He smirked. “But Jarvis is bringing us tea.”
“You have two choices, Whittaker. You can take me upstairs or wherever the closest bedroom is and we can do this in private, or we can remain here and Jarvis will share in your first glimpse of me completely naked.”
“I see. Well, I’m not sure the bloke’s heart could take it,” he murmured. He took my hand, led me from the sitting room, and up the grand staircase I’d seen when we came in.
By the time we reached a closed door, I was ready to rip Wilder’s clothes from his body. Instead, I began removing mine.
We went into a bedroom, and as he watched, I unbuttoned my blouse and slid it off my shoulders. I reached behind to unfasten my bra.
“Trousers first,” he said, coming and kneeling in front of me. He moved my hands away and unfastened my belt, then the button, and finally, the zipper. Wilder reached behind and grabbed my bottom with both of his hands. He yanked my pants down and over my hips. When I tried to lower my panties, he swatted my hands away.
“Shoes.” He unzipped my ankle boots and slowly took each one off. “Step out,” he said, removing my pants from around my ankles. “I want to see you like this. Get on the bed, Wren.”
I rested my head on the pillows and watched as he slowly spread my legs and came to kneel between them. He ran his finger over the lace of my black panties.
“I like this,” he said, fingering the bright-pink bow that rested just above my pulsating sex. “And this,” he said, reaching up to tug on the same color bow on my bra.
With one hand, he kneaded my breast, while with the other, he snaked two fingers under the black lace and into my wetness.
When his mouth followed his fingers, I felt as though my body would split apart.
“I need to see you,” I begged, pulling at his shirt.
Wilder stood and removed it, tossing it in the same pile where my clothes had landed. He unzipped his pants and let them fall to his feet.
I raised a brow and smiled. “Commando?”
“Always.”
My eyes ran the length of his now-naked body, wondering how in the world I was going to accommodate him.
“Please, God, tell me you have a condom,” I groaned.
Wilder picked up the same pants he’d just tossed aside and pulled one out of his pocket.
“Is that the only one you have?” I whined.
He smiled. “Not by a long shot, darling.”
I was mesmerized by the way he moved. My eyes trailed from his hardness, up his ridiculously ripped torso.
“Take off the bra first and then the knickers,” he demanded as he rolled on the condom. He got back on the bed, resting between my legs.
“You are magnificent,” he muttered, running his hands from my shoulders, toying with my nipples, fingertips grazing my ticklish tummy, until finally, finally he rested against me.
“Put me inside of you,” he said, gasping as I reached for him. “Now, Wren,” he demanded when my hands took too long exploring.
“Legs around me.” He moved just slightly, and I moaned.
“Give me a second,” I said.
“One thousand and one,” he said, thrusting hard into me.
My body arched, and my heels dug into his back while my fingers did the same to his shoulders.
Wilder wrapped my long red hair around his hand and held tight as his motions went from slow and calculated to fast, hard, and frenzied.
As his body thrust into mine, his mouth devoured my mouth.
“More,” I begged, and he rocked forward until his body was flush against me. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I could feel his hands as they grasped my bottom, holding me still as he jackhammered into me.
“Wilder…God…I can’t…” I could barely speak. He’d kept me on the edge for so long, and now I felt the climax barreling through me.
“Wait,” he said as I clenched around him.
“I can’t…”
He moved his hips and surged into me. “Now.”
I’d never been a screamer, until today. Over and over, I screamed his name as I writhed and rode the pleasure his body was delivering to mine.
“We aren’t done,” he said, rolling until I was on top of him.
“I can’t,” I repeated for the third time.
“You can,” he said, standing and walking over to the wall with me wrapped around him. My arms were tight around his neck as he pounded into me, using the full force of his powerful legs.
He impaled me, giving me one final thrust before he made me take all of him. He buried his head in my neck, licking the moisture from my skin as I felt him explode inside me. I clung to him as he carried me back over to the bed.
“Don’t move,” he said as he went into the adjoining bath to dispose of the condom.
When he came back, I was attempting to crawl under the blankets.
“Are you cold?”
“Not yet,” I said, still trying to slow my breathing, “but I will be.”
“No, my sweet Wren. You will not.”
When he covered my body with his, I knew he intended to keep mine well heated.
15
Wilder
Once I was certain Wren was asleep, I crawled out from next to her. Logs were stacked in the fireplace, so all I had to do was light the kindling, and soon it would be roaring.
I walked over to the door, delighted to see that someone had delivered our bags. I brought them in, unzipped an outer pocket, and put the package of condoms in the drawer of the bedside table. I may have been overly optimistic, but my every instinct screamed that Wren wanted me as much as I wanted her, so I’d packed them.
While it had been a much longer stretch without sex than I was accustomed to, it wasn’t just abstinence that drove my body to take hers in the way I had.
It was so much more. It was her. Our bodies fit as though God had made them two perfect pieces of a puzzle. Her cries drove me on, building my need while quenching my desire. Even now, as she’d just drifted to sleep, I craved more from her.
I studied her delicate features. She looked so peaceful and not the slightest bit stressed as she had since the day she’d first walked into my office. Had it been days? Not a week. Not even seventy-two hours, and yet, I felt as though I’d known Finley “Wren” Harlow for most of my life.
Earlier, I’d expected to feel anger when I realized she hadn’t been honest about whom she really worked for. Even that she knew whom Matthew had been working with, hadn’t driven me to rage. Instead, the only time I’d felt myself hovering near the breaking point was when she didn’t confirm or deny whether my family was in danger.
For now, it was up to Shiver and Pinch to make sure they weren’t. Rivet too. My only concern was the woman who turned her body in her sleep and reached for me. I drew her onto my chest, and she snuggled against me. “Wilder,” she murmured.
I ran the fingertips of one hand over the soft skin of her back while I covered her breast with the other.
I was serious about not letting her prevent me from having constant access to her body.
I had no idea what she’d expected from me. Perhaps she’d decided that no Englishman could take her body in a way it never had been before, but she couldn’t be more wrong. I’d push her every limit, bring her to heights of pleasure she didn’t know existed. When I said we were just getting started, I meant it.
Wren rolled over so her back was to my front. I nestled my hardness between the cheeks of her luscious bottom and snaked my hand around to cup her sex.
She moaned and writhed when I put two fingers inside her wetness. She was as ready for me as I was for her.
I woke at dawn and smiled, looking at the beautiful creature in bed beside me.
I’d taken her again and again throughout the night; each time her passion rose to mine.
I wondered what she’d say, how she’d react, if I made good on my promise not to allow her to dress today. Would she balk, or would it excite her?
I
ntuitively, I knew that Wren would respond best if I took charge and gave her limited choices. Regardless of whom she worked for, she was a badass, take-charge, get-the-job-done professional. When I demanded she relinquish control, though, I could feel her arousal surge.
Today I planned to get to know every inch of her body by daylight. I’d instructed Jarvis to have food and drink delivered outside the bedroom door so we didn’t have to leave its confines.
When there was the faintest knock at the door, I wasn’t certain if I imagined it. When I heard it again, I eased Wren off my arm, got out of bed, and pulled on my trousers. I opened the door to find a cart like one might see in a hotel, laden with coffee, tea, assorted breakfast pastries, and fruit. I wheeled it inside and saw Wren sitting up in bed, the sheet pulled up to just below her chin.
“Drop it,” I said, closing the door behind me.
She grinned and pulled it higher.
“You’re going to regret that, my sweet little bird.”
She squealed when I stalked to the bed and pulled the sheet from her hands. I lay beside her and buried my face between her breasts, rewarded with the glorious sound of Wren’s giggles.
“Stop,” she said, pushing me away. “I smell coffee. I need coffee.”
“You Yanks and your coffee,” I winked, getting up to pour her a cup. I added cream and handed it to her.
“How did you know?”
“What’s that?” I asked, unfastening my trousers, letting them drop to the floor, and joining her on the bed.
“Cream. No sugar.”
“I’ll never tell.”
“Oh my God,” she groaned as she took a sip. “For a country that consumes twenty times more tea than coffee, you sure do it well.”
“It’s the French influence.”
“I don’t care what it is. It’s divine.”
I stood, poured myself a cup of tea, set it on the bedside table, and made Wren a plate of food.
“I could get used to the view from here,” she murmured. When I turned around, I found her looking at my backside rather than out the window.
“Me too.” I pulled the sheet all the way from her body and handed her the plate of pastries and fruit.
She broke off a piece of croissant and popped it into her mouth, followed by a strawberry. My mouth watered with want to taste her as much as the fruit.
Wren set the plate on the table near her side of the bed and pulled her knees up to her chin.
“We need to talk.”
I took a sip of tea and put it on my side table. “We don’t. Not if you aren’t ready.”
“I am, and I do want you to know that I’m sorry I wasn’t honest with you about who I work for.”
“You must have had your reasons.”
“I wasn’t honest about why I was really in England either.”
“I’m aware.”
“I’ve managed to fly well under the radar since the start of my career. Those days, I fear, are over. Whoever tried to kill—killed—Caird, may know who I am and why I’m in the UK.”
“To extradite Caird.”
“Yes, that was my plan. However, it was only as a matter of convenience in order to allow me to maintain my cover as an officer of the US Department of Homeland Security.”
I raised a brow. By her body language alone, I knew she was lying. Why, when she was confessing everything else?
“You have heard, I’m sure, of the Five Eyes.”
I shifted my weight off my arm and sat up, suddenly feeling as though I should put my clothes on.
“Jesus. You work for Vera.”
Wren nodded.
Amelia “Vera” Watkins was the current and first female head of National Centre for Geospatial Intelligence—one of the “Five Eyes” Wren referenced. Formally known as the Allied System for Geospatial Intelligence, or ASG, the organization’s other four members were the Australian Geospatial-Intelligence Organisation, the Canadian Forces Intelligence Command, GEOINT New Zealand, and the UK’s own, National Centre for Geospatial Intelligence.
Vera, Z’s mystery contact, was considered to be among the most powerful women in worldwide intelligence.
“I’m curious…”
“Go ahead.”
“How does Z rate direct access to Watkins?”
Wren threw her head back and laughed. “Of all the questions you could’ve asked.”
“Does he know who she is?”
“Yes.”
“What about Sanborn? Who is she to you?”
Wren rolled her eyes. “Amanda Sanborn believes she is my boss.”
I struggled not to laugh to the point where I found it necessary to cover my mouth with my hand.
“By the way, I’ve subsequently been briefed on what happened between the two of you.”
The smile left my face. “How? Never mind. That’s the kind of question my sister would ask.”
“I’m sorry I wasn’t honest with you, Wilder, but I needed you to believe I was who you were told I was.”
While I understood, I didn’t like it. In fact, I was beginning to feel very well-played indeed. I stood, put on not only my trousers, but my shirt as well. Wren, however, stayed right where she was, not even pulling the sheet up to cover herself.
“I don’t know much,” she backtracked. “Only that she was smitten.”
“That’s one word for it.”
Wren held out her hand, but I didn’t take it.
How could I describe to her the way I felt when I didn’t understand it myself?
Emasculated? Yes.
Foolish? Definitely.
As I had in my office when Z proposed George take over my job at MI5, I was stunned that all this time, I’d believed I had the upper hand with Miss Harlow. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
“Wilder?”
My back was to her, and I wasn’t certain I could bring myself to turn around. When I didn’t, I heard her padding toward me. She stood before me, naked as she had been since last night.
“Please don’t tell me that I shouldn’t have confided in you.”
“Why did you?”
“Was I here alone last night?”
I looked into her eyes “What do you mean?”
“That may have been standard operating procedure for you, Whittaker, but it wasn’t for me. I’ve never, ever experienced the pleasure you gave me. I can’t imagine that anyone else could ever satisfy me again. It isn’t just that, Wilder. I felt a connection. Was I wrong?”
I studied her eyes, the expression on her face. Was she playing me further? I didn’t think so, but I never would’ve guessed whom she really worked for either.
“I need time.”
“Why?” she asked, taking a step back and covering herself with a throw that had been at the end of the bed.
I struggled with how to respond. “You’ve cut me off a bit at my knickers.”
Wren shook her head. “Wow. Really? I don’t think I’ve ever been so disappointed in my life. I thought you were…so much more.” I watched as she grabbed her clothes, but instead of putting them on, she spun around and glared at me. “You said you needed time. Go.” She turned her back.
I stood my ground. I didn’t want to stay, but I didn’t want to leave either. Hadn’t I told myself that Wren was as badass as they came? Yet she’d responded to me in a way that assured me, without any question, she wanted me to take charge. She hadn’t been the aggressor once, with the exception of when she’d threatened to bare her body to Jarvis.
She hadn’t hesitated with anything I’d ask of her once she got over her initial surprise when I demanded she expose the breasts I longed to touch at this moment.
This was it, the moment of reckoning. Whatever I chose to do in the next few seconds would determine how it would be between us from now on.
“No, I bloody won’t go,” I growled, taking her by the shoulders and spinning her around to face me. There was nothing I could say that would undo the damage I’d done in the last few minutes
, but there was plenty I could do with my body.
I wrenched the clothes from her hands and tossed them across the room. The throw landed in the same pile. I pinned her hands behind her back with one hand while I grasped the back of her neck with the other.
I was close enough to kiss her, but I wouldn’t. “One more time, Wren. Tell me this is what you want.”
“More than anything.”
16
Wren
There wasn’t a single place on my body that didn’t ache, but if Wilder asked to do it all again, I wouldn’t hesitate. He knew exactly how far to push me without going over the edge into something that wouldn’t excite me.
I had no interest in being tied up or spanked or any of the other creepy things people seemed obsessed with as of late.
But Wilder got it. He demanded things of me, but all for my own pleasure. He was the most unselfish lover I’d ever been with. He drove me hard and then was so gentle it almost brought me to tears.
I’d been afraid he was going to walk out on me earlier. If he had, I would’ve been devastated. I’d let my guard down, let him in, even told him whom I worked for. If he had walked away then, I knew I’d never trust any man again.
We still had a lot to talk about. There was more I needed to tell him, but now wasn’t the right time. In fact, until Wilder brought it up, I wouldn’t say another word.
I looked down and saw his eyes were open and he was studying me.
“You’ve worn me out, lass,” he said, reaching up to tweak my exposed nipple. Even that sent pleasure surging through my body.
“Wilder…I…”
He leaned up, resting on his elbow. “Out with it.”
“You’re amazing.”
He smiled, but then scrunched his eyes. “What were you going to say before you talked yourself out of it?”
“Thank you for bringing me here. I’m not the kind of person who accepts help easily.”
“You’re welcome, and like I said to you once before—in a time and place that feels years ago—I’m honored that you trust me.”
The Lord and the Spy Page 9