Suzanne Brockmann - Tall, Dark and Daring - The Admiral's Bride

“I don’t know,” Zoe said. “Chris, are you done grabbing me?”

Jake’s hands tightened on her in warning, but she didn’t give him time to answer. “I’ve got to go change my shirt.” Pulling free from Jake, she picked up her tray and handed it to Gus, then headed for the back room.

She sensed more than saw Jake follow her. And she wasn’t surprised, after she fished a T-shirt from her backpack, to turn around and see him standing there, door tightly shut behind him.

He looked really upset.

Zoe wasn’t sure who moved first, and it didn’t matter. As she reached for him, he lunged for her, and then, God, she was in his arms, just holding him as close as she possibly could.

“Are you all right?” He didn’t release her to ask, he just kept holding her as tightly as she was holding him. “When he grabbed you like that …”

“I’m okay,” she told him. And she was. Despite the bruises Christopher Vincent had just given her, she was more okay than she’d been in a long time. She pulled back to look at him. “Are you? ”

“This isn’t going to work.” The tone of Jake’s voice matched the intensity in his eyes. They’d turned into steel—hard and cold, with a razor-sharp edge. “The plan. I’ve got to come up with something else because I’m not letting you go in there.”

“But—”

“He’s dangerous, Zoe. He’s completely unhinged. The whole organization’s seriously off balance. Getting you inside as my wife is no longer an option. I don’t want you anywhere near there. Besides, it’s just not feasible, from what I’ve found out.”

“Dammit, Jake—”

He kissed her. One moment, he was glaring at her, and the next his mouth was hard against hers, his tongue sweeping past her gasp of surprise.

Zoe felt herself sway, caught off balance for the briefest moment, before she clung to him, kissing him back with as much passion, angling her head to grant him deeper access.

He was kissing her. Jake Robinson was kissing her because he wanted to, not because he had to. Tears stung the inside of her eyelids, and for the first time she let herself acknowledge that she wanted Jake Robinson more than she’d ever wanted any man. He was her hero, her commander and in many ways her deity. She worshipped him, on every possible level.

He pushed her back so she bumped against the concrete block of the storage-room wall as still he kissed her. His hands were all over her as he pressed himself hard between her legs, pulling her thigh up along his as he strained to get closer, even closer, playing out her wildest fantasy. But when he cupped her breast far more roughly than she would have expected, she opened her eyes in surprise.

And saw Christopher Vincent standing at the half-open storage-room door, his hand on the knob as he looked in at them.

He pulled the door shut behind him, and when he did, Jake stopped kissing her. He took his hand from her breast but otherwise just stood there, eyes closed, breathing hard, forehead resting against the wall beside her.

She’d been wrong. Jake hadn’t really been kissing her. Somehow he must’ve heard the door open. Somehow he’d known that Christopher was there.

It wasn’t a want-to kiss, after all. It was a had-to kiss.

Zoe drew in a very shaky breath. “Oh, God .”

Jake pulled away from her, his eyes dark with apology. “I’m sorry—did I hurt you?”

She tried to joke. “Are you kidding? That was more fun than I’ve had in weeks.”

He turned slightly away from her, and she realized that her shirt was hanging open in the front where Chris had stretched it, revealing the entire top edge of her very low-cut bra. She picked her T-shirt up from the floor, and turning her back to Jake, she quickly changed.

“We’ve got too much to talk about, too much to decide,” Jake told her. “So I’m going to go home with you tonight.”

She turned to face him, her heart in her throat despite the fact that she knew nothing would happen between them even if he did spend the night in her trailer. He’d had to kiss her. God, she was such a fool for thinking otherwise.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Why would you marry me if you can just get some whenever you want? Besides, I’ve set up my cover so that everyone out there in that bar knows that I’m looking to get married. What are they going to think if I just suddenly settle for casual sex?”

“I’m sorry,” he said. “But I’ve changed my mind about the whole marriage thing. Zoe, this guy is nuts . The entire organization is screwy. The way they treat women is criminal. I can’t let you do this.”

“Jake, you promised that you’d let me decide—”

“That was before I knew how bad it would be. On top of that, Vincent’s got security cameras everywhere. I found at least three in my bedroom. How the hell can I bring you there? Don’t you think it would look a little suspicious when I don’t make love to my gorgeous young wife?”

“So bring me there and make love to me.” Zoe couldn’t believe she was actually bold enough to say the words aloud.

Jake was silent, looking at her, looking hard into her eyes as if trying to see if she’d really meant what she’d just said.

She held his gaze, pretending she was as flip and blasé about the idea of being intimate with him, pretending she could shrug it off as just another job requirement, pretending it would mean no more to her than a way to find that missing Trip X.

It’s no big deal, she told him with her smile, even as her heart was pounding.

“Even if you would do that,” he finally said, “I wouldn’t. I couldn’t .” He turned away. “That’s not an option.”

Zoe felt like crying. He honestly didn’t want her. Even with necessity as a solid excuse, he couldn’t acknowledge that any of the passion that sparked between them when they kissed was genuine. And maybe it wasn’t. Maybe he was the best actor she’d ever met, and all of the real passion was her own.

God, she was pathetic.

But that was just too bad. Because she had a job to do and no time to feel sorry for herself.

She took a deep breath. “So you’re just going to do this by yourself—find the Triple X on your own? All alone?”

“I need to get a message to Harvard. I think there’s a way to intercept the images from the security cameras—but I’ll need some equipment from him. If I can do that, you’ll be able to see inside the CRO compound from the safety of the surveillance trailer.”

“What if that’s not enough? Jake, you know it’s going to be easier for me to help you find the Trip X if I’m there with you. I think we’ve got to leave our options open. So I’m not going to let you pretend to come home with me, in case we need to use the marriage thing in the future.” And wouldn’t that be fun? Living with him twenty-four seven, pretending to be lovers, all the while knowing that she was about the farthest thing possible from the woman he truly wanted?

She handed him her ordering pad and pen. “Write Harvard a message,” she continued. “Write down whatever equipment you need. Whatever he needs to know. I’ll see that he gets it.”

There was a knock on the door and old Roy stuck his head in. “Zoe, Gus is looking for you. Hal’s bowling team just showed up.” He frowned at Jake. “Say, young fellow, you’re not supposed to be back here.” He stepped farther into the room. “Everything all right, Zoe?”

Zoe gave the old man a reassuring smile. “Everything’s fine, Roy. Tell Gus I’ll be right there.”

She looked at Jake as the door closed behind Roy. “I better get out there.”