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“I’ll let your brother stab me a few times. That should ease the sting.”
Chapter 7
Addison removed her baseball cap as Sam let her into the room. The registry service surprised her. He’d booked the room via mobile, then simply used his phone to open the electronic lock. “You think they understand how very hackable that is?”
“Possibly,” he said, checking the lot once before closing the door. “At the moment, I care less about that than keeping your profile low.”
It didn’t escape her notice he didn’t mention his profile. Then again, he likely had a backup plan for his backup plan. The unnecessary protectiveness on his part, however, was appreciated. “You’re sweet.”
“Take it back,” he said with a scowl. “Sweet is for uncles and metrosexual life partners you have no intention of fucking.”
“Language,” she said, almost automatically. “You know I prefer a more expert tongue when it comes to these matters.”
She didn’t make it another step before his arms came around her and pulled her back to his chest. The warmth and strength of his frame closing in had her shutting her eyes.
“At the risk of spoiling what could quite possibly be the beginning of a lovely evening…” She spoke in a soft yet deliberate fashion. “I was not merely poking at you on the plane in order to get a reaction.”
“I know,” he murmured, then pressed his lips to her hair. “That doesn’t matter.”
It should. She’d set a trap, seduced a man, then executed him.
“Addison.” He seemed to encompass the whole of her in the way he said her name. “Was it necessary to complete the mission?”
“Yes.” Unreservedly so.
“Then it doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters to me at the moment isyou. If you want to shower, then turn in without expectation, so be it.”
“And if I want something else?” How far would he allow her to push him on this subject?
“Then understand, once I have you back, m’lady, I will never release you again. I bungled the first effort, and I accept my culpability.” He turned her, and she studied the sober intensity in his gaze. “I’ve drowned myself in a bottle since then. Alcohol has been my only solace, and all it managed to do was dull the need, never erase it. My bed, my rules, my woman. No leaving. Not again.”
“Does this mean you intend to turn into a caveman again?” It had happened only once in their previous relationship, a turning point. That night in Tokyo—a night she had been sent to seduce an attaché to an Ambassador. They were certain he traded in secrets—not deliberately, but through pillow talk.
The bastard had turned out to possess some unsavory predilections. He’d actually drugged her. A critical error on her part, one that nearly ended with her beaten half to death, a fate she hadn’t suffered because Sam arrived and dispensed with the attaché. They ended his selling of secrets with brutal efficiency.
“Yes,” he said, not smiling nor softening it with any hint of humor. “I love you, Lady Addison Leeds. I will not be parted from you again, not willingly. So, if you want your freedom, then don’t miss the next time you decide to shoot me.”
Her brother would have a full litter of kittens over this particular reunion.
“I’m afraid I’m going to disappoint my brother terribly,” she admitted. They were the right words, because Sam’s whole demeanor changed, and the sun came out from behind the storm clouds in his eyes. “I’ve missed you, Sam. The hardest part of it all was thinking you had truly betrayed me. I refused to allow anyone else to ever get that close. Never again.”
Relief eased the last of the tension from his expression. He lifted her, as though she were made of the finest spun glass. “Never, I swear on my life. No one will pit me against you. Ever. I’ll take them all out.”
“With one exception…” She refused to harp on the point any longer, and when he opened his mouth as though to agree or refute her statement, she pressed her finger to his lips. “I trust you. I trust you to keep your word to me. It is enough.”
His grin stole her breath before his lips took hers in slow and almost tender possession. She allowed it, reveling in the contact as he settled her on the bed, but only for a moment.
She glided her fingers into the thick darkness of his hair, fisting it lightly. When he broke the kiss to study her, a question in his eyes, she smiled.
“Do be a dear and remember, I’m not that fragile, and I’ve missed you terribly. I need to feel you—to remember what it is to be with you and only you.”
“As m’lady commands.” He was never going to stop saying it. The social class distinction between them may have kept him at an emotional distance, but that had always been his issue, not hers.
“You silly bugger,” she said with a smile, then nipped his lower lip gently. Every moment spent with his arms around her soothed the jagged edges of her soul. “How ever did I manage without you?” Years of being strong, of fighting for the causes of others, of fighting for her brother—she’d put their needs, their wars, and their victories ahead of her own.
What other victory could she have but Clark’s life back? At least, that was what she believed until she reached out to Sam.
“God only knows. I’ve barely muddled by. Made some money, though,” he admitted. “About all I did manage.” Even as he spoke, he freed the belt from around her waist, then began to unbutton her borrowed shirt. “I must say, you look brilliant in my clothes. I think you should wear those or nothing at all.”