Strong, Sleek and Sinful - By Lorie O'Clare Page 0,102
have choices,” he whispered, his baritone sending chills over her flesh. “The obvious one was whether to walk away from you, or not. You’re here. That choice is made. Now to decide if you’re going to bring this guy down alone, or not.”
“Wait one minute,” she hissed, pointing her finger at him.
He grabbed her wrist, keeping her hand raised between them as his face came closer to hers. “Possibly one minute, but not much longer. You’re going to keep me advised on where you’re going.”
“I can’t do that.”
The passion, anger, whatever emotions made his eyes glow, seemed to disappear at once. He stared at her, his green eyes flat, closed off to her. Perry nodded once, releasing her wrist. “Okay then. I guess there’s nothing else to discuss.”
There were things they needed to discuss. If she thought Perry would blow her cover, she was obligated to report in and let John know she’d been revealed as FBI. Policy was very clear on this matter. Kylie crossed her arms, studying the dull gaze Perry offered her and his stance, not confrontational but not intimidated, either. Not that she ever thought he would be by her.
“I need to know what you’re going to do now that you know I’m FBI,” she said, her heart constricting as she fought to suppress all the feelings she had, pain over how he looked at her, frustration that he was acting like a big baby, and fear that he might do something to make her life hell.
“What I’m going to do?” Perry raised one eyebrow while a muscle twitched over his jawbone. “What I’m going to do,” he repeated. Then turning from her, he walked across the room to a doorway shrouded in darkness. “I’m going to bed.”
She stood there, confused and suddenly alone in the room. It was either turn around and leave, which was probably her smarter move, or follow him and demand that he talk to her.
“Damn it,” she hissed, and stalked after him, fisting her hands at her sides. “You’re being a—”
She stopped talking when, even in the incredibly dark room, she got an eyeful of incredibly hard-packed ass. Perry dropped his jeans to the floor and stepped out of them. His shirt came off next. Her mouth watered as her eyes adjusted quickly so as not to miss a moment of viewing roped muscle twitch across his back when he raised his arms, pulled his shirt off, and dropped it on top of his jeans. Then walking barefoot across his bedroom, he turned on the light in an adjoining bathroom and closed the door on her.
Kylie listened when water started running but then looked at his bedroom. Spotting a lamp next to his bed, she turned it on, then sat on the oversized bed. Everything in his house seemed so masculine and large. Just like Perry. His bed was firm and high off the floor. She couldn’t sit on it and put her feet flat on the floor, so she pulled her legs up and sat cross-legged, taking in the contents of his room, and waited.
Perry’s bed frame was the same dark varnished wood as his dresser. There were a handful of snapshots arranged in frames on the dresser, and after a minute of sitting there, wondering why she waited for him, Kylie got up and flipped the switch on the wall by the door, flooding the room with light, and leaned in to see the snapshots better.
Perry’s nieces, at different ages, were posed in each shot. There were a good ten pictures framed and placed on the dresser. She arranged them with her eyes in chronological order, not touching any of them, and noted that Dani didn’t wear the amount of makeup she did today in the recent past. Kylie focused in on a picture of the girls, all close to the age they were now, maybe a year or two younger, surrounding a very pretty woman. Her hair was brown, like the girls’, and her oval face gave her an air of regality. But it was her eyes, slightly large for her face, that reflected the strong family trait. Kylie knew without a doubt she was looking at Perry’s sister. They had the exact same dark, all-knowing eyes. The woman sat with her girls around her, but by the length of her slender arms and her long neck Kylie guessed she was a tall lady. Height must also be a family trait.