Surrender to Temptation (Agent Lovers Series Book 1) (18 page)

That has to be it.
Liz flopped down next to Jennifer on the mattress and tucked her legs underneath her. Obviously Gray didn’t have the SFSU-IV classification, as she’d assumed all along, but rather classification V. If not, he wouldn’t have these bracelets. Not only was he an intelligence service instructor, a director of military deployments and a successful businessman, apparently he was also one of Townsend’s closest colleagues.

She shrugged off the fact that Gray wasn’t who she thought he was. That knowledge didn’t help her, so there was no point in pursuing those thoughts any further. It was completely irrelevant how he’d gotten the monitoring bracelets; the point was that he had them. She fell back on the bed and covered her eyes with one of her arms. “How did we get into such a stupid situation?” she groaned, wallowing in self-pity.

“Is that a real question? We trashed his car.”

“So what? I said I’d pay for the repairs. I even left my credit card for him last night, so there’s no reason for Gray to be upset. What I don’t understand is why we have to move into their rooms. These silly bracelets are enough to keep us on a short leash.”

“Come on, Liz!” Jennifer slapped her forehead with the flat of her hand, closed her eyes and shook her head. “Don’t you get it? We talked about this yesterday before the incident in the pool. They don’t just want us in their rooms, they want us in their beds, and as quickly as possible! That’s what they’ve wanted the whole time. Our little adventure just gave them the justification for what they’re doing now.”

“And you’ve got a problem with that?”

“Of course I’ve got a problem with that! If I wanted to jump into bed with anyone who was in the mood, I’d have picked a different job! Look, I like him, yes. That’s why I don’t want to spread my legs here. Anyway, what’s going to happen now? A foursome?”

“Come on, give me a break!”

“Whatever. I need to stop worrying that at the end of the day, Chris is going to want more from me that I am willing to give, or that I’m in a position to give. I have a pretty good idea what kind of problems we’ll encounter if we keep playing this little game, and you do too. Isn’t that why we destroyed Gray’s Mercedes? Well, that and their patronizing attitude. That just makes everything worse.”

“You’re right. So what do we do now? Sleep on the carpet so that we don’t have to lie in the same beds with them?”

“That’s not going to help. The attraction is too powerful. Let’s face it: you aren’t exactly averse to Gray, and I’m not turned off by Chris. And they feel the same way about us. I’m the only one who’s got a problem with all this! The bad thing is that we can’t just shoot them down like our other ex-lovers when it’s all over.”

“Shoot down?” Liz had to laugh at her friend’s choice of words. An unfortunate expression, given their line of work. “My ex-lovers are all still alive, thank you very much. At least, as far as I know.”

Jennifer rolled her eyes and shook her head. With a sigh that seemed to come from someplace deep within, she fell backwards onto the bed and rubbed her face with her palms. “What do we do now?” she murmured desperately through her fingers. “There has to be some way to avoid certain disaster, doesn’t there?”

Liz leaned over her friend, pried one hand from her face and looked into the green eye she’d exposed. “Don’t be so dramatic. Disaster?” She shook her head and gave Jennifer an indulgent smile. “What are you so worried about? If they haven’t figured the situation out for themselves yet, maybe we should just come right out and tell them that sex without any commitment is the only thing we’ll consider. That way we can head off any problems and just have some extra fun. If they agree, then we’re all set, right?”

“I’m definitely in the wrong line of work.” Jennifer laughed. “Seriously, though, we’re dealing with the kind of men who are used to getting their way. Of course they’ll be interested! They’d be idiots if they weren’t. But that doesn’t mean they’ll stop wherever we draw the line.”

“Don’t be such a pessimist. We’ll take off as soon as the doctor certifies that we’ve made a full recovery, and there’s nothing they can do about that. Things couldn’t last much longer than that, anyway.” Liz gave her friend an encouraging smile. “It looks like we’ll have to admit defeat, at least for the time being.”

“True.” Jennifer sighed and nodded. “Why am I worrying so much about this? Let’s just enjoy it for as long as it lasts and then…goodbye!” But she didn’t look at all convinced.

“All right, then! Then that settles it.” Liz sat up and gave her a smug grin, feeling like her old self again. “Want to go swimming?”

“You want to tease Gray even more?” Jennifer grinned, too.

“Why not? Since I’m going to sleep with him tonight anyway, I might as well egg him on a little. Women do that with men, you know.”

“I know that! Chris doesn’t need any egging on, though. But I suppose making him suffer will do my bruised ego some good.” Laughing, Jennifer walked out of Liz’s new room and went to change into her bathing suit. For just the first time since they arrived at Gray’s house, instead of keeping out of the men’s way, they were going to go looking for them.

***

“It sounds like they’re laughing again.” Chris chuckled and looked at his friend, who was leaning against the kitchen countertop. “They must have resigned themselves to their fate.”

Gray nodded and poured him another cup of coffee. He stared at the gleaming white tile beneath his feet as he listened to Liz’s effervescent laughter, thoroughly enjoying the feelings it aroused in him.

Her voice alone was enough to make his insides quiver, and his reaction to her was even stronger when she was close to him. This woman drove him crazy, turned his emotions upside down, and unleashed in him a longing that he hadn’t known was slumbering within him.

Gray could hardly remember how he’d spent his days before Liz showed up. Ever since they’d met, a thought had been forming that he couldn’t shake: Suddenly, he realized that he didn’t want to be alone anymore. He wanted to share his life with someone. He wondered if he’d been unconsciously looking for a woman with whom he could have a committed relationship. Since he’d met Liz he had been plagued with the thought that, whether he’d been unconsciously searching or not, it was now time for him to start his own family. The fact that she was the one who’d triggered this longing meant that his feelings for her ran deep, he realized with razor-sharp understanding. His behavior following her idiotic race told him that Liz meant a great deal to him. He would have shown the door to anyone else, man or woman—and delivered a swift kick to the behind, to boot. In Liz’s case, though, it was her disappearance he’d found most upsetting. If Furball hadn’t awakened him with his plaintive wails to get out of the room, Gray wouldn’t have even noticed her absence.

As a matter of routine, he’d looked in on the women and had immediately grown wide awake at the sight of their vacant beds. When he’d finally found Liz’s credit card in the kitchen where his Mercedes keys had been, he’d felt a sense of foreboding. But he hadn’t imagined that his car would look like it had been rammed by a train when he finally found them.

When he and Chris had reached the bar’s parking lot, he’d been shocked at the sight of his demolished car. His immediate thought was that Liz and Jennifer had been in an accident, and he was overcome with worry. Was Liz OK? Where was she now? Every possible question assaulted his mind as he and Chris hurried across the parking lot to the bar. Then he heard Liz’s bright laughter through the open window and his concern turned first to astonishment, and then rage. Gray felt like a fool.

It was so hard to believe his car was totaled, he almost didn’t trust his eyes. The damages were substantial, but they wouldn’t ruin him financially. Gray was mostly furious at himself for feeling so confident about Liz after their intoxicating kiss in the pool. He hadn’t expected any more crazy stunts; in fact, he’d felt sure Liz wouldn’t resist him any longer. A mistake he wouldn’t make again!

Gray lifted his head and noticed Chris looking at him with an inscrutable expression, as if he had recently turned a problem over in his mind and was just waiting to get Gray’s attention so they could talk about it. Just as Chris opened his mouth to speak, Liz and Jennifer appeared in the kitchen. As Gray turned toward them, his breathing faltered.

They were again wearing their bikinis that revealed more than they hid. But something had definitely changed. Their expressions were relaxed and cheerful, and for once the cheerfulness didn’t disappear from their faces when they became aware of Gray and Chris’s presence. Their dislike of the men, which was usually written all over their faces, had completely disappeared.

Liz walked right up to Gray and held out the wrist that was encircled by the monitoring bracelet. She inclined her head slightly, gave him a brilliant smile that made his heart beat faster, and asked innocently, “Are these things waterproof?”

Gray merely nodded because he didn’t trust his own voice. He gaped at her as she sauntered over to the refrigerator, swaying her hips. “Because I’d be only too happy to pee on it if that would short-circuit it.” She winked at him and opened the refrigerator door. “Jen, do you want a Coke?”

Jennifer laid a hand provocatively on her breast, sighed dramatically and threw Chris with a suggestive smile.

“I’d love one. I
need
one, because it feels like I’m about to shrivel up.”

Liz took two cans out of the fridge and handed one to Jennifer. Then she gave her friend a thoughtful look. “Yes, I know the feeling. By the way, how’s your rash? A miserable situation. Did the ointment you were given help? My ex, Sven, had that too, back when he was with René. He said the ointment was a lifesaver.”

“Er, yeah,” Jennifer spluttered. “It helped a lot actually! Um…and water is good for it too. So when I get into the pool later, that should soothe it a lot.”

They each gave the men one last seductive smile and then walked out into the backyard, swaying their hips.

It was several seconds before the men could react. His eyes wide with disbelief, Chris looked at Gray and shut his mouth, which had dropped open during the titillating scene that had just played out. He swallowed hard. “Did I just dream that or are they trying to turn us on?”

“
Trying…?
I don’t know about you, but worked pretty well on me!” Gray leaned to the side and peered past the huge sun umbrella that was in front of the patio door, blocking his view. From the lounge chair where she’d just spread out her towel, Liz gave no indication that she’d noticed the hungry eyes watching her.

Standing next to him, Chris took up the same ridiculous stance and threw a fervent glance at Jennifer, who was standing with one hand on her hip, next to her friend. They stood with their backs to the men.

“Gray?”

“Hm?” Both men stared out through the large double glass door.

“Do you believe that bit about the rash?”

“Not for a second.”

“My knees are like jelly. If Jennifer keeps this up, I won’t be able to control myself much longer.”

“I’m feeling the same toward Liz.”

“Should we accept their invitation?”

Gray tore his eyes away from Liz, straightened up, and threw his friend a look of disbelief. “How can you even ask? We’d have to be stupid not to!” Slowly they walked toward the seductive sirens who had cast their nets over them, both feeling more than willing to be caught by them. Just before they reached the patio door, they noticed that they still held their coffee cups in their hands. They were just about to take their cups back to the kitchen when they heard Jennifer say from outside, “I’m going to pop upstairs. I forgot my sunglasses. I’ll be right back.”

“Take your time,” Liz said. “I’m going for a swim.”

Jennifer walked in the door. When she saw the men with their coffee cups, she gave them a bewitching smile, then hurried past them, up the stairs and out of sight.

“You’ll excuse me?” Without waiting for an answer, Chris quickly followed Jennifer up the stairs.

Moving at a more leisurely pace, Gray strolled into the backyard and watched for a while as Liz swam her laps. He walked closer until he stood at the edge of the pool, patiently waiting with arms crossed for her to notice him. When she finally did, and when she responded by swimming up to him, a pleasant shudder ran down Gray’s body. He wanted her just like that: open, inviting and not opposed to him.

“Are you coming in? The water’s perfect!” She propped herself up with her elbows on the edge of the pool and looked up at him.

“Why don’t you come out?” Gray squatted down so that she didn’t have to tip her head back so far to look him in his face. Playfully he ran the tips of his fingers up her arm and gave her a meaningful smile. “There are other ways besides swimming to spend your excess energy.”

“Really?” Her smile deepened into a broad grin.

“Yes.”

“What could those be? Will you tell me?”

“Why don’t I show you instead?” He held out his hand in invitation, and Liz grabbed it and let him pull her out of the water. Slipping on the wet tile, she grabbed Gray for support and dug her fingers into the dark blue material of his shirt. Instinctively he tried to tighten his hold on her, but lost his footing when she pulled on him and was thrown off his feet. They landed in the pool together with a splash. When they resurfaced, Gray shook the water out of his hair and gave her a suspicious look with his dark eyebrows raised. “Was that intentional?”

“No. Not deliberate.” Liz bridged the short distance between them and flung her arms around his neck. “But this is.” She pressed her lips to his.

Moaning, Gray returned her passionate kiss and pulled her body closer with one arm—close enough for her to feel his arousal through the material of his pants.

Liz’s kiss shook Gray so much, if they hadn’t been in the middle of the pool with the water flowing around them, he might have sworn that the earth moved. The feel of her soft lips on his, and the way their tongues played as they circled one another, drove him nearly to distraction. Gray wanted Liz completely, right now, and he could tell that she wanted him as desperately as he wanted her. The time for games was over for him the minute Liz’s mouth touched his, promising him heaven on earth.