Privacy Code (Shatterproof) (10 page)

She nodded.

Perfect. Not sharing everything right now would buy me a little time to work out the details of how I would slowly reveal myself to her.

Selfish?
Perhaps to some degree. But it also gave her a little time to prepare herself to tell me about her life.

She shook her head
, now nestled against my chest. I felt the warmth of her breath blowing across my chest. “I’d love that,” she said.

After several silent minutes she said, “Will you stay with me tonight?”

“I was planning on it.”

I knew, in that moment, she was going to be my downfall, one way or another.

She turned her head toward me, resting her chin on my chest. She kissed me on my chin, then said, “Which was your favorite? First time or second?” Asking me about the two times we’d just had sex.

“Do I have to pick?”

She nodded.

If this had been anyone but Catherine, I would have been suspicious that it was some kind of trick question, maybe a way of trying to secretly find out if I’d liked it hard and fast or soft and slow.

Truth was, I liked it both ways. And since it was Catherine, that’s how I answered. I added: “But I’d give a slight edge to the first.”

“Because it was the first?”

“No. Because of your reaction when I first entered you.”

She paused for a moment. “Oh, God. Do I even want to know what my ‘O’ face looks like?”

I could have answered that question in a way that would have quietly ended the topic. The answer could have been sweet. But I opted instead for the first thing that popped into my head. “I’ll show you sometime.” I looked down to see her raising her eyebrow.

“What?” she said. “You’re going to take a picture or a video?”

“No. Just trust me. I know what we’re going to do.”

Sh
e chuckled. “Of course you do, with all of your experience. I have full documentation of that, by the way. I’ve saved every one of your emails.”

I figured this was as good as
time as any to reveal something else I’d been keeping from her.

“Those were mostly stories, Catherine. Fiction. I made up most of them.”

She shifted and sat up, pulling the sheet up to her chest and covering herself. Her eyes narrowed and her head moved slowly side to side. “You bastard.” She gave me a playful slap on the chest. “But I’m glad you really haven’t been with that many women. So how many, really?”

“The number isn’t important. And I won’t ask about, nor do I want you to volunteer your number.”

She shrugged. “Okay.” I could almost see the curiosity flooding her mind. I liked it.

I reached up toward her neck. She probably thought I was going to gently pull her down to me for a kiss. But instead, I grabbed the sheet and tugged it off of her.

“We’ll know everything about each other soon,” I said, cupping the underside of her breast. Without even touching it, her nipple responded by puckering tightly. “But you should never hide these from me.”

She smiled, leaned down, and pressed her mouth against mine. It was a passionate kiss, one that held the promise of a third round of sex.

Out of nowhere she said, “I don’t think you left the room because I asked your name.”

I didn’t say anything.

“I think it’s something else,” she continued.

“And what might that be?”

She looked at me for a moment. I wasn’t sure if she was trying to figure out what to say or how to say it.

She shrugged. “I’m not sure yet.” She bit her bottom lip, as if in deep thought. Her hair draped ove
r her left eye.

I reached up
and tucked it behind her ear, not saying anything.

“Can I ask you something?” she said.

“Sure.”

“The other night at the hotel, why did you tell me I would be better off staying away from you?”

Her eyes locked on mine, a dead stare. It was as if she thought she could find the answer if she looked hard enough.

“
With me, there might be as much pain as there is pleasure,” I said.

She smiled, totally misinterpreting what I meant. “I think I could handle that sometimes.”

I shook my head and started to tell her that she had it all wrong, but as soon as I opened my mouth, she cut me off.

“Just tell me what you mean,” she said.
“I kind of had some ideas already, anyway.” Her face turned into a frown.

“Like what?”

She shook her head. “Don’t try to turn this around on me.” She managed a slight grin. “If you don’t want to tell me right now, that’s fine. Whatever it is, it can’t be all that bad. You’re here, right?”

I nodded.

“So let’s just take it slow,” she said. “See what happens. We made it this far, right?”

I had my doubts about what she was saying, but I agreed anyway.

She sat back up, then stood, telling me she’d be right back. “I do want to know you.” She looked at me, hard, for a moment before continuing. “Just promise me I’ll know you before too long?”

I nodded. “Promise.”

I sat up and watched her walk down the hall, my mind swimming with curiosity about her past, her present, her future—
our
future, if there was to be one.

It wouldn’t be long before I would share wi
th her the fact that I owned a rare bookshop.

Of course, that was all
a ruse. One that I would eventually reveal to her. After all, I had just promised her I would. So maybe sooner rather than later.

For the immediate future, though, she wouldn’t have
a clue that I had an entirely different life. Not a clue that I had only been in the United States for ten years. Not a clue as to exactly why I had come here, and what exactly I was up to.

It was just the way it would have to be—she would have no idea who or what I really was.

Spy? Agent? Operative? Mercenary? Assassin?

Sometimes I wasn’t sure
myself.

The SHATTERPROOF Series is a three-part serial released over the course of three weeks, continuing with part 2 of 3, ILLICIT CONTACT, available July 16, 2014.

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