True Deceptions (True Lies) (11 page)

Not fair.

He wanted his hands on her naked skin. Lacking the patience to unbutton her blouse, he yanked at her shirt until the threads holding the buttons broke. Buttons sprayed across the floor, tapping the hardwood as they scattered. The shirt followed. She stood an inch away from him, wearing only jeans and a white lace bra.

“That blouse was five hundred pounds.” Her gaze followed the flight of the shirt until he lifted her chin back up to look at him.

“I’ll buy you five hundred more to replace it. That way I can rip them off you whenever I want.”

They remained entwined as they stepped into the bedroom.

He cupped her breasts and nuzzled the spot where her neck flowed into her collarbone. Her groan vibrated through him and reached a part of him he’d never known existed. Snippets of time with random women had never been this satisfying. Never fed anything more than physical desire. Cassie, however, needed to be claimed and protected. The thought should have scared him, but he felt her claiming him as well. He’d deal with the consequences later.

He lowered his mouth to her chest and moved the lacy fabric of her bra aside. Her body—its feel, its taste, its scent—had occupied his thoughts since their first encounter. And here she was offering herself to him.

Her new red nails dug into his back until the pain intensified. He bit her nipple in return. She moaned. Her amazing lips tickled his neck until some very vampish teeth scraped his skin.

How had this woman turned his libido upside down and twisted his desires in knots? Control went out the window when her hand yanked the towel from his hips, and she rubbed his inner thigh.

If she wanted to find his weakness, she had. One of her hands caressed his full length, while the other slid over his ass. She’d better not be bluffing, because she’d succeeded in making him out of his mind with need.

He led her over to the bed, reached into the dresser, and grabbed a condom. This would be a first for him. He’d never had sex in this flat, although he’d left the condoms there with the hope Nicola would eventually come around. Destiny, however, favored Cassie in his bed, here and now.

Her jeans were a definite barrier. She tried to sit up, but he placed a hand in the middle of her chest, tracing the edge of the lace covering her breasts, and forced her onto her back. She would undo him in less than a minute if she gained the upper hand.

He pulled her jeans past her ankles. Lying on the bed in a virginal white bra and knickers, the angel reached out to massage him. His body covered hers in an instant. Grasping each of her wrists and holding them over her head, he dropped his forehead to hers.

He was barely able to speak, but he needed to have her permission. “Say you want me.”

“I want you.” No hesitation, just lust and need.

“Perfect answer.” He’d never craved a woman the way he craved the blonde currently in his bed. She drove him insane with worry and crazy with frustration, but he loved being in her presence.

“Now.” Her legs wrapped around his waist. She pressed herself into him until his sanity deserted him.

His mouth covered hers, and they kissed. Her taste merged with his, her sweetness overpowering all the bitterness around him. He almost pulled away, knowing that Cassie had attached herself to him, and in the process linked him to her in ways that would tangle their lives.

His blood heated to a burning inferno. She tugged her hands free and began assaulting his back again with her new red fingernails. He’d be bloody soon, but he didn’t want her to stop. He pulled down her knickers. The bra could stay, for now.

“Please, Simon.” Her hands pressed into his back. She deepened their kiss and sent his hormones into a frenzy he hadn’t felt since adolescence.

Hearing his name on her lips scraped away the last of the ice from his heart. He set a speed record for sliding the condom on and moved between her legs, shifting back and forth until he was sure she was ready. He entered her faster than expected, and she cried out with a low moan.

Her nails dug into his back again. Shit. It hurt, but he refused to ask her to stop. This aggressive side of her was wild, passionate, and driving him crazy. Then her hands dropped to his ass, and she forced him faster and deeper. He felt her tighten under him. Her pleasure took priority. With every move of his hips, he pressed into her, feeling her body react to his.

Her pleas for more urged him to go faster, harder. She arched her back and shuddered in complete surrender to him. The cries were no longer low and sexy—they were higher pitched and animalistic. They both came together, as though their bodies had each been design to pleasure the other. Only each other.

He hugged her close, then rolled off her in a state of bliss. Everything felt perfect.

His breathing slowed and the frenzy dissipated and the erotic mist cleared. She was the type of woman capable of filling the voids—voids created by a broken youth and a bloody adulthood.

Blood, violence, deception. His dreams of a life with Cassie disappeared amid the reality of a blackmailing employer and a bunch of gunrunners. He couldn’t steal her away. Happy-ever-afters didn’t happen to men like him.

As his blissful thoughts receded into a pile of regrets, a wet spot under his thigh torpedoed the comfort he’d momentarily found in the here and now and blew it to smithereens.

“Shit.”

“What?” Her question was whispered into his neck and would have been sexy as hell if he didn’t want to shoot himself.

“The condom broke.” When had he ever done something so stupid? Never. “Are you on birth control?”

“Sort of.”

What the hell did that mean? “That’s not an answer.”

“I’m on the pill, but I was late with one when Henry and I fled Bulgaria. It shouldn’t be a big deal. I’m the most regular person ever, and this is in the beginning of my cycle.”

Simon turned his face into the pillow and exhaled. He couldn’t afford to mess up like this.

“Seriously, it’s no big deal.” She sounded irritated.

Tell that to Henry and Alex who were right now making plans for a nursery at Ripon Manor, their castle.

S
he’d failed again. She couldn’t shoot a gun, face danger head on, or control her jealousy and immature outbursts. Now, she could add failed seductress to her list. Although she did manage to get him naked, she was never in control. And now he’d be freaked out by the possibility of her pregnancy. So much for him having any resp
ect for her.

He’d jumped out of bed and fled to the bathroom so fast he left a cool breeze behind him, ridding the room of any warmth they’d shared. He was probably on the phone that very moment trying to obtain a new partner.

Cassie pulled the covers over her head.
I should just stay here and hide for the rest of the assignment.

“Cassie?”

Sure, now she’d be branded a coward. She flipped the sheets off her face, and they fell to her shoulders. Simon appeared in the doorway to the bathroom. Completely nude. Like the statue of David, only more masculine, and more muscular, and more real.

“Are you okay?” He sounded sincere, but he was trained to show no real emotions. Everything was fake. He excelled at the skill. She rarely saw him smile, and even his frowns had an element of strategy behind them. She’d never been with a man who dominated every aspect of her life, including what to wear, what to eat, and the tempo and rhythm of any sex they had. She wasn’t complaining. He took her to a level of satisfaction she’d only read about in her mother’s stash of romance novels.

“Fine. Why wouldn’t I be?” She lifted her arms over her head and yawned, as though she’d slept with a million guys.

“Because my bedside manner sucks. I overreacted.”

She didn’t want him to get all sentimental. “Simon. This is a professional relationship only. I need to be intimate with you so we’re convincing lovers to the rest of the world.”

“Is that so?”

“Absolutely.”

His eyebrows lifted, and the corner of his mouth almost made it into a half smile. “And now we can just sleep together whenever the need arises, without any emotional attachment?”

“Sure.” Sleeping with Simon on a regular basis would not be a good idea. She could name about thousand reasons to keep her distance, but her body craved him like it needed air.

“Interesting. By the way, how many men have you slept with? I’m only asking in my capacity as your professional lover.”

“You first.”

“Forty seven. And I’ve never had a johnny break on me before.”

“A what?”

“A condom. And you?”

“The same. I’ve never had sex when the condom broke.”

“That’s not the question.”

“Does it matter?” she asked.

“Yes. Strictly on a professional level, I need to understand your level of experience.”

“You do not. It wouldn’t matter if I was a virgin or had slept with a hundred men.”

“You are so wrong.” He stood over the bed, staring down at her. Intimidating as hell, but in a really erotic way.

She didn’t want to answer and should probably bluff to make herself seem more sophisticated, but he didn’t seem to find her sophisticated in the least. She covered her face with the blanket to her nose and whispered, “Four.”

He stalked closer until he was leaning directly over her.

“Come again?” He tugged the sheet to fall just below her chin.

“Four.”

His face came even closer to her, and she could feel his breath tickle her skin. “When was the last time?”

“Twenty minutes ago. Fantastic, by the way. Those forty plus women must have been thrilled to be one of your conquests.”

He didn’t even smile. “Before that?”

She tried not to alter her face, but her mouth automatically tightened as though hiding something. The worst field agent ever. “I’m not a prude or anything. But I prefer to date guys a few times before I sleep with them. Not many stick around long enough.”

He lifted his brows and waited for the direct answer to his question.

Fine.
“The last time happened about five years ago in graduate school. A drunken night on the beach, a bonfire and a sleeping bag, and then in the morning trying to forget it ever happened.
”
She lifted the covers again to hide the flames heating her cheeks, but he pulled them away from her face.

He sighed. “You deserve better than that. And this.”

“You don’t think I’m harboring feelings for you, do you? No offense, but you’re not really my type.”

His hand pushed a piece of her hair behind her ear, and she struggled to restrain herself from moaning at his touch. “What is your type?”

“Less violent, more of an equal in bed. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed being manhandled, but usually I like more control.” She turned away from him and tried to hide the tears threatening to form.

“I think you had too much control in bed this time.”

“I did?”

He turned around, displaying wide shoulders tapering into a tight rear end and muscular legs. His perfectly shaped back, however, was marked by several red streaks. They seemed raw and painful.

“I did that?”

“I prefer the short blue daisies to the red daggers.” He spun around and grinned, and she almost melted into a puddle of lust.

“I’m so sorry.”

By the time he crawled onto the bed, he was fully erect and ready to continue this new aspect of their working relationship. Did she want this?
Yes.

He pried the edge of the sheet from around her body and pulled it down to her knees. “The bra has to go this time. And we’re using something that isn’t expired.” He tossed a new condom onto her chest, and reached between her breasts to unsnap the bra, letting it open in front.

“I don’t want you to feel obligated.”

“This has nothing to do with obligation. You seemed unhappy with my technique last time, so I’m giving you the chance to take control.” With a quick twist, he stretched onto his back and placed his hands behind his head, the same position he always slept in. “Do whatever you wish. No restraints, however. If someone comes in to kill us, I need to be able to reach my gun.”

Cassie closed her mouth. Her jaw must have dropped the moment the huge, naked god stretched out beside her and offered himself to her to do anything she wanted. Could she really take him on? She did proposition him, and he did accept. Sure. She could take control of this situation and prove to him she wasn’t some wilting violet.

Slipping the bra straps off her shoulders, she knelt beside the confident guy staring at her with a blaze in his eyes that incinerated any hesitation she might have felt. “First, I need you to promise not to move, unless an armed gunman breaks down the door.”

He grinned. “I promise.”

“Good. I’m not the best agent in the field, so I need to know you are. This is a test of your self-control.” She bent toward his feet and pulled her finger across the arch of his foot. His muscles tensed, but he remained in place. “Very good.”

She rubbed his feet and then massaged his ankles and calf. As she moved up his leg, his muscles twitched, every intimate one of them. Instead of showering him with attention, she sat back and stared. He was not enjoying himself, if the creases in his forehead and the clenching of his jaw told the truth. Too bad. He’d given her control.

She placed her hand in the middle of his chest. His heartbeat thumped against her fingers, but he remained with his hands tucked behind his head. A light dusting of dark hair covered his pectoral muscles, and she rubbed her hands over them then finally gave in and allowed her tongue the opportunity to enjoy tasting his chest, from the bottom of his sternum to the top. She took her own sweet time, until she needed more from him.

Straddling him, she reached for the condom and opened it. Simon’s thigh muscles twitched as though he wanted to jump up, but he remained where he was.

After rolling it over him, she placed herself slowly on top. A position of control. Or so she’d heard. She leaned forward, and her hands rested on his shoulders. “You can use your hands, if you want.”

“You trust I won’t take control?” His hands wrapped around her waist.