Page 38 of Killer Secrets (Tempting SEALs 5)

"What am I risking, Ian?" she whispered instead. "Or are you the one scared of the risk? Afraid that tough, hard heart of yours might be affected this time?"

His pupils dilated, his expression tightening as his brows lowered broodingly.

"I want you." The statement wasn't what she expected. "All of you."

"I need you," he repeated, glaring down at her, his body tense and fierce.

"I'm yours." She was panting? Hell, now she was panting. She wanted him with a hunger and a desperation she knew she had no hope of controlling.

His thumb and forefinger tightened on her nipple, sending a flash of erotic heat clashing through her system. "I want you beneath me or safely behind me, no matter what. You're driving me crazy putting yourself in danger."

She couldn't help the grin that tugged at her lips.

"No." She couldn't give him that. She wouldn't give him that. "Do you want me, Ian, or one of the mindless little submissives you've been fucking for years? If it's the latter you want, then you'll have to find it somewhere else."

She refused to be less than who she was with him. Not just a lover, but a partner. For so many years she had hidden who she was, always playing a role, always aware of the mission, whichever mission it might be. This time, she couldn't play a role. Not in his arms. Not with her heart.

She watched the gathering ire in his expression, felt the tension that raged in his body. But his touch never crossed the line between pleasure and pain.

"You think this is a game with me," he stated, his rough voice grating now. "Damn you, Kira. I can't think for the need to touch you, to hold you. To protect you." His fingers left her nipple but his head lowered, his tongue swiping over the now tender tip. He nipped the sensitive flesh, causing a shocked moan to leave her throat as pleasure washed through her system.

"I protect myself." Her voice was weak, too weak, as she felt his fingers at her thigh, felt his knee move back only to have his hand cup her sex. Grind against it. The heel of his palm rasping over her clit deliciously. "God, Ian, when will you realize we're together in this?"

Oh God, she could come so easily, from that touch alone. She stared back at him, dazed, on fire for him. All she wanted was the pleasure she had found in his arms before. The erotic high that came from an orgasm she had only found with him.

"You're mine while you're here. Period," he snarled. "I won't tolerate another man touching you or you will disappear, Kira, until this is over. Somewhere where you'll have no chance to escape. No chance to endanger yourself or what I'm doing here. Is this understood?"

The erotic high fizzled just enough for her to stare back at him in shock. He wasn't talking about sex. She would follow behind him in this operation or he would have her kidnapped.

"You wouldn't dare!" she whispered. Though she knew he would. He had hardened that much further, grown that much more determined in only eight months within the cartel.

Fury tightened his expression. "I'm the biggest fucking male chauvinist you'll ever meet in your life. The thought of my woman in danger is more than my guts can tolerate. You will do this my way or by God I'll make damned sure you're protected another way."

Dominant. Overbearing. Possessive. But at least he was admitting he was on an operation now.

"Ian, I know what I'm doing." Confusion colored her voice and she knew it. Hell, she was a trained contract agent and had been one for ten years now. She wasn't exactly a new recruit to this world.

Haunting shadows flashed in his gaze before his eyes slid down her body to where his hand cupped her pussy, his fingers caressing it. Her breath rasped from her chest as pleasure threatened to swamp her senses again.

When his eyes came back to hers, they were filled with tormented, raging desire. "I need your promise. You'll be careful. Let me protect you. No matter what."

"That's not an issue, Ian," she said.

"If you were hurt . . ." His throat worked convulsively as he swallowed. "Kira. Don't make me live with that. Don't make me have to live with your death."

What was she seeing in his eyes now? What was that lurking demon of pain that burned like a hidden flame?

"I could make you promise the same thing," she said softly. And she would agree simply because in allowing him to protect her, she could protect his back. And his soul. Because she knew what he intended would destroy a part of him if he were allowed to follow through with it.

For all his crimes, Fuentes was still his father. And for all the horror he had visited on others, he was also still a DHS contact that they didn't want to lose. That they couldn't afford to lose.

His fingers moved between her thighs then, two of them pressing hard and deep, forcefully, inside her weeping pussy. Her hips arched, one heel digging into the leather seat, the other into the floorboard as she worked his fingers deeper and felt the erotic flames licking through her body.

"I find out you arranged that scene with Missern and I'll blister your ass," he said with a groan, coming over her, his fingers fucking into her, stretching her, p

erspiration beginning to dampen her entire body. "I'll tie you to my bed for a week, Kira. You will never play games with me like that again."

Her head shook. "No game," she gasped, her muscles tightening convulsively on his fingers. "Ian, please."

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