Page 43 of The Agent
“So you decided that the three of you would make good business partners?” She loved this glimpse into the dynamics among these men she’d come to care about.
Tully leaned back in his chair, his plate once again empty. “That came about in our second year. We’d all done internships at big companies at the top of their industries.” He winked. “Because only the best would do for us.”
“That goes without saying.”
“And we hated them. The bureaucracy, the politics, the waste of time and talent. We decided that we had to be our own bosses.” He chuckled. “We might have been a little drunk the night we made a pact to start a consulting firm. But it still seemed like a good idea in the sober light of morning, so here we are.” He shrugged.
“Now all the business school students want to work at KRG because it’s at the top of its industry.” She echoed his words with a touch of amusement. “Do you hire interns from your alma mater?”
“Yeah. We all believe in lending a helping hand.” He shrugged again. “It’s not so easy to get started in the world.”
It was even harder to found a company and grow it into an international powerhouse. The three partners had tremendous drive. She knew something of Derek’s and Leland’s histories, but Tully didn’t talk about his much.
She was about to ask him another question when he stood and stacked his dirty dishes. “I’m on KP duty. You sit and relax.”
Evidently they’d reached the limit of his revelations for the evening. She pushed up from her chair and grabbed a couple of cardboard containers. “It will take five minutes to clean this up if we do it together.”
Once the dishes were racked in the dishwasher and the leftovers stowed in the fridge, Tully stretched and gave a yawn that made his jaw crack.
That reminded her that he’d done some sort of nighttime training session with a client the night before, and she felt a stab of guilt. “How late did the training go?”
“Long enough not to bother with sleep,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck.
“You must be exhausted.” Natalie glanced at the microwave’s clock. It was eight forty-five, but what the hell? “Let’s go to bed.”
He went from good-natured drowsiness to laser-focused lust in a nanosecond, his gray eyes smoky, his smile lascivious, and his body against hers before she even realized he had moved.
He lowered his mouth to within an inch of her lips. “Now that’s the best idea I’ve heard today, sweetheart.” Then he kissed her in a slow sensual dance that sent desire spreading through her body like a warm tide.
She grabbed fistfuls of his shirt, a faint aroma of starch rising from it, and tried to wrap herself in him. He seemed to understand because his arms came around her and he pulled her into him so that they were locked together from knee to chest. He felt like strength and safety and sex all rolled up into one.
One of his hands slid down to her behind, his palm flattened to bring her pelvis even closer so she could feel his cock harden against her. The need to have him inside her ripped through her like a tornado. She tore her mouth away from his to say, “Lift me onto the counter.”
He went still. “Are you sure about this, Nat?”
She worked her hands down between them and found the zipper of his trousers, yanking it down so she could stroke the length of him through the confining fabric of his briefs. “Is that a good-enough answer?”
“Better than a lie detector test. But let’s get some clothes off you first.” He found the button on her trousers and flicked it open before he returned her favor by sliding down her zipper. She kicked off her flats and shimmied out of her pants, leaving just a blue-lace bikini.
“These are real pretty,” Tully said, skimming his fingers along the fabric’s top edge where it stretched over her hip. “But they’re blocking my view.” With a single motion, he stripped them down to her ankles. Then he seized her waist and boosted her onto the island’s quartz top as though she weighed nothing.
The stone was cold and hard under her butt, but she didn’t care. “Your shirt. Off,” she said, grabbing his placket to start unbuttoning it. He worked up from the bottom, and when the last button flew free of its hole, he shucked the shirt off so that she could run her hands over the bare skin that covered his beautiful, flexing muscles.
“God, you feel good,” she said, exploring the ridges of his abs and the bulge of his upper arms.
He closed his eyes and groaned, but he stood still for her. Until she skimmed her hands down to his belt buckle. He circled her wrists and gave her a sinful smile. “Not yet, sweetheart. It’s time for dessert.”
He knelt in front of her and pushed her thighs open. For a moment, she felt strangely shy, but then he leaned in and kissed her between her legs and she forgot to care.
“You taste better than steak, apple pie, and beer all rolled up in one,” he murmured against her clit, the vibration of his words sending spirals of delight sizzling through her.
He lifted first one of her knees and then the other to hook them over his bare shoulders. The feel of his skin on the backs of her legs and the tickle of his hair against the insides of her thighs stoked the fire glowing in her belly.
When his tongue licked into her, she lay down on the island, closing her eyes and giving herself over to the sensations because she trusted him with her body. She arched and twisted and moaned while he tasted her from different angles and with different pressures, pushing her closer and closer to climax.
But she wanted him there when she came so she could clench around him. “Tully, stop! I’m going to come.”
“And I want to taste you when it happens.” His voice rumbled against her, winding her tension even tighter.
