The Cinderella Mission (Family Secrets #1)(34)
Author: Catherine Mann

“Ethan?” Kelly pulled him back to dank, cold present. “Your fifth Halloween?”

He slammed the door on the past and focused on surviving in the present. “Just like any other one, lots of popcorn balls and Pixie Stix.”

“No fair.” She sagged back against him, her hair tickling his nose. Deprived of light, Ethan found his other senses honing tenfold by the second. The scent of her. The feel of her softness.

The sound of her. Especially that.

“Come on, Ethan. I told you all about the year Mom dressed me up like a mini Marie Curie. At least tell me what you wore.”

“I was a clown.”

“A clown?” Her breathing evened out against his chest in a reassuring pattern.

Good. She was relaxing. If he kept talking, maybe she’d fall asleep.

“I wanted to be a cowboy, but Aunt Eugenie had already flown to Paris and bought me this renaissance clown costume.” He’d been so hell-bent on not causing her any trouble so she would keep him, he hadn’t argued. He’d just slapped on the pointy hat and trick-or-treated his bells off.

“I’d love to see the pictures.”

“They all magically disappeared the next year when I dressed up as Houdini.” He’d wanted as few memories as possible of those first months without his parents.

Kelly traced a finger along his hands linked over her belly. “So was Houdini your choice or Aunt Eugenie’s?”

“Mine. Of course she made sure I had some kick-ass tricks to go along with the costume.” He’d realized by then she wasn’t going to send him anywhere. She might not have been the most conventional of parents, but then he’d have driven a conventional parent to the nuthouse inside a year. “The lock pick and handcuffs were a huge hit for this CIA agent in the making.”

Kelly’s yawn echoed. “What else did little Houdini do?”

“Let’s just say I’m not sure Peter ever got over the chemicals I put in his oils.”

“Poor Peter.” Her finger slipped up past the cuff of his jacket. “What kind of chemicals?”

Who’d have thought a wrist could be an erogenous zone. Of course, his whole body felt like one big erogenous zone at the moment. “Stuff that changed colors the warmer it got. He walked around with blue hands for a month.”

Kelly’s whisper-soft laughter filled the cavern, swirled round and came back to tempt him with every echoing repetition.

She snuggled under his chin. “I’m so glad she was there for you when you lost your parents.”

“I was lucky. She stepped in full tilt to take care of me. Strange to think she was my age then, bringing up a five-year-old hellion. My parents didn’t even make thirty-five.” Neither did Celia. His arms convulsed around Kelly. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“I’m not afraid of dying.” Her fingers wrapped around his wrist with surprising strength from a woman who’d seemed three seconds from snoozing off. “Just afraid of dying without making a difference.”

“Damn it, Kelly.” He gripped her shoulders and twisted her round until she sat sideways on his lap and could face him, even if he couldn’t see her. “You’re not going to die. And you’ve already made a difference or Hatch wouldn’t have promoted you to this job.”

Determination radiated from her in waves so strong he almost expected it to light the air. How had he ever thought her timid?

Her hand fell to his hair. “I wish you could let it grow again. Will you do that, after we’re out of here?”

“Sure.” He’d promise her anything right now to give her hope—and if she’d keep touching him.

Kelly feathered her fingers along his scalp. “There are so many things I wanted to do with my life and I’m just sitting here wondering if I was making excuses to keep from going after what I want.”

“What do want, Kelly?” He’d make it happen.

“I want you.”

Those three simple words wielded a sledgehammer to his already diminishing self-control. Thoughts of losing his parents, losing Celia, possibly losing Kelly, too, had left him too damned aware of how precarious life was. Even on a good day he didn’t excel at denying himself.

And this sure as hell wasn’t a good day.

“Kelly.” He savored her name a second before he savored her lips, savored the taste of peppermint and Kelly.

Her soft moan echoed through their darkened chamber. The world closed in on them. There might never be anyone else if they didn’t get out of this alive.

Ethan anchored her to him as if that would keep her safer. Her tongue met his with more confidence this time than in the greenhouse. She’d taken note of how he liked it when she slid those soft hands under his shirt, around to his back. Even gloved, her touch aroused.

But he wanted to feel undiluted Kelly under his hands. He tore his mouth away to tug his gloves off with his teeth.

“Ethan?”

He was back to her before she could finish her protest, a smart move since just the sound of her voice charged his libido too much, too soon. He nestled her more securely on his lap, felt the warmth of her soft hip against him, wanted to plunge into her softness but knew this wasn’t the time or place. For now, he had other plans for her. Starting with memorizing every inch of her he could touch in their constraining clothes.

Ethan tunneled his hands under her jacket, higher, over skin so silky he could almost see its pearly color. Higher still until he found her br**sts. The taut peaks welcomed him, teasing him with what he couldn’t see but damned well intended to explore.

Kelly swung her knee around until she straddled him. Ethan’s hands shook, not that he let it stop him from finding his way into denim to cup her bottom.

“Ethan?” Silky tones caressed the air.

Her voice. God, what a voice.

“Yeah, Kel?”

“Please say you have protection in your wallet.”

He did. But they weren’t going to get in a position to need it. He wasn’t so far gone that he’d lost sight of keeping her safe. “We’re not going to do anything.”

A small whimper of protest slipped free.

“I have something else in mind for you.”

“What—”

“Shh.” He silenced her with his mouth, or maybe it was the stroke of his fingers gliding forward in her jeans, flicking her snap and zipper free to give him easier access lower. Much lower where he discovered her hot, wet, ready.