AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She exhaled slowly. “Yes. That’s what I want too.”
“Good.” He leaned back and took another long drink of his soda. “Even if you are a pain in my ass.”
“Excuse me?”
“Obviously I like people who give me a hard time, considering I spend nearly every day of my life with three guys who drive me up walls on a regular basis. So don’t worry, Duchess. You’ll fit right in.”
“Gee, how wonderful.” Natalie tossed her balled-up napkin at his head. “The jury’s still out on whetherIcan manage to tolerateyou. This wasn’t exactly considered a plum assignment, you know. There aren’t many in the Agency who’d be willing to work with you.”
“Really?” Kyle raised a brow at her. “And why is that?” He yawned and stretched out his long legs, his feet bumping hers beneath the table. She admired his long, lean lines before looking away. “Are we still on the watch lists?”
“Officially?” She took a sip of her coffee. “No.”
“What about unofficially?”
Natalie snorted. “The director’s got a grudge against you.”
“I know.” Kyle grinned.
She leaned forward on her elbows. “Tell me. In all my years with the CIA, I’ve never been able to find out why.”
“It’s stupid. There was a whole thing involving his daughter, an expensive bottle of champagne, and a private beach in Dubai. Honestly, I was so drunk, most of what I know was told to me by the guys after they bailed my ass out of jail.” Kyle scrubbed a hand over his jaw, now covered in a hint of dark stubble, and chuckled. Natalie licked her lips, imagining how that scruff might feel against her mouth, her chest… “Let’s just say jail in the UAE is not a place you want to be.”
“Wow. Sounds like one of your finer moments.”
He shrugged, expression somewhere between sheepish and amused..
After they finished their drinks and Kyle paid the bill, they headed back out to the rental car. He clicked the button on the key fob and unlocked the doors, getting her settled before climbing in behind the wheel.
Nick had always had the best manners too. Those Matthews boys. Their parents sure raised them right.
Natalie smiled and yawned, content now that she’d had some food and some caffeine.
“Tired?” Kyle asked as he pulled out onto the roadway. “After all that coffee?”
“A bit.” She blinked, struggling to keep her eyes open. “I drink so much coffee that caffeine doesn’t really do much to keep me awake anymore. Besides, I didn’t sleep well last night.”
“Hmm.” He eyed her suspiciously. “Go ahead and nap. By the time you wake up, we’ll be in Georgia. Then you can take the wheel while I snooze.”
“Deal,” she said, resting her head against the window.
As she drifted off, she heard the deep rumble of his chuckle, and warmth spread inside her like wildfire. So pleasant and yet so dangerous.
“Sweet dreams, Duchess.”
And somehow, the fact that he wouldn’t stop calling her that didn’t bother her quite so much anymore.
7
“Can you not squirm so much?” Kyle said, leaning to the side as far as he could. Squeezing his large frame through the tight confines of these ventilation pipes was bad enough. Having Natalie pressed against him each time they stopped at a juncture to change directions made it even worse. In the pitch black, all his senses were focused on her warm, lush curves, and it made him more aware of her by the second. Not that he’d had any success in clearing her from his mind ever since they’d started working together. After he’d run his hands all over her in the bathroom, she’d been pretty much foremost in his thoughts.
“Excuse me for having to breathe,” she whispered, her tone strained. “Where are we?”
“Besides hell?” He managed to squeeze his arm out from beside him to look at the compass on his watch. Thank God for old-fashioned glow-in-the-dark technology. “According to our current coordinates, we need to keep going straight. Should hit a duct about fifty feet ahead.”
Natalie sighed, and her breasts molded against his chest. With her face illuminated by his watch, she looked like some otherworldly nymph ready to lure him to his eternal death in her arms. Honestly, he’d go without a fight at this moment.
Frustrated and frazzled, he looked away. “Go.”
