The Temporary Wife - By Jeannie Moon Page 0,80

breach.”

“I’m glad. That’s . . . that’s good—”

Her words were cut off by his mouth taking hers in a perfect, sweet kiss.

“Thank you for your help. We were so fixated on an outside attack, we didn’t look for anyone on the inside.” Still touching her face, holding her in place, he smiled. “We never got to talk.”

Meg felt suddenly shy and unnerved by the heat building between them. His smile, his touch, everything about him made her feel a little dizzy. This was beyond desire, beyond controllable. This attraction was going to explode in fifty different ways, and all Meg hoped was that her heart survived, because there was no way for her to resist him. No matter what her brain told her to do, Meg loved him, and she’d do whatever he asked.

His fingers slipped around one of the ribbons on her nightgown, twisted it, and held. “I love these white gowns you wear to bed. You look so pretty and sweet, and all I want to do is open these buttons one at a time . . .” His voice trailed off, and Meg looked down to see he was doing exactly that. Opening the buttons. With each move of his hand, he stroked one breast, then the other, slowly, deliberately driving her crazy until she felt her skin grow cool because he’d pushed the entire top of her nightgown around her waist, holding her arms in place and leaving her open to him.

“Hold still,” he said, dropping his head and taking one of her nipples in his mouth. Meg gasped while he teased and licked, and she tried to catch her breath. The tugging and pulling was causing an ache in her core, and when her eyes locked on his, she saw the mischief. He knew he was driving her insane and he was enjoying it.

Finally, he pulled her into his lap so she was cradled in his arms, and Jason’s hands traveled over her calves and thighs until he finally stroked the bare skin of her bottom. Again, Meg didn’t know how she was going to think coherently, much less respond.

“Jason?” It was all she could manage. “Let’s go upstairs.”

He lifted her without a second thought, and Meg thought about all his contradictions. He was big, physical, and yet at the same time he was a total nerd. Instinctively, Meg wrapped her arms around him, curling against his warm body as he walked with her through the house and up the stairs to their room.

This is where she should have been all along. The years she avoided him, the years she let herself be consumed by anger, were years she spent without him. Instead she searched for someone else, tried to be content, even though she knew she was missing her other half. Meg knew she could live without him, but she’d never love anyone else. Now that she’d decided to embrace their marriage, she cherished it. It seemed he did as well.

***

At a little after five in the morning, Jason crawled back in bed beside Meg and pulled her into his arms. She snuffled a little against his chest and then looked up. “Who was on the phone?”

“The president of Greek Isles Banking.”

“Oh, that couldn’t have been good.”

“It’s not bad, but I have to go to Crete.”

Meg turned on her belly and folded her arms on his chest before resting her chin there. She looked up at him, and he knew she was worried. “Will everything be okay?”

“Yeah. He’s a blowhard, and he’s making me jump through hoops because he feels we didn’t keep our end of the bargain.”

“Maybe he shouldn’t have hired ex-cons to handle one of their secure servers.”

He smiled and loved how she defended him. He’d told her how they’d discovered the head of IT had a criminal record, but since he was related to one of the vice presidents, he’d still been hired. The guy used his talents to give the bank trouble. A lot of it. No money was lost in the attack, and Jason’s software had kept anything truly destructive from happening, but he still had to go to the bank’s head office and make nice.

“I want to talk to you about our arrangement.”

God, he hated how she washed out, expecting the worst. Then again, maybe the thought of staying with him was going to be the real problem.

“What about it?”

Jason took her hands and kissed her. “I don’t want to get divorced.”

Meg lifted her head a little and