Chapter Three
The second he’d kissed her, he knew he shouldn’t make love to her. Every late night. Every inside joke. The sexual tension that had built over four years wouldn’t be sated in one night.
Fucking feelings. Jesus Christ. The moment her soft lips touched his, it confirmed his worst fear. He’d seen the way she’d watched him at the club, knew the moment he pushed her, she’d willingly submit. She’d come undone under his touch. He’d deliberately fucked her from behind, avoiding the surge of emotion he suspected he’d feel if he looked into her eyes.
He’d pulled his dick out and lifted Raine into his arms without saying a word. Although she attempted to shield her face, the tears trailing her cheeks told him that their relationship had transformed forever. She’d play it off as nothing but he knew their one-time friendship had been permanently replaced by a ravenous craving that wouldn’t be satisfied by a one-night stand.
Evan set her gently on the bed and returned to the bathroom to turn off the water. He glanced in the mirror and shook his head. Guilt teemed through him, as he was aware he’d crossed a line. Jesus fucking Christ, you’re an idiot. What if she was lying? Although his gut told him she was telling the truth, doubt crept inside his mind.
He shook off the thought and returned with a towel. As Evan approached, he smiled, finding her curled onto her side. His little badass spy had fought a three-hundred-pound thug but now hid from him. It wasn’t as if the intimacy hadn’t grabbed him by the balls, but if he’d learned anything in his lifetime, you had to man up and face your fears.
“Hey.” Her reddened eyes flashed up to him and she gave a small smile. Gently grazing the towel over her skin, Evan spoke as he dried her. “You all right?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” she replied, her voice shaken.
“Raine.”
“Yeah?”
“You’re beautiful. Tonight, it was amazing.”
“It was unbelievable. I’ve never felt like that before,” she confessed.
“Come here.” Evan tossed the towel aside and lay onto his back. Sliding his arm underneath her, he cradled her to his chest. He stared up at the full moon through the ceiling skylights and sighed. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”
“I’m thinking…I don’t know…” She hesitated.
“It’s okay to be honest. We worked together all this time. Jumped too. Trust. It’s something we always had. I have to believe whatever you’re doing, you wouldn’t do it without giving it serious consideration. I’ve never seen you do anything without carefully weighing the consequences.”
“It’s just…I’ve only dated one other person from Emerson.”
Evan knew she’d dated his friend, Chase Abbott, well before she’d ever taken over as Emerson’s chief security officer. But he had insisted they were nothing more than friends and had gone as far as to encourage Evan to ask her on a date.
“Chase and I. It was never serious. We’re just friends. We definitely didn’t play openly at Club Altura. I’m not like that. Or at least…I don’t know. Maybe I am. Maybe you were the only one I wanted to play with.”
“But you wanted this tonight. Us.”
“For the longest time,” she confessed, raising her eyes to meet his. Raine sighed and laid her cheek back onto his chest. “What we just did… God, it was amazing. But you know I’d never be the one to initiate. And you…”
“You knew I didn’t date people at the office.”
“Yeah. People talk. And frankly, as much as I wanted this, to be together, I didn’t want to risk my job. I love working at Emerson. When this thing with Dom came along…I didn’t ask for it to happen. But I couldn’t ignore the opportunity to take him down either, to go after a few bad guys. My Dad was in the CIA. I may not have wanted a life of danger, but I’m not a coward. I love my country. So after I got involved with the Feds, I had to finish what I started.”
“Yeah.” Evan couldn’t commit to understanding a situation without having all the facts. Until she divulged everything, he couldn’t comment further. Saying he trusted her was as far as he could go.
“You don’t believe me.” Her voice faltered in disappointment.
“I want evidence. I want to know the name of the organization. I want to talk to them.”
“All I can promise is that I’ll ask them. You were in the military. These things…involvement with the Feds…I can’t just go breaking protocol no matter how much I want to tell you.” Raine pushed up on his chest and looked him directly in his eyes. “When this is over, I’ll tell you one way or another. I promise you. I swear to God I’m not lying.”
“Didn’t you ever want to play at Club Altura?” Evan changed the subject, determined to peel away her layers.
“Truth?”
“Yeah. Truth.”
“I don’t know. It’s not like I’m a prude. It’s just that, I don’t know. I just started going to the events a few years ago. I was working with you. And I just had this idea…that you and I, we’d had this connection. So it just felt like if I did that, if I had sex with someone else, like maybe that would say something to you.”
“I had sex with other people. You watched.” Evan detected the flash of pain in her eyes but she quickly recovered, forcing an impassive expression.
“You chose to do that.”
“They weren’t members of the club.”
“Why did you do it? If you wanted me, was it a message?”
“Not deliberate. But you?”
Raine sighed, trailing her finger over his chest. “I’ve wanted you forever. But we couldn’t… You never attempted to kiss me or anything. And then I saw you with the women. And I don’t know. I questioned if that’s something I want. Not everyone does those things. If I was going to do it…it would only be with you. No one else.”
“What I did, you know it wasn’t serious. I’m not seeing anyone. You know how it is there,” Evan attempted to explain. He’d never given a thought to what he was doing at Club Altura as long as it wasn’t with an employee.
“Things just got to a point where I knew…” She blew out a breath and hesitated.
“Knew what?”
“I’d want more. One night. I get that’s what we said, but Evan…I don’t want to be a one-night stand. I don’t want this to be the end of us,” she confessed.
“It doesn’t have to be.” Evan weighed his next words, careful not to make empty promises. “If Marretta doesn’t kill us both, and the Feds you’re working for spill the truth, then we can see what happens. Whoever it is you work for, these assholes should have come to Garrett and me instead of you. I’m not going to bother asking you any more about the situation, because I get they’ll come down on you, but tomorrow, Garrett and I will find out who it is, and the shit will hit the fan. It’s not like we haven’t cooperated in the past. This is some bullshit. They put all of us in danger.”
“Marretta’s going to try to kill you.” Her voice fell to a whisper. “You don’t know him. I’ve seen things.” She shivered in his arms, calming as he ran his hand down her shoulder. “He’s a monster.”
“I’m not letting you go back to him. I don’t give a shit what agency you’re working for. It’s too dangerous.” Evan released an even breath, attempting to conceal his anger.
“I don’t have a choice.” She sighed. “Besides, I’m close to getting this done, getting names. Dom will respect me for what I did. He’ll question why I went with you, but I’ll lie. He’ll buy it. I’ll get the damn names. They’ll get some shitty dummy file. By the time they run the data, double- and triple-check, I’ll be out of there. You should know, though, if I don’t leave here soon, the Feds will come for me. You’ll be charged with holding me. They’ll make up something. There are dark recesses of our government. Invisible agencies. They report to few and do what they want. They don’t even register with most senators or representatives. No one knows about them.”
Evan considered her words. It was true that there were ultra-secret operations, spy agencies that never surfaced, let alone went public. They’d sooner make her disappear from the face of the earth than allow her to refuse to complete the mission.
“I’ll go with you,” he said.
“I can’t put you in danger,” she replied.
“I may not be able to control what’s going on tonight, but Garrett and I, between the two of us, we can rein this situation in, find out the organizations that are driving this effort and get you out.”
“Do you have any weapons here?” She glanced around his bedroom and smiled. “Wherever here is?”
“More than you’d know what to do with, sweetheart.”
“All right then. We’ll play it your way but you have to stay far behind. If they see you, we’re both dead.”
“You’ll deny that you knew I was following you.”
“I can do that but he’d probably kill us. They’d definitely kill you, Evan. I can’t let that happen.” Panic laced her voice.
“I know what I’m doin’. Not my first time at the rodeo. I’ll be invisible.”
“We’ve got to get out soon. I have a few contacts of my own who expect me to report. And if the Feds show up, it’s not going to be a good situation. We’re going to be fucked. I need to get back on the job. I’ll get the names and get out.” Raine shoved up onto her elbows, attempting to leave.
“Not so fast, sweetheart.” Evan rolled Raine onto her back, and she squealed in laughter as he pinned her arms to the bed. He settled between her legs, his cock lengthening as she arched her back, her breasts brushing his chest.
“Hmm…I like you this way.”
“Vulnerable?” she asked.
“With me. That’s how.”
A broad smile crossed her face. “Me too.”
“We’ve always made a good team, you know that?”
“The best. No one could mess with us in the boardroom.”
“We’d make a better team now.”
“Are you saying you’d like to change the terms of this agreement?” She raised an eyebrow, giving him a sexy smile.
“I’m thinking…” He laughed. “Yeah, I’d like to renegotiate.”
“I’m open to hearing your proposal, Mr. Tredioux.”
“After this mess is cleaned up, I want a proper date.” Evan’s lips moved to her neck, tasting her delicate skin.
“Yes,” she laughed.
“But you can’t work for me. I was serious about the being fired part.”
“Hmm…that much I expected. Ah…” She wriggled underneath him, rocking her pelvis against his thickening cock.
“If you’re telling the truth, I’ll go to bat for you with Garrett. If not, no dinner date.”
“I’m not lying. Besides, who said dinner was our date?” she countered.
Evan laughed. Although she was gorgeous, her wit was something he’d always found particularly attractive. “Rock climbing. Then dinner. No arguing. Dinner is always required for a date.”
“What girl can resist rock climbing? Ahh…” she moaned as he peppered kisses down her breast, a nipple slipping between his lips. “Evan…”
“You’re beautiful,” he murmured, his mouth full.
“Please…”
“I want to taste every inch of you,” he told her as he released her swollen tip.
With his cock painfully hard as steel, he resisted shoving himself inside her. Slowly, he nipped and sucked at her abdomen, shifting himself downward, between her legs.
“That’s a girl. Let me see that beautiful pussy of yours.” He trailed his lips over her mound and spread her labia open with his thumbs.
“Evan,” she cried as he stroked his tongue through her slick folds.
He lapped at her clit, tasting her sweet essence on his lips. Lifting her bottom with one hand, he speared his tongue into her core. While flicking her swollen bead with his thumb, he fucked her pussy. She bucked wildly, but he held firm, his fingers gripping her ass. Raine screamed his name, and her head thrashed as her entire body quivered, her hands gripping the sheets as he relentlessly milked her orgasm.
As her cries faltered, he rose above her, settling his cock between her legs. He licked his lips, his hunger flaring in his eyes. With a deliberate motion, he stroked the tip of his hard length through her slick folds, teasing her clit.
Emotion rose in his chest as he gazed into her eyes. He prayed like hell she was telling the truth, that every shred of intuition that told him she was innocent was on point. He shoved the thoughts to the back of his mind as she mewled, and glided his palms over her full breasts. Slowly, inch by inch, Evan eased his cock into her tight core. Raine opened to him, her knees falling to the sides, moaning as he filled her completely.
As he rested on his forearms, his fingers tunneled into her silken locks. He kissed her with passion, releasing the emotion he couldn’t articulate. A master of restraint, Evan finally let go, making love to Raine. Her magical kiss weaved a spell, and in that moment, he knew he’d fight to keep her in San Diego.
As he increased his pace, thrusting inside her, she tilted her hips to meet his. She wrapped her legs around his waist, drawing him deeper. With his forehead to hers, their heated gazes silently communicated the feelings neither would dare speak. His breath quickened as he drew closer to orgasm, his pelvis grazing her clit.
“Evan…oh, God. I…I…” Raine panted.
“Fuck…yes…” Evan grunted, unable to control the climax that rocked through him. His seed exploded deep inside Raine as her core quivered around his cock. Waves of ecstasy rippled through him, and his lips smashed onto hers, muffling her screams of pleasure. He gave a final thrust before gently slipping out of her and rolling to his back, keeping her close to his chest.
“Raine, I need you to know—”
“I don’t want this to end,” she interrupted, her breath ragged.
“Nothing will happen to you,” he promised, inwardly cursing the situation.
Evan held her tightly, swearing he’d keep her alive. He’d decided to call on his good friend Dean Frye, who was an assistant district attorney. They’d have to work fast. The longer she took to get back to Dom Marretta and give him the data, the more likely it was he’d doubt her story.
Exhausted, Evan closed his eyes and pressed his lips to her hair. As she fell asleep in his arms, he considered the array of weapons stocked in his home. Garrett joked he was paranoid, but Evan preferred to think of his enthusiasm as actively prepared.
He smiled as her lips touched his chest, reminding him of the secrets that lay in his heart. His lioness would fight to the death. He’d seen her in action and had no doubt she’d push the limits to get the names. But no matter her confidence that Dom would believe her, that she’d be safe, Evan couldn’t take that risk and let her go it alone.
Raine imagined a life without espionage or danger. When she’d agreed to the mission, the element of death had seemed worth the risk. But within Evan’s embrace, she questioned everything; her career, her decisions, her life.
As he’d made love to her, she could feel every thread of his emotion. The connection they’d built over time, as friends…now lovers, was stronger than ever. Nothing would ever be the same.
Her heart constricted as she snuggled against his chest, attempting to memorize the exact way it felt. His masculine scent. The strength of his arms. The pace of his breathing as his chest rose and fell, the rough pad of his fingers trailing over her arm.
Evan had always represented power and intelligence, a charismatic rainmaker. The man who’d haunted her dreams had finally become reality. After tasting his passion, she refused to give him up without a fight. She’d go to Dom tonight, give him the data, and complete her mission. But if he so much as laid a finger on Evan, she’d shoot him dead without blinking an eye. Evan was hers and no one, not a mob boss, not the government, would take him away.
As sleep claimed her, dreams of rock climbing danced in her head. A summit. Dinner for two. A kiss. Evan Tredioux.