Chapter 15 #2
Her hands slid up his chest, over his shoulders, until they looped around his neck. “The only problem I have is that there’s never a bed around when we need one.”
“Gaby…”
“I guess it’s too much to ask that The Underground has a private grotto.”
“I’m not joking. It’s my way, or we’ve got a problem.”
She smiled faintly, letting go of further challenges. She trusted him and the team, and truthfully, she’d never minded Rhys taking control.
Voice lower now, Gaby conceded. “We don’t have a problem. You’re my handler… sir.”
As so often happened when they were playing, that simple three-letter word, freely given, had the power to shatter his control.
His hands found her ass and hauled her against him, and the kiss he pressed to her mouth was without preamble and stripped of patience. Desire sparked through her just as fast.
She yelped when he spun her and bent her over the desk in one motion, a hand firm between her shoulders while the other dragged her pants and panties down.
The sound of his zipper made her breath catch. The slow, deliberate glide of him through her wetness, had her pressing her lips together to keep quiet.
His fingers threaded into her hair as he bent over her, sinking deep. His mouth found her ear. “Since when have we needed a bed?”
She smiled a half second before his lips met hers—an awkward angle, but she didn’t care. The kiss deepened, fueled by a passion that transcended impulse, their surroundings, and the team of men waiting mere feet away. This moment was theirs alone.
Her fingers curled around the edge of the desk. Her other hand found his thigh. “I love you, handler,” she breathed into his mouth.
“Focus,” he said.
A laugh escaped her. “You’re the one who put me over the desk.”
“You’re the one who climbed into my space.” A deliberate thrust punctuated it. “Teasing me.”
“Technicality.”
His mouth moved to her jaw, her throat, the pulse point he knew by memory. She tilted her head, giving him access.
He picked up the pace, and she was already close. When his hand slid around to the front and his fingers found her clit, her own control vanished.
She came hard, biting her lip to muffle the sound as her body clenched tight around him.
“Gaby—” He groaned against her neck, arms locking around her as his pleasure followed.
Minutes passed, their bodies cooling. She exhaled slowly. “Now I’m really good.”
Rhys chuckled. “Not the adjective I would choose.” He kissed her cheek before he withdrew. “Hang on…”
She heard footsteps as he returned with tissue. After a quick cleanup, he helped her to her feet.
With her clothes restored to order, she faced him and used her thumb to wipe smudges of Passionate Pink lipstick from his lips. He finger-combed her hair but frowned at the result.
Her hands came up to help while he searched for the clip lost somewhere on the desk.
“Here.”
Once she had twisted, clipped, and smoothed, her eyes found his. “Will anyone notice?”
“Yes.” He pulled her in for another kiss. “They’ll notice you’re even more beautiful after your handler fucked you.”
“Rhys!” But she laughed, loving when his iron control slipped.
“You go in,” he repeated, completely serious now. “But you follow protocol to the letter.”
“I will.”
“No improvising.”
She gave him a look. “I have to be able to react and adjust.”
His mouth flattened, but he conceded, “Only that.”
She smiled, softer this time. “We’ve got this.”
“I’m sure you do. But you guys really need to use your office instead of mine. I just sorted those invoices.”
They turned. Greta, with arms crossed and eyes twinkling, stood propped in the doorway. Gaby had a moment of déjà vu. Somehow, they always found her office.
“Sorry, Greta,” Rhys said, looking at the papers littering the floor.
They both bent to collect them.
“I’ve got it,” she said, waving them off. “I saw Leland pacing the hall, and Dev called me twice looking for you.”
Rhys took Gaby’s hand and pulled her out into the hall. Before they turned the corner toward the conference room, he glanced down at her. “Ready?” he asked.
She reached up and straightened his collar. Now, precise as always, as if nothing had happened.
“Ready.”
***
The team reconvened in exactly twenty minutes.
Leland was already there. He hadn’t gone far. Enough to reset, but not enough to quiet everything turning over in his head.
When Gaby walked in, her hair was the way she always wore it: neat and professional, but a few curls had slipped free of the pins. Not wild but noticeable. And every man in the room, trained to be observant, did.
Rhys followed a step behind, shirt and trousers crisp, expression unreadable. Nothing unusual, except for the faint smear of pink along his jaw.
Leland needed nothing spelled out. Dev didn’t comment. Alec tipped his chin up slightly, eyes lifting to the ceiling as if he’d seen this exact sequence play out before. Callan took a slow sip of coffee, hiding his smile behind his cup.
Mateo didn’t bother with subtlety. “Well, I guess that settles it. Gaby’s going in undercover.”
There were a few chuckles before Dev’s voice cut clean through the room. “Let’s focus.”