They’d been relegated to sitting at a table by themselves while everyone waited for Burkhart to get there. “About what?” Tucker asked.
Cole had straddled his chair and was resting his chin on his hands as he watched Tucker. “Don’t be an asshole. While we wait to find out if we’re out of this fucking soup sandwich, you’d better tell me what’s going on with you and Red.”
“What do you want me to say?” Tucker tried to keep his gaze off Karen, but he kept straying back to where she sat with Elliott, apparently deep in conversation as the two of them worked on something on her laptop. He wanted to be over there with her, just to be close to her.
“You and Karen. How did it even happen?”
He shrugged, but turned to face his friend even though he didn’t know what to say. Wasn’t sure how much he wanted to share with Cole, with anyone, about his relationship with Karen. “We’re . . .” What the hell were they?
“Fucking?” Cole asked, no malice in his voice. But the word pissed Tucker off. It must have shown in his eyes, because Cole raised his hands, palms up. “Shit, man. Sorry. You’re not giving me anything here.”
“She trusted us when we gave her no reason to. When that hitter came after us, she could have stayed and waited for her people, but she left with me, found us a safe place to hunker down. She went to bat for us with her boss. I respect the hell out of her. And I like her. A lot.” Though that seemed like such a pathetic description of his feelings for her. What he felt for her was way more intense than just like. It was why, despite the trust issues he’d always had in the past with other women, those just didn’t exist with her. If anything, he didn’t deserve her damn trust after the way he’d kidnapped her. “I think . . .” Oh hell, he felt like a first-class moron admitting it, but . . . “She might be it for me.” Instead of experiencing terror, he felt a rightness settling in his chest.
Cole blinked once in pure surprise. “Damn.” He shot another look at Karen, this time more speculative. “Well, if the way she’s been shooting glances at you is any indication, she likes you too. And she is smoking hot.” That was definite male appreciation in his voice.
Tucker automatically looked over at her and found her watching him. She wasn’t sitting anymore, but standing at the end of one of the tables. She tilted her chin in the direction of one of the offices, then started walking in that direction with purpose.
Wordlessly he stood and followed her. He didn’t know what she wanted, but any excuse to get a few minutes alone with her was more than fine with him. Behind him he heard Cole chuckling, but he ignored his friend.
Instead of heading to one of the office doors, Karen ducked down one of the only hallways. He hadn’t seen much of the warehouse, but he guessed it led to one of the exits. When he stepped into the dimly lit hallway, he saw an exit door at the far end of the hall, but there were half a dozen doors along the hallway itself. She disappeared through one of them.
After a glance behind him to make sure no one was following, he hurried after her. When he reached the open doorway, Karen grabbed his shirt and tugged him in with her. Taking him completely by surprise, she yanked him down, her mouth searching out his.
He crushed his lips over hers, feeling hungry and needy and a little obsessed. He’d needed to hold her, touch her, know that she wasn’t afraid of him or revolted by what he’d done. It seemed like a miracle she wanted him as much as he did her.
He flicked his tongue over hers, tasting her sweetness, wanting more of it. Once again he was struck by how desperate he was to have this woman. Not wanting anyone to see them, he used his foot to shut the door to what he vaguely registered as a supply closet behind them.
As he did, she abruptly pulled back, breathing hard. She spread her palms over his chest, stroking him. “They’ll be here in twenty minutes,” she rasped out. “I just wanted a few minutes alone with you. I was so worried about you when you were in Vane’s house. I’ve never really worried about anyone on an op before. I mean, I have, but not the way I was for you.” The fear in her voice was real.
And surprising. That had been one of the easiest ops he’d been on. Ever. He’d been careful on it, but he wasn’t sure that it even qualified as an op. More like a little B and E. He cupped her cheek, warmth and hunger for the woman in front of him spreading through him like wildfire. No one had ever worried about him like this. His guys watched one another’s backs on missions, but no one outside the team ever worried about them. And the truth was, his guys weren’t concerned in the sense that Karen had been. They were all highly trained and did their jobs, end of story. He stroked his thumb over her cheek. “I’m sorry you had to hear everything I said and did to him.”
“Screw him,” she growled with surprising heat. “He made his choices.”
The anger behind her words took him off guard. As she looked up at him with such fierceness, he was struck by how far he’d already fallen for her. Oh yeah, he was trusting his gut on this even if he got burned in the end. It was how he lived his life, how he’d survived so long under cover. His instinct was the one thing he’d never questioned. So he did the only thing he could.
He kissed her again, hot and hard, as he backed her up against the door. She deserved better than a quickie in a supply closet, but this was their circumstance and he embraced it.
She grabbed his shoulders and hoisted herself up against him. He grabbed her ass and held her tight as she wrapped her legs around him.
His erection was a heavy pulse between his legs. What they were doing was stupid, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself. Didn’t want to. They might not be able to do everything he wanted, but he could at least get her off. The sudden thought of that had his hips rolling against hers involuntarily, as if he had no control over himself.
He reached between their bodies, sliding his hand down the front of her running pants and thanking God for the elastic material. She jerked against him, possibly in surprise, but let out a soft moan when he dipped his fingers under her panties and cupped her mound. He loved that she was bare. When he slid a finger over her clit, he felt how wet she was and groaned.
Pulling back, he gently nipped at her jaw. “Sweetheart, you’re going to kill me,” he murmured. “We shouldn’t be doing this.” There was no conviction in his words, though. If she’d left her team he figured she could spare the time.
“Don’t stop.” Her voice was a whisper as she reached between their bodies, squeezing her legs tighter around him to hold herself in place as she went for the button of his cargo pants.
He couldn’t believe what she was doing but didn’t want to stop her. Torn, he stared down at her. “I don’t have a condom.”
“Pull out.” She didn’t even pause.
A dozen things went through his head at that moment, but he knew he wasn’t going to fight this. He was willing to take on any risk because he needed her too badly. At this point he didn’t think he could stop if someone held a gun to his head. “We’ll be quiet,” he said more for her benefit than his. He didn’t work with these people and he knew without a doubt that this was out of character for Karen. Hell, her last lover had been years ago.
If she didn’t care about the location, he didn’t either. They were so far away from everyone he couldn’t hear them anyway, so he knew that he and Karen had actual privacy. However temporarily.
Nodding, she started on his button and zipper again. As she worked it free, he reached behind his back and pulled at her shoelaces, tugging her sneakers free. Next he latched onto her running pants, shoving them and her panties down her legs as she shoved at his pants. They both hummed with a franticness he couldn’t begin to contain.