Under the Rose - Kathryn Nolan Page 0,79
dick move,” she said, smile growing. “But you couldn’t have known. I didn’t tell a soul.”
I pressed a kiss between her breasts, rested my head there.
“I missed you so much too,” she whispered. “When I told you I was leaving, I almost begged you for a hug.”
“Why?” I asked, even as I squeezed her tighter.
“Because part of me knew you were put on this earth to protect me.”
Words froze in the back of my throat. I didn’t feel worthy to receive these secrets of hers, these feelings. And she must have sensed my hesitation because she giggled against my ear. “Although let’s be honest. If you and I had hugged it out, we would have definitely had sex on one of the tables in the library.”
That startled a husky laugh from me. “Did you also…want that?”
“To fuck you in the library? Hell, yeah.”
I was growing hard again—and not because the gorgeous blonde on my lap was slowly, slowly grinding against me. The dam had broken, and now we couldn’t stop touching and talking.
“There was this one study room on the fifth floor,” I rasped, staring at her. “I used to fantasize about fucking you in it.”
“The soundproof one?” she teased.
My palms danced along her rib cage, fanning across her breasts. She bit her lip, twisted her hips.
“You know the one?”
“I might have the same fantasies.”
She was flirting with me now, her joy filling up the small, dark space. I fluttered my fingers down her side, and she shrieked, head thrown back. I took advantage of her distraction to flip her onto her back, settling between her spread thighs.
“Sam?” she said, sighing a little as I kissed her throat.
“Hm?”
“Do you ever feel that way at your job now? The way I felt at the academy?”
I stilled.
Freya the Mind Reader.
And I wasn’t going to be able to hold back the truth much longer—if she hadn’t already figured it out. Especially not tangled together like this. The intimacy was softening the edges of my own secrets.
“I have extremely high stress levels, per what’s expected of me.” Such a robot.
“Your health is more important than the Bureau. No matter how vital your job is.”
Strands of her hair kept brushing against my skin. “I wish my father felt that way.”
Stupid again. She was chipping away at the lies I held dear.
She kissed my cheek. Wrapped her arms around me and held on tight. “I wish he did too, Sam. I really do.”
A fast buzzing sound erupted from Freya’s purse in the front seat. She made a frustrated noise, turning toward it. “Should I get it?”
“Could be Abe.”
I sat up reluctantly, releasing her to grab her phone. I reached into my gym bag where I kept a clean change of clothes. “Do you want my, uh…sweatshirt?”
She looked down at her chest with a cheeky grin. “You don’t like this look on me?”
“I love that look on you,” I said.
“This is Delilah’s dress, by the way. Looks like you’ll be buying her a new one.” She took the sweatshirt, pulling it over her head. It was gigantic on her, but it said Quantico across the front, and the look of her in it had my heart pounding.
“I’ll buy her ten new ones,” I promised.
Freya slid her glasses back on and pulled her hair into a bun.
“Oh shit,” she said.
“What?”
“Birdie’s getting messages on the Under the Rose site.”
That same anger and disappointment rose in me again. Closing this case will go far in helping me trust you again, Samuel.
“Can I see?”
She showed me. The first one was from Thomas. Where are you two? We’ve been knocking on your hotel room door for hours.
She glanced sideways at me, as if seeking permission. “Abe said no.”
Then her fingers flew across the keyboard. We’re truly sorry. Julian and I need to shore up some reserves for tomorrow. Pre-bids were higher than we anticipated for the Sand letters.
“You’re just going to call it out?” I asked. But I was more intrigued than I realized—even going against orders.
“What’s the harm now?” she replied.
We need to make sure Roy doesn’t get them, Thomas pinged back. And we have not finished our conversation about our plan of attack.
“I hedged heavily during this conversation because I didn’t want to corner us into a situation we couldn’t get out of,” Freya explained. “Things are tense. I think Roy’s blackmailing Thomas because he knows Thomas stole Ward’s Don Quixote. But Thomas doesn’t want to pay. And he doesn’t want Bernard to know about Roy’s threat. And no one