completed.
The experience hadn’t been worth a repeat, so she’d decided to block the emptiness. It was better to feel nothing than to feel too much. And maybe she was one of those people who weren’t meant to love or be loved. And relationships required trust. She wasn’t sure she had the capability to trust anyone. She had no desire to get caught up in a game of mistrust and untruths, and the best way to avoid that problem was to not put herself in the situation.
Cal’s betrayal—or what she’d seen as his betrayal—had devastated her. He’d thought he’d been doing to the right thing. And he had been, the best way he knew how. He’d treated her like a child when she’d wanted him to see her as a woman. As his equal. His mate.
Now all of a sudden, ten years later, those same sexual urges that had formed when she was young were back in full force. She didn’t like the fact that her body didn’t seem to care that she didn’t trust him. The body and the mind didn’t always agree, and this time the urges of her body were stronger than her mind. She wanted him. And she’d learned to separate her emotions before. She could take what she wanted to satisfy her body and walk away with her whole heart.
“Looks like you got a little sun today,” he said, looking over from his screen.
Heat rushed to her cheeks and she took another long drink of water. After their little makeout session on the kitchen island she’d had to give herself relief somehow. She’d been so hot she thought she’d combust. All she could think about was escaping so she could finish off what he’d started. Thank God he hadn’t found her a few minutes earlier. She’d had to scramble to get her bathing suit on and get covered up before his head peaked over the outcropping of rocks where she’d been sunbathing.
And then he’d proceeded to read her the riot act for leaving the house without telling him when he’d given her explicit instructions. That had pretty much dumped a bucket of cold water over all the lingering tingles running through her body.
She hadn’t been taking the threat seriously. She’d thought for sure whoever was after her would lose interest once they saw how well protected she was and who her father was. A person would have to be crazy to walk straight into the Lion’s Den. Crazy or a professional. Lucky her.
Once Cal had put the fear of God into her and filled her in on Victor Taber, she’d retreated back to the house and closed herself off in the library to read for the rest of the day. She could already tell she wasn’t going to be good at taking a vacation. It hadn’t even been twenty-hours into her confinement and already she was bored.
She wondered when Cal had become so straight-laced. The Cal she knew and remembered had pretty much said to hell with the rules and gone his own way. He’d been wild as the wind growing up and into adulthood. He’d had no fear and a balls to the wall attitude when it came to anything. And he probably wasn’t the best influence on an impressionable young girl. But she’d been drawn to his wildness. Because she saw the same thing in herself.
Maybe things had changed after his wife had been killed. He’d still been with the CIA, and from what her father had told her, Julie had just been at the wrong place at the wrong time. There was nothing Cal could’ve done to stop it.
“Are you going to hide behind that water bottle all night or do you want to come see what I’m doing?”
“I believe me standing over there violates my probation.”
“Suit yourself,” he said. “I can fill you in on what I’ve found. It was actually pretty simple, though the Pentagon has changed some of their security since the last time I was in there.”
She wanted to tell him she knew, but pressed her lips together tighter.
“Senator Biddle and the Defense committee were taking bids from government contractors for a new missile. It would appear on the surface to be business as
The experience hadn’t been worth a repeat, so she’d decided to block the emptiness. It was better to feel nothing than to feel too much. And maybe she was one of those people who weren’t meant to love or be loved. And relationships required trust. She wasn’t sure she had the capability to trust anyone. She had no desire to get caught up in a game of mistrust and untruths, and the best way to avoid that problem was to not put herself in the situation.
Cal’s betrayal—or what she’d seen as his betrayal—had devastated her. He’d thought he’d been doing to the right thing. And he had been, the best way he knew how. He’d treated her like a child when she’d wanted him to see her as a woman. As his equal. His mate.
Now all of a sudden, ten years later, those same sexual urges that had formed when she was young were back in full force. She didn’t like the fact that her body didn’t seem to care that she didn’t trust him. The body and the mind didn’t always agree, and this time the urges of her body were stronger than her mind. She wanted him. And she’d learned to separate her emotions before. She could take what she wanted to satisfy her body and walk away with her whole heart.
“Looks like you got a little sun today,” he said, looking over from his screen.
Heat rushed to her cheeks and she took another long drink of water. After their little makeout session on the kitchen island she’d had to give herself relief somehow. She’d been so hot she thought she’d combust. All she could think about was escaping so she could finish off what he’d started. Thank God he hadn’t found her a few minutes earlier. She’d had to scramble to get her bathing suit on and get covered up before his head peaked over the outcropping of rocks where she’d been sunbathing.
And then he’d proceeded to read her the riot act for leaving the house without telling him when he’d given her explicit instructions. That had pretty much dumped a bucket of cold water over all the lingering tingles running through her body.
She hadn’t been taking the threat seriously. She’d thought for sure whoever was after her would lose interest once they saw how well protected she was and who her father was. A person would have to be crazy to walk straight into the Lion’s Den. Crazy or a professional. Lucky her.
Once Cal had put the fear of God into her and filled her in on Victor Taber, she’d retreated back to the house and closed herself off in the library to read for the rest of the day. She could already tell she wasn’t going to be good at taking a vacation. It hadn’t even been twenty-hours into her confinement and already she was bored.
She wondered when Cal had become so straight-laced. The Cal she knew and remembered had pretty much said to hell with the rules and gone his own way. He’d been wild as the wind growing up and into adulthood. He’d had no fear and a balls to the wall attitude when it came to anything. And he probably wasn’t the best influence on an impressionable young girl. But she’d been drawn to his wildness. Because she saw the same thing in herself.
Maybe things had changed after his wife had been killed. He’d still been with the CIA, and from what her father had told her, Julie had just been at the wrong place at the wrong time. There was nothing Cal could’ve done to stop it.
“Are you going to hide behind that water bottle all night or do you want to come see what I’m doing?”
“I believe me standing over there violates my probation.”
“Suit yourself,” he said. “I can fill you in on what I’ve found. It was actually pretty simple, though the Pentagon has changed some of their security since the last time I was in there.”
She wanted to tell him she knew, but pressed her lips together tighter.
“Senator Biddle and the Defense committee were taking bids from government contractors for a new missile. It would appear on the surface to be business as
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