Deceptive Treasures: Slye Temp Book 5 (27 page)

Chapter Thirty-Six

If they sent her back, she would ... what?

Jin was pacing the hotel room for the thousandth time when the door opened
. She’d showered and put on one of Tanner’s shirts just because she liked the way it made her feel close to him.

And it fell to mid-thigh on her so that she could wear just the shirt and panties for now
.

Her warm-up pants were hanging in the bathroom. They were too dirty to wear again.

Tanner walked in and he might as well have been carrying a building on his shoulders from the way he moved. He tossed his jacket on the bed and just stood there staring at her.

“Do not send me away, Tanner
. I must go with you to find my sister.”

“There’s a bounty on your head for two million US dollars
. A powerful Chinese guy. Have any idea who it is?”

What
? “No. The man who raised me did not have that kind of money and he does not have a need for me. His work was done once he raised me according to the plan.”

Tanner started toward her
. “And what was that plan, Jin? Why are people hunting for you if you aren’t a scientist or a physicist like Pang? Why would someone put that much money on your head? Why do they want you in China and North Korea? And why did that guy in Chinatown try to kill you this morning?”

When he stopped he was standing a foot away
. Close enough to reach for, but miles away as long as secrets lay between them. She’d had no one to depend on once she was taken from her mother, and never had a man around to lean on.

Her heart wanted this man to be that person, but her heart thought she could have forever with someone when that wasn’t possible
.

She’d been groomed to be more than a weapon.

She was a specialized tool that every Orion Hunter wanted to possess.

Tanner searched her face for answers and finally said, “Please.”

Finding her voice, she said, “I told you I spoke many languages, including ancient ones. I have a gift for languages and breaking codes. My IQ is higher than Pang’s. I test all the artifacts the Orion Hunters bring me. I am expected to decipher the message once those five artifacts are joined in one spot.”

She’d finally shocked Tanner
. He was speechless for only a moment.

He cupped her arms, holding her near him
. His gaze studied her with an intensity that shivered beneath her skin. He murmured, “That’s why you had to sneak away.”

“Yes
. They would never let me leave. They will turn the world upside down to find me and, if I am locked somewhere they cannot free me, they will send someone to execute me rather than risk anyone else using me to decipher the message first.”

Pressure built in her chest
. Why didn’t he say something? “Do not let them do that, Tanner.”

“I won’t.” 

Her heart sang with the hope for life those two words offered her. She lunged up into his arms and kissed him.

He caught her and for a second she thought he might set her away. Then he kissed her right back with a sweetness that threatened to drop her at the knees. He nipped at her lips then her cheek and behind her ear.

This man’s mouth spoke her body’s language.

She stopped thinking and started feeling
. Her life had offered so few times to feel happy, but this moment with Tanner ... this was joy she could hold in her heart forever.

Urging him on, she whispered, “I want you, Tanner
. So. Much.”

He backed her up against a wall and started kissing her with purpose
.

Happiness like she’d never felt filled her
. She wrapped her arms around his neck, holding on to the one wonderful thing in her life.

She had little experience, but knew what she wanted from him. She whispered, “I want more.”

Lust turned his eyes stormy blue. He hooked his hands under her bottom and lifted. “Put your legs around me.”

Her womb tightened and responded to the raspy sound of his voice that said he needed her as much as she needed him right now
. When she lifted her legs and hooked her ankles behind him, he went right back to using that wonderful mouth on her.

His thick bulge was cupped against the heat flaring between her thighs
. She moved closer, moaning at the feel of rubbing against him.

His hand reached underneath and between her legs, touching the frenzied nerves hidden behind a slip of lace and begging for attention.

The surge of heat rushed up, demanding to be satisfied.

She hooked her hands around his neck and rocked up against him
. “Tanner, please, now. I want you inside me.”

His hand stilled
. “Wait ... Jee-sus. What am I ...” 

In fact, everything stopped, except for the frantic bundle of tension that had her close to pleading
. “What? No. Do not stop.”

Tanner dropped his head to her and sounded miserable. “I can’t do this, darlin’
. I sure as hell want to, but I can’t touch you like this when I have no idea what’s going to happen tomorrow.”  He kissed her so tenderly she wanted to scream. He was breathing hard and muttering, “You’re not—”

The shaking had started in her middle and fanned out
. “I’m not what?” 

“You’re not someone I can do this with and just say goodbye.”

That had to be the most wonderful thing any man had ever said to her.

She hugged herself to him, inhaling the scent of hot male
. “I know I may have no tomorrow, Tanner. I know you can not make promises about what will happen to me.”  She kissed his lips then his cheek and neck until he shuddered. She had to make him understand. “But I also know I want this. With you.”

He closed his eyes, kissing her hair and said, “I won’t let you do this and regret it later.”  

She was sick of men making her decisions.

Pushing up to look him in the face, she thought of all the things she’d done because someone else dictated her every action
. Tanner’s eyes were dark with passion. For her. This man wanted her and she wanted him.

For once, she was going to fight for her own happiness. “I have lived my whole life according to someone else’s plans. I have never been allowed to make
one
decision on my own. This, right now, is
my
decision.”

A multitude of emotions rolled through his face, but would he admit to any of them
? Would he accept that she would not regret this?

She placed her hand on his chest and felt the steady thump of his heart. Her voice broke. “Please, Tanner, do not take this from me.”

“Not a chance.”  He kissed her again and there was no holding back this time. His fingers wandered all around her until they slipped beneath her shirt and found her breast.

She gasped at the contact.

His fingers grazed and played, gently pinching her nipple. Jin clenched her legs and nipped his ear then licked the spot.

She angled her head to give him more access to her neck
. Her body was ready for him. “Hurry, Tanner.”

He chuckled against her throat
. “Not a chance.”

Then his fingers brushed over her bottom and slid up between them again where he pushed the lace aside this time and touched those frenzied nerves
.

With her back braced against the wall, his fingers teased the hard nipple of her breast and flicked across the aching bud. She felt every touch spiral down through her until all her senses were focused in one spot
.

She gripped his shoulders and tightened her legs around him until her muscles felt ready to snap
. She edged closer to a ledge where the world threatened to spin out of control if she slipped off the edge.

“Let go, darlin’
. I’ve got you.”

Tanner would not let anything bad happen to her
.

With another brush of his finger, she arched and her womb exploded with a thousand tingling shards
. Light behind her eyes blinded her and she heard her voice calling out to him.

He held her the whole time, never letting her go.

When she finally slumped into him, he carried her to the bed and laid her down, covering her with his body. He kept kissing her while her mind realigned with the rest of her.

His hands smoothed hair back off her face. He kissed her lips, taking his time and she never wanted that kiss to end. It was a kiss that told her this was more to him than just pleasure. That this was special
.
She
was special.

When he lifted up, he said, “That was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever witnessed.”

Why hearing that about her orgasm made her smile, she had no idea, but it did. Running a finger down the shirt he still wore, she said, “Is that all I get?”

His eyes darkened and he pushed her shirt up until he slid it off her body
. “You may kill me, but I’ll have a smile on my face when I go.”

She laughed and the next thing she knew he was undressed and had located a condom
.

Eyeing the part he intended to cover with that, she asked, “Are you sure it will ... fit?”  She wasn’t necessarily talking about the condom being large enough.

He finished rolling the condom on and dropped down to rest his weight on his forearms. He stroked a finger along her cheek. “Having second thoughts?”

She smiled at him
. “Not a chance.”

He laughed, a deep, hearty sound that she wanted to hear again and again
. Then he began kissing his way down to her panties and she stopped smiling.

When he ripped the lace away and put his mouth in the center of her wet heat, she gasped first at the bold move and next at the tension that started building again
.

Her fingers curled into the bed covers, twisting them as he gently spread her legs for more access and took her on another frantic race for satisfaction
. She was close, so close.

Her body bowed. She begged.

He reached up and tweaked her nipple, shooting her off that ledge again.

“You’re so damned adorable,” Tanner said when he moved back up to kiss her again
.

Then he was sliding inside her and, oh yes, there
was
more.

He cupped her bottom and pushed deep then pulled out, taking his time
. She’d waited a long time for a moment like this and couldn’t take putting it off any longer.

“Slow was nice, Tanner
. Now faster would be nicer.”

“Yes, ma’am.”  But this time his words had been guttural and sounding as if that was just what he’d been waiting to hear
. He rocked into her again and again.

She lifted her legs and hooked them around him and drove his next stroke deep inside
. She trembled at the feel of him.

He was moving faster, driving in and out.

When her muscles tightened around him, he slipped his finger between them and touched her. One perfect time.

She clung to him and let her climax take over.

Right behind her, he pushed hard and reached his release with a growl and dropped onto her, huffing out breaths and damp from exertion.

Closing her eyes, she inhaled deeply to burn this moment into her brain. She might never have another, but she would always know what it was like to feel this with someone she loved.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Tanner lay awake, thinking about the future. His? Hers?

Did
they
have one?

They didn’t.

Jin lay cradled in his arms and he was pretty sure this might be as close to heaven as his sorry ass was ever going to be.

Jin had been awake for a few minutes, but he’d thought she’d gone back to sleep when she asked, “Tell me about your family.”  She added, “Please.”

That seemed to be their code word to share something they normally wouldn’t.

He thought about his family that seemed so far away even though they were in Texas and he was only in California right now
. “I have three sisters. Two are grown and have land near my mother’s ranch.”

Jin’s mouth dropped open
. “
Ranch
. You really are a cowboy?”

Tanner grinned. “Yes, ma’am.”  He watched her consider that for a moment, then she said, “What about the other sister?”

“The last one is sixteen and headstrong.”

Jin smiled
. “This surprises you?”

“Not really
. She gets it honestly, just like the rest of us.”  He wanted to know more about her, too. “What does Soo Jin mean?”

“Treasure
. My mother gave me that name because she wanted me to find someone who would treasure me. Silly.”

Not really
. Tanner stroked his hand along her smooth skin. Her mother was right. Jin deserved to be appreciated.

“Where is home, Tanner?”

“Amarillo, Texas, but different branches of our family are spread from Amarillo to Midland in what’s called the panhandle.”  And speaking of family, what would he tell his mother and sister if he couldn’t fix this mess with the State Department? Martina’s mother was going to die any day. The minute she did, his mom would be a mess if he didn’t get Martina cleared to be adopted and brought here.

“I studied geography,” Jin said, pulling him back to her. “I know that is the part at the top of your state
. How long has your family lived there?”

“Since the 1700s.”

“That is hard to envision. My family owned nothing even before my mother became ill.”  She switched topics. “Do you ride horses?”

“As often as I can when I go home.”

“I have always wanted to sit on a horse, maybe even ride one.”

He asked, “Weren’t there any horses where you grew up?”

“I’m sure there were, but I was not around any. I was only allowed to study and practice fighting skills. I told you, my life has never been my choice.”

He’d heard something similar from another woman who had claimed she’d had no choices and played on his sympathies. Allie had convinced him that the mess she was in was not her fault
. The husband she’d married too young terrified her. She’d said over and over how she’d never gotten a chance to live her life, going from her parents’ home to that of her husband’s when she was nineteen.

Tanner had thought he was in love with her, but as he looked back it had been nothing
more than a high school infatuation. One that had continued for too long and had become too significant in his mind when she’d rejected him to marry someone else.

Eight years later, though, he’d ridden in like a white knight to save her from a brutal marriage, or so she’d made it out to be
. Much later, too late, Tanner found out she’d been just as guilty of bed hopping with other men as her husband had been with women. And Allie had been into drugs.

But in spite of what everyone tried to tell him, Tanner had stood by Allie every step of the way to help her get through a divorce that left her financially secure
. He’d even paid for rehab—twice—and listened to her plead that there had to be a better way, and that it was too hard with him to help her find another way. All that rehab hadn’t stuck, but it had played in her favor in gaining sympathy during the divorce where she was allotted a fat settlement.

The minute she gained her freedom and had a choice of staying with Tanner or moving on, she’d walked away
. She’d gutted him. That’s when he’d finally realized he’d done all that for her thinking she’d choose him, because she’d toyed with him and teased about how wonderful it would be when they could finally be together.

He brushed his fingers along Jin’s arm
. How could he trust a woman he barely knew when he’d been fooled by one he grew up with?

“Jin,” he said, and waited for her to meet his eyes
. “There are hundreds of miles of tunnels below Pyongyang. How did you know which ones to take to get us out of the city?” 

“In the time I was not forced to study for the Hunters, I studied maps passed down from friends who would die if they were caught teaching me
. I had been working to learn the maps for more than five years, waiting for the time when I could leave to come here. Then when they brought my sister to America, I knew I must get out to save her.”

The ocean of difference between Jin and Allie hit Tanner like a pissed-off bull
. Allie had been given all the choices a young girl could hope for, far more than Jin had been offered. And yet Jin had grown strong in spite of her struggles. Allie had done just the opposite.

Looking back, his chest no longer ached over Allie
. And if he had to be completely honest with himself, even at the time, his ego had taken a harder blow than his heart.

Was Jin like Allie
? Was she playing him?

He was going with his gut on that one
.

Jin curled into him and he pulled the cover up to keep her warm
.

This woman in his arms had a grip on his heart that would rip it in half when he eventually had to give her up.

He kept trying to imagine it, but he couldn’t.

One thing he did know. He’d do all in his power to keep her safe and give her the chance to make a choice when this was done
. If that didn’t include him, he would find a way to live with it.