Shadow of Temptation (Asylums for Magical Threats #2.5) (9 page)

Jorge had taken control of her mouth again, making her breathless with his strokes and nips, but somehow she managed to break the kiss. Between pants, she managed to whisper, “Take off your shirt.”

She barely had a chance to blink before his shirt was tossed to the floor. She raised a hand to his chest and ran her fingers over his smooth, hard muscles. He grabbed her hand. She looked up and her heart skipped a beat. She saw something she hadn’t seen since his return to Merida—mischief in his eyes and a playful smile on his face. Just as she’d thought, he wasn’t a total lost cause.

He squeezed her hand against his chest and his voice was husky when he said, “I’ve shown you mine, now show me yours.”

He stared down at her still covered breast, released her hand, and tugged her bra down. He flicked her nipple before he ran his hands over her breasts and around her sides. “Arch up for me, baby.”

She did, and he unhooked her bra with slow, deliberate movements. Each brush of his warm fingers on her skin sent wetness between her thighs.

But she was impatient. Due to the nature of her work, it’d been years since she’d had sex, and Sabrina was done with waiting.

She was about to push his hands aside and unhook her bra herself when he finally yanked her bra free and tossed it aside. She reached for him again, but Jorge shook his head and stared at her bared breasts. She’d never been shy about her body, but right now, with his hot gaze on her skin, she flushed.

His eyes took a devilish glint and he cupped the side of her breasts with his hands as he started to rub his thumb across her nipples. Each rough pass against her throbbing skin made her wetter. She whispered, “Jorge, please.”

He released her right breast and traced a finger down her ribcage to the waistband of her shorts. “I want to rip these off and fuck you, but I don’t have any protection. Do you?”

Shit.
She shook her head. “No, I haven’t needed to worry about that for a long time.” He smiled at her remark and she narrowed her eyes. “Why are you smiling? I want to be naked and sweaty from sex, and now that’s not going to happen. With who knows how many people on the lookout for you, it’s not like you can run to the drugstore.”

He unbuttoned her shorts and slowly unzipped them. “I’m smiling because I’ve fantasized a long time about making you come with my tongue.”

Suddenly all she could think about was Jorge’s head between her thighs, licking and suckling her to orgasm. “Oh.”

He grinned and she stopped breathing for a second. She reached up and laid a hand on his arm. She wanted to tell him how good it was to see him smile, but she was afraid that mentioning it would bring his past back into the bed and kill the mood. Instead, she said, “Stop teasing me and prove you can do it.”

His grin faded into something much hotter. “For that, I’m going to take my time and lick oh so slowly until you’re so frustrated you’ll be begging me to finish.”

His words sent a rush of wetness straight between her legs, and her clit was pulsing in anticipation. But she wasn’t going to surrender that easily. She opened her mouth to reply when someone knocked on the door.

What the hell? Had someone actually found them?

Sabrina’s training kicked into action the same time as Jorge’s. She sat up as he moved to the side of the bed and took out two guns from the nightstand. He placed one on the bed next to her and his voice was low when he said, “Put your shirt on and cover me.”

Sabrina nodded and grabbed her shirt from the floor. Jorge went to the door as she tossed the shirt over her head. She picked up the gun, clicked off the safety, and took position to where she had a clear line of sight to the door but could still dive for cover if she needed it.

She nodded and Jorge turned the lock. She could see the chain still latched across the door, which would give them a few extra seconds to react if things went south.

He placed his hand on the doorknob and slowly twisted it open. He gave her one more look before he inched the door open. Before he could say anything, a woman with accented English said, “Jorge Salazar, it’s bad form to keep a lady waiting on the doorstep. Now, my dear, open this door and invite me in. Despite your ungrateful behavior—of course who could blame you? I’d be cross too if someone interrupted my sexy times—I still might share my bag of pastries with you and Sabrina.”

Sabrina blinked. She wondered who the hell was the woman on the other side of the door and how she know her name.

Jorge had no idea who the woman on the other side of the door was, but her words about “sexy times” made him think that, despite all of his precautions, someone had stashed a camera somewhere in the room. The idea of someone else seeing Sabrina’s naked breasts didn’t sit well with him.

Right now, however, he needed to try to think of the best way to play this since he couldn’t use his shadow-shifting abilities again until tomorrow.

Asking the woman for her identity would be useless. They might have to use the hidden escape door behind the wardrobe—that had been the entire reason he’d chosen this location out of his handful of places to lay low. Even when he’d worked for the Fed League, he had wanted backup escape routes in case something went wrong.

He caught Sabrina’s eye and put up a hand with all five fingers. He nodded his head to the wardrobe and back. Sabrina understood that he had a plan—even if she didn’t know what it was—and nodded back. He lowered one finger and then another before the woman on the other side of the door spoke again. “If you try to escape through the secret passage behind the wardrobe, I most definitely will not share my pastries with you.”

He stopped the countdown. Even if there was a camera in the room, and the woman outside had seen him nod toward the wardrobe, no one knew about his secret passageway. With that comment, he couldn’t stop himself from asking, “Who are you?”

“I’m surprised Aislinn didn’t mention me. Hmph. I’ll have to talk to her about that.” The woman waved a few fingers through the door. “Hello, my name is Neena Chatterjee. I help run DEFEND, and I highly advise you to let me inside unless you want me to start drawing attention from people down on the street.”

Aislinn was the woman who had organized the rescue for his sister last week. Still, this Neena hadn’t given him specific enough information for him to believe her yet. He needed to know more. “Prove that you work with Aislinn—tell me where they found my sister.”

Neena removed her fingers and her voice was serious when she answered, “Tied-up naked in a freezer, on a sprawling estate about an hour from Merida, off the main road to Celestún.”

Her answer was correct. He still wanted to question her further, but he wanted to do it away from possible prying eyes. “Okay, I’ll open the door, but I want you to have your hands raised when I let you in to make sure you don’t have any weapons.”

Neena answered, “I don’t usually take orders, but just this once, I’ll agree.”

Before the woman started talking again, he unchained the door and slowly opened it until he had a short woman with wild, curly black hair and golden tan skin standing in front of him. Her hands were up, and she had a clear plastic bag of Mexican pastries in her left hand.

He only hoped the pastries didn’t hide something much worse inside of them.

He waved her inside. “Hurry up.”

She walked in, and since he knew Sabrina would watch his back, he locked the door before turning around to find Neena giving Sabrina the once-over.

Despite the fact Sabrina had to be as confused as hell as to what was going on, she was alert and had her gun trained on Neena. Sabrina’s trust in him chipped away even more at his belief she’d turned him in on purpose. But if he were ever to have a discussion with Sabrina and possibly get her naked again, he needed to make sure they survived this encounter.

He gave Neena a wide berth and stopped a few feet away from both Neena and Sabrina. Before he could ask Neena a question, the woman tilted her head and said, “The sooner you lower your guns and talk with me, the sooner you can plan your take-down of Watkins. Once that’s done, I’ll let you have a week off to hump each other like rabbits. Or whatever animal mating rituals you fancy imitating. Horses, perhaps? Or turtles? No one ever says, ‘hump like turtles’.”

Jorge ignored her needling. “How about you start talking some sense? After this job, you have no say in what I do.”

Neena shook her head. “Tsk, tsk. Sometimes I forget not everyone knows what’s going to happen.” She looked at Sabrina. “Like Sabrina here. She has a very big secret, one that should lead to a wonderful partnership in the future. DEFEND could use the help of her employer.”

He wasn’t going to completely just take this Neena at her word, especially since he didn’t know if Sabrina had an actual employer outside the Fed League or not. “Why would your precious organization need her help? Once the Fed League crumbles, she’ll move on to something else.”

Neena glanced to him. “Why don’t you ask her? I’m sure she’s heard of DEFEND and could see why her employer might be of some value to me and my organization.”

He growled at Neena. “Sabrina, tell her you aren’t working for anyone else so I can tell this woman she’s crazy.”

Sabrina remained silent, so he darted a glance to her face and back to Neena. Even in that split second, he could see how pale she’d become. “Sabrina?”

Neena smiled. Her voice was calm and coaxing when she said, “Go on, my dear, tell him. I promise you won’t be ‘relocated’ and banished for the rest of your life. You have no reason to trust me, but surely you’ve heard about the ‘colorful’ DEFEND co-leader and her reach. That’s me, and if you cooperate, I’ll protect you.”

Jorge looked to Sabrina again. “I’m lost. What’s she talking about? Who do you work for?”

Chapter Nine

Sabrina stared at the woman who called herself Neena Chatterjee. Somewhere in Sabrina’s basic training, she’d heard of the eccentric DEFEND leader and her knack for always showing up at a critical time to sway things her way. Sabrina had dismissed most of the rumors as bullshit, but she was starting to reconsider her call.

Then Neena had to mention how Sabrina had a secret to share, and she barely resisted panicking.

So many things had happened in the last few hours with Jorge. She had started to think she’d tell him the full truth, but this was not the way she’d imagined it—half-rumpled and bra-less, pointing a gun at a strange woman clinging to a bag of pastries.

The strange woman in question had assured her she wouldn’t be relocated if worse came to worse, but she didn’t trust her word. Instead, she cleared her throat and chanced a quick glance at Jorge. “Before I say anything, I want to know why you give any credence to her words. Why does mentioning this Aislinn person mean anything to you?”

He looked like he wanted to press her to answer, but after he gave a glance to Neena, he looked back at her and said, “Aislinn is the one who orchestrated my sister’s rescue. There is more to the story than that, but if you have any faith in me at all, then let that be enough for now.” He waved his free hand toward Neena. “Please answer her question. The sooner you do, the sooner she’ll leave.”

“Hmph,” Neena said but kept her attention on Sabrina. “Maybe I can help ease your worry. That’ll make this easier for all of us.”

Before Sabrina could open her mouth, she felt a gentle breeze brush against her skin. Normally, she’d jump away and try to figure out what was going on, but a sense of calm and trust came over her like she could tell Neena anything, without fear.

She shook her head to try to break the feeling, but the sense of calmness only increased to the point where Sabrina was as languid as if she’d had three orgasms and an hour-long hot bath. She frowned and said, “What did you do to me?”

Neena smiled. “Don’t worry, my dears, it’ll wear off soon. But I’m on a tight schedule and this is the easiest way to speed things along. You’ll both thank me later.” She lowered her hands and took out a pastry. “Now, tell us about your employer.”

Sabrina didn’t feel compelled to say anything, but the false sense of trust loosened her usual secretive nature and the truth just spilled out. “I’m working undercover for the
Feiru
Liaison office in Mexico City.”

From the corner of her eye, she saw Jorge shake his head, as if to knock away whatever Neena Chatterjee had done to them. “But that means...”

His voice trailed off, and Sabrina decided to bite the bullet and tell him the truth. “I’m human.”

Jorge wasn’t sure how to reply to Sabrina’s confession. He felt a little betrayed and somewhat concerned, but he could barely frown because of what Neena Chatterjee had done to him. Standing up was a chore. Arguing would take too much energy.

But if nothing else, he could make his voice work and ask questions. He needed to hear a hell of lot more from Sabrina to believe what she’d just told him. “You’ve been human this whole time? How is that possible? The Fed League does blood tests to ensure everyone who joins is at least half-
Feiru
.”

Sabrina squared her shoulders. Considering she was a weak human in a room with a Shadow-Shifter and a who-the-hell-knew-what crazy magic user, she was brave. He nearly whispered, “Good girl,” but then he remembered what she’d just said and waited for her to explain.