by Cynthia Eden
The assistant director is a cold bastard.
One thing Victor knew…he wasn’t walking out on Zoe. Not this time—not ever again.
***
Zoe’s ear pressed to the glass—a dirty glass she’d found in the bathroom. The glass was pressed to the motel room door, the better for her to eavesdrop on the agents. It had been an old trick, one she’d used when she was a child and she’d wanted to overhear just what her mom and dad were talking about.
On one of those rare visits that Luther made to their apartment…
Her breath barely slipped past her lips as she listened to the murmur of voices outside of the motel room. Victor, Russell, Lauren.
What did Victor mean about losing his soul? The guy had plenty of soul. Sure, he was a bit icy at times but…
Her hold tightened on the glass. What secrets are you keeping, Victor?
He dismissed the agents. She heard him tell them goodnight.
Crap. She jumped away from the door. Zoe rushed toward the bed, pausing just long enough to hide the glass under the faded bed skirt. Then she hopped on the bed. The mattress gave that long groan again.
She closed her eyes. Tried to make her body look relaxed. Did her breathing sound even? She hoped her cheeks weren’t flushed.
Zoe rolled, turning away from the door and curling her body in a bit. The door creaked open behind her and she heard the heavy tread of Victor’s footsteps.
Would he buy that she’d drifted off to sleep? Would he just leave her alone until morning?
His footsteps came closer and—
He walked to the other side of the bed. Clothing rustled. Zoe wanted to crack open one eye and look at him, but that would totally blow her fake sleeping routine to hell.
More rustling. A lot of rustling. Just how much was the guy taking off?
Then the bed dipped. Whoa, whoa, whoa! There was a perfectly good floor for the man to use. He could not be crawling into bed with her.
Her eyes flew open.
And she found him lying right beside her. His gaze was on her face, and Victor was smiling. “Nice try, baby, but I saw the glass peeking out from your side of the bed. Next time, cover it up better.” His smile stretched. “Eavesdrop much?”
“Only every chance I get.” He was in bed. With her.
His hand reached toward her. He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “Zoe Peters…” he murmured. “Just what am I supposed to do with you?”
Everything that we both want. The words were there, rising within her, and it took all of Zoe’s strength not to say them out loud.
Chapter Four
Zoe’s hair was still wet. Wet and sleek and she smelled sweet—her scent was wrapping around Victor, teasing him. Seducing him.
No, it was her gaze that seduced. Green eyes that were sensual, tempting.
Their bodies were just inches apart. He wanted to close that space. To put his mouth on hers. To taste her like he wanted—no restraint. No holding back.
Just greed. Lust.
The desire that he was tired of fighting.
Every time he saw Zoe, his need for her grew. It was wrong, he knew that. He should keep his hands off her but—
His fingers trailed over her cheek. Slowly, carefully, his hand moved down. His index finger slid over her plump lower lip. Her lips were parted, just a bit and…his breath left him in a fast whoosh.
She just licked my finger. He’d felt the quick, wet lick of her tongue on his finger. His dick immediately hardened for her. Hardened even more…because he’d been aroused for her before he even climbed into the bed.
“Are we going to keep pretending?” Zoe asked him. When she spoke, her lips moved against his finger and he felt the light caress of her tongue again.
“Pretending?” He wanted her mouth beneath his. Wanted to feel that sexy pink tongue of hers on so many other parts of his body.
Her hand rose and pressed to his chest. He’d ditched his shoes, socks, coat and shirt—and he was wearing just his jeans. So when her hand reached out, her fingers pressed directly to his skin.
“You’re warm,” Zoe murmured.
Her touch seemed to burn straight to his core.
“I know you want me.”
The woman was dead-on with that statement. Wanted her. Was insane for her. Wanted to strip her and fuck her all night long.
“I also know you’ve been staying hands off. Probably because you’re the agent in charge. Mr. Law-Abiding. You don’t break rules.” Her hand slid lightly over his chest. “You don’t cross lines.”
There were plenty of lines he wanted to cross with her. So many that the woman would need a safe word.
“So I’m not going to pretend that I can’t tell you want me.” Her hand dipped a little lower. Sweet hell. “And I won’t pretend that I don’t want you, too.”
His racing heartbeat thundered in his ears.
“The truth is…I’ve wanted you for a while, Victor.”
She was shattering his control with every low, husky word.
“I’ve thought about you. Dreamed about you. Been pissed as all hell with you but…I want you. I always do.”
Her fingers were on one of his scars. Those freaking scars littered his body. Marks from gunshots. Knife wounds. His time on the streets. He’d always carry those reminders.
Zoe didn’t seem repulsed by his scars. Her fingers were so warm and soft against him.
“So I’m telling you how I feel. Exactly how I feel…and now it’s your turn.”
His turn?
“Do we keep playing by the rules, Victor? Or do we cross some lines?”
“Zoe…” Just saying her name was hard. Desire beat in his blood and his voice came out as a rough growl. “Be very careful…”
“Why? I’ve tried being careful. It still got me on hit lists. My time is slipping away—”
The hell it was.
“Inches. I was inches away from death tonight. Seems like a real damn shame. To want you this way and to never get to feel—”
He kissed her. He lunged toward her, closed that distance between them, and took her mouth. There was no finesse from him. No careful seduction. He just took because the last thread of his self-control had been shredded by her words.
I’ve wanted her for too long. To want her, and not to have her…
He was changing the rules. Crossing the line. And he didn’t care. All that mattered to Victor right then—Zoe.
Tasting her. Claiming her. Taking her.
Forgetting the fear, banishing that shit. Focusing on the passion. The lust that blazed white-hot.
He rolled her onto her back. He was so glad he’d slipped the clerk an extra fifty to make sure they were in a room with damn clean bedding. Though he wished their first time together was somewhere else.
A fancy hotel. A beach. Some snow-covered inn.
Some place romantic, though he wasn’t normally the romantic sort. He just—Victor wanted it for her.
She caught his lower lip and bit it lightly.
Fucking yes.
Her hands slid over him. Pushed down to the top of his jeans. She was fumbling with the button and the zipper, and—
“Baby, not yet.” His breath sawed out of his lungs. “You put your hands on my cock, and I’ll be lost.”
She smiled up at him. “I think I want you lost.”
“You’re going first.” And he was going to enjoy exploring every single inch of her. Victor kissed Zoe again, a deep, hot kiss. She arched up toward him, and he felt the press of her breasts against his chest.
Every single inch of her.
He kissed his way down her neck. Zoe gasped and her nails sank into his sides. He would have smiled at her reaction, but he was too turned on for smiling.
He caught her shirt in his hands, pulled back just a little, and yanked the thing up and over her head. The shirt hit the floor and he stared down at her.
Zoe wore a plain white bra—and it had to be the sexiest thing he’d seen in his
life. Her breasts pushed out, spilling against those cups. He bent forward and kissed one breast even as he slid his fingers under the edge of her bra and found her nipple. Tight. Hard.
“Victor!”
He loved it when she said his name. And when there was so much desire in her voice…hell, yes. But he still had to warn her… “The walls here are thin, baby.”
Her eyes widened and she immediately pressed her lips together.
“One day soon, I want you to yell for me. As long as you can.”
He unhooked her bra. Perfect breasts. Pink nipples, round and full…and when he licked her, when he sucked her, her hips rocked up against him.
She tastes so good. Like she was made for me. Only me.
His mouth eased down her body. He kissed the curve of her stomach and loved the way she lifted up against him.
“Do something fun,” Zoe suddenly whispered when his mouth hovered over her jeans. “Use your teeth to undo the button…”
He looked up. Her eyes were gleaming as she stared at him, and a faint smile curved her lips.
I’m about to fuck Zoe Peters.
And she was making him feel…good. Happy. Making him feel like smiling back at her. His cock was so swollen that the thing hurt. He wanted to plunge balls deep into her and drive them both into oblivion but…
He smiled back at her. And he did something fun, just as she’d ordered. He used his teeth to undo the button of her jeans. Then the zipper slid down with a hiss.
“Guess what else I can use my mouth to do…” He pushed her jeans out of the way. Her panties went down with them. Then he was spreading her legs wide. Positioning her so that he could have full access.
And using his mouth in the very best of ways.
“Victor!”
So maybe she didn’t care about the thin walls. Neither did he. Right then, all he cared about was her. One lick, and he was addicted to her taste. His mouth pressed to her, his fingers pressed in her, and he explored all of her most sensual secrets.
Her hips twisted against him, pushing up harder against his mouth. He could feel the gathering tension in her. Zoe was close to a release—so close, already.
His thumb stroked her clit and she jerked beneath him, coming on a sharp cry of pleasure.
Hell, yes.
He rose back over her. Barely took time to ditch his jeans and grab the condom from his wallet—thank fuck it was still there. He rolled on the condom then put his cock right at the entrance to her body.
But he didn’t thrust into her. Not yet.
Her breath was still heaving in and out. Her lashes had lowered but when he paused, those long lashes lifted and her gaze locked on his.
“Ready to cross some lines?” Victor asked her.
She gave a quick nod.
His hands caught hers. Their fingers threaded together, then he pushed her hands back against the pillow.
He thrust into her. Balls-freaking-deep. A groan tore from him because she felt like heaven. Hot. Tight. Perfect.
I crossed the line, and I will never go back.
He withdrew, then thrust into her again. He was too rough, too hard, and the bed was squeaking beneath him. Her legs wrapped around his hips, squeezing him and pulling him so close. She was whispering his name, urging him on, and all he wanted—
He wanted to feel her come with his cock buried deep inside of her.
He angled his hips. Made sure that his length slid over her clit when he drove into her. The pace was frantic, the urge to reach that wild blast of release consuming him.
“Victor!” Not a scream. Her whisper. A cry of satisfaction and he saw the pleasure wash across her face. Her green eyes widened and her cheeks flushed. Her delicate inner muscles clamped along his length, squeezing him as the orgasm rocked through her.
And then he was exploding. His release hit him with the force of a freaking truck. He emptied into her, pleasure shaking his whole body. The climax went on and on, and he kept thrusting, never wanting that moment to end.
Even as the pleasure lashed him, Victor knew he’d made a serious mistake. The worst of his life, probably.
He’d wanted Zoe. He’d needed her. But he hadn’t realized…
He hadn’t just fucked her. It had been…more.
He’d had sex with other women. Good sex.
This was different. Zoe was different.
She was making everything different for him.
Her lips curled—that slow smile—and that sweet smile of hers that was meant just for him.
It wasn’t just fucking. Not with her.
And he was screwed.
But in that moment, Victor couldn’t care. He leaned toward her. Kissed her lips. Softly. Lightly. With care.
Emotions were choking him, but his body was more replete than it had ever been. He eased from her. Kissed her once more. Then he padded to the bathroom. While he ditched the condom, he didn’t look in the mirror. He didn’t want to look at himself, not right then. He turned off all the lights and went back to Zoe.
When he climbed onto the bed, she immediately turned toward him. Taking her into his arms seemed like the most natural thing in the whole world. She put her head on his chest, right over his heart, and his arms closed around her.
He shouldn’t have been able to sleep that way. Not so easily. Not to just close his eyes and drift off. He never let down his guard. And cuddling after sex wasn’t his usual MO but…
His eyes drifted closed and his hands stayed curled around Zoe as Victor fell asleep.
***
It was the creak of the door that woke Victor, hours later. The little motel room was still dark—no light at all sliding through the thin blinds. His eyes opened when he heard that creak and Victor lunged up in bed.
A bed that only he occupied.
Zoe!
Was she seriously trying to give him the slip? After what they’d done together? Had she just been trying to lure him into some false sense of security with the mind-melting sex so that she could escape from him the second his guard dropped? And it sure as hell had dropped.
He leapt from the bed, naked, and rushed toward the motel room door.
Before he could reach it, Zoe opened the bathroom door—it gave a long creak—and when she stepped out, Victor grabbed her arms as he tried to stop from running her down.
“Victor!”
Yeah, they both almost hit the floor with that collision, but he did some fast and frantic footwork, and he managed to keep them upright—barely.
She gave a quick, nervous laugh. “Do you have some sort of issue you need to tell me about? Not sleep walking but like…sleep tackling?”
He didn’t laugh. “I thought you’d left.”
“Um, no.”
His hold tightened on her arms. “I don’t want you to leave me.” The way she’d ditched the other agents.
Her hair slid over his fingers as she tilted back her head. “I’m not planning to leave you. We have a deal, remember?”
At her soft words, guilt twisted within him.
“Besides, I don’t make a habit of leaving a lover without a word in the middle of the night.”
Lover.
“And I sure hope,” Zoe added a bit darkly, “that you don’t, either.”
He wished he could see her expression. But she was just a shadow to him and he knew he appeared the same way to her. “Is that what we are now? Lovers?”
“I would think so.” She paused. “Lovers and partners.”
His hands slowly slid away from her shoulders. From all of that wonderful, smooth skin. “I shouldn’t have crossed that line.” He backed up. Turned away from her. Tried to figure out how he was supposed to fix things with her. The heat of the moment was one thing, but the aftermath—sanity comes back.
“Do not act like it was all your decision.” Anger beat in her voice. “I wanted you. You wanted me. It was a very mutual thing, I promise you. Screw the lines. Life is short—sometimes, brutally so—we should all take what h
appiness and pleasure we can.”
The problem was that he wanted to take everything from Zoe.
Take and take…
And then he was supposed to just walk away?
His hands clenched as he stood there in the dark. “Do you trust me, Zoe?”
She didn’t answer.
Not yet. She doesn’t trust me yet. She gave me her body, gave me her desire, but I’ve still got a long way to go with Zoe.
“Show me that I can trust you,” Zoe said. He heard her footsteps shuffle closer. “Keep up your end of the deal. Help me to find Michelle. Help me to make sure that she’s alive. Get her safe and secure. Then I’ll trust you plenty.”
He turned back toward her. His eyes had adjusted more to the darkness, but he still couldn’t see her expression. “So people have to prove themselves to you?”
“After my life…and the number of users who’ve swept into it? Yes, yes, I need proof. The days of trusting blindly are long gone for me.”
That was what he’d suspected—and what his boss at the Bureau had thought, too. “How many people have betrayed you during your life?”
He heard her suck in a sharp breath, as if his question had hurt her.
“Too many to count.”
He rubbed his chest, a chest that had—oddly—just started to ache. Victor paced away from her and jerked on his jeans.
“Want to hear something sad?” Zoe asked him.
He was supposed to learn all of her secrets. But… “I think I’d rather hear something that made you happy.”
She came toward him then, a quick tumble of steps. Her arms lifted and wrapped around him. “You.”
“What?”
She leaned onto her toes and pressed a quick kiss to his mouth. “You make me happy.”
No, not him. He didn’t make anyone happy. The other agents were scared of him. His birth family had deserted him and—
“My true blue, always-gets-the-bad-guy agent. You make me happy because I know you can’t be bought. You’re not on my father’s payroll. You aren’t out to hurt me.”
That ache in his chest turned into a burn.
“I had one friend at that boarding school…a quiet girl who was my roommate. We grew really close during my time there. I thought she got me. I thought she cared, and then I found out that she was a plant. Her father worked for mine, and she was going back…telling them all my secrets. All about my plans for sneaking away. For starting a new life. She told them everything.”