Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Pulling her this close to him was a stupid move.
He realized it the second she peered up at him with those pretty green eyes of hers.
Him from before would have taken the time to get lost for days in those curves she rocked and didn’t seem to know she had.
Or at least didn’t try to use against him.
Him today silently reminded his dick that it had no say in a damn thing.
This woman was off limits to him. He would never make the mistake of trusting a woman again.
Been there, got the t-shirt. Hell, I have so many of them I can’t give them away fast enough.
He was probably an idiot for wanting some kind of understanding between them. He knew from experience most women didn’t keep their word.
“Ask me to stay and help.”
He stared down into her eyes in confusion. “Huh?” He inhaled and got a noseful of apple shampoo and scent he couldn’t place. He sniffed again. Was that her?
Dayum, if sexy had a smell, this would be it.
She huffed out a breath of annoyance and he wondered if she knew what feeling it hot on the bare skin of his throat did to him. As she didn’t knee him in the balls, he figured she didn’t.
She asked me something. What was it? Why are we doing this?
Oh, yeah, because to get to him, someone would have to come through his brothers.
He already knew they would protect him at all costs, he didn’t doubt that for a second.
Just as Gunnar knew that he also knew his own honor would not allow Jorja to get caught in the crossfire.
He’d take multiple bullets and piss off everyone from the Pope to multiple countries to ensure that didn’t happen.
She nudged him in the side, dragging his attention back to where it should be. “Ask me to stay and help,” she asked again, then added on, “if you don’t ask me, I don’t know that my brain will get on board, and I’ll keep trying to leave. I know me well enough to know it will happen.”
It made sense to him. As he was a sucker for someone asking him for help, he understood why she needed him to ask it of her.
“Please, Jorja, will you stay and help us—me figure out what’s going on?
” He cupped her chin with his palm and stroked her soft skin with one thumb.
“I swear once we do and we know you are safe, I’ll take you home myself. ”
She shook her head slowly and disappointment filled him. For a second there, she’d had him going. He started to remove his hand from her face when she placed hers over it and rubbed her cheek against his palm. “I have my car. I don’t need you to take me home, just back to my car.”
Shit, thank fuck he hadn’t given his thoughts words, or he’d have pissed her off.
“I’ll ship your car home, so you don’t have to drive all that way by yourself.
” She didn’t say anything for a couple of moments, and he could tell she was thinking about his offer.
He didn’t mind waiting here with her in his arms. She deserved the time to decide.
He just hoped she chose to do as he asked.
“Deal.”
She’d whispered the word so quietly, he almost didn’t hear it, and for his own sanity he needed to clarify it. “Seriously? You would do that for me?”
“Yes, you cave man jerk.” She swatted at his chest. “Try asking next time, you idiot. Not all women are selfish bitches like your ex-wife or Remi’s.”
Yeah, she tempted him to believe it. But time would show if it was true or not. He’d reserve judgment on that one. “I’m sorry for being a jerk.”
“Yeah, you were. But I accept your apology.” Jorja surprised the crap out of him by wrapping her arms around his waist and hugging him.
That he hugged her back surprised him even more.
After a moment, she pulled away from him, moved her hands up to wrap around his neck, and then stretched up, her mouth brushing over his.
He blinked and held his breath, stunned by what was happening.
Stunned that he wanted it as much as he did.
He wanted to believe this wasn’t some kind of ploy, but had no way of knowing for sure.
Her lips touched his. Warm and coaxing. Electric and sensual. A full body shiver overtook her as she pressed against him. He could resist her no more and melded their mouths together, exerting gentle pressure.
Despite the barrier of his t-shirt, her hands were like a brand on his skin.
He continued the assault on her senses as he scooped her up and set her on the counter.
When she widened her knees, making room for him to step closer, he deepened the kiss.
Gunnar ran his tongue over the seam of her mouth.
Once, twice, three times, seeking entrance to her mouth.
With a breathy sigh, she surrendered, opening for him.
He hadn’t realized how much he craved this, a connection, a bond with someone who wasn’t his brothers.
Simple intimacy. Even if it came out of nowhere, and meant nothing to her, to him it meant something—everything.
Because in that moment, she made him feel like he mattered to someone—to her.
She matched him kiss for kiss. Met every stroke of his tongue against hers with one of her own until their breaths were sporadic, uneven, and noisy.
He was never going to survive this woman.
He knew that now. God, he was the biggest fool on the planet.
But he couldn’t help himself. He craved just one more touch, one more kiss, one more breathy sigh into his mouth.
He wanted to soak her so deep under his skin until she was all he could feel, taste, smell, or need.
That realization was like a bucket of cold water down his neck, and he finally pulled away. Never had one kiss left him dazed. A kiss had most certainly never left him unbalanced, like he’d been slammed against the rocks by a rowdy wave and hadn’t yet regained his footing on the seafloor.
She stroked his chest, smoothing both hands down his sides as she blinked up into his eyes.
“You might be a caveman, Gunnar. But you also have a caring streak a mile wide. You just don’t let people see it very often, do you?”
He stared down at her. How the hell was he supposed to answer that? He could barely remember what day it was, never mind answer freaking questions which cut close to the core of who he was.
“You’ve been through wars and hell but didn’t just survive. You conquered. You’ve made sure your brothers did too.” Her smile was sad. “You take care of everyone, but, Gunnar, who takes care of you?”
He opened his mouth and snapped it shut again as his phone beeped, snapping the magic which had ensnared him to her like an over-stretched elastic band. He stepped back and reached for his phone, skimming the notification message. “Remi wants to know where you are. We—uh—we should get going.”
“Oh.” As if his words were what broke the spell for her, Jorja shook herself and jumped off the counter, landing on her feet directly in front of him. “Yeah, work… our deal. Got it.”
Gunnar grabbed his weapon from the safe over the microwave.
Last night when he’d stashed it there, he’d silently been grateful Remi had insisted on safes in multiple rooms. Right now all he could see was Jorja sitting on his counter with that sexy glazed look in her eyes.
He’d never look at this countertop the same way again.
He strapped on the holster and slid his sidearm into place, securing it with the Velcro strap.
“I didn’t know you were allowed to have private weapons like that in Italy?”
He looked up to see Jorja watching him. “Who said we are private anything?” He shrugged. She didn’t need to know that one of The Four X’s biggest clients was the Italian Government, but he figured it was okay for her to be aware of some things. “All of us here are armed. It’s normal for us.”
“Noted.”
He stuffed his feet into his boots and tied them. “Ready to work?”
“Yeah, the faster I get the information for Remi, the faster I can go home.”
Ouch!
Her words reinforced the reminder that what had happened between them was a fluke. It meant nothing to her, and he would not allow it to mean anything to him. He followed her down to the courtyard and across to the war-room.
The door was hooked open, and he stepped into the room after Jorja. “Hey, Rem, what’s happening?”
“Did Dory clear some shit with you for Nemesis?” As per normal, Remi didn’t look at him but kept his focus on the computer in front of him.
Crap, he’d totally forgotten to mention it. Hell, he hadn’t even been in his office to see the sticky note reminder. “Yeah, yesterday. Sorry, I got distracted and forgot to mention it.”
Remi held up the sticky note and waved it. “I found the note a while ago,” he grumbled. “I have a drone up for Nemesis’s man, but I’m gonna need a controller who can run it. I only have one pair of hands, and Jorja’s list is my focus.”
“First, it isn’t my list,” Jorja piped up. “But if you can give remote access without breaking any laws, there is a dude in Iceland who normally runs remote drones over volcanos or safaris. He might be able to do it.”
When his brother just shrugged, leaving the decision to him, Gunnar thought about it for a second. “Where is the drone?” Because there was zero chance of him allowing a civilian to access a drone in a potential warzone.
“Egypt.”
“Nature’s Eye has a drone controller near Cairo,” Jorja told him. “As much as I’d love to see the Pyramids in real life, I don’t have the time it would take to go there in person. I remote flew one of their drones there last year.”
“Okay, reach out to your contact. See if they have a controller available,” he ordered Jorja. “Ask if they need access to ours, of if they can give our guy on the ground access without being in our systems.”
“Sure.” Jorja nudged Remi on the shoulder. “I’m going to need outside access for Google,” she told him. “Or you’re going to have to search for Nature’s Eye and give me the number.”
It wasn’t lost on Gunnar that Remi hadn’t jumped out of his skin when Jorja had touched him.
He wasn’t sure if he was impressed or jealous; his brother didn’t normally even like him touching him without warning.
“I’m going to work out, then I’ll be in my office.
” When neither of them replied, he grunted to himself in annoyance and left them to it.
He reminded himself that Jorja wasn’t like most women.
Even so, he decided it was in his best interest to stay away from her.
Period. She could work with Remi. Later tonight, he’d show her to one of the suites in the guest wing.
Yes, he decided as he made his way to the gym, it was better for everyone if he stayed out of her way and kept her out of his orbit.
He’d worked too damn hard to recover from the last woman he’d trusted.
Only the fact most of the family’s money was locked up in trusts had prevented her from emptying the McKinley coffers during their divorce.