Page 20 of An Uncertain Claim

He nodded and I ran my hands through my hair, which allowed the sheet to fall to my lap, exposing my breasts. His eyes dipped and filled with heat, making my skin and core sizzle again. Then he slowly inhaled and while the heat didn’t cool, he managed to push it back. The part of me that was out of its damn mind with lust for Nathan whined in protest. But if he could control his urges, I would do the same. I pulled the sheet back up and tucked it under my arms.

“Well, then. How about we talk about KBO?” After my attempted kidnapping, his apology, and the subsequent night of mind-blowing sex, I’d forgotten about my anger when I finally learned that KBO was more than just a small security firm.

“You’re deflecting.”

“You bet your sexy ass.” I snorted, making his lips twitch. “And you owe me.”

He contemplated for a beat, then leaned back in his chair and rested his elbows on the arms. “One thing I’ve come to know about you is that when it comes to keeping yourself closed off, omission is a big tool in building that wall.”

Again, he wasn’t wrong, so I didn’t say anything.

“While I intend to break you of that habit”—he gave me a pointed look and I rolled my eyes—“it isn’t something I’m worried about when it comes to KBO. Clearly, you are good at keeping secrets”—I scoffed, and he shook his head in exasperation—“and anything we talk about from this point on, when it comes to my company, is privileged information. If you promise me that I can trust you to keep my secrets, I will.”

How did he manage to continue taking the wind out of my indignant sails? Instead of being offended, I felt amused. “Let me get this straight, you’ll trust me not to say anything based on the fact that I’m dishonest through omission?”

Nathan’s lips twitched again, and his eyes looked up as if he were looking for patience on the ceiling. When they returned to my face, they still held a twinkle of mirth. “That’s one way to put it, I suppose.”

“Okay, now that we’ve cleared that up, tell me about KBO.”

“You don’t want to ask me a personal question?” Nathan asked, completely deadpan. Yet I knew he was fucking with me.

“Nope.” It had to be a trap. I knew he’d turn any question I asked back on me and probe into my past some more.

He cocked his head to the side and folded his arms over his chest. “So stubborn.”

I shrugged and stood, intending to shuffle to the bathroom for a shower. “If we aren’t going to talk about KBO, I’m going to ease my muscles under some hot water.”

“Showing is better than telling, baby,” he replied, his tone a little aloof because his gaze traveled up my body, lingering at the apex of my thighs, my stomach, and then my breasts. Despite being covered by the sheet, I felt the touch of his eyes on my skin. My panther preened under his examination, as if it were her body he ogled. “Go get ready.”

Damn it.My body burned with fire. I glanced at the bed, wondering if we should just go back to fucking, and I almost gave in to the craving.Good fucking grief. I need to get hold of myself.We couldn’t spend every waking minute naked and having sex. Right…?

Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I hurried into the bathroom, shutting the door behind me. A glimpse of myself in the mirror made me chuckle—I definitely looked like I’d been having sex all night long. Tangled hair, swollen lips, flushed skin, and…I’m going to kill him.There had to be at least a dozen bite marks all over my chest, not to mention the one on my neck that was easily visible in clothes. He’d refreshed it again, which hadn’t been that big of a deal when I’d been confined to his house. But now we were going out and it would be visible unless I wore something with a tight collar. My panther loved the look of all the bites, and she made a rumbling sound of approval.What is up with you?She’d never been so attached to someone before. In fact she’d gone ballistic the two times a lover had bitten me, even though they hadn’t meant anything and it had faded the next day. I hadn’t even realized until Nathan pointed it out that not only did his mark visibly remain, but my panther liked seeing it.

I was too tired and, truthfully, just not in the mood to work on that puzzle. Turning on the water, I stepped into the shower that looked as though it were made in the alcove of a waterfall with rock walls and water gliding down one side. When the water warmed, I twisted a knob that turned on the overhead shower head and sighed as the steam and hot water soothed my aching muscles. I really needed to get back to my PT before I was too pregnant to do too much activity.

I briefly wondered how sex stacked up against other forms of exercise, but the door whipped open and I jumped, making me lose my footing and fall. Nathan caught me up in his arms and slammed his mouth down onto mine as he walked forward until my back pressed against a wall. “I kept picturing you in here, naked and wet,” he growled against my lips. “I couldn’t fucking take it anymore.”

Chapter Twelve

Peyton

From the outside, King Black Ops Consulting looked unimpressive—a large, gray, cinderblock building in the middle of empty acres. But I knew it was meant to be deceiving.

We walked in the front door and were greeted by a female shifter who looked calm and composed, even a little robotic. Nathan nodded to her. “Rebecca. This is Peyton. Make her a pass while I take her through security.”

“Yes, sir,” she replied without inflection.

Is she actually a robot? Because that would be awesome.

“Thank you,” Nathan said, then put his hand on the small of my back and guided me to a set of double doors.

“Is she AI?” I asked softly once she was out of sight.

Nathan’s eyebrows rose in surprise and he glanced back at the doors. “Rebecca?” When he looked at me again, one corner of his mouth had climbed up. “No. I guess she is a little stiff and emotionless.” He chuckled. “The truth is, she applied for operative training and we turned her down. But she has excellent combat skills and intuition. I felt she’d be a good fit in the job she has, so I offered it to her. She probably thinks of herself that way and she’s very determined to be professional and to never give anything away to the wrong person.”

“If she was so qualified, why turn her down?”

Nathan threw a glance behind us again, then shook his head with a wry smile. “Because she didn’t have a stealthy bone in her body. She was”—he chuckled again—“too stiff and emotionless. She couldn’t relax and fade into the background.”

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