Do You Trust Me? (5 page)

McCall rode her
through it, his fingers still tormenting her clit, until she felt his own
climax explode at the last minute and he emptied himself inside the condom.

She was so exhausted
she could barely move as he tightened his arm around her and tucked her body
more tightly against his.

“Close your eyes,” he
whispered.

Long after Rina had
fallen asleep, he lay staring into the dark, wondering how he’d gotten himself
into this jackpot. He didn’t want to feel this, didn’t want to be emotionally
engaged with her, but his brain seemed to have gone on vacation.

He was no novice to
sexual experiences. Far from it. As he’d tried to tell Rina tonight, being a
sexual Dominant was where it was at for him. He’d had many women, all of whom
knew the score and none of whom were important to him. Nor had been for a long
time.

Haunted by the past,
by the train wreck he’d made of his life, he’d deliberately made sex into
nothing more than an exercise. A way to release the tension under which he
lived. To affirm that he was still among the living. And after the act was
completed, when the physical need had peaked and died, he had no trouble
gathering himself and walking away.

But even an idiot
would realize this time was different. Nothing in his life had ever come close
to what he felt coupling with this woman. As exhausted as he was, as ferocious
as the act had been, he knew it wasn’t enough. It had only whetted his
appetite. She had taken to the introduction to his style of sex like a duck to
water. He wondered if she’d still be as eager when his demands weren’t so
simple. When he commanded instead of asked. And how in God’s name was he
supposed to keep his emotions separated here?

Damn him to hell, this
was far more than need. Desire and emotion had intruded under his carefully
constructed outer shell. The sudden intensity of his feelings for Rina Devargas
scared him far more than the people he was after.

What the hell was he
doing? What was he getting himself into?

Big trouble, he told
himself, but his common sense seemed to have taken a vacation. The best way to
handle this would be to act like nothing had happened. Pull up that invisible
wall he always kept wrapped around himself. If that was even possible. Because
it shouldn’t have happened. Nor could it again. All he had to do was remember
his history. That should be enough of an ice bath.

Yeah, right. Try
telling that to his body and the sensations he was trying to wish away.

He was shocked to
realize how desperately he wanted this woman, wanted to be inside her, wanted
to swallow her with his body. Wanted to bury himself and his past inside her
warm, welcoming heat.

Making this about more
than just sex would be a disaster for him. And for Rina. But it was happening,
like a runaway roller coaster. The trick would be keeping distance between them
when other people were around. And making her understand the necessity for it.

As he finally drifted
off, listening to the soft puffs of Rina’s breathing, he realized this was the
first time he had ever wanted to actually sleep with a woman after sex. Getting
up and leaving didn’t even seem to be an option. And he knew he was in big, big
trouble.

Damn, damn, damn.

He was so screwed.

Chapter Four

“McCall?”

Rina stretched out an
arm, expecting to feel flesh next to her but encountering only empty space.

No. Please. Not
again.

She sat up, the
sheets falling away from her naked body. Her gaze skittered around the room,
finding only furniture and the robe draped over a chair.

Rubbing her eyes, she
blinked them wide open, as if trying to conjure an image. Had she dreamed the
whole thing? No. Absolutely not. Her sore and aching body told her the truth of
the matter.

Then where the hell
was McCall?

Gone, just like the
last time.

No. Her brain finally
engaged. He was covering up, playing a part, so no one would know what happened
between them. I’ll take care of it, he’d told her.

The connecting door
to the next room was open a few inches. She scrambled out of bed, slipped on
the T-shirt lying at the foot of the bed, pulled the robe off the chair and
shrugged into it, then opened the door wide.

McCall sat at the
table where they’d eaten dinner the night before, mouth-wateringly dressed in
jeans and a polo shirt. He looked as good this morning as he had in the heat of
their passion. A coffee cup sat in front of him and as usual he was talking on
his cell phone.

Rina shoved her hair
out of her eyes, smiled at him, and poured coffee for herself in the other cup.

McCall finished his
conversation and snapped the phone shut. “You should get dressed. We don’t have
much time.” He handed her a bottle of aspirin. “Better take a couple of these.”

His voice was so
remote and cool Rina blinked. Had she wandered into someone else’s room? Surely
this wasn’t the same man who had aroused her to such a pitch she had all but
forgotten her own mind. The man who had told her what he would do to her in
explicit detail. Who told her they were far from done. Her smile faltered.

“I thought maybe we
could have breakfast together.”

“I’ve eaten. Tell me
what you’d like, and I’ll order it while you shower.”

“McCall?” She reached
a hand out to touch his shoulder.

“Listen.” He grabbed
her hand. “Whatever goes on between us at night, during the day we have to be
little more than strangers. It’s the only way I can do my job.” He studied
every inch of her face. “Can you handle that?”

Do I have a choice?

He caught her
hesitation. “Last night I asked you if you trust me. You said yes. Have you
changed your mind?”

She drew in a long
breath, looking hard at his eyes. His voice might be remote, but his eyes weren’t.
Far from it.

“No.” She made her
voice as cool as his. “I understand what you’re saying. That’s fine with me.”

“Good. Someone will
be here to pick us up shortly, so you’d better get moving.” He handed her a bag
from a local discount store. “Not your usual wardrobe, but it will have to do
until you get home.”

She gaped at him. “You
went shopping for clothes for me? When?”

He shook his head. “Sully
had someone do it. They delivered the stuff about an hour ago. You’d better get
dressed. As soon as they get here, we’ll be leaving. What do you want to eat?”

“I...just toast.
Thank you.” Screwing up her courage, she asked, “Can you just give me some idea
of what I’m up against? It would make things a lot easier to deal with.”

The mask was back in
place. “You know I can’t, so please don’t ask me again.”

Damn!

Taking her cup of
coffee, she fled the room, slamming the connecting door behind her. In an instant,
she heard it open.

“This door is not to
be closed.” His voice was flat, uninflected. “That’s an order.”

“Yes,
sir
.”
She snapped a shaky salute and headed for the bathroom. “Did you want to watch
me shower, too?”

In seconds, he was
beside her, his hands gripping her shoulders. “Rina, this is not a game. You
know I can’t give you any details. Just be aware that dangerous people have
hatched a treacherous plot. Right now, they have you in their sights. My job is
to make sure nothing happens to you. And help find whatever John was hiding from them.”

“H-hiding?”

His eyes narrowed,
and a muscle jumped in his cheek. “Yes, hiding. No matter how much you deny it,
I think you know what I’m talking about.” He waited, but when she didn’t answer,
he stepped back. “Take your shower and get dressed.”

She’d said she
trusted him, told him she could do this his way, but now she wondered if that
was possible. Strain piled on strain. Where did he put his feelings that he
could bury them so completely after the intimacy they shared?

I will not cry. I
will not fall apart. I will just remember what last night was like and hold
onto that.
She
could almost hear John whispering to her,
“You can hold it together, Dusty.”

She repeated it over
and over as she showered, dried her hair, and pulled on the jeans and blouse
Sully had provided. The bruise on the side of her face was turning a rainbow of
colors, and her nose was still swollen. All things considered, though, she didn’t
look too bad. Without makeup to use, she was finished quickly. When she
returned to the meeting room, a plate with a silver cover sat on the table with
a clean coffee mug beside it.

McCall pointed. “Toast.
Eat up. Our ride will be here any minute.” He looked up at the sound of the
double knock on the door. “In fact, it’s already here.”

Even with the
prearranged signal, he pulled his gun from his waistband and held it at his
side while he opened the door. He shoved the weapon back in place when Sully
and another man entered. The older man immediately went to Rina and cast a
critical eye over her.

“I’d say today is a
vast improvement over last night,” he told her. “How’s the head?”

Unconsciously, she
touched the bruise. “I’ll live.”

“Let’s hope so, and I’m
not talking about your bruises. Ready to go?”

She lifted her hands
and dropped them. “I guess. All I have is what’s on me. And by the way, thanks
very much.”

“At least it will get
you home.” He looked at McCall. “I’ve ordered new identification for her.
Someone will bring it to her house. And I’m sending a team tomorrow to install a new security system. I wish I could get them there today, but everyone’s...hunting.
So be on your toes.”

Rina widened her
eyes. “You think they found me already?”

“I thought I explained
last night,” Sully told her with exaggerated patience. “They have your purse.
They have your address. The only thing we can hope is they can’t move as fast
as we can. And they won’t chance anything in broad daylight. I hope.”

McCall nodded. He
clipped his cell phone to his belt, swept the papers on the table into a slim
briefcase, and stood up. “Let’s roll.”

Everyone was silent
as they rode in the big SUV to Tampa International Airport. The driver avoided
the main terminals, taking them instead to a small building with a sign that
said simply “Private.” A gleaming Gulfstream waited fifty yards away. The SUV
pulled up next to it and everyone got out.

Sully gave Rina one
last searching look. “Are you sure you have nothing to tell me? About John’s
call? Or anything else?”

With an extreme
effort of will, she refrained from touching the locket.
Not until I know who
betrayed my brother.
“Nothing at all.

“All right then. Have
a good trip.”

A man walked out of
the building carrying a large suitcase, which he handed to McCall. “This was
delivered a little while ago.”

McCall nodded his
thanks and took it from the man.

The cabin of the
plane was luxuriously outfitted with leather arm chairs, tables for working, a
flat screen television monitor, and a bar built into one wall.

“There’s a bedroom
and bath through there.” McCall pointed toward the rear of the plane. “And a
galley tucked behind the bar. I don’t know what’s on board for provisions, but
if you get hungry, I’m sure I can rustle something up for you.”

He still had not
smiled, and now his eyes were hidden behind the aviator sunglasses he’d worn
since they left the motel.

“I’m fine. Thank you.”
She could be just as cold and formal as he was. She’d give nothing away.

“We’d better get
buckled in then.”

Rina chose one of the
arm chairs near a window and fastened her seat belt. McCall conferred with the
pilot who came out of the cockpit to greet him, then established himself at one
of the work tables, facing away from her.

Once they’d taken off
and were in the air, she got up to get a glass of water at the exact moment he
headed for the coffee on the bar. They bumped into each other, and their bodies
were pressed suddenly together in the small area with no space between them.
Rina felt his cock harden instantly beneath the rough denim. She was sure her
nipples were poking into his chest.

Oh, God.

He’d taken off the
shades and now stared down at her with those impenetrable silver eyes, darkness
flashing through them. Neither of them moved or said a word. The air between
them was like a thunderstorm, electricity zapping and crackling and
wind-tossed. Invisible lightning shot through them, piercing the armor they’d
each erected after last night.

Then he was burning
her mouth with one of his incendiary kisses, his lips molded to hers. She knew
she should push him away, but that was an impossibility. Apparently, all he had
to do was touch her and she went up in flames. When had this happened?
How
had it happened?

“I thought we were
supposed to be cold strangers in public,” she said when she could breathe.

“That’s the plan.” He
lifted his head. “But we’re not in public now, are we?” His tongue traced the
outline of her lips, his hands tightly gripping her shoulders. “Damn it. What
is it about you that makes me lose my mind?”

“Same thing that
affects me, I guess.” She was weak-kneed, trying to find her equilibrium.

“I’m poison,” he told
her. “I told you that from the beginning. Why do you think I left the way I did
that first time? If I was a nice person, I’d tell you to call Sully right this
minute and tell him you’ll go into hiding. Get yourself away from me.” His
breathing was raspy and his voice thick. “But god help me, I can’t make myself
leave you alone. The things I want to do to you drive me crazy.”

He’s right. He’s probably poison for me. I should lock myself away at the other end of this plane, but I’m
addicted to him as much as he is to me.

“I don’t understand
it, either. But I can’t seem to control how I feel about you.” She slid her
hands under his shirt and brushed her fingers across the soft curls of hair on
his chest. Deliberately tormenting herself. And him.

“Shit,” he swore and
gripped her face. He pulled her mouth to his again, his tongue sweeping inside
with broad strokes like a heated saber. Need, feral and vicious, clawed its way
through her.

Breaking the kiss with
obvious difficulty, he picked her up and carried her into the bedroom, kicking
the door shut behind them. In what seemed like seconds, he had them both
stripped of their clothes and a condom rolled onto his pulsing shaft.

“You don’t know how
badly I want to tie you up, face down, and fuck that pretty sweet ass of yours,”
he groaned. “Again and again. Can you take that, Rina? Does that idea turn you
off?”

She shook her head. “No,”
she breathed, a flood of cream drenching her as the image floated through her head.

His fingers plucked
at her nipples, stretching them until they tingled with heat. His knee pushed
her thighs wider apart, and he slid his hands down, down until they rested on
the top of her mons. And all the time he kept talking to her in that voice,
rough with lust. “But right now, I’m going to fuck you so hard you’ll scream.
This bedroom is all but soundproof, and I want to hear you yell like you couldn’t
last night.”

“Yes. Oh, yes.” She
squirmed on the bed, spreading her legs even more for him. “Hurry. Please.”

My God, I’m turning
into an animal. How does he do this to me?

“Show me that pretty
little pussy, Rina,” he commanded. “Do it now. Open those lips wide for me and
let me see all that delicious flesh. I’ll bet you’re dripping wet now, aren’t you.”

With shaking fingers,
she reached down and opened herself for him, the eroticism of the act driving
the need in her higher.

His eyes glittered as
he stared at her open sex. “Play with yourself for me. Did you ever masturbate
for a man before? Let him watch you pleasure yourself? Tell me.”

She could hardly get
her breath as her fingers slid through the fluid coating her folds. A throbbing set up inside her cunt, deep and insistent.