Chapter Three
It took a lot to shake Tia, as hardcore of a bitch as she’d become over the years, but seeing Jake in Chase’s office, so sinfully handsome in his golden way, was enough to make her want to vomit from stress. And to hear she was now his partner made her want to pass out.
She clutched the doorknob, knees weak, afraid to do anything more than think about breathing. Sure, she knew there was a chance they’d see each other again if they worked in the same office. They’d pass in the hall, on a job, and she’d say she was sorry and remind him that she’d pay ounce for ounce in flesh for his humiliation in Paris. When he was over Blondie, of course.
As she had opened the office door, she’d known seeing Jake in Chase’s office didn’t bode well for her future. Jake had a partner. One he loved. One that was married. So why were they both here, unless one of them was going to bitch her out for what she did to Jake? But then Chase had introduced her as Jake’s new partner and blew that theory out of the water. She almost would have preferred being bitched out for Paris.
Jake had to be pissed. So pissed. She blinked and steeled herself, expecting Jake to glare, explode, rage, and then hurt her. Something besides stare at her as if she was a pixie or a space alien. Isn’t that what men did when they were pissed?
He stared, lips parted, so deep in thought, looking almost…wistful. And finally, he blinked long lashes over his blue eyes, and the moment passed.
“Karma’s a bitch, isn’t she?” Jake said softly in that sexy drawl of his, then laughed, hard, slapping his hand on his thigh. “I fucking hate Paris.”
“Come in, Tia. Sit.” Her new boss stared, eyes narrowed, at her new partner. Tia shut the door and sat in the chair next to Jake. “My sentiments on Paris seem to be contagious. My wife said the same thing when she came home, and that’s all she would tell me. Perhaps you should fill me in on why?”
If Tia had ever felt sorry for Jake before, it increased tenfold. She would have told Chase anything to get him to stop staring at her if the roles were reversed. He terrified her, and it took a hell of a lot to make her shake in her boots.
“Ask Kate,” was all Jake said, not breaking under the scrutiny. He didn’t even look mildly upset. He had balls; she had to give him that.
Tia glanced at Chase’s folded hands, at the simple wedding band on his left hand, and sucked in a breath as she put two and two together. Oh, Jake. How stupid to fall for your partner when she was your boss’s wife. Your best friend’s wife, no less.
Now Tia did feel bad. Not only did she practically rape him and leave him bound in Paris, but this Kate obviously did something, said something that made Chase pull her from service. She didn’t think Chase knew Jake was in love. Jake wouldn’t be alive.
But that meant Jake was stuck with her.
She had no idea what Chase knew, but she felt the need to save Jake’s ass. She brushed a strand of hair from her face and hoped it hid the tremor in her hand as she braved up. “He hates Paris because of me.”
“Really?” Chase leveled his predatory gaze on her.
She refused the urge to sink deeper into her chair. He missed nothing. She stocked that away for future reference. There was no pulling the wool over this one’s eyes. “I sort of left him in a compromising position that your wife had to take care of.”
“Really?” Chase looked to Jake. “How compromising?”
Jake closed his eyes for a moment, then took a deep breath and took out his phone. Tia’s cheeks flamed as she realized he had to be finding a picture of himself bound and gagged. Her handiwork. He scrolled to something and tossed it on Chase’s desk.
“Kate thought you’d enjoy this,” Jake said, gesturing to the phone. Tia had to hand it to him, as embarrassed as he should be, Jake didn’t look anything more than mildly uncomfortable about the whole thing. But then, maybe showing his picture would draw Chase away from realizing Jake wanted to fuck his wife in the worst way.
Tia’s cheeks burned with heat, her neck flushed as Chase picked up the phone and his brows arched over surprised eyes. She’d never bound a man and left him before. It was a little mean. Okay, a lot mean.
“No wonder she hates Paris,” Chase said very softly, a small glimmer of amusement playing about his lips. He slid the phone across the desk to Jake, then glanced at Tia. “I take it he didn’t consent to playing hostage.”
As much as Chase terrified her, she refused to look at Jake. “We didn’t negotiate limits, sir. But he consented to my most twisted, sight unseen, so…”
Chase laughed and Tia jumped. “If you can bind that one, you’re a hell of a good agent.”
“Thank you, sir. I think.” She still didn’t dare look at Jake.
“Take it as a compliment. He’s a handful to work with. Kate’s said as much for the past year.” Chase practically beamed at her. “Now he’s all yours.”
****
They sat in Jake’s truck in the parking complex later, Jake scrolling messages on his phone, Tia sitting shotgun. Jake had no clue where they were going. Chase was big on team building bullshit. He would prefer to take her to the club and just be done with the sexual tension between them, but Chase would have a cow if he did that on company time.
He owed Tia. Giving him the opportunity to show Chase his bondage photo put his affection for Kate deep enough under the radar so his friend wouldn’t kill him. At least not until Kate was speaking to Chase. That bought Jake time to come up with a plan to put Kate’s mission for him in play.
Tia looked out the window, watching a group come off the elevator, probably heading to a meeting or something, since it was way too early for lunch. She hid her emotions as well as Chase, behind exotic, almond-shaped eyes that glared in his direction.
Jake decided to break the ice, but he’d be damned if he’d let what happened in Paris go quietly. “So you going to tell me why you fled?”
“I told you why. It wasn’t working.” Tia gave a sharp laugh. “I told you I’d pay the punishment. But really, you deserved it for leaving me just as vulnerable.”
“At least I uncuffed you!”
“If I released you, would you have let me walk away?”
No, he wouldn’t have. He would have fucked her senseless and would have missed his plane to Budapest, which would have pissed off both Kate and Chase. Jake sighed and checked his phone again.
“I didn’t think so.” Tia looked out the window.
The silence returned, and if his life were a bad B movie, there’d be crickets in the truck.
Jake’s thoughts turned to Kate and how pissed she had to be, how scared, and how lonely since she wasn’t talking to Chase. Kate didn’t make friends easily. Who did when they were a spy? Charlotte was still across the pond, working, and he doubted Kate would confide in her. He sighed inwardly. They were friends, first and foremost.
He tossed every ounce of caution into the wind and shot Kate a text. Are you okay?
No, was Kate’s quick response. I hate him, I hate you, and I wish we could just go back in time and change everything.
Jake knew she didn’t hate either of them, but the pain radiated from her text, oozed between the letters and into Jake’s heart. He wanted to go back, too.
Do you need me? It wasn’t probably the smartest thing to ask. If she said yes, he’d go. And if he went…But he couldn’t help himself. Damned if he didn’t like playing with fire. Where are you?
We’re finished. I told you what needed to be done. Do it.
No! He wasn’t finished. I can’t just sit here while your world falls apart.
Yes, you can. You have a mission. Please see to it. Don’t contact me until it’s done.
With that text, he’d been dismissed, the boundary in place, unable to cross over until he found a woman of his own. He’d never felt smaller. More alone. Not in a long, long time.
“Why do you do that to yourself?” Tia asked.
“Do what?” He pocketed the phone and his emotions.
“I know you’re texting her. Blondie. Why? Why invite the pain?” Tia looked away, disgusted.
“I guess I can’t hide my dirty secret from you, partner.”
“You call that hidden? Jake, you could take out a billboard ad on the highway and fewer people would know.” She turned back to him and arched a perfect brow. “You think Chase doesn’t know? That man misses nothing. It’s just a matter of time before that mess blows up in your face.”
“I know. And I’m doing my best to walk away.”
“By texting her? Sure.” Tia snorted. “Is she that much of a bitch that she’d string you along like that?”
Jake bristled. “This isn’t her fault. It’s mine. She was up front from day one about how it would be. Even before Chase, she made it quite clear where I belonged in her life. She wanted a friend, because she knew at that point I would have devoured her and then left her behind, and she would be the one with the broken heart. That sounds conceited, but you know how I go through women. Love wasn’t something I cared about. So that’s all we were—best friends and partners.”
That wasn’t true. It wasn’t that he didn’t care about love. He was afraid of love, probably more than anything he’d ever faced in his life. He knew too well the deep void left behind when love was wrenched away too soon. He closed his eyes and sighed. Losing Chase and Kate… No, not an option.
“So what happened?” Her voice softened, and he heard compassion instead of judgment.
He didn’t want to have this discussion with her, but she was his partner now, like it or not. They had a history, like it or not. “I don’t know. One day, it just changed on my part. I had always been attracted to her, but it was never an issue. Somehow, the feelings went from being her friend, her partner, to being…more. She says—” He swallowed. “She says I’m not in love with her. That what I love is how Chase has changed, and that I want what Chase has. I love her because she’s good for my buddy, and I want that for myself.”
“Isn’t that the same thing? She made Chase change, so wouldn’t you love her?”
“She says it’s not.” Jake looked at her. “And I’m not allowed back in her life until I make things right.”
Tia frowned. “You’re sure Chase doesn’t know.”
“Not yet.”
Tia frowned deeper. “So why did he pull her?”
“She’s pregnant.”
“Yours?” Her brows flew up over her brown eyes as she assessed him.
“Christ, Tia. Give me some credit.”
“I know you’ve slept with her—you had that look in Paris. So it’s not that far of a jump.”
“Never as her lover—only as their third.” Jake met her surprised gaze, and he shrugged. “Chase enjoys that sort of play, and Kate decided she could go there if I was the third.”
“Awkward now, huh?”
Jake shrugged again. It wasn’t awkward. It was miserable torture.
“So what does she want you to do?”
“She wants me to find a woman of my own.” He laughed, and it sounded sharp, bitter. “I thought I was happy. I spent years living this life, loving every minute. The new cities, the adrenaline rush. I never realized down deep that maybe I wanted something different.” Not in years. Not until Kate.
“With a partner like that, you don’t need enemies.”
Jake shot Tia a glare. “It’s not like you’re any nicer to me.”
She winced. “I deserved that.”
“You didn’t have to leave.” It was time to shift the heat back to her, to make himself feel less of a dick. “I would have taken care of you. I wouldn’t have hurt you. Didn’t we spend enough time together for you to trust me with that little gem of information? Jesus, Tia. I should have known you have issues in the orgasm department. There’s nothing I would have wanted more than to help.”
“I know.” She sighed and brushed her hair out of her face. “I don’t trust people easily. And I really thought this time…” She shook her head. “Well, it didn’t happen, and when I realized how badly I had treated you, I was just so ashamed of the lengths I would go to for something so selfish.”
“You’re not selfish. You deserve fulfillment. And we need to work on the trust thing. We can’t be partners and you not trust me.” Jake shifted and stared at his phone again. He deserved fulfillment, damn it.
“So now what?” Tia asked.
“Fuck if I know.” Jake rubbed his forehead. “All I know is that I have to try to make things right and try not to get killed.”
“How? And what makes you think Blondie won’t come running back?”
“She doesn’t feel the same way.” But what if… Kate didn’t want him now, but what if she changed her mind? If she called, he’d go to her. If he went…
No.
Jake felt like the walls of the truck were closing in, stealing his air. He didn’t want to cross the line. They both meant too much to him. He couldn’t lose Chase any more than he could lose Kate. He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. If he didn’t want to cross the line, then he needed to go away. Somewhere far enough away that if Kate changed her mind, he couldn’t return quickly. And then he could get his head back in the game.
Home. He had to go home. Now.
He texted Chase quickly. You need to clear me for a long weekend. I’m going home.
You have a partner to train, Chase responded.
Shit, yes, he did. He thought for a moment, and his devious mind came up with a plan that would make both of them happy. Tia was beautiful, and she had easily made him forget Kate for the night. If he brought Tia home with him, she would get her proper orgasm and he would hopefully move on from Kate. Even Chase’s brilliant planning mind couldn’t top that.
I’ll take Tia with me and do that team building crap that you like. I need to go. Clear me or I walk. Chase would know he was desperate. He never threatened to quit unless he was desperate. Jake only hoped he didn’t connect the dots to Kate.
“Texting Blondie again?”
“Nope. Lord of the Spies.” Tia looked skeptical, and Jake said, “Chase. That’s what Kate calls him.”
His phone dinged. What about the house rules?
Damn Chase for remembering. Jake had rules for going home, because any real home had rules, just like the ones his mother had imposed on him. Basically, anything he did in D.C. was off limits on his farm in rural Virginia. And as Chase well remembered from his visits home with Jake, going home meant no sex.
I’ll get around the rules. He’d come up with something that would appease his need to separate work from home. He had over an hour’s drive to figure something out.
Still a bad idea. BAD, was Chase’s answer to that. Yeah, it probably was, on so many levels.
It’s my life to fuck up. Okay, so maybe it wasn’t a great idea. Jake was out of ideas, and he wasn’t the planner Chase was, so home it was if the ass would just clear them.
And then Chase finally replied—You have until Monday. In my office 0900 Tia too.
Jake felt as if the weight of the world had been taken off his shoulders. Now he just had to convince Tia to go. That shouldn’t be too hard. He was a good-looking guy. They had chemistry and a sexual history. She had a quest. He mulled over the options. He’d never taken a woman home before. It wasn’t an option before today. What could he tempt her with? “Do you like horses?”
Tia frowned. “What girl doesn’t?”
“How long has it been since you’ve had a vacation?”
“Never? I don’t know, but there’s no hope of one. I just started.”
Time to move in with the Texan charm. Jake gave her a slow smile, one the ladies liked enough to drop their panties on many an occasion. “Time off and horses have to do with home. I need to go away for the weekend. Chase just cleared me—us—until Monday. I need to go home. And I’d like you to come.”
“Why me?”
Why her… “Because you are my new partner, and if I don’t take you, Chase will be pissed and I’ll do courier runs for the rest of my life. But more importantly, we need to get to know each other. You need to learn to trust me, and what better way than to go home?” He ended with another woman-melting smile. Not exactly romantic, but it was the truth for a change.
Tia wasn’t buying it, given that she crossed her arms over her chest and turned to arch a shapely brow.
Jake tried a different angle, same smile. “You and I, we have unfinished business. This would be the perfect opportunity to work on getting you that proper orgasm. A long weekend away, no work. Lots of relaxing under my favorite oak tree. Massages. Horses. Hot sex. Doesn’t it sound perfect?” And for good measure, he touched her thigh with the pads of his fingers, just the smallest, gentlest brush, one that would send shivers down her spine.
“No.”
No? The charm that worked luring women to his bed didn’t seem to be effective with Tia and it pissed him off. “Why the hell not? I’m offering horses and a proper orgasm. I could book a hundred women for this weekend on that alone.”
“Then book it, Tex. I’m asking Chase for another partner as soon as I get out of this vehicle. I’m not going to be second best to his wife. Not as your partner or in your bed.”
He sighed, hating that he had no relationship skills to speak of. He was flying blind, no radar, no ground support. He decided to go complimentary and see where it landed him. “You’re not second best. You have copious experience as an agent, and you must be damned good or Chase wouldn’t have hired you. I got Kate as a rookie. I already know what you bring to my bed, and no one can top that.”
“Copious?” She glared harder.
“I know a few big words.”
“We both know you’d choose Kate if Chase would let you, rookie or not, so…”
Well, shit. He decided it was best to use Kate’s advice and just not mention her at all. He glanced at Tia. The way her hair tumbled over her shoulder reminded him of how she had looked, straddling his cock, so gorgeous. “All I’ve thought about since Paris is your half-naked body over mine, and how I couldn’t touch you. I want to touch you. All weekend.”
She pursed her lips, not impressed. “I’m not stupid, Anderson. You’re so smooth, lying through your teeth as you sit there, trying to seduce me while you’re thinking about Blondie. You forget, though, I’m trained to read between the lines. I won’t be second best.”
“You’re not second anything.” He pounded the steering wheel softly with a closed fist and then ran a palm over his face. “Okay, you want the truth? The truth is I can’t do this anymore. I’m in agony. I think of her, and then I have flashes of you, half-naked in those fucking crotchless panties, hovering over my face. I saw that image today, as you walked into Chase’s office, and I had an instant hard-on.
“My life is not working. I can’t sleep. All I think about is when I can fuck either one of you, and I am at the point where I don’t care if Chase kills me or not. That’s a bad, bad place, and I’m not proud that I’ve sunk this low. So what you are is the woman who makes me forget her. And that’s what I want. To forget.”
Her glare lessened, and she almost looked sympathetic. “So you’re going to use me to banish Blondie.”
“I’m not using you.” When she put it that way, it did sound bad. “You’re going to help me. You get something out of it, too, remember. You’ll get your proper orgasm.”
“Jake.” She pursed her lips and then shook her head. “This is just wrong. I can’t go. I’m sorry.”
Something inside him snapped. Charm didn’t work with her. The truth wasn’t working, either, so he was going to play dirty. And he knew exactly what buttons to push.
He turned to stare at her, his expression very stern. He adopted his Dom voice, the one that didn’t accept no from her or any other woman. “You will come home with me. That will be your punishment. You said I could punish you however I wanted for Paris and you’d pay in flesh. You said I could have a weekend of you. This is what I want.”
“If you were over Blondie. You forgot that important bit.” But her voice wasn’t as strong as before, and he knew her inner submissive was cringing at not giving him what he demanded. Oh, yes, she was so his.
“Well, I’m not going to get over her until you come home with me, and if you don’t come home with me, your punishment will be that you live out your darkest fantasy in my bed. Knowing you, your darkest fantasy is probably not something you want to live out.”
Tia sucked in a breath as she stared at Jake. Oh, she hated it when men pulled the Dom card on her. She trembled just a little in her seat, a mixture of fear and desire tingling up her spine. She didn’t want to go home with him, but how could she say no to that voice? That commanding voice with no hint of Texan charm had talked her through many fantasies, had extracted delicious punishment countless times. That voice was connected to the man who had almost made her come.
She shifted under the heat of his stare. She didn’t want to live out her darkest fantasy in his bed, either. That was something she kept locked up, deep in her mind. She wasn’t going there with him. But home…just the word home smacked of relationships and love and all that crap spies couldn’t have.
Jake tapped the steering wheel with his fingers in a show of impatience. “Home or darkest fantasy. Choose now, because I’m leaving, and we’re either going to the club to start your darkest fantasy or I’ll let you go home to grab whatever you need for the weekend.”
“All I have to do is go home with you.” It sounded way too easy. In her experience, nothing that sounded easy ended up being that way. She was almost willing to bet him a year’s paycheck this would end up being the weekend from hell.
“That is your punishment. I want you to come home with me.” His eyes darkened like a stormy sea, and she caught her breath on the gaze he leveled in her direction. So lustful that her panties were damp with moisture. “I also intend to spend the weekend fucking you, licking every inch of your body, making you scream with pleasure. It’s not like we haven’t had sex. You know you’ll enjoy every minute.”
Tia closed her eyes. He’d changed from his Dom voice back to Mr. Persuasive, that drawl low and sexy in her ear, and the thought of him licking every inch of her body interested several areas. Her pussy throbbed, her panties were soaked. Her breasts chimed in, aching in time to the throb in her core. She licked her dry lips and crossed her legs, pressing her thighs together to quell the urge. “And Monday it’s over.”
“If that’s what you want.” His hand inched up her thigh, the heat of his palm burning her skin though her leggings. He stopped a fingertip’s length from her crotch, and she wanted him to bury his fingers inside her. Now.
“Is it really so bad, spending the weekend with me? You get a vacation and a little something extra. I get to clear my brain and not get myself killed, because if I stay here, I’m going to do something stupid. If Chase kills me, you end up with a new partner, and then you’re screwed because the only one who’s been without a partner is Crazwalski and he makes me look like the King of Vanilla. You game?”
“Which one is Crazwalski?”
“The one in the office you knew from the club.”
“He’s hot.” A little shorter than Jake, wiry but well-muscled, beautiful hazel eyes. Probably deadly to boot. Tia could work with this Crazwalski guy. “I can work with hot.”
“Charlotte says he has quite the range of sexual needs. She’s been his partner short-term, so she would know, not that she’d give him the time of day. You don’t want that.” My, Jake looked…jealous.
“And that would scare me away? Seriously?” Tia snorted. “Anyway, I wouldn’t plan on fucking him.”
Jake growled. “Tia. Darkest fantasy or home. Pick.”
Tia sighed. What choice did she have? Jake offered her pleasure, a proper orgasm. And though she didn’t approve of the mess he’d gotten himself into, she didn’t want him to get killed. She didn’t allow her body to vote, but if it had one, she’d definitely be outvoted. Every inch of her wanted him to fuck her senseless, and as far as her body was concerned, he could start the long weekend right now, here, in the back seat.
Yep, she had no choice. She sighed. “I know I’m going to regret this, but I’ll go.”