she kidding?
She didn’t know how, where, when, or why, but somewhere along the line—God help her—she’d fallen hard for Wade Flint. The knowledge completely knocked her on her butt, and she wasn’t quite sure what to do about it.
It wasn’t like her to get hung up on a guy, especially one like Wade. Sure, he was hot in a bad boy kind of way, but he was also broken beyond repair. And yet, there was something about him that she couldn’t flush out of her system no matter how hard she tried.
Perhaps it was because she admired his strength, his unyielding determination. That fierce sense of loyalty to his family, to Hector—well, before things totally hit the fan—and, yes, to the woman who’d inspired this insane quest for justice. It was totally irrational—she’d never been the jealous type—but it sucked to know she’d never inspire those kinds of emotions in Wade.
A knock at the door made her jerk. She frowned as her gaze darted to the digital clock on the nightstand. Nobody knocked this late at night bearing good news. Curious and more than a bit apprehensive, she crossed to the door. As she peered through the peephole, her pulse skipped a beat at the sight of Wade in the hall. He wore the same clothes he had on earlier, but his hair stuck up in a dozen different directions as though a tornado had whipped through it.
“What do you want?” she asked through the door.
“We need to talk.”
A whisper of excitement fluttered in her belly. Her fingers tightened around the knob. Every instinct screamed at her to open the door, but pride kept her frozen in place. He’d already stomped on her feelings once this evening; she wasn’t in the mood for a repeat. “I’m tired, Wade. We can talk tomorrow.”
“Now, Hope.”
She bristled. As an adult, the only time she’d ever put up with that tone of voice was when it came from a superior officer. “We’re not in the jungle anymore. You don’t get to tell me what to do.”
Silence, and then a sigh. Hands in his pockets, he shifted his weight from one leg to the other as he stared straight at the peephole. “Please, Hope. Open the door.”
It was late. She was tired. If she had a lick of sense, she’d tell him to go away and climb back into bed. But something in his voice called out to her, and before common sense could rear its ugly head, she twisted the knob and yanked open the door.
Hope straightened her spine as she glared at him, trying hard to ignore the way her heart thudded at the sight of him filling her doorway. “What the hell is so damn important it couldn’t wait until—”
Wade cut her off with a kiss that short-circuited every coherent thought in her brain. He tasted like the cake they’d eaten for dessert: dark, rich, sinful. Aggressive, possessive, and so damn hot, his mouth swept over hers as he eased her backward and kicked the door shut with his foot.
It was unlike anything she’d ever experienced. Yeah, they’d kissed that one time before, but this was…holy hell. On a throaty moan, her eyes fluttered shut, while a visceral ache swept through her. Head spinning, her lips parted beneath his, yielding to the need, the insatiable craving, and then matched his brazen demand with her own.
One of his hands gripped her at the waist; the other tangled in her hair. As his mouth worked magic, the world melted away, and she allowed herself to bask in the decadent swirl of sensations. The feel of his lips, his tongue, his hands. The warmth of his body and his masculine scent. It was way too much, yet not nearly enough, and she wished it would go on forever. Reaching up, she grabbed fistfuls of his shirt and hung on for dear life.
Wade ended the kiss on a ragged exhale, and the low, rough rumble of her name on his lips sent shock waves rippling through her. Gently, he cradled her face in his hands, and when he spoke, he sounded uncharacteristically tender. “You have no idea how long I’ve been dying to do that.”
Dazed by the kiss, it took a few moments for the admission to register in her mind. With a great deal of effort, she forced her eyes open and met the intensity of his gaze. This close, his eyes were more than just green. There were flecks of gold and brown…and desire.