Without Regret (Pyte/Sentinel #2)(43)
Author: R.L. Mathewson

Almost.

“You were telling me about what they were after,” Chris said softly against her neck.

“I was?” she asked, feeling a little confused.

“Mmmhmm,” he said, tracing a line to her ear with his tongue before taking her small lobe into his mouth and lightly suckling it, making it hard for Isabella to breathe never mind think.

A small embarrassing moan escaped her lips before she could stop it, but really when he did that little grazing thing with his teeth she could really care less. She blindly reached out and grabbed his biceps, needing something, anything, to keep herself grounded as he continued his sensual assault. His muscles tightened beneath her touch and she wondered if she affected him as much as he affected her. When she felt the soft gauze pad beneath her right hand she shifted her hand to a gauze free spot.

“What did they want, Munchkin?” Chris asked in a husky whisper that sent chills down her spine. She licked her lips as his biceps bulged even more as he reached up and slid his fingers through her hair. His small groan of appreciation did wonders for her already too sensitive body. She felt her ni**les harden almost painfully and her stomach tingle in anticipation.

Somehow she managed to speak even though the way his head was brushing against her right breast was making her crazy, but she knew she had to answer the questions if she wanted to make any progress here.

She’d planned to answer their questions anyway, granted on her terms, but right now felt like a good time to talk, especially if it meant he would continue to kiss that surprisingly sensitive spot just below her ear.

“Um,” she said, absently giving his arms a gentle squeeze to encourage him. Not that he seemed to need much encouragement. She licked her lips as she forced herself to concentrate on his questions and not on how good his warm wet mouth felt on her. “They contacted me two days ago to buy my program.”

“What’s so special about your program?” he asked, taking his lips away from her neck and she almost cried until he moved to the other side of her neck and started making if feel all nice and tingly.

“It’s um, it’s um,” she swallowed, closed her eyes and took a deep breath before she continued. “It’s called Tattletale. I started it over a year ago when I was bored.

I just wanted to see if I could create a program that could learn from its mistakes as it was used and send constant updates between the source and the application so that every time the program was used anywhere it was up to date, but without human interference.”

“I see,” Chris said, pulling back from her neck and tilting his head slightly so that he could press a kiss to her forehead. “And did it work?”

“Did what work?” she asked, feeling slightly dazed and on fire, needing him to continue kissing her, touching her and doing all the things that she’d always hated and a few that she never allowed any man to do.

He chuckled lightly as he pressed a kiss against her chin. “Did your program work, Izzy?”

She had to snort at that. “Of course my program worked.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she chewed on her bottom lip and let out a long drawn out sigh before she admitted, “It actually did a lot better than I expected.”

“What can it do, Izzy?” he whispered softly, pressing a kiss to the corner of her mouth.

“Everything,” she admitted on a small gasp as he kissed her bottom lip before he flicked it with his tongue.

“What’s everything?” he asked, brushing his lips against hers slowly, teasingly. When she moved to return the kiss he pulled back and she was tempted to tighten her hold on his arms and take what she wanted, but all his attention, her exhaustion and hanging upside down was really taking its toll on her so stayed where she was, hoping he’d return those surprisingly warm soft lips back to hers.

“It can find out anything about anyone. The Tattletale can break into any file, program, and track activity no matter what. Encryption no longer works against it.

Actually, it becomes stronger when it comes up against an encrypted file because it learns and remembers everything adding to its program. The best part is it’s undetectable. It doesn’t work like a virus so all the scans miss it,” she said excitedly. For a year now this had been her secret, and other than the FBI agent and a few colleagues she’d stupidly hinted at her program to, who’d apparently sold her out, she hadn’t spoken about this program in great length with anyone. It was actually kind of nice to be able to speak so freely about her greatest creation.

“And what did the men who contacted you want with it?” he asked as he framed her face between his large warm hands and rewarded her with a brush of his lips against her mouth before pulling back to study her as she answered.

She hesitated, but for only a second. At this point it really didn’t matter what this man and his friends knew. It wasn’t like she was going to give it to them.

She wasn’t. No matter what it was too dangerous to release, something she really should have realized before, especially with the way her program evolved.

“They were interested in its ability to break into a large global network,” she said softly, her eyes never leaving his lips so she didn’t miss it when his lips curved up into a very pleased smile.

“And did they get it, Munchkin?” he asked, his already hypnotic voice dropping another timber and sending a delicious shiver through her body.

“Uh uh, I changed my mind before the meeting,” she said, releasing her grip on his arms to cup his face instead. “Now kiss me.”

With a pained groan he leaned down and took her mouth more firmly this time, but it wasn’t enough. For the first time since her first kiss at eighteen she wanted a real kiss, because she was pretty damn sure that Chris’ kiss wouldn’t leave her bored or grossed out.

Gripping his head a little tighter, she tilted her head to the side, unsure how this was going to work with her upside down, but more than willing to give it a shot as she suckled his bottom lip between her teeth. With a low deep moan he took over the kiss, sliding his tongue in her mouth in a sensual move that left her gasping and panting for more.

His movements were slow, but no less hungry as he devoured her mouth as if he were studying her. When she ran her tongue over his he made a sound somewhere between a groan of satisfaction and hunger that had her toes curling. This kiss felt right, perfect. It was like someone threw a switch and her body came alive. She wanted more.