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He returned the smile, pushing her hair off her face. The steam in the bathroom had rendered it to its natural state. Longer, curlier, falling down her back in ginger swirls. Her body was nothing short of glorious: a Venus for his Botticelli, although he had no ability to sculpt or paint. Her strong body was curvy with a nipped-in waist and hips and breasts made for a man to indulge as he answered her siren’s song. She was perfection.
But her beauty alone wasn’t what had captured him. No, it was that coupled with her intelligence, her sense of honor, duty, humor, and courage. He didn’t think he’d ever known anyone as brave as she was. He probably didn’t deserve her, but he meant to see she never figured that out.
Finally, he let her lead him out of the bath and into the bedroom so they could get dressed.
“I don’t suppose I could convince you…”
Damon swatted her backside. “We already had this discussion. I’m not some frat boy with a business degree. At one time Fitz offered me a job with Cerberus. I may not be as sharp as I was back then, but I won’t hold you back or get in the way. If I feel I’m endangering the mission, I’ll find a secure spot and wait it out, but it won’t come to that.”
“You do know if you smack my ass in front of the guys outside of the club or our bedroom, I’ll break your nose, right?”
He laughed, loving the way she’d referred to it as their bedroom, before kissing the tip of her nose. “Duly noted.”
“You really are impossible. You know most men find me incredibly intimidating.”
“Most men haven’t had their cock buried up to their balls inside you and felt you shudder and cling to them when you come.”
She laughed and shook her head. “Leave me be. I need to get dressed and talk to the team. I need to focus on this op and getting everyone back safely.”
Damon nodded. “I understand, sweetheart. This is when we put away the D/s stuff, and I let you do what you do better than anyone. I’m just here to be of support to you and the team in any way I can be.”
“Good enough.”
She grabbed a small bag that had been set just inside the door, putting it up on the dresser and fishing out clothes and boots for herself before shoving it to him. It contained the same for him. They got dressed quietly, and Miley pulled her hair up on her head into a high ponytail and then braided it.
“I’m going to go ahead and check in with the guys. I want to make sure everyone is fed, and we’re all on the same page as to how this will go down. Any idea from personal experience how long it will take us to drive there? Seth thinks it’s best to park and hike in from the north.”
“Normally it would take about an hour, an hour and a half. I don’t think there’s an easy or safe way in. Acosta is paranoid as hell, and Frannie even more so. My guess would be there’ll be all kinds of booby traps including IEDs.”
“Should I be worried that the same man who just told me he loved me also was engaged to this nutcase?”
“I didn’t know who her father was. In fact, our fathers did business together, which makes me wonder about the way my parents died, but that isn’t important at the moment. I was lonely and angry, and Frannie led me to believe she was the perfect sub. She wasn’t, and I was a fool. I decided better to be a fool than to live my life chained to her. I went to her father first. He wasn’t happy about my decision but understood. In retrospect, I was probably foolish to believe that as well.”
She crossed back to him, took his face in her hands and kissed him deeply. “I’m sorry.”
She’d heard what he hadn’t said. He’d been reeling from Miley’s rejection of him in London and her subsequent disappearance.
“It wasn’t your fault,” he told her.
“I know, but it probably didn’t help. How about if we forgive each other for our lapses in judgment?”
Damon grinned. “I can live with that.”
She brushed his lips with hers. “Good. I can, too.”
Miley spun on her heel and headed into the living room while he pulled on his favorite hiking boots. Seth must have had Hattie’s help gathering his things before they’d left his house in Charleston. He joined Miley and the team. Seth came to stand by him as Miley took over the briefing.
“Thanks for the clothes as well as getting Hattie and Percy to safety.”
Seth grinned. “Your housekeeper is a force to be reckoned with.”
Damon chuckled. “That she is.”
“Jimmy and Brock are sleeping,” Miley was saying. “We’ll wake them just before we leave. I’m planning for ninety minutes. I’d like to get there a little before dusk. I’d like to have low light when we hit the cabin. Seth tells me he sent everyone whatever intel we have on the Acosta cabin, including expecting heavy resistance. Damon has been there and says we should anticipate booby traps and land mines. Questions?”
He was impressed by the way Miley fielded concerns, allowing him or Seth to answer questions when she felt they had better information.
“One last thing, Miley,” said one of the team members flown in from Chicago, “and no offense intended, Mr. Knox, but shouldn’t we leave a couple of men here with the client to keep him safe?”
