Dangerous Liaisons (21 page)

Cole grasped the bedroom doorknob, and Jesse ignored the flip of her stomach as he pushed open the door. A six pack and three hours after they’d pounded out the details of their plan, Tom announced he was leaving to begin preparations. As he left, the glance he cast in her direction startled her. She was positive she’d maintained a cool facade toward Cole, yet something in the look hinted at a question.

“Here you go, Jess.” Cole stepped aside for her to enter.

She slipped past him, stopping just inside the huge bedroom. Had he put her in the master bedroom? The room was certainly large enough, and the king-sized four-poster bed, comforter, and four, full-sized pillows fit the bill—just as she’d imagined. The dark oak dressing table, vanity, dresser, and two chests, along with the wool carpet color coordinated in earth tones spoke of masculine tastes. She stepped up to the bed and ran her hand across the down comforter, eyeing the four pillows. After sleeping in trees and seedy hotels, the bed looked obscenely decadent.

She turned to find Cole leaning against the doorjamb. “It’s…” The sight of him, arms crossed, blue eyes intent on her, made her mind go blank.

“Jess,” he murmured, and pushed off the doorjamb.

His secure cell phone rang. Cole halted, his gaze glued to hers. Jesse remained rooted to the spot. Only Caruthers and Fletcher had the number. Something went wrong in Nicaragua.

Cole pulled the phone from his back pocket and flipped it open. “Yeah?”

Jesse took four paces and stopped in front of him. Her heart pumped faster. This was exactly what she’d feared would happen. Despite all her planning, the identity papers Ernesta had forged and sent to a Queens, New York post office box had been for nothing. Instead of a well-planned
kidnapping
, Jesse would be forced to tear Amanda away from everything and everyone she knew in a midnight mission that was sure to draw attention from those watching.

“Okay,” Cole said. “Keep me posted.” He closed the phone.

“Well?” Jesse demanded.

“That was Caruthers. Lanton called him.”

“And?”

“Everything is going as planned.” Cole frowned, and she thought the bruise on his cheek darkened in the instant before his mouth curved into a gentle smile. “Amanda will be okay, Jess.”

She felt as if she’d been tossed into an arctic lake. “Don’t put me off, goddamit. I want to know what Caruthers—”

Cole reached for her. She saw the movement and started to step back, but too late. He grasped her shoulders, holding her motionless. Their gazes locked. Her heart beat so furiously she felt light headed. A lump formed in her throat, and she gave a small gasp at realizing a tear was sliding down her cheek.

He slid an arm around her as he wiped away the tear with a fingertip. “Good thing I came into that alley.”

“Who knows what sort of trouble I would have gotten into otherwise?” she heard herself say.

A corner of his mouth twitched. “Uh huh. And who would have carried you to Rayburn’s?” He leaned close. “Not to mention, we couldn’t have anyone else seeing you in nothing but a bath towel. The yellow sundress was a poor substitute.”

A warm glow radiated through her insides. “You didn’t do anything about it.”

His gaze dropped to her mouth. “You didn’t trust me.”

“Should I trust you now? I’m alone and at your mercy.”

“Yes, you are,” he said, his mouth within a hair’s breadth of hers.

The muscles between her legs tightened with pleasurable discomfort.

“How do you feel about me now, Jesse?”

How did she feel? She grabbed his shoulders, and yanked to drop him onto the bed. Cole spun, tossed her onto the bed like a rag doll, and sprang on top, his hands buried in her hair, his lips an inch from hers. That was a move Hwuang hadn’t taught her.

Cole brushed his lips over hers, barely touching, as he whispered, “You wouldn’t have forgiven me if I’d let you give yourself up without trust. I’m a patient man.”

“And damned confident.”

“Maybe.”

He pressed his lips against hers. His tongue flicked once, then parted her lips with a gentle push. Her last coherent thought was
He always gets the last word
as she yanked his shirttail free of his jeans.

Jesse ran her hands up through his soft chest hair, kneading the hard muscle in his chest. She arched her hips into his erection. Heat shot through her. She plunged her tongue deeper into his mouth. He groaned, sparring more intensely. His hands burrowed into her hair as he deepened the kiss.

How did she feel about him? She arched. She wanted his hands on her. She wanted him to explore every inch. There wasn’t enough time between now and tomorrow, when they would have to return to the real world, the world where Lanton waited for them, where Amanda—Jesse shoved his chest away from her. He went rigid, his breath uneven, and he stared.

“The phone call,” she demanded in a hoarse whisper. “What—”

Relief flooded his eyes. “It’s what we wanted, Jess. Relax.” He stroked her hair.

“We never talked about him calling Caruthers,” she said.

“We didn’t talk about every possible move he might make, but this makes sense.”

Panic raced through her. Cole was right. They hadn’t talked about every move. Was the plan enough? Had they accounted for every contingency? They needed more. They needed—

“Jess.” Cole’s voice snapped her attention back. “The call was a good thing. Lanton thinks you’re in Colombia.”

He was right, but all she could think about was Amanda. Harris wasn’t enough. Jesse hadn’t revealed Amanda’s location on the off chance Cole didn’t know. She couldn’t chance that, not yet.

“We didn’t talk about this, either,” Cole said, and shoved her arms above her head.

His mouth crushed down on hers. Amanda’s name echoed in Jesse’s mind, then dropped behind the wall of fog that blanketed her thoughts. Cole slavered kisses down her neck. Jesse felt her pulse beat against his lips. She strained against his grip. He intertwined his fingers with hers and she arched into him. He released her hands, slid an arm beneath her, and hugged her in a near breath-stealing embrace. Her head swam. What had taken him so long?

Jesse pushed him onto his back, straddled his hips, and worked his shirt buttons. She finished the last one and abruptly realized he was lying motionless. Heat spread across her cheeks when she saw his gaze locked on her face. She hesitated, read the invitation that she go on, and shoved open his shirt. Jesse buried her hands in his chest hair. His hands burrowed under her shirt and warm palms slid up her stomach and under her bra. He cupped her breasts, squeezing gently. She threw her head back and arched into his hands. His erection pulsed under her buttocks and she rocked against the hard rod. Pleasure ripped through her.

She leaned down and ran her tongue around one nipple. He slipped a hand around her back and unclipped her bra. Jesse fleetingly wondered how he’d gotten so good at the sophomoric move, then didn’t care when he stroked the bottom curve of her breasts with his thumbs and a finger found her nipple. She slithered onto his thighs and unbuckled his belt. She unzipped his jeans, then paused, fascinated by the erection straining against his jeans.

“Jess,” he whispered.

The urgency in his voice startled and thrilled her. She slipped a hand inside and wrapped her fingers around him. Cole shuddered. Hot satisfaction scorched her senses and she tentatively stroked him. His hand unexpectedly covered hers.

“You’ll put an end to this way too soon if you keep that up,” he said in a hoarse voice.

She was startled to realize she would have liked to see if she could bring him to so quick a climax, but when he tugged at her shirt with his free hand, she released him, straightened, and pulled the blouse over her head. The bra slid down her arms as Cole grasped her shoulders and pulled her close until his lips caressed a nipple. Intense pleasure raced to the sensitive point between her legs as his tongue twirled around her areola.

All she could think about was getting his clothes off and him inside her. Cole seemed to read her mind, for he released her shoulders and went to work unbuttoning her jeans. Seconds later, she slid down his body and snuggled against his chest as she freed his jeans. Her hands ran along his muscular thighs and desire deepened. She shoved her jeans and panties off then reached for him, eager for the taste of his lips.

He tugged her knees up until she straddled him, then pulled her face down and kissed her. She startled from the kiss when he reached toward the nightstand. What had happened? He pulled open the drawer and she blinked when he pulled a condom from inside.

“You are confident.”

His mouth kicked into a smile. “Hopeful.”

He started to tear open the packet and she placed a hand on his. “No need. I have an implant.”

His brows drew downward, then he grinned. “You think of everything.”

He tossed the packet aside and gripped her buttocks. He lifted her up and she barely had time to brace herself before he lowered her so that the tip of his rod played at her entrance. He probed, taking his time to fill her. She wanted to slam herself down onto him, to ride him hard, and nearly gave into the need before he finally settled her fully on him.

They lay without moving, their bodies joined. Never before had she been so aware of the feel of a man. The way he felt inside her, the heat of their union, even the beat of his heart. A sense of vulnerability unlike any she had ever experienced assailed her. She felt herself flush. Cole shifted, and she gasped in pleasure. He lifted her up an inch, then brought her down. Jesse braced herself on his chest. He lifted her again, then again, this time higher, then again and again. Pleasure rippled through her. He moved faster, faster.

Jesse braced her hands on his chest. His fingers dug into her hip. She kneaded his chest muscle. He groaned and she felt her channel tighten around him. She threw her head back, lost in the mounting pressure. One of his hands dropped from her hip and she jerked her head up at feel of his finger between her legs. He flicked the sensitive bud. Pleasure rocked her. Jesse cried out. Her mind splintered.

She found herself on her back, Cole arching over her, thrusting into her. Pleasure radiated like blast of energy. He groaned deep within, shuddered, then collapsed on top of her.

Egyptian cotton sheets and Cole’s warm body. Jesse opened her eyes, aware of the glow of a bedside lamp—and the passage of time. Red digits of a bedside clock read two a.m.

Cole shifted beside her in his sleep, his arm curling tighter around her shoulders. He held her as if it were the most natural thing in the world, as if he had been doing it all his life. His lovemaking had left her content. The intimacy incited fear.

She had loved Michael. He had been intense, brutally honest, and a little dangerous. She told herself it was the dangerousness that ended their relationship, but she now wondered if that were true.

Her life with OIA was over. Even if all charges were dropped and her name cleared, she couldn’t go back. She had to go where no one could associate her with clandestine games, and start a real life, which meant dropping off the radar, forever.

She’d known this day would come, though she hadn’t expected it to be quite so violent or complete. All agents knew they’d eventually quit, but most didn’t disappear. The shock she expected to feel didn’t come. She didn’t feel anything.

“You look serious.”

Jesse started at the sound of Cole’s voice. She met his gaze. Intense curiosity sparkled in his eyes. This man might think he could change for a woman. They all loved to think that. Michael thought it. He had been wrong.

She managed a tentative smile. “It’s serious business.”

He grinned. “Yes, ma’am.”

Jesse couldn’t help a laugh. He wasn’t kidding. He had made love to her with the single mindedness of a greyhound with his eye on the rabbit.

He rolled onto his back, pulling her against his chest.

“You really think the three of us can pull this off?” she asked.

“I’d give the odds sixty-forty in our favor.”

That was better than her calculations. “Who was the man you met in the diner?”

“Victor Morales.”

“Morales? He didn’t look Spanish.”

Cole placed a kiss on her forehead. Jesse closed her eyes, steeling herself against the wave of longing that rolled over her.

“His mother’s All American, blond and blue-eyed,” Cole replied. “I’m betting the money transfers between Perez and Lanton have his fingerprints all over them.”

Her mind snapped to attention. There had been something about the guy that bothered her. “Are we certain Lanton is working alone?” she asked.

“We can’t be certain of much,” Cole said. “What’s eating you, Jess?”

“This Morales is a wild card.”

“What do you want to do about him?” he asked.

Jesse hesitated. What did she want to do? With Cole so close, she couldn’t concentrate on anything except getting onto her back with him inside her. Tomorrow—what was she doing? Tomorrow—and the real world—were only hours away.

Jesse yanked aside the covers. She felt Cole tense, and thrilled when his erection pulsed under her scrutiny. She flattened her palm on his stomach and was sure he held his breath as she slid her hand downward over two cigarette burn scars. She brushed his erection before slowly wrapping her fingers around the thick shaft.

Cole groaned, thrusting into her hand. “Jess.”

She watched his rod glide up, then down, reveling in the strain of each measured thrust. This was what it was like for him when he was inside her, the need, the demand for more. Mesmerized, she stared, aware her body had gone taut. A throb pulsed between her legs and she gently squeezed his member on the next thrust. His arms tightened around her in what seemed an involuntary move, and he quickly loosened his hold.

Jesse nuzzled his chest, taking a swipe at his nipple with her tongue. “Don’t hold back.”

In a flash, he flipped her onto her back and slipped under the covers. Jesse started at the touch of his moist mouth around her belly button. Cole ran his tongue downward. A shiver rocketed up her spine. He veered left, along her hip, and she gasped when he kissed the insides of her thighs.

She buried her fingers in his hair and pushed his head deeper between her legs. He licked her with gentle rolls of his tongue. Jesse tightened her fingers in his hair, tugging convulsively with each lick. Cole shifted, and she startled. His fingers massaged her nipples while his tongue worked. Fast and slow. He lifted her legs onto his shoulders. He drove her higher and higher until she exploded.

As Jesse lie sweating and panting, Cole worked his way up her body. He kissed her, and she pulled him inside her again.