Hot Ice (A Hostile Operations Team Novel - Book 7) (34 page)

She resisted the urge to snort but only barely. “Afraid of where we were going? We were together for years. You’d been with Laura for far less time, and you were already engaged. I don’t think you’re afraid of getting married, Jeff. You just didn’t want to marry me.”

She stopped dancing, and he had to let her go or stumble. They stood on the edge of the dance floor. His color was high and his mouth was taut.

“It’s over. It’s been over for months, and though you might have always thought you could walk back into my life anytime you wanted, it’s not true.”

“You aren’t really in love with that bodyguard,” Jeffrey sneered. “It didn’t take me long to figure out that was a lie.”

“Actually, I am in love with him. But not everything is meant to work out, is it?” She held her hand out, and he took it automatically. “Have a nice life, Jeffrey. Help my father get elected, marry Laura or don’t, but don’t waste any more time on me. It’s not fair to either one of us.”

She left him standing on the dance floor and walked away, her head held high. The churning in her stomach had everything to do with Garrett and nothing to do with Jeffrey, but there wasn’t a damn thing she could do about it. If he’d felt anything about their time together, about them as a couple, he would have called.
 

She slipped through a side door and into an adjoining ballroom. It was blessedly quiet and empty, and she leaned against the wall and closed her eyes.
 

“Hiding again, Grace?”

Her eyes snapped open. Garrett was standing in front of her, wearing a tuxedo, looking so achingly handsome it hurt. She wanted to throw herself into his arms, but she wouldn’t. She didn’t know why he was here, and she wouldn’t make a fool of herself if she could help it.

“I could ask the same of you.”

He laughed, and she knew it was because she’d sounded snotty. Prim and snotty. Well, damn him, what did he expect?

“I’m not hiding, cupcake.”

She flicked her gaze over his tuxedo. “Another assignment? Guarding some poor woman who has no idea what’s about to hit her when you turn on the charm?”

He tilted his head to the side. “Charm? I seem to remember you telling me I was an arrogant asshole with a potty mouth. Or something along those lines.” He grinned. “Turns out your mouth is as bad as mine when you let go.”

She couldn’t help but let her gaze slip to his mouth as she thought of all the things it had done to her. Her insides liquefied as she remembered that mouth on her body. His hot tongue licking her into oblivion. Grace shuddered.

“Why are you here?” Her voice was strained, but she couldn’t hide it. She couldn’t pretend not to care.

“Because I want you.”

Her heart thumped painfully. “What does that mean, Garrett?”

He crossed the distance separating them and wrapped an arm around her waist, tugging her to him. “What do you think it means?”

Her senses were on overload. He was hard, his cock pressing into her belly, and she whimpered with the need coursing through her system.

He didn’t give her a chance to respond, however, before he crushed his mouth down on hers. She wrapped her arms around him and gave him everything. Their mouths fused hotly, tongues seeking, sliding together in heated desperation.

His bare palm slid beneath her dress, up her thigh, his fingers finding the tiny edge of her thong. He groaned as he dipped a finger down into the silky wetness between her thighs. Grace clung harder, her heart beating wildly.
 

Her body was like a bow, stretched so taught it would snap with very little pressure. His finger skated over her clit, and she moaned, clutching his shoulders tight.

And then, like someone had opened a door and let in wintry air, her heart chilled. He knew her body intimately, but her heart was the organ that would suffer most if he made love to her and walked away again.

Grace pushed against him until he stepped back. His eyes were a bit wild, a bit hazy. He looked confused, and she could have laughed if it wasn’t so serious.

“I can’t do this,” she said tightly.
 

“I didn’t think you could.” He looked a bit defeated and her heart throbbed. “A life with me isn’t the kind of life you’re used to.”

She felt suddenly dizzy and she put her hand out to brace herself on the wall. “I’m sorry… a
life
with you?”

He shoved his hands in his pockets and shrugged. “I know, crazy, right? Just because I have a tuxedo and know which fork to use doesn’t mean I belong in your world or you in mine. It would be too hard. Your parents would hate it. I’m not good enough—”

She launched herself at him and he caught her, stumbling back as she wrapped her arms and legs around him and crushed her mouth to his. He cupped her ass and held her tightly to him, kissing her as desperately as she kissed him.

Then she cupped his jaw tenderly and stared down into his eyes. “You want a life with me?”

“Of course I do. What did you think I meant?”

“I thought all you wanted was sex. One last time to say good-bye…”

“Jesus, for a smart woman you sure can be stupid sometimes.”

Her eyes filled with tears. “You didn’t call me. It’s been a week, and I was so worried…”

“I know. I’m sorry. I had to figure some things out, and I had to go see my daughter.”

Grace instantly felt contrite. “How is she?”

“She’s doing fine. Her mother is still a nut job… but she’s met a man and, uh, she doesn’t seem to have as much energy to badmouth me as usual. Probably won’t last, but for now she’s laying off the crap. Cammie’s doing well in school, spending time with my parents, and, God help me, she has a boyfriend. He writes her notes. Real notes on paper—and he draws hearts on them. I thought all kids did was text anymore.”

Grace laughed. He sounded horrified, and it was kind of sweet. “I’m glad she’s happy. I’m sure she was excited to see you.”

His grin was so beautiful it hurt. “Yeah, she was. We had a good time together. She’s coming to see me when school is out next summer.”

“That’s wonderful.”

“You know, I was hoping maybe I could use my connections and get her a private tour of the Capitol. Maybe she could meet a senator.”

Grace traced his lips with her finger. “The real reason comes out now. You want me so you can get into the Senate.”

“That’s right, cupcake. I’m going to keep you in my bed for the next several months just so my daughter can get a private tour.”

Her smile quivered at the edges. “I thought you didn’t do relationships. Am I an exception then?”

“You are
the
exception, Grace. The only one I intend to make.”

“I love you, Garrett Spencer.”

He looked a little stunned, and she almost regretted saying the words. They hadn’t been talking about love. This was about being together a day at a time, building a relationship, and she’d just had to blunder in and toss an emotional bomb into the middle of everything.

He squeezed her tightly to him. “You’re an amazing woman, Grace Campbell. I thank God every day that you came into my life when you did—”

She put her hand over his mouth, her heart pounding painfully. “You don’t have to make excuses, and you don’t have to say it back. Let’s just pretend I didn’t say it and move on, okay? Tell me more about keeping me in your bed.”

He nipped her palm and she drew her hand back in shock.
 

“What I was trying to say, if you’d stop interrupting me, is that I’m amazed a woman like you could even be interested in me—but you are, and I thank God for it. I may not be worthy, but I’m going to do my best every day to let you know how grateful I am for you. Because I love you, Grace. I love you. I didn’t want to, but I do.”

Her eyes pricked with tears. “For a man with a dirty mouth, you sure are a poet sometimes.”

“That’s me. A frigging Shakespeare in camouflage.” He lowered his mouth to her neck, nibbled the skin there while little shivers snaked up and down her spine. “Roses are red, violets are blue… this dress makes me horny, now let’s get the fuck out of here and go do something porny…”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

GARRETT SAT WITH THE GUYS in Buddy’s Bar, his attention half on the conversation and half on the woman up at the bar. She was tall and shapely, with long dark hair and a come-hither smile. Grace sat with the women of HOT and her best friend Brooke and laughed as if she didn’t have a care in the world.

She’d weathered a lot in the aftermath of having her work discredited, but she’d handled it all with the amazing aplomb he’d come to know hid a deep well of shyness and vulnerability. His heart broke for her every time she endured another sneering question or comment from the press, but they were few and far between these days, the press having become far more interested in the presidential primaries coming soon. Which was good, because he’d nearly lost his cool every single time. Any day he’d have punched a reporter, and Mendez would have gone berserk when he did.

If Grace regretted having lost her standing at work, she never let on. She was safe now, and that’s what mattered. With Ian Black’s information, HOT had mopped up the men who’d been chasing her—a separatist group from Russia—and ensured that all evidence of Grace possessing any information about superviruses and how to make them was completely destroyed.
 

Grace laughed again. She looked so carefree right now, though he knew she was never carefree. It just wasn’t her nature.

Garrett shoved back from the table, ignoring Flash’s jibe, and strode over to where Grace sat on a barstool. Her eyes widened as he approached, and the women gathered with her turned their heads.

“Hey, Ice,” Gina Domenico said from her perch on a nearby barstool. “Need something?”

Evie Baker sat beside her, laughing. “Looks like it, all right.”

Brooke Sullivan’s eyebrows went up in question. Victoria Royal leaned on the bar. Georgie and Olivia sat on the other side of Grace. Lucky had disappeared a few minutes ago. Come to think of it, Kev had disappeared when she had.

Garrett ignored them all as he put an arm around Grace. She melted into his side as if she’d always belonged there. It made him shudder deep down with gratitude. He could have lost her if he’d been stubborn, but thank God it had only taken him a few days without her to realize how miserable he was.

He’d crashed a political reception because he couldn’t wait another minute, and he’d thanked God every day since that she’d come with him that night so many weeks ago. Colonel Mendez hadn’t said a word other than to shake his head and mutter about testosterone and brains.
 

Senator Campbell and Mrs. Campbell were another matter, but he’d been surprised by their silence on the subject.

Until earlier today. He’d gone to see them. They’d been a bit stunned by his question at first, but Mrs. Campbell dabbed her eyes with a hanky—a lace one, of course—and the senator cleared his throat, made a speech, and then shook Garrett’s hand.

So now he was fingering the box he’d put in his jacket pocket—it was always a little chilly in Buddy’s, but even if it weren’t, he wasn’t taking this jacket off—and feeling as if he would burst if he didn’t get her alone.

“Grace, can I talk to you?”

Her brows drew together, and he hated that she looked worried, that she could still look that way after the past couple of months together. He loved her more than she could ever know, but she still seemed to fear, deep down, that everything would change. It wouldn’t.

“Of course you can.”

Hell, he’d never been one for the grand gesture, but if ever there was a time, this was it. Instead of leading her away from the women who’d become her friends, he dropped to his knees—one knee wasn’t good enough; she deserved both—and the women all gasped.

Grace’s eyes filled with tears as she clapped her hands over her mouth.

Behind him, he heard hoots and chairs scraping. Even the television went mute as someone hit the button.

Well, goddamn.

He took the ring from his pocket and held it up. “Grace Campbell, the way I feel about you is bigger than the universe. I never thought…” He cleared his throat as it tightened. “I need you to marry me, Grace. I need you to be with me forever.”

“That’s not a question!” someone yelled. Sam McKnight maybe.
 

Garrett ignored them and kept his gaze on Grace. Her eyes shimmered as the tears she’d been holding back spilled over. She nodded mutely and held out her hand. He slipped the diamond ring he’d picked out—and would be making payments on for a while—onto her trembling finger.

She burst into tears then, and he stood and pulled her off the stool, gathering her against him and turning her head into his chest and letting her cry. She held him tightly, her fingers fisting into his jacket.
 

“Damn, Ice, you did it all wrong,” Flash said. “You made her cry.”

“Shut up,” Garrett growled, and Grace pushed away then, swiping her eyes and glaring at Flash.
 

“He did it perfectly, you moron.”

Flash grinned. “I know. Just wanted to hear you defend him.”