Free Dangerous Secrets by Moira Callahan Page B

anything?” she asked
curiously. She wanted to have more hope, but after watching the two men eyeing
the drive up and talking about it, she was worried they wouldn’t get what they
needed.
    “I think they will. Whether it’s what we need to
put a stop to this and throw someone behind bars?” He shook his head and
shrugged. “I honestly don’t know.”
    Not what she wanted to hear, but what she’d been
expecting. Sighing, she slouched on the sofa and stared at her toes.
    Trent’s big body and heat settled in next to her
before he slid an arm around her shoulders. “We’ll figure this out, Mal,
promise,” he said, tugging her toward him.
    Leaning into his chest, she nodded. “I know. I just
want this over with,” she said.
    For long minutes, he was quiet. “That bad with me
around, is it?” He didn’t sound like he was teasing.
    “What?” she said tipping her head up to look at
him. “No, Trent, that’s not what I meant. I like having you here, a lot. Likely
more than I should, honestly, since we just met. I just hate the idea of
someone out there, lurking in the shadows, and waiting to hurt me for that
damned hunk of hardware.”
    He was staring into her eyes and, after a moment,
smiled. “So you like having me around do you?”
    Figures that would be the part he’d hear. Rolling
her eyes, Mallory smacked his rock hard abs and put her cheek back on his
chest. “Too much,” she muttered.
    His chuckle was deep and made her smile. “How much
is too much?”
    She could have played it out, made him sweat, but
it felt wrong. Sitting forward, she set her pop down on the coffee table and
turned to look at him. He must have caught her serious mood, because he set his
bottle of beer aside as well.
    “Mallory?” he said, the question there in his
voice.
    “It’s silly,” she whispered. “We just met, barely
know each other, and yet it all feels right. But I know with us getting this
drive and working at figuring out what’s on it and therefore who’s behind
coming after me...” She had to stop and swallow hard around the lump building
in her throat. “You’ll be going back to your own life soon,” she said, her
voice cracking toward the end.
    She felt him moving on the couch. His hands cupped
her cheeks a moment later and tipped her face up. He didn’t say anything, instead he just leaned in and kissed her softly.
Oh, so softly.
    Whimpering, she leaned into the kiss and let him
pull her into his arms, and onto his lap, as she wrapped herself around him.
Holding onto him, she poured everything she couldn’t seem to make a coherent
thought about into the kiss.
    She wanted him, needed him and was desperate for
him. Fisting her fingers in his short hair, she pressed closer.
    He drew her in even tighter to his body. The ridge
of his hard cock pressed to the seam of her jeans with the perfect amount of
friction. Rocking her hips slightly, she let out a moan that perfectly melded
with the groan he let loose.
    “Mallory,” he said as they parted, both sucking in
air. He thrust his hands into her hair and held her still as he stared into her
eyes.
    She could see need in his gaze, want, desire and so
much heat it was a miracle she wasn’t melting away into a puddle right there.
    “I want you,” she whispered. “So
much. I’ve wanted you from the moment you showed up on my doorstep. I’ve
been fighting the urge to tear your clothes off every other minute.”
    “You really should have just given into the urge,”
he said with a smile.
    Chewing on her lip, she smiled a little. “I was
afraid you might not feel the same. Or that you just viewed this as a job. You
know, do the job and at the end walk away without a backward glance.”
    That had him frowning at her. “You are not and
never were just a job. You are amazing, Mallory, and a woman I want to know
more about. A woman I want to have in my life and to also be a part of your
life. I don’t know where this might go, I don’t know if it will