Giving her that information wasn’t something he wanted to do. Tehya, like anyone else, was more comfortable putting a face to the demons that chased her. Unfortunately, he couldn’t give her that option yet.
She sighed heavily.
“I think I knew that,” she answered, her voice bleak. “Then that leaves us wondering who the hell is pulling the strings.”
He inclined his head in agreement before going to her again. This time, he didn’t give her the option of pulling away from him.
Gripping her waist, he lifted her onto the bar and stepped easily between her hips. Her position was perfect to angle the engorged length of his cock against the heated mound of her pussy as her gaze darkened in immediate arousal. Her face flushed, her expression softening as the powerful waves of need he knew she felt began to wash through her.
He knew she felt it. He felt it. It was like tidal waves of hunger, almost impossible to resist.
Sliding his fingers into the heavy length of curls to cup the back of her head, Jordan held her still for his kiss. A taste of the perfection of her lips before he had to become a dead man and live in the shadows away from her.
To save her.
His tongue flicked at her lips, feeling them part as his lips slanted over them and he pulled her to him. The feel of her arms sliding around his neck, holding him to her as her fingers threaded through his hair, had his cock stiffening to the point of pain.
He’d fucked her most of the night, drowning his senses in every touch, every kiss, every whispered moan he could pull from her until they had collapsed in exhaustion close to dawn.
And still, he wanted her.
He needed her just as much as, perhaps more than, the first time he’d had her.
“Damn.” Dragging his lips back from hers, he stared down at her, his breathing harsh, the impulse to pull her jeans to her ankles and fuck her like a man desperate for that connection was almost impossible to resist. And he had to resist. The party was only hours away and he would need all his senses intact to end this here and to ensure Tehya’s future.
A future in his arms. The thought whispered across his mind before he could pull back from it. Before he could force himself not to consider the future or where either of them would be.
Don’t jinx it, he warned himself. Only today exists. That possibility of tomorrow arriving was slimmer for men like him than for most. Especially now. And he couldn’t allow himself to forget it.
“Your dress is on its way.” He couldn’t let her go, couldn’t pull his hips from beneath her thighs. “The party’s in a few hours. You’ll be coming in with Kell and Emily. Watch for anyone too curious, anyone attempting to get too close to you or to draw you away. If anything, anything out of the ordinary happens…”
“Then I let Kell or one of the others at the party know.” She gave a quick nod before her gaze darkened with concern again. “And you’ll be careful?”
“I’ll be careful. More importantly, Tehya, I’ll be close. You won’t be alone, baby. Never. I promise you that.”
When was the last time anyone had worried if he would be careful? She made his chest get that funny melting sensation in it whenever she did something so female, and so incredibly caring as worrying about him. Even though the last thing he wanted her to do was worry.
As he’d told her, there were other eyes watching. He never placed all his bets on one plan, or one set of eyes. He’d pulled in friends, two teams completely unconnected to the Ops or anyone associated with them. Independent contractors in a manner, men he knew he could trust his life to. Even more, he could trust her life to them.
Glancing at the clock behind the bar, he restrained the sigh of regret that pushed at his chest.
“It’s time.” He kissed her gently on the lips before lifting her back to the floor. “The Senator’s staff will be returning within the hour.” And he had to be out of there before anyone saw him. Otherwise, the trouble they had gone to in setting up his “death” would be wasted effort.
He couldn’t afford that. Tehya’s life meant more to him than his own, and taking this threat out of it once and for all was more important to him than even she knew.
He lowered his head and his lips touched hers again as Jordan used every resource of control he possessed to keep from picking her up and lifting her back to the bar where he could love her in a way that would have her screaming when she came around him.
He contented himself with the knowledge that she had a bar at her own home, and he knew well exactly how to use it. He would have his chance once this was finished, and that was all that mattered.
Pulling away from her, he cupped her cheek for a moment, his lips quirking at the worry, the concern in her expression and the fear in her pretty green eyes.
“Smile for me, love.” He gave his voice the faintest hint of the Irish that he’d picked up from his father.
Her lips twitched at the sound of it.
“I’ll stop worrying if you promise to talk Irish to me the next time
you make love to me,” she offered.