hell.
He kissed like he moved. With a command and a distinct lack of patience. But there was also a surprise in his kiss. A gentleness. A coaxing that was at war with his pure power.
He dipped down further, his big hand slid into my hair and angled my head by sliding his fingers along the base of my neck and into my hair, tugging ever so gently and turning my head as he stroked his sure tongue into my mouth.
I couldn't help it, my hips sought out his with a jerk. The motion made him growl deep and press into me. The sound of his low rumble made my knees week and my skin too hot. Like it was stretched all over my body.
Heat and slick moisture pooled at the juncture of my thighs. The slickness was accompanied by this throbbing ache. Hell, I was quite certain there was a wet spot on my dress.
With one kiss, a stroke of his tongue, the press of his body and a gentle rocking of our bodies together, and I was so screwed. I wanted him. More than I’d ever wanted anyone in my life. I tore my lips from his and staggered back. Well, as much as the dress and the wall would allow. My gaze snapped back to his. "I have to go."
He nodded slowly and then stepped back. "I'll take that as a yes, Agent Kincade."
When I was a step further away from him, I could breathe a little bit better, and I could think. "I’ll have you know, Mr. Hale, I will not be going anywhere with you. I don't date men I’m investigating. I don't date men who are clearly trouble. I don't date men who are on a power trip."
"I'm not on a power trip. You can't be on a power trip when you have it already."
I had no choice but to run. I called it self-preservation. It wasn't until I was outside running down the stairs, sucking in deep gulps of air, that I realized I’d dropped my shawl again. I considered going back for it, but hell no. The further away from East Hale I could get, the better.
Even better, if I could prove what he and the London Lords were up to, I would never have to worry about him again. Men like him were dangerous. Men like him were to be avoided at all cost.
5
East
"Let's set a few ground rules.” I greeted the tiny-statured dynamo with the dark curling hair who had just crossed the threshold into my penthouse. “You poke around my system; I'll poke around your system. You touch something you shouldn't touch, and I'm going to mess with your database. If you make commentary about my code, we're done here."
Standing just inside the door, Telly Brinx made a show of scanning the room then grinned up at me, her wild dark hair flowing about her shoulders like a fountain. "Nice penthouse. I guess the hotel thing pays off."
Telly Brinx had the distinction of running Brinx Technologies, being best friend to Ben’s fiancée, Livy, being a sometimes-excellent hacker and my all-the-time nemesis.
Normally, I would solve our little Theroux problem by myself, draw it out. Take my time to prolong the pleasure. But the man had upped the ante, so he needed to be dealt with swiftly. Ariel Winston was also an option to help, and as she was pseudo family I could ask, but we’d been playing phone tag since she was in Australia with her footballer prince of a husband. So unfortunately, it was Telly or no one.
I scowled, unwilling to buy into her distraction. "Did you hear me?"
Telly waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. "Oh relax, I'm here to play nice."
When we had been dealing with the Van Linsted situation a few months ago, she'd come in handy. And for something like this, to find the unfindable, I knew I was going to need more hands and more processing power.
She perused the living room, going over to the bank of computers I had against the wall. "Ooh, these are sexy." But she really cooed when she pointed at my NETLA processing center. "Jesus Christ. This is one of the fastest processing cores in the world."
"I know," I muttered smugly.
"This thing costs a fortune. You realize whole corporations don't even have one of these, right?"
I shrugged. "I know."
She turned around. "So just like that? Daddy Warbucks that you are, you can just buy one of these?"
I shrugged. "Well, yeah.