by Mandy Baxter
Pathetic.
His jaw flexed. “I already told you. Nothing.”
Good Lord, he wasn’t even fazed by his almost naked state. A flush heated Charlie’s cheeks and she swayed on her feet. Maybe she had drunk a little too much wine … Would it kill him to put some damn clothes on?
“You were there for almost two hours,” she pointed out.
Mason’s gaze hardened. “I’m surprised you noticed. You seemed a little preoccupied yourself.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” As if she didn’t know.
Mason snorted. “You and Kieran were pretty damned cozy when I showed up. Isn’t hooking up with a criminal you’re trying to take down a violation of your pristine ethical code, Charlie?”
“Hooking up?” Her outrage was totally misplaced, but she couldn’t help it. Mason had a way of setting her temper off. “I was on the job. How in the hell was I supposed to act?”
“I don’t know,” Mason mused. “Maybe like you weren’t dying for him to get into your pants?”
Was he for real? The hard line of his jaw was begging for her palm. Kieran’s room was at the opposite end of the hall, far from earshot, but Charlie still let her voice drop by a few decibels. “From the way Kieran made it sound, you were the one whose pants were getting into.”
He cocked a brow and one corner of his mouth hitched.
Ugh! Charlie hated how she became an inarticulate fool the second she entered into an argument with Mason. She couldn’t even form complete—not to mention coherent—sentences. His cool, self-possessed attitude drove her up a wall. Even angry and almost naked, he was practically unflappable.
She fixed him with a stern stare. “You know what I mean.”
His expression didn’t change. “Do I?”
Infuriating! “What did she want, Mason?”
He leaned in close. Charlie took his crisp, masculine scent into her lungs and held it for a moment. How dare he smell so good when she was trying to be mad at him?
“She offered me a job.”
Charlie tipped her face up so that she could look at him. “Is that all?”
Mason shrugged.
Anger churned in Charlie’s gut. Frustration clawed at her. Desire bloomed in her chest, so hot and thick that it choked the air from her lungs. She hated herself for wanting him. For feeling so out of control whenever he was around.
“You still answer to me.” Charlie bucked her chin up a notch. “I’m still your boss.”
Childish? Absolutely. But it beat admitting she was beyond attracted to him. Anything was better than that.
“Is that what you were doing with Kieran in the hallway earlier?” Mason’s brow quirked. “Showing him who’s boss?”
“I—he—you were—” She wanted to kick him in the other shin, just to release some of the tension that bound her muscles tight. “What in the hell was I supposed to do?”
“Maybe not drape yourself all over him, for starters.”
The insinuation that she’d been all over Kieran and not the other way around sent Charlie’s anger into a tailspin. “See it however you want, Mason. All you’re doing is deflecting so you don’t have to answer my questions about Katarina.”
“Maybe.” Sweet fiery hell. His unapologetic attitude galled her more than anything.
Charlie squared her shoulders. “You should have checked in.”
“I did,” Mason said without an ounce of inflection. “Several times.”
“No, you didn’t.”
His eyebrows arched curiously over his bright green eyes. A silent challenge. “You probably didn’t see the missed calls since you were sort of occupied.”
She hadn’t checked her phone. Kieran had dominated their conversation during dinner and afterward. He hadn’t given her the chance to take a deep breath—or even a quick bathroom break, for that matter—before he’d ushered her up to their rooms and tried to put the moves on her.
“I didn’t see any missed calls from you.” Petulance wasn’t going to win the argument, but she had to do something to salvage her battered pride.
He took a step closer. “I don’t doubt it.”
How was he able to maintain that insufferable calm? Charlie was ready to climb right out of her skin. She wanted to shout, to let her temper explode. It seemed the angrier she got the more level he became. It drove her out of her mind, bat-shit insane.
Mason closed the space between them until mere inches separated them. The heat from his body permeated Charlie’s thin blouse and she sucked in a breath. “I don’t ever want to see his hands on you again.” Mason’s voice lowered to a dangerous growl. “I don’t want him within touching distance of you. Do you understand me?”
No. Not even a little bit. Charlie’s jaw set as she made the decision to press her luck. “Why? What’ll happen?”
“Without Kieran, you’ll lose your precious task force and any hope of getting your hands on Faction Five, for starters.” Mason’s gaze darkened as he bent his head over hers. “Because if he so much as brushes against you again, it’ll be the last thing he ever touches. Get me?”
*
If ever Mason had sounded like a world-class asshole, it was right now. He had no control over his own raging temper or the words that flew so carelessly from his mouth. Kieran had crossed a line tonight. He’d made a move on Charlie, and you could guarantee the son of a bitch had done it to spark Mason’s jealousy. Kieran didn’t lose. Ever. Even if that meant stomping all over his own family in the process. Mason had been down this road before with him. And none of them would be okay when they got to their destination.
Charlie’s deep blue eyes widened at his words. Part shock, part indignation, and 100 percent outrage. His childish display had done nothing more than push her away. Rather than tell her how he felt about her, he treated her like a possession. Something he had the right to control. Women like Charlie couldn’t be controlled. It was what Mason liked best about her. Instead of telling her that, he’d buried his admiration under the guise of his selfish, sudden, Neanderthal mandate.
Smooth.
“Get you?” Charlie’s eyes went wide. Her cheeks flushed crimson, and fire lit in her eyes. “I don’t even understand you! Whatever you think you saw out there, Mason—”
“I know what I saw.” Charlie took a step backward and Mason closed the gap. She wanted to distance herself from him, when she’d been chest-to-chest with Kieran earlier? Jealousy flared white-hot in Mason’s chest. “He wants you.” No question about it. “It just sort of shocked me to see firsthand that you wanted him too.”
Charlie took another step back. He stepped forward. She wasn’t scared, and her expression no longer blazed with fire. Instead, she dared him to come after her. The challenge sparked in her gaze and Mason accepted, and then some, as her back met the wall and he caged her in with his arms just as Kieran had earlier in the night.
Charlie tipped her head up toward him. Mason’s gut clenched and his cock stirred at the sight of her, disheveled, angry, her mouth parted and her full lips practically begging to be kissed. Had she begged Kieran for the favor? The thought of her saying anything to him in her smoky tone, her eyes full of heat, made Mason want to march down to Kieran’s room and put the son of a bitch in a choke hold.
“You think I want Kieran?” Her tone slid over him in a sensual caress that made Mason want to moan. “You must be as blind as you are stubborn if you think that.”
His response was nothing more than a ragged whisper. “I know what I saw.”
Charlie came up on her tiptoes. She put her mouth to Mason’s ear and his gut clenched with lust. “You don’t know anything, Mason.”
Her sultry voice was a lick of heat down Mason’s spine. His nostrils flared, his senses were awash with her scent, the heat of her body, her words, her proximity. Mason shouldn’t want her. He shouldn’t give a single shit about what—or who—she did. He should put as much distance between them as possible. Send her back to her room and make sure she did
n’t come within ten feet of either him or Kieran after tonight.
Mason crushed his mouth to hers. Relief washed over him. Finally giving in to what he wanted was like guzzling a gallon of water after a month in the desert. Charlie’s arms wound around him. Her nails scraped the hair at the nape of his neck. Her breath became his as their mouths slanted, both of them desperate to deepen the kiss. He pressed his body against her and his hips gave an involuntary thrust. A low moan gathered in Charlie’s throat and the sound hardened his cock to stone.
He wanted Charlie. And not because he knew Kieran wanted her. Not because he needed to take something from the man who’d been his brother. The man who’d taken his own father from him. And not for Mason’s own stupid pride and ego. He wanted Charlie because the thought of not being with her, not seeing her, not hearing her voice, filled him with dread. He wanted her because he couldn’t picture another day that didn’t have her in it. He wanted her because she was the most beautiful, intelligent, brave woman he’d ever met. He wanted her because he didn’t feel so goddamned empty when she was around.
He wanted her for the simple reason that he’d never wanted anyone with the same scalding intensity that he wanted her.
Mason let out a low groan as his hands wandered to Charlie’s hips. He broke their kiss and spun her so that her back molded to his chest. He plucked at the buttons of her shirt, his fingers fumbling in his haste to get it off of her. She pulled her arms out of the sleeves and the garment fell to the floor with a whisper. His mouth found the juncture where her shoulder met her neck and Charlie shuddered. Her reaction spurred him on, and Mason let his open mouth, his tongue, explore the sweetness of her skin. His teeth grazed her delicate flesh. He reached up and cupped the generous swells of her breasts through the thin satin of her bra. Her nipples hardened under his fingertips. Charlie sucked in a sharp breath. Their bodies melded together and he ground the length of his erection against her ass. He needed to get her naked, to strip her down and devour every inch of her.
“Mason …”
He didn’t want her to think. To let logic take hold. She’d try to see this rationally and she’d stop this before they even got started. “Let me have this, Charlie.” His mouth met the delicate flesh below her ear. “Let yourself have it.” Hell, Katarina could have killed them both tonight. Life was too damned short to go without. He kissed her throat. Her jaw. Her temple. “I think we’ve earned it.”
She sucked in a sharp breath as his thumb brushed over the peak of one nipple. “We have.” The low, husky murmur of her agreement quickened his blood. “And then some.”
Since day one, Charlie had managed to get under Mason’s skin. Bit by bit she’d burrowed so deep that she’d become a distraction. He needed to work her out of his system. Win a little of his focus and composure back. Giving in to his desires was the only way to regain his control over the situation. It was in both of their best interests that he was at 100 percent.
He hadn’t just earned this. He needed it.
And it sent him over the edge of his restraint to know she needed it too.
Mason worked loose the button of the skinny-legged slacks that hugged her curves. Did she know how goddamned delectable she looked? How the sight of her turned him into a creature ruled by base desires? He eased the pants down over her ass and took a moment to appreciate the sight of her shimmying them the rest of the way down before she kicked them off along with her shoes. She wore a silky black thong that perfectly matched her bra. Her ass was a work of fucking art. He must have stared a beat too long because Charlie glanced at him from over her shoulder.
Her brow furrowed with doubt. “I figured I should dress the part from head to toe.” He sensed her unease in the tenor of her words. Didn’t she know how perfect she was? “Is it too much?”
“Charlie,” Mason said on a breath. “The sight of you right now is enough to take a man to church.”
Her nervous laughter made his chest ache. “I assume that’s a compliment.”
“It’s the best compliment.” Her body could cause an atheist to have a spiritual awakening.
In this hotel room, away from their mutual responsibilities and missions, Mason could pretend that they were free from everything that fettered them. Why not buy into their fantasies for a few hours? Tell reality to go to hell and live in the moment. He could be a smuggler. A cheat. A liar and a hustler. He could be a criminal. She could be all of those things as well. They could live dangerously. Recklessly.
Because tomorrow, Mason knew that reality would once again come crashing down on the both of them.
Chapter Sixteen
Charlie’s brain had switched to autopilot the second Mason put her back to the wall. She hated to admit that it had taken her pretending to be a criminal to experience the most exciting week of her life, and it was only getting better as the night—well, technically morning—progressed.
Working undercover was like living in a parallel universe. One where someone as extraordinary as Mason Decker whispered heated things in her ear. Kissed her with the most sinful intent she’d ever experienced. Left a trail of flames on every inch of her skin that he touched.
Her passions had always been career-oriented. She’d never wanted someone with such immediate and blinding intensity.
He wound his fist in the hair at her nape and eased her head to the right. His mouth was a brand as it made contact with her neck. A moan gathered in Charlie’s throat. The possessiveness of his grip, the way his mouth claimed her, sent a rush of excitement through her bloodstream. Her pussy clenched as though in anticipation of what might happen next. The breath hitched in her chest as his teeth grazed the sensitive skin below her ear. Charlie reached back to wrap her hands around his thighs. Her nails dug in and Mason groaned.
“When I’m done with you, you won’t give Kieran another passing thought.”
Kieran who? As far as Charlie was concerned, Mason Decker was the only man on the planet.
He continued to lick, bite, and kiss her neck. He kept one hand wound in the length of her hair and the other reached around to fondle her breast. Charlie arched into his touch, her nerve endings fired all at once and she was flooded with pleasure. There was nothing shy or tentative about the way Mason put his hands on her. With intent. He touched her as though he knew what it would evoke in her.
How much more could she take before Mason reduced her to a begging, quivering bundle of sensation and want?
“Tell me you want me, Charlie.”
The words left her lips on a breath. “I do.”
“Only me.”
How could Mason possibly think there would be anyone else after this? “Only you.”
He angled his body over hers and Charlie rested her forearms on the dresser as he bent her over. His hand abandoned her breast and she swallowed down a whimper of disappointment. His palm wrapped around her torso. Her eyes drifted shut from the delicious heat. Slowly, his fingers followed the contours of her body, to her hip and then over her ass. Her heart hammered in her chest, her breath raced as Mason fiddled with the tiny strip of lace at her crease and ran his fingers beneath it.
“Do you like that, Charlie?”
“God, yes.” She could barely work the words past her lips.
He ventured lower, between her thighs. Mason’s fingers teased her opening, skirted the sensitive outer lips of her labia and her clit. She’d never been touched so perfectly before. Charlie spread her legs wider in invitation but Mason continued to pet her slowly. Featherlight touches that stoked her desire without bringing her any relief. He dipped the tip of one finger inside of her. Just deep enough to further test her resolve.
“How about that?” he asked close to her ear.
This time, Charlie did nothing to stifle her moan. “Deeper.” She didn’t care if she sounded wanton. Her pussy ached, her clit throbbed. Mason continued to tease her, and the only thing that would bring her any measure of relief was his cock buried deep inside of her.
�
�Not yet,” he murmured. “I want your walls down, Charlie.”
He wanted her inhibitions obliterated? No problem. She was practically there already. “I don’t beg.” Mason might have Charlie where he wanted her, but she wasn’t about to let him know it yet.
“You will,” he assured her. “Give me a second.”
Flames of desire licked at her and Charlie’s stomach did a dazzling backflip. His mouth met the back of her neck once again and she shuddered. Her back arched as she tried to deepen the thrust of his finger, but Mason pulled back. He nipped her shoulder and the quick sting sent a rush of wetness between her thighs.
“Don’t move.”
A smile curved Charlie’s lips. “Not an inch.”
She and Mason both were used to being in charge. Charlie enjoyed the power play. Encouraged it. She’d been prepared to march into this room tonight and take control. Instead, she’d given it all to Mason. And oh, God, did it turn her on.
Mason continued with shallow strokes of his finger. His hand splayed out across her ass and Charlie bucked as his thumb ventured higher up the crease to circle the opening and the tight ring of nerves. No one had ever touched her there before. Hell, no one had dared. The sensation wasn’t unpleasant. Rather, the slow, easy circles he made around the opening enhanced Charlie’s pleasure to the point that slow sobs built in her throat. Her hips rocked into the contact and Mason nipped at her shoulder once again.
She stilled as a thrill chased through her. Already this was the most intense, exciting encounter of her life, and they’d only just begun.
Charlie gripped the dresser as she tried to steady her careening world. Mason released his grip on her hair in favor of returning his attention to her breast. He pulled the cup of her bra down and teased her nipple to a stiff, aching peak. She cried out as pleasure crested within her, so many sensations that melded together to cast a haze of mindless pleasure over Charlie’s brain.