His shoulders fit perfectly between her thighs. He inched his way in as her scent filled his head. At first his finger dipped inside her. Then, no longer able to play and tease, he slid his finger deep and felt her pulse around him. His tongue danced across her clit while his finger pumped inside her, first slow then fast, then back to slow again.

Stiffness settled in her muscles and her fists twisted in the sheet underneath her. He did not stop. He licked inside her, tasting her as a tremble moved through her. He felt every pulse and every shift. When her hips lifted, he blew a breath of hot air over her that had her insides clenching.

The tension wound around them, and the room filled with a thumping sound from the leg of the bed against the old floor and the heavy breaths escaping her lungs. All those days of wanting her piled up on him. He increased the pressure, so slightly. Pressed a second finger inside her and opened them to caress her slickness with his mouth.

With the last swipe of his tongue, her body went wild. Her hips bucked and she whispered his name. Those beautiful eyes drifted shut as her chin lifted. He sat there, taking in every moment of the stunning view playing out in front of him. The long line of her body and tightening of every muscle inside and out. When she let her body go, she came with a rush and a punch of an exhale that had her dropping back into the mattress.

For a few seconds, he stayed there, with her legs wrapped around him. The temptation to get up and slide inside her nearly overtook him. But this moment was for her. She’d had her world tossed upside down, her life dissected, been pushed around and dragged across the country by him. She deserved a release of tension and a few minutes to think. He needed an ice bath.

When she tugged on his arm, he gave in. Crawled up her body, stopping to kiss a sliver of exposed stomach, before settling in beside her. Before he could roll over and away from her, she had her arm around his back and her fingers brushing over his skin.

None of that helped him restore his common sense. “You okay?”

“That helped.”

He rested his forehead against hers as he struggled to keep his breathing even, or at least out of heart attack range. “Happy to hear it.”

When her mouth found his again, all thoughts of work and protection slipped from his mind. Those fingers trailed down his chest, burning a path through his shirt. Much more of this and they’d both be naked. No boundaries.

Yeah, he had to sit up. Walk away. Just for a second before he pulled them past the line between professional and very fucking personal.

Even with his brain scrambled, his muscles got the message. He leaned back, trying to put at inch of space between them. No way would he be able to stand up and slip out if she continued to touch him.

“I need to . . .” Yeah, that was close enough. He didn’t really have the strength to say much more.

He made it to the end of the bed and stopped. His legs better work or he’d fall on his ass. There was nothing impressive about that.

“Where are you going?” Amusement kept her voice light.

“Outside.” He barked out the word as he grabbed the doorjamb and stood up. He was half surprised he didn’t rip the wood from the wall.

“Gabe?”

“Huh?” He gave in and glanced over his shoulder at her then.

“Well”—she balanced her upper body on her elbows—“it’s freezing.”

That was the point. “I sure as hell hope so.”

EIGHT

Andy looked up from the security feeds in time to see Rick barge into the communications room. Andy had given the okay for him to come into the building but hadn’t expected the fire-breathing furious act that had the two Tosh tech guys clearing the room.

“Always nice to see you.” Andy sat back in his chair and waited for the explosion.

It didn’t take Rick long. He stopped on the other side of the table with his hands resting on either side of the video monitor. “He picked fucking Montana?”

Ah, yes. More yelling about Gabe. Just what Andy needed today. But he did have to give Rick credit for tracking down the location in record time. That shook Andy a bit more than he wanted to admit. “He likes a challenge.”

“It’s been snowing there like a son of a bitch for days. Getting in is not going to be easy.”

Not usually one to state the obvious, Andy went ahead and did it anyway. “Which I’m assuming was the point. How did you find him exactly?”

“I only know the state. He slipped all tracking at the border.” Rick leveled his gaze at Andy. “I need an exact location, even a square-mile radius will do.”

Nice try, but Andy wasn’t budging. “Did you answer my question?”

“Through a series of private plane movements. Gabe threw me off with a decoy. Almost thought he went into Canada. That’s where the CIA thinks he is. Meaning he did buy Natalie extra time, but it will run out.”

Good for Gabe. But Andy played it cool with a shrug. “Maybe he is in Canada.”

“I know how he thinks.” When Andy didn’t say anything to that, Rick kept talking. “I’m also calling in about a hundred favors and talking to some contacts in the full-time ‘getting lost’ business. Repositioning a satellite and looking through top security-coded video from the day he left.”

That was some serious spy shit. “What the fuck, Rick.”

“I don’t have a choice. I have an eight-man team running round-the-clock on this. It’s taking all of us, plus outside help. You could help me cut down on how long this will take by coughing up some intel.” Rick pushed off the table and stood up straight again. “Because I will find him eventually.”

“Good luck with that.”

“When do you call him next? I need to be in on that.”

Finding Gabe and talking to him were two different things, and Andy was pretty sure Rick knew that. “You want to get on the line and say hello?”

His scowl deepened. “What the fuck is wrong with you? I’m trying to help him by being the one who finds Natalie and reports back to the CIA that everything is fine.”

Andy had been hearing this argument in one form or the other for far too long. It was as if Rick got stuck on some sort of sure, I fucked Gabe over but I really want to help now wheel. Rick messed up and somehow always found a way to blame the fallout on Gabe. Andy was done. “You mean, you’ve decided to step in on this job and help him after screwing him.”

“Don’t go there.”

“Or more accurately, screwing his girlfriend.” The shot landed. Andy could see it in the way Rick’s stance stiffened.

“This is not your fight, Andrew.”

“You made it my fight when you announced your big news at the fucking dinner table one night. You acted as if you were going to talk about some sort of life change after being injured on a covert operation we didn’t even know you were on and ending up in rehab. Then you dumped that admission on Gabe. Your guilt.” With a few words Rick had ripped the family apart, and Andy wasn’t sure they’d ever be able to put it back together again.

Losing their mother in a freak accident when Andy was still in elementary school had been horrible. Dealing with their demanding father both while he wasted away from cancer and before that had been pretty rough. Hell, so had having the air knocked out of him when Eli walked away without an explanation. All had sucked, but no day compared to the one with that dinner.

“He deserved to know.” Rick’s cheeks got red and his chest puffed out. But he gave up on eye contact, which had to mean he knew the truth.

“Don’t act like you did it for him.” Andy had been there and heard every word. Rick created the rift then shoved it even wider by making demands.

“You know why—” Rick visibly wrestled his body back under control. “Look, this is between him and me. It’s not your concern.”