She shook her head to that and he almost grinned. Of course, that gleam of future retaliation he saw in her eyes was something he was going to look forward to.
Moving away from the curtained doors, she stared around the bedroom for a long moment before turning back to him.
“What are we going to do now?” she asked, running her hands through her hair and staring back at him with narrowed eyes.
“What do you want to do now?” he asked in return. “No doubt whoever went through the house was watching it after they left. That’s what I would do anyway. They’ll know who you’re with and where you are. Cord knows that as well, that’s one of the reasons he wanted to hustle you back home, where he believes you’ll be more secure.”
She was shaking her head even before he finished. She knew that wasn’t her best bet.
No one had ever accused her of being a dummy. Confused perhaps, too damned stubborn and independent definitely. But she was smart. She always had been.
“That would be the worst thing I could do,” she murmured before moving to her pack, lifting it to the bed, and loosening the leather flap while frowning thoughtfully.
“We’ve pushed and now someone’s messing up.” Leaning against the dresser behind him, he watched her unpack the clothes she’d had hidden somewhere. “We just need to push a little more.”
“A little more push could find us in a sniper’s sight,” she warned him. “That’s not a pleasant place to be.”
And she would know. She’d been there more than once.
He had to take a careful hold of his control, something he could feel slipping, tugging at his determination to use caution now.
The hell she’d endured for the past ten years was pissing him off more by the day. Facing her brothers had been incredibly difficult as well. So difficult she’d immediately distanced herself, pulling back and placing an invisible mental shield between herself and the three men she’d adored as a young girl.
“We’re not going to figure it out right now,” he warned her, coming to that realization himself. “What we can do, though, is see about getting something to eat and maybe going through the information you’ve pulled together so far.” Straightening and dropping his arms from his chest, he gave her a hard look. “You shouldn’t have waited to let me see the files and pictures you have, Kenni. You should have let me know you had the information.”
“There’s a lot of things I probably should have done over the years, Jazz,” she stated wearily, moving past him. “Add that one to it.”
Catching her arm Jazz pulled her to a stop and smiled down at her, carefully restraining the need to let the impulses rising inside him free.
“Are you learning from your mistakes, though?”
“Who said I made a mistake?” Soft, challenging, the dare in her voice had his body hardening as though he hadn’t just taken her a few hours before.
Catching her free wrist before she could avoid him and securing it behind her back with the other, he stared down at her. The wildness reflected in her deep, emerald-green eyes was a match for the core of wildness that burned inside him.
Hell, he knew she was a match for him, in every way. He had a feeling she was too concerned with protecting those she loved than she was with understanding the emotions she didn’t know how to deal with.
“I said you made one, cupcake.” The assurance slipped past his lips before he could call it back, the need to force the emotions she kept so carefully contained, free, nearly overwhelming.
But that need had only been growing since the day he’d met her. Since he’d stared into hazel eyes and seen fear and mystery that were so much a part of her.
Her eyes narrowed. “Cupcake? Really, Jazz?”
“Soft, sweet, and so very edible,” he assured her, his voice lowering as her lips parted, her subconscious sensuality peeking out, tempting him.
Lips trembling, her gaze flickered from his, though her body softened further. The contradictions in her would keep him guessing for years.
If he could keep her with him.
“Now, we have two choices considering you haven’t eaten today. Dinner, or that bed over there with me between your thighs, riding us both to exhaustion. That won’t take long for you, I’m guessing.”
Shadows were already gathering beneath her eyes and her face was paler than it had been that morning. Her expression was strained with tension, with tiredness.
“Dinner,” she snapped.
When she pulled against his hold again he let her go, slowly.
The need to touch her, to have her, was like a hunger he couldn’t sate now. The need to take care of her was just as strong, he was realizing. To ensure she was safe, protected. Nothing else mattered, not even the lust that dug sharp little claws into his balls.
“Dinner,” he agreed, stepping back from her before running his fingers restlessly through his hair. “Definitely dinner.”
“How long before it’s going to slip, Jazz?” she asked, carefully moving several feet out of his reach.
“Before what slips?” If he didn’t get out of the bedroom and away from that bed, the image of her beneath him out of his mind, then there was no way she’d get dinner first.
“Whatever you’re holding back,” she retorted as though she knew what the hell she was talking about. “What are you hiding, Jazz, and how much longer can you actually keep it hidden?”
“You better hope I keep it hidden until I figure out how to leash it,” he warned her. “Because trust me, darlin’, that’s an animal you just don’t want to deal with right now. Not at all. Now, let’s go see about dinner.” He strode to the doorway before turning back to her. “Should I lay out a steak for that asshole brother of yours?”
Her eyes narrowed, lips thinning at the mockery in his tone.
“Might as well,” she answered him, her sugary politeness when combined with the dare in her eyes almost more than he could resist.
“I’ll do that then.” Nodding shortly, he left the bedroom and the woman.
He really needed to feed her first. She was going to need her strength.
* * *
Who did he think he was fooling?
After eight years on the run with Gunny and meeting countless military types, she’d learned to recognize what one marine’s outspoken girlfriend had called a vein of pure dominance in a class A sex machine.
The explanation that went with it had left her blushing for days. Now Kenni could well understand why the girlfriend had seemed so very smug.
That particular girlfriend hadn’t been dealing with more than just the sex machine, though, while she was, Kenni thought morosely. She was dealing with a protective sex machine, something she’d never imagined coming up against.
The fact that he’d been incredibly aroused wasn’t lost on her, either. She’d escaped, probably in the nick of time, though she didn’t doubt for a moment it was because he’d let her go.
Moving into the kitchen behind him she watched his back carefully, left the gate opened just enough for Squirrel to slip in behind her, then moved to the table where she sat down. Lifting the puppy to her lap, she was amazed at how heavy he was, and the fact that hiding him wasn’t really going to happen. He was too intent on giving puppy kisses to her cheek whenever she couldn’t avoid him.
“That pup is going to think he’s allowed out here,” Jazz warned her as he moved to the back door.
“So?”
“So, it’s not fair to the rest of them, and if the rest of them are out here then we’ll have a mess you do not want to clean up, I promise.” Before she could answer the charge he was out the back door, his deep voice booming. “Maddox, get your ass in here if you want a steak.”
Kenni winced. No doubt his voice had echoed all across the valley. She could almost see Cord’s irritated expression. If he was trying to actually catch someone who may be watching, those hopes had just been dashed to hell and back.