The Midnight Hour - Brenda Jackson [62]
"Tori?"
She lifted her chin and met his gaze. She had to remember that she was a professional and she had to think about them together as being on a mission-a mission to save her life. "No, Drake, I don't have a problem with it as long as there are two beds in the room." She wanted to make it clear that they would not be sleeping together.
He nodded. "Of course. That shouldn't be a problem," he1 said, with more gruffness than he'd intended.
Tori glanced out the window, refusing to meet his eyes. She certainly hoped that it wouldn't be a problem.
Getting a room with two double beds wasn't a problem. The problem was the coziness'of the room. With the two of them together it seemed to shrink in size. Drake, Tori noticed, didn't seem at all bothered by it. On the other hand, the thought of being in such proximity to him had her in knots.
They had shared tight quarters on their mission, but then her concentration had been focused almost exclusively on rescuing Robin Thomas and snot on seducing Drake-almost.
They had unpacked and she had set her laptop up on the desk in the room. She had a few contacts of her own-those she felt certain she could trust-and she intended to see what they could find out. One person in particular was a woman-another agent-whom she had befriended a few years ago when they'd teamed up together for a job in Pakistan shortly after the September 11 attack. Jody Barrow was still with the Agency and was a whiz at finding a connection to information on the computer.
"Why don't you go ahead and take a shower? It will probably relax you. After everything that's happened you must be pretty tense right now," Drake said as he double-checked the doors.
His back was to her and Tori thought from behind he looked just as good as he did from the front. There was just something about a good-looking man in a fitting pair of jeans, and boy, did his fit. Her skin suddenly felt warm and the stirrings of hot desire began flowing through her. She needed a shower, all right. A cold shower.
"Yes, I think I will," she said, barely able to get the words out. And when he turned and looked at her, she felt that emotional connection again, that physical attraction, and wondered if he felt it as well. By some miracle she hoped not. Anything other than business would complicate things, especially raging hormones.
Turning, she walked over to the dresser and pulled open a drawer to get out a couple of items. Her hands felt numb as she pulled out an extra large T-shirt, bra, and panties. Closing the drawer she turned around holding the items to her chest like a shield.
"I won't be long and promise to save some hot water for you," she said, her voice sounding odd even to her ears.
He stared at her intently, thoroughly, as if he could see right into her soul and knew all her secrets. There was that look in his eyes, that heated, passionate look, that signaled he was thinking sexual thoughts. The sudden softening of his mouth and the unfolding on that sexy grin of his almost took her breath away.
"That's all right," he said in a voice so sexy and low, the area between her thighs began to ache. "I think I need a cold shower right now anyway."
Swallowing hard, Tori turned and forced one foot in front of the other, determined to cross the room to the bathroom without throwing herself at him and onto the nearest bed. She almost made it to the bathroom door when he called her name. She turned reluctantly as if afraid she would turn to salt. Her nerves were stretched to the limit.
He was standing less than a couple of feet away from her. "Yes?"
"You dropped these."
Her black lacy panties dangled from his fingertips. Her breath hitched and a surge of heat flooded her body. Words caught in her throat. Tori held out her hand silently and waited for him to give them to her, but he seemed in no hurry to return them.
"Nice underwear," he said as she watched him skim his fingers across the satiny material. "Real sexy."
Tori took a deep breath, trying to force his opinion of her panties from her mind. He had seen her in underwear