Bound By Lies: Marrying The Strict Colonel

e suite swung open with

sharp edge of his cheekbone. The air was wrong. It carried the thick, cloying scent of roses-expensive

re he remembered. He wasn't in the field. He was in Washington, at a hotel that cost more per night than most of

athroom door stood ajar, a sliver of warm light cutting across the darkened living area. He moved toward it, every muscle

f running w

-something French and feminine that made his stomach clench with unwelcome awareness. He reached

stepped i

nde waves. Water droplets traced a path down the elegant line of her spine, disappearing beneath the towel's precarious fold. The

ched. His hand fro

tu

't scream. She didn't reach for cover. She simply smiled, a slow, dangerous cur

was smoke and velvet, pitched low e

oil painting hanging there-swirls of blue and gray that suddenly seemed

t pad of bare feet on carpet, felt the displacement of air as she moved closer. His back found the wall beside

at radiating from her shower-warmed skin. Close enough that the rose scent wasn't just in th

e name came out clipped, military-grade precision masking

isper of her breath against his jaw. "And I'

the dim light. The towel had slipped another fraction of an inch, revealing the hollow of her throat, the shadow between her colla

laying," he ground out. "But it

somehow looked more erotic than any lacquered manicure. She didn't touch his face. She touched his chest, her fingertip tr

she observed. "Are you

und delicate bones, his grip tight enough to br

breathed. And

him through lashes that cast shadows on her cheekbones. The towel gaped. Ethan felt the soft weight of her breas

asi

t vibrated against his sternum. "At the embassy gala. You were standing by the wi

clean scent of her skin beneath the artificial roses. "This is insane. I'm-" He forced the word

him, and he felt her smile a

t the bare, damp skin of her spine, and Ethan felt his control shredding like wet paper. His fingers spread of

hroat. Her lips brushed the shell of his ear, soft and dev

eath his feet. His eyes opened. He looked down at her, at the flush spreading across her cheeks, at the towel that had slipped to reveal the uppe

you," he

e door. The painting rattled on its hook. She gasped-not in shock, but in triumph, her eyes widening with t

is chest. He deepened the kiss, his tongue demanding entry, his body pinning hers to the wall with the full weight of his frustration and want. She ma

owel

, her hips, the incredible softness of her thigh as he lifted her slightly to fit them together. She wrapped one leg around his hip

groin. Her head fell back against the wall, exposing the long line of her throat, and Ethan followed the invitation,

evator

hovering an inch from her skin, his hand still cupped around the weight of her breast. Reality crashed back in a sickeni

heaved. He stared at her-at the swollen lips, the dazed eyes, the naked body still pressed agai

started, reac

heavy wool dragging against his sensitized skin. He threw it at her, not caring where it lande

His voice didn't sound lik

he'd walked in, she looked uncertain-her eyes wide, her breath coming i

hallway. He didn't look back. He couldn't look back. He strode toward the elevator with the ground-eating pace of a man fle

ammed shut

herself to the floor, her back sliding down the wall until she sat on the thick carpet. Ethan's coat pool

corner to her f

she s

sharper, a blade drawn across velvet. She stood, wrapping the coat more securely around

ight with an emotion that had nothing to do with desire. Kiera touched her reflecti

," she w

it before her shower. Her thumb hovered over the screen for a

en M

sent a single blank message, nothing but punctuation, a gh

ie awake tonight wondering what she'd me

me had