The only way this scraping-the-bottom-of-the-barrel
plan would work was if he got his hands on her now.
He’d decided that on the cab ride over, knowing he’d have to make
it fast. They had little time to spare and needed to be on their way.
But if he got his hands on her now, she’d know what to expect later, and
her reaction wouldn’t be one of a condemned woman facing a firing squad.
Kelly John knocked a second time, waiting for Emma to make up her mind, to decide
whether his ass was worth saving.
Because for all her spouting off in Hank’s office about her loyalty to
her boss, she had no idea what she was getting herself into.
That by the end of tonight, her life might very well be strung up next to his
on the line.
The door opened. She smiled, standing there looking nothing like the woman he
knew from the office. Not that he knew her well—or knew her at all, but
he’d seen her. He’d noticed her.
He’d just never expected . . . this.
Her legs started with incredibly high heels and disappeared beneath the mid-thigh
hem of a black dress he’d have to ruck up to her waist to get under.
The thought gave him pause . . . and an electrical buzz over the skin cupped
tight to his balls.
He nodded, keeping his gaze on her face and away from her deeply scooped neckline
and the gorgeously plump curves of her tits. “May I come in?”
“Sure.” She took a step back. “I thought you might be in a
hurry. I’m ready to go.”
He followed her inside, pushed the door closed behind him, swore not to think
about the perfect fit of his cock and her cleavage. “One thing I’d
like to do before we go.”
“Okay,” she said slowly, looking up at him with her eyes wide and
her smile not quite so. “What is it? Can I help?”
He was the one who smiled then, who took a step closer, who shook his head when
she started to back away. “You can help by standing still.”
“Okay,” she said again, gesturing with one hand. “And what
else?”
He took hold of her hand, brought it to his chest, held it there so she could
feel the desperate beat of his heart. “You can let me kiss you. And you
can kiss me back.”
“You want to kiss me?” she asked, spreading her fingers wide there,
his sternum beneath her palm.
She flexed her fingers once, twice, her gaze caught by the movement as if seeing
his bare skin instead of his black suit coat and gray-blue dress shirt sans tie.
When he didn’t answer immediately—or at all—she raised her
gaze and asked him again with her eyes. You want to kiss me? And suddenly he
realized there was nothing he wanted more.
A want that caught him like a hard knock to the jaw because it seemed so right
for all the wrong reasons.
“Yeah,” he said softly, covering her hand with his. “I do.
We get this out of the way now, things will be less awkward later.”
It took her a minute, but she finally nodded. And then she wet her lips. “You’re
probably right. Nerves don’t make for a very convincing argument.”
“Yeah. My thinking, too.” His heart tripped faster; the way she caught
her lower lip between her teeth was a dead giveaway that she’d noticed.
“So,” she began, smoothing back her hair with her free palm. “Here?
Now?”
Her voice was breathless. That much helped, the fact that what they were doing
wasn’t sitting any easier with her. He brought his hand up to cup her face,
hoping she understood the reality of what he was facing.
And that she wasn’t two steps away from backing out.
He nodded, gave her a tight smile. “Here and now works just fine.”
She slid both hands up his chest to his neck, cradled his nape first, then the
base of his skull, and lifted her face, lips parted, eyes sharp as if taking
him in like she would the rules to an exam.
Or better yet. Like a freak on display behind bars.
No, he thought, shaking his head. He wasn’t going there, couldn’t
afford to go there, not now. Not with Emma’s mouth inches away, his balls
buzzing, and his life worth whatever they made of this night.
He lowered his head, covered her mouth, took full advantage of her lips that
were yielding and accepting and so very hot when she kissed him back.
She slipped her tongue along his, played with his, tempted his, withdrew and
seduced him into her mouth. Wet, wild, and wow, he mused, that same tingling
sensation wrapping tight fingers around the base of his cock.
This was no kiss for show, no role for which she was practicing, no test drive
of the goods. This was the real deal; he turned her and backed her into the door,
held her by the waist and ground his mouth hard against hers.
She whimpered, continued to kiss him while pulling him closer. She threaded the
fingers of one hand into his hair, used her palm in the small of his back to
urge him to step into her body.
He did, spreading his legs open on either side of hers, dipping his hips so that
there was no mistaking what it was pressed like a piston into her belly.
When she wiggled against him, he reacted like any sane man and slid his hands
from her waist up her ribcage to the sides of her breasts.
He’d been right. She wasn’t wearing a bra. And she would fit him
like a glove.
He palmed her nipples until they popped like gumdrops. He wanted a taste, wasn’t
sure he could tear his mouth free, didn’t know if this was the time or
the place to take things so far with the night that stretched ahead.
The thought returned him to the moment and the reason he was here. It wasn’t
about getting laid, even if the distraction of sex did a bang up job of taking
his mind off the threat to his life.
A fact that surprised him because he’d never been ruled by his dick. Though
he was certain that wouldn’t have been true in this case had the woman
in his arms been anyone but Emma.
He gentled the kiss, moved his hands to her shoulders, eased his mouth away.
She appeared shell-shocked, much as he felt. A situation that reinforced for
him that he’d been right to suggest they get this first strike out of the
way.
He smiled, felt her answering one like a lead pipe to the back of his knees.
Stumbling through the rest of the night wouldn’t be so bad, he supposed.
He’d look the pussy-whipped part he was playing.
“Well,” she finally said, stepping around him and out of his space. “I
suppose that went well.”
He nodded. Well was weak compared to what he’d been thinking. “We
should go. The cab’s waiting.”
“Sure. Let me fix my lipstick, grab my bag, and I’m ready.”
Gripping the doorknob as if nothing else in the room existed, he decided it was
a good thing one of them was.
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