“I didn’t know about the contempt charges,” Carter said as soon as they were alone in the barn.
Calling it a barn seemed wrong. The outside of the place might have been red and rustic, but the inside was as modern as any house. There was a fully stocked kitchen, a living space with an entertainment center and a hayloft that had been converted into a bedroom. The place was so beautiful that Ally almost didn’t want to go outside again.
That was probably what Ramon had been hoping that Sofia’s parents would think when they saw the place too.
“That surprises me,” she said. She kicked off her high heels before turning around to face him. “It had to be there in all the dirt Charlie pulled up on me.”
“Oh I’m sure it was,” he said, taking a step toward her. There was a gleam in his eye that Ally couldn’t quite read and that she definitely didn’t quite trust. “But it looks like she kept it to herself. I’m starting to think you’re something of a hero to her. She was probably afraid I’d treat you differently if I knew you had a criminal record.”
“Would you have?” Ally asked, lifting her chin.
“Not now that I know the story,” he said. “Did you really spend sixty days in jail?”
She waved her hand. “It was only two months,” she said.
“That’s a long time,” he said.
“Longest two months of my life,” Ally said with a joking smile.
Carter didn’t laugh.
“Not everyone would have served the full time, you know,” he said. “Most people would have caved.”
Ally shook her head. “No, they wouldn’t have. There have been dozens of journalists that have spent more time in jail for less.”
“Why do you feel the need to minimize everything you do?” he asked, tilting his head.
“I don’t,” she said. “I just don’t do anything particularly extraordinary. Not like you, Mr. Special Forces. I’m just a journalist.”
“No, you’re a hell of a lot more than that,” he said. “And I’m sure the Garcias would agree with me.”
Ally was damned sure that the Garcias had never looked at her the way Carter was looking at her now. It felt like the temperature in the room had jumped a good twenty degrees.
“I was just doing my job,” she said. Hadn’t he said the same to her once?
“Ramon and Sofia are lucky to have you,” he said.
Now she knew he had to be joking. “Yeah. They’re crazy lucky to have two fugitives hiding out in their backyard. You’ve got a strange idea of lucky.”
“Persons of Interest,” he corrected her.
Ally laughed in earnest. She leaned against the arm of the couch. He still hadn’t moved more than a few steps from the door. It was like he was content just to watch her.
No, it was more than that, Ally realized. He was studying her.
Well, as long as he was trying to figure her out, she figured it wouldn’t hurt if she tried to do the same to him.
“So, tell me,” she said, propping her arms straight by her side and leaning back. “Why did Charlie say you weren’t funny?”
“Because I’m not,” he said, his voice deadpan. “At least not around anyone else. You seem to bring out a lot in me that no one else does.”
Ally tilted her head. “Is that a compliment?”
“It’s a confession.” His eyes turned darker, and Ally felt her cheeks start to warm.
She stood up from the couch.
Carter moved across the room toward her. Something had changed. The mood was different in the room.
It was the kiss. It had to be. This was the first time they’d been alone since it happened.
The drive out here in the car didn’t count. They’d been too concerned with getting away from Lucas and staying alive to indulge in longing-filled gazes.
And Carter had been concerned, but still he’d trusted her. He’d come out to the Garcias’ house on nothing more than her word. He didn’t make any phone calls, didn’t double check with his team. He’d just believed in her.
He wouldn’t have done that yesterday. Hell, she wasn’t even sure if he would have believed her three hours ago.
But he’d done it tonight. Something had changed.
And Ally wasn’t sure it was because of the rousing speech she’d given him at dinner.
Not with the hungry gleam that was currently shining in his eyes.
Carter moved at a slow steady pace across the room, taking his time. The picture of a giant cat stalking through the tall grasses of the Savanna flashed in Ally’s mind.
So if Carter was a lion, what did that make her?
Someone that needed to back the hell up, that’s what.
Ally moved into the kitchen, and started opening cupboard doors. Taking inventory was as good a distraction as any.
“Looks like this place has all the essential hardware,” she said, closing the pantry door. “We’ll have to make a quick run into town for groceries tomorrow, but other than that, we can hole up here as long as we need to.”
“Sounds good.” Carter was close behind her, his voice practically brushing past her ear. Ally knew that if she spun around he would be right there, maybe just a couple of feet away. And if she took a step toward him she could wrap her arms around him again and…
Instead, Ally took a step to the side, and headed into the living room.
There was even a little computer desk pushed into the space between the back of the couch and the beginning of the kitchen.
She should check out what Charlie had found on the drive. That’s what she should do. And she should start right away.
It would only be fair after all the hard work that Charlie had done for her. And that it would eat up at least a couple of hours alone with Carter…well, that was just an added benefit.
She turned around to ask Carter for the flash drive.
But he was right behind her again. Just inches away this time. So close that she could reach out and touch his chest if she wanted to. Push her hand under the material of his jacket and feel the steady pounding of his heart.
Funny how much she wanted to feel that again. How bright that simple desire burned inside her.
Yeah, she needed a distraction, and she needed it now.
She opened her mouth to ask for the drive, but he spoke first.
“Why are you running from me?”
“I’m not—”
He slid his hand around hers, interlacing their fingers, but made no other move. He didn’t pull her close, or wrap his hand around her nape again. None of the things that her body was screaming for.
“Yes, you are,” he said. “Why?”
Ally glanced down at the floor, but when she looked up again his gaze hadn’t shifted. He was still there, nothing but patience and desire in his eyes. Damn but that was a potent combo.
“I never thanked you for saving my life,” she said finally.
“That’s not what we’re talking about,” Carter said, his voice firm but patient.
“It’s what I’m talking about,” she said, cobbling together all of her courage. Ally figured if she was demanding honesty from him, then she owed him nothing less…no matter how much she’d rather avoid it. “Hear me out.”
His eyes widened, but he didn’t pull away from her. If anything, his fingers tightened their grip.
“Go on,” he said.
“I’m sure I seem like an ungrateful pain in the ass. I don’t think I’ve thanked you for any of it—the hotel room, the dress, the spa day, dinner. I think at this point I owe you more than I bring home in a year.”
Carter shook his head as he moved closer. “Don’t worry about it. It’s my pleasure.”
“That’s the trouble,” Ally said, scooting back a step. “I’m not sure it is.”
His lips became a flat straight line. Ally swallowed past the lump that was quickly growing in her throat.
“Ally, I already promised you, no more lies of omission.”
“I’m not accusing you of lying,?
?? she said, her voice tight. “But you shielded me from bullets with your body. Who the hell does that?”
“Someone who is trained to,” he answered.
“That’s my point,” Ally said. “It was your job to save my life, so you did it. It was your job to take care of me, so you did. To you this is just another day at the office. But this isn’t my reality, Carter. My heart doesn’t know how to separate duty from real emotion.”
His eyes narrowed, his gaze intensifying. Ally took another step back as he moved closer. Then her legs hit the back of the couch and, suddenly, there was nowhere left to run.
“It was never my job to protect you,” he said. “No one is paying me to keep you alive.”
Ally lifted her chin. “But it’s in the best interest of your company. We need each other, remember?”
His eyes snapped to her lips at the word need. Suddenly, Ally’s tongue felt heavy in her mouth. She bit into her lip, almost frightened to say anything more.
Carter inched closer, his legs pressing against hers, his body almost flush against her.
“Oh, I remember,” he said, his voice so low that it seemed to rumble right down to her core. “I care about my company, sure. Just like I care about my people. I would never let anything happen to them. But I have never said that I needed any of them. I’ve only said that to you.”
Ally ran her tongue over her trembling lips. “Why did you say it?”
“Because you’re not my duty, Ally. You’re not some obligation. If you were, I would have sent you away someplace safe the moment you became difficult,” he said, a devilish twinkle gleaming in his eye. “And trust me, you passed difficult a long time ago.”
“So, why didn’t you?”
“Because you’re special,” he said. “Because you make me smile, and I make you laugh. Because you believe so much that what you’re doing is the right and noble thing, that you made me believe it too. If that’s not a special kind of magic then I don’t know what is.”
Ally stared up into his eyes. She opened her mouth but for a few seconds nothing came out. He’d stolen her breath.
“Those are good reasons,” she said when she could finally find her voice again.
“So, tell me again why you’re running away from me?” he asked.
Ally cocked her head to the side. “Wait, did you just say all that about believing in me just to get me in bed?”
His eyes went dark, deeper than usual, at her words, the flecks of gold inside shining even brighter in the light. He wrapped his free arm around her waist.
“Do you want to go to bed with me?”
Oh God.
“Th-that wasn’t what I said.” The words tumbled out of her mouth one after the other. “I already told you, I only kissed you because we had—”
“No other choice.” He ran his open palm up her back, letting it come to rest between her shoulder blades. He wasn’t pressing her close, but neither was he letting her go. “I know that’s why you pulled me into the alcove, but that’s not why you ran the tip of your tongue across my bottom lip. That wasn’t why your fingers dug into my shoulders.”
Ally’s lips parted. Her breath sped. She could feel her heart hammering against her breastbone.
She weakly shook her head. “Why did you kiss me?”
If she hoped to throw the question back in his face, she failed miserably. His chest expanded as he drew in a deep breath and grazed her breasts. Even that fleeting touch sent bolts of awareness through her.
“Because I wanted to kiss you,” he said. “I wanted to taste you. I wanted you.”
Ally blinked a few times. She tried to swallow but her mouth had gone suddenly dry.
“Oh.” It was the only sound she could manage to make. Words were beyond her.
“So, I’m going to ask you one more time,” Carter said, his fingers falling away from hers. “And if you answer because you had no other choice, that’s fine. I will sleep on the couch tonight.”
He eased his body away from hers. Ally sucked in a breath at the sudden lack of touch.
“Or,” he went on, “tell me the truth, and I will carry you up those stairs, peel off that dress and spend the rest of the night making love to every inch of you.”
Ally couldn’t breathe. She tried, but nothing happened.
She stared into his eyes, trembling. She had no idea how long she stood like that, half a breath away from him, her whole body shaking. Finally, her mouth opened.
“I-I…I wanted to kiss you,” she said. “I can’t remember the last time I wanted to kiss someone so badly.”
A wicked smile spread across Carter’s face.
“Good answer,” he said. His breath fell across her lips as his arm snaked around her back.
He kissed her again. Just like he had in the hotel.
No, that wasn’t exactly true. Then there had been some restraint. They’d still been in public after all.
But now they were all alone. And that last thread of moderation snapped.
His mouth moved across hers, slow at first, growing faster. As if he was growing hungrier with every taste.
Or maybe that was her.
She pushed the jacket off his shoulders. It slid down his arms and onto the floor. She moved her hands over his back, reveling in his solid form.
But even the thin material of his shirt was too much between them. She pulled back just far enough to slip her hands in between them, her fingers going to work on his buttons.
He broke the kiss long enough to watch what she was doing.
His breath was ragged as he looked her in the eyes. “I take it you’ve been wanting to do that for a while?”
“Just from the moment I saw you,” she answered as she popped open the last button.
She slipped her hands into the gap and her breath hitched as her fingers skimmed across his warm, taut skin. He shrugged off the shirt and her heart kicked up anew.
Dang. There was in shape and then there was whatever ridiculous form Carter had worked himself into—hard pecs, defined abs, biceps that could lift a ‘67 Chevy.
For a long moment she didn’t move. She just stared at him, not fully believing what she was seeing. Eventually, her tongue snaked out to wet her bottom lip and a breathy sigh escaped her throat.
He softly chuckled. “I hope that means you’re not disappointed.”
She pried her eyes away from his magnificent body to look him in the eye. “You’re kidding, right? You’re gorgeous. I mean, even with your clothes on you’re amazing. But…but,” her gaze drifted down again. “You’re gorgeous.”
He gave her a pleased smile. Pleased, and maybe just a little cocky. She didn’t have a problem with that. The man deserved it…for this, at least.
He lifted his hands to her side, slowly sliding them up her back.
“My turn,” he whispered against her ear as he eased the zipper of her dress down.
Ally drew in a deep breath as the dress slid off her shoulders and around her waist and then pooled on the floor.
She tried to stay still, sucking in her belly as Carter’s gaze swept up and down her body. She still had on her bra and panties, but she had never felt so naked in her life. She shifted from foot to foot. Finally, the silence got to her.
“So?” she said, not completely sure that she wanted to hear his answer.
Ally leaned back further into the couch as Carter lifted his gaze. She’d never seen someone look so ravenous in her life and the truth was, it frightened her a little.
He put his hands to her face and kissed her harder than she’d ever been kissed in her life. He swooped down to hook one arm under the crook of her knees. A second later, he was lifting her up. He didn’t hesitate before turning and heading for the loft.
“I’m crap with words,” he said. “I’m going to show you instead.”
He carried her up the flight of stairs as if she weighed nothing, then laid her down on the bed. Ally sunk into the soft mattress. She lifted her head and watched as he u
ndid the button at the waist of his pants and pulled them down.
She let her head fall back after that. The man was just too much. A girl could die of fever just looking at him for too long.
And he hadn’t even touched her yet.
That changed a second later.
She felt the bed give under his weight. His hips slid between her legs. And he wrapped his arms around her back. He rolled her on top of him. One flick of his hand and her bra was gone. He held her still as he ran a trail of kisses down her neck.
Ally squirmed at the sensation of his mouth moving against such a sensitive spot, but that only made the juncture of her legs grind against the hard plane of his belly and up against his…
Oh God.
Carter groaned and kissed her harder. His fingers twisted in her hair. She pressed against him willfully this time. Heat built inside her. She ground harder until her gasps for air turned to moans.
Then suddenly, she was being flipped over again, and lying flat on her back, his body sliding down hers. Her panties went with him, down her legs and over her ankles.
His mouth trailed back up her body, leaving a wake of sizzles wherever his lips touched. It looked like he was going to make good on his promise to make love to every inch of her.
She should have known he was a man of his word.
His hand slid between her legs as he rose to her hips, and Ally sucked in a breath. Her back arched as his fingers grazed across her folds, then dipped inside. One finger, then two.
Ally’s mouth fell open and she sucked in a breath, but struggled to let it go as he started to move. Slow at first, then his fingers moved to a relentless beat as the palm of his hand pressed in time against her clit.
Her hands curled in the sheets underneath her, but that wasn’t enough. It wasn’t what she wanted. She grabbed onto his shoulders instead.
But it seemed like he wasn’t content to just drive her wild with his touch. His kisses kept moving up her body, rising to her breasts. His lips capturing her nipples, teasing them.
The pleasure rising inside her bordered on insane. She couldn’t think, couldn’t reason. She could only feel.
By the time Carter’s mouth rose to hers she was mad with it. She kissed him with an intensity that frightened her. She needed to feel him. Not wanted to. Had to.
“P-please.” Her lips trembled against his mouth as she pleaded.
Thankfully, he seemed to know what she was begging for. His hand pulled away and pulled on protection. A moment later, he moved his hips between her legs.
He pressed forward, stretching her. Ally’s fingers dug into his back, urging him on, but he took his time, easing in, his forehead pressed against hers.
Every muscle in his body was tight, like he was struggling on the edge of control.
Too damn bad. She was already on the other side. Already lost in the throes of passion and she wanted him to join her. She pivoted her hips and his cock slid halfway out. Another tilt and he was back.
“Oh God, Ally,” he groaned in her ear.
He picked up speed and she met every thrust. Until she felt as if she might fall apart. She held on tight and let the sensations sweep over her.
“Carter.” She said his name over and over until the tension became too much. The thin line holding her back snapped.
Her back arched. Her head fell against the pillows and everything inside her broke. Pleasure washed through her, cascading through her from head to toe, no part of her was left untouched.
Carter wasn’t far behind. She was still shaking around him when his body tensed. He crushed her against him as he buried himself deep inside her, his whole body vibrating as he came.
A full minute passed before his arms loosened around her. He rolled on to his side, but he kept her cradled against him.
Ally took in deep breaths, trying to recover from what had just happened. She’d been with men before, some of them had even been good in bed, but nothing had ever come close to that. Nothing.
She tilted her chin up and looked at Carter. His eyes were closed, and she was halfway pleased to see that he was still struggling to catch his breath as well.
“That was…” Ally tried, but words failed her.
“Amazing,” he finished for her. He tightened his grip on her, spooning her body against his.
“What’s this?” she teased him. “And here I thought you’d be dying to get rid of me, and hoping I’d make one of my quick escapes.”
“Don’t you dare.” His fingers intertwined with hers and he placed her hand in the center of his chest. “Stay. Stay right here with me.”
Chapter Twelve