Page 8 of The Agent

M ARLEY LET OUT a little gasp as he captured her mouth with his, but the second their lips met, she melted in his arms. He thrust his fingers into her hair, angling her head for better access, while he slid his other hand to her waist and drew her body to his.

She made a gentle, keening sound against his mouth, and then lifted her arms to his shoulders, pulling him closer. Her lips parted, her tongue darted out to toy with his and Caleb nearly keeled over from the jolt of desire that shot through him.

She tasted incredible. Like coffee, cinnamon and heaven and he couldn’t get enough of her. He deepened the kiss, drowning in her scent. Damn it, he hadn’t known it would be so uncontrollable.

A muffled thud sounded from outside. Marley must have heard it, too, because her eyelids fluttered open at the same time as his.

And then she was out of his arms.

His arms felt empty without her warm supple body in them, his mouth going dry when seconds before it had been moist from the tip of Marley’s tongue teasing his lips.

Even as his body tried to recover from that unbelievable kiss, his brain went back to business, directing his line of vision to the now-empty yard.

Relief coursed through him. AJ had managed The Great Escape.

“I’m sorry,” he said hoarsely. “I didn’t mean to do that.”

“I…” She tucked an errant blond strand behind her ear. “It’s fine. Just unexpected.”

Understatement of the year. What had he been thinking, kissing her? He’d wanted to distract her, and instead, he’d opened Pandora’s damn box, because now that he’d tasted Marley, he wanted nothing more than to do it again.

Information. You just need information from her.

Drawing in a breath, Caleb willed his desire away. “I should go,” he said.

Something flickered in her eyes. Finally, she just nodded, and they stepped out of the kitchen. He saw her wringing her hands together as she walked. “So you’re a writer, huh?”

He almost laughed. It seemed ridiculous making small talk now, after the explosive kiss they’d just shared. “Yeah, I’m, uh, working on my first novel.”

“That’s cool.”

When they reached the front hall, he glanced down at the two-by-fours on the floor, then the gutted closet. “You sure this isn’t a safety hazard?” he asked in a dry voice.

She sighed. “My brother keeps promising to finish it, but he never seems to get around to it.”

Caleb ran a hand through his hair, pausing near the front door. “I did some construction a few years back.”

The admission came out of nowhere, but at least it wasn’t a lie, like his writer cover story. He had done a lot of construction before he joined the DEA.

“I could help you with some of the renovations.” Gruffly, he added, “If you’d like.”

Marley seemed to hesitate. “No, I couldn’t let you do that. You’re here to work on a novel.”

“It’s really no trouble.” Damn, why was he insisting?

Information.

Right, it had nothing to do with her stunning face and endless supply of curves.

He needed to find out what she knew about Grier.

If she even knew anything. AJ thought she did, but Caleb wasn’t certain, not after he’d spent some time with her.

Everything about Marley seemed so genuine, so refreshing.

How did she do it, continue to smile and laugh and live her life after what Patrick Grier had done to her?

Unless AJ was right, and she was still in contact with Grier, sticking by him, moving money around to help him escape… .

Caleb forcibly shoved all the negative thoughts from his brain and focused on Marley.

She considered his offer for so long that he grew certain she would say no, thank you.

But then she gave a tiny smile and nodded.

“Well, my brother’s finishing the closet this week, but I could use some help with the painting,” she confessed.

“Should I come by tomorrow?” Anticipation rose in his chest. He quickly banished it, trying to remind himself that he wasn’t seeing her for pleasure, but business.

“Sure. Let’s see…I’m stuck with a graveyard shift tonight. I start at two—” she made a face “—and I’ll be home around eleven tomorrow morning. I’ll probably pass out for a while when I get back, so how about four?”

“Sounds good.”

Laughing, Marley opened the front door for him. “I’m not sure it’ll sound as good when I put you to work painting my kitchen.”

He gave her a faint smile. “I look forward to it.”

Stepping out onto the porch, he thanked her for the coffee. After the door closed behind him, he released a ragged breath. Lord, that kiss. It was a miracle he’d been able to finish the rest of the conversation.

He could still taste her on his lips, and his current state of discomfort made walking next door difficult.

He’d never been harder in his life, and if Marley were any other woman, it wouldn’t have stopped with one kiss.

He felt it in the way she kissed him back and saw it in the disappointment clouding her eyes when they broke apart.

If they were different people, he could’ve buried himself inside her and eased the ache in his groin.

But he couldn’t. He couldn’t sleep with her.

Getting close to her in order to learn the truth was a necessary evil, but sleeping with her would pretty much purchase him a one-way ticket to hell.

Because if she was innocent, he would have slept with a woman while lying about who he was.

A woman who’d already been used by one liar.

And if she was guilty, he’d have to live with the knowledge that he’d had sex with the woman helping Russ’s murderer.

He let himself in through the front door and went upstairs, where he found AJ in the master bedroom, manning the monitors.

The second Caleb entered the room, AJ let out a hoot, followed by a round of applause. “I’m thoroughly impressed,” his partner drawled. “You move fast, man.”

Caleb smothered a groan. He’d been hoping AJ hadn’t seen the kiss, but from the lewd way the man wiggled his eyebrows, he’d obviously caught the show.

“I was trying to distract her,” Caleb muttered.

“With your tongue? You could have just asked for a tour of the house.”

Caleb ignored the remark and said, “Aside from climbing trees, did you do anything productive today? Any headway on where the wire transfer came from?”

“Still nothing.” AJ leaned back in the chair. “But I’m close, and I can tell you, the money wasn’t wired from the States. I traced it to Europe. Not sure which country, though.”

Europe, huh? It made sense, if the money that had appeared in the account was being used to fund Grier’s way out of the country.

“What if Grier tries to move the money?” he asked, a frown puckering his brow.

“He can’t,” AJ answered, looking smug. “We set it up so that money can come in—that way we can track it—but Grier and Kincaid can’t move the money out. I hope they try, though. I’d love to be a fly on the wall when they realize the hundred Gs is stuck there.”

They. The word hung in Caleb’s mind like a black rain cloud.

AJ still hadn’t ruled Marley out as a suspect, and it was beginning to bother him.

After these last couple of encounters with Marley, he was less suspicious of her than ever.

Caleb’s instincts continued to tell him Marley wasn’t helping Grier, but he knew he couldn’t rule it out entirely.

Still, it grated a little, hearing AJ lump her into Grier’s villainous category.

“What about you?” AJ asked. “Aside from playing tonsil hockey with the nurse, what’d you find out?”

“Nothing,” Caleb said with a sigh.

Not entirely true, of course. He’d found out plenty of things. Like how sweet she tasted. How pliant and welcoming her lips were. How hot her skin felt beneath his fingers.

“You mean your overwhelming charisma didn’t win her over?”

Caleb bristled. “I offered to help her paint tomorrow, so maybe we’ll get lucky and she’ll open up then.”

AJ’s black eyes narrowed. “And what about you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Will you be getting lucky?”

The sudden bite to AJ’s tone was unexpected. Caleb met his partner’s wary gaze head-on. “Come on, AJ, I told you I’m not going to sleep with her.”

“You sure? Because that make-out session looked pretty damn hot. Actually, it looked like you were going to beat your chest a couple of times, throw her over your shoulder and drag her upstairs so you could screw her brains out.”

Caleb’s lips tightened. “I was playing a part. I have no intention of taking her to bed.”

“Uh-huh…”

“For the love of—”

“How long has it been since you got laid?”

Caleb’s eyes flashed. “That has nothing to do with anything.”

“No? I think it has a lot to do with this. Look, I get it. She’s an attractive woman. But don’t—”

“Don’t what?” Caleb cut in. “Forget why I’m here?”

“I’m just asking you to be careful. Grier needs to be behind bars for what he did to Russ. And I can’t have a cute blonde distracting you from catching him if he shows up.”

“She won’t. Trust me, I want Grier as much as you do.” Caleb swallowed. “Russ was the best friend I ever had, damn it. And tomorrow I plan on getting the truth out of Marley. If she knows anything, I’ll find out, okay?”

AJ looked unconvinced. “And if she suddenly rips all her clothes off and begs you to do nasty things to her?”

Caleb swallowed harder, forcing himself not to imagine the ridiculously tempting scenario AJ had just described. “Then I say no,” he maintained. “I’m serious, man. I’m not going to sleep with her.”

“And if she unrolls the yoga mat and starts doing naked pelvic thrusts…”

He gritted his teeth. “I’m not going to sleep with her.”

But oh, how he wanted to.

Not gonna happen, man.

No, he wouldn’t let it happen. The weeklong attraction he’d felt for Marley might have culminated in an explosive kiss, but he was determined not to let it go further.

He just hoped he had the strength.

Scratch that—he prayed he had the strength.

* * *