Читать книгу Over the Edge - Jeanie London, Jeanie London - Страница 7

The kiss—ten years ago

THE WOMAN moved as if she were making love, slim curves gathering and unfolding in a sinuous display as she descended a rope using nothing more than the strength of her upper body to lower her, long sleek legs to anchor her. She wore all black, from the top of her ski-mask-covered head to the tips of her soft-soled boots.

Jake Trinity stopped short in the doorway leading from the offices to the warehouse, the two sides of his brain colliding at the impossibility of the sight. One side absorbed her smooth descent as she shimmied down and dropped to her feet without a sound, her body absorbing the impact with an effortless motion that brought to mind a cat landing on all fours.

This had to be the testosterone-filled half of his brain. The more rational half observed that she’d landed neatly out of reach of the infrared sensor beams zigzagging across the opening of the warehouse doors.

No one should have been in the building.

The night watchman who’d let him in earlier must have gone to sleep on the job because Innovative Engineering had a state-of-the-art security system, barbed-wire fences and steel-reinforced doors and windows to avoid exactly this occurrence.

Jake knew this for certain. For the past two years he’d been conducting his internship with Innovative, the largest electrical engineering firm on the eastern seaboard. He’d made it his business to learn everything about the company he was establishing a career with while earning his degrees.

He’d only stopped by this late on a Saturday night to retrieve some account data so he could continue work on a project for his newest boss, the company president.

He remembered his father’s parting words as he’d left home earlier. College students should spend their weekends dating, playing golf and watching football games, in that order.

Had Jake put any stock in his father’s opinion, he wouldn’t be standing inside a building watching a burglary in progress.

Not that this particular thief would present much of a problem. She wouldn’t, but Jake didn’t believe for one second that this woman was alone. No way.

He stood shadowed in the doorway as she raised her hand to punch numbers onto a keypad, presumably to disable the beam sensor. He searched for any identifying features to report to the police—if he survived the meeting with her accomplices.

Five feet four inches, maybe five-five, most of which comprised long, long legs…

A body that was all slim lines and sleek curves…

Liquid movements that reminded him of…sex.

Something about her, and Jake wasn’t sure what, struck him as young. Around his age maybe. Not quite twenty. With effort, he shrugged off the thought as plain stupid. Why would any young woman be breaking into a commercial warehouse that stored millions of dollars of electrical equipment, not to mention a high-security vault that housed several invaluable prototypes?

Jake didn’t have a chance to consider the possible answers because the mystery woman suddenly spun and looked directly at him. She could have only sensed his presence. Her back had been to him and he hadn’t moved, had barely breathed.

The black mask covered her face and neck. He couldn’t make out her eyes but got the impression they were light, that she must be Caucasian, although he couldn’t see even a sliver of skin to support the impression. Something about her suggested she was as surprised to find him as he’d been to come across her. Something about the way she squared her shoulders and raised her chin…

He stepped into the foyer that connected the offices with the warehouse, expecting her to run. He’d catch her and deal with her accomplices later.

But his mystery woman didn’t run. She only lifted a gloved finger to her mouth and gestured him to silence as she approached. She clearly wasn’t worried that he’d hurt her, and Jake thought that said a lot about her confidence in her abilities. Though she couldn’t know he’d wrestled through high school and still made time for the sport in college, he was a full head taller and outweighed her by at least eighty pounds.

But her hands were free. If she was armed, she hadn’t gone for a weapon.

He stopped and waited, the more impulsive side of his brain noticing how she even walked as if she were making love, all toned muscle and sleek grace. There was no panic about her, or violence. He had the feeling she was challenging him. As if she dared him to play a dangerous game.

So what was his next move?

Jake wasn’t sure about anything except there were other burglars around somewhere, and he wanted very much to see what this woman’s next move would be.

The eye slits in the ski mask were wider than he’d realized, but she’d blackened the skin below, like a television cat burglar. He could see two pale-green eyes, so clear a green they seemed to laser through the darkness.

She didn’t utter a sound, though he half expected her to say something. The occasion seemed to warrant a verbal exchange, but she only assessed him with a challenge in those eyes.

Jake assessed her as carefully, calculated that she stood just out of his reach. A few inches closer and he could’ve taken her down with a leg drop that she wouldn’t have seen coming. He still could, but he’d have to spring on her to cover those extra few inches.

Holding her gaze, he tensed for action….

In one sleek burst of motion, she pounced, covering the distance between them while dragging up the edge of her mask. A glimpse of clear ivory skin, a daintily pointed chin and a kissable red mouth stopped him short.

He could see enough of her face to shoot sparks through him even as the rational half of his brain recognized that she hadn’t revealed enough for him to identify her to the police.

That was his last thought before she slipped leather-clad fingers around his neck, raised up on tiptoes…

And kissed him.

Her moist mouth slanted across his and parted enough so their breaths literally collided.

Jake gasped, but she only laughed, a sultry sound that gusted against his lips, a sound that annihilated reason beneath a blast of testosterone that made his bones melt and his glasses fog.

He should take her down and restrain her for the police.

But that thought dissolved the instant she swept her warm silk tongue into his mouth, prowling inside boldly, engaging him in a kiss so hot that she shut down the rational half of his brain as if it had never existed.

Her fingers anchored his face close. She thrust her body against his, a sleek motion that caught him in all the right spots…firm breasts against his chest, her stomach cradling a hard-on that shouldn’t be happening given their situation. Everything about her was daring him to take what she offered.

Jake practically vibrated with his reaction, a hunger unlike anything he’d ever felt. Instinctively, he lifted his hands, slipped his fingers along the ski mask and forced her to tilt her face back so he could drive his tongue into her mouth.

The hot taste of passion chased away any worries, any reasonable thoughts…including all awareness of the surveillance camera that was angled at them, recording every second of that incredible kiss.