Page 19 of Undercover Shadow
His hand slid under my jumper, and he rested his palm flat against my stomach. The skin-to-skin contact was electric and overwhelming.
“Please,” I whispered, though I wasn’t sure what I was begging for. Everything. Anything. Him.
His hand moved higher, and his fingers traced the edge of my bra. When his palm covered my breast, we both groaned. Even through the thin fabric, the sensation was overwhelming.
“You’re so perfect,” he murmured against my throat. “So bloody perfect.”
He pushed my jumper up, and I helped him pull it over my head. There was only heat now, only him, only this moment we’d been racing toward since the day we met.
His eyes traveled over me with reverence that made my chest tight. “Beautiful,” he breathed, then lowered his head, pressing kisses to the swell of my breast.
The sight of him—all that controlled power, the defined muscles of his chest and arms—made my mouth go dry.
I ran my hands over his pecs, feeling the heat of his skin, the racing of his heart.
We were skin to skin now, and the sensation was almost too much. I was drowning in him, in his scent, his touch, the weight of him. I gasped into his mouth when his hand found my breast again and his thumb brushed over my hardened nipple.
“I need—” I said, but I couldn’t find words for the ache building inside me.
“I know,” he said roughly. “I know, love.”
He reached behind me, unclasping my bra with one hand, and then his mouth was on me, taking my nipple between his lips. I cried out as waves of sensation crashed through me.
The world narrowed to this—his mouth on me, his hands holding me steady.
The storm raging outside was nothing compared to the one building between us.
6
TAG
Every wall I’d built crumbled as I got lost in Leila’s mouth, hot and demanding against mine. I buried my hands in her silky hair, angling her head to deepen the kiss, and swallowed the soft sounds she made. She tasted like whiskey mixed with desire, want, and need—the things I’d denied myself for far too long.
The fire roared beside us, casting wild shadows on the walls, but its heat was nothing compared to what burned between us. Every reason I’d kept her at arm’s length, every time I’d called her “kid” to maintain separation, all fell away under the weight of her response.
She arched against me, seeking more, and I gave it to her. My mouth traveled from her lips to her jaw, down to that spot where her neck met her shoulder that had tormented me for so long. She gasped when my teeth grazed the sensitive skin there, and her fingers tightened in my hair enough to hurt.
“Tag.” She murmured my name like a prayer. Christ, the way she said it nearly destroyed what little control I had left.
I groaned against her throat when her nails dragged across my back. Every touch was like redemption and damnationrolled into one. The storm we’d endured thus far was nothing compared to the hunger and passion that tangled into something I couldn’t fight anymore.
I pulled away, both of us breathing hard. Her lips were swollen from my kisses, and her chest rose and fell as she fought for air. We stared at each other, the weight of what we were about to do settling over us.
I was at a crossroads. I had time to remind myself of the promise I’d made Idris and of my vow never to marry.
“Leila…” Each time I repeated her name, my voice came out rough and broken, betraying everything I felt.
She must have heard the hesitation, because her hands framed my face and her thumbs brushed against the stubble on my jaw. “Don’t,” she whispered with fierce determination. “Don’t you dare pull away now. Not after all this time. Not after this torture.”
All this time. She was right. Three years of my body burning every time she entered a room, watching other men notice and approach her while I stood in the shadows, grinding my teeth to dust.
Every instinct that had kept me alive through countless missions screamed at me to stop.
But I couldn’t.
I studied her face one more time. She was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen, and at this moment, she was mine. Even if only for these stolen days.
I stood, lifting her with me. She wrapped her legs around my waist without hesitation, and I carried her to the bed.
