“Sort of.”
Sort of. That didn’t tell her a lot. She glanced his way. His arms were still laced behind his head, but he was now staring up at the ceiling with a serious expression. One she couldn’t read. “About an assignment?”
“You could say that.”
“What happened?”
“Ryder told me not to get personally involved.”
Eve stilled in the middle of the room, and her mind tumbled. Personally involved . . . There was only one way you could get personally involved with an assignment.
Her heart picked up speed, and her skin grew cold and clammy. She wasn’t sure she wanted to hear more, but some twisted place inside needed to know what kind of woman could get him to quit his job. “And you didn’t listen?”
“Nope.”
Her heart beat hard. Drumbeats against her ribs. “What happened?”
“He told me not to go after her. Said if I did, I wouldn’t have a job to come back to. I told him it wasn’t his fucking business and to shove the job.”
Ouch.
“Then he told me I needed to cool the hell off and that when I was ready, we’d talk again, but not to do anything in the meantime. I didn’t call him back.”
Obviously, whoever this woman was, she had meant a lot to him. “Was—” She cleared her throat because it was suddenly thick and sounded funny. “Was she worth it?”
“I don’t know.” He continued to stare up at the ceiling. “She sure has fucked my life up good, though.” He chuckled, but the sound held no humor. “Shot in the leg, shot in the shoulder, and my face is plastered all over the news linked to a terrorist bombing. You tell me. Is she worth it?”
Eve froze. The air caught in her throat. And his words from this morning ran back through her mind. Words she’d heard but had been too angry to process until right now.
“If I didn’t still want you, I sure as hell wouldn’t have spent the last year trying to track you down.”
Her. He’d been talking about her moments ago, not some random woman. Her chest constricted until it was hard to draw air. And somewhere deep inside, a warmth began to blossom, all around her heart.
The room grew stifling, and sweat popped out all over her skin. She needed air. Needed to breathe. Needed—her mind raced back to this morning . . . to stripping him of his pants, to sinking down onto his length, to the exquisite feeling of him filling her.
Tingles shot straight to her center. Oh shit. She needed to get gone before she did something she knew she should never do. Like fucked him senseless until they both screamed.
“I . . .” She could barely think, let alone speak. “I need a shower.”
His head came up an inch off the bed, and he looked her way. “You already took a shower.”
“Yeah, well . . .” Forcing herself not to look his way, she rushed for the bathroom.
15
Let her go. Don’t go after her. A smart guy would know he’s in over his head and leave well enough alone.
Yeah. Good advice. The problem was, when it came to Evelyn Wolfe, Zane had never been anything but a complete fucking idiot.
“Son of a bitch.” He pushed off the bed and crossed the floor. Running water echoed from the shower. He listened at the door but couldn’t hear her moving around. His skin vibrated. His muscles bunched while he stood still, trying to decide what to do. His breaths picked up speed as he imagined her naked under the spray, her flesh glossy and wet and pink from the heat.
His groin tightened. All the blood in his body seemed to rush due south. He wasn’t going to be able to sleep tonight. There was too much energy arcing between them. And when he thought of the surprise he’d heard in her voice moments before—like she didn’t know she was his own personal form of kryptonite—his resistance where she was concerned crumbled just a little more.
Let her go. Don’t go after her.
Fuck it. He was tired of playing this game. Of dancing around each other. Of making himself insane.
He turned the doorknob and found it unlocked. Stepping into the steam-filled room, he could just make out her silhouette behind the white shower curtain. Head tipped up. Hands resting on the back of her neck. Perfect body filled out in all the right places, dripping with water as it hit her chest and slid down the curves and hollows of her physique, drawing him toward her like a magnet.
He waited until she stepped under the spray, and then he pulled the shower curtain open at the back and moved into the tub behind her.
She didn’t immediately hear him. But she tensed when she sensed him, and before she could whip around, he caught her arms, wrapped them around her front, and pulled her back against him.
“Archer, what are you—?”
The soft curve of her ass pressed against his damp jeans and his already hardening cock.
“I’m done tiptoeing around this, Evie.”
Beneath his fingers, he felt the pulse in her wrists pick up speed. “Around what? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yeah, you do. This. You and me. You know damn well what I’m talking about.”
She swallowed. “Archer—”
“Anytime the conversation gets personal, you run. Tell me, beautiful. Do I make you nervous?”
“As if.”
He tightened his grip on her wrists. “I think I do. I think you’re scared to death of me.”
She turned her head, just enough so he could see her profile and those plump, pouty lips. “Are you taking pain meds again? Because you sound higher than a kite. I’ve faced down terrorists. You’re a cupcake compared to them.”
A smile curled his lips. He watched droplets of water slide down the long, sexy column of her neck. “Always with the lies. How about the truth for a change? I think that’s what you’re most afraid of. I think it’s the truth that always makes you run.”
She tensed. “What have you been smok—?”
“You wanna ask the questions? Then you have to deal with the answers. Six months, Eve. I was in and out of physical therapy for six months after the raid in Guatemala. I didn’t just take a bullet; I took a shitload of shrapnel that tore my leg to pieces. Almost bled out on the helo. And you know what I thought about when I was in and out of hospitals and rehab and dealing with more doctors than any man should?”
“No,” she said quietly.
“Too bad. I thought about you.”
She was silent, but where his arms were crossed over hers against her chest, her heart pounded hard, and her breaths picked up speed.
“Now who lies?” she whispered. “You weren’t thinking about me for any reason other than wanting to make me pay for something I hadn’t done.”
“You’re right. I was. After I told Ryder what he could do with his job, I went to a friend’s place in the mountains of Mexico to recuperate. And the whole time I was there I thought about nothing but tracking you and finding out what you were up to. But I also thought about this.”
He released one wrist, slid his arm to the side, and gently brushed his fingertips over her soft breast.
She sucked in a breath, and against his arm, her pulse ticked up higher.
“Do you remember this, Evie?” He slid his fingers over her nipple and circled just the very tip.
She wrestled her hands free and gripped his forearms, trying to push him away, but he only held her tighter against him. “Don’t.”
“Why not?” Her movement gave him better access to her breast and he pressed her ass harder against his groin. Blood pumping, he brushed his whole hand over her and cupped the soft mass in his palm. Then squeezed. She bit back a moan. “Because it feels too good? Or because it reminds you how much you want me?”