Page 78 of End Game

Only one person had that power, and Ash prayed to every version of the Almighty that Kayla wouldn’t deny him, deny them this moment.

The kiss started slow, tentative, then exploring, consuming. He gripped the sides of the sofa’s cushion with both hands, letting her set the pace. Though he applied the slightest pressure against her lips, her tongue, letting her know he was all-in, ready to hit the accelerator.

Much to his amazement, so was she.

With pressure of her own, she urged him back into the crook of the sofa, prowling on all fours, until she hovered over him. She braced her right hand on the sofa, near his head, while her left methodically unbuttoned his dress shirt.

Being the helpful lover he was, he dragged the tails of his shirt from his dress pants. He hissed out a curse and nearly jacked her over the side of their makeshift bed when the backs of her fingers brushed against his hardness.

“Problem?” she teased, between one sultry kiss and another.

“Yeah,” he growled, “we’re not naked.”

“I’m working on it.”

“Work faster.”

She moved from his lips to the sensitive hollow of his throat. Her tongue and mouth took turns, exploring the expanse of his chest. She laved his right nipple, then rolled it beneath her thumb until it was hard and aching. Sitting back on her heels, she scraped her nails down the center of his torso.

His toes curled, and his hips lifted, seeking her warmth, needing the connection.

Ash’s control was slipping.

A mantra started up in his lizard brain, and he didn’t know how much longer he could remain in this passive state.

Enter her. Enter her. Enter her.

More than anything in this world, more than his next promotion, more than finding the governor’s killer, more than making amends with Zeke, he wanted to be balls-deep in Kayla-fucking-Krowne.

“Are we doing this, beautiful?”

Surprise flared in her eyes. “Isn’t it obvious?”

“Just checking.” He surged forward, kissed her hard, and in an impressive feat of strength, he lifted her into his arms and stormed toward his bedroom.

“Impatient, are we?” she laughed, circling her arms around his neck.

Impatient didn’t come close. The level of urgency firing his muscles was unprecedented. He wanted her naked and screaming his name before logic prevailed over lust.

Once they reached his bed, he lowered her feet to the floor. She gave his bedroom a quick scan, taking in the starkness of it.

Outside of the furniture and a single memento from home, the room was unadorned. The outer rooms weren’t much better. The only difference was a couple green plants he’d somehow managed to keep alive.

They toed off their shoes and alternately unbuckled, unbuttoned, unzipped each other’s and their own clothes until there were no more physical barriers between them.

Ash slowed his raging heart long enough to take in the woman who’d haunted his dreams for months. His imagination had not done her justice.

When he reached out, he realized his hand was shaking. He curled it into a fist, then unfurled his index and middle fingers enough to slide the backs against the base of her throat, down her chest, between breasts that would fill his hands, along her smooth stomach to the light brown patch at the apex of her legs.

Her breath caught, and she grasped the back of his neck, bringing him down for a mind-melting kiss. A millennium might have passed before she pulled back, he didn’t know. All he recalled of that moment was hearing the three most beautiful words in the human language.

“Enough foreplay, G-man.”

Ash’s answering grin made Kayla’s heart light up in a way she’d never thought possible. Her body’s reaction was fleeting, for her special agent hooked his big, capable hands beneath her arms, lifted her until she wrapped her legs around his lean waist.

She pressed her heated, wet center against his scalding length. The fiery touch untethered his invisible restraints.

Mouths fused, their tongues tangled and writhed together, searching, priming.