Under Wraps by Joanne Rock Page A

abyss again, her heart galloping wildly as the moment had its way with her. Jake wrapped his arms around her, anchoring her tight to him, and amid the haze of her own release she could feel his pulse through her, too.
    Collapsing on him in a boneless heap, she couldn’t catch her breath for long moments afterward. When she finally became aware of herself again, she realized he’d shifted her to lie beside him on his shirt, his arm tucked beneath her ear like a warm, muscular pillow.
    He was more than a skilled lover. He was a thoughtful, considerate man. A watchful partner who would protect her no matter what. She saw all that clearly now as he came into focus for her.
    He watched her just as closely, his eyes missing nothing, and she wondered what he saw. A strong woman who took her fate in her own hands by traveling to the other end of the country with a stranger for the sake of justice?
    Or a woman who simply needed to lose herself, just like the name of her start-up company suggested?
    She wasn’t certain herself. And for a woman who’d always been so sure of herself, a woman who’d carefully marked out every path she would take so there would be no missed turns, that rattled her almost as much as having an unknown enemy lurking in the shadows.
    The thought reminded her of the discovery she’d made before her tea arrived. “Jake?”
    â€œYou look worried.” He rubbed a finger over her forehead, making her realize she’d had her eyebrows scrunched together. “You aren’t allowed to have any regrets about what just happened.”
    She relaxed against him. With nothing but the fire to light the room as dusk fell, the moon outside illuminated a few snowflakes swirling against the French doors nearby. The aroma of the ginger tea she hadn’t touched mingled with the scent of burning wood.
    â€œI don’t. I’ve known that was bound to happen since you kissed me in the car on the way up here.” She’d also told herself she wouldn’t let it happen, but that had been before she’d experienced the full impact of the man and the Marquis. “I just hope it doesn’t make working together awkward.”
    â€œIt can’t be more tense than it was to start with.” He threaded his fingers through her hair and stroked the strands away from her face. “If anything, maybe this will make the rest of the week more productive now that we’re not so preoccupied all the time.”
    This would make them not preoccupied? She was already thinking about when they’d be together again.
    For that matter, her planner personality wanted to know what would happen to them when they returned to Miami. Would they return to being strangers and write this trip off as an intense getaway where emotions had flared out of control, never to be repeated?
    Would her private investigator walk away from her as easily as the contractor had two months ago?
    She hated not knowing.
    Sensing the moment had come to protect herself fromjust such possibilities she retreated first, pulling a crocheted afghan off a footstool and wrapping it around her naked body.
    â€œActually, now that we’re not preoccupied—” she used his term to show him she could be as easy with this as him “—I should tell you that I spotted an interesting name on the Marquis guest list for last year.”
    â€œSomeone you know?” He tensed, instantly alert, and she half regretted bringing this up now.
    Part of her had been hoping for a more romantic end to their time together.
    â€œNot necessarily. But there was an Alex McMahon here last year and—”
    â€œSounds a lot like Alec Mason.”
    â€œThat’s what I was thinking.”
    He rolled to his side, still naked and amazing looking in the firelight in front of the hearth. He didn’t need tight breeches or any other costume to make him completely mouthwatering.
    â€œI looked into him early on in