Tempted by Love

by Jennifer Ryan

  He made his clothes disappear as fast as her eyes traveled down his body as he exposed more and more flesh. The desire there heated his skin before he even touched her. He barely remembered to grab the condom before he joined her on the bed. She sat up to kiss him, their tongues dancing the way their bodies demanded to move. She pushed at his shoulder to make him roll to his back. He barely got the condom on in time before she straddled his lap and sank down on him, his name nothing but a sigh of relief and a plea for more. He gave it to her. He’d give her everything to make her happy and keep her in his arms. And so he let her set the pace, slow and easy in concession to her still sore body, but intense in their need to draw out every touch, kiss, and slide of their bodies together. She rode him, giving him free rein to touch her soft skin, worship one breast and the other with his mouth and tongue until her body tightened and her breath came out on soft little moans that drove him wild.

  He hooked his arm around her hips, held her close, and rolled her to her back, making sure he didn’t jostle her too much. She sank into the mattress and he thrust deep into her. Hands on his hips, she pulled him in again and again. He held himself over her, stared down at her beautiful face, eyes closed, lips slightly parted as she sighed. He rocked his hips to hers, creating that sweet friction she needed. Her breath caught, body tensed, and her hot core clamped around his hard cock as she quaked. The second she started coming down, he thrust hard and deep and spilled himself inside her, setting off another round of aftershocks that made her hands clamp down on his ass and her nails bite into his skin. The sweet pain made his dick twitch inside of her and she rocked her hips into him again, prolonging the most explosive orgasm he’d ever experienced.

  He stayed just like that, locked in her body and the intensity of being joined with her until his arms shook and he let loose his tight muscles and settled on top of her. He managed to keep his forearms braced just enough to not crush or push on her bruised ribs.

  The hands on his ass smoothed over his skin and up his back in hypnotic brushes up and down his spine and over his hips until they came up, she wrapped her arms around his middle, and held on tight.

  He turned his head into her hair and kissed her just under her ear, then whispered a truth he couldn’t hold inside anymore. “You are everything I ever wanted.”

  She turned and looked at him. “You’re not what I expected and better than I thought possible.”

  He settled on the bed beside her, left her on her back for her injured neck, wrapped her up close, leaned his head against hers, inhaled the scent of his shampoo in her hair, and hoped that this night was what every night with her would be like from now into forever.

  Hours later in the dead of night, he should have hoped that work wouldn’t tear him out of their bed. Instead, he answered the call disturbing the quiet night and Alina’s sleep.

  “Are you okay?”

  “We have a problem.” King, his undercover agent, had nerves of steel. The ominous tone to his words made Jay roll out of bed when all he wanted to do was stay there with the woman who came into his life unexpectedly and filled the missing piece in his world.

  She wasn’t going anywhere if he had anything to say about it, but he had a feeling he was on his way to take care of whatever problem crept up in King’s case.

  Normally he didn’t think twice about diving into a case and putting it all on the line, but as he stood staring down at Alina in his bed, he found he’d rather be there with her than anywhere else. The danger he faced going after drug dealers seemed even more real and ominous because it could take him from her. But he couldn’t give up his work because of what might happen.

  She’d be here when he got back.

  God that sounds good.

  And now he had a very good reason to make sure he made it back.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Jay hated leaving a beautiful woman alone in his bed in the wee hours of the morning. He’d wanted to stay with Alina, but the late-night call from King couldn’t be ignored. He didn’t like leaving another agent at his house to watch over Alina and Adam. The protective streak inside him tightened his gut and made him worry.

  If he wasn’t the one protecting her, she wasn’t safe enough.

  Irrational, but that’s how he felt.

  The agent with her was trained and competent. Jay wouldn’t have asked for his help otherwise or left Alina and Adam in his care if he couldn’t handle a dangerous situation if it should arise. The rational part of his brain told him no one would find her at his place. That didn’t stop his brain from spawning a million nightmares and scenarios of whoever went after her before coming back to finish the job.

  He shook off the chill that ran up his spine that had nothing to do with the predawn temps outside the nondescript sedan he drove to meet King. The sun barely cracked the dark night on the horizon as he made his way down the main drag and spotted the strip mall with the dog groomer shop King and he agreed to use as their meeting point should the need arise. According to King, this couldn’t wait, so Jay had foregone sleep and making love to Alina one more time. This better be worth missing both those things and the bad coffee he’d picked up at an all-night gas station minimart on the outskirts of town.

  He cut the lights before the turnoff, pulled into the lot behind the shop, and parked beside King’s beat-up truck.

  Jay, wearing a black jacket and ski cap on his head to ward off the cold and conceal his looks, got out and carried the two carryout cups of coffee. He set one cup on the truck roof, opened the door, handed one cup to King, retrieved the other, and climbed inside. He closed the door on the cold breeze, sat back, and stared out the window.

  On a yawn, he said, “It’s damn early to call me out here. I hope you have something good.”

  King handed over a note enclosed in a plastic bag. “Print it. See if you get a hit in the system.”

  Jay read the note.

  if you want to live stay away from Cara

  He rolled his eyes. “You brought me here for this. Iceman’s warning you away.”

  King shook his head. “He warned me in person. Right after he made me keep my mouth shut about Manny Castillo’s death.”

  “Why would he care if you said anything about that dirtbag?”

  “Because Manny tried to manipulate Cara into marrying him. He thought the two of them could take over for their fathers one day and run the show. When Cara discovered his plan, she wanted out. He cut off her finger and made her think he was ransoming her back to her father.”

  The brutality the cartels resorted to didn’t surprise Jay anymore, but he hated that that cruelty had been inflicted on a woman. It made him think about Alina.

  King’s hand fisted around the steering wheel. “Instead, he was just a sick fuck trying to prove to her that her father didn’t care about her.”

  Jay actually followed all that convoluted cartel, family loyalty bullshit. “What the fuck!”

  “Exactly. I always knew Iceman set up that raid and Manny’s takedown.” King went undercover to take down Iceman after Iceman set up the DEA, King, to take out a rival to the Guzman cartel. Manny Castillo. “I never knew why.”

  Jay put the pieces together. “To get revenge for his daughter.” Iceman wanted Manny to pay but couldn’t go after Manny himself, not without starting a bloody war between the cartels.

  “He pays her a couple thousand every month. She thinks Manny is paying her off for what he did to her. A means to keep the truce between the two cartels. Really, it’s Iceman’s way of looking out for her.”

  “So they are close. He didn’t turn his back on her.”

  “They aren’t close. Cara despises him. Iceman does everything he can to keep her out of his world even though he can’t help checking on her.”

  Jay held up the plastic bag. “Hence the note.”

  King shook his head. “Not him. Not his style. If he wanted me to stay clear of her, I’d be gone. He wouldn’t stand by, spying on us in the middle of the night.�
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  That sent Jay’s eyebrow and his interest up. “What were you two doing in the middle of the night?” He’d sent King undercover to get close to Cara, but not to cross a line that put him and the operation in jeopardy.

  King barely contained a growl of frustration. “I was doing my job. Getting close to her. Getting her to open up and trust me.”

  King wouldn’t look at him, which probably meant King was getting too close to Cara. It could work to their advantage, or blow up in their faces if she really worked with her father.

  “And does she trust you?”

  “Yes. But it’s as fragile as a flake of ash.”

  Same as everything in this line of work. Nothing was ever certain. On the surface everything looked like one thing, then in a blink of an eye changed to something else.

  “You knew going in she wouldn’t be easy to get close to.”

  “If I didn’t believe she wasn’t involved with her father and his crew, I’d think her paranoia was tied to keeping their business under wraps and her out of jail. But it goes deeper than that. She’s never had anyone to count on. No one to keep her safe and protected and make her happy. She’s never come first for anyone. She’s been on her own practically her whole life.”

  “Use that to get close to her. Prove to her that you will keep her safe, that you care about her.” Jay left “Don’t sleep with her” unspoken. Despite King’s obvious bond to her, he didn’t need the reminder from Jay. King needed to convince Cara to give up her father and his operation for this mission to succeed. If King couldn’t do that, Jay would pull him out.

  “So is she an asset or a waste of time and we should go after Iceman directly?”

  King took his time answering. “She knows the only way she’ll ever be safe is if her father is dead. In jail might be her preference, but it still makes her a target. Especially because he can’t seem to stay away from her. I think I can nudge her to our side and get her to actively try to take him down. Right now, she stays out of his business and only acts on things when she inadvertently finds out about them.”

  “Like her calling in the produce truck full of drugs.”

  King got that information day one undercover. If he was getting closer to Cara, this whole thing might be over soon. And Jay could get his ass home to Alina where he really wanted to be.

  “Right. That will probably end now that Tim’s father got busted during the raid on that truck and is now behind bars. She’s lost her link to the operation through them. Iceman isn’t stupid enough to give her any means to cause him more problems.”

  “Turn her against her father and do it quick. We’re getting intel he’s got something big planned.”

  King leaned back and sighed. “I feel like we’re spinning our wheels.”

  “Nature of the game, man. We take down one, another pops up. But getting Iceman will seriously impair drug distribution in the state in a major way.” And be a huge coup for the DEA and King and Jay’s careers.

  “I don’t know if Cara will do what we need her to do. For all her strength and determination, she’s got a soft heart. Deep down, she loves her father and understands that his staying away from her is for her benefit as much as she believes he’s a deadbeat dad who doesn’t give a shit about her.”

  “Sounds like he’s both. The question is, does she believe the man who deals drugs for a living and wrecks lives, including hers, deserves to be taken down once and for all?”

  King stared out the window, his gaze intense. “I don’t know how Trigger played this game day in and day out.” Guilt and reservations filled King’s eyes.

  Trigger had spent years working undercover.

  “At a cost. To him and others.”

  King raked his fingers through his hair. “I feel so damn guilty for lying to her. She’s a good person. She’s not doing anything wrong. In fact, she’s such an upstanding citizen she calls in drug raids on her own father.”

  “She took you in thinking you’re an ex-con and gave you a job.” Jay stated the truth, but the underlying message came through: Cara got to King.

  King wasn’t like Trigger. He couldn’t keep things all business.

  “Listen, King . . .” He used his real name instead of Flash, the name he used for this undercover operation, to remind King of who and what he was: a DEA agent, here to take down the bad guys. “Trigger didn’t like using innocent people either. It weighed on him. That’s why he always tried to turn someone involved. They got away with their part or reduced charges and Trigger got the goods on whoever we were taking down. So if you don’t think you can turn Cara completely against her father, then find another way.”

  King’s eyes lit with understanding and excitement for a new mission. He desperately wanted to do this without involving Cara.

  Jay’s nudge to do that if he could eased some of the tension in King.

  Jay needed King focused on the job and ultimate goal. Now that he was, Jay slipped out of the truck with the suspicious note, leaving King to go back to work on the case.

  Jay spent the long drive back to the office down south analyzing the situation. His strong suit, finding all the ways to handle any given situation, possible solutions and scenarios. His analytical mind served him well. Most of the time, he found more than one way to handle the circumstances.

  But as his mind pulled him back to Alina and what was happening between them, he found only one way to handle her brothers, his best friends. Directly. If they continued to hide the way they felt about each other, it would only be worse when Caden and Beck found out. Like him, they wanted to protect Alina and keep her as far away from the world they lived in as DEA agents as possible. Look what happened to her. Someone might have targeted her because of the job they did.

  But if he wanted to keep her, he had no way to keep her out of it.

  And that tied his gut in knots far worse than the thought of facing her brothers and letting them know he was in a relationship with their sister. He could handle a beat-down if Caden and Beck wanted to go there, but he couldn’t handle Alina getting hurt again.

  He’d do anything to keep that from happening, but couldn’t bring himself to let her go.

  He needed to find the threat and eliminate it.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Alina settled down in the front seat of her armed bodyguard’s car and finally took a moment to enjoy the late afternoon sun on her face, the beautiful landscape stretching out on both sides of the two-lane road, and memories of her and Jay making love last night.

  Thoughts of him were never far from her mind. Hard not to think about him when she spent most of the day surrounded by his things, living in his house.

  She shut that line of thinking down. She didn’t live there. He’d just given her a safe place to stay while he and the police investigated the accident.

  She had to think of it as nothing more than an accident, because the thought of someone targeting her, for whatever reason, terrified her to the point she wanted to run. But she had nowhere to go and didn’t know who she was hiding from anyway.

  Noel sent her four texts today and called twice to be sure she was okay and not in too much pain. It felt intrusive and possessive in a way. Like he didn’t think she could take care of herself, or she’d break because something terrible happened to her. A friend would check up once, twice, hear in her voice and words that she was fine and just needed time to recover. Six times seemed like he didn’t believe her capable of coping.

  Jay called twice and kept things casual but direct.

  “Feeling better?”

  “Yep. Took a shower this morning. It made my sore muscles ache, but the hot water also made me feel better. Pain meds are clouding my mind. I seem to remember you kissing me goodbye in the dead of night and ordering me to not go anywhere without my bodyguard and to stay away from him at the same time.” She grinned at the memory and discovering that Jay had a streak of jealousy where she was concerned. She had to admit, her bodyguard, DEA agent Dave, just D
ave, was handsome and nice, but he wasn’t Jay.

  And that realization hit her square in the chest. All of a sudden, handsome men had become just other guys.

  Jay didn’t respond to her pointing out his green monster. “I gotta get back to work.” He paused for just a second, then added, “I can’t wait to see you tonight.”

  He hung up on her. She didn’t mind. Much. They were both still figuring this thing out. Confessions in the dark aside, they still had to figure out how to be with each other in normal, everyday life when they weren’t tearing each other’s clothes off in a rush of lust and need. Though she loved that part, the real intimacy of sharing their lives scared her. She didn’t want to mess up what they had now. Because it was pretty great and had the potential to be spectacular.

  She didn’t want to squander a chance at phenomenal. Not after she’d had mediocre disguised as happy moments.

  She didn’t regret those experiences; she scolded herself for settling for them when it hadn’t felt right. Not like it did with Jay.

  Of course, those experiences led her here and made her appreciate so much more what she’d found with Jay and within herself. She had the capacity to feel this deeply about someone. To have that reciprocated was a gift. One she’d seen her brothers get in their lives and had envied. Their happiness had made her jealous. Now, all she wanted was more of Jay.

  “Did Jay tell you what time he’d be home tonight?”

  Dave shook his head, his eyes on the road and scanning the mirrors to be sure no one followed them. It took them twice as long to run their errand to her place to get her and Adam more clothes and supplies for their stay at Jay’s place. They’d had to circle and zigzag her neighborhood before Dave decided no one followed them or watched her place and they could go in.