Did he have any idea what he did to her? How needy and empty she felt waiting for his powerful body to be unleashed on her?
“You do the same for me. All this male virility.” She leaned up and cupped his balls.
His cheekbones flushed with color, and his breath became loud and labored. Danni gloried in the effect she had on him.
He covered her with his rock-hard body, nudging her legs wider with his knee.
The strength and heat of him on top of her aroused her. She was lost in the feeling of her breasts pressed against his chest, his rough hair abrading her sensitive nipples. She ran her hands along his back, loving the feel of his defined muscles flexing. All this power held in check for her.
He lifted up on his elbows, looking deeply into her eyes, and slowly entered her. Lars Jenkins was no coward as he maintained eye contact with her. He wanted her to be aware that he was the man bringing her pleasure, stretching her, filling her, his eyes bright blue against the color in his cheeks.
Taking her lips, he buried deep into her as if they were one. As their mouths and bodies joined, they found a rhythm together. She dug her nails into his back and wrapped her legs around his hips, drawing him closer.
His hot breath across her face and the sound of their lovemaking heightened her desperation. She met him with every thrust when he quickened his pace. And then he rotated his hips and changed the angle, pushing her to the peak. She wanted him to lose control with her. She tightened her inner muscles and scored his back with her nails.
He gasped and thrust faster and harder. Her world collided, shooting stars before her eyes. His loud shout with his last thrust and the feeling of his warm release undid her. She screamed his name, lost in the primal connection.
He collapsed on top of her, slick with sweat, his chest heaving up and down. She luxuriated in his hot body pressed against her, the smell of sex and his maleness filling her nostrils. He nuzzled her neck, his beard abrading the delicate skin along her neck.
“That was…” He raised his head to stare into her eyes.
She couldn’t look away from the tenderness in his gaze.
“That it was.”
And they both laughed—Lars Jenkins’s grin setting her heart on fire. She was in deep trouble. And why didn’t the idea upset her?
Chapter Sixteen
“Wake up, sweetheart.” Lars bent and kissed Danni gently on lips, hating that he had to wake her. They had barely slept last night.
“I can’t have one more orgasm.” She batted at him with her splint, her eyes still closed. She mumbled under her breath as she nestled deeper into her pillow. “God, Jenkins, you’re insatiable.”
Last night was a discovery. He was greedy and voracious when it came to the right woman. And Danni was so right. She was open and giving. Nothing fake. She was honest, enthusiastic, and athletic, even when injured. He looked at the scattered condom wrappers on the bedside table. He always had a lustful sex drive, but once he touched her, he was out of control, needing her badly, needing to touch her, and please her. The fantasies he had conjured around her weren’t close to the reality. Danni’s loving response fed a hunger in him he never knew he possessed.
“Sweetheart, I wish we could stay in bed for days, but you need to get a move on.”
Hell, he wasn’t sure if days or months would be enough to get his fill of this spectacular woman. He refused to think about the future when her life depended on him focusing on the here and now.
“Go to hell, Jenkins.”
Did she know what a temptation she was—naked, her blonde hair spread across her chest, with one tantalizing pink nipple peeking through her thick locks?
He lowered himself to sit next to her. “Danni, we’ve got to leave. Now.”
He wasn’t sure if it was his words or his tone, but she bolted upright like Lazarus coming alive.
“What’s happened?”
He handed her a cup of coffee with loads of cream. Unlike other women, despite her thin body, Danni didn’t diet or obsess over food. She had a hearty appetite. And he had been the recipient of her hearty appetite last night. He was one lucky dog to have Danni taking him to mind-blowing insanity.
“I need you to get dressed. I’ll help you get into the clothes that I had sent over for you.”
She scanned the darkened room. “What time is it anyway?”
“It’s early. Dawn early. Take another sip, and then I’ll help you get dressed.”
“Damn it, Lars, tell me why you woke me up in the middle of the night. We aren’t supposed to leave for hours.”
“Powell called me.” No way to deliver the news easily. “They found Roland Young’s body.”
“Oh, my God. This is my fault.” Her left hand shook, tipping the coffee cup, almost spilling the hot brew on herself. “They thought he was an informer because of me.”
“You don’t know that. Young could have been taking money off the top. He could be the reason that Miro came to LA. There could be hundreds of sleazy reasons why they killed him.”
Her hazel eyes that were lasered on him took on a yellowish hue against the purple of her facial bruising. He could almost hear her brilliant brain grinding on all cylinders.
“You’re holding something back. I can always tell when you’re in your cone of silence shtick. Your eyes turn Puget Sound blue, and your jaw tightens right there.”
She touched his tight jaw, clenched over his molars.
What the hell was Puget Sound blue? He would’ve laughed if this weren’t serious. And he liked her rather poetic description.
“You’re right. There is more… I don’t want you to be upset.”
Her body stiffened. “Not telling me makes me upset.”
He took the cup out of her hand and placed it on the bedside stand and then interlaced his fingers with hers.
“Damn it, Lars.” She pulled her hand away. “Now you’re really scaring me. Don’t be nice. Just rip the bandage off.”
“I’m sorry. Young’s body was found outside your Seattle condo.”
Her flushed skin lost its color, and her mouth hung open until she snapped it shut. She swallowed hard. “In Seattle? I don’t understand.”
“Yeah, you do, honey.” He brushed the hair away from her eyes. His fingers lingered on the sensitive spot behind her ear before trailing down her neck. He needed to touch her, to comfort her as he delivered the news that he dreaded.
“His body was a message.”
“For me?” Her voice wobbled. She was a smart woman and would’ve come to the conclusion all on her own if she weren’t running on empty. Her loss of her usual quick thinking was his fault. His incessant demands had exhausted her. But he’d expected they would have all day to rest and recover. He had planned on a red-eye to New York—less scrutiny.
Shivers wracked her body. He pulled the blanket from the foot of the bed and wrapped it around her shoulders, holding her tight against him.
“Yes. Powell thinks that Miro is after you because you’re a Fed.”
She pressed her lips together and focused on his face. He wanted to reassure her, but she was too smart and too brave. She deserved as much of the truth as he was willing to share.
“There must be some way for Powell to disavow me. Can’t he put it out to their informants that I’m an innocent bystander, not an agent?”
He lavished kisses long her hairline, inhaling the lemony scent. Was there any way to reassure her without scaring her?
Lars didn’t believe for a nanosecond that Miro’s sources hadn’t informed him that Danni wasn’t an agent. What mattered was that Miro hadn’t stopped looking for Danni. He had just taken the game up a gargantuan leap by transporting Young’s body to Seattle. Powell reported that it had definitely been moved after he had been killed.
Young’s torn-up body was a valentine from the sick bastard. Miro wanted Danni terrified like the sick fuck that he was. The drummer had been tortured, multiple knife wounds indicating a slow, painful death.
He wasn’t surprised by Danni’s immediate protective reaction. Like him, she took care of the people she cared about. She didn’t have to worry about her friends. They were well guarded, as she would be. She might not like his plans, but she would see the logic in them once she got past the shock.
“I can’t stay with Sophie. I would be endangering her.”
“I agree.” He breathed a deep sigh of relief. She was unique—logical and caring. She was his perfect match.
“That’s the plan. We need to get moving. The airplane lands in Torrance in forty-five minutes, and I want to do a fast turnaround. I don’t want to give the cartel time to track the flight records.”
“Which Dean safe house are you thinking of? It can’t be associated in any way with Jordan or Sophie.”
“We’re going to cut all ties to the Dean safe houses. I’m taking you to New York with me.”
Danni’s head snapped back. “You’re doing what?”
“We need to hustle.”
“Why would I go to New York? You’re going there to meet with your agent. Not to play my bodyguard.”
“Exactly. Gives us a great cover.”
She shook her head. “I can set up my own detail with Aiden. I’ll stay in one of the safe houses in Seattle, or I can stay here if you think it’s better not to return to Seattle.”
“Neither is an option. They know where you live, and they know your friends.”
She patted his hand. “You’ve done more than enough for me.”
WTF? She was trying to placate him… As if he’d leave her.
“New York is our best option right now. You need to disappear.”
Danni scooted up to the headboard, increasing the distance between them. “Disappear?”
“Look. I never planned for you to return to Seattle. It is exactly what the cartel would expect you to do. And I was proven right—LA is too hot to remain here. The cartel has infiltrated everything in this town. I have to trust Powell, but it doesn’t mean that I trust the DEA not to leak information about your whereabouts.”
She shook her head, her hair tumbling into tumultuous disarray like a wanton goddess’s. Did she have any idea how easily she could twist him into knots?
“But you thought once they did their research, they would know I wasn’t an undercover Fed and leave me alone.”
He shrugged. “It was always uncertain, just a working idea.”
Lars wasn’t willing to tell her that he always suspected that Miro wanted her for fun and games, not because she posed any threat. Men like Miro never saw a woman as a risk. What drove the narcissistic bastard was that she was hot as sin, and she had gotten away. Intimating and hurting women got him off.
“You lied to me. You let me believe that I was returning to Seattle.”
“I’ve never lied to you.” He held back information only to save her from worrying when she was injured and needed time to recover.
“Are you denying that you didn’t say ‘We’re going to New York?’ Or ‘Gee, Danni, wouldn’t you like to escape LA and head to New York with me?’”
“I didn’t get the time to tell you. We kind of got busy.” He expected her to laugh, but her lips were locked into a disapproving grimace.
She tightened the blanket around her shoulders.
“Was any of last night true?”
Her glare reflected nothing of last night’s soft and responsive woman. Or the woman of logic he had just been admiring.
“Why would you ever ask such a thing?”
“The tale about what a sensitive boy you were…Was that your usual seduction technique, or did I get special treatment as a close friend of Jordan and Sophie and your brothers?”
Lars exploded off the bed, attempting to gain control of himself as hurt and anger molded like a C4 explosive ready to detonate. Lars couldn’t believe how she twisted last night, giving it the worst spin. He had never told anyone about his writing or his search to have a father. And she was throwing his confession back at him as if it were a ploy to get her in the sack.
He stood at the end of the bed, unable to move away, hoping to rekindle last night’s intimacy. He was now afraid. The highly decorated marine was afraid of the power he allowed this woman to wield over him.
“Believe it or not, honey, I usually don’t have to work that hard.”
“You insufferable ass.”
“You really do have a low opinion of me.” He ran his hand through his hair to stop himself from reaching for her and kissing her to prove that last night’s connection wasn’t a lie. He had never felt closer to a woman after the time they spent together. They had both seen each other at their worst—injured and vulnerable. After Carmen, he never let anyone get that close.
“It felt pretty mutual to me.”
She snorted. “Right.”
Her hair was tangled around her shoulders, her black eyes were pronounced, and the abrasion on her face was a motley mess. This wasn’t the time to hash out last night. They’d have plenty of time on the plane.
“Fine, if you want to believe that I made up stories to have my wicked way with you, go ahead.”
“I thought last night was the only night we’d have together before we went our separate ways. I never…”
She was back to shaking her head at him.
“You were to go to New York and then back to Camp Pendleton, and I was headed thousands of miles away to Seattle, or I would never had…if you had been straight up with me.” She swiped her arm to the bed. “I just wouldn’t… It was supposed to be one night.”
“One night?”
“Yes. One night. No strings…”
He couldn’t believe how much it stung to hear her repeat the lines he had said to so many women. It was what he wanted. He vowed never to be involved—to always be the one leaving. Never the one left alone. Good to know upfront before getting involved any further with Danni. Who was he kidding? He was involved, or it wouldn’t hurt so badly.
“No problem, baby. You’ve taken a page right out of my game plan.”
Danni straightened the blanket around her shoulder, avoiding any eye contact. “Exactly.”
He could feel how tightly he was clenching his jaw to remain silent. She had always been clear that she only wanted sex. Why did it bother him to hear her say exactly what he wanted? He didn’t want a long-term relationship with a woman like Danni Knorr. She’d always be in his face, pushing him, twisting him in knots like she was doing now. When he decided to give a relationship a try, it wouldn’t be with a stubborn know-it-all who liked to play head games with men. He bet she had Alex Hardy on a leash too.
“You’re right. Last night was a mistake since we’re going to be together for a while. I was wrong to sleep with you. I’m here to protect you. Allowing emotions to get in the way could get us both killed. From here on out, I’m a bodyguard in charge of your protection detail. And I’m here to help you vanish—to hide from Miro until he gives up looking for you or until the DEA nails him.”
He retrieved the box that was on the floor near the closet where he’d left it last night. He carried the large box containing her disguise and placed it on the end of the bed. “Change into these clothes. We need to get to the airport.”
“Why won’t Miro find me in New York? You said he had a big reach.”
He stood over the bed. The crumpled sheets and scent of sex still lingering in the air reminded him of the night before. When he woke, he had been in heaven with Danni nestled against him. He thought they had pushed past a lot of misunderstandings between them. Evidently not, judging by the pissed off woman fr
owning at him with her swollen, contorted face.
“You’re going in disguise. In the box, there is a red wig and glasses—clothes that will not attract attention.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“No thigh-high skirts and high-heeled boots that say to every male over the age of twelve…” He stopped himself from hurling any more insults at her, even though he wanted to hurt her the way she just had hurt him with her one-night limit.
“That young?” She flicked her hair over her shoulder with her casted hand. “Wow. Maybe someone should report me to Child Protective Services. I’ll go to New York only because I don’t have another plan…yet. But only if we both agree to pretend that last night never happened.”
“I agree, but it might be difficult…”
Danni interrupted. “Unbelievable. You think that you’re so…that I won’t be able to control myself.”
“It wasn’t what I was about to say. Only that it will be hard to totally get away from each other since you’ll be travelling to New York as my wife.”
Chapter Seventeen
Danni tried not to limp as she hurried to keep up with Lars’s long stride as they crossed the black marble floor of the exclusive Carlyle Hotel. She refused to ask him to slow down despite her ankle hurting like a son of a mother because it meant she would have to speak to him. The airplane’s cabin pressure had played havoc with her injuries. Her fingers were back to sausage size, and her ankle puffed up like she’d skipped her water pill. If she were feeling generous, she should have thanked Lars for his foresight in choosing flats to go with the poorly fitting navy-blue polyester suit.
Injured and running from a homicidal maniac, the only control she had was to ignore her “husband.” She was exerting her power as only a pissed off wife could. Really, there was nothing to say anyway. She hadn’t uttered a word the entire one-hour drive through traffic. She refused to react, especially with Nick’s marine buddies, Ryder and Grayson, the new protection detail, watching and listening. The other two marines, Dylan and Logan, were supposedly setting up surveillance.
Mission: Impossible to Protect (The Impossible Mission Romantic Suspense Series Book 6) Page 11
