he missed her, or because he was worried about her. He had come to take her and stash her somewhere safe until her identity could be changed yet again, and her life thrown into complete disarray before he sent her merrily on her way once again. Just as he had before.

  She wished he had just stayed in Texas where he belonged. It would have been a hell of a lot easier on her heart.

  “What are you doing in my bed?”

  She couldn’t sleep with him. She wasn’t going to sleep with him. The danger of begging him for his touch, for his heart, was still too close to the surface for her to trust herself to that extent.

  He laid the handgun carefully on the bedside table, his gaze becoming darker, more intense. “Where you go, I go. Where you sleep, I sleep,” he informed her.

  The response only infuriated her more. The arrogance and sheer superiority of his response had the anger that had only simmered inside her threatening to flame now.

  “No. This isn’t going to work.” She couldn’t allow it to work. If he were that much a part of her life, then there would be no way in hell she could save her heart.

  “It’s going to have to work,” he informed her, his expression bland despite the lust raging in his eyes.

  And it was raging. It darkened the intense blue, made it seem brighter, hotter, as he stared at where her fingers clenched around the material of the towel.

  She couldn’t do this. Her chest tightened with the emotions flooding her. Fear, need, a hunger to belong. For so many years she had convinced herself she had a chance with Jordan. That if she showed him she was nothing like her father, if she was strong, if she trained hard, if she proved herself a worthy partner, loyal and adept, then she would have a chance.

  And still, when the time came to leave, he’d had no problem letting her go. They had all let her go. If they had been that worried they would have found her when she didn’t answer their calls. They were damned good at finding people, they had known her new identity. All it would have taken was a little effort.

  “You can sleep on the couch,” she said harshly. “Not in my bed.”

  He tilted his head to the side, the overly long strands of black hair framing his face and giving him a wicked, pirate look.

  “Afraid you won’t be able to stay on your own side, Tehya?” he asked softly, his voice chiding. “That’s okay, baby. You can crawl over me anytime you want.”

  Her eyes widened at the deliberate sexual undertones in his voice.

  “Now isn’t that a change?” she said sarcastically. “Are you sure you’re the same man that regretted fucking me nine months ago?”

  “It wasn’t fucking you I regretted,” he assured her. “Why don’t you come over here and let me prove it?”

  “I don’t think so.” Oh God, she wanted to. She wanted to sink inside his flesh and feel the heat of him clear to her soul.

  He gave a light, mocking chuckle. “Think of it as an educational experience. By the time this is finished, and we’ve either saved the heroine or we’re both dead and beyond regrets, you can walk away without ties, Tehya. It won’t hurt anymore, because you won’t believe you love me anymore.”

  Tehya could feel herself freeze inside. Like an animal that’s caught the scent of a predator, every instinct was thrown into survival mode.

  He knew. He knew what she had stopped hiding from herself, that she loved him, and still it didn’t matter.

  “And what the hell makes you think I’m in love with you?” A woman had to have some pride.

  He shook his head, his expression somber, his gaze alive with emotions she couldn’t decipher. “You think you are now. But by the time this is over, you’ll know me for the prick I am. You’ll see all the reasons why I’d make a lousy relationship choice, or God forbid, a husband, Tehya. Trust me, I’ll cure you. You’ll thank me for it.”

  She couldn’t believe this. She looked back at him incredulously. She would have been amused under less stressful circumstances. “Is this what you’ve told your other lovers over the years, Jordan? Has it really been a successful line to use to get them into your bed?” Surely his women hadn’t been true airheads?

  “You think that’s what this is?” His lips quirked with odd amusement. “No, Tehya, I’ve never used that particular line before. Does that mean you’ll take me up on the offer?”

  “I’d end up killing you,” she muttered.

  “There’s always that chance,” he agreed as she watched him nervously. “But at least you’ll be free of me.”

  There was something in his voice, in his eyes, that halted her arguments. A somber, grieving “something” that she couldn’t quite put her finger on. He hadn’t said they would be free of each other. Or that he would be free of her. And Jordan was pretty consistent in saying what he meant.

  She had news for him, though. She would never be free of him, and she knew it. Since that night she met him in Aruba, no matter how he played the bastard, no matter how many times she was left feeling as though he never noticed her, still, the need had only grown.

  Whatever held her to him had been born that night, eight years ago in Aruba, before she joined the Ops, when he had finally agreed to allow her to be a part of Sorrel’s destruction. When he had promised her she could kill the father who had destroyed her mother, and who had tried to destroy her.

  “Fine,” she snapped. “I’ll sleep in the chair tonight. But tomorrow you leave, Jordan. I don’t need you in this fight any more than I want the others here. The best thing you can do for both of us is leave. That way I won’t be distracted.”

  She couldn’t afford the distraction if Sorrel’s men were truly after her. She would need to keep her wits about her. She’d learned that a long time ago.

  Jordan’s eyes narrowed. “Try to sleep in the chair and I’ll tie you to the bed, Tehya. And tomorrow what I’m going to do is upgrade your security and see if I can’t find a way to figure out who the hell is stalking you, and destroy them. Until that’s accomplished, you can stop protesting, and you can stop arguing. Because you will sleep with me. Whether you like it or not.”

  Which meant he was damn serious about tying her to the bed. And she was tired. The last thing she wanted to do was fight ropes or cuffs all night. The one thing she wanted, pride aside, was to lay in his arms, to sleep, just one night, surrounded by him. But she feared that one night would only leave her hungry for more.

  “Tomorrow, you leave,” she said, anger and sexual hunger beginning to burn inside her at the thought of sleeping next to him.

  He grunted at the order. “Tomorrow, we see about saving that fine ass of yours.” His gaze flicked over her, the somberness easing and being replaced by a wicked glint. “Because I have definite plans for it.”

  She couldn’t stop the surge of adrenaline that raced through her at the sensual warning.

  “Revise them,” she snapped, suddenly terrified, absolutely certain that facing her enemies wouldn’t be nearly as dangerous as revealing her heart to this man. A
nd if she let him have her tonight there would be no stopping the revelation.

  This was the Jordan she had rarely seen, Wicked, amused, playful. The one that sent his agents running more often than not in self-defense when he had that look on his face. He couldn’t, wouldn’t be predictable in this mood.

  “Tomorrow, we’ll discuss it,” he offered easily. “Until then.” He patted the bed. “Snuggle in, sweetheart, and I’ll just get my shower. We can iron out the details then.”

  He rose, moved to her closet, and as she watched in outrage, he pulled out his clothes before walking past her, and disappearing into the bathroom.

  Only then did she think to breathe.

  As oxygen hit her system, flames erupted through her body, licking at suddenly sensitive nerve endings and pushing her arousal higher.

  Her pussy creamed in excitement, dampening the swollen, sensitive folds as her juices eased around her clit. She inhaled a hard, deep breath and rubbed at her face desperately. Control. All she had to do was rebuild her self-control.

  She might as well cut her heart out now and hand it to him on a silver platter, if she didn’t get control of herself now. Because as sure as the sun rose in the east, it wouldn’t survive sleeping with Jordan. Or working with Jordan. She was too weak for his touch, too desperate for it.

  She had to find a way to get rid of him. He had to leave and let her fight this battle on her own. It was her past, and her nightmare, Jordan was her heart. She couldn’t fight them both at once.

  CHAPTER 3

  Stashing her at base would have been a hell of a lot easier on his nerves, Jordan thought the next morning as he watched Tehya move around the kitchen preparing coffee. To fight this battle effectively, he needed to know she was safe, needed to know there was no chance of her being taken. That there was no chance of his hunger getting the best of him and distracting him. As she was now.

  Frayed denim cutoffs barely covered the rounded curves of her ass, the threads caressing lightly tanned lush, toned flesh. It was evident she had kept her training up from the appearance of firm feminine muscle beneath her flesh. The snug toffee-colored top she wore molded her full breasts, and thin straps running from her shoulders crisscrossed at her back. She looked even more fragile, more delicate than ever in the skimpy summer clothing. Almost too delicate for the lustful, erotic hungers raging through him.

  She didn’t wear a bra and the hardened tips of her nipples pressed against the thin material, drawing his gaze and causing his mouth to water. He remembered the heated, sweet taste of them, as well as their sensitivity in her response to his hungry mouth sucking them.

  For the moment, he simply watched her as she poured their coffee then slid his mug across the counter to him. The narrow-eyed resentment in her expression was almost amusing, except he hated seeing her this upset

  “You bought the house,” he stated as he gazed around the neat open area and he searched for a topic that would ease her anger.

  He’d been on the computer before she came out of the bedroom. She hadn’t just bought the house, either, she’d also bought a small landscaping company that had gone from near bankruptcy to healthy profitability in the six months she had had it.

  “I bought the house,” she agreed.

  She surprised him doing so. He hadn’t expected Tehya to put down roots without being forced.

  “Why, Tehya? Why did you buy a house rather than renting?” Leaning forward, Jordan was careful to keep his tone even, his expression merely curious. He didn’t want to antagonize her this morning. Too many plans had to be made now that plan A was out the window. But also needed to learn more about this side of Tehya that he hadn’t expected.

  Leaning against the island, she stared back at him with a serene confidence that only made his dick harder. “Why wouldn’t I want to buy a house, Jordan?” she asked him. “I thought I was safe from my past. If I had known the truth, perhaps I would have done things differently.”

  “Then you would have made that decision in Texas,” he said quietly. There was just something about the tone of her voice that warned him that buying this house, buying the business, was something Tehya had hungered for only after leaving Texas. After she had felt she had lost her family there. “Buying a house isn’t something you do on a whim.”

  She shrugged negligently and looked around. For a moment, her face softened. For the barest second Jordan glimpsed dreams he had never known Tehya held inside herself. Damn, how had he managed to miss the fact that his Tehya had hungered to put down roots?

  “Maybe,” she finally murmured.

  Maybe. It was a definite. Just as his certainty in the fact that she was in danger.

  “Tehya, I’m working on a safe house for you…”

  “Then you’re wasting your time,” she assured him, and he knew she wasn’t joking. “A safe house is only a delay, Jordan. Changing my identity, moving me, hiding me. It’s never worked in the past, it won’t work now.” Acceptance, bitter and filled with regret, tightened her expression.

  Jordan wiped his hand over his face and fought to come up with a new plan on the spur of the moment.

  “You know, Jordan,” she said as she stared around the house again. “I’ve been on the run, one way or the other, since I was five years old. I never attended a normal school, I didn’t have playmates, and I never had a home.” Her gaze met his as her eyes flashed with pain. “Changing my hair, my looks, my name, my fingerprints, or my location never helped. They always found me eventually and they always will. Delaying the inevitable will only give them the chance to surprise me. What you should do is take your men and just leave. Let me face my past and deal with it for good. I know what I’m facing and I know how to deal with them.”

  Hell.

  Leaning back against the barstool, he regarded her silently. Tehya was putting down roots and now she was determined to stand and fight for those roots. He had to admit, he hadn’t expected that of her but perhaps he should have expected.

  Tehya had never been predictable.

  “If I were in danger, Tehya, would you just walk away?” he asked then knowing the answer, just as she should realize he could never walk away either.

  “That’s different,” she answered softly. “As you suspected, I care more for you than I should.”

  Damn her, she had the ability to slip past his defenses in ways he could never have expected and never failed to surprise him.

  “Do you believe I don’t care for you?” How the hell had she managed to come to that conclusion?

  “Observation,” she snorted. “So, did you discuss my phone with Commander Reece?” Pushing away from the center island, she moved to stand across from him. Her brows lifted inquisitively as he fought to find a way to deal with her last comment as well as her abrupt change of subject and the memory of Killian’s betrayal.

  Jordan felt the familiar anger rising inside him at the thought of what his former friend had done. “Your ability to call the team wasn’t affected,” he informed her. “There was a tracker pin attached to the programming. He swears the default kicked in and kept calls from sensitive numbers from coming in which is possible, but doesn’t change the fact he did it.”

  Her lips parted, her tongue touching the tip of her upper lip for a second in a gesture unique to Tehya. Mocking disbelief and an edge of hurt.

  “Killian definitely believes blood will tell, I guess,” she said impassively. “Are we shocked?”

  Actually he had been. Shocked and furious. Had Killian been there with him when Jordan learned what he had done, then blood might have been spilled.

  “You never called any of us either, Tehya,” he reminded her, his voice tight. “You knew you were being followed, you knew someone had found you.”

  She shook her head, her lips tightening for a second as the long ponytail her hair had been gathered into brushed against her back. “I honestly thought it was paranoia,” she admitted bitterly. “I’d never been in one place longer than a few months until I
joined your group.…” She gave her head a brief shake. “Base was so secure, my suite there completely protected. I worked where I lived. There was no possibility of any danger.” Her breath hitched for a moment. “I thought it was a product of being away from that security and being on my own.”

  She had ignored her instincts and that could have been fatal.

  Jordan exhaled roughly at the thought of the danger she could be facing.

  “John and Travis are heading in with their wives,” he told her. “We need to find out who’s behind the search for you and why. The team that’s heading here are no more than flunkies. Ira Arthurs and Mark Tenneyson aren’t leaders. Someone has to be backing them.”

  “I don’t need your help with this.” Her expression became closed. “I’ll deal with it. I told you Jordan. I’ve been-here-done-this. I don’t need your help.”

  “And you think I’m going to let you?” He was almost amused to think that she would believe that. Amused and fucking offended. “Stop wasting your damned breath.”

  Her arms crossed beneath her breasts. “What do you care? You were more than eager to walk away nine months ago. Do you really think I need you around now? Trust me, I don’t.”

  No one was able to make him mad faster than Tehya could. Son of a bitch, she was staring right back at him, actually believing the crap spilling out of her lips. As though she actually believed he was going to fucking walk away.

  With that knowledge, with that anger, his arousal only surged higher. She tempted him and defied him for the hell of it. It didn’t bother her a damned bit to stand there and pretend that her death wouldn’t affect him. He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that it would destroy him.

  “I think you’re living under the mistaken impression that you have a choice whether or not I stay here and protect that pretty little ass of yours,” he warned her as he rose from the barstool, his jaw clenching at the defiance in those incredible green eyes of hers.

  “I didn’t need you to protect my ass before I met you, and I don’t need it now,” she informed him, a flush beginning to bloom across her lightly tanned cheeks.