The Kriegers had always been more distant, so their defection hadn’t been a surprise. But the Beaulaines, they always stuck together, the old man had once told him, because blood was thicker than water. And blood mattered.
As he sighed, a light knock sounded at the door, soft, hesitant. Emily.
He tossed the duffel bag back into the closet as the door opened and she stepped inside, clad in nothing but a silken robe that couldn’t compete with the feel of her skin.
She tucked a strand of dark auburn hair behind her ear as she stood in the doorway, her expression pensive when she saw he was dressed.
He held back his smile. He could see the emotions riding inside her gaze. Hesitancy, arousal, the need to feel him wrapped around her.
She was still new to this intimacy, to having a man capable of controlling her sensuality, and yet allowing it freedom.
“I was going to catch Reno for an update,” he said softly as he sat on the bed and removed his boots once again. “It seems he’s already left though.”
“I saw Ian going downstairs.” She played with the belt of her robe, her slender fingers tense.
“He was giving me an update.” He set the boots and socks aside. “I would have been back to bed in a few minutes.”
She nodded jerkily. “Is everything okay? With the mission, I mean?”
“Everything’s fine.”
She licked her lips nervously as he rose to his feet and padded toward her.
“It should be over soon?” she asked.
“Soon,” he promised, then ignoring her gasp, he lifted her into his arms, watching as the robe parted over her legs and fell to the side. “Let’s go back to bed. You need your rest.”
Her arms wrapped around his shoulders, though her blue eyes darkened in worry as she stared back at him.
“We need to talk,” she reminded him.
“There’s going to be plenty of time to talk later, chère.” He didn’t bother to try to tame his accent now. He was too busy trying to tame the lust rising inside him. “For now, I need to touch you again. To feel you against me.”
He entered her bedroom, kicking the door closed behind him before locking it. A second later he was laying her back on her bed, staring down at the white robe as her hard little nipples pressed against it, the shadow of the dusky pink color surrounding them barely discernible beneath the material.
He jerked his shirt over his head before his hands went to his jeans, and he discarded those just as quickly.
He was so hard he was hurting. So filled with hunger he felt as though he had never come in his life. His cock was straining out from his body, furious with Kell’s delay in taking her.
A wicked smile curled Emily’s lips as her slender fingers pulled at the belt of her robe, releasing the tie and allowing the panels to fall apart as she rolled to her knees and shed the garment.
Kell felt the breath jerk from his body. Blood pooled hot and thick in his cock and drew his balls tight. She was like Venus rising. Like every sexual dream any man had ever conjured up in the dark lonely hours of the night.
And she belonged to him.
“Come here, chère.” His hands framed her face as she knelt on the bed before they slid into the rich, silken depths of her fiery hair.
Emily stared up at him, drowning in the emerald depths of his gaze, feeling the air thicken with sensuality, with the hunger that rose between them.
She hadn’t expected this. She had never had trouble pushing away her previous bodyguards. They were her father’s goons. She had enough trouble with her protective father; she hadn’t been in a hurry to create more by accepting one of his handpicked son-in-law candidates.
But Kell was different.
For one thing, he was harder. Her hands pressed against his chest, smoothed over the flexing muscles as his lips covered hers. He was stronger, more forceful; the very aura of confidence and competence that surrounded him drew her. His air of dominance and sexuality was in harmony with her own sensual desires, which threatened to burn her each time he touched her.
As he was doing now. His lips moving over hers, parting them to dip his tongue in playfully before pulling back and drawing her lower lip between his and sucking lightly, sexually.
His hands moved up her back, then down. Gripped her hips and pulled her closer, cushioning his erection against her belly.