needing him near even though he had hurt her. Because that was love, right? A breakable mix of need and pain?
She certainly
felt
breakable. “There are things I’d rather do with you than listen to you talk, if we’re being honest.”
“You little tease.” Grabbing the back of the chair, he caged her between his arms and leaned in to loom over her. “You think I don’t want to take you, right here, right now, hard and fast and then slow and easy until you forget everything except my name?”
It was nothing like she’d imagined he wanted to say during their first time, when he’d taken her in fraught silence, her own words mumbled and faint as foreign rapture had consumed her senses.
The words coming out of his mouth now were so much filthier. So much
better.
“I—”
“
Vick.
That’s the only thing you’re going to remember when I’m done working that body of yours, Elisabeth Faraday.
Vick.
”
Before she could respond—not that she had a clue as to how—her phone chimed with an incoming text. “You...you need to let me look at that.”
“I need my cock inside you, is what I need.” His teeth scored her bottom lip in a stinging nip, but he straightened nonetheless, giving her space to breathe for the first time in what felt like decades. She rose on unsteady legs, belly quivering with lust he’d planted with his dirty talk, and collected her phone from inside her purse.
Desire drained away at the message.
Open your door. Now.
Of all the arrogant
,
high-handed—
Stalking to the front door, she released the chain and bolts before flinging it open. “Next time, say please.”
Tobias Faraday stepped past her into the apartment, hanging his heavy winter coat on the hook next to hers and dropping the stylish leather overnight bag from his shoulder to the floor with a careful flourish, making her space his own in under five seconds. He didn’t bother to look at her. “You’ve proven more responsive to direct orders than to suggestion over the years. I was merely acting in accordance with past-precedential cues.”
Shutting the door with more force than necessary, Beth glared down at the bolts as she locked them in once more. Snooty bastard.
Topping out at an even six feet, Tobias was all sleek lines and lean strength cloaked in a divinely tailored three-piece suit of charcoal Italian wool. From the top of his perfectly coiffed dark head to the polished toes of his classic wingtips, his appearance screamed,
You can’t begin to afford me.
Part and parcel of being the public face of Faraday Industries, Beth supposed grumpily, but did he have to wear his I-Graduated-Harvard-Law-At-Age-Twenty-One persona so loudly?
Though of course his voice, when he spoke, was coolly modulated. “I’m told your name isn’t Wendell Martin,” he said without preamble, assessing the shirtless, bandaged Vick in one cold sweep.
“It isn’t.” Vick held out a hand. “Raleigh Vick, MI6. Until recently, that is.”
Tobias returned the handshake, unruffled by the change in situation. “I spoke with Casey on the ride here.” Shifting to include Beth in the conversation, he continued, “I’m up to speed, but we have a great deal of work ahead of us in the next eighteen hours. Beginning with clean lines of communication.” Smoothly extracting two slim cell phones from the inside pocket of his suit jacket, Tobias handed one to Vick and one to Beth. Hers was pink, and she hated that she liked it. “The pertinent Faraday numbers have been programmed in, but even though these are untraceable, you need to follow the usual protocols—no calls longer than forty-five seconds, no more texting, no connecting to the internet. I’m your first point-of-contact if anything goes wrong, followed by Casey, followed by Adam.”
“Great.” Sliding the new phone into her purse, Beth slipped into her beloved Louboutins. “You two have fun figuring out how to save my bacon. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to
She certainly
felt
breakable. “There are things I’d rather do with you than listen to you talk, if we’re being honest.”
“You little tease.” Grabbing the back of the chair, he caged her between his arms and leaned in to loom over her. “You think I don’t want to take you, right here, right now, hard and fast and then slow and easy until you forget everything except my name?”
It was nothing like she’d imagined he wanted to say during their first time, when he’d taken her in fraught silence, her own words mumbled and faint as foreign rapture had consumed her senses.
The words coming out of his mouth now were so much filthier. So much
better.
“I—”
“
Vick.
That’s the only thing you’re going to remember when I’m done working that body of yours, Elisabeth Faraday.
Vick.
”
Before she could respond—not that she had a clue as to how—her phone chimed with an incoming text. “You...you need to let me look at that.”
“I need my cock inside you, is what I need.” His teeth scored her bottom lip in a stinging nip, but he straightened nonetheless, giving her space to breathe for the first time in what felt like decades. She rose on unsteady legs, belly quivering with lust he’d planted with his dirty talk, and collected her phone from inside her purse.
Desire drained away at the message.
Open your door. Now.
Of all the arrogant
,
high-handed—
Stalking to the front door, she released the chain and bolts before flinging it open. “Next time, say please.”
Tobias Faraday stepped past her into the apartment, hanging his heavy winter coat on the hook next to hers and dropping the stylish leather overnight bag from his shoulder to the floor with a careful flourish, making her space his own in under five seconds. He didn’t bother to look at her. “You’ve proven more responsive to direct orders than to suggestion over the years. I was merely acting in accordance with past-precedential cues.”
Shutting the door with more force than necessary, Beth glared down at the bolts as she locked them in once more. Snooty bastard.
Topping out at an even six feet, Tobias was all sleek lines and lean strength cloaked in a divinely tailored three-piece suit of charcoal Italian wool. From the top of his perfectly coiffed dark head to the polished toes of his classic wingtips, his appearance screamed,
You can’t begin to afford me.
Part and parcel of being the public face of Faraday Industries, Beth supposed grumpily, but did he have to wear his I-Graduated-Harvard-Law-At-Age-Twenty-One persona so loudly?
Though of course his voice, when he spoke, was coolly modulated. “I’m told your name isn’t Wendell Martin,” he said without preamble, assessing the shirtless, bandaged Vick in one cold sweep.
“It isn’t.” Vick held out a hand. “Raleigh Vick, MI6. Until recently, that is.”
Tobias returned the handshake, unruffled by the change in situation. “I spoke with Casey on the ride here.” Shifting to include Beth in the conversation, he continued, “I’m up to speed, but we have a great deal of work ahead of us in the next eighteen hours. Beginning with clean lines of communication.” Smoothly extracting two slim cell phones from the inside pocket of his suit jacket, Tobias handed one to Vick and one to Beth. Hers was pink, and she hated that she liked it. “The pertinent Faraday numbers have been programmed in, but even though these are untraceable, you need to follow the usual protocols—no calls longer than forty-five seconds, no more texting, no connecting to the internet. I’m your first point-of-contact if anything goes wrong, followed by Casey, followed by Adam.”
“Great.” Sliding the new phone into her purse, Beth slipped into her beloved Louboutins. “You two have fun figuring out how to save my bacon. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to
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