Special Forces Seduction Read online

  “I’m not suggesting you take up a post as a politician. I’m saying you could speak to your family.”

  Finn adjusted the air conditioner, dropping the temperature inside the car. “They’d try to suck me into that world. A veteran for a son makes a compelling line item on my father’s résumé and he’d like to trot me out to certain factions to win their favor. I won’t give him that satisfaction.”

  The venom in his voice spoke to a deep-seated hurt. “You think any part of his life, even having a family of your own, means sucking you back in?”

  Finn said nothing. He stared straight ahead. “My father wasn’t there for me or my mom. If I had a family, I wouldn’t treat them that way.”

  Hyde heard something different in his words. He could have been speaking hypothetically or generally, but he had stated that he would be a different husband and father if in that position. Was it a sign he had relented on his earlier statements about not ever having a family? Her desperation to keep him in her life made her grasp at straws.

  “There’s a reason I don’t like to talk about this. I don’t want to overthink it. I don’t want that life and I won’t let anyone force it on me,” Finn said.

  The last comment was directed at her. Hyde fell silent. The air in the car was suddenly frosty. She had made a mental leap, dissecting every word Finn spoke. But he had said it before and he was saying it again. He was a spy for life.

  * * *

  The dresses the West Company had sent for Hyde to wear were long enough to be decent and cover her completely, but in them, she felt like a celebrity. For tonight’s jaunt, she picked a deep purple strapless dress that fell midthigh. She was impressed by the designer label on the dress. Her heels took a bit to get used to, but after finding her stride, Hyde felt confident she could look natural, like she wore five-inch heels everywhere she went.

  Finn was still grumpy about their conversation regarding his family. She had dug too deep. They should appear in public as a happy couple. Seeming at odds might make their contacts uncomfortable and, therefore, wary of working with them.

  Hyde grabbed Finn’s hand and spun toward him. He looked drop-dead sexy in a black suit, white shirt, open collar. Like hers, his clothing was designer label, modern and fit well. “Try to relax,” she said.

  Finn slipped his arm around her waist. “I am relaxed.”

  His tone was light, but his body was tense, the arm around her tight.

  “It doesn’t seem that way,” Hyde said. “Is your shoulder bothering you?”

  He shook his head but touched the injury. The slight narrowing of his eyes indicated he was in pain.

  “Are you worried about meeting Barnett’s partners? I read the file from the West Company. We can do this.” Part of Barnett’s business plan was to keep his new drug flowing through the most popular clubs in the region, using word of mouth to spread the drug’s popularity and increase demand.

  Finn shook his head. “I’m not worried about the meeting. I expect Barnett to stab me in the back and I’m prepared for it. It’s you. You’re worrying me.”

  Hyde dropped her hands. “Me? What am I doing?” Her defensiveness rose. Despite her monthslong hiatus, she had been solid on this mission.

  Finn ran his hand through his hair. “You’ve changed. You’re asking me questions. It was never like that between us. You just accepted who I was.”

  Hyde straightened. “I accept who you are.”

  “You’re trying to change me. Just because you’ve changed doesn’t mean I will.”

  Hyde stepped away from Finn. She had thought she’d hidden her conflicted feelings well, but her questions were enough to let Finn know that everything was not good. “I’ll stop pressing you. I’m sorry.”

  “We need to leave soon. We’re expected at Illumination.”

  After ten minutes of stilted conversation on the drive to Illumination, they valet-parked. Finn was high confidence, arrogant swagger, devil-may-care attitude in a hot package.

  Entering the club through the front door, they skipped the line that wrapped around the block. The bouncer nodded at them, and a hostess escorted them to a small, two-person, glass-top table with a great view of the dance floor.

  “This table costs twenty-five thousand for the night?” Hyde asked.

  “That’s the going rate.”

  Hyde had never been to a nightclub outside her operations. The women around her were standing as if posing for a picture, and Hyde mimicked their posture. Shoulders back, chin up, ankles crossed and a hand on her hip.

  “That’s a terrific dress,” Finn said.

  Hyde smoothed the fabric. “Are you making fun of me? This isn’t my usual style.” Kicking and running in the dress would be difficult.

  “Not making fun. I’ve been thinking it since you put it on.” He was initiating a truce, trying to put their relationship on solid ground. Arguing about his family and the future was getting them nowhere fast.

  “You look handsome tonight, too,” Hyde said.

  She and Finn’s gazes caught and held. Some of the awkwardness between them disappeared. Finn reached to the side of her face and ran his fingers along her jawline.

  He opened his mouth to speak and with a glance over her shoulder, snapped it closed.

  Hyde turned slowly. A man approached, all smiles, slicked-back dark hair and carrying a drink in his hand. His suit was tight and his shoes too shiny. The first three buttons of his dress shirt were open. This was Finn’s contact Damien Winslow, appearing far more polished in his club than the police booking pictures from the file the West Company had provided. Winslow had served time in a federal penitentiary following drug charges. Based on his connection to Barnett, he had returned to the same line of work that had gotten him in trouble years before.

  The men greeted each other with a handshake and sized each other up. Hyde looked around, pretending to be fascinated by the people in the club. This was Barnett’s test market. The drug could be making the rounds tonight.

  Winslow gestured for a waitress to bring them drinks. Finn and Winslow exchanged pleasantries until their cocktails appeared. Hyde lifted her glass to her mouth and pretended to sip.

  Finn pushed his cup a few inches away from him. “Not while I’m working.” Finn leaned close to her. “We have some business to discuss. Why don’t you go have fun? I’ll join you shortly.”

  Hyde smiled and nodded but wondered if she should have insisted on staying with Finn. She was his backup and depending where she went in the club, she might be out of eyeshot of him. Hiding her annoyance that he had asked her to leave, she sauntered away. She felt eyes on her and unease danced down her spine. She turned to see Finn and Winslow watching her.

  Hyde circulated through the club, looking at the dancers, watching the young, happy faces as they gyrated and bounced to the rhythm of the music. Entirely too much alcohol was being consumed. Hyde had missed this in her twenties. She had been too serious and deeply involved with her work and her training to take nights off to party. The only time she was in a club like this was for a mission.

  A man approached, crowding her space. He was bodybuilder-huge, his skin tanned and shiny and his hair cut short around his square-shaped head. Hyde didn’t recognize him. Was he a friend of Winslow’s?

  “Dance with me,” he said.

  He could work for the West Company and be here to deliver a message. Hyde stayed in character and played it safe. “I’m here with someone,” Hyde said, extending her hand to put distance between them.

  The man looked around and gestured to the empty space next to her. “I don’t see anyone.”

  Pushy didn’t jibe with her. “He had some matters to attend to,” Hyde said.

  “I don’t know what that means, other than he left a sexy woman alone for the taking.”

  Hyde didn’
t care for his wording and had the impression he was not from the West Company. “I am not someone who likes to be taken.”

  “That’s because you haven’t been with me.” The man reached for her hand to lead her onto the dance floor.

  She pulled away. “No. Thank you.” Her thanks had an edge.

  “Your loss,” the man said and strode down the bar to the next woman.

  Hyde shook off the conversation and watched, looking for the discreet exchange of drugs. Given that Barnett had sent them to this space and Winslow’s criminal record, this place had a number of drugs on the premises.

  Finn appeared at her side. “See anything worth talking about?”

  Relief passed through her at the sight of him. “I think you’ll have the better story.”

  Finn slipped his arm around her waist and drew her against him and onto the dance floor. Locked in each other’s embrace, they moved where fewer people would bump into them. His thigh brushed between her legs as they danced and she felt waves of pleasure pipe over her.

  “Why did you send me away from the table?” Hyde asked.

  “We were talking business. You may be my partner in many senses of the word, but here, I’m working the business angle for Barnett,” Finn said. “Winslow wants a huge order from Barnett.”

  Hyde pressed against Finn, wanting to be close to him, her body tingling. “How big?”

  Finn arched a brow. “As much as we can get him.”

  “What did you tell him?” Hyde asked, trying to focus on the problem at hand and not the heaviness in her breasts or the heat pooling at her core.

  “That I’m in Miami working on it, but it would be at least a week.”

  “How did he take it?” Hyde asked.

  “He was annoyed I didn’t offer it to him now. I didn’t admit that I don’t know much about what he was talking about. He called it Whiteout. He was walking carefully with me. He doesn’t want to piss me or Barnett off. He knows there’s money to be made,” Finn said.

  Finn’s strong arms held her and in the circle of his embrace, she felt safe. She was pretending to be his girlfriend, but this felt real. Her attraction to Finn was scorching hot. She couldn’t separate her emotions from her physical attraction to Finn.

  “Are you okay?” Finn asked. “You look upset.” His eyes were fastened to her.

  She slid her hand down his tie. “Do you have more business to conduct? Would it be rude if we left?”

  “No to both questions, but why? We might meet some of Winslow’s associates. We haven’t been here long,” Finn said.

  Hyde’s heart was racing and she wanted to be alone with Finn. She had been resisting him. The rightness of being in his arms convinced her that surrender was inevitable. “I want to be alone with you.”

  Finn’s eyes blazed. She brushed her fingers across his forehead, moving a stray strand of hair to the side. Reaching to the back of her head, Finn forked his fingers into her hair at her nape. He pulled her close to him, holding her an inch from his mouth. Their eyes locked and Hyde realized she was holding her breath.

  She let it out slowly.

  “You are driving me out of my mind,” Finn said.

  “I’m not doing anything.”

  “You’re doing everything. That dress. Your mouth. The back and forth. It makes me simultaneously unsure what you want while being absolutely sure what I do.”

  He closed the distance between them and his amazing mouth moved seductively over hers. Hyde closed her eyes, focusing entirely on what he was doing to her. His tongue traced the outline of her lips.

  “I can’t think. But we are being watched. We’ll give Winslow enough to know why we’re leaving,” Finn said.

  Then his mouth plundered hers and she gave herself to him. Finn kissed his way to her ear. His hands hadn’t moved south of her waist, yet every nerve ending in her body tingled. She wanted to let her desires make the decisions. The longer Finn kissed her, the more she wanted him.

  Finn nibbled on her earlobe. “We need to leave now or I’ll take you on this dance floor and not care who sees.”

  Chapter 9

  Hyde slipped her hand into Finn’s and they hurried through the crowd toward the exit. Finn led her from the club to the valet. While they waited for their car, Finn whispered in her ear the many things he wanted to do to her. Some they had done. Others were new experiences.

  No one could hear them but Hyde’s cheeks heated at his ideas. He was a creative and adventurous lover. If she let this happen, the night could be long and amazing.

  The valet held open Hyde’s door and she climbed inside the passenger seat. Finn switched the car into drive.

  “Ready?” he asked.

  She nodded. He took off from the club.

  Hyde ran her finger down his arm and slid her fingers between his. Stretching her seat belt, she moved closer and kissed his cheek and caressed his thigh, massaging the muscles in his leg.

  “Hyde, I’ll get in an accident.”

  “You won’t,” she said. “You’re an excellent driver even with distractions. You’ve driven with guns being fired at you.”

  “In those situations, my concentration was absolute. Now I want to take my hands off the wheel and put them on you.”

  She kissed the underside of his jaw and his neck. “I know you like when I kiss you here.” She pressed a kiss behind his ear.

  He accelerated the car. “Alex, are you sure about this? Because I know you’ve been through some things and I’m trying to be sensitive and understanding. I’m about to cross the line and stopping will be hard.”

  She couldn’t put her finger on the precise moment it changed, but she wanted Finn and she could compartmentalize the past, the present and the future. The past was behind her and it had opened a door in the future she hadn’t believed she would have. She was with Finn now and that was enough in the present. “I wouldn’t get you hot and bothered if I wasn’t.”

  Finn pulled to the front of the hotel and tossed the keys to the valet. Hand in hand, she and Finn hurried to the elevator. After inserting her key in the control panel, the elevator brought them to their hotel suite directly.

  The room was dark and quiet. Finn switched on the lights. They drew their weapons and swept the room. Alone for the first time that night. Rushing together, they met in the middle of the room near the coffee table.

  Finn gathered her brown hair and lifted it, giving him access to her neck and backside. He skimmed his hand to the base of her spine.

  His lips brushed her nape, and her hair fell down her back. Finn lowered the zipper of her dress and peeled the fabric down slowly. The tightness of the material held the dress around her hips. With a wiggle and some help, the dress pooled on the floor.

  Hyde stepped out of it and her heels clicked on the hardwood.

  Finn sucked in his breath as if seeing her naked for the first time. “I’ve been waiting all night to do that.”

  Hyde reached for Finn’s shirt. She unbuttoned the shirt, parting the crisp cloth. When it was unfastened, she removed his suit jacket, careful over his upper arm and shoulder. She did the same with the shirt. His clothes joined her dress on the floor.

  Finn reached for her, his eyes intense with longing. He cupped her breasts in his hands and brought his mouth to each, licking and sucking. Heat spiraled through her. She forked her hands into his hair, wanting to feel the strands between her fingers. They had been together many times before, but this time felt different. Finn wasn’t wrapped in mystery; Hyde had begun to understand him. She wasn’t looking for some fun between missions; she knew what she wanted out of life. This didn’t have long-term potential and that made time with him more precious to her. Walking away from Finn untouched and unchanged was impossible and she embraced that.

  Finn stood. “You’re
the most beautiful woman.”

  Hyde reached for his buckle. Never breaking eye contact, she undid it. Finn removed his pants.

  He was a perfect specimen of a man. Tall and bronzed, ripped muscles and tight abdominals, she wanted him. Hyde guided him with her outstretched hands to the couch. Pushing on his chest, she sent him back onto the cushions.

  She knelt over him, setting one leg on the couch and the other on the floor.

  “What’s the plan?” he asked.

  “No plan. We have enough orders and plans. This is you and me,” Hyde said. She didn’t want their work and their colleagues and enemies between them tonight. “I can’t stop wanting you.”

  She lowered herself and ran her hands down his chest, enjoying the hardness of his body.

  “Alex, it’s been a long time,” he said. “I want this to be good for you.”

  She didn’t respond. It had been a long time for her, too. Months had passed. She’d had no interest in sex. She had been dealing with a terrible blow to her heart and her soul, and reconnecting with another person hadn’t interested her. She had wanted to grieve and keep her own company.

  Being with Finn had wakened that slumbering part of her until it roared to be fed.

  She positioned herself over him and slid down, taking him deep. She moved her hips, adjusting to the sensations and relaxing her muscles.

  He grasped her hips and she arched her body. Her name escaped his lips. She rocked against him, sensuous feelings flooding her. Desire consumed her. She moved wildly on him, exhilaration escalating. There was something familiar about being with Finn, but also fresh and arousing.

  She was on the brink in minutes and then tipping over the edge in his arms. Finn watched her and then moved their bodies, flipping her onto the couch. With slow, deep glides, he built her excitement again.

  He rode her hard and she closed her eyes, enjoying the sensations he evoked. His body tensed and he kissed her. A shudder racked him and he collapsed on top of her.

  Finn traced his hand down her side, stopping at her hip. “Tell me we don’t have to get up.”