mean I tempt fate. When I travel, protection comes with me.” His head dipped and his mouth brushed over her cheek. “It’s part of the go bag.”
Standard operating procedure in the CIA. Apparently he followed the same rules in his security work. “Not sure if that makes you practical or something else.”
A beat of silence, then another. He didn’t say anything as he stood there. Watching, his breathing growing unsteady as the intensity ratcheted up.
Finally he broke the quiet, but his words only added to the growing tension. “Right now I’ll be whatever you want me to be.”
Right answer. Whatever silent battle he’d been waging inside him appeared to end, taking his denials along with it. “I’m willing to go into the bedroom . . . Why are you shaking your head?”
He pulled her toward the small couch. “Right here.”
The lumpy cushions. The small size. Admittedly her control had reached the snapping point, but they could at least try not to make this into an acrobatics show. “Wouldn’t a bed be easier?”
“I’m looking for hot, not easy.”
For some reason the comment settled her jumping nerves. “So much for your idea of waiting.”
“You blew past my defenses. My rules exploded the minute you mentioned condoms.” And he looked ticked off about that.
She wasn’t. “Good response.”
“And I plan to take you in every square inch of this cabin.” He let the silence play for a few beats. “Eventually.”
On some men the comment would sound like cockiness. On Gabe, the words issued a promise. “Maybe you should try getting through this first time, stud.”
“We’ll start here, where I can see the door.” He glanced from the couch to the front of the cabin. “Just in case.”
“You think you’re going to be in any condition to fire a gun?” She planned to have him as hot and bothered as she was.
“Is that a euphemism?”
Sometimes he said things she did not expect. “I hope you’re as good as you say you are.”
“I’m better.” He sank to the couch and turned her until she stood in front of him, between his legs. “Want me to show you?”
She ran a hand over his hair and down the side of his head. “Was I unclear about that?”
“I want your body to tell me.” With his resistance gone, his movements quickened. He pushed her sweater up past the band of her jeans and started unzipping. No fanfare or hesitating.
She loved the sure way he held his body and commanded a room. And the dirty talk. He could bring that back any time. “Then go faster.”
“Quick isn’t always better.” He proved his point by taking an eternity to draw the zipper down click by click.
By the time he slipped his hand inside her jeans her legs shook. This time he didn’t play around with touching her and waiting. His hand dipped past her underwear to her skin. His finger slipped along her, inside her.
“Your body is already talking.” He whispered the comment and his breath blew over her belly. “So fucking wet.”
He did that to her. The deep rumble of his voice. The intense stare. The mix of talk and touching that had her ready to go at all times. Her need for him was embarrassing, really, but she’d worry about that later. Now she concentrated on the slide of his thumb. The gentle back and forth.
The way he talked about sex she expected to be slammed against the wall and taken without much thought of what her body needed, but no. This guy was no amateur.
“Take my jeans off,” she said, because she’d been dreaming about just that for weeks.
“Everything is coming off.” His thumb kept brushing against her. “I want you naked when I take you the first time.”
A series of images ran through her mind, each one dirtier and more graphic than the one before. “And the next time?”
“We’ll have to see what we’re both in the mood for, but right now I think we know.”
That made one of them. She could barely think at all. “What?”
“For you to ride me.” He dipped his head and pressed a kiss on the front of her underwear.
The words, that mouth, set off a tingling sensation inside her. So did the stripping as he pushed her jeans and underwear down, past her knees to the floor. When he sat up again, she wore only socks from the waist down.
Before she could say anything, he pulled her onto his lap. Her thighs straddled his legs, and the rough material of his