She smacked Jake.
Jake grunted. “Hey, good for him, I mean. I heard what you said. But Aaron isn’t the easiest guy to get to know. I don’t think he’s quite as…friendly as the rest of us.”
The hell I’m not.
“Do you mean horny, Jake?”
“I’m sure he’s plenty horny. But Aaron’s on the shy side. He doesn’t make friends easily. Jumping into bed with a girl wasn’t something he did as a teen, and then given his career path… It makes sense that he’s not eager to mount up and ride.”
She smacked him again and Jake laughed.
Aaron wanted to snort.
Thank you, Paul, for ruining my virgin experience and sex in general by setting me up on the date from hell and then some
.
His past hadn’t mattered when he was on the religious path because sex wasn’t an option. It mattered plenty, now. Women were scary. All women but Charlotte, and she should have been terrifying as hell.
“My point is, if he’s interested in you and you’re interested in him…”
“What?” She sounded alarmed. “Are you telling me what I think you’re telling me? Because if that’s what you’re telling me, I think I need to be on a plane.”
No!
She couldn’t go, not if Jake was insinuating she should be
friendly
with him. His dick had already assumed friendly in the most extreme sense—friends with benefits.
“If he’s hot for you, just a little, the whole girlfriend angle will go off better. So I’m not saying you should
do
him, but…”
“Christ on a motorbike! You want me to fuck your brother? Really? Even though I just told you I couldn’t afford to be involved like that?”
Yes!
“Charlotte, listen—”
“
You
listen, Anderson. I am your partner and team mate. I’ve had a shitty life, and why I find him attractive, I have no clue. I shouldn’t find anyone attractive at this point, because that leads to no good. But if you think I’m going to just lie down, spread my legs, and let him do whatever while I recite the rosary, you’re sorely mistaken.”
Jake sighed. “Do you even know the rosary, Charlotte?”
“No.”
“I don’t think you need to worry about it then.” He paused a breath. “He’s an Anderson. I doubt you’d want to just
lie
there…”
“Jake!” She blew out a breath, obviously annoyed. “I can’t have a relationship. You know why. And I don’t want a fling.”
Aaron wanted a fling. With Charlotte. Big time.
“I want you to be happy, though, Char. I want him to be happy.”
“You think everyone should be happy now that you’re a reformed man whore. Free, monogamous love to the world. Yay.”
“I was all about free love before I reformed. You remember that. The more sex, the better. And don’t take this the wrong way, but you need to get laid. Big time, because you are one uptight chick.”
“I am
not
uptight.” She snorted. “And you’re still giving me permission to fuck your brother, and it’s wrong.”
“God help me, because Chase would have my balls for saying this to you on a work assignment, but yes, that’s what I’m doing. Go fuck him senseless. Use lots of condoms. It’s only wrong if you make it that way. I want both of you to be happy, and if it means a hot fling to get the ball rolling in either court of the romance game, so be it. You have to be his girlfriend for a few days, and what’s more believable than if you’ve already made yourself at home in his bed?”
“You’re crazy,” Charlotte whispered. “You told him to stay away, yet you’re telling me to go fuck him?”
“Despite my better judgment, I put the ball in your court. Just try not to hurt him, okay?”
“I don’t think you need to worry about me hurting him. He sounds like he’s already hurting.”
“Yeah,” Jake agreed. “I’m not sure what pissed him off, but cut him some slack. It’s not every day you learn your big brother is a spy and sleeping with a married woman has now gotten you into a huge load of shit.”
“He has baggage,” she murmured.
Aaron didn’t know whether to be scared as hell or relieved that she knew about some of his baggage. But if she understood…maybe he wouldn’t be so pissed at the world.
“Don’t we all have skeletons? You have more, though, if you want to get competitive and weigh in.”
“Thank you for not telling him.” She sniffed, and the soft noise wrenched at Aaron’s heart. So not what he expected to hear from Danger Girl.
“It’s not my baggage to share, sweetheart. If you want to share, go right ahead. Or tell him nothing. Whatever you want.”
She sighed, and it still sounded way, way too sad for his tastes. “Let’s get some sleep.”
“You sure you want to?”
She smacked him, and Jake yelped. “I’m not seducing your brother at all, definitely not while you sit and listen.”
“You know I like that.”
She smacked Jake harder, and Aaron grinned in the darkness. “Not happening. It was a kiss. I was foolish. Just leave it.”
The two sat quietly, listening to the neighbor’s annoying ankle-biter yip at something in the night. Jake finally said, “I bet you two bucks that dog has a skunk cornered.”
“Do they have skunks here? Whatever. The dog is just a bloody pisser.”
“Resisting the urge to dress it in little clothes, Ginger?”
“It’s all about the little clothes, but it yips. You know I would shoot it.”
They sat longer, listening, Jake’s arm still around Charlotte.
Aaron started to rip apart the roles Jake wanted from them, because character analysis was what he did best. The ball was in her court, and Jake had done that for a reason. Why? Baggage, he’d said. Probably so Charlotte would feel in control, too. So how did Aaron get the ball from her?
He grinned with an answer. He’d coached a hell of a lot of underprivileged kids at basketball while in the seminary. When a player who didn’t want the ball suddenly had it, they usually chucked it wildly, just to get rid of it. Charlotte
did not
want the ball. So Aaron just had to make Charlotte freak and chuck the ball at him. Then it would be his game.
He wanted that. Wanted her. He’d never needed anything so much since discovering the church was no longer his calling. For the first time in ages, he felt alive, despite his brush with being held hostage. Or maybe because of it—who knew? But if she had the green light, then he had to convince her she wanted him, too.
The dog yelped, and the scent of skunk followed moments later. “Fuck,” Charlotte said, her voice full of grimace and wrinkled nose. “Did you miss a window?”
“You owe me, sweetheart. Two bucks toward a latte.”
“You and your lattes.”
Jake rose, the sofa creaking. He shut the open window in the kitchen, set the alarm system, and shuffled back to the couch. “Night, sweetheart.” He kissed her.
Hopefully the cheek, fucker.
Aaron tucked himself around the corner into his bedroom and waited for Jake to amble to the back bedroom. His door closed. The couch creaked again and softer footsteps fell. Charlotte rounded the corner and Aaron stepped out of his room.
“Oh,” she said on a breath, almost colliding into his chest. “Sorry.”
“Are you?”
She shifted, back stiff, glaring. “Out of the way, Anderson.”
“Do you really want me to move away?” He angled himself in the hallway so she couldn’t pass, inching closer until he could feel the heat from her lean body. “Or do you want me to move closer?”
Her breath hitched and the glare faded. It was like watching a snowwoman melt in a Texas heat wave. She licked her lips, her gaze darting from his chest to his mouth, those eyes widening and darkening with lust. That odd current of electricity flowed between them and she sucked in a breath. If he didn’t know her for what she was—a spy—he’d swear she was sixteen and innocent as all hell.
That look meant she had chucked the ball, wildly, right to him.
Heart pounding with the victory, he wracked his brain a moment. As much as he was an Anderson, he had no clue of what to say. Movie script lines might work. They’d made his movie heroine hot. “Come kiss me. I want to taste you again.”
She flinched and in the light of the hallway the wide-eyed look faded to frosty cold. “I bet you do, baby cowboy.”
Well, fuck. That’s not how the heroine had reacted. Aaron pursed his lips and dug deeper into the script. “I want to make love to you until the sun rises and you die a thousand deaths under my touch.”
“Jesus, Aaron. What script did you get that from?” A smile played at her lips.
He blinked. Those were lines from the medieval romance he’d just filmed. “Is it that obvious?”
“Yes.”
He ran a hand through his hair and went with the truth for a change. “I’m nervous and you excite the living hell out of me. I’m not going to lie and say I’m as experienced as Jake. I know very little about lovemaking or seduction, but I sense we have good chemistry together. So maybe…we should use the time while you’re here to explore our mutual attraction.”
She tipped her head to the side, assessing him. Then she smiled so brilliantly his cock set to aching again. “That was much better.”
“Well?”
She weighed the decision in her mind. Or maybe she weighed their baggage. Whatever it was, she shook her head. “I’m not going to sleep with you, Aaron. Attraction or no. I’m sorry.” She touched his lips with her fingertips, a soft caress, and he wanted to suck them into his mouth. “Okay?”
And with that, she snatched the proverbial ball from his hands and chucked it wildly, down court, away. Far away.
“Okay. Good night.” He stepped aside, and she went down the hall to the bathroom. He entered his room and shut the door. He thought for a moment, then fired up the laptop. Time to surf the web for ball handling techniques.
He wasn’t sorry in the least. He wanted her. She wanted him. And it sounded like their baggage needed a bit of fun and vacation time. Already a plan formulated in his mind. A different one, not from a script, but one that would play out just as nicely.
Chapter Three
“Charlotte!”
A large hand shook her, and she bolted upright. She fumbled for her gun and came up empty, ashamed it had taken so much to wake her. She never slept that hard. But she’d flown from England, to D.C., and then to California in less than twenty-four hours. She was exhausted, and Jake knew that.
Jake wasn’t shaking her, though. Aaron’s hand clutched her shoulder as he loomed over her, looking considerably concerned. She stared at his bare chest, her tummy melting like chocolate over a flame. He was gently tan, the lean muscles defined but not bulky, and he must have waxed for his last movie because he was as bare as a male model.
Desire swirled in the pit of her stomach, seeping outward, connecting with areas she really didn’t want reacting. She clamped her thighs together, quelling the ache in her core. Thank God she had on a sweatshirt or he’d see her nipples rock hard and begging for his attention.
“Charlotte?”
“What?” she snapped and winced. Way too much heat that had nothing to do with her anger.
“I heard a noise.”
Her spy senses went on full alert, stifling desire. “Where? Did you wake Jake?”
“No, it’s in my room. Will you check?”
She grabbed her gun from the coffee table, a little less anxious as she rose. The sensors would have gone off if his room had been breached. “Afraid of monsters in the closet, baby cowboy?”
“No, I’m afraid of muggers and hostage takers in the closet.”
“Bloody hell.” How he could go from pissy to ’fraidy cat in no time flat, she had no clue. She entered his room, gun pulled. “Where did you hear a noise?”
“The closet.”
She stalked over, flicked on the light, and opened the door, ready for action. It was huge, filled with clothes top to bottom, bigger than her university dorm when she was a girl. She cleared the area, checking each space. The door clicked closed behind her. Then the light went out, and she sucked in a breath. “Aaron? You okay?”
“I’m right here.”
She turned and collided with six-one of hard man. He smelled suspiciously of fresh toothpaste instead of beer, and that bare chest was hot and welcoming against her sweatshirt. “You did this on purpose?”
“No! The door closed behind me, and the light went out. I think they’re outside. We should wait here.” He wrapped his arms around her. “I’ll protect you.”
She wanted to snort. As if he could protect her. She had skills that would make a ninja cry with fear. He had…well, six weeks with a piss poor trainer.
And he was a liar. Only she hoped his pants weren’t on fire. She needed his pants to stay on or she’d come undone. Being in his arms felt a hell of a lot better than she thought it would.
Time to call his bluff.
“I have my cell phone. I’m calling Jake.” She whipped it out of the pocket of her sweatshirt, and the display lit up Aaron’s face.
He sighed and rolled his eyes. “Don’t. I lied. There’s no one here.”
“You did this? To get me alone?” She let the display die out, and the room darkened.
“Yes,” he admitted. “I’m not sorry, though. So don’t think I’m going to apologize and let you walk away. Not this time.”
She should be pissed. She should kick his ass and teach him what his brothers obviously failed to teach him. But instead, she found herself horny as hell. Jake’s permission echoed in her ears, and the part of her that had been dead for so long wanted to know why she couldn’t just enjoy this for a change? She deserved to feel, deserved to be happy, even if it was absolutely, totally wrong.
Wrong was proving to be way fun.
Aaron’s hands found her hips, and he tugged her flush against his hard…everything. So hard. Chest, belly, thighs, cock, all like heated rock and pressed against her. Every molecule in her body went on high alert, tuning in to his energy. His mouth found her neck and then that ticklish spot under her ear.
“One of the fun games I played as a teen was five minutes in the closet,” he murmured against her skin.
Somehow, this was not how she pictured Aaron spending his formative teen years. “I thought you were on track to be a priest from birth.”
“Nope. Not until after sixteen.” He nipped her ear lobe. “I did lots and lots of making out before that, though.”