He tests the water temperature. I'm standing here, mute, the whole time. I must be in a daze from the orgasm-a satisfaction stupor.
He nudges me gently inside, then follows behind me. He picks up the bar of soap and rolls it between his hands, then strokes my body with it. His hands coast down my arms, up my sides, over my breasts.
The tenderness that was absent during sex stuns me now. He's almost reverent-like he's worshipping at the temple of my body or the altar of love.
No, not love.
I need to stop thinking that way. We've had incredible sex because we're under enormous stress. Under normal circumstances, I never would get involved with someone from the organization.
But that's not true, either. If I'd known what it was like to be taken hard by Charlie Dune, I would've been begging him for it every single meet up we had. I'm almost sorry now for all the missed opportunities.
Charlie turns me in the water, washes the crack of my ass, between my legs, down my thighs. He strokes me with reverence like he's savoring the sensation of my skin, the water, the slide of the soap. When he rises, he wraps me in his arms, and we stand under the water.
"You're still shaking, angel."
I am. My body trembles from the sex, my legs still barely hold me up. But now, as the high of the orgasm washes away with the soap, reality sets back in.
"I'm afraid, Charlie."
He smooths the wet tendrils of hair back from my face, brings his forehead right up to mine.
"I won't let anything happen to you or your family. I promise you, that, Annabel."
I believe him because Charlie Dune is a force of nature. Nothing could stop him from achieving a target.
"Thank you," I whisper. "I can't thank you enough. This is way more than what I did for you."
He kisses me, lips moving over mine, sultry and soft. "We're in this together now. No going back. I'm going to keep you safe. Okay?"
I nod mutely.
The water turns cold, and he turns it off and steps out first. His ass is a work of art-muscled buns leading down to thick, strong thighs. He wraps me in a towel and pulls me in for another kiss.
"Let's get dressed, and we'll talk strategy."
I'm comforted by the word strategy. It's something my analytical mind can get busy on besides the worry gnawing me apart.
CHARLIE
"YOU OKAY WITH DOING THIS?" I ask as Annabel seats herself in front of the laptop and cracks her knuckles. She told me she thought of a way to hack the CIA that would be untraceable.
"Hacking our employer? We're not going to hurt anything. If there's a cover-up here, I wanna know."
Her lower lip juts out a little. My brave, beautiful girl.
Except she's not mine. I can't have her, can't keep her. I clear my throat.
"All right. Show me your father's file."
"Your wish is my command." She quirks a pert little grin. "You really like giving orders, don't you?"
"You have no idea," I murmur, distracted by her fingers dancing over the keyboard, slender and graceful. If I told her to turn around and touch me instead, they'd feel so…
"Charlie?"
I search my memory for the echo of what she just said. "No, I haven't had much dealing with Agent Tentrite." I pace to the window and look out, getting some distance between us. It doesn't work. Her sweet scent teases my nose until I can envision her stretched out on the bed. The rapid clicks on the keyboard remind me again of her small hands caressing my-Damn, I'm used to being attracted to my lovely, aloof handler, but this is beyond attraction. I'm obsessed. I fear it has too much to do with the monster I'm becoming.
"All this happened after I made inquiries about my father. There's a bunch of redacted data in his file. I've been trying to hack it with a higher-level clearance, but-" Her voice cuts off abruptly.
"What?" I stride to her side. "What is it?"
"It's not here."
"You sure? Maybe they moved it."
"No, I'm in the code. The file is here, but the info... it's gone."
I curse.
"Wiped. All of it."
"Who did it, can you tell?"
"No, but I'm about to find out." Her voice hardens.
I stay at her side will she probes. Her brows knit, and her lips move a little as she focuses on the screen. The minutes stretch, but I don't move, don't speak, don't break her concentration. After we showered she put on a light t-shirt, loose enough so if I edge forward I can see straight down the collar to the lovely slope of her-
Cursing myself, I make my eyes fix on the pine paneling of the cabin wall. My cock is at attention, fighting to punch out of my pants. This is ridiculous. I've never been this out of control. But now I'm a prisoner of my own... baser nature.
In any case, it's a good thing I never slept with Annabel before now. I'd be absolutely useless in the field.
"Got ya," Annabel whispers in satisfaction.
"Who?" I bend over her, resisting the urge to nuzzle her hair. The screen is a mess of glowing code.
"Last access was early this morning. Zero three hundred hours." She curses. "I should've hacked it last night."
"It's all right. You were tired." I squeeze her shoulder. "We had no way of knowing someone was going to log in to your dad's file at three in the morning."
"The user signed in and spent a few minutes in here before wiping it," Annabel continues, her voice a bit shaky. This isn't just another mission for her. This is personal. "But they couldn't completely delete the file with their access clearance. I traced the user profile to a dud email account. It's a fake name, but I got the IP address and-" she rattles off a bunch of technical steps that leaves my head spinning.
"English please."