The large, single-story structure sat on the hill overlooking the main estate house. The three-story mansion had once been home to one of the labs the Genetics Council had created.
Beneath the historic home, a sprawling cement-and-steel structure had been built. The labs, confinement cells and soldiers' barracks had been completely hidden from the citizens of nearby Buffalo Gap. The mountain had provided a perfect training location, while the area had been a strategic location for the Breeds to come and go from their assigned missions.
Stepping to the railing of the wraparound porch, she crossed her arms over her br**sts and fought to hold back the chill working down her spine.
"She's sleeping again?" Jonas stepped out as Rachel turned to him in surprise.
"I thought you'd left." For the barest second, her heart raced, breathlessness assailed her chest and her thighs tried to clench in response to his presence.
He was, quite simply, total male perfection. Savagely hewn, exceptionally built. And those eyes. Staring into his eyes was like staring into a maelstrom of hunger.
She had seen that hunger the first time they'd met, and it had never abated.
"Not yet." Pushing his hands into his slacks, he moved closer and leaned against one of the porch's huge support columns. "I was on the sat phone arranging the packing and delivery of the office here. Everything should arrive in a few hours."
"I'm certain it will, if that's what you ordered." Few people, let alone Breeds, defied Jonas.
His gaze flickered at the irony in her tone.
"Ely called while you were gone. She's hoping that if she adds her plea to Dr. Vanderale's, you'll come to the lab for testing in the morning."
Rachel tilted her head as she stared back at him. "If I have none of your mating heat signs, Jonas, then why should I do that? My time is rather valuable, as I'm certain you know. There's quite a bit that has to be caught up with at the office. Now that you're transferring said office here, there will be only additional work. I doubt I'll have time to pamper Ely or Dr. Vanderale in this matter. But should I change my mind, I promise you'll be the first to know."
Her mocking little speech produced much more of a reaction than she anticipated. For months, she had been throwing out the cute little asides in a particularly cool voice, and for months, Jonas had pretended to ignore them.
He wasn't ignoring it now.
Before Rachel could move to evade, his hands gripped her arms, turning her to face him as his head bent, bringing his lips much too close to hers. Too much temptation, much too close. That's what it was.
"Do you believe this is nothing more than a game?" The rough frustration in his tone scraped over her senses and sent heat coursing through her body.
Backing down would have been the wisest course of action, Rachel thought distantly, but, as her sister had always claimed, backing down just wasn't part of their DNA.
"If I thought it a game, then I would have brought my scorecard," she retorted, her chin lifting, bringing them almost nose to nose. "Now let me go, Mr. Wyatt. I did not give you permission to touch me, nor did I give you permission to berate me."
His gaze narrowed, the liquid silver boiling as a subtle mask of male lust seemed to descend upon his expression.
The look did something to her. It caused her stomach to jump, her womb to tighten. This time, her thighs truly did clench as she fought to hold back a response that seemed more instinctive than hormonal or forced.
"You're giving it to me now," he assured her, his nostrils flaring as he seemed to inhale.
Rachel felt heat flare in her face, both from arousal as well as embarrassment.
"How dare you . . ."
"I dare because I've spent too much time watching you flip around my office like some ice queen that no man dare touch, even after you had Amber. I dare because you know what the hell you're doing to me and you stand there in all your indignation and do it anyway."
And he was right. That damned sense of fair play she felt kicked in and made yet another situation more uncomfortable than it should have been.
"Why shouldn't I do it?" She narrowed her gaze on him, her jaw tightening in anger. "I've watched you f**k your way through Washington as though it were your own intimate little playground. What the hell makes you think I want anything to do with a man that so many other women have already had?"
That wasn't exactly the truth, but what the hell. She was getting mad now. The rules didn't apply with the same strength when she was mad.
"Oh, you want me." A tight smile curled his lips. "You can deny it until hell freezes over, sweetheart, but we both know you want nothing more than my hands on you."
Oh, she hated that arrogant confidence that seemed to ooze from his very pores.
Fighting back the arousal that had slipped past her control wasn't easy, but she managed it. As quickly as the blood had thundered through her veins and rushed to the sensitive bud of her clit, it was settling, easing back into its normal pace.