Page 104 of The Saint (Gentlemen Rogues 3)
"Don't lie to me. If you don't want me to walk out that door, which I should because you lied to me, although where would I be going, then talk to me, Jasper."
Her voice softened when she said my name.
I stepped around her and started to pace. "Fuck. I don’t know where to start.” It took me a minute of pacing before I got my thoughts under control. I didn’t want to have to say all of this out loud. Especially to Kaya.
“Long story short, you've heard some of the details. Elise never actually wanted to be married to me. Her family sent her to find a rich husband to alleviate their financial losses. I was deployed and Elise liked the idea of me not being around. And then, well, she simply traded up."
Kaya winced at that. "Well, it's true she traded, but not up. That was her loss, not yours."
"Anyway, she was playing fast and loose with the commitments she’d made to get her family out of trouble. She crossed the wrong person, and it got her killed. My father-in-law went off the rails because he thought I did her wrong. And then I came back from deployment to find out what been going on between her and my father.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“But my father was right. It's part of my grandfather's clause in his will that to get full access to the board seats, Idohave to be married. I have a one year grace period from the time I took over. Right after Elise's death, dad started to spiral and made some bad choices. The board unseated him, leaving me next in line. Since I took over nine months ago, the clock has been ticking.
Kaya stepped in front of me. "Then I fell in your lap. Convenient, wasn't I?"
"You did fall in my lap, but you needed help. I found a way to help you and myself at the same time."
"Why the fuck did you not tell me? I could have really laid it on. Really sold it."
"I needed you, and I took advantage."
"Right. Here's the thing… Obviously, I'm not leaving. You have done what you said you would do to protect me. You've been admirable doing it, too. But you want me to trust you, and I can't because you lied."
"I'm sorry. I needed you, and I'm trying to get off this carousel. There might be a way. I just didn't think there was a reason to tell you unless it was urgent."
She licked her lips. "I don't like surprises, especially not surprises like your father, okay? So no more."
"I promise. No more."
Except that secret government organization that you and her mother are a part of.
She was giving me a second chance.
One you don’t deserve.
Because of my mission, I still couldn't tell her the whole truth, but I would tell her as much of it as I could. And I could only pray then when she found everything out, she didn't leave me.
Not that I was ever letting her go. Now that she was here, now that she was mine, I knew the only truths that mattered were that I was keeping her and I needed to find a way to tell her about Rogues and still keep her safe.
I took her hand and pulled her to her feet. Her gaze searched mine as I hooked my fingers into the belt loops of her jeans and tugged her close. The kiss I gave her was meant to be gentle, very sweet. It was meant to be an apology. It was meant to be me asking for her forgiveness. But one sweep of my tongue over hers, and the inferno took over. The climbing heat of it made my skin itchy and tight. And the only way to soothe the discomfort was having her touch me.
In seconds we were roaming hands and clashing teeth and sliding tongues. I tried backing her toward the hallway. If thingswere getting out of hand, I wanted to be near a bed. The couch wasn't nearly big enough for what I had planned.
My foot hit something, nearly tumbling us over, and I was forced to tear my lips from hers. Searching her gaze, I whispered, “Kaya, what are you doing to me?”
When she lifted her heavy-lidded gaze to meet my, her pupils were dilated. “I could ask you the same thing.”
As it turned out, we hadn't made it anywhere near the hallway. But I was too impatient now. I just needed more of her. More of her taste on my tongue. More of her hands in my hair. More of her grinding her hips against my erection. Every cell in my body urged me to hurry, to bury myself inside her. But when I kissed her again, she slowly melted into me. Her tongue teased and drove me mad.
She had the power in her touch and in her kiss to burn me.
Without breaking our kiss, I slid my hands down her arms and brought them up to wrap around the back of my neck. I pulled back momentarily. “I can’t stop touching you.”
Kaya arched into me, the curves of her full breasts pressed into my chest. I slid my hands under the silk of her blouse. When my thumbs came into contact with the soft flesh of her belly, we both hissed.
I slid my hands up her satin skin, pausing when I encountered the silk of her bra. I watched her carefully as I lightly skimmed the soft flesh, but I let my hands continue to travel upward, pushing her T-shirt over her head.
