14
JAKE’S EYES WERE GRITTYfrom lack of sleep. He supposed it hadn’t been a bad haul: one shipment of coke and one piece of the pipeline—Oceanic—removed. It wasn’t enough. He’d hoped to infiltrate the entirenetwork.
In the predawn darkness, he let himself quietly into Cynthia’s house. He knew she’d be sleeping, but he needed to check on her. He needed to watch her sleep, watch the rise and fall of her chest and know she was alive. For a second his heart stalled as he recalled the moment when he’d thought he’d lost her. He never wanted to live through anything so devastatingagain.
He rubbed his tired eyes. When had it happened? When had he fallen for that kinky, stubborn, irritatinglove of his life. He sighed. It was hopeless trying to figure out when she’d sneaked under his guard. She had. That’s all. The woman had taken his heart hostage and he hadn’t so much as put up afight.
He swallowed hard and moved stealthily toward her bedroom. Light spilled out of her office doorway. He imagined she’d forgotten—or felt too afraid of the dark—to switch itoff.
But she was there, sitting at her computer wrapped in her white terry robe. Her hair stuck out all over the place, as if it had been toweled but never combed. As she tapped intently at the keyboard, love squeezed his heart. Love for the brave, nutty woman with a head for numbers and a heart forgiving.
A wry smile—part admiration, part frustration—twisted his lips. Why wasn’t she sound asleep after the trauma she’d beenthrough?
He wondered what she was doing. Maybe she was writing a complaint letter to hisboss.
He’d done some stupid things before, but putting this woman’s life in danger topped the list. No doubt when she told her tale, he’d be headed for a disciplinary hearing. Which he richly deserved. They could do anything to him, take his badge, he didn’t care. She was alive, and that’s all thatmattered.
He just hoped he hadn’t screwed up so badly he’d never get a second chance at the only woman he’d everloved.
“Hi,” he said softly, so as not to startleher.
She gasped and turned his way. As their gazes connected, he felt her warmth; it was as if she’d leaned right over and kissed some secret part of himself only she couldreach.
He dragged a hand over his unshaved face, felt his eyes mist. He must be more tired than he’d thought. He hated botched operations. And he felt personally responsible for this one. He’d been the one to push, determined to prove Oceanic was the next link in their takedown. He’d discovered he was right and the same day blown the whole operation sky-high. Talk about snatching defeat from the jaws ofvictory.
“Hi, yourself.” Her eyes were red rimmed from strain and lack of sleep, her face pale and free of makeup, her hair in total disarray, but right then he’d never seen anything so breathtakingly beautiful as the smile that curved herlips.
It was only a botched undercover operation. Compared to Cyn’s safety that wasnothing.
In the past he’d prided himself on his self-control and discipline, but in that moment he knew he’d been fooling himself. He could no more have stayed away from those lips than he could have stopped himself loving her. In a heartbeat he was spinning her chair until she faced him, bending to kissher.
With a throaty sound of pleasure, she opened her lips beneath his, and his tiredness was blasted out by a rush of need as powerful as any he’d ever known. He felt her arms wrap around his neck, leaving her robe gaping. He reached beneath the terry and touched the firm round swells of her breasts. The nipples blossomed as he caressed her. She was so warm, so blessedly alive. Each beat of her heart beneath his hands, each sigh, each flutter of her pulse reminded him that she was full of life. And that life had become so very precious tohim.
He felt trembling, and realized it was coming from him. “I thought I’d lost you,” he murmured against herlips.
“I thought he was going to shootyou.”
“I’msorry.”
“Me,too.”
“I needyou.”
“Oh, yes.” She smelled of lavender and woman, her skin warm and silky beneath the soft terry. He wanted to go slowly, to savor every blessed, living inch of her, but his patience had deserted him along with his self-control. He eased her thighs open with his knees and trailed a hand over her belly, finding her slick andready.
His blood felt fevered within him, and his own eagerness almost embarrassed him. He was acting like a horny teenager; he just could notwait.
Her hands came down from his neck and started working his buckle, while frantic little moans spilled from her lips. “I need you,now.”
Not any sooner than he needed to be deeply and completely inside her. The fumbling with his belt was taking way too long. With his hands in her armpits, he hauled her to her feet, hoisting her onto thedesktop.
While he dealt with the belt and unzipped, she shoved the keyboard out of the way, and a dim corner of his mind found enough attention to be amused that she remembered to push the save key. Then he gripped her upper thighs, spread her wide and plunged into her, groaning as the slick heat envelopedhim.
Her eyes widened with shock at the impact, then he lost sight of them as her head fell back. Her legs wrapped tight around his hips and her body arched right up against him, balancing on her hands, behind her on the desk. Her robe hung open, the sash looped lazily across her belly. He pulled it wide and pushed back the lapels to watch her belly and breasts as she gyrated againsthim.
He tried to hold himself back, slow things down, to prevent himself coming inside her in a humiliating nanosecond, but it was hopeless. She’d picked up the frantic rhythm, and since every shred of his self-control was history, he gave up and plunged intoecstasy.
But his helpless groan only triggered her climax, and he watched, mesmerized, as shudder after shudder rippled through her, matched by the high-pitched cries that rippled from herthroat.
