Force of Knight Magic (2 page)

He waited until he heard the elevator move down the shaft before he spoke.
He wanted to do this calmly
,
but that wasn’t even an option right now.
He looked over at Holly while she started pulling things out of a suitcase.
He grabbed her and threw her on the bed.

~~~

She didn’t need this right now.
Not tonight anyway.
She looked up at the handsome man laying over her and wanted so badly to claim him
,
to have him bite her.
She fisted her hand at her side before she gave in to the fact that she wanted to touch him, run her fingers through his hair
,
and kiss him.

“I have to get ready.
I have nine minutes to meet him downstairs for—
”
His mouth covered hers and she opened up before she could think that she shouldn’t.

Christ
,
the man could kiss.
His mouth fit over hers like it was made to be there.
Which she supposed in the grand scheme of things
,
it was.
When his hand slid up her thigh she moaned and gripped the blanket beneath her.

“I want you.
Now
.
I want to sink my cock deep inside of you and n
ot
stop until neither of us can move.”
He rocked into her soft flesh and she moaned again.
“Holly, please say yes.
Please tell me that you want me as much as I want you.”

She did, that was the problem.
But getting to the hotel bar was more important.
At least to her job it was.
She took advantage of his moving mouth and tried to reason with him.
But the moment he moved the robe from her breast and suckled on
her
nipple
,
she couldn’t have told him her name if he asked.

“Phil
,
please?
I have to talk to you.
I have to—holy Christ.”
He bit her.
Not enough to be really painful
,
but enough for her to want more.
She grabbed his hair again and pulled him up.
“Stop that right now.
I have to go.
You’ve no idea what you’ve stepped into and I don’t have time to explain right now.”

He lifted his body up
,
but all that did was press his hard cock harder into her pussy. She tried to be pissed
,
but she knew he could smell her, smell that she was aroused.
He grinned down at her and she knew a moment of pure love but pushed it away. She couldn’t love him, not now.

“I have to go to the bar and meet that man.
I don’t have a choice.”
She tried to shove him off her
,
but all he did was lean down and kiss her again.
She nearly gave in again.
It was getting harder by the second.
“You don’t understand.
I don’t—
”

“You have a choice.
Everyone does.
Yours is to either stay here with me and let me make love to you all night long or I go down to the bar and drain the bastard.”
He grinned again.
“That second choice has a great deal of appeal to me right now.”

She shoved him harder and he rolled off her.
She was sure
it was
because he allowed her to
,
not because she was stronger than him.
He watched her rise and she flushed when she saw how much of her body he’d exposed.
She glared at him as she grabbed up her pants again.

“You’re a pain in the ass.”
She moved toward the bathroom as she continued.
“I have to go.
If you don’t…Phil
,
what are you doing here?”
That just occurred to her.
How
had
he f
ound
her and who the hell else knew where she was
?
When he got up and sauntered toward her
,
she knew that she wasn’t going to like his answer.
When he kissed her lightly on the mouth and walked toward the suitcase that now lay on the floor
,
she watched him
,
waiting.

“Who is this guy and why is he calling you Heather?
I’m guessing that he doesn’t know you’re a were either
,
does he
?
”
She shook her head at his question
,
knowing she couldn’t lie to him.
“And last night, he tried something that pissed you off enough that you’d leave the chain on the door to speak to him because why…you don’t trust that he won’t try it again?”

She nodded this time before answering.
“He backed me against the wall and tried to take more than I was willing to give.
Well, that’s not true.
He tried to take everything.
And before you ask, no
,
I didn’t do anything wolflike on his ass. I simply pushed him away.”

“No
,
you didn’t,” he said laughingly.
“You did do something.
No man comes begging at a woman’s door for forgiveness if she only pushed him away.”
He walked to her
,
slipped his hand under the robe
,
and cupped her breast.
“What did you do to him
,
love?
Tell me the truth and I won’t go down there and take his throat out with my bare hands.”

She swallowed hard.
He’d made it sound like he was going to the corner for a loaf of bread.
And she knew that if she didn’t answer him or didn’t tell him what she’d actually done to him, he’d do just what he said.

“I punched him in the mouth then I kicked his balls up around his eyes.” She licked her lips when he moved his mouth closer to hers.
“I…are you going to kiss me
,
Phil?”

“Do you want me to?”
She nodded.
“Then no.
If we both are willing then you aren’t leaving this room.
And the sooner you get this guy taken care of
,
the sooner you can explain to me why he’s so important and why he doesn’t know your name.”

She took a step back, then another.
She moved to the bathroom and only stopped when he said her name.
She managed to catch the pants she’d had in her hand before another piece of material came toward her.
She looked up at him when he cleared his throat.

“You now have less than five minutes.
I would hurry if I were you and if you come out of there with something that I don’t think is covering enough of you, you won’t leave even then.”

She closed the door but didn’t lock it. She wasn’t sure if she wanted him to come in and take her or
if
she thought it didn’t matter. He’d come in if he wanted and no lock would stop him.
She leaned against the counter and looked at herself.
Christ, she looked like she’d been rolling in a bed with a man and had that almost satisfied look on her face.
She pulled the shirt, a heavy sweater she could see now
,
over her head with a smile.
Phil talking from the other side of the door made her hurry faster in fixing her hair.

“Who is he
?
” he asked her.
“And why should I not follow you down to the bar and make sure that he behaves himself?”

Biting her lip
,
she pulled on her pants.
She was zipping them up when she answered
,
hoping what she said would be enough to satisfy him.
She didn’t think she could
st
op him off for long
,
but it was worth a shot.

“He’s a client.
Someone that I have to…he has something I need and this is the only way I can get it. It should take me a few hours so if you wanted to leave
,
I can talk to you tomorrow.”
She held her breath
,
hoping he’d say okay.
“Then we can have a talk then.”

“What sort of client?
He doesn’t strike me as the buyer type.
I’m not sure what you’re selling
,
but whatever it is, he’s more of the taking sort of guy.”
Holly closed her eyes on how true his words were.
“What’s his name?”

“Jasper Clayton.
And he is a buyer.
I just need to get some information from him for someone else.
But he’s proving to be stubborn about it.”
She opened the door and nearly fell into Phil’s arms.
“You should just go on back home.
I’ll be home in a few days.”

“No.
What is he buying from you?”
He was using compulsion and she could feel the need to answer him.
Overwhelmingly so.
She tried to move away from him
,
but he pulled her tighter.
“Answer me, Holly.”

She leaned her head on his chest
,
suddenly very tired.
She’d been working like this, at this same job
,
since she’d gotten out of high school and had taken those stupid tests to apply for a job with The Office.
Little had she known that she’d be working at doing something like this all these years later.

“I can’t tell you.” When he stiffened
,
she hurried on.
“I can’t.
Not now.
I…damn it
,
Phil
,
do you have any idea how much trouble I can get into if someone knew I told you?
They could have me…” She looked up at him.
“Who told you I was here?”

“Gordon.
He said he knows where you are every
time you leave.
He doesn’t know what you’re doing
,
but he always knows where you are.”
He moved back when she did.
“What are you not telling me? I can protect you
,
Holly.
I need to.
You’re my mate.
I can’t let anything happen to you.”

Coming to a decision
,
she nodded at him.
“All right.
When I get back.
If you’re still here
,
I’ll tell you…I’ll tell you everything.
Then afterwards
,
if you want to leave, I’ll understand.”
She tried to straighten her shoulders to show him that it matter
ed
little to her if he stayed or not
,
but she could see that he knew she was bluffing.

“And do I get something to help me know if I stay or go?
Something that I can…I don’t know
,
give me a hint as to why I’d want to leave the only woman I’m ever going to love?”

“I work as an undercover agent for the Central Intelligence Agency as a hired assassin.” She smiled at the look on his face.
“And the man downstairs is someone I have to get information from before I have to put a bullet between his eyes.”

Holly walked out the door and to the elevator. She stepped in just as Phil came out of her room and leaned against the doorja
m
b.
She held open the door knowing that he was going to tell her goodbye. She should have known better.

“I’ll be here when you get back.
And for the record
…
”

S
he waited for him to continue before letting go of the door.

“When you kill him
,
I’m going to be there with you.”

The target moved into the bar about ten minutes later than he thought she might.
There wasn’t any time frame tonight that he knew of
,
only that she had to be dead by this time tomorrow.
He watched her walk across the floor and wondered how anything so sexy could be so deadly.
She moved to his contact and he sat back to watch him try and handle her.

She’d bested him last night.
Frank had seen her take him down and still laughed about it.
He sat up in his chair
,
hoping to see another show tonight.
She was way out of Clayton’s league.
Hell, if he really wanted to be honest, she might even be out of his. He looked down at the folder that was open in front of him.