Page 65 of Covert Temptation

Angling his head, he claimed her mouth—owned it. He plundered her, gliding his tongue over hers in a slick sweep that had her nails biting into his shoulders.

He learned how her curves felt in that soft red sweater and was just easing a hand under the hem when a low vibration on his phone, feet away, tore them apart.

He stared down at Kennedy. She stared back, in a dazed state. Her lips looked plumper from his harsh kisses. Pink colorstreaked her jaw where his rough stubble had scratched her sensitive skin.

He made a grab for his phone and read the notification.

“That’s the delivery.” His voice sounded strained with a raspy edge.

Still dazed, she nodded.

“Wait here while I go pick it up. Lock up behind me.”

She gaped at him as if she’d forgotten that she was in danger.

Luckily, the pickup point wasn’t far away. The most difficult part of fetching the packages was dealing with his erection. When he reached the location and found three boxes, he could only shake his head at the woman. What did she buy?

After loading them all into the car, he returned to the safe house.

The first box was large but light—it definitely contained the whiteboard Kennedy ordered. The second was small and light as well. It rattled when he placed it on the kitchen floor. But the third box was big and heavy. He shifted the heavier box to lean against the cabinets.

When he closed the door, Kennedy was already reaching for a box, a pleased smile on her lips. “I feel like it’s my birthday.”

He grunted. “I thought you were just buying a whiteboard and some markers. What is all this?”

“You’ll see.” She moved to the knife block and pulled out the kitchen scissors, but he already had his pocketknife in hand and slit the tape on one box.

When they pulled out the whiteboard, they both stood back to admire it. “It’s better quality than I expected,” she said. “I hope we don’t just leave the board here when we leave. The team can use it on base.” The way she stated that, so offhandedly, surprised him. As if she liked the idea of helping the team—the same team that had interrogated her until they broke her spirit.

While he watched it happen. Hell, believed itshouldhappen.

Until he’d spent real time with Kennedy, he hadn’t seen her depth. He’d only noticed the surface—a pretty face and a knockout body wrapped in designer labels. But over the past few days, he’d started to glimpse the woman beneath all that polish.

He hadn’t even begun to scratch the surface, not really.

But when a single tear slid from the corner of her eye after he told her he could see how much she loved Alyssa—

That moment?

That was real.

As she tore the cellophane off the whiteboard, he studied her happy expression.

The kitchen table was butted against the wall, and she leaned the board there. It was a blank canvas just waiting for them to dig in and draw more connections between the terrorist and the grieving son who hadallthe motive in the world to seek revenge on those he believed failed him…wronged him.

Kennedy placed the smaller box on the table. When she pulled out a set of colorful markers, she chirped a happy noise. Following that, she extracted another pack of posterboard.

“Ooh! It came!” She held up a pack of white discs.

His brows drew together. “AirTags?”

Bobbing her head with enthusiasm, she rushed out of the kitchen. He heard her footsteps moving down the hallway to her bedroom. After only a minute she returned carrying her boots.

“What are you doing?”

“You’ll see.” She opened the package. To his astonishment, she dropped one of the tracking devices into the bottom of her boot. She looked up at him with a big smile. “Now you don’t have to worry about me leaving. Now you can trust me.”

Hell.The fact that she ever thought she had to earn his trust like this twisted something sharp in his chest.

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