Page 55 of Reckless Kiss

“This is the noble burials in Germany?” he asked, leaning forward on his knees.

“That’s the one.” She glanced up at me to explain. “My lab is sent DNA samples from all kinds of archeological sites. In this case it was the burial of five nobles dating back five thousand years. Genetically only two of the nobles were of the same ethnic background.”

“Whoa...” Jeffry whistled. “Big news for you guys.”

“It definitely fits the models we’ve built.”

And...I was lost. I normally didn’t mind. I let Jeffry and his friends babble like background music, but with Esme I wanted to understand. “Give me the middle school social studies version so I can follow along.”

“You really want to know?” She bit her lower lip as she waited for my answer.

“Very, very much.” As much as I wanted to know if she tasted different today and how she’d moan later once Jeffry left.

She seemed to read those thoughts in my eyes because she sighed. “Well, you saw a lot of it at the fundraiser. My research is building a map of human history. Before the Celts and the Aborigines, and the Tlingit, they came from somewhere else, brought their knowledge and bred with the people they encountered, they conquered and were conquered, they became the tribes and nations we know today. My job is to reach back in history, farther and farther, until we can trace the movements of everyone, everywhere, throughout time. It’s the way we’ll finally understandus.It’s the story of humankind.”

I kissed her because her passion was sexy as fuck.

“What was that for?” she breathed, blushing profusely.

“For being you. For turning me on. How did you wind up with this research anyway?” She might be building a map of history but I was building a map of Esme. I wanted to do the exact same thing, trace her journey through time, understand how she became the woman in my arms.

“Ancient genetics is like a puzzle.” Her eyes were so bright, soalive.The exact opposite of the dead fear that seemed to haunt her any other time. “It’s like the world’s biggest, most complicated puzzle. Like having a million upside down pieces and knowing you’re missing a million more, but trying to see the whole picture and piecing it together anyway.”

Her excitement was infectious. “And you enjoy putting this puzzle together?”

“Pffft,” Jeffry made a noise. “I need to interject here since you don’t understand all this genetic mumbo jumbo. I am brilliant, as is everyone on my team, but Esme is something different. She does what none of us can do.”

Her cheeks turned red so I gave her a nudge. “And what is that?” I tried to make my voice soft and full of the affection I felt towards her.

“She sees the bigger picture,” Jeffry continued. “Those of us in the lab, we get bogged down in the minutia, the details, it’s Esme’s job to do the opposite, to take the data we cobble together and feed it into the history of humanity. The puzzle she’s assembling isn’t the two-dimensional kind you put on table, it’s three-dimensional and extends back in time and across the face of the globe. Her depth of knowledge of languages, cultures, migration patterns is incredible. She’s going to change our understanding of history.”

No wonder Jeffry was attracted to her. Knowledge was porn to him, and, I was beginning to realize, me as well. The power she held in her mind was incredible, a resource for good, except when it was being used by her father.

Then she was simply being used.

I touched her cheek, brought her gaze up to mine, and whispered, “Your brilliance is beautiful and I won’t allow anyone to use you ever again.”

Her eyes flared with panic. “You won’t allow it?”

I realized my words sounded paternalistic, maybe even domineering. “You misunderstand me. I know that this is your life to live, your battles to fight, Esme.” I waited for her to digest my quiet words spoken only to her. Jeffry faded into the background. “But you’re no longer fighting them alone. I’m here to back you up, stand beside you, or clear the way, you just tell me what to do and I’ll do it. You don’t have to accept any fate you don’t choose because I’m right here.” I took her hand and placed it over my thundering heart. “Your days of being alone are over.”

She looked up at me with a combination of fear and adoration. Her dark eyes glistened. “Leo, you can’t promise that. You barely know me.”

“I don’t care.” I cut off the rest of her protest. I didn’t want to hear it. That brain of hers, while brilliant, could obviously make anything seem reasonable. “I want all of you Esme, I have from the moment we met. You make my world spin. I want your brain and your body and your heart. I don’t have a choice in this. I never have. I justwant.And that want is quickly turning to need. I need you Esme. I don’t know why and I don’t care. It just is. So like it or not, I’m here and I need you so much and because of that I’ve gone a little mad.”

She blinked at me, her hands shaking as she skimmed my arm and shoulder. “At least we’re going crazy together.”

I kissed her swiftly. Took her mouth and made it mine. I massaged her tongue and tasted her lips with a growl. Somewhere in the background Jeffry made an uncomfortable noise and said something about letting himself out. I knew I needed to follow Jeffry and lock the door behind him, otherwise I wouldn’t feel safe with those agents and investigators waiting outside, but first I had to feel her. My hands roamed and her body responded. Her breath grew ragged and I grew hard.

“Wait, Esme. Just...thirty seconds.”

It hurt to pull back. It hurt even more to see her swollen lips and rucked-up skirt and know I was walking away on purpose. But once the door was locked and the security system was armed she would be in my bed.

And tonight wouldn’t just be sex. It wouldn’t even be making love.

Tonight was a promise.

One I intended to burn into her very soul.

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