Page 35 of Avenging Jessie
They were soft—even warmer than he’d imagined. She tasted like heat and defiance, and the last sliver of sanity he hadn’t already lost to her went out the proverbial window.
He didn’t move at first. Didn’t breathe. He was still computing, somewhere between logic and electricity, every nerve misfiring in disbelief. Then his hands slid into motion—one cupping her jaw, the other bracing against the console between them as he deepened the kiss with a low, hungry groan.
God, this wasn’t supposed to happen. Not now. Not here. Not…
The second her fingers fisted in the front of his shirt, he was gone. This wasn’t fantasy anymore. It was real.Too real.
Everything he’d wanted for so damn long.
He kissed her like he’d been dying of thirst and she was the only clean water left on Earth. Like he didn’t care what Brewer was planning or what awaited them down that road. There was only this. Her. Now.
Then—outside the car, a sudden screech.
Sharp and close, the sound cut through the moment like a blade. Both of them jolted.
Jessie pulled back, eyes wide. “What the hell was that?”
It took a moment for his brain to catch up. He knew that sound. “Screech owl,” he said, breath ragged. “Nature’s middle finger.”
She blinked. Her hand was still on his chest. He was still at her jaw. Neither moved.
Then, as if the enormity of the situation hit them at once—the mission, the road, the missing truck—they both chuckled. An embarrassed,what the hell did we just dolaugh.
Each turned away fast, staring out their respective windows like guilty teenagers caught making out in their parents’ car. Spence scrubbed a hand over his face and blew out a shaky breath. “We’ve got to refocus.”
“Yeah,” Jessie said a tad too quickly.
He shifted in his seat and gestured between them. “Switch with me.”
“What?”
“I need to get eyes on the map, start running local scans. Time to see what’s in this area, big enough to hide a panel truck. You drive.”
She blinked. “You’re trusting me with the wheel?”
“I just trusted you with my mouth. Don’t make me rethink it.”
She snorted and unbuckled, and they exited the car, the cool night air welcome on his overheated skin. As she passed him at the front of the vehicle, she brushed his hand, that shy smile playing on her face again.
As she settled into the driver’s seat, Spence adjusted the passenger seat to fit his longer legs before he popped open the laptop, jaw still tight, mind split between the search for Brewer’s next move and the lingering burn of her kiss.
Damn. If not for that screech owl’s poor timing, he might still be lost in it.
Spence stared at the lines of code blinking across his screen, but his mind wasn’t on the information. Not really. His fingers moved with muscle memory as he pinged surveillance grids and checked maps for local hiding places, but underneath it all, a storm brewed—dark, unrelenting.
The drones in that truck had been built with his AI blueprint. He’d built the architecture. He knew precisely how adaptable, how lethal it could be in the wrong hands. How had Harris Brewer gotten hold of it?
If this turned into an attack—if cities burned or people died—that blood would trail back to him. Not Langley. Not Black Swan.
Me.
He shoved the thought away. Images of Victoria flickered unbidden—five years old, clutching a ratty stuffed rabbit. Big eyes. Braver than she should’ve been. She was still out there. Somewhere. At least, that’s what he told himself. That she was alive and well. If she ended up hurt because of this…
And dammit, he couldn’t shake the gut-deep fear that he was failing Jessie at the same time—letting her walk into danger, thinking he could protect her.
“Where am I going?” she asked.
He snapped out of his spiraling thoughts. “Double back. Let me see if I can use the thermal to pick up any heat signatures.”
