by Dawn Ryder
He acknowledged the accusation. She found herself watching the way he absorbed it. What surprised her was the yearning that rose up from inside her to reach out to him. To give him the opportunity to make amends.
You’re insane …
She moved away before she said too much. Before she exposed just how much she wanted him to open up to her. “I’m not judging your choices, Dunn.”
“Really?” He reached out and caught her uninjured arm.
The contact was jarring.
Just as it always was.
Thais turned to face him, mostly because she needed to disconnect from him before she did something foolish.
Like allow him to see how deeply she cared about him.
“What do you want, Dunn?” she asked. “You’ve done your best to make sure I don’t know who you are.”
“You’ve done the same.”
“I certainly have,” she answered as she stepped toward him. “But you’re the one peeling my layers back … well, no more, do you understand me?”
She’d stepped right up to him and her heart was pounding as she raised her chin so she could aim her demand straight at his face. His green eyes glittered as she watched his jaw tighten.
“I do … understand you,” he rasped out.
He caught her against him, securing her with a hard arm around her waist as he cupped the back of her head and held her firmly.
But he didn’t kiss her.
Not yet.
“I’m not done peeling, Thais.” His tone was hard and full of promise. “Not until I find where you’ve buried yourself.”
“And what are you going to do with the woman you find?” she demanded. At least, she wanted her words to come out as a demand. Instead she heard the yearning in her voice.
Felt the way she trembled as the idea of being stripped completely down to her soul went through her. Her eyes stung with unshed tears.
And she knew he noticed.
“I’m going to love her.”
Dunn sealed her lips with his. Kissing her hard and deep as she twisted in his embrace.
Was she seeking freedom? If so, from what exactly?
He was hard and everything she craved, so it wasn’t release from his embrace.
Whatever it was, she didn’t care. All that mattered was kissing him back. She reached up and framed his face, stroking his skin before she was attacking the buttons on his shirt because she needed more connection between them.
He let her push him back as she opened his shirt and pushed it over his shoulders. Pure delight moved through her as she stroked his bare skin. She felt something inside her shift and flex as it was freed. Right and wrong no longer bound her. There was only need and the fact that he was exactly what she craved to satisfy her hunger.
And Dunn was happy to indulge her.
He shrugged his shirt off, as she reached for his belt and unfastened it. His pants dropped as Thais pushed his briefs down as well, feeling a jolt of satisfaction as his cock sprang into view. She closed her hands around it. Delighting in the smooth feeling of it.
She sank down onto her knees. Determination filling her. A need to push him past his limits was driving her and Thais didn’t waste any time. She gripped his length and opened her mouth. He growled as she closed her lips around him, sucking on the head of his cock as she stroked the rest of his staff.
The chill which had lingered after her shower was suddenly banished.
Her skin was warm and irritated by the robe she had covering it.
But not enough for her to break away from his cock. No, the sounds she was wringing from him were intoxicating her. She hollowed her lips and sucked harder, leaning toward him to take more of his length inside her mouth as she cupped his balls. The smell of his skin was driving her own arousal up, making it spike as her clit began to throb.
“I’m not going to come in your mouth…”
Dunn was suddenly squatting down beside her. She lost her grip on his cock as he hooked her beneath the knees and behind her back. He stood, taking her weight as he lifted her high and laid her on the surface of the bed.
“I’ve got a use for this hard-on…” He reached down and ripped open the thin belt keeping her robe shut.
“A use that includes you making as much noise as me.”
He knelt down at the foot of the bed. Pushing her knees wide with his shoulders. She shuddered. Feeling the impact of the sight of him as much as she witnessed it.
He was hard and cut. Every bit of his body trained to perfection.
And he was focused on her.
His gaze locked with hers for a moment. A time in which she felt his determination. He’d give as good as he got, which only made her determined to drive him more insane. She rolled up, cupping the side of his face once again.
His breath caught.
And she felt like hers did, too.
Tilting her head to one side, she kissed him again. Finding more pleasure in the innocent touch than she had in a long time. Dunn threaded his fingers through her hair, pressing his mouth against hers in a long kiss that obliterated everything except him in her mind.
He kissed his way down her chin, gently pulling her head back to expose her throat.
She shivered as he grazed the delicate skin on her neck with his teeth. Gently nipping her as he held her still and she found the trust to allow him to keep her in such a vulnerable position.
She fell back as he reached her chest, moving along her collarbones and across her breasts. He lingered over one, licking her hardened nipple as he kneaded her other breast. Need felt like a live current, zipping down her spinal cord to her clit.
Her belly quivered as he kissed a path across it. Anticipation was twisting into a pulsing bundle of desperation inside her by the time he settled back between her spread thighs.
She forced her eyelids up, wanting to see him. The look on his face made her shiver. It was full of male hunger. Lust was something she knew; there was something else mixing together with the look in his eyes. He wanted more than the satisfaction of releasing his load.
He needed to push her over the edge as well.
“You’re going to join me, Thais…,” he said, as he locked gazes with her.
He lowered his attention to her slit, leaning forward to tease her with a soft kiss.
She gasped, her hips rising off the bed as pleasure speared through her. She heard him chuckle and then there was nothing but the roaring of blood in her ears. He knew how to drive her insane. Licking across her clit before closing his lips around the little bundle of nerve endings and sucking. But he never pushed her over the edge. No, he kept her withering beneath his mouth as she strained up toward him, seeking out that last bit of pressure that would send her over the edge.
“That would be too quick, Thais,” Dunn said, pushing up to his feet and leaning over her as he crawled onto the bed.
She shuddered as their skin connected from head to toe. Stroking him was a necessity as he settled on top of her. His hands were in her hair, holding her for another kiss. The head of his cock was also nudging the wet folds of her slit but he didn’t thrust into her.
Instead he kissed her. Long and hard.
“Look at me.” His voice was raspy and full of command.
But what made Thais open her eyes was the hint of yearning in his tone.
“I want you to know it’s me in bed with you…,” he said as he thrust forward.
“I could say the same,” she answered.
And she meant it. In fact, it shocked her how much she felt the need to know she was as firmly rooted in his mind as he was in hers. She surged up, pushing against his shoulder to turn him as she rolled him onto his back.
She caught the look of annoyance on his face.
“Deal with it…,” she growled as she rose and sheathed him.
“Oh, I’ve got a few ideas on how to go about doing that,” he said to her. He cupped her breasts as she lifted off him and pushed back down. “You’ll lik
e some of them.”
“And the others?” she asked.
His lips rose into a grin that flashed his teeth at her. There was nothing nice about the expression.
It was pure intent.
He surged up, rolling her onto her back once more. She stiffened, bracing herself for a jolt of pain from her arm but he controlled her weight, keeping her from bouncing. Instead she settled onto the surface of the mattress with nothing more than a twinge.
Dunn watched her, gauging her reaction. As soon as he was satisfied she’d landed well, he was settling on top of her again.
“My other ideas include me fucking you until you’re mindless…,” he informed her.
“I like that one.”
His lips curved up again in response. He closed his fingers around her wrists and raised her hands above her head, pinning them to the surface of the bed. The headboard hit the wall when he thrust into her.
Another bang followed, and then she didn’t care about anything except the jolt of pleasure going through her every time his cock sunk into her. She was immersed in the moment. Seeking only completion. He was her companion in the quest, thrusting into her as she lifted to take every downward plunge. She was gasping, trying to pull in enough oxygen to supply her pounding heart. Her eyes slid closed as she sunk down into the abyss of sensation and need. Giving herself over to the yearning driving her toward her lover.
With a common goal, they strained toward one another. Immersed completely in the moment, so very completely Thais couldn’t recall ever being so engaged with anyone. They were racing toward the peak and part of her wanted to hold off, just to savor the moment where she wasn’t alone.
But her body wanted to reach the zenith. Her flesh demanded satisfaction and it broke over her as she lifted up to meet Dunn. She cried out, her voice echoing around the room as she clasped him with her thighs, straining to hold him inside her while the walls of her passage clamped down on his cock.
He growled and thrust deep, his grip tightening on her wrists as his cock jerked and started to empty inside her. She opened her eyes, locking gazes with him as pleasure hardened his expression. She was fascinated with the raw look of pleasure on his face, noting the difference between lust and … whatever was happening between her and Dunn.
She didn’t know the definition.
Only that she’d never experienced it before.
* * *
“Miranda,” Carl Davis exclaimed loudly. “It’s such a relief to see you up and about.”
Carl clasped her hand, turning so the press could snap shots of them shaking hands.
“Yes, thank you, Carl.” Miranda’s poise was flawless.
Unless someone were as close as Carl was. He caught the flash of distaste in her eyes as she used the excuse of waving at a friend as a reason to disengage from their handshake.
Not that he cared how she personally felt.
“And may I say, I’m so happy to see you here to support me.”
Miranda was making ready to slip away. She turned back to face him, her smile frozen in position but her eyes snapping rejection.
“I support this mission and feeding the hungry, Carl,” Miranda said.
“Yes.” Carl made a show of rubbing his hands together.
He moved off to where food was being loaded into a cafeteria-style serving station. His assistants were quick to tie an apron around him and hand him gloves before the first people started to enter with their trays. The camera rolled as Carl smiled brightly and served up mashed potatoes.
Carl was practiced in the art of public appearances, too. He kept his smile bright as he fought the urge to keep an eye on Miranda. She was handing out little cartons of milk and winking as she offered cartons of chocolate milk to kids who smiled with joy.
It wasn’t until much later that Carl had the opportunity to think through the day.
Miranda never had liked him.
That was no newsflash. She’d been there and shook his hand. But that wasn’t a public announcement of supporting him.
Carl paced back and forth as he contemplated the news playing on the screens in his penthouse suite. Tom Hilliard was gaining on him. The numbers becoming more even every week.
He needed Miranda to switch sides. She wasn’t just voter candy, she was a person other senators took their lead from. Even if it was the first time Miranda was running for office, she was a Delacroix. The only other name with more pull was Kennedy.
It was the reason she’d been put back on the leash by her father when she’d run off and fallen in love. Bateson had made something of himself but he wasn’t an American and being born into the Delacroix family meant Miranda had responsibilities.
Even a princess didn’t have everything.
So Miranda had married Jeb Ryland and the situation had been very lucrative. Jeb had enjoyed a good career, only cut short by his untimely death.
Carl slowly grinned. He might have been pissed off to have Miranda kill Jeb and keep her daughter, Damascus, from marrying him, but he did admit to enjoying the brass balls Miranda had hidden beneath her little sweet grandmother persona.
Dunn Bateson had certainly inherited the steel in his spine from his mother.
But knowing how strong Miranda was just brought Carl back to contemplating how to bring her into line. She’d been polite today and that wasn’t in line.
Something was off because Miranda wasn’t stupid. She’d known he’d been the one to order the hit on Thais Sinclair. She was wise enough to get the message loud and clear, and yet, she wasn’t falling in line.
So, something was off. Carl pressed the button on his lapel pin that would bring Eric to him.
It would seem they had some business to look into.
* * *
He’d never held her.
Thais drifted out of sleep, encountering a new sensation as she didn’t have to wake up quickly.
Dunn was behind her, snuggled up along her back. Her injured arm was up as his arm was draped around her waist and his hand cupping her breast.
Lovers.
There had been a time when she thought she had such a connection with her husband. But it had only been inexperience and the rose-colored glasses of youth.
Even her mother had laughed at her for believing her marriage was about more than a middle-aged billionaire who liked having a young wife to show off to his buddies.
“Ready for some pain meds?” Dunn asked.
Thais drew in a breath, startled to hear him speak.
He can’t read your thoughts …
No, but the connection between them was so strong, she had to remind herself that he didn’t know what she’d been immersed in.
“I told you”—she shifted, trying to disengage from him—“it’s not that bad.”
He released her reluctantly. Sitting up as she swung her legs over the edge of the bed. On impulse she turned and sent him a confident look. “You might have noticed I kept up just fine.”
She earned a raised eyebrow and a cocky little grin from him for her daring comment.
“Oh, I noticed alright,” he answered as he stood and stretched his back until it popped.
He moved one of the pillows and picked up a gun that was lying on the bed.
“I know you didn’t put that there while we were undressing.” Maybe it might have been better to keep her thoughts to herself, but with Dunn, she appeared to have no ability to rein herself in.
“Put it there while you were in the shower,” Dunn said, providing the answer which she should have figured out on her own.
“Because you were planning on seducing me?” She stood up, plucking her robe from the floor and shrugging into it. As far as a shield against him seeing too much of her, the thin silk fabric left a lot to be desired. Still, she crossed her arms over her chest as she faced off with him.
Dunn moved toward her, the look in his green eyes daring her to move. It was a challenge, one she recognized and still had trouble standing up to.
&n
bsp; He laid his hand on the side of her face. “‘Seduce’ is the right word for us, Thais.”
She stepped back. “Please, we aren’t teenagers here.”
His lips curved into a smug grin as he set the gun on the foot of the bed. “That just makes it even better. All the innocence, and no age problem when we want to get down to the raw basics.”
He stepped into his pants and pulled them up. Somehow managing to look far more composed than she felt.
He’d shrugged into his shirt while she was thinking and reached for the gun before he buttoned the garment. Her eyes narrowed. The ease and comfort he had with the weapon wasn’t something anyone could fake.
“MI-6.”
She felt her eyes widen as she raised her gaze from the gun to his face. There was a look of quiet confidence there as he pushed the gun into his waistband.
“We don’t announce that we’re armed by wearing a chest harness,” he explained.
“MI-6 isn’t in the habit of announcing anything,” she muttered.
He moved back toward her, cupping the side of her face as he caught the tie of her robe to keep her from retreating.
“I’m learning how to do this, too, Thais,” he offered in a low tone.
“If you’re MI-6, you know this isn’t going to last.”
He tapped her lips with his fingertip before he released her. “Maybe in Shadow Ops you’re quitters”—he sent her a challenging look as he sat down to put on his shoes—“not us at MI-6.”
Thais ended up with her hand propped on her hip. She wanted to argue, except if she gave in, she was fighting for his words to be correct.
You’d enjoy it …
She would. But the real question was, could she defy everything she’d built her life on and cultivate the trust necessary to just go with what he was suggesting?
“You can do it.” Dunn read her thoughts right off her face.
“Do what?”
He stood. Fully clothed and confident in his thinking. He was her polar opposite and she was unbearably aware of it. He stopped beside her, allowing her to catch his scent. There was something so very primal about the way she noticed details about him. It wasn’t the way he smelled, it was his scent.