he hoped was a stern look, but it only served to make her giggle. “For starters, when you bent over to pick up your fork off the floor this morning, you popped that ass of yours up like you were practicing for a pole dancing competition. Doing your best to turn me on, no doubt.”
“Yeah, I can see it now. Anastasia, the erotic dancer, coming soon to a gentleman’s club near you,” she said, and he slipped his hands to her hips, gently squeezing his fingers into her sides. “If you’re lucky, I might even show you some moves.” He let out a soft groan and closed his eyes, holding her tighter as her words played out like a movie in his head, and it sure as hell wasn’t PG-13.
And if he didn’t know any better, he’d think she’d gotten into Grant’s bourbon or homemade moonshine at some point between their call and now.
“How else have I been teasing you?” she prompted, her eyes lit up like a woman without a care in the world. Or a past that she’d spent fifteen years working to keep buried.
“Well, there was that little stunt you pulled inside the helicopter. I mean, you straddled me in the cockpit and swiveled your hips, making me hard as a rock before hopping off and leaving me high and dry.”
“Is that what happened?” Oh, the woman was good. Toying with him like there was no tomorrow, and hell, in his world, when tomorrow wasn’t guaranteed, he was all for living life to the fullest.
“Yes, ma’am, you did. And then you grabbed my cowboy hat right off my head, which was downright mean. I had to chase after you until you tripped me, you little sneak. Although, it was fun taking you down with me, rolling around in the grass. I got stains all over my T-shirt, and I didn’t even get a kiss—”
Ana sealed her mouth to his, cutting him off. A tender touch at first before her tongue slid along the seam of his lips and pushed into his mouth.
About damn time. At the end of their sweet and sensual kiss, it suddenly dawned on him—this brilliant woman was a master in tradecraft, and she’d . . . “You’ve been distracting me all morning, haven’t you?” he finished his thoughts aloud as she unhooked her legs from his waist.
She placed her palms on the counter at her sides and parted her legs ever so slightly, drawing his eyes to the only Southern place he was in the mood to be right now. Back between her smooth, toned thighs.
When his focus returned to her face, she shot him a huge grin that said she was proud of herself. Maybe she’d been purposefully distracting him to keep him from worrying or changing his mind about their next move. He was definitely not on board with offering her up as bait at the safe house in the woods. Between everything she’d shared over the last few days and the theories they’d been discussing, the woman deserved a break.
With Luke and Knox on their way to the Maldives, Chris and Finn scoping out the cabin in Georgia, and Jessica and Harper working their intel magic—there wasn’t much else Ana and A.J. could do aside from spin more theories that’d make the both of them dizzier than sitting in one of those cheap county fair amusement rides.
“More like being a tease. And I’m adding that to my list,” she announced with a confident nod.
“Which of your lists?” His hands went to the counter on either side of hers, but he eased back to look into her forest green eyes.
“The mental list I keep of all the things I’ve never done until I met you.”
His eyes dropped to her mouth. “That’s one list I like.” He captured her bottom lip between his teeth and gently pulled, preparing to ravish her in the name of letting her “distract” them both. “Tease all right.”
She secured a fistful of his shirt and feathered her mouth over his, her tongue skirting his lips before disappearing back inside her mouth.
Tease or not, kissing like they were horny teenagers was more than enough for him. That erotic sweep of her tongue in his mouth helped him focus on all that mattered right now. Her.
“I have to admit, I’m surprised you own this little jean skirt. Seems a bit rebellious for you.” His hand skated up her thigh, and she parted her legs and lifted her chin a