Way of the Shadows (Shadow Agents #8)(22)
Author: Cynthia Eden

She shook her head. She’d asked him to talk. He’d refused. Now… Now she just wanted to keep feeling.

Noelle tossed aside her coat. Kicked off her boots and ditched her socks. She was stripping in front of him, when she’d never had the courage to do this before, not in front of the only two lovers she’d had. She’d been so nervous with them. So afraid.

But there wasn’t any room for fear. Not with him.

Thomas pulled her against him and kissed her again, even as his hands slid over her flesh. His fingertips were rough, callused, but he was so careful as he caressed her. She arched into his touch. Wanting more. Needing more. She needed everything he had to give.

Lies. Truth. She didn’t know the line between them anymore.

She didn’t know what was memory. What was hope. She only knew desire.

He pulled her down onto the rug in front of the fireplace. She could hear the wind howling outside. She could feel the mad drumbeat of her heart, shaking her from the inside.

He ditched his clothes, and then he—he just gazed down at her.

“You’re the most perfect thing that I’ve ever seen.”

No, she wasn’t. Her br**sts were too small. Her legs too long and—

He bent his head and took her nipple into his mouth. A surge of heat had her gasping his name. He kept kissing her breast, licking her nipple, even as his hand slid down her body. Her legs spread for him, and his fingers explored her flesh.

“Warm,” his voice rumbled against her, “so…hot and perfect.”

She felt as if she were burning then. The cold was long gone. Her breath heaved out in pants as he took his time learning her body. Stroking. Licking. Touching.

Kissing.

Everywhere.

Her nails bit into his shoulders. It had never been like this for her before. The passion so intense, her body responding so quickly. Maybe it was the adrenaline. The fear. The fury.

Or maybe it was just the man.

He positioned himself between her legs. His eyes blazed and—

“I need to protect you…”

Understanding dawned for her. She shook her head. “I’m safe.” She was on contraception, and she was clean. All of the agents underwent regular physicals and—

“I’m clean,” he gritted out, “and I want you…more than I’ve ever wanted anyone or anything.”

“Then take me,” she heard herself whisper.

His fingers caught hers and he pinned her hands to the rug. He stared into her eyes, his face a mask of stark need as he thrust inside her.

He drove deep and filled her completely. She gasped at the sensation because it had been so long for her, and sex with her other lovers had never been like this.

Heat. Need. Passion.

He withdrew. Plunged deep. Again and again. Her legs wrapped around his h*ps as she surged up to meet his thrusts. Every hard glide of his body pushed him right over her sensitive core, and her body tightened. Release was close, so very close and—

Noelle screamed when the pleasure hit her. No gentle wave. No crest of release. But an avalanche, which rolled right over her, stealing her breath and making her heart slam into her ribs. She cried out Thomas’s name, so lost in him she could barely see. Her body trembled, spasmed and she held on to him as fiercely as she could.

Then he drove into her once more. He stiffened, and the growl that broke from him was her name.

She tried to focus on him because she wanted to see him in that moment. The hard angles of his face. The pleasure in his eyes.

He bent toward her. He kissed her.

And he kept thrusting.

Her breath caught and she arched toward him. Because she realized the pleasure wasn’t over.

It was just beginning.

* * *

WHEN NOELLE OPENED her eyes, she was still by the fire. The rest of the house was dark, but the fire blazed. Thomas was in front of the hearth, wearing a pair of jeans. He bent forward as she watched and he stirred up the flames.

“The power’s out,” he said, without looking back at her.

A soft cover surrounded her body. She didn’t even know where that cover had come from, but she pulled it closer.

“We should stay down here,” Thomas said, his attention seemingly on the blaze. “It’s warmer here, as long as we keep the fire going.”

Keeping the blanket with her, Noelle sat up. She brought her knees in front of her and watched Thomas.

“I didn’t…mean for that to happen.” His voice was low, rasping, and his shoulders were tense. “I know I pounced on you and—”

“If this is the part where you apologize,” she said, a bit surprised by the bite in her own voice, “don’t. I knew exactly what I was doing and exactly what I wanted.”

He looked back at her.

“You,” Noelle told him simply. “I wanted to be with you.”

He swallowed. She saw the faint movement of his Adam’s apple. “There are things you don’t know about me.”

She lifted her brows at that. “I’d say I know you pretty well by now.” Biblically well.

He glanced toward the fire once more. “You know what you read in the files Mercer gave you, but with me… He wouldn’t have shown you everything.”

Noelle forced herself to take slow, deep breaths. “And why not?”

The flames crackled.

“My father was a solider.” Thomas spoke slowly. “He was a damn good fighter and a good man.” His hand lifted and he stared at it for a second. Then he struck out with a powerful force that seemed to whip through the air around him. His hand was perfectly straight as it moved in a series of fast, hard glides—attacks that were both beautiful…and brutal. “He taught me how to fight when most kids were learning how to read and write. He wanted me to be prepared, always prepared for what life might throw at me.”

She waited.

“My mother didn’t like being a soldier’s wife. She left, and she took me with her.” His jaw hardened. “And he died on his next mission.”

“I’m sorry.” The words felt so hollow to her.

“My dad was good at what he did. His walls were full of medals and commendations. But when he lost us, I think he just stopped caring.” He rubbed a hand over his face. “I realized then just how dangerous love could be to a man. Love makes you weak. Vulnerable.”

She shook her head, even though he couldn’t see the move. “It doesn’t have to be like that.”

“It does…when love becomes an obsession. When it’s all you think about. When you can’t do your mission because you’re seeing a woman in your head. You’re worried about her, thinking about her, and you can’t protect your team, much less yourself.”