“I’m not the one who jumped up and ran to the bathroom when we almost kissed…and it’s not as if you’ve done anything since the kayaking trip. I thought at first you were giving me space, letting me come to terms with my feelings, but now I realize you simply didn’t want anything more from me…that way, I mean.” Tears she’d been battling since before dessert broke free and trickled down her cheeks.
He closed his eyes. “Don’t cry, princess.”
“I’m not.” She didn’t even blush at the blatant lie.
His eyes opened and met hers. “You really don’t think I want you?”
She sniffed, blinking away the moisture from her eyes. “It’s obvious. Can we stop talking about this now?”
“Yes, we can stop talking now.” Then with a groan that sounded like a dam breaking, his mouth smashed down on hers, his lips taking possession of hers with passion that felt both angry and desperate, but most of all…genuine.
He broke the kiss and rested his forehead against hers, his breath coming in gasps as ragged as her own. “I don’t want to hurt you, sweetheart.”
“Wanting me hurts me?” she asked in confusion.
“There are reasons this thing between us can’t go anywhere.”
“What reasons?” Then not even waiting for an answer, she said, “No, I don’t believe you. That’s a copout. I’ve been told all my life there are reasons I can’t pursue my dreams, but I fought then and I’m willing to fight now. To fight for us.”
“You can’t always fight.”
“I don’t believe that…unless…are you married?”
He barked out a harsh laugh. “No.”
“Engaged?”
“No.”
“Seriously involved, or committed to someone else?”
“No.”
“Then whatever you think this insurmountable obstacle is, we can overcome it.”
“You don’t understand.”
“So, make me understand. After.” With that she kissed him, not willing to listen to him tell her why they shouldn’t want each other. It was enough that they did.
He was perfect for her and she would convince him that she was just right for him.
If she’d thought his initial kiss was volatile, it was nothing compared to his response now. He literally lifted her off her feet, pressing her body tightly against his as his mouth ate at hers in a devouring so hot, her lips felt like they were on fire.
He was moving, but she couldn’t make herself care where they were going. When her back hit the wall, she merely tightened her hold on his shoulders. Her legs spread of their own volition, making room for him in an invitation she’d never offered before but which felt wholly natural. He was quick to accept, maneuvering her so that his steel-hard erection pressed directly against the apex of her thighs. Sparks of pleasure shot through her and she moaned.
“You’re killing me,” he growled against her ear before nipping at the tender lobe and then laving it with his tongue.
She couldn’t get her mouth to form words, so she let her body answer for her, undulating against him as much as she could considering her position between his big, hard body and the equally unforgiving wall.
He licked along her neck, sending shivers all through her. “You taste so good.”
“Better than dinner?” she managed to tease. Go her.
“Better than anything,” he ground out in a voice that held no amusement, only pure male animal hunger.
How had she gone her whole life without feeling this way even once before? But the answer was obvious. She had not yet met Sebastian Hawk and no one else could or would make her feel this good…this needed. The tension was building inside her again…like it had at the lake. She could feel the overwhelming pleasure climbing toward the inevitable peak, but she wasn’t ready for it.
She wasn’t ready for this to end and she wanted to bring Sebastian pleasure, too. She knew he’d found his release at the lake, or at least she thought that was what his shout had meant, but she wanted to see him this time.
To see his face in the throes of passion beyond his control. She needed that.
An annoying beep tried to impinge on her consciousness, but she ignored it in favor of touching Sebastian’s neck and back, mapping and memorizing the play of his sculpted muscles under her fingertips.
With a curse, he suddenly let her go and stepped away from her as he fumbled for the phone in his pocket.
CHAPTER SIX
SHE tried to burrow back into his arms, but he shook his head, a look of disgust on his face as he pushed her away.
Hurt and confusion at his blatant rejection mixed with the cauldron of emotions churned up by his kiss and she slumped against the wall.
He turned away from her and flipped his phone open. “Hawk here.”
How could he sound so dispassionate after what they’d just been doing?
He was silent for several seconds as he listened to his caller speak. Then he turned back to face her, his face set in impassive lines. “So, the threat has been neutralized and my ignment here is done?”
Another silence while he listened, this one much shorter.
“My final report will be ready the day after tomorrow. I have several recommendations for more effective security.”
Another layer of confusion clouded Lina’s brain as she tried to make sense of Sebastian’s conversation in light of who she knew him to be.
“Right, arrange with my istant for a time to meet and I’ll present the report in person.”
Another short silence.
Sebastian said, “I’ll be on the first flight out tomorrow.”
He said something else and flipped the phone shut.
Trembling and a feeling of nausea growing, she swallowed against the dryness in her throat. “Flight out? Where are you going?”
He grimaced, as if the conversation was distasteful, but other than that no emotion showed in his expression. “I’m returning to my home office tomorrow.”
“Home office? I thought you were a graduate student.”
“That was my cover.”
“Cover? Are you an FBI agent, or something?” She didn’t know how well she would handle having a relationship with someone who had a job like that. It would explain why he had hesitated to take their relationship to a deeper level, though.
“Or something.”
“What?”
His hands fisted at his sides, but that was the only indication he was uncomfortable with this conversation. “I own an international investigation and security firm that specializes in the high end market.”
Lina’s stomach cramped as a suspicion started to form. “You mean like catering to royalty?”
“Some. Hawk Investigations has a clientele predominately comprised of the extremely wealthy.”
“I see.” But she didn’t and wasn’t at all sure she wanted to.
“Do you?” he asked sardonically.
“I don’t know,” she admitted.
“Your family received death threats and it was decided you needed additional security. It was your uncle’s idea, that rather than pulling you out of university until the threat was neutralized they hire additional protection.”
“Someone threatened my aunt and uncle?” she asked, fear for their safety lacing her voice.
“No, your father. Each of his children was named as a potential causality if he did not change his stance on a certain political agenda.”
“Why wasn’t I told? Why the cloak-and-dagger?”
“Since your studies weren’t to be interrupted, it was felt that apprising you of the situation would do you more harm than good.” Sebastian’s voice was even, expressing no emotion whatsoever.
And she didn’t know how he managed that. She felt like he’d taken a tazer to her heart. Heaven knew it hurt so bad, she didn’t know how it kept beating.
“You mean my father thinks I’m so weak minded that if I had known about the threats, I would not have been able to keep my attention on my studies.” She said with a bitterness for more than the paternal arrogance.
“His head of security did not tell me the details of the motivation behind their decision to make your added protection clandestine.”
“You just do what you’re told, right?” Well, this explained why her security men had allowed her to spend the night at Jennifer’s without hanging around. They knew she was already being watched.
“That’s my job.”
“And you always do your job without voicing an opinion,” she said with sarcasm. She refused to believe Sebastian was anybody’s yes-man, even her father’s.
“I agreed with the stipulation. If my agents and I were simply added to your security detail, we would have gained nothing but extra bodies between you and the threat, but by maintaining the appearance of friendship and or complete invisibility we were able to watch not only you, but your security detail as well.”