Crave (The MacKenzie Family #11) (8 page)

The beach house was a security nightmare from his standpoint. The front of the house was gated by a ten-foot fence that matched the pink stucco. But the back of the house was completely open so the view of the ocean wasn’t obstructed. It was a private beach. But that wouldn’t matter if someone wanted to get to Evangeline bad enough. They might as well have been advertising for the bad guys to come get them.

“Sugar, I’ve never been more clear in my thinking. You placed the bet. I’m calling your bluff.”

He closed the blinds on all the other windows and then brushed against her as he passed by. She didn’t step out of his way, and he swore he could hear her heart pounding from where he stood. Her eyes dilated, so only a thin ring of purple showed and her breath was shallow. He knew what desire looked like. Electricity sizzled between, and he had to fight the urge to move in closer. To feel her flush against him.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Cal.” Her voice was barely a whisper.

He continued into the kitchen and she followed behind him. “You know exactly what I’m talking about, Evie. Neither of us are young and naïve. It’s been ten years. That’s long enough. We’re too old to play games anymore and it’s time to move forward.”

“What if I don’t want to move forward, Cal? You can tell yourself whatever you want to feel better, but the fact of the matter is that you purposely set out to take everything from me. You blackmailed me. Forced me to give up the only thing I’ve ever really loved. And why? Because I was getting too good? Closing in on your heels? I guess it wouldn’t look good in the underground community for the legendary Cypher to get overtaken by a twenty year old girl.”

He was silent while he checked the kitchen. It was surprisingly large and comfortable—white granite countertops and cabinets that the housekeepers probably hated, accented by splashes of bright colors and natural light.

An entire wall was windows and another set of French doors that looked out onto the front gardens. There were no blinds to cover the windows, so he made a mental note to put a couple of extra weapons in the kitchen, just in case. The good news about the windows was that the ten foot privacy fence and the location of the kitchen as opposed to the rest of the house made it a secluded area. They wouldn’t have to worry about Taber getting off a long shot from the grounds. There wasn’t a place to hide. He’d have to move in up close and personal.

“I didn’t take anything from you,” he finally said. “I gave you a chance to grow up without disgracing yourself and your family. And the fact that you can’t see that makes you narrow-minded and ungrateful in my opinion.”

“I don’t remember asking for your opinion. And I’m more than happy to admit that I wasn’t in the right. I
know
I wasn’t. It was stupid and done more for kicks than anything. To prove that Robert Lockwood’s daughter could do something like that and get away with it. It was an incredible high.”

“I know what you mean,” he said. She stood near the doorway, looking like she was ready to flee. “I could see it in your eyes. The thrill of the adrenaline rush—driving you to take chances—to up the stakes and make the high even better. You needed someone to make you stop. You never could’ve done it on your own. Your pride wouldn’t let you.”

He wanted to put her at ease so he went to the refrigerator and looked inside, settling on cold cuts and cheese to make sandwiches. “Want something to eat?” he asked.

“Stop changing the subject, Cal.”

“Suit yourself. I make a hell of a sandwich.”

“Bully for you.”

He grinned and got the bread out of the breadbox. “You know what else I saw that night?” He left everything on the counter and closed the distance between them, testing her to see if she’d back away from him.

She didn’t.

“What?” She looked up at him warily as he drew closer, until he stood only inches from her.

“I saw a woman that knew what it was to want.” She started to take a step back but he took her arms in his grasp and kept her still. “She was misguided and too stubborn for her own good, but at the core of who she was she had needs. Don’t think I didn’t see it for what it was.”

Evie licked her lips and his cock twitched behind his zipper. Just that small peak of her tongue and he could feel it as if it were licking along his shaft. He pulled her closer, so her full breasts pressed against his chest.

“You have a hell of an ego, Cal.”

“Thank you, sugar. It’s well deserved. Just like I know you have one that matches. Do you know how fucking turned on I was, watching you lead me all over hell and back while I was trying to trace you? I wanted your mind before I ever saw that luscious body of yours.”

“Uh, huh.” She placed her hands on top of his arms, preparing to push him back, but he tightened his grip and brought her even closer. Close enough that she could feel the hard ridge of his erection pressing against her stomach. She gasped and her eyes widened as she looked up at him.

“And then I saw it was you and it was like being hit in the face with a two by four. I’ve been taken off guard two times in my life. The first was when I was fourteen and your father knocked on my door. The second was when you looked up at me through that elevator grate. You can’t tell me it wasn’t the same for you. When you realized I’d trapped you it sparked something inside of you.” He leaned in closer until his lips were right at her ear. “An edge of fear?” he whispered. “A sense of danger? A challenge?”

“What are you trying to prove? That you’re better than me? That you win? Haven’t you already humiliated me enough?”

“You’ve got it all wrong, sugar.” He nipped at her earlobe and she whimpered, her body betraying her and going pliant against him. “I set you free. Now you’ve got to make the choice to come back to what you love on the right terms.” He let the phrase soak in. What she loved. She’d loved him once upon a time. Maybe she could again.

“You mean your terms?” Her fingers tightened on his biceps and he kissed his way down to the side of her neck.

“I’m willing to negotiate the terms. The power was always in your hands. All you had to do was decide to use it. But for the right reasons. For the right agenda.”

“Everyone thinks their agenda is right. It’s why wars are fought and elections are won. Just because you fight for it doesn’t make it right for everyone.”

“Now you’re just being stubborn, sugar. You know the difference between right and wrong the same as I do. All I’m saying is that if you want to play for the good guys, now’s as good of a time as any to dip your toe back in.”

“Oh, gee,” she said, leaning back to look him in the eye. “The great and powerful Cal Colter is giving me permission to sit at my little computer and work magic against the side of evil. How generous and thoughtful of him.”

She fluttered her eyelashes at him and he had the sudden urge to bend her over his knee and redden her behind with a few well-placed spanks.

He shrugged. “I’m giving you the choice to take back what you keep saying I stole from you. The only thing I know for certain is that your mouth is a temptation and I’m tired of negotiating for the moment.”

Cal moved in slowly, giving her the opportunity to push him away. But she stood there defiantly, daring him to take the kiss. He leaned in closer, his breath hot against her lips and he barely glanced the corner of her mouth. She whimpered and he felt a surge of satisfaction. Her eyes had turned a deep, dark amethyst and her pupils were large. She held onto him as if he were her lifeline.

The pleasure of not kissing her was driving him insane. He couldn’t imagine what actually putting his lips over hers would be like.

It was heaven.

It was pure torture.

And he knew with that one touch that he was in deep trouble. His lips slanted over hers, sipping, tasting, until her mouth opened beneath his in surrender. He groaned as their tongues tangled, and then he didn’t see or hear or feel anything except the blood rushing in his head and the pounding of his heart in his chest.

“Evangeline,” he whispered.

“This is so stupid,” she said when his lips trailed down her neck, suckling and nipping just above her collarbone. “I’m still mad at you.” Her head dropped back with a moan to give him easier access.

“I know, sugar. But this has been a long time coming. It would’ve happened eventually if circumstances had been different. The other stuff will work itself out.”

He didn’t give her time to argue with him, but took her mouth again with a hungry growl. His hands slid from her back to her ribs and down to her waist, memorizing the shape of her. And then he continued from her waist to the flare of her hips and around to her ass. Damn, she was wearing too many clothes. What the hell was she doing covering up a body like the one she had?

Evangeline was determined to put a stop to the madness. But then Cal would find a new way to touch her—a new place on her body she’d never realized was an erogenous zone—and every thought would slide right out of her head.

She’d made a lot of mistakes in her life. She wasn’t afraid to admit it. And she’d spent a lot of years trying to make up for those mistakes the best way she knew how. But kissing Cal Colter had to be one of the biggest.

It was every fantasy she’d ever had come to life—better than her dreams—hotter than her wildest fantasies. She’d never had the kind of response for another man that Cal managed to elicit from her. It was just her luck that that kind of pleasure should be unattainable for more than a fleeting moment in her life. Because there was too much baggage and hurt feelings between them to ever sustain anything else.

“Evie,” he said, biting her bottom lip. “Stop thinking so hard. Just enjoy the moment.”

She almost replied back that it was easy for him to say, but his hand cupped her breast and his thumb skimmed across her nipple and then she stopped thinking altogether. Her shirt slid up across her sensitized skin and over her head and then his hands grabbed her ass and pressed her tighter against him.

“Jesus,” he said, staring in awe at the purple lace bra she wore. “This is the type of underwear you wear under those baggy clothes?”

“I have to get my kicks from somewhere.”

“Thank Christ for it.”

Her leg tangled around his hip and she whimpered as his cock pressed against her pubic bone. It was suddenly imperative that she feel more of it—the quest for pleasure the only thing on her mind now.

The next thing she knew the world was spinning. His lips never left hers, slanting across them, his tongue sliding against hers. She’d never been kissed so thoroughly. He set her down on the kitchen island and jerked her against him, so he could press fully against her. Her legs wrapped around his waist.

Oh, God. His cock pressed against her and she felt herself pushing, moving against him, writhing as she got closer and closer to release. His hand fisted in her hair, and the bite of pain only heightened the pleasure.

She’d never let herself go like this—feel like this. Because she’d never expected the reality of Cal to be hard between her thighs, making her fantasies a reality. His hips rolled and lifted, a hypnotic motion that was driving her crazy, and her hands fumbled clumsily for the belt at his waist.

“If you undo that belt I’m going to be inside you before you can blink, sugar. You’d better be damned sure about what you’re doing.”

She didn’t care. She was too close.

“Shut up, Cal,” she panted. “Stop thinking so hard.”

He chuckled as she repeated his earlier words, and then moved to help her get the buckle undone.

Master of Puppets
shouted loudly from his phone, and his pocket vibrated. Declan always did have perfect timing. Evie’s fingers froze for a moment on his belt buckle, but then she attacked it again with determination.

“Ignore it,” she begged.

“I wish I could,” he said, kissing her one last time and pulling away. His absence left her cold and exposed, and reality crashed down like a bucket of cold water. “It’s Declan. The house will be swarming with agents if I don’t answer.”

She took a second to reorient herself and then scooted down off the island, grabbing her shirt along the way. This was the exact reason she hadn’t wanted Cal to be her bodyguard. She wouldn’t be able to resist him. But she couldn’t trust him. Would never be able to trust him. She was nothing more than a pawn to him. Something he wanted to control. And a guy like Cal, once he came out the victor in the game he was playing, he’d move on to the next challenge.

Her feelings must’ve shown on her face because he gave her a strange look as he answered the phone.

“Colter,” he said.

Evie could feel his eyes on her as she slipped her shirt on. She needed to escape and time to think.

As if reading her mind he took her by the arm before she could leave. “Like glue, Evie,” he said.

She jerked out of his grasp and slipped out of the kitchen, and then headed upstairs to her suite. She’d just dodged the biggest bullet of her life. Now she only had to make sure she didn’t put herself in the line of fire again.

Surrender, Montana