by Lora Leigh
As he sucked the tight tip into his mouth, his hips pressed forward, his cock stretching, working its way into the snug sensitive depths of her pussy.
“Ah hell. Tight. God, Tehya, you’re so fucking tight.” His lips pressed to the curve of her breast as he fought to breathe, to drag enough oxygen into his body to beat back the light-headed, drugging effects of the pleasure tearing through him.
He could feel her, the snug tissue rippling over his flesh, milking his cock drawing him in as he felt perspiration bead along his spine.
“Jordan!” The whispered cry stroked his senses like a physical stroke of ecstasy. Desperation filled her tone, the rising need for release in it matching the flex and hungry strokes of her pussy over his cock head as he worked slowly inside her.
A final lick to her nipple and he lifted his head, watching the hungry glow coming from beneath her lowered lashes.
Her neck arched, her hips flexed upward, her fingers digging into his shoulders as a whimper left her lips.
“Fuck me, Jordan,” she whispered as those dark, emerald-green eyes lit with an inner fire and glowed up at him, hungry demand flashing in their depths.
The wickedly sensual demand lit a fuse to his lust and sent a powerful, overwhelming wave of hunger tearing through him.
He’d waited too long. The knowledge of that was only a distant thought. He’d suffered this damned hard-on through the night and all fucking day. The hunger had torn at his guts, and now he’d waited too long to take her.
A hard, involuntary thrust of his cock buried him inside the gripping depths of her pussy as feminine muscles clenched tight and hot with urgent demand.
Fiery and erotically slick. Control was forgotten, and nothing but the race to ecstasy remained.
Tehya felt her back arch at the forceful, dominant thrust of his cock inside her. Flames tore through her vagina, raced around her clit, and through her system as Jordan began thrusting inside her.
The powerful arcs of sensation were explosive, detonating through her as the exquisite pleasure-pain began to erupt through her pussy.
“God. Tehya.” His voice was a harsh, guttural cry, as it rasped over her senses, spurred her pleasure higher and hotter.
She strained against him, her breathing hard, the feel of his chest hair prickling her nipples, his lips slanted over hers, his tongue licking, probing, his cock stretching and burning her inner muscles.
It was building. Flares of heat, surges of electric, agonizing pleasure. Her clit was a living flame, each stroke of his pelvis against her driving spikes of pure white-hot sensation through her womb.
Her entire body pulsed and throbbed.
The feel of his erection, thick and heavy, forging its way into her pussy.
Waves of rapture began to surge.
She gasped for breath, her eyes flaring open, widening to stare up at Jordan in dazed, ecstatic euphoria. Convulsive, destructive, her orgasm began in the pit of her belly, tightening and blazing out of control as she felt the first, furious explosion of release.
Her pussy contracted on the shuttling flesh between her thighs. A rivulet of perspiration ease down his temple, his expression sharpening to savage angles.
The first agonizing surge of release slammed through her. She felt Jordan thrust in hard, deep. Throbbing, pulsing, his cock exploded inside her, shuddering through his body. Her vision dimmed, her breath stilling inside her lungs before a low, wild whimper escaped her throat.
Deep spurts of semen were triggers to her extended release. It seemed never-ending, each shuddering pulse of ecstasy tearing through her, tossing her into brutal waves of elation.
Her head thrashed against the back of the chair. Her nails dug into his arms, and she swore that had to be her trying to scream.
Or was she actually screaming?
No, she couldn’t have, she wouldn’t have.
That wasn’t her voice crying hoarsely “Oh God, Jordan, I love you…”
No.
She wasn’t that insane.
CHAPTER 7
Long minutes later, lying in her bed, her back to his chest, his arms wrapped around her as she felt the slow steady beat of his heart against her back, Tehya realized she didn’t want to risk this. “This” being the sated languor she couldn’t shake off.
It sank through her, glowed inside her, and warmed her with a heat so comforting she didn’t want to move.
It was this.
The physical satisfaction, the emotional upheaval, the sense of finally being where she belonged. Held in Jordan’s arms. It was a complete and total sense of inner committment.
She must have managed to keep the insanity of her emotions inside her during her release. Jordan hadn’t mentioned a lapse. He hadn’t advised her against loving him or expecting him to stick around once the mission was over. He wasn’t lecturing her on illusion, adrenaline-inspired emotions or any other subject guaranteed to ruin this incredible moment.
Perhaps the declaration of love had been a silent one. She could only pray it was, because she would be damned if she wanted to face one of Jordan’s all-knowing, love-is-an-illusion dissertations.
He had simply picked her up and carried her to bed where he now lay close to her, the warmth of his body wrapping around her.
One muscular calf pressed between hers, his forearm lay against her stomach, his chin rested atop her head. Intimacy wrapped around them and infused every breath.
She felt wrapped in security, safe and settled.
It was a feeling she hadn’t experienced even when she bought her first home, or her business. Never in her life had she known this feeling, though it seemed she had ached for it most of her life.
It was a feeling of almost complete peace. It would have been complete if not for the knowledge that once she was safe again, he would ride off into the sunset.
Wasn’t that what the white knight always did?
There was always someone else to save wasn’t there? She wasn’t the only damsel in distress in the world.
“You’re not sleeping.” There was a lazy, relaxed quality to his voice. A sense of male satiation that sent a surge of feminine pride racing through her.
But sensual pride, intimacy, or a hidden love couldn’t sustain her. Reality washed it away quickly enough as she remembered exactly how they had ended up here, and the argument that had spurred that kiss.
Dominating, domineering, and arrogant. He had made his plans and he was determined to follow at least one of them. Unfortunately, all of them involved the same family.
Her family.
“Why are you involving the Taite family?” she finally asked, rather than facing the emotions tearing through her or a feeling she knew she couldn’t hold on to.
His arm moved, his fingers caressing across her stomach before coming to rest against the top of her thigh.
The physical caress sent waves of warmth washing through her. A warmth that invited her to lie back and bask in the aftermath.
“For several reasons,” he finally said quietly. “One being the fact that the two men who checked into your death in Afghanistan are watching Stephen Taite. Someone is obviously waiting on something where you and your family are concerned and reporting to someone. The best way to get a response is to give them something to report.”
“Someone really knows I’m alive, then and that I’m Francine Taite’s daughter,” she whispered painfully. “Nothing lasts forever, does it?”
“Some things do,” he said with a sigh. “Unfortunately, this didn’t.”
Tehya licked her lips. The nervous energy surging inside her should have been enough to force her out of his arms. Instead, she was still lying there, still trying to make sense of what she should do versus what she wanted to do. And how she was going to handle the fact that she was no longer as safe as she thought she was.
“I won’t reveal myself to them,” she stated, fighting back her tears knowing she couldn’t bear to face them or to endanger them. “This has to be done w
ithout their knowledge. It’s too late for me to go back, Jordan. It’s too late to be a part of a family that’s doing fine without me.”
Jordan remained quiet behind her. Her eyes closed, pain twisting inside her at the fear that it was what he had planned. That his intentions all along had been to bring Tehya together with her family.
He might not love her, but Tehya knew he cared for her. Years before, he had suggested that she go to her family, that she let them know she was alive. She’d refused then, and she wouldn’t change her mind now.
“I wouldn’t force such a decision on you.” The clipped words assured her she had managed to offend him. “Do you believe I would hurt you in such a way, Tehya? That I would risk your future like that now, while I know your past hasn’t yet been resolved?”
It wasn’t her future that frightened her, it was the rejection she knew she would face and the possibility, slight though it was, that the dangers she faced would risk them as well. Besides, the last thing the Taite family would want would be her return.
And Stephen Taite knew his family would lose Taite Industries to Tehya and her heirs if she returned. When Bernard Taite, Tehya’s grandfather, had been forced to change his will after his daughter hadn’t been found, he had named his only brother, Stephen, as his heir. But there was a codicile in the eventuality that his daughter or her heirs were ever found.
If they were, his estate, in its entirety, would be turned over to her and his brother would be regulated to CEO of the business only.
It would breed resentment and discomfort. Whether Tehya claimed everything or not.
There was also the small matter of an inheritance that only Tehya could collect.
Bernard Taite had created the wealth the Taite family enjoyed, but for the past fifteen years, Stephen Taite and his son Craig had called it their own. They wouldn’t want to relinquish it now, and she couldn’t blame them.
It would give them a reason to reject her. A reason to fear her.
She could turn the companies over to Stephen or his son Craig, but there was a portion of the inheritance, held in reserve that had been set aside in case Taite Industries had ever failed. An inheritance that would, in cash, gold, and bonds, total far more than Taite Industries was worth by now. An inheritance Tehya was determined to hold on to in the eventuality that her dream of being a mother herself was ever realized or that the danger she faced was ever defeated.
“How are you going to manage this without the Taites knowing who I am?” Her fingers curled into the pillow as she held back her tears. She was absorbing the fact that she would have to face the family she could never allow herself to have and possibly to accept.
“You’ve already made a first contact, Tehya. Why are you so frightened to face the rest of the family when you employ your second cousin and have obviously become friends with her?” he said, as she felt her heart sink.
Micah would have run a background check on everyone that walked into that bar before the team ever arrived. Tehya should have thought of that.
“How long did it take you to find her?” he asked when she said nothing.
She closed her eyes. She had wanted to keep that connection to herself, to enjoy it, to relish even this small contact with at least one family member. She hadn’t wanted it tainted by the danger she faced.
“I knew before I arrived,” he revealed. “How long were you planning to make contact?”
“I’ve kept an eye on her for years,” she revealed. “I learned she had come to America to go to college just before the team disbanded.” She almost smiled. “She’s as wild as the wind, Jordan. I didn’t want her getting into trouble.”
“So you came here to watch over her?” he guessed, his tone carefully controlled, as though he knew any show of anger would only ignite another confrontation between them. “She’s a lot like you. She has your temperament. Micah’s report on her is like reading your life if you had been born into that family. A rebel. Independent and stubborn as hell, she and her grandfather are rumored to go head to head often, and according to my sources, the only reason she wasn’t sent to a private girls’ college was because the Queen of England herself intervened and ‘requested’ her father uphold the Taite family tradition of sending the girls to America to complete their education.”
Yeah, that was Journey. She was so young, so damned determined. It made Tehya proud as hell to know her. And she was damned calculating in getting her way as well.
She suddenly realized couldn’t lie there in the bed any longer. That nervous energy building inside her wouldn’t be denied.
Rising from the bed, she glanced over her shoulder, barely glimpsing his curious expression in the dim light of the room.
“Why, it really doesn’t matter, does it?” she asked quietly. “But if your plan is to use Journey in this little plot of yours, then perhaps you should reconsider it. I believe I would be truly upset over that Jordan.”
Jordan almost grinned at the protectiveness Tehya felt for the sharp-tongued Journey Taite. And it didn’t surprise him. The other woman had no idea how much she was like her missing cousin. They were so alike Micah had remarked that they were all damned lucky they didn’t resemble each other. Because there would be no way to hide their familial relationship if they did.
Propping his elbow on the bed, he rested his head against his hand and watched her patiently, waiting for more.
“She looks just like my mother did as a young woman,” Tehya finally said softly, the loss she felt over her mother’s death echoing in her voice. “Sometimes I let myself imagine what our lives could have been like if Sorrel hadn’t destroyed her. Mother would have been happy, I think. She would have made everyone around her happy. No matter how horrible the running could get at times, Mother always had a way to make me smile.”
“She passed that gift on to you, Tey,” he assured her.
He watched as those fiery curls moved gently when she shook her head before she asked, “What are you going to do to pull the Taites into this? Using Journey would be wrong, Jordan. She deserves more than that.”
And it would break Journey’s heart if she learned Tehya was the daughter of the deceased Francine and hadn’t revealed herself. If Journey was anything like her, she would be hurt because Tehya hadn’t confided in her. She would be more than hurt, she would be furious.
“Actually, we’re using someone else to bring you in contact with the Taites,” he said. “Kell Krieger has decided to go into politics. With the help of his father-in-law, Senator Stanton. He and his wife are hosting their first series of campaign balls and luncheons to allow the senator’s backers to get to know him and his wife, Emily. One of those backers is Jordan Malone.” He grinned self-mockingly. “I’ll be arriving with my new lover, Teylor Johnson, to support my good friend and fellow Navy SEAL.”
Tehya collected her robe from the chair by the bed and pulled it on slowly as she allowed the information to process.
She was going to end up with a headache before the night was over. She could feel it building just behind her eyes as she fought back the tension rising inside her.
“You’re not going in covert? You’re risking not just yourself but your family?” She couldn’t believe he would do such a thing. That he would possibly ever bring the Malone name into an operation.
“Too many people know me too well, especially in D.C. Creating a cover will only cause more problems than it can fix.”
“I don’t like this plan.” She gave her head a hard shake. “God, Jordan, you’re risking Grandpop? Sabella and the children?”
“There’s no risk,” he answered definitively, almost convincing her. Almost. “If anything, that risk will be confined to myself only.”
She shook her head, her lips parting to speak.
“Tehya.” His voice sharpened. “Why would they bother to strike out against my family? It would serve no purpose. Even Sorrel wouldn’t have bothered to go so far out of his way. And once they’ve been neutralized, all th
ey’ll know is that an operation targeting them by a law enforcement agency succeeded. Jordan Malone will never be tied to it.”
She was shaking her head as she spoke.
“You’re insane,” she snapped.
“We could always go back to plan A.” He shrugged. “As I said, the SEAL base commander in Florida has expressed a lot of interest in having you on his team once he learned Killian wouldn’t be acquiring you.”
She threw him a glare before sitting on the edge of the bed and turning to watch him furiously.
“Fine. I’ll go to Florida.” A lifetime of hiding. No true friends, nothing that could truly belong to her. An underground suite without windows again, the knowledge that she never truly belonged. On the outside looking in.
She couldn’t do it, but more to the point Jordan knew she couldn’t do it.
His smile was tight, knowing. “It won’t change the plan,” he told her softly. “But I’ll have you transported out at daybreak if that’s what you want.”
“You could go back to retirement.” She swallowed tightly. “Go home and help raise your nephew. You’ve always said if you’re not around then Noah and Sabella will spoil him to death.”
Of course, he was usually telling Noah that. Noah and his wife Sabella were completely crazy about their son. They would be even worse over the coming daughter, whom they’d already named Mira.
He shook his head slowly. A negative movement that matched his mocking grin.
“In three days, the game begins. We’ll leave for D.C. tomorrow evening. There’s a suite reserved for us at the Four Seasons in Georgetown. We’ll begin a series of carefully coordinated social events until someone bites. We’re going fishing sweetheart.”
Fishing.
He’d explained that saying before. Carefully coordinated outings where they played the bait and waited to see who would bite. It was a game she had played in the past with Sorrel’s men, and she hadn’t liked it then: she liked it even less now. “It leaves too much to chance,” she argued. “And the risk is too great.”