She turned, confused, and his face was so close.
And then she just reached up.
His mouth was firm and hot and, when he took control, searching. Her head was ringing and it wasn’t just the bells.
No prisoners
. She leaned her hands against his chest and simply melted into him.
Devlin lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling, remembering the feel of Katarina Elmore’s mouth, and wondering if he was ever going to get a taste of all that sweet, soft heat again. Probably not. He sat up, cursing quietly.
She’d stunned him, stunned herself, when she reached for him. He’d seen that when they finally broke apart. Her eyes had been so wide and dark. At that moment, God alone knew what she was thinking.
She’d caught him unawares, for a second time, when she swung on her heel and dived across the square. He’d
followed. He might have yelled at her to stop. He wasn’t sure.
Once at the hotel she bolted to her room, without a word or a backward glance.
Devlin looked over at the clock. That would be half-an-hour ago.
She would be packing her bags now, he was pretty sure of that, and all bets were off over whether she would want to keep working with him. He shoved the heels of his hands into his eyes and rubbed.
This was not meant to happen
.
His control was shot to hell. One bloody kiss, and his belly was getting tight and his groin hard and heavy, just thinking about her.
He gritted his teeth and rolled off the bed. He’d have to speak to her, and soon. To say what? God knew. Apologise? Demand she apologise to him? Now there was a thought. Despite himself, his mouth twisted into a grin.
She’d got them into this bloody mess. Which didn’t mean that it wasn’t down to him to get them out again. If the worst happened, there were a couple of guys in Florence, good ones, he could hook her up with. Freelancers. He’d worked with them
… before. They’d keep an eye on her while she hunted for Jeff.
He really hoped that it wouldn’t come to that. He wasn’t ready to say why, except that it wasn’t only to do with the ache in his belly. Kaz Elmore was tapping into something in him that was shifting. Something that had started at the side of a deserted road six months ago?
That thought was enough to prod his libido back into its cage.
Stripping off his shirt, he headed for the bathroom, to see whether a cold shower could finish the job.
Kaz padded along the landing, a bottle of the hotel’s best Barolo clutched in a sweating palm. The sight of the door to Devlin’s room almost had her running back to her own.
She stopped, gathering her resources. She had to do this. She
wanted
to do this. She was scared witless and her knees were knocking, but she was right where she wanted to be. She half-smiled. She’d finally got it. Life was too damn short to let something as good as Devlin pass her by.
The man could kiss.
The thought of all the other things he might be able to do had her stomach juddering with heat and nerves. She wasn’t looking for happy-ever-after any more. She couldn’t think of a better way of proving it than going to bed with Devlin. If he would. If he wouldn’t, she was just going to have to seduce him. She swallowed. Well first, they’d have a drink.
She squared up and rapped on the door.
‘Devlin, it’s me. Can I come in? I just wanted
–’
Whatever else she was going to say died on her lips as she stepped into the room. He’d released the door and moved away from it. He was standing in the middle of the floor. A pair of dark jeans clung to lean hips and that was it. Bare feet, bare everything else.
Her mouth went dry as she took in the definition of muscles under the smooth, lightly tanned skin. She hadn’t realised just how spectacular his body was. She simply hadn’t looked, hadn’t let herself. There was a faint fuzz of hair showing above the zipper of the jeans. She wanted to put her hands just there. He was reaching for a shirt. She had to stop herself snatching it out of his grasp.
‘Kaz?’ He was looking from her face to the bottle of wine. She put it down carefully, on the nearest piece of furniture. She had to get her mouth moving, as he didn’t seem able to get further than her name.
He hadn’t got the shirt on yet. He was just standing there, holding it. She wrenched her eyes away from his chest and up to his face. Frowned.
‘Uh
… your hair is wet.’
‘Just out of the shower. Cold shower,’ he elaborated.
‘I see.’ She nodded, beginning to smile. ‘Did it work?’
‘No.’
‘Thank God for that.’
She stepped forward, took the shirt out of his hands and dumped it on a chair.
‘I brought a bottle. If you really want, we can drink it. Or you can kiss me again, and we’ll move on from there.’
For an evil second she thought he was going to opt for the bottle, or even scoop her up and shove her back onto the landing. Then he hauled her in, and went for her mouth. Firm, fast, hard. Everything went misty. Bliss.
The groan Devlin gave when he finally let her go sent a hot thrill of pleasure through her.
‘You sure know how to stage an ambush.’ His forehead rested against her hair. ‘Here I am, half-naked, trying to resist a beautiful woman offering me great sex
–’
The thrill this time was panic. She leaned away. ‘I don’t
–’
‘S’ok.’ His hand was warm against the back of her neck. ‘My resistance was shot to hell quite a while ago.’ He lifted his head to look at her, holding her eyes. Seeing everything. ‘You and me – it will be great.
That
I can promise.’ His voice was very soft, very sure. The ache inside her quivered and bloomed.
‘I don’t expect you to promise anything else.’ When her voice wavered, she let out a breath. With Devlin, everything was going to be different. This was what she was doing here.
She eased forward, letting her pelvis rest against his hips, feeling his hardness even through the stiff fabric of the jeans. She had one more speech and then she was done. ‘I have to say
–’ Her fingers clenched against his chest. ‘If I didn’t want this, I wouldn’t be here. But I remember what you said, about not mixing business with pleasure. So whatever state your resistance is in, I can still leave. If you want.’
‘Woman, you have to be dangerously crazy if you think I’m letting you out of here.’ He was grinning. ‘What do you want? Down on my knees and beg? I can do that.’
‘No!’ Her hand curled at the denim waistband, holding him. ‘I just
–’
He put one finger to her lips, to quiet her. ‘I know what you were doing, and I appreciate it, but right now neither of us is going anywhere.’
This time the kiss was a slow, sweet simmer that set little fires of need spurting over her skin. It was like a long hello, she thought, dreamily, as his mouth explored hers. A prelude and a declaration.
When he lifted her and deposited her on the bed, without letting go of her lips, she was breathless. Her palms were on his chest. His heart was tripping steadily under her fingers. Her own was all over the place. Just like Devlin’s hands and his mouth.
God, his mouth.
On her eyelids now, and her jaw, leaving hot yearning trails wherever it touched. She made an impatient sound in the back of her throat, scrabbling for the buttons on her shirt.
‘Not yet.’ He scooped her hands away, pinning them above her head with one of his as he ran the other slowly over her breasts. She squirmed. ‘Devlin.’
‘Hold on, baby, it’s gonna get a lot hotter than this.’ She could hear him laughing, feel it in his mouth as he dealt with the buttons. One at a time. With kisses in between, and long nibbling trails.
He stripped her slowly, revelling in each layer of skin as he uncovered it. His tongue and his teeth on her tight, hard nipples sent fire spiralling deep inside her. To where the need was.
Dazed with pleasure, she gazed up at him. She’d thought it might be crazy, wild. She’d never expected it to be so
focused
. Every move he made, every touch, every caress of his mouth on her heated body, was flawless. And he pulled something out of her. Response, or instinct. Something that knew when to touch and when to hold, when to yield and when to demand.
She felt tears pricking the back of her eyelids and blinked them away.
For a second they hung suspended, motionless, Devlin poised above her, watching her face. Kaz put up a hand to touch his cheek. He turned his head, to nuzzle a kiss into the palm.
‘I want you.’ Her voice was so thready she wasn’t sure he’d heard. Fathoms deeper than she’d ever wanted before, she shifted her hips to take his weight, opening to cradle him, as his body pinned hers. His eyes hadn’t left hers. Darker than she’d ever seen them. Intent. On her.
She put up her arms and dragged him back to her lips as he slid inside her and began to move. The gasp she gave was lost in his mouth, but she knew he felt it. He shifted slightly and stroked deep, taking all she was offering and giving it back to her.
As their lips parted she couldn’t take her eyes off his face. Desire, power, strength, giving.
Chapter Nine
‘It’s incredible.’ The Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police dropped the late edition of the
Evening Standard
on his deputy’s desk. Banner headlines flared across the page –
Hit Man in the Park
. ‘A police officer gunned down – executed – in a public place, in daylight. I don’t have to tell you that I want all the stops pulled out on this one.’ He threw himself into a chair. ‘What do we have so far?’
‘Doesn’t seem any doubt that Phil was responding to a call from a supposed informant. He logged it before he left. We’re tracing it, but it will almost certainly be from a stolen mobile phone.’
‘Which is now at the bottom of the river,’ the Commissioner
finished for him. He saw the light in his deputy’s eyes. ‘What else?’
‘This is interesting. Just before the last incoming call Phil
made
a call. To France.’
Chapter Ten
Devlin raised his hand in front of his face, inspecting it. It was still trembling slightly. With an effort, he dug an elbow into the bed and heaved himself up. Kaz was stretched out beside him, eyes closed. Her chest was rising and falling, so she was still alive.
He propped himself up on a pillow and watched her chest. It made good viewing. When he had his strength back he was planning on kissing those two gorgeous peaks a whole lot more. Gonna do a little teasing too, and fondling. Breasts, throat, thighs. He had a programme.
Christ, he was getting hard all over again.
His body was still quaking in aftershock. He reached up to brush back a strand of hair that was falling over her face. The feel of that hair, rippling against his body.
He breathed out, a long shudder of remembered pleasure, dropping a kiss on the bare shoulder that was closest to his mouth. If there was a part of this woman that didn’t turn him on, he hadn’t found it yet. He was going to need a lot more time. A whole lot more. Like an intensive study. When he got the proper use of his limbs back.
He could feel a stupid watermelon grin turning up his mouth when her eyes flicked open. He’d put that dazed expression there. He was damn near immobile, she was punchy.
Looks like this thing is just full of possibilities.
‘Hi.’ He rolled over carefully, kissed her on the mouth, very gently. Boy, she tasted good. He dipped a little deeper.
‘Devlin.’ She was kissing him back, but he could feel her laughter under his lips. ‘You can’t want to go again already.’
‘Babe, you have no idea.’ He eased back, leaning on an arm so that he could look at her. ‘Katarina Elmore, you are one hell of a woman.’
‘Thank you.’ The smile was pure, feminine, cat-got-the-cream satisfaction. Didn’t you just love it when your woman looked like that?
He outlined her lips with an exploring finger. ‘So, now that you’ve had me, are you gonna fire me?’
‘Now that I’ve had you, are you going to quit?’ she countered, rolling so that her face was level with his.
‘Nope.’ He slanted his head. ‘But I am going to stop taking your money.’
‘Devlin!’ She sat up in a rush. ‘I didn’t do this to
–’
‘Hey.’ He pulled her into his arms, her head against his chest. Which felt really good, even though her muscles were tense against him. ‘I never thought you did.’
He raised himself slightly, to kiss the back of her neck, waiting for her to relax. Her hair was in his face. He brushed it away. It smelled of green grass and vanilla. Bugger. Sensory memory. Scent was the strongest trigger there was. New-mown fields and baking now and he was always going to think of her. He rocked her gently, teasing out the last resistance from her shoulders. And found they were shaking. With laughter. Bemused, he put a finger under her chin, to tilt her head up. ‘What did I say?’
‘Not you.’ She was blushing a little, through the giggling. His chest constricted, unexpectedly. ‘My mother. I just remembered. I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but she told me that if I had to sleep with you, to get you onside, that she had no problem with that.’