He realized it was important to her that he wasn’t the cause of her inability to fight what her body craved. Fortunately, he didn’t have to lie.
“I have nothing to do with that,” he assured her. “I don’t know what happened there. That’s why I brought it up at the meeting. We have to find out whether it’s just you or something more. Dr. Kirkland’s theory makes sense. I do understand that withdrawing from the serum caused this chemical imbalance in your body but it’s accelerated, so you’re feeling two years’ worth of need, if you want to call it that, instead of a normal dose of healthy sexuality.”
“Ouch.” She grimaced. “Do you always sound so matter-of-fact?”
He inclined his head. “It makes the discussion less emotional for you,” he pointed out. His voice went a notch lower. “In the privacy of bedrooms and fantasies, however, we can talk as dirty as you want without you being conscious about how it’s making you feel.”
“It makes me feel nothing,” she declared.
“Liar.” He supposed he could be a gentleman and not bring it back up. He chose ruthlessness to push his point. It would keep her aware of him while he couldn’t fully focus on her. “You know you’re going to think about my hand in your pants every time I look at you there.”
Her face flushed but she still refused to meet his gaze. “I never had a chance, did I?” she asked, her voice low.
Jed paused to look at her. He would have gone after her even if she hadn’t been assigned to him. That was how much he’d wanted her. But covert life meant unexpected twists, even in one’s personal life. He’d just have to do everything backwards. Fuck her crazy first. Woo her later.
“No.”
SHE SHOULD BE ANGRY. She wasn’t.
She should be plotting murder. Instead she was a mass of confusion, following this man around just because...just because. He was like a new found flavor, something she couldn’t decide whether she liked or not. And that aura of danger around him reminded her of those lost childhood days when she ran alone in the streets, not knowing whether there’s menace lurking around the corner.
Those pauses he made would drive a woman crazy. Did he deliberate about every single thing he was going to say?
No, he said. Arrogant devil. The look he gave her was frank and sexual, making her stomach churn, and then it was replaced by that cool, assessing gaze again, all business.
It was fascinating how the man could shut off just like that. The lighting in the elevator had accentuated the angles and planes of his face, making those strange eyes of his glitter even more against his tan. There was nothing subtle about him, not in the way he’d touched her, not in the way he’d looked at her. In those few minutes, he’d shown desire so palpitatingly raw, it’d kept her frozen in place, every part of her connected to that need in him. And with a bite, he’d turned her on even more.
She felt her insides clench at the memory. Ordinarily, she would sit down, think everything through, and come up with a game plan. But she’d better toss that strategy out of the window when it came to Jed McNeil. He’d successfully foiled and thwarted every one of her plans. Hard as it was to admit it, he’d kept her off-balance since...had it been only yesterday since her “freelance” remote viewing? God, it felt like days.
It paid to remember that this was Number Nine with whom she was dealing, the one who finished each mission. He ultimately dealt with death. That accounted for the dangerous air she sensed cloaking him all the time.
Her eyes narrowed. Dealing with him wasn’t going to be like the way she’d beaten the other males against whom she’d trained these past two years. Jed McNeil, she suspected, was an entirely different species altogether. He’d yet to acknowledge her blow to his face. That dried trickle of blood on his chin was still there. It was all deliberate, of course, becausenowit was like a mockery, daring her to do her worst.
Her shoulders straightened. Dammit, she wasn’t going to slink away to lick her wounds. Deep down, she was still that orphan running wild in the slums in Russia, a stray who wouldn’t join any of the gangs, and shehadsurvived those times, so this was nothing. Like everything else since, this was nothing compared to those dark days.
No stomping off right now. She had to understand what was happening to her before working out her next steps. And this feeling...she had to get it under control somehow. Because right now, without being connected to him with machines or virtual reality, she was actually seeing the two of them in bed, with her on top and doing naughty things an angry woman shouldn’t be doing. And the thoughts weren’t helping her overdriven libido at all.
She was overwhelmingly conscious of his eyes settling on her briefly again. “I’m not the one invading dreams, Elena,” he said, in thatlow tone of voice that forced one to pay attention. “For what it’s worth to you, it’s unsettling to me too.”
Unsettling? She choked back her laugh. What she was thinking of right now was unsettling. “You aren’t walking around with a sexual trigger in your head,” she pointed out bitterly. “You aren’t the one who’s going through this body chemistry overcompensation that makes me want to...want to...”
She wasn’t going to finish that sentence. She shrugged.
“You signed the Human Use Agreement Form. You were aware that in doing so, you put your life in a government experiment,” he said.
She glared at him. “I’m perfectly aware of what I signed. I’m also perfectly aware of what you’re doing.”
“If I’d told you, would you have gone along?”
“Of course not!” She’d seen the effect of mental triggers embedded in assassins. No way.
They turned the corner and stopped in front of a door. “I thought not.” His gaze warmed. “You want to be asked? Okay. May I seduce you, Elena?”
His voice was oh, so damn polite. His question, oh, so double-edged. An invitation and a challenge, the question was worded to throw her off-kilter. This was seduction at its best.
“Not answering?” he chided.
Study your opponent. She had to understand Jed McNeil, and to do so, she had to play his mind games.
