Page 24 of Covert Affairs

She studied him for a long moment, but he refused to fidget under her stern gaze. “You told Rory to ignore my request about the marriage license.”

Busted. “About that. I was going to tell you, ask you to wait a little longer before pulling the plug.”

“Why?”

Hadn’t he already told her? Six months of waking up every day with a knot in his gut. Six months of trying to hate her for the betrayal. She seemed to hold her breath as he found the words to say. “I know you’re not the same person you were. Hell, neither am I. But we had something special, Vivi. I want to give us another try, and I hope you do, too.”

Nothing changed in her expression. She seemed more curious than anything. “Ian, we barely knew each other when we took those vows. It was a fantasy, thinking we could walk away from our jobs. And after all that’s happened, we certainly don’t know each other now.”

The words hit him like bullets, piercing his heart. “Don’t know each other? Who are you trying to convince, me or you?”

“Seems like a lifetime ago, doesn’t it? Our vacation in Vegas?”

She had planned to leave NSA. He was almost done with his Navy term. Together, they were going to buy a house, find regular jobs that didn’t involve the government, terrorists, or keeping secrets. That imaginary family they’d talked about hovered in front of him like a mirage. “Vivi… for me, nothing has changed. I still love you.”

“You seemed quite angry when you found out I wasn’t dead. You thought I betrayed you, as well as our country. You can pretend otherwise right now, but I know the truth.”

“I was wrong.” He leaned in again, bearing down on her as he poked his chest. “I thought I’d killed you. It was grief, balled up in here.”

She slowly came to her feet, once again the consummate professional. “Look, we both need therapy. We have a lot of awful stuff to work through, and we can’t expect to be partners until we’ve confronted what happened to each of us.”

“You once told me that therapy comes in many forms.” He leaned closer, focusing on those beautiful lips. “How about we try things our way?”

Before she knew what was coming, he kissed her.

Eleven

Vivi’s breath caught at the touch of Ian’s warm lips. The spark he always ignited, buried deep these past few months, burst into flame, searing through her.

It was wrong, but her body didn’t care. She’d had to be stone cold and unemotional for so long, it had become her armor. An armor that was melting slowly since arriving here.

Helping Sloane, finding support from the strangers that filled the halls, discovering that her husband still wanted a future with her—it had all blindsided her.

Her fingers went to his hair, the back of his head, his shoulders, as his lips parted hers. Everything inside her combusted, all the pain and suffering going up in a ball of flames.

His hands went around her waist, as her arms circled his neck, pulling him closer. He lifted her off her feet and her knees slid across the desk, sending her notebook and pen flying.

His tongue swept into her mouth and she moaned, still on her knees, and pressed herself against him. It had always been like this since that first time when they met for coffee. Even then, they’d both known the sexual heat between them could no longer be denied.

His hands brushed the bottom of her breasts through the button down shirt she wore. Their tongues did a tango, in and out, lips unable to get enough of each other.

“Vivi,” he murmured in her ear. “I’ve missed you so much.”

She’d missed him, too. God, she’d missed it all—her work, the patients, her damn birds. But her mouth couldn’t form the right words to reply, her brain on hiatus as her body did the talking.

Nimble fingers unbuttoned the blouse before he grazed the tops of her breasts with his knuckles. She shifted to sit, kicking off her heels, and grabbed his belt. With trembling fingers, she started to undo it, fumbling with the leather and buckle.

He caught her by the wrists. “My place,” he said on a heavy breath. “We need privacy.”

No way. She couldn’t wait. Her brain was screaming at her not to do this, not to go there. “Here. Now.” She pushed him away. “Just lock the door.”

It took mere seconds for him to dash to it and back, a knowing smirk on his face. She removed her bra and he gazed in awe at her breasts. “I’ve missed these beauties,” he said, cupping them.

“Too much talking.” She grabbed his belt and jerked it from the loops. Then she attacked his button-fly, yanking his jeans open.Don’t do it, her traitorous brain screamed.Not listening, she told it.After all I’ve been through, I deserve this. Deserve to be held and made love to. “I need you.”

Once more, he took her hands, restricting her access to him. “We have plenty of time. I want to enjoy this.You. I never thought I’d get another chance.”

His lips found hers again as he bent her back, her breasts rising. Then he kissed her jaw, her neck, nipped her earlobe. She shuddered, practically orgasmic from his simple touch.

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