His hands came up, cupping the sides of her face. “It’s for the mission.”
She found herself nodding. Yep. For the mission.
He lowered his head and his lips were on hers.
The whole world seemed to drop off, and all that mattered was the heat that flashed through her. His fingers wound in her hair and she felt surrounded by him. He turned the kiss deep and utterly carnal, his tongue surging into her mouth and coaxing hers to dance.
One of his hands moved down her back to her waist, pulling her in even closer so she could feel the hard planes of his chest against her breasts, crushing her deliciously to him.
He kissed her one last time and then whispered. “That should do it. I think if I kiss you like that a few more times, there won’t be any doubt as to how much I want you, how much I am unwilling to give you up. For anything.”
He moved to her side again, and there was a lazy smile on his face as Deanna stood staring at them, one hand on her hip.
“If you’re done, we should go in to dinner,” she said, her irritation plain.
“Oh, I’m not done. Not even close.” He brought Nina’s hand up to his lips. “But I’ll behave for now.”
His fingers tangled with hers and he started toward the dining room.
She suddenly had the unnerving feeling he wasn’t talking about the mission at all.
She took a deep breath because if JT had decided to fight dirty, she wasn’t sure she could win.
* * * *
It was all about sex. That was how he would get to her.
Dinner had flown by. He was sure it had all been delicious, but it hadn’t mattered. It could have been undressed kale salad with a bit of dirt clinging to it for all he’d tasted the food. All he’d been able to think about was her, but then that was pretty much his whole life right now. Nina twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
He wasn’t sure how he would get through the next few days without making a complete fool of himself since everyone could tell how crazy he was about her.
And everyone could easily see she wasn’t that into him.
“I think dinner went well,” Nina said, emerging from the smaller of the bathrooms. She’d taken it over before he could convince her to stay in the master bedroom.
“Did it?” He hadn’t gotten ready for bed. He’d walked in, wanting to talk to her only to have her disappear, but that was what she’d been doing since the moment she’d found out about his lie.
She hadn’t walked away because he’d acted like an ass about her job. She’d walked because he’d lied to her.
She’d brushed out her hair and taken off her makeup. She was gorgeous with makeup, and she was gorgeous without it. He was rapidly discovering he liked every single version of the woman in front of him. He wanted her whether she was wearing a sexy cocktail dress or the cotton pajama bottoms and tank top she had on now.
“I learned a little more about our suspects, though I don’t think at this point it matters,” Nina said, keeping a careful distance. “Hutch is staying up and he’ll be monitoring the security feed. Sandra is monitoring Drake since they’re worried the tech might disappear if we let him roam.”
“Can’t have free-range operatives,” he murmured. He’d thought about this all day, thought about how to reach her. “I hated today.”
She flushed, her skin going a sweet pink that let him know she wasn’t cold even under her chilly exterior. “I’m sorry. It should be over soon. The North Korean operative is on the island. I’m fairly certain this won’t take the whole week. Then we can be done.”
That was what he wanted to avoid. “I didn’t hate working with you. I hated not being close to you. I hated the fact that you’re frowning and it’s my fault.”
“It’s certainly not your fault.”
“Nina, I lied to you. I thought it didn’t mean anything at the time, and I’m going to be honest. I still don’t fully understand why it hurt you so much, but I want to. I want to understand everything about you so I don’t ever hurt you again.”
She seemed to suddenly find the floor endlessly interesting. “You won’t hurt me again.”
“Because you won’t give me another chance?” There seemed to only be silence between them. “I didn’t say this before but I’m sorry. Whether or not you’re willing to give me a chance, I am so sorry I hurt you. You’re important to me. Your happiness is important to me and the fact that I was the cause of your unhappiness is killing me.”
Her eyes came up, searching his. “Why?”
He would give her nothing but honesty from here on out. No matter how vulnerable it made him. “Because I’m pretty damn sure I’m falling in love with you. I think you’re the one for me and I think I’ll be lonely for the rest of my life if I’m not with you. It’s funny. I was lonely for a long time after Mike went into the Navy. I was used to him being close. He was always there. Since the moment we were conceived, my brother was next to me. I hate the fact that I didn’t see he needed so much more. I’m worried I’m making the same mistake with you.”
“I wouldn’t say I need more. I merely believe…I don’t think this can work between us.”
“Why?” he asked, desperate for the answer. “If you don’t want me, I will back off. It will kill me, but I don’t want to be that guy who tries to force his way into a woman’s life. But if it’s something else, I think we should talk about it.”
She hesitated for a moment. “It’s too much, too fast.”
“What should it be? How much time do you need
