Page 12 of Fire and Ice

It was then that Maia noticed the bruise on Jack's jaw. She smiled in satisfaction.

"I must say, sweetheart you have quite the collection of sexy underwear."

"Part of the job description," Maia replied bitchily, her implication clear.

Jack's smirk disappeared and his mouth tightened as he pushed up from the bed. "Look, go get cleaned up. Your bags are in the closet. But before you shoot me, I hope you'd consider what I can offer you. I'll be in my study on the first floor." He nodded to the nightstand. "Take two Advils with that glass of water. I'll have Grace, my housekeeper, bring up a tray of food in thirty minutes and I'd really, really prefer if you not scare the shit out of her."

He grabbed his glass and strode out without looking back.

Maia huffed back against the pillows and then, after a beat, pulled the comforter out the way and padded off towards the bathroom.

***

Maia showed up an hour later in Jack's study dressed in running gear: short-sleeved capped shirt, black draw-cord fitted pants and silver sneakers.Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, face scrubbed free of makeup. She looked so innocent, nothing like the deadly Guardian that had taken out eight bad guys (that he knew of) in less than a week.

"Going for a run? How's the leg?" Jack asked, remembering her leg wound from the Castle siege.

"Just a scratch," she replied flippantly. "Your house has a great view of the beach. Your housekeeper told me we're in the Outer Banks near Nag's Head."

Jack's mouth twitched, controlling a grin. It appeared she had gotten over her resentment about her abduction. "I take it I've discovered a weakness."

Maia simply smiled at him, her clear blue eyes sparkling. Jack caught his breath. It was the first smile she had bestowed on him—unguarded, soft, beguiling.

Clearing his throat, Jack looked away. "Yes, the beach along the foot of the cliff is a popular running track around these parts. But I was thinking I should show you what facilities we have first."

"Facilities?"

He walked to some columns of bookshelves and drew on a lever of the last one. The shelves slid away to reveal an elevator. Keying in a code to call the car, the door slid open. Maia cocked an eyebrow showing guarded approval of what she was witnessing so far.

"Shall we?" Jack held out his arm, motioning for Maia to proceed.

She stepped into the elevator, Jack followed and the doors slid shut.

"I'm impressed." Maia looked around the high tech facility located in the basement beneath a supposedly normal-looking stonehouse.

One wall held a series of widescreen monitors and keyboards, the other held a bay of computer servers and a host of other devices.

"This is one of our control rooms. I have several of them scattered among my properties. These servers are part of my disaster-recovery protocol and hold an image of the data from MDI corporate headquarters," Jack explained, not without some pride. "I can create a user account for you so you can continue your intel-gathering on whoever is after you. Our communication network is very secure as we deal with the DoD frequently. I can open up a separate socket and network for you to AGS."

"What's over there?" Maia pointed to the darkened hallway just outside the control room. Jack smiled and walked ahead to illuminate the area.

"Several rooms, one is a gym, which you are free to use. There's a sparring mat in case you want to work out your frustrations against me."

"Very funny. Don't give me any ideas," Maia said.

Jack threw back his head and laughed. "You think you can take me on?"

"Don't be insulting. I can break your neck with my legs," Maia retorted.

Before Maia could move forward Jack had her pinned against the wall, pressing his hard body against hers, trapping her arms beside her.

"Try," Jack whispered, his mouth nearly touching hers.

Jack loomed over Maia, a surge of desire suddenly sweeping over him, the need to possess her consuming him. She did not pull away, but just stared straight up at him and wet her lips.

With a groan, his lips crushed hers in a searing kiss, and then his hands released her arms, one hand splaying across her back, the other hand skimming down her side to cup her ass to grip her closer to him, his growing arousal pushing, grinding into her softness. Maia gave a soft mewl and dug her fingers into his hair pulling his head closer. He lightened his kisses, teasing her lips with his tongue, before pushing in to resume plundering its sweetness. And she was sweet ...so sweet... like...

He felt her hands descend to his chest to push against him lightly. Jack withdrew reluctantly, leaning his forehead against hers and said, "Sorry, been wanting to do that since the first time we've met."

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