Chapter 3

3

JT settled back against the pillows and wrapped his arm around Elena. Satiated—for the moment—he wanted to enjoy this moment as much as the sex. She snuggled close to him, apparently in no hurry to get up or get dressed. Her head was on his shoulder, and her hand rested on his chest—right over his heart. The scent of their lovemaking tinted the air, but there was something more there. He could smell her on her sheets. She wasn’t a woman who wore perfume. Instead, he could smell her lotion and shampoo, along with the sensual musk that clung to her. He trailed his fingers over her upper arm, enjoying the silky feel of her skin. JT knew that he would be happy to spend a week or more in bed with her. Just like this.

He knew that this wasn’t just for one night.

He waited for the panic to set in. Touching her had been something he’d been avoiding for a couple of years. Was it because he had known it would be like this? He’d ended an engagement over his feelings. It wasn’t that he thought he would ever act on them, but he couldn’t marry Bethany if he could be that attracted to Elena. He thought it had just been something lacking in the relationship. For Bethany, he knew she had been having second thoughts about being married to an NCIS agent. It was exciting for her in the beginning, but his long hours had dimmed that excitement. Arguments led to tears and then, by the time he called it off, Bethany had seemed almost bored. That was not what he wanted in a marriage.

He had always had a picture-perfect idea of marriage. He didn’t get the idea from his own house. His parents didn’t have a good marriage. His father was an abusive prick, and until he met the Santinis, JT had no idea that married couples actually acted in a loving way together. A touch, a smile…just a small gesture was all it took for the Santinis to know how loved they were. He wanted something like that. Long-standing, loving, and unable to keep his hands off his wife, even after twenty years of marriage.

He rubbed his chin on top of Elena’s head. JT wasn’t too sure she was going to agree with him. He knew she cared for him. While Elena might have an adrenaline junkie kind of job, she didn’t take risks in her personal life. She wouldn’t take a chance on something like this. Still, he wasn’t sure what she expected out of it. JT knew what he wanted, but he was also older.

Eventually, he would have to deal with Anthony and how they would go on with their friendship. The ramifications of their lovemaking could bring an end to the relationship he had with Anthony. From the moment they’d met, they had been as close as brothers. Now, he didn’t know if Anthony would talk to him again once he found out. Damn .

“Lord, stop thinking.” Her husky voice filtered over him. Even though she was telling him what to do, he couldn’t help but enjoy listening He could wake up hearing that voice for the rest of his life.

He shook that feeling away. He couldn’t deal with that thought tonight. If he thought about it too much, he would definitely do something stupid…like tell Elena.

JT looked down at her. She still had her head against his chest. Her curls caught on the stubble on his chin.

“What?”

“You’re thinking about things. No good can come of that.”

There was something to be said about sleeping with a woman who had known him probably close to half his life. She knew him a little too well for him to lie. It was going to make the intricacies of dating a little bit more difficult.

“There are issues we have to talk about.”

She sighed. “Why do we have to talk about it?”

“Elena, we can’t pretend that we didn’t just make love.”

She pulled away from him and sat up, pulling up the sheet to cover her breasts—unfortunately. He had to curl his fingers into the sheet to keep from grabbing the fabric and tugging it down. He hadn’t gotten to see enough of her naked. He was pretty sure he would never get enough of seeing her naked. But this was important.

There was little light in the room, but the living room light spilled into the bedroom through the door. There was enough to allow him a good view. She might be hiding the most important parts, but damn, he couldn’t complain. Her hair was tousled and her lips still swollen from his kisses.

“JT, I knew going into this that it would only be tonight. When are you leaving? Tomorrow? Monday?”

“Monday.”

“And when will you be back?” she asked in a knowing tone.

He didn’t know. This one was going to be deeper than the last few, and it could be weeks before he returned. He reached out and played with the ends of her hair. She had always kept it long, but it was probably longer than she had ever had it since he had known her. The bangs she’d added set off her amazing eyes. It felt like silk. He knew a lot of people used that term to describe hair, but it was the only thing that came to mind.

“You don’t know, do you?” she asked.

He studied her expression for a moment. One thing about Elena was that she didn’t like liars. In fact, she couldn’t stand them. She was always straight up honest with everyone, which was one reason she didn’t have a lot of female friends. He was sure growing up with five Santini brothers had something to do with that personality trait.

He shook his head as he took her hand in his. “Not really. It’s going to be deep.”

She studied their joined hands for a moment, then looked up at him. “I would love to take this further, but we have to wait. Starting things up would make it more complicated and much worse when you leave. Don’t you see that?”

He nodded, even if he didn’t like it. She was right. “I know that both of us have a lot on our plates.”

“And neither of us can say what the future holds right now. If you weren’t leaving, then I’d probably call in sick and not leave bed for a week.”

But he wanted a commitment. “I just wonder what your brothers will say about it.”

“Why would they say anything about it? How are they going to know?”

“When I’m involved with a woman, I don’t hide it.”

Although, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d had that kind of relationship. His job had made it difficult and since his engagement dissolved, he just hadn’t taken the time to really date. This was different though. “Do we really need that complication? We have no reason to tell anyone.”

“Why?”

“Why what?”

He fought the need to growl at her. He knew she wasn’t being deliberately obtuse. “Why can’t we tell anyone?”

JT knew he was getting irritated, and he really didn’t understand why. He knew it had to do with the fact that she didn’t want to tell anyone about them. He understood to a point, but it just struck him as odd. As the woman, shouldn’t she be the one pushing this angle? Most women liked talking about such things. It was one of the reasons he avoided these kind of entanglements in recent years.

“For what? One night of sex?”

He hated the way she said it. She made it sound cheap. “If I wasn’t leaving Monday, it would definitely be more than that.”

She cocked her head and studied him. Elena was rarely calm or quiet, so when she was, it was always odd. And, as Anthony said more than once, always fear Elena when she was quiet. There was a good chance she was formulating a way to make you cry.

“But you are leaving.”

“What about when I get back?”

She sighed, the sad sound echoed through him and touched his soul. Never in his life had he wanted to soothe a woman’s unhappiness. It was as if she were unhappy, he was too.

“I’m assuming you won’t be able to contact anyone?” she asked.

He nodded.

She was quiet for a second, then she looked him straight in the eye. “Why don’t we just say you will look me up when you get back? We’ll decide on where to go from there.”

It was practical, and normally, he should be happy with it. Any other woman said it to him, he would be relieved. Now, the words bothered him. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but something was wrong.

“I see you working it out there in your head, Jethro.”

He shook his head and she laughed.

“Listen, if you weren’t leaving Monday, I would be more than happy to tie you down in more ways than one.” She wiggled her sculpted eyebrows. “But, you and I both know this next assignment is going to be long and deep. If we had been dating, that would be one thing.”

She was saying all the right things, but it left him with a hollow feeling in the pit of his stomach. When he didn’t respond, she leaned forward and brushed her mouth against his.

“Just let us have tonight. We’ll worry about the future later.”

He wanted more from her. He wanted to demand some kind of agreement, but he knew that wasn’t fair to either of them. She was right, even if it hurt his heart to admit it.

So, instead of pushing the issue, he deepened the kiss. He let go of her hand and tugged on the sheet. It slipped down, and she lifted her leg to straddle him. She was already hot and wet. Needing to taste, he rose up and took one hardened nipple into his mouth. She leaned her head back and moaned as he teased her. Her hair was so long, the tips brushed his legs.

She shuddered as he moved his mouth from one nipple to the other. He had never had a woman who was as responsive as she was. He touched her and she exploded. It was as if they were made for each other.

Soon, though, she was pushing him back on the bed. She kissed her way down his torso. Her teeth scraped against his abdomen before she settled between his legs. She wrapped her hand around his cock and gave it one, long, leisurely stroke. He watched as she bent her head over and licked the head. He closed his eyes and groaned as she took him fully into her mouth. Soon he was lifting his hips off the bed to keep rhythm with her. God, it felt good. Too good. He almost lost his control. He didn’t want this. He wanted to share, to feel those little muscles of hers contract around his cock as he came.

He pulled her up and she frowned at him. “In a hurry, Jethro?”

He growled and tried to roll them over, but she shook her head.

“Nope, my turn.”

She grabbed a condom off her bedside table. She had it on quickly, then rose up over him. Slowly, surely, she took him inside of her. She bent down as she continued to move and kissed him. This wasn’t a simple kiss. In it, he felt her need, and the connection he had been missing with every other woman. In that one split second, he knew she was the mirror to his soul.

Pulling away, she sat up. As she continued to move, she leaned her head back and moaned. It was one of the most erotic things he had ever seen. And beautiful. So fucking beautiful.

They moved in rhythm. It was only their second time making love, and it was as if they already understood each other in bed. He slipped his hands on her hips, digging his fingers into her flesh as she continued to ride him. Each time she moved, it heightened his need, drawing him deeper into the web of erotic pleasure she wound around him. Her muscles clenched tightly against his cock—tighter each time she sank onto him. Her moans grew as she moved faster over him. JT slipped his fingers down between them, pressing against her clit, sending her flying over into her orgasm.

She screamed, her body convulsing as all those tiny inner muscles clasped tight against him, drawing him deeper into her hot core.

He rolled them over, switching their positions again and started to thrust hard and deep inside of her. He was mindless to anything but their pleasure. As he felt his own orgasm approaching, Elena came again beneath him, arching up against him and moaning his name. In that last instant, he joined her, gaining his pleasure as he groaned her name against her lips.