Knightless in Seattle (5 page)

"Oh, definitely." Lance deftly took the blade from her fingers
and tossed it onto a pile of clothes beside his suitcase. "Or something
like this could happen." Before she knew it, he'd twirled her to face
him, and was taking her mouth in a searing kiss.

Huzzah!
Jackie wrapped her arms around him. It was
the last coherent thought that made it through her brain for a very
long time. All she was aware of was the need to press herself against
his hard, hot body and feel all of him at once, everywhere.

Fortunately, he seemed to have the same idea as he locked
his arms around her, and proceeded to drive her completely
insane.

His kiss was demanding, leaving no doubt of his intention.
He intended to have her. His large capable hands that, earlier in the
day, had easily swung a claymore with deadly force, moved surely
over the curve of her waist and hips until he cupped her ass.

"Oh God," she moaned into his mouth. Needing to be closer,
to have more, to give more, Jackie jumped up and wrapped her legs
around his waist.

"You're killing me here," Lance hissed on a sharp inhalation,
and tightened his grip.

Jackie arched and nearly passed out from the hot spike of
pleasure that shot through her as she pressed her most sensitive
flesh against the hard bulge in his jeans.

Desire, passion and pure, straight-up, lust warred for
dominance in what remained of Lance's consciousness as he carried
her into the next room. He fell with her onto the bed, finally giving in
to the urge to pull her close and satisfy his need to know how she
would feel in his hands, taste in his mouth.

Though she wore jeans and a long-sleeved t-shirt, Lance
couldn't get the image out of his head of how she had looked earlier
that day, with her costume revealing the lush figure hidden beneath
her bulky sweater. The corset had hugged every inch of her curves
and plumped her generous breasts into mounds that begged to be
touched.

He pulled back just enough to see her, leaning back on her
elbows on the bed. Her eyes were dark with need, lips wet from his
kiss. Every line of her body invited him to sin. Her red-gold hair
waved loose and wild over her shoulders, and the thin cotton of her
shirt clung to the curves of her full breasts, teasing him with the hint
of jutting nipples.

He knew deep within himself, that one night with her would
not even come close to satisfying him.

She stroked her foot along his shin in a slow caress. "I need
you."

"Not nearly as much as I need you," he growled as he slid
her t-shirt over her head in a single deft motion, exposing her
breasts, barely covered in a lacy scrap of a bra. She still wore the lacy
white fingerless gloves that reached to her elbows. The effect made
him crazy. She was the most irresistible thing he'd seen in... Well,
ever. He reached behind her to unhook the clasp of her bra. "I think
I'd give just about anything to see you wearing nothing but these
gloves."

"But this is my sexiest bra!" Jackie protested as he tossed it
over the side of the bed. "You barely even... Ohhh."

Lance had cupped her breasts in his hands. "God you are
beautiful."

She moaned beneath him. The sound almost sent him over
the edge. Pressing his face to the warm, velvet of her skin, he licked
his way up between her breasts before ravenously claiming first one
tantalizing nipple, then the other. She tasted of salt and smelled like
desire.

"Thank God you don't take all that knightly stuff too
seriously," Jackie said breathlessly. She tugged at the waist of his
jeans. "You have too many clothes on, by the way."

"What knightly stuff?" He stood, to pull off his shirt and step
out of his jeans.

"Well, you know, that chastity thing. Oh!"

He removed her jeans and panties in one efficient
move.

"Lucky for you, those chastity rules don't apply to Ninja
Knights," he murmured. He looked down at her for a moment. A
warm, willing, stunningly gorgeous woman waiting on the bed.
Wearing nothing but a pair of fingerless gloves.

Jackie's gaze traveled admiringly up and down his body,
before she met his eyes with a smoldering look that promised all
kinds of heaven. "Lucky for you, you mean." She reached out to him.
"Hurry up."

He didn't need to be told twice. Falling on her with a groan,
he held her close for a moment, reveling in the feel of every inch of
her skin against every inch of his. He smoothed his hand down over
her curves, tracing the side of her breast, the silky skin of her hip and
thigh, her deliciously rounded ass.

Then he pulled back and sat up to look at her. "I don't know
how I got lucky enough to find you. But now that I have, I'm not
letting you get away."

Positioning himself at her feet, he wrapped his fingers
around one ankle, lifting it slightly to press a kiss to the arch of her
foot. "You are the whole package." He could feel her tremble beneath
his lips as he kissed his way up her calf to the back of her knee.
"Beautiful, smart, brave.

"Did I mention beautiful?" With one finger he traced a path
up her inner thigh. "I need to know all of you Jackie." He put his
mouth where his finger had been, and trailed slow, wet kisses along
her smooth skin.

"Oh God," Jackie panted, "oh, Lance. You don't have to do
this..."

"Oh, yes, I absolutely do. I want to know every inch of you,
and I'm going to start right here." He smiled as he warmed to his
task.

With any luck, it was going to be a long night.

* * * *

"Well, I guess I'm about as ready as I'm gonna be." Hands on
hips, Jackie swept the room with a last critical gaze.

Chairs pushed against the walls facing the middle of the
room? Check.

Bright red safety mats covering the expanse of open floor?
Check.

Doughnuts and coffee waiting on a side table? Check.

But her biggest accomplishment by far? No monstrously
huge conference table occupied the center of the largest space in the
office suite. It had taken a good three hours on Saturday for her and
the poor window-washer guy she had talked into helping her to take
it apart and lug the pieces down the hall to the only place where it
would fit, her boss's office. She should get a medal for that alone.
Maybe this would be the thing that finally got her boss to appreciate
the extra effort she put in whenever he asked.

The worst part about moving that stupid table was that it
had sucked up all the time she had on Saturday, which meant she'd
had to get up extra early this morning to finish preparing the room
for today's team-building event.

Monday mornings were always just a little hard to take, but
boy, had this one come early. Not that she had any complaints about
the way Lance had woken her. She could totally get used to being
awakened that way every morning, given the choice.

Unfortunately she didn't have any choice in that matter. She
pushed down the sadness that already colored her day a little grayer.
Knowing that she would never see Lance again made her treasure
every moment, every touch, committing it all to memory for future
enjoyment after the pain of missing him wore off.

She had agreed to meet him later today for lunch, before his
flight in the afternoon, unable to refuse him to his face. But she had a
strong feeling that she would chicken out and just not show. She
couldn't see the point of torturing herself by watching him walk
through the doors of the airline terminal to the plane that would
carry him out of her life and back to North Carolina, nearly as far
away from her as it was possible to go and still be in the continental
United States. Sure, he had mentioned something about toying with
the idea of opening a new European Martial Arts studio here in
Seattle, but she was grown-up enough to know better than to pin any
hopes on maybe's and what-if's.

It really was too bad. She indulged in an internal sigh. There
was something about him--not just the knock-out chemistry between
them--that struck a chord in her. Something that clicked into place
with him, a connection she had never felt with another man.

It didn't hurt that he was a total hottie in chain mail.

"Thank God there's coffee."

Jackie turned to smile at Henry, the firm's accountant as he
passed her to make a bee-line for the coffee urn.

He looked a bit rumpled this morning. "It's the only reason I
keep coming to these pointless team building events of Fred's."

Several more people filed in behind him and soon the
conference room was filled with the buzz of conversation as
everyone waited to see what was going to happen.

"Hiring you was the best decision Fred ever made." Henry
closed his eyes and hummed as he bit into a chocolate-frosted devil's
food doughnut. He swallowed and took a sip of coffee. "Seriously,
breakfast arrangements aside, this place was a mess before you
whipped it into shape."

A warm glow of pleasure settled around Jackie's heart,
easing the undercurrent ache just a little. It was almost as comforting
as the lacy gloves she wore under her sweater. "Thanks Henry," she
said with a smile. "Hopefully he'll figure that out today and put me
actually
in charge, with a title and everything."

"Where's Jackie?"

She refused to flinch at her boss's angry tone. Turning, she
watched Fred stride into the room with his usual take-no-prisoners
attitude. He came to a stop in front of her, his hazel eyes flashing as
he pinned her with an accusing glare.

Jackie only barely kept herself from rolling her eyes. In his
high-end Nike running suit, with his dark hair slicked back with what
had to be an entire tube of gel, he looked, as always, like he was
trying way too hard to look carelessly rich.

Her arms began their familiar tingle.

"Why weren't you downstairs?" Fred demanded.

Standing with an untasted cup of coffee in her hand, Jackie
just stared over her boss's shoulder. She was vaguely aware he had
asked her a question of some kind and was waiting for a response.
But for the moment there was only one thing that mattered. The tall
blond man standing behind him. Conversation in the room faltered
as everyone turned to stare.

"What are you doing here?" she said, when she found her
voice.

Dimly aware that everyone in the room was watching her,
Jackie struggled to pick just one question to ask from among the
dozen or so that swam in her brain.

Lance smiled at her, a full-on,
sun-breaking-from-behind-the-clouds smile, complete with his
trademark irresistible dimple.

Suddenly she didn't care why he was here. She was just glad
he was.

She smiled back. Then it hit her. All the pieces fell into place.
The need for open space, the padded floor mats. Everyone being told
to come to work in comfortable clothes. It made perfect sense.

She looked at her boss for the first time. "Are you serious?
We're doing European Martial Arts for our team-building
event?"

Fred frowned at her. "What's your point? I inform you on a
need-to-know basis. I told you what you needed to know."

She propped a hand on her hip and frowned at Lance. "How
did I not know this?"

He shrugged. "It never came up, I guess. This is going to be
great, though." Warmth lit his eyes as he leaned a little closer. "Nice
to see you too."

"Thinking about doing a little blade work maybe?" she
asked, keeping her face dead-pan serious. These guys had no idea
what they were in for.

Behind her Henry cleared his throat. "Did you say 'blade
work'? I don't think I feel very comfortable with knives."

"We'll keep it simple today," Lance said with a wink. "Just a
few basics."

Fred clapped his hands. "Okay, people. Let's get this ball
rolling." Stalking to the middle of the floor, he turned to face the
dozen or so employees who were watching him, doughnuts in
hand.

Planting his feet shoulder width apart with martial
precision, Fred clasped his hands behind him and lifted his chin to an
imperious angle.

Lance thought it was the best Captain Kirk imitation he'd
seen in years. He could tell by the glances exchanged by several of
the employees that he wasn't the only one who thought so.

"Lately it seems like everyone around here tiptoes around
all day, like they are afraid of their own shadows," Fred said. "I can
barely get a straight answer out of any of you when I ask about your
projects. That needs to stop, people. Today, Lance here is going to
teach you all how to tap into your inner warrior. You're going to
become
conquerors
."

Lance watched the reactions of the group to get an idea of
the level of engagement or resistance he would need to deal with.
Judging from the responses ranging from cringing to eye-rolling, he
would have his work cut out for him.

Oblivious to the reactions of his staff, Fred plowed on.

"You're going to
conquer
your deadlines,
conquer
your obstacles." He jabbed his finger in the air for
emphasis. "Don't let some city employee keep you on hold about
zoning or permits. Convince your clients they
want
that
bigger development.

"Wait a minute." His brow furrowed as he looked around the
room. He zeroed in on Jackie. "What did you do with the conference
table?"

"It's in your office," she said, and frowned back. "You told
me to clear out this room. I didn't realize I was going to have to move
that thing in pieces, but I got it done. Why?"

"Are you telling me--" Fred spoke in a low, dangerous voice,
the emphasis on each word like a fist pounding on a table. "You
dismantled my twenty-thousand-dollar, custom-made, Brazilian
rosewood table and moved it into my
office
?" A dull flush
climbed into his face.