Page 53 of Code Name: Ember
I pop the button on my jeans, her eyes now pinned on my zipper.
“Cole.”Her voice has gone slightly unsteady.
“Tessa,” I reply.
Her attention comes back to my face.“I’m trying to have a professional conversation.”
“I know.”I push the jeans down and step out of them, leaving me in nothing but a pair of dark boxer briefs that are doing very little to hide the fact that I’ve been thinking about getting naked with her since I walked in the door.“You’re doing great.”
Her eyes make a slow, involuntary journey south and don’t come back up immediately.
“You’re doing that on purpose,” she says.
“Doing what?”
“That.”She gestures vaguely at all of me.
“Getting ready for bed?”I ask.“In my own bedroom?”
Her mouth opens.Closes.
I reach for the waistband of my boxers.
“Okay,” she says, and her voice has dropped an entire register.“Okay, I’ve completely lost my train of thought.”
“That so?”I push the boxers down and step free of them.
She licks her lips.“I had at least four more questions,” she says faintly.
“I know,” I say, planting one knee on the mattress and leaning over her, one hand braced beside her hip as I reach up with the other to push her gently back against the pillow.“They’ll keep.”
“But SAPG—”
I kiss her.
She makes a sound against my mouth that’s half protest, her hands coming up to my chest, sliding to my shoulders to pull me toward her.I ease back just enough to take her in, her hair spread across my pillow, my T-shirt soft against her skin, those blue eyes dark and slightly dazed.
“No more talking,” I say quietly.
Her mouth curves.“You can’t just—”
I kiss her again, deeper this time, and whatever she was going to say dissolves into a whimper that I feel all the way down to my balls.
I settle my weight over her, her legs shifting to make room for me with the easy familiarity of a body that remembers mine without being asked.I drag my mouth from hers to the curve of her jaw, her throat, the warm skin below her ear.She tips her head back and exhales shakily.
“The questions,” she murmurs, a last valiant effort.
“Later,” I say against her neck.
“But—”
I lift my head and look at her.Whatever she sees in my expression stops the words entirely.Because it isn’t just want, though that’s there too, pressing hard against every rational thought I have.It’s far more powerful and raw.I confirmed tonight that people with immeasurable resources and no conscience consider Tessa to be a problem that needs solving.
She’s here, in my bed, warm and alive and slightly exasperated with me, which might be my favorite version of her.
And I need her close in a way that has nothing to do with tactics.
Tessa’s eyes roam my face, and she can read the emotion she sees there.I never hid it from her, and she became quite good at it.Her expression softens, the reporter sliding away, and she reaches up to cup my jaw.“Hey… I’ve got you.”
