Undercover Captor(33)

“You aren’t everyone.” A muscle jerked in his jaw. “You aren’t dying.” His head bent toward her. “You scared me.”

She didn’t think anything scared him.

His lips brushed against hers. “You were dying in my arms. There was nothing I could do.”

Tears stung her eyes. Her father had died in her arms.

“Come back to me.”

Those harsh, rumbling words had her blinking.

And getting lost in the gold of his gaze.

“You think I don’t know,” Drew began as he eased ever closer to her, “when you leave me? I can tell when you slip into your mind, into the past that has left those scars inside you.” His lips thinned. “I don’t like it. Don’t focus on whatever the hell happened to you. Focus on now. On me.”

He kissed her again. Harder. This wasn’t a kiss of comfort. This was a kiss of pure, wild need.

His mouth didn’t hesitate—it took. He was demanding a response from her and, raw and vulnerable from all that had happened, Tina had no barriers to protect herself from him.

So she just...let go.

Her mouth met his. Hungry. Desperate.

Her hands came up and locked around his shoulders. She pulled him against her. She needed him as close as she could get him.

Her heart pounded. Ached.

When he kissed her, she didn’t feel weak. She felt sensual, powerful, alive.

Nothing else mattered in that instant. Desire twisted through her; a want that couldn’t be denied. Her breasts ached, her legs shifted restlessly. She needed to be closer to him.

Needed...him. Her short nails dug into his arms.

His mouth pulled from hers. Just a whisper of a space separated their lips as he growled, “Stay with me.” He began to kiss her neck.

Her breath was fast, it was—

He stilled. “Are you okay? What am I doing?”

And, just like that, he’d done the one thing she’d feared. He’d discovered that she was weak.

So now he was treating her as if she’d shatter too easily.

He stepped back, a hurried, almost clumsy move for a man who usually moved with such grace.

“Tina? Tina, answer me. Are you all right?”

She’d been more than all right a few seconds ago. Unfortunately reality was back. “Kissing me doesn’t kill me.” She’d had other men who treated her as though she was some kind of broken china doll once they’d seen her attack.

His eyes narrowed. “I didn’t...” His hands fisted and he backed up another step. “I don’t mean to be so rough with you.”

She didn’t want him to back away. “I don’t need you to treat me like I’m...I’m going to shatter.”

He stared back at her. Drew seemed to absorb what she said as his eyes narrowed and swept over her face. “I won’t make the mistake again.”

She jumped off the bed. She could taste him on her lips. Desire still pulsed through her blood. A desire that seemed to burn too hot and fast whenever they touched. Was it from the adrenaline? The danger? Something else? “What is happening between us?” Then Tina forced herself to say the painful truth. “You didn’t even notice me before that group took me prisoner—”

He caught her hand. His head moved in a hard, negative shake. “That’s bull. I noticed you every moment.”

He sure hadn’t seemed to see her. Only when he’d been in the lab with her for his checkups, and then he’d been gruff. All business. Never lingering to chat or—

One dark brow rose. “Calling me a liar?” His head tilted to the right as he studied her. “Doc, I’ve wanted you in my bed from the first moment I saw you. I came into your office, expecting some kind of quick clearance check from a stuffy M.D., and the next thing I knew...you were in every dream I had.”

She sure hadn’t expected that. He’d treated her with the same icy indifference that he seemed to show everyone at the EOD.

“Yeah, I noticed you,” he continued, his voice seeming to deepen with memories. “But I knew that you were afraid of me, so I stood back.”

She didn’t deny her fear. What would have been the point? He was a dangerous man. A man who could kill as easily as most men could kiss. There were shadows that clung to him—and always would.

“You’re still afraid,” he charged, “but I’m done with stepping back. You’re not going to get away from me now.”

She hadn’t been the one stepping back a few moments ago. She’d been the one digging her nails into him. Drew had put the brakes on things. Before she could speak, someone was rapping at the door.

Tina’s gaze jumped to the door. It swung open and Dylan, looking at little singed and blistered, came striding inside.