Chapter 14 #2
Blake’s mouth curved, slow and dangerous. “I don’t care if half of Budapest was listening. I wanted you. I still do.”
The words sent a shiver racing through her. She lowered her voice instinctively, even though Rook was nowhere nearby. “You’re insatiable.”
“Only with you.” His hand trailed to her neck, warm and possessive, urging her closer.
She leaned in, the faint scrape of his stubble grazing her cheek as his lips brushed hers—gentle this time, not the breath-stealing claim from earlier. Intimate. Personal.
“Blake,” she whispered, her hand curling over his chest. “We’re supposed to be eating breakfast.”
He kissed her again, deeper, stealing the rest of her protest. “Breakfast can wait.”
Her laugh broke against his mouth, muffled and breathless. “You’re impossible.”
“True.” He pulled her into his lap, settling her there as if she belonged. “But tell me you don’t love it.”
She pressed her forehead to his, her smile answering for her. “I can’t do that because I really do love it.”
“I can still hear you,” Rook shouted from upstairs.
Blake rolled his eyes and growled toward the stairs, “I can take you out and will if you don’t go to sleep.”
“I may be tired and a bit sore, but I’m still good enough to take care of your woman tonight while you do your thing.”
“Dead. You are dead,” Blake growled and stood up.
“Whoops,” Rook said. “Let the cat out of the bag, didn’t I?”
“What bag? What are you talking about?” She stood up and put her hand on Blake’s arm. “Tell me what’s going on, please?”
“I will. Let’s go for a walk so the asshole can’t screw anything else up.” Blake shouted the words up the stairwell as he grabbed a quilt from the back of the couch. After wrapping her shoulders in the blanket, he opened the door.
“Remember when I first bumped into you?” He draped his arm around her as they headed to the pier.
“Actually, I bumped into you.” She nudged him with her shoulder.
“True. I was in Hungary because I was already working on a case. I’m still the best person to get the job done, so I have to do some more preliminary work tonight.”
“Why tonight? You could go today. I’m not going anywhere.” She shivered a bit and pulled the blanket around her shoulders tighter.
Blake ran his hand up and down her arm, pulling her into him, blocking the cold air with his body. The feeling of being protected and safe enveloped her. “It’s better if I go at night. I could be recognized, too.”
She looked up at him, but he wasn’t looking at her. His eyes were focused past the lake as if he were deep in thought.
Something wasn’t jiving. It wasn’t adding up to the sum it should. She could tell he was hiding something from her. “What is it? What is this job you have to do?”
That drew his attention down to her. He gave a half smile. “I can’t tell you.”
Well, that was fair. He’d explained that what he did was classified at times. She leaned against him and watched the reeds sway. “Will you get shot like Rook?”
Blake snorted. “God, I hope not.”
She flicked her gaze to him. “But it could happen?”
He nodded. “I’m not going to lie to you.
I’m not in a ‘corporate desk job’ or safe occupation.
The work I do has its challenges.” He lifted the hand that wasn’t holding her into the air and made air quotes when he made the comment about a desk job.
“But I do take extraordinary precautions. Tonight is just research.”
She could tell his sharing more was about as fruitful as hoping for a brick wall to dissolve in front of her eyes.
Blake wasn’t going to add any more details.
Not now, at least. She sighed and watched a V formation of ducks fly over the water.
“Guardian should have my answers soon. If they’re as good as you say they are. ”
“They are that good. I’ll contact them tonight and find out when you can expect to receive your computer and the information. It shouldn’t be long.”
They stood at the end of the pier for a while before she asked, “Do you trust Rook?”
He nodded, his eyes sincere. “With my life and yours. Promise me you won’t leave the house tonight. He’s better, but he doesn’t need to be practicing as a track star tonight, either.”
“I already said I wouldn’t.” She turned and looked up at him. His arms circled her. “Be safe, Blake. I may have developed an addiction to your blunt gruffness.”
He smiled down at her. “And I may have developed an addiction to your sass and fire.”
“Sass?” She drew back. “Who, me? Never.”
He picked her up and moved toward the water.
“No! It’s me! It’s me!” she squealed as he started to toss her. His arms never released her, and he swung her around as she grabbed at his neck, the blanket falling to where it was trapped by his arms at her waist.
He laughed as she gasped and hit his chest. “That was a mean thing to do.”
“Then let me make it better.” Blake lowered his lips to hers. She closed her eyes and let him take control of the kiss. The cold wind swirled around them, but the heat between them kept any thought of the weather far away.
When he lifted from the kiss, he stared at her. “Rook will leave tomorrow morning.”
“And we’ll be alone.” She smiled up at him. “Whatever will we do?”
“I’m sure I can think of several things.”
She smiled at the devious look in his eyes. “As long as they’re related to what we did last night, I’m on board with that.”
He lifted a single eyebrow and asked, “Are you?”
“Completely.” She nodded and smiled up at him. “I might not want to be overpowered by you every time we have sex, but I’ll let you know when I’m in the mood for sweetness.”
Blake stared down at her. “Is that a promise?”
“One I’ll never break,” she swore to him. “I’ve been with men who were … less than you. I wasn’t satisfied. What happened last night was amazing, and I want more of it.” She shivered, and he lifted the blanket back over her shoulders.
“I want more, too,” he said.
She shivered again, but this time, the weather had no bearing on the sensation.
As they started a slow walk back to the house, she leaned into him and thought about what had happened between them.
The sex had been amazing, but it had been about more than just the sex.
It was his companionship. Protection. Patience.
Gruffness. Point-blank and dead-end answers.
Everything that made Blake who he was became a part of what made last night an amazing whole.
Her life had always been sectioned, compartmentalized.
Family in a box she rarely opened. Work was the box where she lived.
Her personal life? Well, that box was on a shelf and dusty.
She knew what was happening with Blake was probably temporary, but for the time it lasted, she would make memories to put into that box.
She would stuff it so full that when he inevitably left her, she’d know what it was like to be cared for and have the memories to savor.
“What are you thinking so hard about?” Blake asked as they approached the house.
She turned to him and stopped walking. She didn’t want to have this conversation with Rook in earshot.
“That since my mom and dad died, I haven’t felt …
like anyone cared. I mean, étienne was kind, but he had his life, and I had mine.
My brother has his family. It’s nice to feel a deeper personal connection.
” She dropped her head to his chest. “Please, please, please don’t freak out.
I’m not saying I’m in love with you or trying to cage you or trap you. I just like the feeling that you care.”
She heard his chest rumble with laughter.
“First, you couldn’t cage or trap me. Not possible for anyone to do.
Second, if you told me you loved me, I’d question your sanity.
I’m not an easy man to like, let alone love.
Third, I’m not going to lie, I’m enjoying the connection, too.
Not just the sex but being able to sit and talk or just sit and be. ”
She popped her head up, causing him to jerk his head away so she wouldn’t whack his chin. She didn’t care; she was ecstatic. “Yes! You get it.”
“I do. Now, let’s get inside. We need to warm up and eat.” He wiggled his eyebrows up and down, leaving no doubt he wasn’t talking about breakfast.
She blinked and then caught the innuendo of his expression. She laughed and shook her head. “You really are incorrigible.”
A sexy as sin smile appeared as he growled, “One hundred and ten percent.”
Elise stared at the dwindling fire. The house was quiet, and Blake had left before dinner.
Rook had declined a sandwich she’d made but had eaten a carton of cookies without a problem.
His phobia of food was the weirdest one she’d ever heard of.
When she got her computer back, she would dig into it.
See if it was real or if Rook was just weird.
She smiled at the fire. Blake would say the man was definitely weird, but the two of them had a history and a camaraderie that felt genuine.
She heard Rook walk in from outside and take off his jacket, hanging it on a hook by the door. He leaned carefully against the door jamb. “You should go to sleep. He won’t be back until closer to dawn.”
“And you know this how?” She looked up from the fire.
“I know what he’s doing, and I know the work that will go into it. I wouldn’t be back before dawn if I were doing what he’s doing.”
She turned so she was facing the man who was protecting her. He was wearing a handgun on his belt. His eyes were clear, and just like Blake’s, they were everywhere. Checking to ensure everything was as it should be.
She crossed her arms and tilted her head. Maybe she could get answers out of Rook. He seemed like he might have loose lips—well, looser than Blake’s. “And what exactly do you do, Rook? What is it the two of you do for Guardian?”
Rook’s smile was fast and genuine. “We make sure good people aren’t hurt.”
She nodded and smiled. “Well, that’s nice. But what does that entail?”
“Well, for starters …” He rubbed his chin and then tapped it with his index finger. “Not talking to reporters.” That smile of his turned wicked.
She could play this game. Actually, she was pretty damn good at it. “But we’re not on record, so there shouldn’t be a problem talking to me.”
He shook his head and laughed, “Is that an actual thing with reporters? Is anything ever off record?”
She lifted her right hand. “I swear with me, it is.” And she meant it.
Rook carefully crossed his arms over his chest, wincing just the slightest. “Then I’ll tell you the truth.
He’s a good guy. One of the best, if not the best. Just like his father was before him, but …
it’s nip and tuck now as to who is the best. His old man has been out of the field for some time, so Blake has my vote. ”
“Teaching. His dad teaches what he used to do now.” She nodded, encouraging him to add more. Blake had told her that his mom was an emergency room doctor, and his dad taught Guardians.
“That’s right,” Rook said, glancing out the window. She waited, but it didn’t seem like he was going to add any more.
“What does he teach?” she asked as casually as she could.
Rook chuckled. “What we do.”
She groaned internally. The dead-end answers ran strong in whatever career field they were in. Damn it, she wasn’t going to get any answers from him either, was she? “Which is what exactly?” She may have asked a little sharper than she should have.
“Something you’ll have to figure out for yourself, reporter girl. I don’t think you have the clearance, and unless Guardian tells me to tell you, that’s something I won’t divulge, even if you kill me with that razor-sharp look you got going on there.”
“You’re both aggravating, you know that?”
“I do. It’s a personality trait they look for when they fill our positions.” He pointed to the fireplace. “I’ll bank the fire. You really should get some sleep. It didn’t sound like you two got much last night.” Rook’s shit-eating grin pulled a rush of heat to her cheeks.
“And with that, I will leave.” She got up, and he moved so she could pass.
“Elise?”
She turned at the base of the stairs. “Yes?”
“Blake … he’s one of the few people I trust. He’s a good man. Remember that, okay?”
“I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget that fact. He’s been good to me, too.”
Rook looked like he wanted to say something else, but finally, he just nodded and went to the fire.
She frowned and headed upstairs. What in the world had Rook said that for? What would make her forget that Blake was a good person? She shook her head and yawned. Maybe she was overthinking it. She was tired, and morning was many hours away.