Chapter 13
CHAPTER 13
“ H ere, you drive.” Ronnie handed her car fob to Con. He stopped and pulled her into him for another kiss. She melted into his big, hard body. His hand now expertly avoided the smaller knife she kept in a holster on the waistband of her jeans, concealed by her T-shirt. She wrapped her arms around his neck and let all the wonderful sensations she’d recently come to yearn for, fill her. His aftershave blended with his unique scent, making a combination into something that drove her mildly insane, and that was a problem she’d gladly keep.
He pulled away and looked down at her. “I’m the luckiest man on earth.”
She laughed and shook her head. “That’s a bit grandiose, isn’t it?”
“No.” He rubbed her back with his big hand, expertly avoiding the holster and knife’s hilt. “No, I don’t believe it is. I’ve told you I’ve been searching for you.” He closed his eyes. “I don’t want you to slip away again.”
“Hey,” she whispered, and he opened his eyes. “My name isn’t Jackie Harriger. It is my alias, and I’ve used it most of my life. I answer to Jackie, Centurion, or Ronnie. I can’t tell you my real name. If I did, people would be in danger. But you know where I live. That’s my home here in this country. I live here most of the time. You now know more about me than almost anyone in this world. There are a handful of people who know the full story, and they’re the ones who could be hurt if who I am got out. I won’t endanger them, and I don’t want to slip away. I like what’s happening between us.”
His lips came down on hers again, and their tongues danced in erotic movements that ferried the most delightful streams of warmth through her body. They pooled at her core, and a full-bodied shiver set off a feeling of lust that literally weakened her knees. A car horn sounded, which shattered the illusion of being alone in the world. Though they pulled apart, he didn’t release her from his hold. “Thank you for allowing me a glimpse of who you are. I won’t push, and I won’t search.”
She smiled up at him and let her arms drop from around his neck to his chest. “We should go.”
He dropped for a quick kiss before hitting the button on the car fob to unlock the doors. Opening hers, he waited for her to slide into the vehicle. Then Con made it halfway into the car before he had to use the controls to move the seat back.
“Sorry,” she said.
“For what? Being cute and short?”
She let her mouth drop open in disbelief. “I’m not short. I’m five-foot-seven.”
“From my point of view, that’s short. And cute.” Con started the car after he put on his seat belt. He looked at her and motioned for her to do the same. “Safety first.”
After she grabbed the belt and secured it, he pulled out into traffic, and she was happy to notice he had no problem at all driving on the left side of the road. “I had so much fun today. I think the last time I laughed this hard was at my sister’s wedding.” She leaned back into the plush interior of her car.
“You’re close?” he asked as he merged into traffic on a busier road.
“Yes and no. She’s really independent and always has been.” She smiled. “I’m closer to my little brothers, actually. Twins who are now towers of testosterone.” She shook her head. “I remember them hiding in the woods at home when I was a child. They’d spring out and chase me. Thankfully, the torture and chase phase of their childhood went by quickly.”
“Maybe for you, but speaking as a brother, they probably still do that to each other. I know I harass my younger brother every chance I can get.”
“Why?”
“It’s my way of showing the little shit I love him.” He shrugged.
She thought about it for a moment and then laughed. “I’m not sure that’s a method of affection, but I’ll default to the male’s perspective in this case. The comm system has been blissfully quiet.”
Con groaned, “Hopefully, you didn’t just jinx it.”
“Do you believe in jinxes and superstitions?” She turned to look at him. “I took you for more of a logic-based person. Science and data and nothing more.”
“Not at all. I believe in luck and bad juju, and I’m superstitious.” He reached over and took her hand in his. “It was luck or fate that put me at that gala in the exact position to catch you as you tripped over me.”
She looked up and shook her head. “Not my most graceful moment.”
“Best moment of my life.” He squeezed her hand and winked at her.
“You need to turn here.” She pointed to the upcoming exit.
“Crud. Right.” He put on his blinker and merged. “My mind was elsewhere.”
They chatted about nothing, which seemed to follow the same path they’d used all day. The conversation was fun and nothing too serious or deep. She liked his quick wit and charm. He was a kind person, which was evident when he dealt with the wait staff at the restaurant they’d chosen for dinner. Her father had always told her how a man deals with service people, like waiters, said volumes about how he treated everyone. Con’s interactions were polite and attentive, and he tipped them well.
She told him where to park the car, and they walked hand in hand to her apartment. She gave him the key, and he opened the door for her. “I’ll be back. Do you want a drink?” she asked as she headed back toward her room.
“Maybe a small one. I don’t know what’s waiting for me on the computer.” He put her keys on the table by the front door.
She spun around. “You check on that, and I’ll be back in a minute or two.” She closed her bedroom door and drew a deep breath. “Okay, don’t chicken out now.” She’d been thinking about it since her comment to him when he’d called to ask her to see London with him. She whipped off her T-shirt, secured her weapons in her walk-in closet, and stripped down. After taking an impossibly quick shower, she put on lotion and then a silky, dove gray nightgown with a matching robe. She brushed her hair out quickly and headed out to the living room and the bar to pour two drinks. She glanced down at her tumbler and lifted it to her lips, taking a large sip. The liquid burned on the way down, and she shuddered, but it helped with the butterflies.
She picked up both tumblers and walked quietly into the library. Con was bent over his computer typing furiously. She walked behind him and watched as the screen on his computer ran through a multitude of images. She leaned over and put his drink down. He glanced over his shoulder at her and smiled. “Thanks.”
Her hair fell over his shoulder. “What are you doing?”
“Running facial rec on the people caught on the camera system today. There was a bug in my program, and it was hit-and-miss on the people it worked on. I don’t want anyone to slip through the cracks.” His fingers continued to fly across the screen.
“Hmm.” She stood up and took another sip of her drink. “How long will that take?”
“I’m almost done.” He continued to work. She took another sip. “Do you have anything else to do after that?”
“Nothing much. Brando sent me a couple of files to analyze. Mr. Asshat hasn’t sent any taskings.”
She finished her drink and moved from behind him to beside him. “How much longer?” she asked as she slid as close to his laptop as she could.
She knew the second Con saw her silk nightgown. His head snapped to the left, and his hands froze. She watched as his eyes traveled up and up. “Fuck, have I died and gone to heaven?”
She shook her head. “No, you’ve gone on your third date.” He stood up and stared down at her.
“Beautiful.” He slipped his arms around her and dropped his lips to hers. She somehow managed to put her empty glass on the desk before Con started backing her across the floor. She didn’t know where he was leading them and didn’t care. Her back bumped into the wall, then the bookcase. The doorjamb was next. Finally, Con pulled his lips away from hers and swept her into his arms. The trip to his room was quick, and he landed in the middle of the bed with her. She laughed as he stripped out of his T-shirt, but the laughter stopped when he laid on top of her. Her hands traveled the expanse of his back as he stared down at her.
“Before I lose my mind, do I need a condom?”
She shook her head. “I’ve got that covered.”
Braced on his forearms, his biceps and chest muscles bulged over her. His gaze locked with hers. “I don’t know where to start with you.”
She reached up and placed a finger on his lips. “Start with these … here.” She tapped her own lips.
He leaned down and spoke a fraction of an inch from kissing her. “I want you so bad. I want to devour you, but I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Don’t hold back.”
He crashed his lips against hers. The intensity of the physical contact exploded. Con was a wild man. His hands and mouth branded his claim onto her skin. Her hunger grew with each touch. Her body reacted, lighting up with a brilliance that threatened to consume her. He stripped her of the silk and then lifted away from her long enough to undress.
His body was perfect. Muscled, defined, and his cock stood out in front of him, hard and ready for her. He kneeled down on the bed. “I’m going to make you mine.”
“Do it,” she panted. The dark look of need and want on his expression had to be reflected in hers. He laid on top of her, and she spread her legs for him. He bracketed her head with his arms as he stared down at her. Con sank deep within her.
She moaned at the sensation of being unconditionally seized by him. Flames of need ravaged her and consumed more with each thrust of his possession. Her fingers clawed his shoulders, and she arched up to join every thrust. Pleasure and pain blended and combined. He forced breathless puffs of air and soft gasps from her. Sounds she was incapable of stopping. His bruising and predatory kisses, coupled with the power of his hips, magnified the raw animal lust that connected them.
Con’s domination broke through all the pretense and the carefully constructed walls she’d built to keep people from knowing her, the real her . She knew in her very DNA he was a man she could love. Perhaps that was why she’d made sure not to reach out to him when he was looking for her.
He was what she’d been searching for, hoping to find—a man who needed her with that type of desperation. Each stroke moved her closer to accepting what she’d long denied. She was vulnerable, and Con, with all his laughter and silliness, was more than man enough to become her shield, so she could finally let down her defenses. Letting go of those lingering fears, she couldn’t deny the need deep inside her. The craving for the fire he’d branded her body and heart with was unquenchable.
Her body tightened to a searing and frantic ache. She gripped his biceps and begged him for something … What it was, she wasn’t sure, but she panted the plea over and over. Please …
That ache splintered, and a pulsing thrum undulated through her core. The sensation forced a gasp as she erupted into a million shattered pieces. She felt him finish and took most of his weight as he dropped to his elbows.
She held him tight because, at that moment, she was vulnerable and completely surrendered to the attraction she felt for the man. She surrendered the need to be anything other than what she was. Happy.
Con moved off her, and after fighting the fall of her hair for a pillow, he pulled her closer and spooned her. The warmth of his big body filled her, and she tucked back closer to him. He kissed her hair and whispered, “You are utterly amazing.”
She looked back at him. “I think it’s the other way around.” She turned to face him, pushing on with this honest and open situation she’d promised herself to follow. “I’ve never done that before.”
Con blinked and shot up. He rubbed his face. “Fuck. I’m so sorry. Jesus, I’m such an ass.”
Ronnie sat up, her hair falling over her shoulders, and she pushed it out of her face. “What are you talking about?”
“If I’d known you were a virgin, I would have …” He threw his hands up in the air. “I don’t know, but I wouldn’t have been that rough.”
“I’m not a virgin.” Had he lost his mind?
He stopped and narrowed his eyes at her. “You said you’d never done that before.” He waved to the twisted bedding.
“Yeah, orgasmed.” She laughed. “You thought I meant …”
“Well, what else was I supposed to think?” Con dropped back onto the bed and put his hands over his heart. “I’m going to die. Sex with you is going to kill me.”
She laughed and rolled on top of him. “What a way to go, huh?”
He lifted his head and looked at her. “The best. You’ve never orgasmed before?”
“Well, not with a guy.” She had a vibrator that had been her best friend for years.
Again, he looked at her with that same confusion plastered across his face. “With a girl?”
She drew a breath and shook her head. “No, with a vibrator.”
“Oh.” He blinked, and then a lecherous smile spread across his face. “I’d be game to watch that.”
“I’d prefer the method we just used.” She adjusted and pulled the comforter up to her waist.
He pulled her down onto the mattress with him. “That was probably the best sex I’ve ever had.”
Ronnie blinked at him and then raised her eyebrows. “Probably?”
He laughed. “The best.”
“You were …”
He winced. “Too much?”
“No. Perfect. I felt …” She lowered her eyes and almost whispered, “Protected, wanted.”
Con tipped her chin up. “I want to kill the people who made you think you weren’t worth being protected or wanted.”
She stared at him for a long time. “My little sister was taken when she was young. My father sent men after her, and they were able to get her to safety. I can’t go into details because that’s her story to tell, but watching what happened caused a lot of issues for me. No one in the world could protect her, not even my father, who, if you knew him, you’d know he would be the one person to be able to do that. It rocked my world. I haven’t felt safe since then. I trained as a Shadow because of the fear. I live in a made-up world because of that fear. I don’t let anyone in.” She closed her eyes, and he moved to cover her lips with his.
The kiss was gentle and giving. When he stopped, she opened her eyes. “Thank you for letting me in, for exposing yourself to me.”
She stared up at those kind eyes. “I’m trying.”
“You’re succeeding.” He lowered for another kiss, and his hand found her breast when the sound of her cell phone ringing somewhere in the house pulled them apart. “Shit.”
“Where did you leave it?” Con was out of the bed. “My earpiece is at the desk.”
“Mine is in the bedroom with my phone.” She jumped out of bed, and they both ran to the other side of the house, completely naked. Con heading to the library and her to the bedroom. She redialed the number that had called her. “Sorry, Uncle Jason, I was on the other side of the house.”
“At two-thirty in the morning?”
“Ah, yeah. I didn’t realize I left my phone in the library. It won’t happen again. What do you need?” She prayed he didn’t ask any more questions.
“Justin is going to drop off material he found in Eisenberger’s residences. He’ll be there in about thirty-five minutes.”
“And the courtesy call is for?” She walked to the closet and pulled out a fluffy robe.
“So you don’t kill him.” Jason laughed.
“I’m not sure what’s so funny.”
“I told him to break in and leave it for you to find.”
“Ah, well, no, that wouldn’t have gone over too well.” She pulled her hair out of the robe and slipped on a pair of fluffy slippers.
“Probably not. Give the stuff to Con, and he can determine what needs to be done. I want a briefing on what was in the pouch by nine in the morning my time.” Which was three in the afternoon their time. She nodded. “I’ll tell him the next time I see him.”
“Good. Sorry for the wake-up call.”
“No problem. Good night.” She hung up and slipped her phone into her pocket along with her earpiece.
She shuffled back to Con’s bedroom. He was propped up on pillows in bed with the sheet pulled up to his waist. She dropped the robe at the foot of the bed and left the slippers there, too. He lifted the sheet, and she slid in next to him. “There was nothing on the computer that couldn’t wait until morning. Who was on the phone?”
“Archangel. He said a courier would be dropping off what he found in Eisenberger’s residences.”
“At two-thirty in the morning? Why in the hell would they send them to your place this late?”
“Because you need the information?”
“Not my point. That puts you at risk.” Con frowned, and Ronnie lifted an eyebrow. She reached to the side of the bed and then spun, landing on his chest. The tip of the dagger that was concealed by the bed pointed at his throat.
“Again, you’re forgetting what I do and who I am.”
He looked from the blade to her before speaking. “ What you do, yes, I do keep forgetting that, but that’s not who you are.” Con moved the blade out of the way with the back of his hand. “Nice trick. Do you have a blade in every room?”
“Blade, gun, garrot …” She shrugged and placed the knife on the nightstand.
Con lurched up and dropped on his elbows over her. “Damn, that’s hot. How long do we have?”
Ronnie looked at the clock on the bedside table. “Twenty-five minutes.”
He moved her hair as he said, “What do you think we should do for that amount of time?”
“Sleep?” She batted her eyes innocently.
“Wrong answer.” Dropping down, he kissed her and moved her legs with his before entering her. She sighed at the sensation of being filled by him. As her legs wrapped around his body, she knew she was absolutely in deep with the man. She was into Conner to the point she’d let herself be vulnerable with him. And for once, she was okay with that. When he lifted, she cupped his face with her hands. “What am I going to do with you?”
“Keep me.” He gazed down at her. “Keep me, babe. I’m worth it.”
She nodded. “You are.” He groaned and dropped again to consume her with that mind-altering kiss. Again, that frenzied and fierce sensation of need zapped through her and pooled at her core. How could she ever give that up? How could she ever give Conner up? She knew in her heart she couldn’t. She prayed that whatever was between them would last. Please let it last.