The Cinderella Mission (Family Secrets #1)(20)
Author: Catherine Mann

What language would she curse in the first time she had to kill someone?

His gut twisted until his breathing constricted. That was a language he hoped she’d never have to learn.

With any luck, no one would ever suspect this woman was an operative. That innocence could prove to be her ultimate cover to keep her safe.

Until assignments took their toll and jaded her as they did other agents.

Then she would need every bit of expertise to stay ahead of the next bullet. Time in the field was often short for agents. Eventually they either died or blew their cover. He’d already pushed it too close with his last assignment.

How long would Kelly last?

Ethan looked at her sweet face and mourned the day she would lose her innocence. “You’re so damned young.”

She slumped back against the door. “Then why do I feel so very old?”

He braced a hand over her head. He resisted the impulse to drop it just an inch lower and toy with her hair. Strands fell loose from the ponytail, swaying against her cheek.

Framing her eyes.

Vulnerable eyes.

Worse yet, disillusioned eyes.

Ethan frowned. Had that always been there? He looked deeper and realized that while she might be inexperienced, she wasn’t completely innocent. Someone had hurt her. And that stirred a surge of anger so strong it scared him.

Why had he never noticed before?

Because he’d been too much of a selfish jerk to look. In all those lunches, he’d never once asked her about herself. He’d just gone with the assumption someone as shy as Kelly would rather not be pushed.

A convenient excuse to keep things superficial.

Even now, all this soul-searching made him itchy. Ethan shoved away from the wall and ushered her inside the gym. He shrugged out of his jacket and pitched it over a StairMaster before charging over to the weight machines. “Are you up for a few more reps before we quit for the day?”

She draped her jacket over his, flinging her wooly white mittens on top. “Bring it on, Williams.”

Ethan started for the ThighMaster, then decided his libido couldn’t take the reality of Kelly in any kind of suggestive position. He opted for the leg press instead.

Kneeling, he set the weights at one hundred and ten pounds, twenty pounds lower than earlier, but she’d withstood a hell of a workout like a real trooper.

What other surprises did Kelly Taylor have tucked under all her clothes and hair? “Tell me about where you’re from.”

“Not much to tell.” She slid onto the padded seat. Feet flat on the press, she pumped, exhaling on the exertion as he’d taught her. “You probably already know most of it. I’m an only child, born late in my parents’ lives, so they had lots of time to spend with me. The whole perfect childhood thing.”

“What about college?” Ethan snagged two sixty-pound weights off the rack and began alternating bicep curls. “Did you go all wild and crazy when you broke away from home?”

He’d raised more than his share of hell at the University of Chicago with his three best buds. The Blues Brothers, they’d been labeled by women for their taste in music and track record with relationships. Christ, that had been so long ago, back when he let more than a handful of people into his life.

Back when he knew better than to think the miniscule amount of friendship he’d offered Kelly counted. “Well, Kel? Did you cut loose like most freshmen?”

She continued the steady reps, but a smile flickered across her face.

Ethan’s arms slowed in time with his seeping realization. “You did! You had your great rebellion.” Still she didn’t answer. He dropped his weights back onto the rack with a clang. “Spill it, woman, or I’m increasing those weights.”

“I got a tattoo.”

Thank God he’d put the weights away or he’d have dropped them on his feet. “No way.”

Nodding, she swooshed the weights higher, faster.

“Where?”

She smiled.

Ah, hell.

He searched for a safer subject. “What did you get? A kitten, maybe?”

“Nope.”

“A rose?” Yeah, a pretty pink bud, rosy tipped… Sweet heaven.

She shook her head.

He lamented the loss of the rose. Probably for the best. “What did you pick?”

Her sultry grin made her look as old as Eve. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

More than he wanted air. “I guess that means you’re not going to tell me. You’re a wicked woman, Kelly Taylor.”

“Not hardly.” She jammed the weights up with vicious force.

Ethan focused on the rise and fall of the weights and pulleys to keep his attention off checking out her body to catalogue possible locations for that not-a-rose tattoo. Even thinking about it set his world off-kilter. Tipped the whole damned room until even the machines…

Tilted?

“Kelly!” Adrenaline flamed through him as he flung his body between her and the weights tumbling toward them.

Chapter 6

Air rushed from Kelly’s lungs. From the force of her fall or the bulk of Ethan’s weight, she didn’t know or even care since she couldn’t breathe yet.

Her ears echoed with the clang of metal.

Clang of metal?

Her head anchored sideways, she slowly opened her eyes. Weight disks lay scattered over the floor.

Fear slammed into her, heavier than the hundred and ninety pounds of muscular man on top of her. Those blocks of metal would have rolled over her if Ethan hadn’t acted so quickly.

A new fear cranked within her. She grabbed his shoulders. “Are you all right? Did any hit you?”

“I’m fine.” One hand cupping her head, he skimmed his other hand down her arm. “And you?”

“I’m okay.”

“The maintenance crew responsible for the weight room can be damned grateful, because I’m already going to have their—”

“Ethan!” She silenced him with her hand over his mouth. “I’m fine.”

Totally fine. Feeling far too good at the moment with his hot hands searing an even hotter brand onto her skin. His leg pressed between her legs so firmly she couldn’t tell if the throbbing pulse came from him or her.

Her hand slid from his mouth, but the heat of his lips lingered until her body flamed like in the overheated hot tub. He moved his leg. Not much, just a firmer pressure, closer. Her breath hitched. His pupils dilated with unmistakable arousal, an arousal echoed by the increasing need pressed into her belly.

He wanted her.

Ethan Williams wanted her.