Page 29 of Clay

Relief flowed through Ivy. Relief and the need to feel more of his touch, to discover what drove him. But he stepped away, running one hand down her arm, as if he couldn’t stop himself, and she smiled internally, not wanting to scare him away.

“We’ll watch him for a bit and see if he can give us any leads as to where Katie is, and then Tate will have a nice little chat with him.”

And that didn’t sound foreboding at all.

“So if we know where he is, can I go home?”

Clay shook his head. “Not yet. We have to be positive that you’re not in danger, and until we figure out who took a run at us yesterday, we’re laying low. Dev wants us to meet as a group. We’re handing off surveillance on Hamilton to a trusted contractor for a few hours and meeting at the hotel next door in half an hour for lunch and a sitrep. Warren’s due to land in a few minutes.”

Ivy stood. “Then let me finish getting ready and let’s take the next step.”

~

Clay watched Ivy disappear down the hallway. Everything inside him wanted to follow her. The feel of her skin under his hands had almost undone him.

But they were on a schedule, and he couldn’t touch. Not yet anyway.

He wasn’t sure what was going to happen between him and Ivy when they found Katie, and the uncertainty was eating at him. He hated uncertainty. He wanted a plan, needed one, even if it fell apart and he needed to move on to the next one. It was the logistician in him. The child that had lived an uncertain existence and the man who’d tried to control everything he could in response, then had it all stripped away in the desert.

But those were tomorrow thoughts, and they needed to deal with the here and now. They had several variables coming at them at once which made his specialty—planning—almost impossible. He was glad for the team at his back and their ability to shift focus and tactics on a dime. If shit was going to go down, he couldn’t think of anyone more competent than his friends.

Ivy rejoined him, having done female magic that made her eyes appear both huge and smoky.

She wore another tank, this one snow white, with a colorful riot of a skirt, her feet in chunky earth sandals, her hair pulled up into a tidy ponytail that exploded into a riot of chestnut curls.

Everything inside him went hot and hard and he had to forcibly restrain himself from picking her up and sprinting to the nearest bedroom. Hell, the dining room table looked just fine as well.

But he wasn’t a caveman.

Then he saw the quirk of her lips and knew she’d seen the arousal on his face. And realized he didn’t care anymore.

Something had shifted between them in the last twenty-four hours.

He wanted her unlike he’d ever wanted anything else, and if he was going to suffer until this job was wrapped up, then so could she.

So he smiled, making it as feral as he felt and saw her doubletake, her long blink. A constriction of her throat that was more reflex than swallow.

Still smiling, he stepped forward and offered his arm. “Let’s get on with it, then.”

~

Holy shit. Ivy’s mind stuttered, then stopped entirely as she took in the beauty that was Clay unfettered. He’d been hiding a lot. Magnitudes of a lot.

She took his arm, felt the corded strength beneath her fingers, the slight coarseness of his hair. And she wanted with a ferocity that was almost blinding. Made everything within her clench.

“Why thank you, sir.”

Was that her voice, all soft and sexy and sultry?

His smile intensified and she wondered for the first time if she could handle this version of him.

She’d thought him a warrior before, but this side of him, smoldering and playful, was edged by a darkness her sunshine wanted to banish, all the while basking in its sexuality.

But even as they walked, as she regained her equilibrium, she knew Clay’s demons were an integral part of him, and when she took him into her bed, she’d be accepting that part of him as well.

Everything inside thrilled with that knowledge. Relished the challenge. Even as the rational part of her said it wouldn’t be that easy. Nothing as good as the promise in Clay’s eyes was.

So she held herself a little straighter, even though her head only came up to his shoulder. They rode the elevator down to the lobby in a charged silence that made every one of her nerves go alight.

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