THE GIRL NEXT DOOR (13 page)

He opened the front door.

Right. They couldn’t just stand out there. They’d no doubt make a perfect target if they did that.

She hurried inside and immediately went toward the stairs.

“Gabrielle.” He caught her hand, stilling her before she could escape. “My place. Day and night, remember?”

Like she could forget.

Seething, she followed him. She understood why the EOD needed to be kept secret. She understood that he was doing his job.

But why did he make love to me?

That part, she didn’t get it. The idea that he’d just been using her, trying to get close to her so that he could gather intel...that part hurt the most.

She made her way into his apartment, too aware of every move that he made. He shut the door behind her. She took five more steps—then froze. “Are we being watched?” The way she’d been watched back at the EOD?

“We could be under surveillance,” he admitted as he came toward her.

Not
what she wanted to hear. “Video equipment? Audio surveillance?” The whole place could be bugged. “Did they see what we did?” Her voice was a horrified whisper.

If he’d let the other agents watch them...she felt her cheeks burn.

Cooper gave a hard shake of his head. “Do you think I would let that happen? That was about me and you, and no one else.”

Her breath rushed out in relief. She turned away.

“Don’t treat me like a stranger.”

Her hands trembled. She rubbed her fingers over her jean-clad thighs. “Isn’t that what you are? I mean, I lay down next to my lover—a living, breathing man I trusted, but then I found out that he was some secret agent, and that he’d supposedly died on a mission in Afghanistan.”

“I
should
have died. I was shot to hell and back—”

The image of his scars flashed through her mind.

“But somehow Mercer found out about me.”

Mercer.
She filed that name into her vault.

“I don’t even know how I showed up on the guy’s radar,” Cooper continued. “He found out about me. He came for me. His Shadow Agents burst onto the scene, they dragged me out of that hell, and they brought me back to life.” His shoulders rolled back as if he were trying to push away the memory. “But by that point, everyone on my original team already thought I was dead. And it wasn’t like I had any family. I never knew my dad. Cancer took my mother when I was a teenager. Hell, I already felt like a ghost, so when Mercer made me an offer, I took it.”

He turned on the lamp near him, and more light spilled across the room.

“I’ve worked with the EOD since then. The agents do their missions, and like Mercer said, we save lives.”

It wasn’t that simple. “One of the agents is taking lives.”

He paced toward her. “And it’s
our
job to stop him. I didn’t expect you to get involved. You were my neighbor. The sexy girl who slipped into my fantasies. I’d known only blood and death until you.” He swallowed. “Then you were in my world, looking so beautiful and smelling of lilacs.”

She had lilac body lotion. A gift from Penelope.

“But then I found you at Lockwood’s apartment. You were in the wrong place. Hell, you almost walked
right
in on me.”

Another piece of the puzzle snapped into place.
He’d been in Lockwood’s apartment.
“That was why the door was open.” He’d been there, first, before her. “You broke in to that apartment.”

He nodded, and kept coming closer to her. “No one had heard from Lockwood in days. I knew something was wrong, and I had to get inside to him.”

“How did you get out—” Gabrielle began, then stopped because she realized what he’d done. “You scaled the building.”

Another nod. “The same way that the killer did.”

Because they were the same—the same training, the same deadly instincts.

“Everything changed when you got involved,” he said again. “Protecting you became a priority for me. I only called the EOD in because I didn’t have a choice. I knew the killer had you in his sights—after that phone call, how could there be any doubt? It was too risky for you to go off alone.”

“You thought I was going to blow your cover. You thought—”

“I thought that if anything happened to you, I’d go crazy.” He was right in front of her. Not touching her, but seeming to surround her.

She shook her head. “You don’t have to paint some fake story about how you feel, okay? You had orders. You had—”

“I’d had
you,
” he told her bluntly. The burn in her cheeks got even worse. “I’d had you, and there was no going back. It wasn’t about one night—I want more than that from you. I want a hell of a lot more.”

The first time she’d met him, Gabrielle had known that he was out of her league. Too intense. Too fierce.

And, damn him, too sexy.

“I’ll have you again,” Cooper said.

Her jaw dropped.

“Because you want me. You’re angry, rightly so, but you still want me.” He took her hand. Put it over his chest. Over the heart that she could feel racing so frantically. “And I want you. More than I’ve ever wanted another woman. The way I feel for you isn’t about a mission. It’s not about anything, but us.”

Was he about to kiss her? She didn’t want him to kiss her. Oh, dang it, she was the liar now. She wanted his mouth more than breath right then, but she was also scared.

Of him.

Of the way he made her feel.

Of making a mistake.
I’m already in too deep with him.

“What do I need to do—” his words were a deep, sexy rumble “—to get you back again?”

“I don’t want secrets.” Her words surprised her. She’d meant to pull away from him.

Hadn’t she?

So why was she edging closer? And why did she continue, saying, “I don’t want any lies. I might not have your EOD clearance, but that doesn’t mean you get to jerk me around.” His heart was still racing beneath her touch. Only fair, considering her heart felt as if it would jump out of her chest. “And if we’re partners, really partners, then that means you don’t leave me behind. We work together. We share everything.”

He was staring straight down at her.

She just didn’t want...
secrets.

“I should be running from you right now,” Gabrielle said. That would have been the smart thing to do, but her heart wasn’t interested in smart. Her heart just wanted her to be close to him.

He’d gotten past her defenses. He’d gotten to her. She was afraid that she wouldn’t be the same ever again.

“If you ran, I’d follow.” His voice was deeper, sending a shiver over her spine. “I think I might just follow you any place you go.”

Gabrielle couldn’t pull her gaze from his. His stare burned. “Tell me...tell me that you didn’t sleep with me for the case.”

His hands lifted and curled around her hips. They seemed to singe her through her clothes. “I slept with you because you were driving me out of my mind. Fantasies weren’t enough to keep me sane. What happened between us had nothing to do with the case.”

That was good. That was— “If you ever have me handcuffed again, you are going to have some serious trouble on your hands.”

He smiled at her. A smile that reached his eyes and made her heart ache. “Sweetheart, if I handcuff you again, you’ll be in my bed—and trouble will be the last thing I get.”

That was...
oh.
His mouth took hers. She let go of her fear and her anger because right then, they didn’t matter.

She wasn’t sure how much time they had left together. With the killer out there, there was no way to determine their future.

So she forgot about the future.

She let go of the past.

Gabrielle just held on to him.

His tongue thrust into her mouth. His hands curled around her hips and lifted her up against the hard bulge of his arousal. She met him, kissing him back with a fierce desire that grew and grew within her.

She’d never been the kind of girl to get swept off her feet...

Cooper raised her higher in his arms.

...until now.

He took a few steps, and her back hit the wall. He didn’t release her. He kept her pinned there, and she twisted, arching against his hips.

Need rose to a feverish pitch within her as his mouth trailed down her neck. He licked her, kissed the curve of her throat. Had her gasping and digging her nails into his shoulders.

“I can’t get enough of you.” One of his hands yanked her shirt over her head. He held her easily. Sometimes, she forgot just how strong he was. He lifted her a few more inches, and his mouth pressed to the curve of her breast, right above the lace of her bra. “Your scent drives me
crazy.
”

He
was driving
her
crazy. It hadn’t been like this before. With Lane, the passion had been slow to build. She’d been hesitant, unsure.

There was no room for uncertainty with Cooper. He swept her up into a storm of need. Pleasure already pulsed through her. She wanted him naked. Wanted to wrap her body around him and hold on as tight as she could.

He’d gotten rid of her bra. Those fast fingers of his. His mouth closed around one breast, and desire pierced through her. She curled her legs around his hips.

She hated not being able to touch his skin, so Gabrielle yanked up his shirt.

He helped her toss it across the room. Heat radiated off him. Those hard, rippling muscles. So much power. But he was always so careful with her. So very careful.

And he was making her wait.
“Cooper...”

His hand was at the snap of her jeans. The snap popped free, and her zipper hissed down. Then his fingers were pushing inside the material. Pleasure wasn’t just close. He stroked her, caressing her sensitive folds. His fingers drove into her. Pleasure exploded within her at his touch. She jerked against him, caught off guard by the fast rush of her release.

“You’re so damned beautiful.” He carried her into the bedroom. The bed dipped beneath their weight. In moments, he’d finished stripping and their clothes were scattered across the floor.

He took care of the protection, then he came back toward her.

But this time, Gabrielle wanted her chance to explore him.

She pushed him back on the bed. Cooper hesitated, frowning at her.

She smiled at him, even as the desire rose once more. Bending forward, she put her knees on either side of Cooper’s body. Her mouth pressed to his throat. When he groaned, and his hands flew up to hold her hips, Gabrielle knew that she’d just found Cooper’s weak spot.

Her tongue licked over his skin. Then she slid down. She explored his chest. Those muscles that just begged to be—

Licked.

She kissed his scars. Gabrielle hated the pain that Cooper had suffered, and as she felt those scars with her fingers and lips, she realized just how close he truly had come to death.

What if he’d really died on that mission? What if I’d never met him?

Her eyes squeezed shut. She didn’t want to think of a world without him. He’d come to mean so much to her, so quickly.

She placed another kiss on his scar, on the one right above his hip. Her fingers slid down—

“Enough!”
The word was growled. He tumbled her onto her back. Positioned himself between her legs. “Sweetheart, I can’t take any more.”

His fingers threaded through hers as he thrust into her.

She’d found release moments before, but the instant he drove into her, that wonderful friction from his body had her tensing.

Eagerly, she met him. Thrust for thrust. The need spiraled and built. The desire beat between them.

There were no more words. She didn’t have the breath to talk. Their lovemaking was fast and raw and consuming.

Her hips rose to meet him. Her heart raced.

When her release hit her, Gabrielle’s whole body tightened. The pleasure was so intense—rolling over her in endless waves.

Cooper kissed her. He shuddered against her then drove into her core once more.

A tear leaked from the corner of her eye. Nothing had been like that for her before.

Moments passed, and the only sound she heard was the ragged catch of their breaths.

Finally, Cooper’s head lifted. His eyes held hers. “The case has nothing to do with what is happening between us. Right here, right now, it’s only about you and it’s about me.”

She wished that things could stay this way.

Because as she gazed up at him, cloaked in the shadows of the room. Gabrielle realized just why his betrayal had hurt her so much.

And why, even despite the secrets he’d kept, she hadn’t been able to turn away from him.

I’m falling in love with Cooper.

No, not falling.

She was already in love with her secret agent.

His mouth pressed to her cheek. He kissed the tear that she’d shed. And then he held her close.

Fear snaked through her because she liked the way his arms felt around her. She liked it too much.

The case had brought him to her.

Would the case also take him away?

* * *

R
ACHAEL
M
ANCINI
WAS
exhausted. She’d just pulled a twenty-hour shift at the EOD’s headquarters, and she was due back on duty at 0900. She shut her apartment door behind her, threw the lock and seriously thought about collapsing right there.

Into a very unglamorous puddle on her floor.

She lifted a weary hand and raked it through her hair. She’d crash in bed. After all, she was about 50 percent sure she could make it to the bedroom. After a few hours of refueling, she’d meet up with Dylan again.

He’d dropped her off, and the team leader had said he’d be back to pick her up so they could head in to the EOD together.

She shuffled away from the door.

Ten minutes later, she was just climbing into the haven of her bed when she heard knocking.

What the hell?
She glanced at her clock.
No one
should be coming to her place at this hour.

Rachel grabbed her gun and padded, barefoot, for the door. She glanced through the peephole.