A Kept Man (16 page)

Including Jess? He stared at her across the darkness. She still
looked as enticing as ever, but he didn’t feel aroused. Was she
a thief too? He’d give anything to be able to ask her, to clear
the air between them. But he couldn’t. There was too much at
stake, there were people depending on him. He couldn’t risk
scaring her off.

Or was he just afraid of her reaction if she was innocent when she
learned the truth?

She cleared her throat, betraying her nervousness. He suddenly
realized he hadn’t said anything for a while.

“I’m sorry,” she said, not looking at him. “I
shouldn’t have pried.”

“No, it’s all right. After everything else we shared
today, we should be able to share a little more, right?” Even
as he said it, he felt unclean, because it was just another ruse to
get her to open up to him and get her to reveal her own secrets to
him. He quickly tried to cover it with a truth to make himself feel
less guilty. “It’s probably good for me anyway. I’ve
never told anyone the whole story.”

He’d managed to startle her into looking at him again. “Never?”

“Never.” The only question was why he’d revealed it
all to her. He was afraid of the answer.

“Why not?” she asked curiously.

He laughed. “A guy’s got to keep a little mystery,
doesn’t he?”

She didn’t even smile. Her eyes assessed him solemnly. “It’s
because you don’t trust anybody, isn’t it? Don’t
trust anyone to get close.” Right after she said the words, she
pressed a hand to her mouth, a flush forming on her cheeks. “I’m
really sorry. I just don’t know when to keep my mouth shut.”

Inadvertent or not, the words hit their mark. She was more right than
she knew.

He forced a smile. “I trust you.” It was a lie. He didn’t
trust her. Not completely. He wanted to. More than anything, he
wanted to believe her. But the small remnant of common sense he
hadn’t tossed aside when she’d beckoned reminded him that
there was still a lot he didn’t know.

Still, she couldn’t know it was a lie. Instead she took it as
another line, and she seemed just as disappointed.

She pushed herself off the stool and began rewrapping the cheeses and
cold cuts they’d laid out. “It’s been a long day. I
think I’m going to tuck in a little early.”

“Want some company?” he tried in an attempt to recapture
the earlier lightness.

“I don’t think so. This time when I go to bed I really am
going to sleep.”

“All right.” He watched her for a moment, until he
couldn’t take the way she studiously avoided looking at him as
she cleaned up. “Leave it. I’ll put everything away.”

Her shoulders slumped in relief. She nodded tightly. Still she didn’t
look at him. “Thanks. Good night, Charlie.”

The sound of her calling him by another man’s name was just
another blow. “Good night, Jess.”

He didn’t move after she left the room. He listened to the
sound of her retreat, the soft footsteps up the stairs, then the
closing of the bedroom door. Then he took a deep breath and exhaled
sharply.

He’d miscalculated—again. He never should have told her
any of that. None of his family history fit in Charlie’s world.
Charlie was simple and carefree. He sure as hell never should have
told her how his family had lost everything. Knowing how he felt
about thieves sure as hell wouldn’t entice her to confide
anything about her own theft to him.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid,” he muttered under his breath.
He reached for the food to give himself something to do. He was going
to have to bend over backward to salvage this assignment. It wasn’t
going to be easy getting her to trust him that much.

He didn’t want to contemplate the sudden bleakness that came
over him. But there it was. No matter how this job ended, he couldn’t
fool himself into thinking he’d emerge from this one unscathed.
Things had gone too far for that.

All that was left was to see it through to the bitter end.

Out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly caught sight of a tiny
flash of light outside the window. He automatically turned his head
toward the glass, searching for the source in the inky blackness
beyond.

A long moment stretched out to a full minute. The flash was never
repeated.

He shook his head. Now he was hallucinating. They’d be fitting
him for a straightjacket by the time this assignment was over.

“I’M SENDING YOU THE IMAGE NOW,” Thomason said.

“That may not be necessary. I found out that someone named
Charles, or Charlie, Wells has been receiving mail at the same
address as the godmother. He’s registered on the address with
the postal service. It looks like he lives there too.”

Charles Wells. Thomason mulled over the name. It didn’t strike
any chords. “I’ve never heard of him, and I know this
man.”

“Could be either Wells or the name you knew him under was
false.”

“Then confirm it. Use the picture. Do whatever it takes, but
get me a positive ID.”

“Consider it done.”

“I already do.”

Chapter
Eleven

If she’d thought that sleeping with Charlie would somehow get
him out of her system, then she’d thought wrong. Back in the
office the next morning, Jess didn’t even bother to power up
her computer. She sat curled up in the chair with a cup of coffee,
remembering every moment. Whatever else she took away from this trip,
he’d given her one night she’d never forget.

The sex between them hadn’t offered any release for her
feelings toward him. Instead, they’d only intensified them. She
hadn’t thought it possible, but she wanted him even more now.
Maybe spending the night alone had reignited her need for him. Maybe
seeing exactly what he could deliver made her want that all the more.
Whatever the reason, her body practically ached with emptiness. She
stared out the window, hoping he’d show up downstairs for his
morning swim.

“You’re losing it,” she muttered into her coffee.
She’d never been a person to be controlled by her carnal
desires. But then, her self-control had never run up against an
obstacle as considerable as Charlie.

Even as she thought about him, the image that rose in her mind wasn’t
of the hedonist lounging by the pool or the lover in her bed. It was
the man she’d sat across from in the kitchen last night, baring
a side of himself he clearly wasn’t comfortable with. That was
the real Charlie, the one she’d known was there beneath the
carefree façade. Now that she’d seen it, she almost
wished she’d left well enough alone. It would have been better
if she’d never seen that side of him. It would have made it
easier to keep things between them on a strictly sexual level, which
was all it could be.

It made him too real. She didn’t want to know that side of him,
any more than she wanted him to know too much about her. They weren’t
dating. It wasn’t like they could have a relationship other
than a purely physical one. He was little more than a gigolo, and she
would be leaving at the end of the month. There was no use
complicating matters with too much emotional closeness.

If only she could convince herself it wasn’t already too late.

A soft tap on the door announced his presence. She didn’t even
think to deny him entrance. “Come in.”

Last night she’d been comfortable being openly nude, but the
light of day had returned some of her innate modesty. She’d
pulled on a T-shirt and sweatpants that morning, not really
comfortable lounging around naked while she tried—or pretended
to try—to write. Still, she couldn’t help but feel a
twinge of disappointment that Charlie had put some clothes on too. It
was only a T-shirt and shorts, but for him, that was extreme
coverage.

He walked in with an easy stride, loping across the room toward her.

“Good morning,” she started. Before she could even get
the words out of her mouth, he was bending over her, lowering his
mouth to hers.

The kiss was long and lingering. By the time he pulled away, her head
was reeling from the onslaught of feeling his touch reignited.

He leaned back and smiled at her. “Good morning. How’d
you sleep?”

“Fine.”

“You weren’t lonely?”

“No. I figured being alone was the only way I was going to get
any rest last night.”

“You’re probably right about that. So what’s on the
agenda for today?”

“Work.”

He let out an exaggerated sigh. “Not that again.”

“Yes, that. Don’t get me wrong. Yesterday was amazing.
But it’s not like we could keep that up forever.”

“I might not be as young as I once was, but I could certainly
give it my best shot.”

“That’s okay. Feel free to take the day off.”

Instead of moving away, he leaned closer. He placed his mouth at her
ear, so close that she could almost rest her head on his shoulder.
All she had to do was turn her face an inch to the right to bury her
head in his neck and breathe in the smell of him. Warm. Musky. All
male.

“Is that really what you want to do today?” he whispered,
his hot breath tickling her ear. A flurry of tingles danced down her
spine.

No
, she wanted to say.

Yes
, good sense insisted.

Then she remembered that delicious dream she’d had a few nights
ago. Charlie, spread-eagled beneath her, unable to move, completely
at her mercy for once. She remembered how badly she’d wanted to
touch him yesterday, to explore his body with her hands, her mouth.
Funny, but for everything they’d done, she’d never gotten
to make that particular fantasy come true. They’d had sex in
two dozen different positions, every time focused on her body. She’d
never gotten to give him her full attention, not for his pleasure,
but for her own.

As the thought crossed her mind, it was all she could do not to reach
up and slide her hands under his shirt, letting her palms roam freely
over that glorious expanse of a chest.

She resisted the impulse. All in good time.

She turned her head to whisper in his ear.

“Take your clothes off.”

He slowly pushed back into an upright position and gazed down at her
quizzically. “What?”

“Take your clothes off,” she repeated with infinite
patience. “I want to look at you.”

With only a quirk of his eyebrow, he lifted his shirt over his head
and tossed it aside. “Decided to rethink that
always-wear-clothes policy, have you?”

“No. There’s just something I’ve been wanting to do
since the first time I saw you.”

He reached for the waistband of his shorts. “That sounds
promising.”

“You have no idea.” She watched as he shoved the shorts
down his legs and stepped out of them. He wasn’t wearing
underwear of course. Why would he?

He kicked the shorts over to land by his shirt, then propped his
hands on his hips and stood before her, breathtakingly bare. Most
people would consider nudity to be a vulnerable state. Not Charlie.
He looked as at ease without clothes as he did in them, just as
confident, just a powerful. Of course, most people had issues with
their bodies. That wasn’t a problem for him.

She said nothing for a moment, allowing her gaze to roam freely over
his exposed flesh. It wasn’t exactly a hardship. She could look
at him for hours. Mostly though she allowed the silence to linger to
see if he became uncomfortable, if the uncertainty regarding her
intentions would make him nervous.

She should have known better. He was an exhibitionist. He liked to
have her look at him. It turned him on. Even now, his cock was
stirring, filling and lengthening until it was half-erect. He stared
at her, his eyes heavy-lidded and sparkling with arousal.

Damn, he was cocky. It should have been a turn-off, but no matter
what she told him, his confidence was appealing. But the chance to
see him when he wasn’t in complete control had its own appeal.

She rose slowly from the chair. He took a step toward her. She held
up a hand, halting him.

“I want to touch you.”

He extended his arms. “You don’t even have to ask.”

“I’m sure,” she replied dryly. “The thing is,
though, I don’t want you to touch me.”

“If you try to tell me you don’t like it when I touch
you, I won’t believe you.”

“Then I’ll spare us both the embarrassment. No, I want to
explore your body without distractions, and let’s face it, the
way you touch me is definitely a distraction. It has a way of making
me forget about everything but what you’re doing to me.”

“And that’s a bad thing?”

“It is now. We both know you’re a very good-looking man.
I want a chance to focus on that, to concentrate solely on every inch
of your body and study it until I know it as well as my own. Will you
let me do that?”

He didn’t even hesitate. “I’m here to give you what
you want.”

“Maybe we’ll both get what we want.”

She glanced down to where his cock was now fully erect, jutting
upright from between his legs. Her lips twitched, but she fought
against the smile. If he was aroused now, he would be practically
unhinged when she was done with him.

“Here are the ground rules. I want you to stand absolutely
still. Keep your arms at your sides at all times. Don’t move.
Don’t try to touch me. Don’t even talk. I need to be able
to concentrate.”

“What are you planning to do?”

“Whatever I want. That’s the point, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. But if you have in mind what I think you do, then I’m
not sure you know what you’re asking.”

“What’s the matter, Charlie? Don’t think you can
handle it?”

“Everyone has their limits.”

“I guess we’ll find out where yours are.” She
lowered her voice to a doubtful, pouting murmur. “You’re
not going to let me down, Charlie, are you?”

She saw that the words were like a blow to his ego, exactly as she’d
intended. He straightened his spine, girding himself against her.