20. CASSANDRA

This is wrong. This is so wrong. This couldn’t be more wrong.

Then why does it feel so right?

Years evaporate as Carson’s mouth burns on my own like a hot coal. Suddenly I’m back in that abandoned barracks with him after the science fair, unable to think about anything but the moment we are experiencing right this second. I’m lost in this world with him, ready to take anything – everything – he’ll give me.

Some part of me knows it’s wrong – that we have bigger issues to work out, even if I wasn’t taking part in a little thing called the Chase. But that part is lost under a tidal wave of passion.

I run my hands under his suit coat, groping the marble physique that’s been filling my mind’s eye since our encounter at the shop this morning. I can actually feel the fabric of his shirt straining against the muscles working underneath it.

Our mouths disengage with a wet popping sound straight out of a cartoon. Romantic? Maybe not. But it’s raw. Passionate. Animalistic.

Now his lips are working their way down into the hollow under my ear. The hot caress of his tongue is like a branding iron on the sensitive skin there.

Meanwhile, my hips have a mind of their own, twisting and pushing toward him. I can feel solid steel under his pants, just like our make-out sessions in high school. But something has changed. It’s grown. Or maybe it’s just been so long that I just think it has.

I haven’t let myself go like this since before my family was spirited away to Honduras and I started down the path that led me to the CIA. For the past twelve years, my whole life has been about control, of myself, of the situation.

The total abandon of this moment feels soooo good…

Carson’s mouth reaches my throat and starts to explore. A groan escapes each of us as my hands work my way down to the perfect orbs of his ass cheeks and squeeze. I can’t believe I did that – are women supposed to squeeze men’s butts? I don’t know.

And I don’t care. I just did it and it felt amazing.

He returns the favor immediately with rough, powerful fingers, and I feel a sudden tingle between my legs the moment his hands grab me. The hem of my dress hikes up and exposes more of my legs. The sheer naughtiness of the moment is a giddy thrill I haven’t felt since we were teens.

“Cassie,” he growls in my ear. “My Cassie…”

My heart sings at the sound of my name on his lips. I was always Cassie to myself, never Sandra. That was my father’s name for me. Carson knew who I truly am, all those years ago. Even today, after so many years spent buried under a mountain of secrets and lies, I still believe he’s the only person on Earth who knows the real me.

Whatever comes of this, I know one thing for sure: Sandra Vincent is gone. Cassie Vincent is here to stay.

I tilt my head to allow Carson easier access to my neck. I don’t want him to ever stop what he’s doing there. It’s makes me feel like I’m drunk.

His hands make their way around to my front and begin to stroke my breasts through the thin fabric of my dress. They swell and my nipples strain at his touch. The shock of pleasure runs straight down my belly into my groin. I squeeze my legs together there to maximize the situation.

Geez, Cassie. The situation? Way to make it sound like you’re still on a mission…

My arms reach up to encircle his neck and pull him closer. It’s like I want to be part of him, to have the two of us meld together into something that can’t be separated. It’s been so lonely without him for so long. I never realized just how bad it was until this moment. This feeling.

“Carson,” I whisper as I take over working on his throat with my tongue. I want to return all the desire he’s sparking in me. I want him to feel as good as he’s making me feel.

Next thing I know, he’s scooped me up by my cheeks and my back is against the pile of coats hanging next to the wall. Fur and silk press against my bare back, enhancing the sensuality of the moment. Expensive perfume wafts around me, filling my head.

Suddenly there’s extra space in my gown. I realize it’s because Carson has pulled down the zipper in back and my bare breasts are pushing free from the confines of the fabric. They’re exposed in front of a man for the first time in my life. Except that time in survival and evasion school, and we don’t talk about that…

Besides, I’m too turned on to feel embarrassed.

Then his mouth closes over my nipple and my mind becomes one with the universe for a moment.

My God, the electricity of it! I’ve never felt a tongue on my breast before. It’s so warm and soft, but what it does to me!

The spot aches with pleasure as his hand takes care of my other breast. His powerful fingers stroke so softly, then circle my nipple before giving it the tiniest squeeze and sending vibrations right through me.

Carson’s other hand is still holding me up by my ass as easily as if I’m weightless. His fingers grip me there, prompting a thrill in my groin that threatens to soak me. I let out a groan that I couldn’t hold in for all the money in the world.

He takes this as a cue to press himself into me even harder, pinning me against the wall with that concrete rod against my opening, separated only by fabric.

“Cassie,” he moans. “I missed you so much…”

My eyes flutter open as I run my tongue along his neck, and I see the room behind him. Light filters into the room through the thirty-degree crack in the doorway. For the first time, it occurs to me that someone could walk in at any second. Someone could, perhaps, even be watching us right now.

The jolt of that realization brings another unpleasant thought along with it, and my breath catches in my throat.

What the fuck am I doing?! I’m supposed to be in the Chase!