She clenched deep inside as his hot breath sent tremors through her. Oh dear God. Although she knew her step was steady, her legs felt wobbly when he let her go so she could bend over the table to prepare to take her shot. She was willing to bet money he was staring at her ass as she adjusted the cue and poked at the white ball.
And missed it completely.
His chuckle made her clench again. She felt the heat of him as he leaned up close against her, his large hands closing over hers, which were still grasping the cue, to give them a squeeze. Then he reached one hand further out, making a triangle with two of his fingers over her cue. She felt very aware of the loose cowl neck of her top. Could he see the top of her breasts? Probably.
“Shoot through there,” he said. “Break hard.”
His legs were pressed up against the back of hers, his chest pressed against her back. She couldn’t believe they were wasting time playing this game. She jabbed at the white ball again. It seemed easy enough, but she barely hit it hard enough to touch the colored balls. So much for breaking hard. The triangle of balls broke ever so slightly.
“All lower body strength for you, huh?” He must be remembering the kicks she’d thrown the night before. He straightened up and moved to the corner of the table to get a better angle on the white ball.
At least she could think- a little- now that they weren’t pressed right up against each other. She enjoyed the sight of him positioning himself as his eyes narrowed, focused on the ball. This guy did everything with intensity. She reached for her margarita. “I have strength when it counts, as you learned when you landed on the mat last night.”
Reese gave her a glance before re-focusing on the ball. “So what, exactly, is an Information Scientist and how did one come to study krav maga, of all the forms of martial arts out there?” Reese took his shot, easily making the balls scatter. When a bright red one dropped into a pocket, he said, “I’m solids.”
Elle watched him circle the table, studying the balls to determine his next shot. He hadn’t forgotten that bit of banter while they were sparring. He was awfully interested in her. Was this typical for a hook up? She really wished there was an operations manual she could consult. It wouldn’t hurt to answer the question; she’d probably confuse him more than anything else anyway.
“I analyze and organize large datasets, using mathematical models.” She started her drill. “Before the twenty-first century and the internet, librarians organized data, but data was mostly in books and materials in libraries. With technology and the internet, more data has been created and shared than ever before, and it needs to be organized. That’s what I do.”
Reese gave her such an intense look, she felt as if she was pinned against the wall. “So you’re a librarian?”
Elle made a show of rolling her eyes as she took another sip of her margarita. “Librarian is an antiquated twentieth century term.” She grinned to make it clear she wasn’t really upset. There was no way she was derailing this hook up over irritation about terminology.
He glanced up at her. “My apologies: I’m just a dumb military grunt.” His grin in return told her he wasn’t put off. “But where does krav maga fit in there?” He bent down, preparing to take his next shot.
“It’s a great workout.” Elle tried to think of how to spin the conversation to get away from this. She didn’t want to get into talking about her cover job. “You think a geek like me shouldn’t be able to kick some ass, too?”
Reese’s eyes seemed to flicker with a flame from within. “I know you can.” He took another shot, sunk another ball, before again met her eyes. “I just know you can’t learn everything in a book.”
“You’d be surprised.” She was on thin ice here, because he was right: martial arts weren’t learned by reading about them. She tried to think about what to say. “A Navy SEAL who moonlights as an investigator.” She took another sip of her margarita. “I like it.”
Reese eyed her for a moment before focusing on the table. “An Information Scientist who’s skilled in E&E: I like that.”
E&E: escape and evade. He knew she was dodging his questions. Dammit. His movements were so smooth, it looked like he was stalking prey. Something told her he was used to being successful in his hunts. She took a big swallow of her drink. “A girl’s gotta know how to escape and evade sometimes. Especially when a predator has her in his sights.”
Reese took another shot before standing up, eyeing her even more closely. How was it possible for a look to get so sharp? “Now how do you know E&E means ‘escape and evade’?”
Elle would have cut her tongue out at that moment if it didn’t entail, well, actually cutting her tongue out. What a dumb ass mistake to make. If Mason could hear her now, he’d have all the evidence he needed to yank her out of the field. Permanently. She stifled a nervous laugh. It was the quickest way to give away a lie. “I take it you do interrogations for the SEALs?”
“Yep.” Reese leaned on his cue, giving her his full attention. “My men capture them, and I question them.”
Of course he did. She shook her head to clear it and let her hair fly out a bit. Something told her it wouldn’t be an effective distraction, but she needed to buy every second she could. “I was helping a student research military special operations.” She didn’t even have a moment to feel a guilty twinge about the lie rolling off her tongue: she was just grateful for thinking of it as she shrugged. “He wanted to know about the lifestyle, the lingo, that kind of stuff.” She was proud of herself: her explanation was entirely plausible.
Now it was time for some more evasion. She pretended to pout just the slightest bit and batted her eyelashes. “Do you want to interrogate me further in private?” She didn’t even feel her cheeks blush. She was getting the hang of this.
He crooked his finger, motioning for her to come over to where he was standing. She could hear her heart thudding in her ears as she approached him. He barely stood back far enough from the table to allow her to bend over, but the position did get her pretty close to the white ball. His voice seemed to deepen as he told her, “Your shot.”
“Single-minded focus: yours is admirable.” She bent over the table, adjusting her cue. “It seems easy enough: just hit the white ball.”
“I finish what I start.” Reese bent over her again. Did his lips brush the side of her neck? She could have sworn he sniffed her hair, but she forced herself to concentrate on his forearm and then his fingers as he again made a little triangle for her to shoot through. His other hand rested on her arm. “Focus: we’ll make a pool shark out of you yet, Information Scientist. Lesson one: the ‘white ball’ is called the cue ball.”
Her laugh escaped, spontaneous, mingling with his chuckle, which she could feel rumble in his chest against her back. “I’m pretty much your run-of-the-mill geek: pool isn’t part of my repertoire.” It wasn’t so hard to call herself one now that it wasn’t true. He seemed to like the fact that she was a geek who could kick ass; she certainly did. She wished she could tell him the real reason she knew krav maga: it might appeal to him.
“There’s nothing run-of-the-mill about you.” His lips brushed the top of her head as he spoke, making her realize just how many nerve endings existed in her scalp. She couldn’t help breathing deeply, enjoying a whiff of his aftershave. She wanted to luxuriate in the scent and heat of him.
Elle forced herself to focus. “Something tells me you’re no run-of-the-mill military grunt.” She knew he wasn’t. A grunt wouldn’t have picked up on her E&E slip.
She took her shot, aided by the strength from his hand. She actually managed to hit the white ball, and it did hit a striped ball, but the striped ball didn’t roll far enough to sink into a pocket. Honestly, she didn’t really mind. Winning right now had nothing to do with this game.
Reese stood up, leaving her feeling almost chilly without him, as he walked around the table. “You’re the one with the woman of mystery thing going on.”
She blinked. Somehow, being call
ed a “woman of mystery” didn’t give her quite the thrill she wanted. What the hell was her problem? As Mason occasionally asked her, had she forgotten who she worked for?
Elle took a deep swallow of her margarita. This was a hook up. By definition it meant they didn’t know each other. Even if it wasn’t a hook up, she couldn’t break her cover, but it was a moot point since this was a hook up, dammit. Did she need to tattoo it on her arm as a reminder or something?
Elle let herself take in his sleek, muscled body. She enjoyed watching his shoulder and bicep muscles work as he prepared to take his shot. He moved with finesse, but it was in no way feminine. He had the lithe movements of a predatory cat, a leopard or a tiger. This guy was one-hundred and ten percent male.
He gave her a knowing wink before taking his shot, sinking yet another ball in a pocket. “So somehow you work magic with numbers to make sense of all the data out there,” he said as he moved to another part of the table. “Seems like a waste to be doing it for the Library of Congress and some school libraries. We need people like you up at Langley and in the NSA.”
Had she been made? She couldn’t stop herself from stiffening. Special operators couldn’t do anything on domestic soil and weren’t supposed to work against US citizens. No one would send out a SEAL to seduce her, for heaven’s sakes. What would be the point?
He looked up at her again when the silence dragged on for a little too long and gave her a teasing grin. “Relax- I know you’re not a spook.”
She made herself laugh. She needed to get a grip. Now. “Are you sure?” She hoped the teasing note in her voice was convincing as she sipped more of her margarita.
Reese took another shot, sinking several more of her balls. Then he looked at her again, eyes narrowed as if he was considering. “I think I’ll need to do a more comprehensive interrogation, just to be certain. In my line of work, we don’t take anything for granted. National Security could be at stake.”
Elle leaned against the wall, propped up on her elbows, as she raised an eyebrow in response. “Interrogate me all you’d like.”
She could hear Marni’s whoop from Charlottesville.
His eyes darkened again. Sometimes actions really were more powerful than words. “We’d better finish up this game.”
***
Once they reached the hotel room, Elle felt as if she was swept up into a tornado when Reese pulled her close. His lips and hands seemed to be everywhere as he kissed her so deeply he left her gasping for breath while he got her clothes off.
“Is this shock and awe?” Elle breathed between kisses. Her hands seemed to work of their own accord, pulling off his shirt, unbuckling his belt, undoing the button to his pants and then unzipping them.
Reese didn’t even slow down. “It’s a highly effective tactic for subduing the opposition.”
Subduing the opposition? She couldn’t even process that, but she liked how he was making her feel. Before she knew it, he was tossing her naked body onto the bed. With speed he must have learned in his SEAL training, he kicked off his pants and underwear and was pressed on top of her before she was even oriented to what was happening.
“You are one skilled operator,” she managed as she luxuriated in the feel of his skin against hers.
Reese’s breath blew against her skin as his lips paused their exploration to speak. “This is my specialty.” Then he began kissing his way down his body, setting off more tingles with each touch of his lips. He placed his hands on the soft skin of her inner thighs, pushing them further apart as he lowered his head.
Yes, this was his specialty. She couldn’t help her slight gasp when she felt his warm breath on her most intimate body parts. He lifted his head to look up at her, and she wanted to say something but couldn’t catch her breath enough to talk.
With the slightest of smiles that told her he knew the effect he was having on her, he lowered his head again. “Another thing you can’t pick up from a book.” How did his breath actually seem hotter?
The first lick had her eyes rolling back into her head even as she tried to think enough to speak. Her breast heaved as she gasped when he raised his head just enough to look at her. His confident smile told her he enjoyed the view.
Then he lowered his head again and his lips and tongue got to work, making her upper body undulate on the bedspread they again hadn’t even bothered to pull down. He kept her lower body immobile so he could do exactly as he wanted. Her body heated up as her heart pounded, pumping blood through her body as her muscles tightened. She heard her own gasps, which deepened into moans, until she was crying out as his hands tightened on her thighs.
She barely registered him sitting up, and although she saw him put on a condom, she couldn’t really even process the image.
Then he was rolling her onto her front, with a grip that managed to be both gentle yet firm. Resisting him would do her no good. She felt his hands on her hips, lifting her up. She enjoyed the stretch in her lower back even as she settled onto her knees. Although she could have remained in that position, with her cheek lying on the comforter, she pushed herself up onto her hands as she felt the heat of him right behind her. His hands tightened on her hips as she felt him pushing in with one strong stroke as if he couldn’t wait to ease in slowly.
She gasped at the fullness as she felt his chest pressing against her back while his hands slid up her stomach to cup her breasts. He surrounded her with his heat as he stroked in and out, deeper and deeper, and then faster. She couldn’t stop herself from rubbing up against him, enjoying the roughness of his skin and the hardness of his muscles.
She heard moans that were growing louder, deeper, and vaguely registered that they were coming from her. She was sure her heart had never beat so fast, even during the most grueling parts of her physical training, but it didn’t matter because everything he did felt so good as one hand slid down so his fingers could rub and press her in a way that had her eyes rolling into the back of her head as he moved even faster. Her whole body tightened, impossibly tight, until she felt as if she exploded. Then he held himself deep within her as he bit the soft skin where her neck met her shoulder, making her shudder.
When he pulled back, she felt as if her muscles had turned to jelly. She would’ve fallen flat onto her face if he hadn’t held her up and set her on her side with a gentleness that made her melt even more. Somehow he managed to get the comforter down and then the sheet before settling her under them.
***
Elle actually drifted off. She had no idea how long she’d been asleep before awakening with a start. Now, however, she was aware of the warmth coming from his body as he lay next to her.
This was a hook up. That was it. Sleeping together- well, actually sleeping together- was not part of the deal.
She shifted to her side, intending to slide out of bed, when his heavy arm wrapped around her very naked waist. It was like a steel band, holding her in place.
“Where do you think you’re going?” His voice was heavy with the grogginess of sleep, but he didn’t sound too foggy. He pulled her flush up against him. Darkness blanketed them, which just seemed to heighten her other senses, especially her sense of touch.
Elle felt herself melting at the skin-to-skin contact. God, this man was like a drug. “I didn’t mean to wake you up,” she whispered.
He kissed her bare shoulder, then nipped it with his teeth, sending sparks through her. “I’ve been waiting for you to wake up.” He leaned into her with his body, pushing her onto her stomach, and settled his legs between hers, forcing her thighs apart. “You haven’t done this much, have you?”
One hand slid underneath her to cup one of her breasts while his other hand slid lower, between her legs, as she felt him harden. Her body seemed to respond automatically as she pressed herself into him, loving the feel of him, as he brought her body to life with his fingers.
“We’re not done yet.” His breath tickled her ear as he leaned into her, pressing her into the mattress, before he thrus
t deep. “We’re not done by a long shot.”
“Bossy,” she managed to get out. It was like he could bring her body to life.
He nipped her throat as his fingers truly seemed to play her body like an instrument. “You seem to enjoy it.”
The only thing she could manage in response was a moan.
***
Elle had heard of the phrase “looking well and truly tumbled.” Looking at her reflection in the hotel bathroom mirror the next morning, she now knew what it meant. Her hair was all over the place. Her lips were swollen. She even had, for the first time in her life, some hickeys. At least the hickeys were on her shoulders instead of her neck. Her muscles had never felt so loose. They felt so loose, in fact, she was surprised her legs supported her for walking.
Had they had sex three or four times? She couldn’t even begin to count the number of orgasms she’d had. Reese may move with the grace of a tiger or a panther, but he had the stamina of a bull. The night was a delicious haze.
She didn’t even try to stop the grin that all but split her face in two.
He’d woken her up with a flurry of kisses before apologetically telling her he had to leave for an early training. She recalled him asking if he could have her number, and she remembered managing to murmur out a yes. She’d barely been able to lift her eyelids to see him picking up her cell out of her purse. She had to get out of there herself, go home and shower before going to work, but she had to do something with her hair before set foot outside of this hotel room.
Elle was tempted to take a picture of her wild bedhead for Marni and Tina’s amusement but thought better of it. They would probably fear she had been attacked. And if the CIA monitored her phone, which they likely did, well, Mason would never let her live that picture down.
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