Chapter Six
Josh stretched, and as memories of the night before flashed through his mind, he jackknifed up in bed. Shit. Shit. Shit. Last night Holly rocked his fucking world, but he never should have slept with her. Never should have stayed over. But fuck, once they started down that path, nothing short of a heart failure could have stopped him. But Christ, he was here to protect her, and the last thing he wanted was to jeopardize her chance of advancement in the company by getting caught in bed together.
Dude, the mission, remember? This is bigger than her job. You need to get her home where she’ll be safe.
“Morning.”
Her soft whisper startled him and he shifted. “Hey,” he said, guilt edging out last night’s pleasure. She thought he was a colleague, and because he’d signed a fucked-up confidentially contract, he couldn’t tell her who he really was, and that shit straight-up sucked. Feeling like a class A prick for sleeping with her without revealing who he was, he said, “Didn’t mean to wake you.”
She turned to check the clock, and the blankets slid off her slim hip, giving him a view of her gorgeous curves and soft creamy flesh. His cock thickened, and he groaned at the enticing sight before him.
I want her again.
Jesus, what was with him? He’d just given himself a good hard lecture, yet there it was—he straight-up wanted her again. He was in so much trouble.
“Everything okay?” Sleepy eyes, warm and well sated, met his.
He scrubbed his jaw. “I probably should get out of here.”
She blinked, visibly taken aback. “Oh. I…okay.”
Well fuck, he’d hurt her feelings. She made a move to get up, but he put his hand on her shoulder to stop her. “Holly, wait. It’s just that I don’t want anyone getting the wrong idea about us.”
“By anyone, do you mean me?”
“Last night…” he began. “It probably shouldn’t have happened. But it did. I’m fucking weak when it comes to you. And while I’d like to say I’m sorry for what we did, I can’t. It was straight-up, fucking awesome, but we shouldn’t do it again.”
“No?”
She smiled and he shook his head, a sound catching in his throat as he took in her sexy grin. “You like that, don’t you? You like knowing what you do to me?”
“Maybe.”
Pulled by a power he seemed to have little ability to resist, he leaned over her and brushed his mouth against the hollow of her throat. She whimpered and moved against him. “Yeah, well, I don’t think you’re so immune, either,” he teased. A measure of satisfaction—which he really wished he didn’t feel—rolled through him at knowing he had the same effect on her.
“Never claimed to be,” she said on a breathless whisper.
He brushed her hair back and caught the ecstasy flitting across her face. “We’re here for work, so we probably shouldn’t be having sex.”
He was about ready to congratulate himself on his restraint when she said, “I don’t know about that.” Her warm breath fanned his face and messed with his resolve. “This trip is all about bonding, right? Even Jeff wants us paired together.”
He eyed her, his body tightening. “What are you getting at?”
“All I’m saying is why can’t we have some fun while we’re here?”
Okay, that was the last thing he expected her to say. This relaxed Holly, her guard no longer in place, was fucking with his mind and creating a world of problems for them both. Before joining Encore to protect her, he’d read her file, researched her history, and this was not in her nature. Outside of her one close friend Sam, she kept to herself, worked day and night, and as far as he could tell, she hadn’t been with a man in a very long time.
“You’ve been giving this some thought, haven’t you?” he asked, hating to burst her bubble, to wake her from this fantasy and see her shrink back into herself, no friends, relying only on herself.
How could he do that to her?
How could he not?
She didn’t know who he was, and sleeping with her was wrong.
Then why the fuck did it feel so right?
She moistened her lips and his body kicked into gear, aching to lose himself in her again. Careful, Josh, you’re about to unravel like an old frayed scarf, and you need to be the strong one here.
“If you’re worried that I might get the wrong idea about us, don’t.” She poked his chest. “We’re both consenting adults, and neither of us is looking for anything more, so why not have some fun while we’re here, and when we go back home, put the week behind us. It will be nothing more than a delightful memory.”
He really shouldn’t agree to this. Sleeping with her wasn’t conducive to his mission, and now, if she ever found out who he was, she’d kill him. But it wasn’t just Holly he had to worry about. Oh no, her father would put him six feet under if he knew he was messing around with his daughter.
“So, by ‘fun,’ you’re saying you want to have sex again, right?” he asked, just to clarify.
She chuckled. “Yes, I want to have sex with you again.”
Shit, it shouldn’t thrill him to know that of all the guys in the world, she’d picked him to let her inner bad-girl come out to play.
Say no, Josh. Say no and get your mind back on the real reason you’re here.
“So, what do you say?” she asked, stretching out her body and enticing him in ways that made him bat-shit crazy. She gave a throaty purr that resonated through him.
His gaze raced over her face, taking in her contentment. Clearly last night had been good for her. Him, too, of course, but how could he walk away from this when she was asking for it? She’d seemed so lonely, so lost, and she deserved to have some fun before she went back home to live under the protection of her father and his men, right?
Fuck, what am I saying?
Oh, that he was going to give her everything she needed while she was here, because she fucking deserved it, and then some.
Kill me fucking now.
He brushed his thumb over her bottom lip and took in the warm fulfillment in her eyes. Weak. That’s what he was. So fucking weak when it came to her. “I say yes. Actually, I say hell yes.”
She kicked the rest of her sheets off and stood, wobbling slightly on her injured foot. He jumped from the bed and gathered her into his arms. “You okay?” He held her by her rib cage, his thumbs sweeping under the soft swell of her full, lush breasts.
Her cheeks turned a pretty shade of pink. “Yeah, it just pinched. But it’s not as bad as it was.”
“How about your wrist?” She held her hand out and rotated it. “Much better. I think you were right. Just a strain. I won’t need that X-ray after all.” She unknotted the scarf and tossed it onto the mussed bed. “And since we no longer need that for my wrist…”
Images of her tied to the bed bombarded him, and his cock thickened even more. His crown pressed against her stomach, the sweet friction lighting his nerves. “Jesus Christ, Holly.”
“We have a group meeting in one hour.” She pointed downward and pressed against him, massaging his cock between their bodies. “I’m pretty sure you’re going to have to do something about that first.”
“Any suggestions?”
“There is always that sitting on the bottom of the pool thing you do. Or…” She stepped away, walked into the bathroom, and turned on the shower.
He followed her, and when she bent to check the temperature of the water, a tremor racked his body. “I never knew you were such a tease.”
She turned to him and arched a brow, the picture of innocence. “You think this is me being a tease?”
“Yeah, I do.”
She climbed into the shower and crooked her finger. “I’ll show you tease.”
Despite the chaos going on inside his body, he couldn’t help but laugh. She was showing him a side of her he’d never seen before, and not only did he like it—really like it—it looked good on her.
Careful, Josh. You’ve been down this road before and nearly got derailed. Rich girls only want one thing from a wrong side of the tracks guy like you, and they always run home to daddy. You’d be wise to remember that.
He climbed into the shower and gathered her into his arms. Desperate to taste her again, he dipped his head, and her hard nipples pressed against his chest as he claimed her mouth. He backed her up until she was under the hot spray. Water fell over her body, big fat droplets catching in her long lashes. She moaned and a surge of warmth flooded his veins. Her questing hands slid down his sides and raced over his body with aroused eagerness. Jesus, he loved the way she touched him.
She grabbed the soap and lathered his body as hot steam filled the room. Small hands skimmed his muscles then gathered his cock for a deeper, more thorough exploration.
He drew a shaky breath and braced his hands on the tiled roof of the shower. “Holly.” As need settled deep in his groin, he pinched his eyes shut.
“You like that?”
“Fuck yeah, I like that.”
“Good.”
She squeezed slightly and raced her hands up and down his length, torturing the living hell out of him. Okay, yeah, he got it. This was Holly teasing. She slid one hand lower to massage his balls. They drew up into his body, and she whimpered.
“Like that?” she asked.
“Yeah,” was all he could get out past a tongue gone thick. He powered forward, pushing into her small hands, need building with every caress.
“I like it, too.” His eyes opened, and when he found her looking at his cock with admiration, pleasure dancing in her eyes, his stomach squeezed.
“Yeah?”
“I like everything about your body.”
“I like everything about yours, too.”
His pulse leaped because, yeah, it was more than just her body he liked. Damned if he didn’t want to tell her that. But there were a lot of things he couldn’t tell her.
Yeah, like I said, I’m in so much trouble.
Eager hands explored, and he almost lost it, almost shot his load into her soft palms. “I like making you feel good.”
Jesus, was she for real? The last time a woman touched his body to please him was…never. His heart missed a beat, and he struggled to make sense of his reactions to her. He hated himself for keeping his identity a secret, but there was a part of him that liked being nothing more than a computer coder to her. In the past, when women found out he was a SEAL, his dangerous job became their infatuation, and rarely did they show interest in him as a person.
Holly wanted to make him feel good.
“Holly,” he began, even though he wasn’t sure what it was he was trying to say.
“Hmmm…”
“Come here.”
Overwhelmed with the need to touch her, he took her hands from his cock and turned her, moving her away from the spray. He put her palms on the tile wall and wrapped his arm around her waist to open her up to him.
“Keep your hands there,” he said. He inched his knee between her legs to spread them, then stood back for a minute to just look at her. “You are so beautiful.”
“Josh,” she whimpered and wiggled her backside.
Fuck me.
He grabbed the soap, lathered his hands, and stepped back into her. Her body quivered as he cleaned her, racing his soapy palms over her body and reaching around to wash her breasts, between her legs. When he stroked her clit, she pushed against him, and moaned.
“You like that?” he asked, his turn to tease.
“Yes,” she murmured, her voice distant, as if she was lost in pleasure.
He pushed a finger inside her, and when she clenched around him, his cock pulsed.
Shamelessly, she bucked against his hand. “More,” she cried out. “I want you inside me, Josh.”
He bent his knees, poising his cock between her open legs, but seconds before he powered forward, one working brain cell made him halt. “Dammit, I don’t have any more condoms.”
“I…I’m on the pill.”
He froze for a second, her words, and the implication behind them, hitting like a sucker punch. He gently touched her shoulders and turned her to face him. When her big eyes met his, his heart slammed in his chest. “I’m clean, Holly.”
She nodded. “Me, too.”
He pushed her hair from her face, and she licked a fat water droplet from her lip. Dipping his head, he pressed his forehead to hers, breathing deep as he cupped the back of her neck. He inhaled her rich, sensual scent and worked to pull himself together. Holly trusts me enough to have sex without a condom. He wasn’t sure why. What had he ever done to earn her trust? He took a calming breath and closed his eyes against the flood of guilt.
“Just so know you, I would never lie to you about something like that,” he said. Just about other things, really important things. His stomach tightened as his heart pounded a little too hard.
“I know,” she whispered. “Neither would I.”
I need to end this now. But how could I do that to Holly?
Torn between guilt and duty, he cupped her face, and when she blinked up at him, a desperate sort of ache in her eyes, he wanted only to give her what she needed. He pressed his lips to hers, and she opened her mouth, welcoming him in. They exchanged a long, heated kiss, and when he pulled back, she looked as shaken as he felt.
“Turn,” he commanded.
She obliged and pressed her hands on the wall, opening herself to him.
He ran his hand over her back, stroking her curves and shaping the slope of her ass. He gave a small slap and she yelped, but it was from pleasure, not pain.
“Do you have any idea how sexy you are?” he growled.
“Josh, please.” She wiggled against him, and he damn near lost all control.
“Don’t worry, I’ll give you what you want. But first I need to do things to you.”
“Oh God.”
He slid one arm around her body, taking her nipples between his fingers. He rolled them until they were rock hard, then he closed his palms over her mounds and kneaded. His cock throbbed against her ass, and she pushed back against him.
“The more you tease, the longer I’ll draw this out,” he whispered into her ear.
“Evil,” she murmured.
He chuckled. “You think this is me being evil?” He ran his hand down her stomach and circled her clit, coming close but never touching.
“Yes,” she cried out, shifting her hips to force his hand to the spot that needed it most.
“You’re wrong, you know. Evil is when I use your scarves to tie you to the bed and keep you there for hours while I have my way with you.”
“Oh God, Josh.” She went perfectly still, no longer teasing him by gyrating her body, and he rewarded her with a finger. He slid into her, and he nearly shot off as her wet heat squeezed him. He might be the one teasing her, but he was the one being tortured.
He pushed another finger inside, and a little whimper escaped. “I…Josh…ooh.” Her hips jerked slightly, but then she stopped herself. He brushed his finger over her clit. She was close, so damn close, but he wanted her to come with him inside her.
He eased her legs wider, and her body opened up to him. Repositioning his hands, he braced one arm around her waist to hold her and placed his cock between her spread legs. She angled her head, and he put his mouth close to her ear.
“You want me, Holly? You want my cock in you?”
“Yes,” she whimpered, and pushed back. His crown breached her opening, and unable to wait one more second to feel her wet heat around his cock, he pistoned forward, burying himself inside her. She gasped, her hands sliding on the tile.
“I’ve got you,” he murmured, holding her tighter until she caught up with him. When her body relaxed, he asked, “Good?”
“Yes,” she said, and began rocking against him, the skin-on-skin contact taking him to the precipice in record time. He could already feel the tension of an impending orgasm. Gritting his teeth, he held on. It damn near killed him, but no way would he finish before her.
Her body moved against his, soft and pliable as he savored her heat. He pressed a kiss to her back, tasted the sweetness of her skin. A whimper escaped her lips, and she began pressing harder against him, seeking what her body craved.
“Yes,” she cried out as she tightened around his cock, squeezing and teasing an orgasm from him. As she let go, he buried himself in her, needing to end the sweet torment. A low growl of satisfaction rolled from the depths of his throat as he pulsed and released high inside her.
He ran his hands over her back, tracking her spine, and she shivered. Needing to get her under the hot spray, he pulled out and turned her. The hot stream fell over her back as heavy-lidded eyes met his. She looked warm, sated…gorgeous, and it made him so goddamn happy it shook him a little. Water dripped from her hair, and he pushed it back. She smiled at him, a teasing, bemused expression on her face as she pointed downward.
“Now that we’ve taken care of your little problem, you’d better get back to your villa and get dressed for the breakfast meeting.”
“Little problem?” he shot back as he rinsed them both off.
She laughed, and he couldn’t help but laugh with her. “Ego much?”
He reached around her to shut off the water, and she lifted her hand to open the shower door but he stopped her. He brushed his fingers along her jaw, and she visibly quaked. “Holly—” he began, and shook his head. “That…you…” Fuck, she’d reduced him to speechlessness.
“I do what I can,” she said, looking at her nails with smug satisfaction.
“Now who has the ego?” Laughing, he opened the shower, grabbed a towel from the hook, and wrapped her in it. He tied one around his waist, and his laugh died when his gaze met hers. “How do you want this week to play out?”
Grinning, she touched his chest, and desire once again stirred within him. How could he want her again so fast?
She relaxed against him and traced a finger around his nipple. “You in my bed. Lots of bonding,” she said, but then her grin faltered when she saw he was being serious.
He frowned. “I’m thinking we should keep the affair under wraps.”
She crinkled her nose. “You’re probably right. Jeff wants us to bond, but this isn’t exactly what he had in mind, and if I want him to take me seriously…”
Since she opened the door, he walked right through it. Thinking of his mission, he asked, “So why do you want to work for a guy like that, anyway? Why is the senior analyst position so important to you?” She glanced at her feet, tension taking up space between them as she went quiet. Too quiet. “Holly?”
“It represents independence,” she finally said.
Josh’s gut clenched. Everything she wanted went completely against his mission.