He loved the way she spoke his name. “Give it to me, Leanne.”
As if obeying him, he felt her orgasm take her. “Yes!! Ryan, yes!”
She tightened and pulsated around him, triggering his own release. He threw his head back and thrust deep, gasping her name as he came hard. Even as his mind spun away into oblivion, he registered that she really was the best he’d ever had.
As he slowly came back down to earth and buried his face in her neck, he had a bad feeling that she may be the best he’d ever have.
He stepped back and met her gaze. She was still breathing hard, her breasts rising and falling as she brought her hand up to them. “Damn. I didn’t really doubt that you were a real man.” She gave him that sassy smile, but her eyes held a tenderness that bound him to her somehow.
He winked at her. “It sounded like you weren’t sure.” He shrugged as he fastened his pants then pulled the emergency stop button back out. “I had to make my point.
She looked around as the elevator shuddered and then continued its ascent. “You made yourself abundantly clear.”
When they stepped out of the elevator, he could see sadness in her eyes. She was thinking this was it. He’d planned to go inside with her, linger as long as he could, but seeing her look like that, it was better if he went. There was no point dragging it out. He set her bag on the floor while she got her keys out.
She looked up at him sadly, understanding what it meant. “I’ll probably be a bitch when I see you with Dan again.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“I have to shut you out now, don’t I? For both our sakes.”
He put his hands on her hips and drew her toward him. His heart raced at the thought that next time he saw her he wouldn’t even be able to touch her, let alone kiss her, or lay her down and lose himself inside her. He dropped one last kiss on her lips. This was it. Time to go. “I guess you do.”
He turned and walked back to the elevator. He couldn’t look back. He wouldn’t leave if he did. The elevator was still there and as he stepped inside it, he heard her front door close.
It was only eight forty-five when he reached the office. Callahan had told him to be here by nine.
The older man looked up when Ryan leaned in the doorway. “Early, huh? I take it you’ve had your fill and won’t remember her name by tomorrow?”
Ryan worked hard to keep his face expressionless.
“You don’t need—we don’t need any complications. You had some fun, and I’m not saying you can’t have any more, but a different chick, okay? Pussy’s easy enough to find, especially for a young buck like you.”
Ryan nodded, even though his fingernails were cutting into his palms from the effort of not swinging for the bastard. Leanne wasn’t just pussy.
Callahan laughed. “Oh, Jesus! She’s gotten to you?”
Ryan shrugged.
“I told you. You don’t need the complication. We’re here to do a job.”
“And I’m doing it. I don’t see why having a girlfriend would be a problem. In fact, it’d seem perfectly normal, wouldn’t it?”
“I’m not saying you’d blow your cover. I’m saying you’d be distracted.”
“Yeah.” Ryan knew better than to argue. Callahan was right anyway. There was no room in his life for a relationship. Once the semester ended, they’d move on. He’d have this cryptography class under his belt and the most likely scenario was that he’d be on another overseas posting. Callahan knew what was best—hell, so did Leanne. He just needed to catch up and admit that they were both right.
“Are we good?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. Well. I heard from our contact at the Bureau and you’re going to take a little trip to Sacramento this week.”
Ryan frowned. “Sacramento? Not here?”
“You need to get the hang of this, Grasshopper. San Francisco is business; Sacramento is politics. You don’t get one without the other. Manny will fill you in on everything you need to know.”
“Manny Alvarado?”
“Yep. He’s the assistant special agent in charge there now.”
Ryan raised an eyebrow. “It’ll be strange to see him back stateside. Last time I ran into him was Colombia.”
“Yeah. It’s worked out well. Patrick Palmer wanted Manny as his second-in-command. Manny had wrapped up the banking deal in Cartagena. So, we now have two guys in our corner who have the background and insider knowledge we need.”
“Okay. When am I going?”
Callahan smirked at him. “I figure you could wait until Friday.”
“Okay.”
~ ~ ~
Leanne glared at herself in the mirror. “Get over it!” she admonished herself. She was going to be late for class if she didn’t go soon. Clothes were strewn all over the bathroom floor. This was her fourth outfit of the morning. She was being stupid, and she knew it.
Okay, so this would be the first time she saw Ryan again. Cryptography class was at nine, and she really was going to be late if she didn’t go now. She hadn’t seen him yesterday. She hadn’t seen Dan either. It was going to be weird facing them both this morning. She hoped that Ryan would have told Dan what had happened between them. She didn’t want to. She also hoped that he would have explained that they were going to go back to the way things were between them. She didn’t know if he’d explain why. Would he be able to tell Dan what he wouldn’t tell her—about what his story really was?
Dan knew her story. It was part of the reason they’d become such good friends. Leanne trusted him. She felt safe with him. Not in the same way she did with Ryan. There’d never been anything between her and Dan. Dan was a good-looking guy. He left many a nerd-girl swooning in his wake. But he wasn’t Leanne’s type—not just in looks, but in personality. He was too … she didn’t know what—and she didn’t need to stand here thinking about it. What she needed to do was get her ass into gear and get to class.
It didn’t take her long to get to campus. Her heart was racing as she walked down the hallway, and it wasn’t because she’d power-walked her way here. It was because … Her heart slammed to a halt when she saw him. Oh, God! How was she supposed to forget about him? How was she supposed to forget about last weekend and everything they’d shared? He turned as if feeling her gaze on him. His gorgeous blue eyes locked with hers, and then he smiled, and a warm fuzzy feeling spread through her chest.
She swallowed hard and raised her hand in a little wave before pulling it back down to her side. She’d told him she’d be back to her usual cold-bitch persona, and here she was blushing and waving. She’d have to work on that—later. For now, her feet were carrying her toward him, and her smile refused to be dimmed.
“Hey.”
She closed her eyes and let the sound of his voice wash over her. He had such a sexy voice.
“Hi.” That was all she had. She should chatter away, make conversation about something, maybe ask about the class or about Dan. But she had nothing. She was too overwhelmed by the feeling of being this close to him again, by the way her fingers twitched to reach out and touch him, by the way her whole body wanted to lean in and kiss him.