One Sizzling Night(9)
“Don’t tell me you wouldn’t do the same if the roles were reversed.”
She nodded, doing her best not to put up the controlled mask she wore whenever she was uncomfortable. “I’ll keep moving forward out here. If Holstrom doesn’t call by tomorrow, I’ll give him another reminder.”
“Let’s hope we have a break on this end and you can leave Boston without ever seeing the bastard again.”
What Kensey wouldn’t give for that outcome. “One more thing. I’m curious. Do you know much about Logan McCabe? Other than he’s an old friend of Sam’s and that he’s ex-military. There’s shockingly little about him that comes up in a traditional search.”
“No, I don’t. Sam has never said, but I’m pretty sure he wasn’t just in special operations. I think he was in black ops. That means he’s smart as hell, cagey and I wouldn’t want to mess with him.”
“Black ops? That’s CIA stuff, right?”
“I think so, yes. But again, Sam hasn’t said. Either she doesn’t know, or she’s not allowed to say.”
Kensey thought about Logan and his Pliny the Elder beer. How he’d looked at her when he’d seen her in her warrior dress. His easy smile. He was fit as hell, but lots of men were. But black ops, though? That put him in a very special league.
She smiled. “Okay. So, I don’t need to worry about him.”
“I never said that.”
Her cheery facade vanished. “Well, that’s helpful. Should I be worried?”
“No. Just careful.” Neil frowned. “Is he giving you trouble?”
“No. It’s just unsettling sharing the place with a stranger.”
“I know,” he said, using his professor voice. “Remember, you’re not alone in this. So don’t push Holstrom too far. He’s a tricky prick.” Neil leaned back. “Tell you the truth, I feel better knowing you have someone like McCabe around.”
Kensey wasn’t sure she agreed or wanted to think about what that meant regarding the risk she was taking, so she just nodded.
“Unless something breaks tonight, I’ll speak to you tomorrow.”
Long after they’d disconnected, she sat staring at the blank gray wall.
5
UNSURPRISINGLY EXHAUSTED, LOGAN put his key in the door, looking forward to a quick shower then dinner with Kensey.
He didn’t give a damn about what was on the menu. He’d eaten more army rations than he cared to think about. All he wanted was to talk to Kensey. Get to know her better. Then have a lot of sex.
Music met him with a bang. Hard rock, served very loud. Was she nuts?
He headed straight into the living room.
Shit.
There she was. Wearing really tiny black yoga shorts. And a white tank top, which looked a great deal like the undershirts in his dresser drawer. They looked much better on her.
She was on a yoga mat, doing a handstand with her legs curled round over her head so that her feet touched her forehead.
The scorpion was a bitch of a pose. Especially for men. He knew. He’d used yoga a lot during his deployments and kept up with it at home. Keeping limber was one of the first truly valuable lessons he’d learned in self-defense. But he’d never listened to AC/DC while trying to find his spiritual center.
Of course, he was mesmerized. By her perfect form, her perfect body. She couldn’t see him from this angle, and he didn’t move, afraid to startle her lest she hurt herself. But mostly, he was just in awe. No training at all, she’d said. What a load. She was in better shape than some Navy SEALs he knew.
As he watched, she raised her legs into a regular handstand and did a few elbow dips. Then, boom, the music changed to typical yoga crap. A few seconds later, she shifted so that she was balancing the weight of her body entirely on one hand. A single-handed handstand. Every part of her body was stunning, her balance superb and she could call him McBabe every other minute, it wouldn’t stop him from getting hard.
“Hello?” she said, still on just the one hand and unable to look his way.
“Just me. Sorry. Didn’t mean to disturb you.”
“No problem.”
“I’ll leave you to it, then.”
“Wait.”
He knew she couldn’t see him, yet she had sensed someone was standing there and had stayed completely cool. Just like yesterday when she’d been wearing nothing but a towel. Interesting. “Yeah?”
“Are you always early? I mean, is it a thing? A little OCD maybe?”
“No. In fact, I only started doing it to annoy you.”
“Ah,” she said, still on the one damn hand. The way her muscles shifted to keep her balance was like an intricate ballet. “Thought so.”
“Change of subject, while you’re in a conversational mood. Think you could teach me that?”
“Sure. Give me about ten years, and voilà—you’ll be a yoga master.”
“Ten years. Ha. I get it. That’s a joke.” Okay, smartass. Game on. “No seriously. How about that thing you were doing a minute ago?”
“The scorpion?”
“Yeah.”
“Maybe. Can you do a handstand?”
“I’m ex-military. I can do fifty before breakfast.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s called cheerleading, but, hey, to each his own.”
“Again. Funny. Anyway, I’ll wait until you’re done. Wouldn’t want you to hurt yourself and blame me.”
She transitioned into a double-handed handstand, then lowered herself into a sitting position in one of the most graceful moves he’d ever seen. “Take off your shoes,” she said.
He didn’t think twice about it, just took ’em off where he stood.
“Do you want to change first?”
“Damn. I forgot to pack my yoga clothes.”
“Okay.” A faint smile tugged at her lips. Oh, yeah...she was gonna put him through the wringer. “Let me see your handstand.”
Something occurred to him that he should’ve considered before he’d opened his mouth. He was a little hard and that was going to make things difficult. “You know what? I interrupted your routine, which was really thoughtless, so I’ll just—”
“Why McBabe, you surprise me.”
Logan sighed. At least his cock was calming down. “You’re going to use that all the time, aren’t you?”
“Probably. Just to annoy you.” She got to her feet. Not like regular humans did. Like goddesses rose from those giant lily pads. “I can go get a towel and wipe down my mat if you’re afraid of girl cooties.”
“I think I can handle it,” he said and met the challenge in her eyes with one of his own.
Her gaze held for a moment, and then she was all business. “Okay, come on over.”
He walked to the middle of the living room, right in front of the fireplace. The sound of some hippie playing the flute filled the space, but the walls weren’t in tune. They had been when AC/DC had nearly broken his eardrums. Now they’d turned to a brick red and pulsed like a heartbeat.
“Put one foot in front of the other,” she said. “Lift your back leg up and raise your arms straight out in front of you so your body forms a T.”
He obeyed and made no further comment. But she was close. Next to him, walking around him, and he could smell her. Her scent was so utterly feminine it made him a little shaky.
“Steady,” she said, her shoulder briefly brushing his arm. “Now put your leg down and press your palms on the ground with arms straight. Gently rock forward and back. Inhale forward, exhale back until you feel steady enough to lift one leg off the ground. There you go.”
She touched his arm again. Her palm was soft and warm against his skin, and the feel of it momentarily threw him off.
He breathed in, exhaled slowly, then not only got one leg up, but two. And he started arching them backward.
She moved her hand to his thigh. To help guide him. But it was unexpected.
He fell. Hard.
“Logan.” She was on her knees in two seconds. “Are you okay? Oh, God.” She touched his chest, quickly drew back her hand. “Where does it hurt?”
“I’m fine.”
“Nothing broken?” She probed his arm with featherlight fingertips, her green eyes dark with concern.
He knew he should reassure her that he was okay but he didn’t want her to stop touching him. Or to move away. He could feel her breath on his jaw, her body heat warming his skin. All he wanted to do was kiss her. “Logan?”
“I’m okay.”
“Promise?” Her lips parted as they almost met his. They shared a breath, back and forth.
He had a second to wish he’d shaved before he kissed her, but in that moment he saw uncertainty flicker in her eyes. So he did a quick kick up. From horizontal to vertical in the fastest way he knew how.
Kensey was still on the floor, but he could see her stunned expression. Which shifted to pissed off. Whether it was because he’d stopped the kiss or she thought that he’d played her, he couldn’t tell.
He was pretty sure he’d find out.
* * *
“COME ON,” LOGAN SAID, extending a hand to her, as if she needed help to stand. “You know I’m ex-military.”
After batting him away, she got to her feet. “Yeah, because everyone in the military is completely fit and knows how to do kick ups.”