against the table moments later, because all he could think was that there was so much more of her to explore and he wanted his mouth on every last bit of it—no self-restraint left. Only then did she wrench her mouth from his with a gasp and put her hand to his chest to stop him.
Not that it stopped the tremor that ripped through him.
‘Are you eating with anyone this evening?’ he muttered roughly.
‘I’m working late.’
‘After that?’
‘What? No offer to bring dinner here?’
‘I want you gone from this place.’
He wanted equal footing and he wouldn’t get it here.
‘I want to take you back at my place, or the beach house—anywhere that’s private. I want to be in you, over you, under you, touching you for a good long while, and I want to make good on any promises I made to you that first night at my sister’s wedding.’
A slow smile lit her eyes at that. ‘You never made any.’
‘Make ’em up.’
Her mouth joined the smiling caper then—a generous curve that he desperately needed to explore some more.
‘You’re wanted upstairs,’ she murmured. ‘I’ll be finished here by ten p.m. and I’ll be back at six tomorrow morning. I’ll need food at some point, and I’ll need a bed to sleep in. You can pick me up at five past ten from the steps outside the entrance to the building.’
‘You don’t mind people here knowing who you’re going home with?’
‘It’ll be a problem, yes. How about we let the others choke on it?’
‘Dangerous …’ He liked it.
‘Nothing I can’t handle.’
‘Have they give you permission to seduce me?’
‘They’ve given me permission to use whatever means necessary to gain your trust and co-operation. Not that I need to sleep with you to do that. Let’s not mistake work for willingness.’
‘Are you willing, Ro?’
‘What do you think?’
He waited until he’d reached the door before looking back. She was still leaning against the desk, still wholly focused on him. He wondered if his lips looked as kiss-blown as hers.
‘How many hours of sleep do you need?’
She held his gaze and the smile she sent him was full of promise.
‘In any one night? Six.’
Jared was used to men in suits looking him over and not liking what they saw. He was used to them seeing him as either a threat or a weapon to be used against others. He usually enjoyed a certain measure of respect—and when he’d been in Antonov’s service fear. Lust—he got that too.
Utter indifference was new to him.
The man standing behind the desk was reptilian—cold and imposing to look at. Pale grey eyes and greying black hair … that rare mix of colour that came out of nowhere and stayed in the mind like a thorn. He was in his fifties, at a guess. Big-bodied, well-honed and powerful. Imposing.
‘You hand me the head of one of my directors on a plate and yet you’ve no ambition to succeed him?’
The man’s voice matched his looks. Cold. Precise.
‘You don’t like the rules so you either bend them or outright break them. You’ve no wish to remake them, apparently, and you’re about to start screwing one of my best directors. Tell me, West, what would you do with you?’
‘Probably move me on.’
‘To where, exactly?’
‘A place where section rules don’t apply.’
‘Why would you even think such a place exists?’
‘They always exist.’
The head of the service smiled mirthlessly. ‘If you could put together a team for this place where normal rules don’t apply, who would you choose?’
‘Adrian Sinclair and my sister Lena.’
‘Sinclair I approve of. But your sister’s performance record is unremarkable and her injuries are extensive. What would you do with her?’
The man had no idea of Lena’s determination or her fierce loyalty to family.
Jared didn’t bother explaining it to him—just ran through the rest of his list. ‘My brother, Damon. My sister Poppy.’
‘You’ve no problem with leading them into danger? Your psych report suggests otherwise.’
‘They’d follow me there regardless. May as well make it easier on them.’
‘Who else?’
‘That’s it.’
‘Not Rowan Farringdon?’
‘She’d limit me. Rein me in.’
‘If you let her, yes.’
‘Not really my thing.’
‘You were doing well until then.’
‘You need to find someone who cares.’ May as well come clean. ‘I want Antonov’s last mole gone and then I really don’t know what I want. I don’t like being used, lied to, and finding myself on my own when I come in from fieldwork that you authorised.’
Not for a second did the older man look contrite.
‘Should you agree to head up this team you’ll report directly either to me or to the woman whose desk you passed on the way into this office.’
‘Your secretary?’
‘She’s not a secretary.’
‘Then what is she, exactly?’
‘My confidante. My partner in all things. My conscience, at times, as I am hers. Vera stays in the outer office because she says it keeps her more connected to section politics than she would be if she held equal title to me. Her choice, and I respect her for it. Vulnerability and accessibility are powerful weapons.’
Not what he’d been expecting—and the older man knew it.
‘Every system can be exploited, Mr West. Patriarchy, especially.’
Now there was an argument. He wondered what the woman he’d just kissed would think of it. Whether the lesser status would satisfy her. He didn’t think so, frankly.
‘How
