Hunger (Seductors #2) (20 page)

“Will you be rolling around in these sheets naked?”

“Of course.”

Oliver shook his head, a smirk playing on his face. “Thanks for the visual,” he muttered, leaning down to kiss me goodbye. “I’ll leave you to roll around, then.”

“Have a good day, Dear,” I called, stretching out across the king size bed. Oliver took one glimpse, shook his head at me, and was gone.

I did laze around in bed for the first hour. My activities with Oliver last night had left me quite tired.

Once I was showered and dressed, I decided to explore Moscow. I’d always wanted to visit St. Basil’s Cathedral, but never had the chance to go when I’d been on other missions.

I grabbed my phone and purse, noticing I had a message from Georgie.
Oh, shit!
I’d forgotten to call her back.  

You better not be ignoring me! Call me back ASAP!!

Great! She was still angry with me, I could tell by the message. Did I really want to call her right now? I decided to wait until I got into town. At least then I could talk freely.

Moscow was still bitterly cold as I stepped out of the taxi, but Red Square was a hive of activity. There were people everywhere. I saw a coffee shop a few yards away and smiled. Coffee seemed like a good idea to me. It meant I could call Georgie back.

“You took your time!” she spat after the second ring. “I’ve been going out of my mind with worry! What the fuck are you doing?”

“I’m on a mission, Georgie. You know we can’t just drop everything and call each other. I needed to wait until I was alone.”

“You’re trying to tell me he hasn’t left you alone for
two days
?” I held in a giggle. No, actually he hadn’t.

“We’ve been a little busy.”

“You do realize how dangerous this is, don’t you? Look how leaving him affected you the first time. You’re setting yourself up for a huge fall, Jade.”   

“I’m the only one who could take this mission. Alicia wasn’t getting anywhere with it.”

“
Alicia
is on this mission, too? Holy shit!” Crap! Why did I just tell her that? “Have you slapped her yet? Oh fuck, did she get it on with Oliver?”

“
No!
He has better taste than that,” I snarled. “I’ve got this, Georgie. Don’t worry about me. I want to savor the time I have with him. You know this is all so new to me.”

“Who else is going to worry about you, Jelly Bean? You’re in love with your target. How the hell are you going to leave him this time?” Telling Georgie the truth was out of the question.

“I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it,” I whispered, playing with my empty coffee mug.

“I can’t watch you fall apart, Jade. Not when I know I can do something about it! I’m going to speak to Sonia!”

She was so interfering! “No! You can’t do that! For one, you’ll get yourself into trouble!”

“Jade, Seductors aren’t supposed to see their targets again. I’d say the rules are void with this mission.” Dammit! Georgie always had a way of getting the truth out of me.

“I won’t be saying goodbye to him forever.”  

“What?”

“The Seductors’ founder is allowing me to assume the identity I have right now when my contract is up if I complete this steal.” She was silent on the other end of the phone. “Okay, so I’ll have to wait four years, but Sonia suggested acting out a kidnapping—something that will be believable.”

“Jade, can you hear yourself?” Georgie stressed. “Are you really telling me you can spend the rest of your life
lying
to him? It will eat away at you. You’ve stolen from him…
twice
by the time this mission is complete!” She’d been spending too much time with Molly, the forecaster of doom.

“Georgie, we can talk about this when we see each other. And please don’t tell Molly or Drew. This offer is top secret. They already know too much as it is.” I knew I could trust her.

“You know I won’t tell anyone, and you’re right—we
will
talk about this when I see you!” I couldn’t mistake the warning in her voice. She meant business.

“Okay,” I sighed as my cell phone chimed, alerting me to a new message. I looked at my phone quickly, seeing a text from Oliver.

Is it wrong that I’m missing you already? xxx

“Is that lover boy texting you?” Georgie asked, teasing.

“Yeah, I need to get back to work. I have a gala to attend tonight.”

“Lucky you. Is the sex still amazing?”

“I’m not talking about that over the phone,” I sniggered.

“It’s that good, huh?” I sighed, thinking back to last night and drowning in the memories of his touch. “I’d be happy for you under different circumstances. You know I would. Just be safe, Jelly Bean.”

“I will,” I promised just before she hung up. I typed a response to Oliver before putting my phone back away.

It’s only been 4 hours. You can’t be missing me already. ;) xxx

I was barely out of the coffee shop before his next message came through.

Oh, I’m missing you, Beautiful. Trust me.

I can’t wait to see you later.

I know I’ll find you instantly in the crowd with your beauty. xxx

Mr. Kirkham, you always have such a way with words. xxx

I was smiling to myself as he sent his last message.

Only for you. ;) xxxxxx

He was always the charmer.

Alicia didn’t want to share the limo with me on the way to the gala. It was written all over her face as she glared at me from across the aisle. Sonia must have told her about taking a few months off the mission. I wasn’t going to rise to her bitch brow, though, because truthfully, I didn’t give a shit about her.

“Are you going to ignore me the entire way there?” she finally snapped, pulling my gaze away from the window.

“I didn’t think we had anything else to talk about,” I muttered, looking down at the new purse I’d bought while shopping earlier. It matched my purple dress perfectly.

“You talk about backstabbing…and then you go behind my back to Sonia!” Oh, here we go!

“This mission doesn’t need both of us right now. Sonia needs you on other cases,” I whispered. We may have been alone, but there was still the driver to think about. “And keep your voice down!” I motioned in the driver’s direction. Alicia sat back in her seat and didn’t say another word for the rest of the trip.

I knew this gala tonight was a big deal, but I was taken aback by the grandness surrounding me as I entered the main ballroom. Not to mention the room was packed. There had to be at least five hundred people already here. How the hell was I going to find Oliver? Alicia had already stormed off in a different direction than me. I reached the top of the grand staircase, feeling a little like a princess.
You, Jade? A princess?
Okay, it may have sounded stupid, but that’s how I felt as I gazed out over the crowd. Holding my head up high, I made my way down the staircase, lifting my dress slightly so I didn’t trip on the material.

“Would you allow me to escort you to the bar?” a fair-haired man asked as I reached the bottom. I was already scanning the crowd, looking for Oliver. He was here somewhere.

“I’m sorry, I need to find my date,” I muttered, not even looking at him.

“He can’t be much of a date if he’s abandoned you already. Have one drink with me, please.” The fair-haired guy was just about to touch my arm when a voice came from behind me.

“Miss Gibbs hasn’t been abandoned. She is
my
date,” Oliver smirked, pulling me against him. The fair-haired guy winced awkwardly. Clearly he knew who Oliver was and scurried off into the crowd. “Jade,” he gasped, “you look absolutely breathtaking.” I wasn’t given a chance to respond before he crashed his lips against mine in an aggressive kiss. He tasted so good—of freshness and mint.
Mmm, that was the Oliver taste I knew
. We seemed to forget the world around us. All that mattered were his lips moving against mine.

“Wow,” I giggled against his mouth as we broke apart. “That was a kiss hello.”

“I want to do so much more, believe me,” he muttered in my ear.

“Save that for later,” I winked, looking around the crowd, watching all the eyes on us. Oliver and I were causing quite a show, it seemed.    

“Are you ready for this?” he grinned, running his hand through my hair. I’d straightened it tonight, going for a simple look to show off my elegant, purple dress more.

“I’m ready,” I beamed, taking his hand in mine. He looked down at our joined hands, stroking the side of my palm with his thumb before pulling me deeper into the crowd.

“What do you do again, Miss Gibbs?” one of Oliver’s male associates asked me later that evening. Oliver was currently on stage, picking some numbers for the drawing tonight.

“Interior design and artwork mainly,” I murmured, watching Oliver on stage.

“Interesting. Is that how you and Mr. Kirkham met?” This guy was really nosey and I didn’t like it.

“I don’t see how that is any of your business,” I frowned, watching Oliver step down from the stage and begin to make his way toward me.

“I’m simply making conversation. I’ve never seen Oliver so happy, that’s all.” I knew that was true. I could see it deep in his eyes as he got closer to me.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to snap like that,” I apologized. “It’s just that Oliver and I like to keep our relationship private.”

“That’s understandable,” the associate muttered as Oliver wrapped his arms around me from behind.

“Oh, I see you’ve met Jade, Jeremy,” he chuckled, kissing my neck softly.

“You know me, Oliver. I’ll always seek out the most beautiful woman in the crowd first.”

“Careful, you know she’s spoken for,” Oliver warned in a teasing tone.  

“The most beautiful? I’m not so sure about that.” I glanced around the room. The finest on the rich list were all here tonight. I was sure there was even royalty. There was
no way
I could be the most beautiful here.  

“You are to me. That’s all that matters,” Oliver whispered into my ear. “If you’ll excuse us, Jeremy,” he muttered. “I have more people to introduce Jade to.”

“Oh, don’t let me keep you. Wonderful to meet you, Jade.” Jeremy smiled as Oliver led me away.    

“I think I’ll have to keep an eye on you all night,” he chuckled, guiding me through the crowd as he acknowledged a few faces we passed.

“What do you mean?”

“Jade, you’re a vision tonight. You must have noticed all the greedy eyes watching you.”

“Umm…no, I can’t say that I have,” I lied, forcing a blush.

“That’s one of the many things I love about you,” he grinned, stroking my cheek as he ran his thumb across my bottom lip.
Oh, God! He said the ‘L’ word again. Breathe, Jade!
“You have no idea how amazing you are.”
  

“And you have a way of rendering me speechless,” I giggled, leaning up to peck his desirable lips.