All Tied Up

She’d slapped him down for walking outside the circle of acceptable that she’d drawn around herself—making him the bad guy, good enough to fuck and nothing more—and it pissed him off. Actually, he’d welcomed a reason to be angry, darn near desperate to put some distance between himself and Nicole. To stop whatever connection was forming between them before it clouded his judgment and he forgot how dangerous he was to her. People wanted him dead. Alvarez. Carlos. Plenty of others he’d taken down, too. She’d attacked his beliefs and given him the fuel to shove her away—and he’d pounced on it, holding back nothing. Living in Alvarez’s world had taught him how to be a coldhearted bastard, if it had taught him nothing else.

He stepped aside, allowing her entrance into the room and motioning her forward. She hesitated, her gaze flickering over his face for a quick moment, as if she, too, knew the implications of the two of them alone, in a hotel room. Her chest lifted with a breath and she entered the room.

His gaze drifted to the sexy sway of her hips and the pert lift to that lush backside. There was no escaping the attraction between them, and his groin tightened with the proof. He wanted her. His body didn’t care if they were from different worlds.

This crazy attraction he felt for her wreaked havoc on his mind and body, had him rationalizing her resolve to follow the system as easily as he did for working around it. He was, after all, aware of the pain hidden behind that façade of prim and proper—he’d used it against her in their argument. Only she wasn’t prim and proper, and their lovemaking, like her past, proved as much.

Following her into the room, he shoved the door closed and locked it. She’d positioned herself at the window, her back to him. The room shrank—if that were possible—as he eased toward the bed, sexual tension charging the air, damn near combustible in its presence. Staying in a hotel room with Nicole, and keeping his hands to himself, was going to be a real task. No. Worse. His own little piece of hell.

“Don’t get too comfortable,” he said, not that she appeared to be trying. She felt what he did. The room was small. Too damn small. “We need to go grab some clothes and food.”

The curtain she’d been holding fell back into place as she turned to face him, her eyes going to his, avoiding the bed. “Is it safe to go out?”

Her nipples pebbled beneath the cheap T-shirt and his gaze went where hers had not—to a king-size invitation to rip her clothes off and have his way with her. Was it safe to go out? Hell. Was it safe to stay in? His cock thickened, pressing painfully against his jeans. No woman drove him to this kind of insanity. He’d be dead a hundred times over if he let his damn dick control his decisions.

He ground his teeth as his gaze inadvertently flickered across those tight little nipples again. His cock throbbed. With a verbal backlash, he took out his growing frustration on her. “I don’t plan to question your legal abilities. It’s my job to get us out of this alive. We’re safe. We’ll stay safe. And we will get to the right people to get the trial under way. How about you let me do it without questioning my every move?”

He didn’t expect her to cower at his attack, nor did she. For an instant, the gentle curve of her brows dipped, and then her expression transformed to an outright scowl, her petite hands jabbing at her curvy hips. “You didn’t question my abilities?” she asked incredulously. “Do my job, you said, or you’ll take matters into your own hands.” Her tone mocked him. “In other words, you manipulated me into feeling I was responsible for either outcome. If that’s not an inference of you questioning my abilities, I don’t know what is.”

“It wasn’t about questioning you,” he countered. “It’s about reality. Alvarez cannot walk free.”

She opened her mouth to speak and then tightened her lips into a thin line. An inhaled breath followed as she appeared to consider her words. “I’m going to detour from a subject we obviously can’t agree on and say this. My life is on the line. Don’t expect me to blindly follow your lead. I have a right to be informed about my own safety. Would you expect any less if you were in my position?”

They weren’t talking about him and he almost said as much. Instead, he forced himself to consider her words. He wanted her to trust him, and, yes, do so blindly, because he was good at his job. But regardless she’d be foolish to operate without caution. Their history together had been a short, intense one, full of adversity.