Page 7 of Snowed in with the Villains

If I screw this up, I’m as good as dead. If I screw up just talking to people online, how am I going to handle actually having sex with one of them for the first time? And then what will happen to Kelsie and my mother?

“I knew you were hiding a banging body under all those drab clothes you wear. Look at you. And you’d look even more gorgeous if you wiped off that deer-caught-on-an-electric-fence look on your face. You’ll be fine. Just skim the notes I gave you and just add a purr if you get stuck.”

“A purr? You didn’t say anything about purring, Lily. I don’t know how to purr.” I stare in confused horror at Lily. “Oh god, it’s official; I’m going to screw this up.”

“You won’t. Trust me. And now I’m going to love you and leave you. I have a potential three-grand date tonight.”

Lily is adamant that I do this alone, so I don’t become dependent on her. She wants me to succeed. She even brought over her heater to warm up my apartment so I can sit in these near-to-nothing clothes and not shiver my ass off. I don’t know what I would have done without Lily. I’ve known her for thirty-six hours, but it feels like forever.

She blows me a kiss and leaves.

After I bolt my door closed, I stare at my second-hand laptop, now adorned with a top-tech webcam, again thanks to Lily. She truly saved my butt. Now it was all up to me to pull it off. I can talk to people. I’m not dumb. Except if they ask me to touch myself, what then?

Don’t think about it, just do it, I tell myself. My life depends on it, literally.

I’m just about to sit myself down at my laptop when there’s a knock on my door. I’m not expecting anyone. I barely know anyone. Lily would announce herself if she came back. Oh my god. Is it the mafia guy? I still have time to give his money back.

My breath gets strangled in my throat.

“Ma’am, we’re with the FBI. Agent Alex Philips and Agent Harriet Montgomery. This is a matter of national security. Please, open your door.” The male voice, rich, smooth, and deep, falls over me like hot silk but despite that, a shiver races down my spine.

Blood drains from my body. National security? Why? What did I do? More to the point, what did my mother do to bring the FBI to my door? Is this because of The Sledge Hammer?

“Ms. Jennings, we’re going to ask you to open your door immediately,” the woman, Agent Harriet Montgomery says.

They know my name. I grab my robe and clumsily wrap myself in it, hiding the flimsy lingerie I’m wearing.

“Umm… can I see your badge?” I unlock one of the locks and open my door as far as the chain would allow, which is just a sliver.

“Of course,” the man says and shows me his badge. Crap. I couldn’t tell the difference between a real badge and a fake one if my life depended on it. He could have gotten that badge from a toy store, and I’d still be clueless.

Arg. My attention slips from the badge to the hand holding it out. His hand is big, very big. His nails are short, and neatlytrimmed. The cuff of a black shirt adorned with a simple cufflink sticks out of a jacket, a suit jacket.

Yes, because neatly dressed men with nice hands aren’t serial killers, I think as I open the door for them.Okay, but he’s with a woman. And haven’t I heard the termcouples who slay together stay together?

My heart stops beating, or that’s what it feels like at the sight of the man who strides into my apartment. Raving heat now engulfs my whole body, my cheeks sizzling under a red-hot blush. My nipples harden, immediately followed by a twinge in my clit. The fragrance of his cologne permeates the air surrounding me, and the scent tugs at my stomach, making me desperate to want to rub my thighs together. Maybe it’s all this sex talk with Lily.

In preparation for my first day, Lily also made me read a load of short erotic romance stories, just to get into the lingo of things and told me to watch some porn, which I did. Maybe that’s what’s making me feel this way.

I can’t remember the last time I even touched myself. I don’t do it often enough.

My visceral reaction to the man standing before me shocks my mind, and I can’t seem to regulate my thinking again. I’ve never seen anyone like him before. He’s so tall I have to strain my head to look up at him. Eyes as blue as the ocean on a hot summer's day rake over me. His lashes are so thick and so long that I can’t stop staring at him. His dark hair is brushed back, short on the sides with not a strand out of place.

His defined jaw gives his face a stunning symmetry that continues to enthrall me. He could be a model. His lips are sensual, and at my undisguised perusal of his features, thosesame lips spread into a smile so seductive that my breath catches all over again. There’s something so undeniably smooth and sexy about him, but also something dark and dangerous.

What am I doing? The man is FBI, standing in my apartment, seeming to take up all the space and highlighting that his suit costs more than I pay a year in rent, possibly more.Also, he’s with a female partner. My gaze finally decides to give her some airtime too. She’s dressed in a suit, her pants loose, and her jacket a little too small for her body. Her hair is pulled taut into a bun. She gives nothing away in her features.

“Can I help you?

“Ms. Jennings,” Agent Philips says and takes my hand. Electric sparks fly through me. I snatch my hand away and grab Agent Harriet Montgomery’s hand like a lifeline. I move to the other side of my tiny living room, still too frazzled by his touch. I tighten the belt of my robe, trying to hide my body’s reaction to him.

That smile of his follows me as he slips his hands into his pants pockets, the fabric stretching over the very, very large package of his cock. Okay, what in the actual heck am I doing?

“Ms. Jennings, I understand how strange this might look, but the FBI needs your help,” Agent Montgomery says.

“My…help?” I stutter.

“Yes, on a matter of national security, as we said before,” Agent Philips chimes in. “We’re on the hunt for a very dangerous man. Someone who is a risk to the security of the country as a whole. We need to find this man, Ms. Jennings, and you are the only one who can help us.”

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