Chapter 23
Thought of the day…
Just when you think you’ve cracked the code, life changes the password.
But that’s okay – winging it is a valid strategy.
After seeing Julian out, I rested my back against the door and exhaled slowly. This was more than physical exhaustion. My heart was exhausted too.
It would take some time to wrap my mind around Julian’s predicament, his proximity to serious trouble – and, by extension, mine.
No wonder Tommy had warned me off. And everything he’d said about finding love…
My heart ached for Julian, for the vulnerable man beneath the swagger.
I just hoped that whoever he gave his heart to deserved it.
She’d have me to contend with if she didn’t.
And then there was Tommy…
I pushed off the door and wandered into the bathroom to run a bath. As it started to fill, I generously sprinkled in bath salts and a sensuous aroma rose from the hot water. I inhaled deeply as I slipped out of my dress and knickers.
I was about to step into the bath when I spied the minibar through the doorway. A glass of wine wouldn’t go amiss, I thought. It wasn’t just the food I’d neglected at dinner; after my first sips of Champagne, I’d stuck to sparkling water.
I was crossing the lounge room stark naked when, out of the corner of my eye, I spied someone lurking on the porch. I shrieked, then ran back into the bathroom, grabbing the first thing I could lay my hands on – a fluffy bathmat – and wrapping it around me.
My heart beating so hard I could hear it over my shallow breaths, I peeked around the doorframe and squinted through the large picture window.
Wearing an apologetic smile, Tommy lifted his hand in a wave.
‘You scared the hell out of me,’ I shouted.
A muffled, ‘Sorry,’ came through the glass.
‘Well, come around to the door, you muppet,’ I said, directing him with a wild wave of my hand.
I swapped the bathmat for a robe – far more coverage – and tied the belt on the way to the door. I opened it to find Tommy standing there, the personification of sheepishness.
‘Sorry for scaring you.’
‘What were you doing at the window?’ I asked.
‘Checking to see if Julian was still here.’
‘He’s gone.’
‘Ahh, yep. I figured that out.’
‘Before or after you saw me naked?’
‘About the same time. Are you going to invite me in?’
I pretended to glare at him, but it was a pathetic effort. Now that the shock had worn off, my heart was about to explode with happiness.
I stood aside, letting him pass, then closed the door.
‘You’d think you’d be better at surveillance by now,’ I teased, following him into the lounge, ‘what with you being a super spy and all.’
He faced me, the left side of his mouth hitched in amusement – that special Tommy smile – and my stomach flipped.
‘You would think that, wouldn’t you?’ he replied, his eyes creasing at the corners. Then he listened out. ‘Are you running a bath?’
‘Oh, fuck.’ I dashed into the bathroom just in time to shut off the bath before it overflowed.
Tommy had followed me and when I turned around, he was looking right at my arse.
‘Excuse you.’
‘Sorry,’ he said. He wasn’t, the cheeky bugger.
I shooed him into the lounge, and he backed up, his hands raised in surrender. Then he burst out laughing.
‘What’s so funny?’ I asked, my lips quirking.
He sighed heavily, clasping the back of his neck with both hands. ‘Nothing. Everything.’ Which was fair – I’d more or less said the same thing to Trudy on the yacht. There are times you just needed to laugh and release the tension.
Tommy dropped his hands, sighing again, only less forcefully. ‘Do you mind if I…?’ he asked, indicating the minibar.
‘No, no, help yourself,’ I replied.
I sat on one of the sofas, tucking my feet beneath me, and watched as he checked what was on offer. He’d changed out of the uniform, now wearing well-worn jeans and a light-grey T-shirt that showed off his wide shoulders and slim hips. Fuck, he was sexy.
‘Okay to open this?’ He held up a bottle of red. ‘It’s a… mandi… Mandilaria,’ he added, reading the label – badly.
‘Open whatever you like.’
‘Are you having a glass?’
‘God, yes.’
With a chuckle, he took two glasses from the shelf above and filled them halfway.
He crossed the room, handing me my wine before sitting on the other end of the sofa.
I watched his graceful movements closely, acutely aware of how easy it would be to fall hopelessly back in love with him. Easy, but dangerous.
But that was something to think about another time – or never.
‘What should we toast to?’ I asked just as the rim of the glass touched his lips.
‘Oh, sorry. Uh…’
‘To a successful operation?’ I offered.
‘That’ll do.’ He reached over and we tapped glasses, then sipped in unison.
‘I wasn’t sure I would see you tonight,’ I said after a few moments of watching him stare off.
His faraway look vanished. ‘I gathered that from your outfit.’
‘Which one – completely nude or bath-linen chic?’
‘I really am sorry.’
I shrugged. ‘It’s not like you haven’t seen it before – and recently.’
He smiled faintly, his gaze dipping to the floor.
‘Tommy.’
He looked up.
‘You seemed… distracted – on the ride back, I mean. And now, come to think of it.’
‘Just a lot on my mind. Loose ends to tie up.’
‘Does that include me?’ I asked, my voice tight. Because if he said yes then that was that – we’d go back to how things were before Aetheria, before I was introduced to a skipper called Tom.
‘You’re not a loose end, Ally,’ he said, his voice low.
‘Well, I am until I sign that NDA,’ I quipped. Only it wasn’t funny, and we both knew it – Tommy’s thin-lipped smile disappearing almost as soon as it appeared.
He held my gaze for a long moment. ‘You’re a good person, Ally.’
‘Well, we always said we’d try and save the world, right?’ I retorted, half-joking.
‘I mean it.’
‘Oh…’ He’d caught me completely off-guard, and my pulse quickened.
He sat forward, his eyes boring into mine. ‘You had no idea what you were walking into tonight, but you forged ahead anyway – all to help Julian.’
‘I… Thank you.’
‘Of course, you’re also as stubborn as hell…’
‘Hey!’ I chided, breaking into laughter.
‘Am I wrong?’
‘No, but—’
‘Maybe I should have said tenacious,’ he teased.
‘Better.’
‘Like a dog with a bone.’
‘Can we go back to the part where you were being nice to me?’
He didn’t answer right away, and the air crackled with anticipation. Were we finally going to talk about us?
‘So,’ he said, breaking eye contact a little too abruptly, ‘you and Julian – all good there?’
‘Ah, yes,’ I replied, grabbing the change of topic like a lifeline. Despite what I’d been telling myself, I wasn’t ready to dive into the depths of the Ally-and-Tommy mess. ‘You know, he wasn’t going to sell the real code to Kovalec – he wrote dummy code.’
Tommy’s eyes flashed with surprise but only for a moment, then a wry smile tugged at his mouth. ‘I did wonder if he’d do something like that.’
‘Then why were you about to arrest him for espionage?’
‘I wasn’t—’ He huffed. ‘First off, that wouldn’t have been the charge. Second,’ he said, pinning me with a piercing look, ‘I took it to Trudy a couple of weeks ago – the notion that Julian might find a way to disengage without selling out.’
‘You did?’
‘Yes, but she was sceptical, and I was told not to pursue that line of investigation.’
One thing was clear: Tommy hadn’t just helped Julian – he’d gone above and beyond, vouching for a man he barely knew. And sure, the truth would have come out if Julian had been arrested, but this was a far better outcome.
And I owed it all to Tommy.
‘Thank you for helping him,’ I said, suddenly so overcome with gratitude, I didn’t trust myself to say anything more.
‘Of course, Ally. I’d do anything for you.’
I inhaled sharply and looked away, tears pricking my eyes.
‘Besides, he can’t have been all bad – I mean, you did marry him, after all.’
I looked back at Tommy, my eyes now glossed with tears. ‘Are you just saying that to make me laugh?’
He set his glass on the coffee table and edged closer. Taking my glass, he placed it beside his, then took my hand.
‘I would much rather have you laughing than crying, so yes.’
A kaleidoscope of emotions washed over me – loss and hurt and wonder and joy, all at once. I could hardly breathe.
‘It’s very difficult to stay mad at you,’ I whispered.
‘Why would you want to?’ he whispered back.
‘Because…’ My words drifted away, then abandoned me entirely. Unable to speak, I laid my free hand flat against my chest, right over my heart, and tapped it twice.
‘Your heart?’ he asked softly. ‘To protect it?’
I nodded, tears now running down my cheeks.
That first moment I’d seen Tommy on Aetheria, tiny fissures had spidered their way across the landscape of my heart.
Now, under Tommy’s potent yet tender gaze, those fissures deepened, forging valleys of fear and peaks of hope – both wanting to exert their power over me.
This was me naked before him. This was all of me.
Eyes fixed on mine, Tommy didn’t speak, just moved closer, drawing his thumb across my cheeks to wipe my tears. He leaned in to kiss me.
I closed my eyes, my lips moving slowly, gently against his.
He moved nearer, his other arm snaking behind me and pulling me to him.
I slid my hand up his chest and over his shoulder, my fingers getting lost in his hair.
I felt his tongue against mine, hesitant at first, and I pulled him further into the kiss, inviting more, igniting a visceral need deep within me.
God, I want him.
I broke free from the kiss, shoving him back against the sofa, then climbed on top of him, one knee either side of his thighs. His hands grabbed my arse as I dipped my head and kissed him again, our mouths hungry this time, wanting.
Tommy’s hands left my arse to tug impatiently at the tie around my waist. He tossed it aside, then shoved the robe off my shoulders, dropping his mouth to my breast and sucking hard on the nipple.
I cried out. He reached for my hips and, fingers wide, slid his hands around to cup my bare arse, giving it a squeeze.
I started grinding myself against his crotch, the robe and his jeans between us, his erection straining against the denim.
His mouth left my nipple and I looked down at him. He lifted his chin and I dipped my head for another kiss. His tongue was aggressive, tasting me, duelling with mine.
‘I need you, Ally,’ he said against my mouth. ‘I need to be inside you.’
I needed him too, but I also wanted to stay like that, making out on the sofa.
‘Now,’ he insisted, and with very little effort, he stood, holding me under my arse and carrying me to the bed.
He tossed me onto it, making me laugh with glee, then hovered above me and kissed me – hard.
He propped himself up on his side, parting my robe and running his hand hungrily over my breasts, my stomach, my thighs…
everywhere but where I wanted him to touch me most.
I grabbed his hand and shoved it between my legs.
‘Rub my clit,’ I demanded, and he complied, knowing exactly how I liked it – pressing the pad of his thumb against me and moving in slow but firm circles while two fingers slipped inside me.
I was so wet for him and vibrations zipped through me, my nerves electrifying as he took me closer and closer to the threshold.
‘Come for me, baby,’ he murmured, his lips against my skin.
He flicked my nipple with his tongue, rapid and unrelenting, and the orgasm built.
Shivers rippled down each limb, my fingertips and toes tingling.
Hot yellow light consumed me, crashing about inside me and setting me ablaze.
I rose and rose, knowing that when I tipped over the edge, Tommy would be there to catch me.
And he was.
I thrashed against his hand, crying out as the orgasm exploded within me, a supernova of sensation. It was some time before my eyes fluttered open and when they did, Tommy was watching me, a slightly-smug-but-completely-justified look on his face.
‘That was…’ I whispered.
‘Wasn’t it just?’
I looked at him, a sly smile on my face. I hooked a leg up and over him, then in one movement, pushed him onto the bed and rolled on top of him.
His eyes widened in surprise.
‘Quite the manoeuvre,’ he said, obviously impressed.
I waggled my brows a couple of times, then opened the drawer and took out a condom. ‘Shall I do the honours?’ I asked.
‘Be my guest.’ He placed his hands behind his head, making his biceps bulge beneath his T-shirt.
‘Mind taking that off?’ I asked, my eyes dropping to his chest.
He half-sat, his abs rippling beneath his shirt, and pulled it over his head one-handed from the collar. He tossed it aside.
‘Quite the manoeuvre,’ I echoed, and he grinned.
I moved onto his lower half, undoing his jeans and shoving them and his briefs down to his shins.
‘You really do have a beautiful cock,’ I said, appraising it as I ran my hand up and down the shaft with a feather-light touch.
He let out a deep, throaty moan. I stopped teasing him, tore open the condom packet, then slid on the condom. He moaned even louder.
‘You like that?’ I asked.
‘You know I do,’ he growled back. I was about to climb on top of him when he tutted at me. ‘Uh-uh, my turn to be on top.’
‘Fair,’ I replied, sitting back on my haunches.
Keeping his eyes locked on mine, Tommy sat up, kicked off his shoes, slid off his socks, wriggled out of his jeans and briefs – expertly, mind you, no awkward contortions – then grabbed me, flipped me onto my back, and climbed between my legs.
‘Also impressive.’
‘Still a few tricks up my sleeve.’
We grinned at each other, then he entered me, and my smile fell away as I wrapped my arms and legs around him, holding him close to me as we became one.