by Julie Kenner
He had to believe she felt the same way.
“Kyle.” His name was a breathy whisper.
“Hmmm?”
“Get naked.”
“Anything you want.”
“I already told you,” she said. “I want you. And I want you naked. And I want you inside me.”
Her words shot straight to his penis, and he stiffened, fighting the urge to simply sink into her right then, right there. Instead he took five slow breaths and fought for control, then eased jeans and boxers off and kicked them aside.
“Better,” she said. Her fingers teased him, one hand stroking his back, the other finding his hard shaft and stroking him there. He drew in a strangled breath. From the first moment he’d seen her, he’d wanted her, and now she was here. For now, at least, she was his.
He groaned, his entire body filling with pure, sexual need. He wanted to take it slow, to savor every touch, every moment. But as he stroked her bare flesh and watched the way her chest rose and fell, her breathing ragged, he knew that wasn’t possible. He had to have her, and he had to have her now.
He claimed her with his mouth, and she leaned forward to meet him. Their mouths warred, tasting and demanding, full of heat and lust. He groaned, his entire body on fire, and he broke the kiss.
“I want to see you,” he said, his voice gruff.
Her eyes were wide, her lips swollen, and she looked absolutely beautiful. “I’m right here,” she whispered.
“So you are.”
He stood back a bit, letting his gaze cover all of her, and rubbed his palms over her bare skin. Her breath came low and strangled, and he felt himself harden as he slipped his hands up to cup her breasts.
She writhed against him, her passionate, needy movements urging him on, calling to him, making him hotter than he could ever remember being.
“Please.” Her voice was a strangled whisper.
He lowered his mouth to her breast, tasting her, laving her as she moaned beneath him. And then he raised himself, looking deep into her eyes. “Please, what?”
“Now. Dammit, Kyle, now.”
The need in her voice shot straight through him like a lightning bolt, setting his blood on fire. He burned with need, and right then all he needed was her. He had a condom in his wallet, and he bent down, fumbling for it. He slipped it on, then moved back in front of her, cradled in the sweet heaven between her thighs. He cupped her rear, lifting her up as he thrust against her, wanting to go slowly and gently, but she was so slick, so wet, that he thrust inside, needing all of her right then. She cried out “yes” and clutched his back, her fingers digging into his shoulders as they rocked together, a sensual dance that would lead them both to heaven.
Her soft moans increased, turning into little cries of passion, and with each sound she uttered, he came that much closer to the edge. Her tight, velvety heat stroked him, and he thrust again and again, claiming her, needing her, his entire body lost in a haze of passion.
The pressure built and built, and when he heard her needy moans turn to cries of satisfaction his release finally came, his body shattering into a million pieces. Then he collapsed against her, rolling her over until they both lay on the heavy oak conference table surrounded by leftovers and a shambles of paper.
She trailed her fingers up and down his back. “That was wonderful,” she said.
He pressed a light kiss to her breast. “Yeah?”
“Yeah,” she said, her voice soft and dreamy. “As a matter of fact, I think I’d like to do that again.” She looked at him all wide-eyed and innocent. He had to grin. She wasn’t innocent. Not at all.
And he was more than happy to comply with her request.
* * *
THEY SPENT TWO HOURS making love and by the time Mel settled back into the padded conference room chair to focus on the papers once again, she was thoroughly sated. She knew she should work, but she was curious about this man, and so she watched him, idly tapping the eraser of her pencil on the tabletop.
He looked up, his eyes bright with amusement. “If you can’t concentrate, I can think of something else we can do.”
“Tempting,” she said, “but I think I need a little break.”
“Girls,” he said. “No stamina.”
She tossed the pencil at him. “Okay, Mr. Macho Man. Tell me how you got into this security stuff in the first place.”
He leaned back in his chair. “I guess it started with my parents,” he said. “They were diplomats, so we lived in embassies all over the world. I used to chat up all the security guys and military police and stuff. That was the only thing I liked about that life. The best times were coming here to spend a month or two with my grandmother.”
“Where are your parents now?”
“Retired. Switzerland.”
“Nice.”
He nodded. “At any rate, I guess my childhood fascination rubbed off, because I wanted to be a cop.” He flashed a mischievous grin. “Actually, I think I would have preferred your profession. The rush of adrenaline, the thrill of getting away with something. Except for that whole illegal thing, I’d say you had the perfect career.”
“Yeah, that downside was unfortunate,” she said, deadpan.
She could tell he was fighting a grin. “At any rate, I did the cop thing for about ten years, then realized that I hated reporting to someone else. I’d grown up pretty independently and I have trust fund money, so I quit the force and opened my own security business.” He spread his hands wide to encompass the office. “The rest is history.”
“You already told me you’ve been friends with Brent forever,” she said, “but what about your other friends? Anybody I’m going to meet tomorrow night that I should know about? What about old girlfriends? Ex-wives?”
“My family’s big, but my actual circle is pretty small,” he said. “We moved so much, and then I’ve only been back in Orange County for a couple of years. As for wives…” He made a face. “Got close once. Didn’t stick.” He focused on her. “What about you?”
“Never even got close,” she said. “And as for friends…” She shrugged. “It’s hard to make really close friends when you have a huge secret hanging over you.”
“It’s not that bad a secret,” he said. “I think a friend would understand.”
“Maybe.” She’d had some girlfriends in college, but had never pushed the point. It wasn’t worth the risk. Wasn’t worth seeing them look at her with disapproval in their eyes. “At any rate, it’s not an issue now because I’ve gone straight. So no more secrets.”
“Good for you.”
“Right. Good for me.” She licked her lips and focused on the papers in front of her, suddenly uncomfortable with the conversation. So far, at least, Kyle hadn’t treated her any differently and he knew her secret. A tiny part of her wondered if maybe, just maybe, they could let this thing between them grow.
But she quashed the thought. She was being sentimental and foolish, letting good sex push out sound reasoning. She was here to do a job, and she needed to get busy.
Thirty minutes later, she was camped out in front of Brent’s computer, a pad of paper in front of her and an Internet search engine pulled up on the screen. Her mind kept drifting back to their earlier encounter on the conference room table, and she pressed her legs together, fighting the urge to call Kyle over for the repeat performance she so desperately craved.
Determined to work, she paged through the hits, scribbling down suppliers for various bits of electronic equipment, the kind all the best burglars imported from Germany and Switzerland and utilized to circumvent state-of-the-art alarm systems. The equipment wasn’t cheap, but it would do the job.
She hoped Kyle didn’t balk at the cost—the tally was really adding up—but she doubted he would. The business was worth more to him than mere money. She suspected he’d pay to fix it out of his own pocket if necessary.
Across the room Kyle was tapping at his keyboard. From what she could tell, he was concentrating on work
just fine. Men. Well, she wasn’t about to be shown up. If he could focus, so could she.
“I think I got it,” Kyle said.
“Got what?”
“Schematics to the Driskell system. Brent was reorganizing the network, but I think I found them. I’ll print them for you.”
She shook her head. “Don’t bother.”
His eyebrows lifted in question.
“You want me to penetrate the current Driskell system, right? See if we can find the flaw and then test whatever fix you and Brent come up with?”
“Right.”
“And this is proprietary technology, yes? Not some system you bought at Wal-Mart?”
He didn’t even bother to answer that.
“My point,” she continued, “is that the thief didn’t have the schematics, so I don’t want them, either. At least not for round one. If I can’t get in, then I’ll take a look, see if I can find a weakness. But I want to make a go without the info first.”
“Fair enough,” he said.
“So, uh, you’re getting a lot done, huh?”
“Guess so, under the circumstances.”
“Circumstances?” she asked.
“Mostly I’m thinking about how I want to lay you across this desk and strip you naked.”
“Oh.” It was all she could do to force out a response. She tried to say something else, but couldn’t even manage a sound. Their eyes met, and she started to melt under his heated gaze. Her thighs tingled, and she knew that she was getting wet from nothing more than the look in his eyes.
The phone rang, yanking Mel back to reality. She crossed and uncrossed her legs, her attention refocusing on the list on her desk. Across the room Kyle answered the phone, and Mel tuned out the conversation, lost in her own little erotic haze. When she heard Ethan Driskell’s name, however, she banished fantasy and started to eavesdrop.
“I understand, Mr. Driskell. But finding the flaw will help us ensure that the upgrade is—Of course we’re confident in our system. The tests are simply to help us ascertain the problem.” Kyle ran his fingers through his hair. “Just a few days…. Well, that is understandable. When will you be back from vacation?…I see. Well, thank you. We’ll be in touch to schedule the upgrade installation.”
His face had hardened throughout the conversation, and as he hung up the phone, Mel was sure he was going to explode. She got up and crossed the room, settling herself on the desk in front of him.
He rested his palm on her thigh and looked up at her, a forced smile on his lips. “Hey.”
“Hey, yourself. What was that all about?”
“Driskell’s not going to give us access.”
“Well, that’s ridiculous. Doesn’t he know we need to test the system?”
“Says he’s going on vacation. Isn’t comfortable with someone at his place while he’s gone.”
He ran his fingers through his hair again, a gesture she was beginning to find both familiar and endearing. “Hang on a sec.”
He picked up the phone and dialed, then frowned. “It’s me. Where the hell are you? Call me back as soon as you get this message.”
“Brent?”
“Third message I’ve left today. Son of a bitch is supposed to be working at home.”
“He’s probably just too preoccupied to answer the phone.” She scooted back onto the desk so that she could maneuver her foot onto his leg and press her toes against his inner thigh. “Want me to make you too preoccupied to worry about it?”
He closed his eyes and drew in a noisy breath as his hand closed over her toes. “Don’t start something you’re not willing to finish, Melissa. Right here. Hard desks. Hard floor. Personally, I’d planned on round three being on a mattress with sheets and pillows.”
She urged her toes up higher, and was rewarded with the hard length of him underneath her foot. “Don’t be silly,” she said. “We’ve already proved that a hard table works great. Why mess with perfection?”
She wasn’t entirely sure how he managed it, but somehow now he was up and she was leaning back, her hands balanced on his desk. He was standing between her legs, and she locked her ankles behind him, then gave him a vixenlike grin. “All work and no play…”
He cupped the back of her neck, then kissed her, hard and demanding. Almost angry. She knew the anger wasn’t at her, though. He was ticked at Driskell and he wanted her. Passion and need. A potent recipe.
She couldn’t wait.
“Kyle. Please.”
“Please, what?” But he didn’t really need an answer. He knew. He stroked her thigh, his fingers sliding higher and higher. She drew in a breath and spread her legs just a little, silently urging him on. He took the hint, his fingers dancing around the edge of her panties.
“Wet,” he said.
She nodded, unable to speak. Her entire body was throbbing, her nipples rock hard. She was already wet and ready, and she wanted him again.
“I like that.” His hand cupped her sex, and she moaned, her hips gyrating as she tried to increase the contact between them, tried to get him to touch her just so, just there.
He slipped a finger underneath the elastic, then dipped inside her. She moaned, her body tightening around him, wanting him. “These keep getting in our way.”
She nodded, wordless, as he knelt in front of her, his hands tugging her panties down as she lifted her hips, silently helping him. He stayed on his knees then, and pressed a kiss to the side of her knee. He had a hint of five-o’clock shadow, and the graze of his whiskers on her sensitive skin drove her wild.
He tugged up her skirt until his hands were at her hips and she was half-naked, exposed for him. It was wild and decadent and just like before. And, like before, she wanted his touch so badly she thought she would scream.
He seemed to know what she wanted, and his lips traveled up her leg, higher and higher as his hands held her hips still, keeping her instinctual writhing in check.
“Kyle.” Her voice sounded hot and needy to her ears.
“Hush,” he murmured, and she gasped as his tongue slipped inside, finding her core and laving her, teasing her, bringing her right to the edge.
Oh, Lord.
She was close, so close, and he pressed further, his mouth working a magic on her as she arched her back, her body silently begging for him. The storm inside her grew and grew until she couldn’t take it any longer. Then it burst, and she cried out, her body trembling from pure sensual satisfaction.
He stood and kissed her lips, and she collapsed against him, exhausted.
“Oh, Kyle.”
He gathered her in his arms, pulling her onto his lap, holding her close. They stayed that way for an eternity, her body flowing back to normal, her need fading to the background until, finally, she could think again.
She was falling for him. Falling hard. So hard that she was having fantasies of happily ever after.
She cringed at the thought. That wasn’t the future, and she shouldn’t try to plan her life in a sexual haze. Help him, yes. Sleep with him, sure. Stay with him? That couldn’t be.
With effort, she forced herself to think not about Kyle but about his problem. About Driskell and the theft and what the hell they were going to do. Her thoughts wandered, her face pressed against his neck as she breathed in the musky scent of sex and tried to concentrate on work.
“Kyle?”
“Hmm?” He stroked her hair, the gesture somehow more intimate than sex.
“What about another house?”
He moved, shifting her slightly so that he could look at her. “Another house?”
“If Driskell won’t let you test his system, why not test another? Surely someone else has the same alarm system as Driskell. Maybe they’d agree to be our test case. It’s in their interest, too, to work out the kinks.” She cocked her head. “Or do you happen to have it at your place?”
“No. I’ve been so busy installing other people’s systems that I haven’t upgraded mine. But I like your idea.”
“So there is somebody?”
“Three somebodies actually. One of them will be at the party tonight. I’ll talk to him then.” He shifted them both and then stood up as she hopped to her feet. He planted a swift kiss on the end of her nose. “Thanks for helping me out, Mel. It means a lot to me.”
He squeezed her hand and she just about melted. She wanted to keep her distance, to put up walls by making some smart-aleck comment. But she didn’t. She couldn’t. And so she just squeezed right back and said, “I’m happy to help.” Because that was the absolute truth.
CHAPTER 8
“I’M SO GLAD you’re coming, too, Grandpa,” Mel said, her breath tickling the back of Kyle’s ear as he maneuvered his Jeep past the gates that marked the entrance to Emerald Cliffs. She was sitting in the back seat, having deferred shotgun to her grandfather. She was leaning forward so that she could talk to both of them.
Gregory Tanner cleared his throat. “I’m still a little surprised Miss Emily invited me. We haven’t…well, we haven’t really seen much of each other these past few years.”
“That’s probably why she invited you,” Kyle said. “To catch up on old times.” He braked at a stop sign, then turned to face the older man. “I should probably warn you, though, that I think she’s a bit enamored with your reputation. The Cat, I mean. Don’t be surprised if she wants to hear all your stories.”
“Not all of them, I hope,” Gregory said. “Melissa told me how you two first met. I certainly don’t want to share that escapade with your grandmother.”
Kyle laughed. “No, you’ve got a point. Probably best to keep any stories you tell limited to the old days.”
Gregory smiled. “That I can do.”
Kyle met Mel’s smile in the rearview mirror, her gaze reflecting her thoughts—they hadn’t told her grandfather everything. Kyle had picked them up at seven, easily finding Mel’s house in Mission Viejo, a more inland community about half an hour from his house in Laguna Beach and a few million dollars from Miss Emily’s palace in Emerald Cliffs.
“Don’t worry,” Kyle said, as they got close to the house. “Mel or I will rescue you if Emily starts to be too overbearing. She can be that way.”