Coming from a house that never resembled a home, with two shitty parents, didn’t leave much room to believe in lasting love. Ryder and Hadley had Alex questioning that a bit as of late and wondering if she was missing out on something.
A low groan caused her to lift her gaze, and she found Rowan beginning to stir. She reached for her real weapon from the coffee table and shut her laptop. Her legs were crossed beneath her hotel-provided robe. Her body still hummed from the incredible orgasm Rowan had given her, and that was another thing she didn’t feel bad about. Hell, he ruined her vacation. That was the least he could do for her.
She stayed perfectly silent and still, letting him wake up. When he finally came to his senses, his narrowed gray eyes met hers. “That was rude.”
“So is trying to play me.” She grinned.
He closed his eyes a moment and shook his head, obviously clearing the drug from his system. It took another minute for him to look at her again. This time, he stared at her with mild amusement.
She lifted her eyebrows. “Something funny?”
“Funny?” He slowly shook his head again, then said, “I’m just trying to decide if it was brilliant that you got an orgasm before shooting me with the dart, or cold, or downright evil.”
She couldn’t help herself and laughed a little. “Probably a bit of all three, if we’re being honest.”
Beneath his arm bindings, he stretched out his fingers, clearly becoming aware that there wasn’t a chance in hell he was getting out of there, unless he attacked her while he was still bound in the chair.
She shook the gun at him. “Make any move and I hurt you. That’s how this works.”
His gaze flicked to the weapon aimed in his direction before he looked her in the eye again. “What gave me away?”
“You didn’t go through the right channels, and you looked intently at my laptop, and I know this is not just about sex.” She kept herself sharp in case he got stupid. “You’re up to something, and I want to know what it is.”
“Still so fucking clever,” he said, sitting up a little straighter now.
Heat flooded her at the very sight of him. Rowan was gorgeous. All muscle. Pure sex. Totally masculine. And even now, Alex felt the quivers low in her body to move to him and demand more of those incredible kisses he gave to her earlier. Sex with Rowan was better than any drug. In Paris, she never got enough. Even though his dishonesty was simply a harsh reminder that she could never trust a CIA agent, not completely, she had to fight herself from climbing right back on his lap.
Something he clearly knew since intense desire burned in his eyes, darkening the gray like a stormy sky. “You can put the gun away,” he said gently. “You know I won’t hurt you.”
“Yeah, right,” she replied with a loud snort, ignoring those eyes of his. “I make the rules here. You told me tonight that when you heard I’d come into New York, you wanted to see me. Now we both know that’s a lie, so what do you want from me?”
“It’s not a total lie. I definitely wanted to see you again.” His mouth pinched but then relaxed with his heavy sigh. “I also need your help on a case.”
She scoffed. “And you thought this was the way to get it?”
He regarded her for a long moment before his lips thinned. “Total transparency: I thought reconnecting with you first might get you on my side to help me with a case.”
Of all the things she expected him to say, that definitely wasn’t it. “You could have acted like a normal
person and just asked for my help.”
“I wasn’t sure you’d even talk to me,” he stated then shrugged. “Let alone help me. I figured if I reminded you there was a lot of good between us before I left you high and dry in Paris, then you’d be more willing to help me.”
She stared at him for a full minute, her mind racing with a million different thoughts. She finally blinked. “I really hate to break it to you, but I left in Paris.”
He frowned. “No, when you went into the bathroom, I took off.”
She tried to hold it together. She did, but a burst of laughter bubbled up. “Well, when I went into the bathroom, I went out through the window.”
A beat. Then his mouth twitched. “Honestly?”
She nodded. “That conversation we should have had…yeah, I didn’t want to have it.”
“I only agreed to that conversation because I thought you wanted to have it.”
She shook her head. “I only suggested it in the first place because I thought you wouldn’t fuck me again otherwise. But I don’t do relationships. Let alone with a CIA agent.”
Heat blazed in his eyes. “But you’ll fuck me?”