by Kaylea Cross
Using that anger, she pushed her hands away from the door and used her best Judo moves on him. She was free from his grasp in only a few seconds.
Then she was pinned against the wall beside her front door. Damn, he was good. She almost smiled at his moves. But she was still angry at how cowardly he’d been. She tried a second time, this time making sure not to turn her back to him. She ended up pushing him back a full step. He looked at her as if he was impressed. Then he came at her and she avoided his hands by twisting, then blocked his legs as he tried to swoop them out from under her. She was so happy that she’d avoided the maneuver, she hadn’t seen the next move coming.
She ended up flying through the air and landing on her back on her plush carpet. The wind was knocked from her slightly as she landed. He’d held her hips and had taken most of the blow with his knees, which were on either side of her hips, pinning her down. Her arms were grasped tightly in his hands as he held them up beside her head.
“Is this how safe you are? Opening the door without looking?”
She tried to kick him off her, and using her hips, she bucked until she was running out of breath. She realized she was getting nowhere. Blowing the hair out of her face, she glared up at him.
“Fine, you win. Now let me up.”
“No, not yet.” He leaned over until his nose was less than an inch from hers. “Was I just a game to you?”
When she looked up into his eyes, she saw more than anger there, which totally broke her. Her entire body went lax.
“No! Was I was just a job to you?” She lifted her chin, challenging him. She held her breath, waiting for his answer.
He pulled back a little and looked deep into her eyes. She couldn’t read his thoughts, but she had seen the anger drain from his eyes.
“Javan, sign off for the night. I’ve got this.” Ethan pulled a small ear bud out of his ear and set it on her coffee table. Then he was kissing her and she had the wind knocked out of her lungs for the second time in less than five minutes.
“I thought you didn’t want this.” He pulled her head back, exposing her neck as he ran his mouth down her skin. She pushed on his shoulders until she rolled him over. Then she straddled him, pinning him to the floor, and looked down at him.
“How could I not want this?” She bent down and bit his lip lightly, pulling on it gently. Then she sucked on it, soothing the sting she’d caused.
His hands went to her hips and he pushed them against him. Using his knees to spread her legs, he pinned her hands over her head and just looked at her.
She needed the speed, she needed him. They rolled across the carpet, removing clothing quickly. She even heard something rip at one point, which caused her to laugh. She moaned as she nibbled her way down his stomach. How she’d missed the taste of him, the feel of his hot skin, vibrating under her hands.
She knew they were going fast, but when he lifted her knees and plunged into her, she stopped caring. She arched her back and screamed with delight as he held her hips and repeated the movement more slowly this time. Then she looked up into his eyes and saw what she’d tried to deny in herself.
She was in love. Finally. Wholly. There was no use denying it any further. Reaching up, she took hold of his face and pulled him down to her mouth. Just before he kissed her, she closed her eyes as a tear escaped.
* * *
“Did you want some pizza?” Ethan asked half an hour later. They were lying naked on her floor, their clothes scattered in piles around them. Their breathing had finally calmed down to a somewhat normal level.
“Mmmm, no. Maybe later. Besides, I only ordered it to see what you’d do when it arrived.”
He closed his eyes and realized that he’d fallen right into her trap. Then he remembered the monitors. If Javan was still watching the monitors, he’d have to kill him. He cringed, remembering that everything that happened in here was neatly being taped. Okay, first on his list, erase the tape, then kill Javan if he watched.
“What’s going on in that brain of yours?” Ann asked, looking down at him. He cringed again.
“How bad would it be if we accidentally just made a porno?”
She laughed. Actually, laughed. Then she smiled and leaned over him. “You know, if you hadn’t come in to talk to me, I was going to do a nice striptease for one of these cameras, just to get you in here.”
He could have sworn she was purring. His mind instantly flipped to her slowly removing her clothes for him as he watched in the van. She was starting to rub her hips over him and the friction was going to kill him.
Not wanting any more rug burns on his back, he picked her up and carried her, as she laughed, into the bedroom.
Later, after Ann was asleep, he quietly went out to the van. Javan had shut everything down, including the tapes before he left. Which meant no porno. Then he snuck back in the house and back in the bed with Ann and slept until morning, holding her tight against him.
* * *
“I can’t believe it. It’s taken almost a week and they are finally going to let me run my piece from Rio. They want it edited a little more and some more back story, but the executives want it by Friday.” Ann was so nervous, she was pacing her small office.
Ethan sat across from her and looked bored. “Are you listening to me?” She picked up the nearest item, which happened to be a stress ball, and tossed it at his head. He caught it and proceeded to squeeze it playfully as she smiled.
“I’m always listening. I knew they were going to run it. It’s a good piece. Plus, you had an excellent cameraman.” He smiled and tossed the ball back at her.
She caught it and set it back on her desk, then walked around and sat in her chair. There was so much to do in the next few days, she didn’t think she’d have time. Preparing a piece this big took a team and her team… she closed her eyes on the flash of memory that popped into her head. Well, her team was dead.
“I’m going to spend the next few days going over our footage from Rio. There has to be something else there I can use.”
“Do you want any help?” He sat up a little.
“You? Really?”
“Well, I was working here up until my cover was blown. I know my way around the editing room and equipment.”
She thought about it and realized he was right. When he’d been undercover, she’d never once questioned his abilities as a photographer or editor. Just as a human being.
Just then her phone rang, and seeing the number on the screen, she smiled.
“Hi, Daddy,”
“Hi, sweetie. Don’t forget the dinner tonight at the Kramer’s. It’s at eight sharp. Oh, and sweetie, bring Ethan.”
Her smile got bigger. She had forgotten the dinner. Her father was campaigning again, and she knew that meant lots of wine and dine situations. She couldn’t always make them, but the Kramers were very old family friends. Plus, it was a white tie sort of dinner, and she was just dying to see what Ethan looked like in a tux.
“We’ll be there.” When she hung up the phone, she watched Ethan’s eyebrows shoot up in question. She tilted her head and imagined what it would be like seeing him dressed in a tux.
“Tell me, Mr. Bond, do you own a tux?”
He smiled quickly. “All of us double O agents have them. Why?”
* * *
He stood around her condo waiting for her to come out of the restroom. He didn’t mind getting dressed up for occasions and always saw it as a challenge to hobnob with the upper crust. He looked at it all as if it was part of his training, seeing if he could fit in anywhere.
He knew he could fit in in the jungles of Brazil, the deserts of the Middle East, the slums of any large city, and the beaches at the best resorts. How different was wearing a monkey suit with the high rollers in politics from pretending to be a male stripper in Vegas?
He smiled thinking about it. Then his smile fell away as Ann walked out of the restroom.
The dress was the color of her blue eyes. He swore he could see right
through it and when he looked at her, he saw her nipples peek through the light material towards him.
He felt his tuxedo pants getting too tight. Damn, they’d been specially made for him and now he felt like he couldn’t breathe.
Her hair was piled up in some sort of fancy bun. There were long dark twists falling around her face, making him itch to feel the silky softness of it in his fingers.
His eyes roamed from her head down her long form to her feet, which were exposed in sexy little heels with sparkly stones that showed her newly painted toenails. He wanted to tear everything off her and lick her from head to toe.
“Well?” she said and did a little turn. The back of the dress was worse than the front. It dipped down to the middle of her back, exposing her entire back, showing off her silky skin.
“Well?” He repeated. He didn’t know what to say. It was like every cell in his brain had just left him to go on vacation. “You … You look beautiful.”
She smiled quickly and walked over to grab her small silver purse from the table.
“Are you sure we have to go to this thing tonight? I’m not feeling too hot. Maybe we should just stay in?” He walked over to her, pulling her close. When he got closer, he smelled her perfume and closed his eyes on a moan. Not only did she look good, she smelled good. Which got him wondering if she tasted just as good. He started to dip his head to have a taste when she stopped him with her hands.
“Oh, no, you don’t. You are not going to mess this all up. It took me two hours to look like this.” She held his head at bay.
“Just one lick. Just to see if you taste as good as you look.”
She laughed. “You can taste me later. Right now, we’re going to be late if we don’t leave now.”
He pulled back and took her hand and made a point to bow from his waist. “As you wish, my lady.” He brought her hand to his lips and kissed her lightly. Then he turned her wrist around and kissed the inside of her wrist, pressing his tongue to the inside of her sensitive skin.
He stood back up and smiled. “I knew it. You do taste good.”
She laughed at him. “Idiot.”
He took her arm and they walked out of her condo together.
* * *
At two minutes past eight precisely, they walked in the Kramer’s front door. The luxurious house was situated in the upper-crust neighborhood of Austin. The mansions were the size of whole city blocks here. Ann could remember playing in the pool in their back yard as a child during some hot summers days. Their sons, Brian and Brett, were some of her closest friends growing up. The twin boys now were practicing law in Houston.
She enjoyed dressing up for special occasions and tonight she was dressed in her deep blue spaghetti strap number, which hugged her in all the right places. Ethan was in a tux that looked like it was made just for him, and probably was. It fit him perfectly and he looked very handsome, like he was born wearing it.
She’d yet to do anything with her hair color and in truth, she kind of liked the darker look. She’d curled it slightly and pushed most of it on top of her head so it could fall in ringlets around her face. The darkness of it accented her skin and eyes. Or so her stepmother had said when she’d first seen it.
She’d had a huge problem with her father marrying again after her mother’s death, but after Blake was born, she stopped giving her dad so much grief over it. After all, she’d always wanted a brother.
Coleen, on the other hand, Ann still couldn’t stand. She tried to avoid spending too much time with the woman, who happened to be only a few years older than she was. The fact that Coleen called her sweetie, her father’s favorite nickname, just plain annoyed her.
The woman always treated her like she was a child, which was stupid in Ann’s mind. Coleen would give Ann advice on her clothing, her hair, and even tried once to give her advice on her career. At one point, the woman actually tried to treat her like a sister. Thankfully, Ann set her straight before that went any further.
But over the last few years since Blake’s kidnapping, Coleen was starting to act a lot more like a mother figure to Blake than just an older sister. So Ann had cut her a little slack.
The Kramer’s dinner was always an important one for her father’s campaign. She knew most of the people attending and liked only a third of them. The rest were powerful people and to be honest just plain rude. She tried avoiding most of them, but somehow ended up chatting with the worst offenders most of the time.
Tonight, being on Ethan’s arm, she felt more powerful. When they walked up and started talking to her father and Coleen, Ethan had shaken hands with her dad and started talking like they were old buddies. It was nice seeing the two men she loved in her life getting along and enjoying each other’s company.
Her father’s new assistant, Paul, was always hovering around him. The skinny man gave Ann the creeps. Not that this was the first assistant of her father’s that had given her the creeps, just the worst. His dark hair was always slicked back. He had a crooked nose that was too big for his face. He could have been good looking if it wasn’t for his eyes.
She’d always been one to spot the fakes, the men who said one thing and did another. Maybe that’s why she was so good at being a journalist. Paul was hiding something and always walked around like he was laughing at some private joke that only he knew.
She didn’t quite know what had happened to her father’s last assistant, a striking young redhead. No doubt Coleen had something to do with letting her go, since that’s how she got the role of wife to begin with. Going from being her father’s assistant to being knocked up by him had secured her next role as wife.
Ann was standing near the patio doors waiting for Ethan to bring her a drink when Paul walked up to her.
“I hear you had an exciting time in South America?” He was standing too close for her liking. When she tried to back up, she realized her back was already against the wall. Wishing Ethan would hurry up with her drink, she tried to pacify the man with a slight nod.
He must have taken the gesture as an invitation, because his hand reached up and toyed with one of the loose strands of her hair. He was running it through his fingers, and she felt a shiver run down her spine.
“I see you changed your hair color. Too bad, I really enjoyed the blond.” It gave her a little pleasure knowing that he didn’t like the darker color. “Will you be attending your father’s news conference on Friday? I know it’s supposed to be a very special occasion.”
She did not normally attended her father’s conferences. Since it was a conflict of interest, she had never covered the conferences herself.
“No, Paul.” He cracked a bigger smile, as if he had a secret joke. “If you’ll excuse me, I see my boyfriend.” She started to walk past him and he grabbed her arm.
“Boyfriend? Don’t you mean your bodyguard? He wasn’t even competent enough to save you from the explosion. Or do anything to save your two colleagues. I heard they were gunned down like dogs.” A smile crept onto his face and she felt her skin turn to ice. Blinking a few times, she tried to compose herself. Then she yanked her arm from his grasp and walked around him without saying anything. She met Ethan halfway across the room.
Upon seeing her face, he set the drinks down on a table and took her hand and steered her towards the back door. He didn’t stop until they’d walked out onto a small patio area reserved for the help. There was a young woman smoking a cigarette there and when Ethan nodded his head, she left quietly through the door.
“What is it?” Ethan pulled her close. She hadn’t realized she was shaking and by this time, her breathing was coming in small gasps. The images of her colleagues flashed through her mind over and over.
“It’s nothing. I’m just being emotional. I can’t believe I let him work me up like this.” She closed her eyes and laid her head against his chest. Listening to his steady breathing helped to level her own out.
She didn’t realize that he was swaying her until she looked back up at
him. “What are you doing?”
“Dancing.” He smiled down at her. “I figured the best way to take your mind off something bad, was to put it on something good. Besides, I’ve wanted to dance with you for a while.” He smiled at her and then kissed her forehead. “I’m a really good dancer; all of us Bond types have to be. You know, to woo all the women.” She laughed and forgot about Paul and her dead coworkers. “Have I told you how beautiful you look tonight?”
She looked up at him and then he was kissing her softly under the moonlight and she forgot everything else, except him.
* * *
The little bitch. She hadn’t even acknowledge him. Besides, after seeing her across the room with her dark hair, the attraction he felt towards her had dissipated.
Picking up his cell phone, he punched in the number. “Is everything set for Friday?”
“Yes, what about security?”
“Don’t worry, I have a plan to take care of them.” He smiled and knew his day was coming.
Chapter Fifteen
Ann and Ethan spent the next few days locked in the editing room. They had gone over every inch of footage that had been uploaded from Rio before the incident. There really wasn’t anything other than crowd shots they could use.
She’d been enjoying their time together. There was hardly a moment when they weren’t together. Javan had even been moved over to watching Blake instead.
Ethan had been spending all his time with her. He slept in her bed, they ate dinner together, they ate breakfast together. He sat across from her when she worked in her office. They had been spending a lot of their evenings in the editing room together. She couldn’t explain it, she just enjoyed spending her time with him. He was easy to get along with, and she didn’t want to be apart from him.
She’d woken the other night to an empty bed and had instantly felt empty herself. Then she’d heard him talking on the phone in the other room. She’d quietly rushed in and smiled when she’d seen him pacing her living room. He’d been talking on the phone butt naked. She’d leaned against the wall and just admired him.