Page 66 of Hot Pursuit
“Fine,” Nate said, tightening his grip on her waist. “Then you’re using your vices against me, which is even worse.”
“I never claimed to play fair…” Jo trailed off as she traced a heart over his chest. “I play to win.”
Nate snorted. “Okay then, Jo, maybe we should do my favorite thing. Lay some ground rules. So we both know exactly what we’re getting into here.”
“Ugh,” Jo groaned and rolled her eyes in mock disgust…at least, he hoped it was mocking. “Lay it on me, Parker.”
“The last woman I lived with was my mother, a decade ago, so I leave the toilet seat up sometimes. You’re going to have to get used to it.”
She studied him for a moment, as if balancing the options, but nodded with silent approval. “I’m not one of those girls who only eats salad and loves to share food. When I order a bowl of pasta, it’s because I want to eat that whole damn bowl of pasta. And if your fork wanders over to my dish uninvited, I can’t be blamed for the consequences.”
“Noted,” he said smoothly, but really, he found a woman who enjoyed eating a turn-on. “Working for the FBI, you get used to hard deadlines and having to constantly monitor the time. If you’re running late, or we’re running late, I might be a bit of an ass about it. But I’ll always apologize later.”
“Can I get flowers or chocolates as part of that apology?”
The edge of his lip twitched. “That could probably be arranged…”
“Then I’m in,” Jo confirmed. She absently drummed her fingers against his chest as she thought of what to say next. “Ooh! Contrary to what tonight might lead you to believe, I’m totally a morning person. My idea of a late night is staying up past eleven. And if I fall asleep and you try to wake me up, I can be vicious in my catatonic state…or so I’ve been told.”
“Good thing I don’t seem to have a problem carrying you around,” he said, letting his tone verge into the highly suggestive, so both their minds drifted back to her legs wrapped around his waist, his hands digging into her thighs, her back against the wall. No, lifting her was not a problem in the slightest. In fact, it had been nothing but immensely pleasurable thus far.
The sight of her blush made his blood stir. “Yeah, well… Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“Okay, here’s a doozy for you.” He paused for dramatic effect, waiting until her eyes narrowed with curiosity and her lips puckered. “I don’t like sweets.”
“What?” She gasped and leaned on her elbows, sitting up. And then she stared at him, really stared as though trying to see straight through him. “You’re joking.”
He shook his head. “I’m not.”
“You don’t like dessert?”
“Worst part of the meal.”
“Cake?”
“Not my favorite.”
“Brownies?”
“Too rich.”
“Ice cream. You have to give me ice cream.”
“I’d rather have a cold beer.”
Her nose wrinkled in disgust. “This might be a deal breaker. I can’t risk the DNA passing down and having a child who won’t eat my homemade chocolate chip cookies.”
“Jo,” he muttered, worried for a moment that there was true panic in her voice.
“Cookies!” she cried suddenly, and then turned on him, pressing both of her palms into his shoulders. Jo held him down against the bed with all her weight as she leaned over him, closer and closer, so they were practically nose to nose. “Don’t tell me you honestly didn’t like my coopies.”
“The coopies…” He paused while she sucked in a breath and held it. Then he grinned. “The coopies, I loved.”
The energy in her smile could’ve powered the entire hotel. Hell, it could have powered all of New York. “Then there’s hope for us yet, Nate Parker.”
He couldn’t stop himself from closing the distance between their lips and sealing that promise with a kiss. Because for the first time, tonight with Jo, when he thought about the future, his chest wasn’t clenched tight in fear. The past had stayed buried. There were no memories of gunshots and blood, of screams and tears, of panic and despair. There was hope. Unfiltered hope. Something he’d never felt before. There was a reason he’d chosen a job that made relationships difficult, that kept him on the road a lot, too busy to think about his own life, too distracted to care. His father’s death had put a cloud over his head, one that had been there, gloomy and depressing and constant, for nearly twenty years. And tonight, in her eyes, he saw sun. Brief but glimmering and there. Nate loved his job too much to quit, but he could cut back once the Russians were dealt with, once she helped destroy them, once that long chapter of his life was over. And if she was in his home waiting for him, there was no criminal important enough to keep him away. He had a sense that she would understand—Jo knew this life, from the other side maybe, but still. She understood what he did and why. And she had dreams of her own, goals of her own, that would draw her to late hours and maybe long distances. But they’d already overcome an impossible divide, so everything else was easy. Doable at least, if it meant she’d always look at him the way she was looking at him now, as she broke off their kiss with her eyes sparkling brighter than the skyline outside the window.
“This is going to be fun,” she commented mirthfully.
