Still Mine (16 page)

She ignored the frown darkening her husband’s face as she made a grab for her pants and shirt. He stood and pushed his still erect cock back into his pants while watching her attempt to handle her clothing. Her face burned scarlet as she tried to avoid watching him close his fly.

“Damn it.” Her hands flatly refused to hold the weight of both garments. Pain shot up her limbs and she was forced to slow down. Which meant Paul got a long view of her body.

A hand cupped her chin and she jumped. One little lapse of attention and Paul had closed in on her without her noticing. His eyes were full of determination as his arm snaked around her waist to hold her against his body. Completely nude, she felt so vulnerable, pressed against his clothed frame. The hand cupping her jaw kept their eyes focused on one another.

“I have to go off post for a few days.” He pressed a hard kiss against her mouth, holding her in his grip when she squirmed. “But I will be back. You’re moving quarters today and Nolan will explain the sentry outside your door.”

“You can’t just arrange my life.”

He released her a moment later when she took a swipe at his arrogant chin. Pain shot up her arm making her wince when she connected with him. A smug nod was her only reward for hitting him.

“Yes, I can.” His gaze shifted to her breasts, hunger tightening his face. “I’m going to miss you, Jo.”

A harsh reply bubbled up but froze as she watched him reach for the doorknob. The bastard studied her with one dark eyebrow raised as he began to slowly turn that knob. She could remain and argue with him, but only if she didn’t mind displaying her bare body to anyone looking towards that door.

“Fine. Want to hear me say that I know you actually can control the details of my life?

“You know something, Paul? I hate FBI agents because they have the same arrogant kiss-my-ass, everything-is-for-your-own-good attitude you seem to have adopted.” His forehead creased as she dropped her pants and stood proudly. “If that’s what I wanted from a relationship, I could have had it. Hot, fast sex with the emotional height of a pancake.”

Moving into the bathroom, she turned in the doorway to look at him. “When I loved you, I would have followed you to the armpits of the globe. Not for the sex. For the moments when you took the time to be tender and caring. I didn’t hold out six years for a cock between my thighs. That isn’t hard to replace. Believe me, if I was attracted to the silent man-in-control type, I could have had it the moment I signed on with Locke.” A hollow laugh rattled out of her throat. “There’s nothing those CIA dicks like better than bagging some sex with the female deputy they’ve been forced to allow along on their investigation.”

He suddenly smiled. “Which means, you still love me because you did let me back between your thighs.” He released the doorknob and followed her into the bathroom. As his body loomed over hers she stepped backwards out of sheer instinct.

But there wasn’t far to go. She bumped into the wall as Paul clasped both sides of her face, raising her head as he looked down at her.

“I’m not taking you for granted, Jo.” His voice was thick with emotion. “But you’re right about my attitude. I’ve been surrounded by my work for too long. I’m not sure how to talk to someone that I’m not in command of. But I can try to learn new tricks.”

His mouth captured hers in a kiss. He sealed her hiss of frustration beneath his lips as he demanded another taste of her. His tongue slipping in to stroke along hers.

Another fist landed on the door. With a muttered groan, Paul stepped away from her. He took a deep breath as he concentrated on her face for a long moment.

“These are temporary quarters. The ones across the tarmac are nicer.” He backed up and crossed his hands over his chest. “Nolan will have someone show you a vacant one for your approval. Or not, but if you stay on this end of the compound, the sentry stays. It’s too desolate over here.”

He turned and pulled the door open. The window rattled as his words sank in. She’d gotten what she wanted, an explanation and the power of choice but her throat tightened up as emotion tried to choke her.

A deep shudder shook her frame and she covered her mouth with her hand. Alone with the reality of her actions, she faced herself in the mirror. Her nipples were still little hard peaks and she caught the scent of his body clinging to her skin. The top of her thighs were wet, making her tremble as she recognized just how insane she’d allowed herself to be.

He might be a jerk, but she couldn’t say no to him. Turning towards the shower, she flipped it on and cussed as her hands hurt. Pulling the gauze free, she glared at the mess. There would be scarring. She was tender between her thighs too, completing her foul temper. The burns on her hands forced her to endure a lukewarm shower, instead of a hot one. Holding onto the soap bar took amazing amounts of determination but at least it cleaned the scent of her recklessness off her skin, for the most part. The step out of the shower sent another little tingle of soreness through her passage.

She cussed low and deep as she began the long task of getting dressed. Everything was crumbling and she couldn’t even keep her thoughts in order.

It sucked. Wild sex with the man she loved was one thing, but Paul didn’t love her. He wanted her. However, lust was a poor exchange for the love binding her heart to him. Allowing him to claim her body again was only going to make it that much tougher to restart her life without him. But she would. Love was too sweet to settle for simple lust. Somehow, she was going to have to get it through her head that she could find a man who returned her love.

But at the moment, the only face that entered her thoughts was Paul’s.

***

Expertly manicured hands firmly folded the single sheet of paper in half. With a precise movement, it was sealed with a razor-sharp crease and the motions repeated until the page had been reduced to a two-inch square.

Unacceptable.

A single hand reached forward and struck two black pawns from a marble chessboard. The other pieces, both white and black, were stretched out over the board, engaged in battle. As the two pawns fell, they revealed the figure of the white queen. At first glance the queen seemed to be surrounded. Now with the removal of the pawns she had an avenue of escape.

Cold eyes surveyed the figures before another black combatant was selected. It was moved forward and placed in front of the white queen once more. This time it was the castle that had been selected for engagement.

Yes…that would be more difficult for her to evade.

***

Paul didn’t wait for his pilot to cut the rotor power. He pushed the door open and kept his head low as he moved across the tarmac. A jeep was waiting for him, a driver sitting at the wheel pressed and dressed down to the last detail for an inspection. The kid bore the mark of an enlisted man assigned to General Valda. While the kid might be less likely to end up killed in action, dealing with the upper ranks might just send his blood pressure skyrocketing. The general liked things his way, all the time.

“About time you got your tail into my office.” The general aimed a look at him designed with years of practice to melt him into a puddle of moldable clay. Paul had seen it at work before. The difference was, he wasn’t interested in bending anymore.

“I’m here.” Paul crossed the room and stood facing the man over his desk. Valda looked up with a frown. “Not that being told to report to your office is impressing me any too much.”

There was a hint of some sound that might be defined as laughter from Valda. A gleam entered his eyes as he stood.

“Is that so?”

Paul locked his hands behind his back. “That’s right. Jo is my wife. I suggest you get used to it.”

“Son, we’ve covered this ground before.”

“Wrong.” Paul didn’t raise his voice. He didn’t have to. Valda knew him. If there was a man on the planet who understood him better, it was Nolan. “I’m not a freshly shaved kid any longer. You want me on board? You take my wife. I’m not living like a monk any longer.”

Valda lost his intimidating stance as he sighed. “That’s going to bite you in the rump. You told that girl you were dead. My guess is she’s ready to carve your liver into tiny bits and eat it while you watch.”

“I’ll take my chances.”

Valda surprised him with a shrug. The man was a picture of officer perfection; shrugging didn’t fit that image. “Have to admit that I wondered just how long you’d toe the line on this one.”

The general chuckled at the look that covered Paul’s face. Paul’s temper flared up in full blaze as he listened to the amusement. Valda shook his head. “I told Bollard you’d buck that chain off your neck at some point. That conceited ass didn’t listen to me. Thought he could turn you into one of his glory special-operations boys who would rather hump his good opinion than anything who loved them back.” Valda stopped laughing as his gaze moved over Paul. Paul caught the hint of respect in it as the general nodded his head with approval.

“About time you stopped looking through the window at what you hungered for. Life isn’t a spectator sport.”

“When were you planning on sharing that with me?” Paul glared at the man who headed up Ruby’s project. “I thought you were on board with this whole idea of returning my wife to the civilian population.”

The man leaned back in his chair, abandoning his stiff posture for a moment of personal conversation. “I never fed you that bull crap.”

Paul scowled, frustration keeping his jaw tight.

“But I never tried to kick your ass into thinking for yourself either.” The older man grimaced as he straightened up. “The way I see it, son, you’ve got to find that fire on your own. You either admit you need her or watch as she dances off with another guy.”

It was a subtle setdown, but one that stung. A smirk appeared on the general’s face as he watched Paul absorb his words.

“You’ve got that right.” Paul wasn’t interested in lingering over the details. Jo was his and he would enjoy teaching her that personally. The only thing he needed from Valda was for the man to stay out of his way. Now that he had that, desire was burning its way back up his spine. The stolen moments before he’d left hadn’t taken the edge off his appetite. Instead, he was even more determined to spend a night listening to her cry out under his touch.

“So, let’s get this project settled. I’ve got a wife to get back to.”

Valda snickered. “What you’ve got is a snarling wildcat that wants your blood, son.”

Paul sat in one of the chairs in front of the general’s desk. “Sorry you’re jealous.”

Valda handed over a folder marked “classified”. “I am envious.”

The older man’s voice was thick and cut with seriousness. He pointed a pen at Paul. “Don’t screw it up. That would piss me off.”

Chapter Seven

“These little surveillance outings of yours are beginning to make people nervous.”

Durant’s comment was uttered a scant three inches from her right ear. The abrupt sounds of speech were startling.

Instead of registering panic, Jolene’s brain indicated a threat. She immediately attempted to neutralize it. She grabbed her unexpected company and lowered her shoulder while twisting her hip over. It was a graceful motion, ingrained through hours of training that sent the man right over her shoulder and onto the ground. He flipped over with a snarl and came up in a fighting crouch that was far more ingrained in him than her self-defense training was in her. The look on his face was enough to send a shiver down her spine before he controlled the instinct to engage her. The major cussed under his breath while eyeing her with a critical, assessing look.

It was the sort that sent goose bumps up your arms because you knew he wasn’t boasting.

“Whoever trained you did a decent job.” Nolan stood and shook his shoulders out. “Right up until you froze, anyway.” Male superiority rang through his words. The kind every female deputy learned to detest if for no other reason than honor. It was that smug tone that said he could take everything she dished out and still come up laughing. It was the “me man, you weaker woman” attitude that had kept her company every day of her training.

She really missed her gun. “I’ll make sure to put a little more torque into your shoulder next time.”

Rubbing her hands together, Jo tried to remove some of the sting that had resulted from her attack. After a week, she was out of patience with her hands, but that didn’t change the fact that her burns still hurt.

Tilting his head to the side, Nolan slowly crossed his arms over his chest before responding.

“Miss your husband that much?”

Jo fired him a harassed look in response to that blatant sexual remark.

“I’m sure you must have something better to do than ask me about my husband.”

Nolan shrugged, but his gaze was trained on her. “I’ve got something better for you to do.”

Propping her hand on her hip, she narrowed her eyes but he didn’t even blink in response.

“After a rather delightful week of watching you prowling my post, I’ve come to the conclusion that you need something to keep you out of trouble.” Nolan considered her, firm authority coating his features. “Because I need my men off safari duty.”

“No problem, tell the Boy Scouts to stop trailing me.” She felt the glare of the men in question as she labeled them. The only privacy she had was inside her Spartan quarters. The second she stepped outside those dull walls, Nolan’s men took to following her. They were connected by tiny microphones that looped over their right ear and extended towards their mouths. Periodically she’d listen to them report her position along with a recap of what she’d been up to, with all the details.

“Cute.” Nolan pointed towards the landing pad. “You have a background in security. So, I’m going to put you to work.”

Contemplating that statement caused Jo to consider the man in front of her. He still stood with his hands pressed to the sides of his rib cage. Half of her was jumping at the opportunity to have something to do. The other half saw it as nothing more than a shorter leash than she already had fastened to her collar.