This was crazy. She was sending out huge signals-like flares on a dark night-without thinking about the consequences. Careful, steady Kay, who always thought before she spoke, was now opening her mouth and wondering what would come out next.
Totally out of her control, as if her mouth was separate from her, run by someone else.
"Yes," she whispered.
Yes!
Finally.
God, he'd waited long enough for Dr. Kay Hudson. Years, it felt. Like fucking forever.
He stood up so suddenly his chair would have fallen if he hadn't caught it. A real feat, when you considered he was having a slight out-of-body experience, as if his head was in another room while all the blood in his body rushed to his dick.
He drew in a deep breath and he felt twelve feet tall. Twelve feet tall, strong as the lion of his nickname, about to bag the biggest prey of all.
Kay.
The instant he'd seen her for the first time, back in DC, a beautiful woman worried sick about her grandfather, he'd been blown away. He'd been doing his duty by this woman, a friend of friends, not to mention that her missing grandfather was an FBI legend and he himself had recently transitioned to the Hostage Rescue Team. He'd have put everything on the line for her anyway.
But goddamn, when he met her coming off the plane from New York, worried and anxious and so fucking beautiful he couldn't take his eyes off her, duty and loyalty to an FBI teammate faded and he knew he'd do absolutely anything to help this woman, no matter what.
And then it turned out she was not only gorgeous, but smart-smarter than him, for sure-and loyal and kind.
Her grandfather, Al Goodkind, had been kidnapped by FSB fuckers, who had tortured him for info on the whereabouts of Felicity Ward, Goodkind's protégé. But Goodkind was a tough old coot and didn't break, and Nick's guys in ASI found him and saved the day.
And Kay had kissed him.
One hell of a kiss, too. Full-body lip-lock, where their mouths stood in for their sex. Shit, that had been one hot kiss. Nick had been around the block, so one kiss shouldn't have imprinted itself on his brain and on other parts of his body, but it had.
That one incendiary kiss-then Kay disappeared, and fuck if he could get near her again. God knows he'd tried. Half the guys in ASI were laughing at him as he shot to Portland every time he got word that she was going to be there, that there was the possibility of her being there, that she was thinking of going there. He'd also missed her in DC and in New York.
Then he left the FBI and joined ASI. Not to catch her … well, not only for that. Because he loved the guys and the company. It was better than the FBI, more badass. Better bosses. Much, much better pay.
And with a better chance of pinning Kay down.
Because he still hadn't had a repeat of that kiss and he wanted one, badly. And the sad truth was he hadn't even been in the same room as her, much as he'd tried to.
And another sad truth-he hadn't been to bed with anyone since that kiss. Pathetic, but there it was.
Then, out of the blue, yesterday, she'd called him and said she'd be in Portland for some big scientific congress and did he want to have dinner?
Did he want to have dinner with Dr. Kay Hudson? Smart and beautiful and enticing Kay Hudson?
Fuck yes. He wanted to have dinner, then go back to his house and have sex for a couple of weeks straight.
Realistically though, he'd thought it might take the four days of the conference. Taking her out every night, seeing her at the lunch break, being with her every second he could.
ASI was cool with that. Metal O'Brien, Felicity's husband as soon as he could convince her to set the date, told him the brass had cleared the decks for him so he could pursue Kay.
There was even a pool on how long it would take, according to Metal.
They were all rooting for him because they all liked Kay.
He liked her too. That was putting it mildly.
Nick felt a massive connection to Kay that went beyond her red-gold hair, ivory skin and intense sky-blue eyes.
He liked the way she loved her grandfather. Nick came from a very large, very close, very loud family, and he understood that kind of love down to his bones.
He liked the way she talked about her work, not that he understood it. She was a virologist and geneticist-the fuck he knew about genes? Except the fact that his were irresistibly drawn to hers.
He liked that she was such a beautiful woman without being coy about it, without acting like one. Before meeting her, he'd just broken off a semi-relationship with a wannabe model who looked perfect but was empty inside, like a plaster-of-paris person. Kay was real and warm and funny and so sexy she turned him inside out without even trying.