Beneath the Secrets Part 3(2)

His mouth curved in a sardonic smile before he grabbed her vanity chair from beside her changing panel, and sat it and then himself, directly in front of her. “Why don’t you tell me why that would be, Kara? Enlighten me.”

Her anger deflated instantly. Oh, crap. Something in his tone had her doing a double take. Did he know the truth about her? “Because,” Kara said, driving forward with her intended point, albeit missing the bite of anger she’d been embracing previously, “I see too much. I know there’s more to you than what you’re doing for Mendez. Or maybe there was and there isn’t any longer. How else can you work for a man like Mendez? He’s selling women to the highest bidder and you’re supporting that indirectly.”

“I’m no more a part of the cartel than you are, sweetheart.”

“Wrong answer,” she bit out angrily, using his own words. “No one takes the money of these kinds of people without justifying what they’re supporting.”

“Well, then,” he purred, with a kind of poisoned seductive quality to his voice, “let’s talk about how looks can be deceiving and how you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Ladies first, and I’ll spare you the talking in circles. You say you’re Kara Tatum, a secretary trying to make a living to help your poor, sick mom. I say you’re Kara Michaels, an FBI agent on a vigilante mission.”

His words blasted through her like a freight train, crushing her chest, and all but flattening her. It was all Kara could do not to flinch. There was no way he could know this unless he had someone inside the feds. “Ex,” she lied in a last-ditch effort to save herself. “I’m ex-FBI.”

He flattened his hands on the bed on either side of her, his big body crowding hers. “Stop lying to me, Kara. I know you think you have to, but it’s really f*cking pissing me off. I can deal with you being FBI. I already suspected it. The lies are another story.”

“Is that your plea for trust? I’m f*cking pissing you off?”

“I’m done with pleading.” He grabbed her legs and tugged her forward, closing his legs around hers. “Consider this a demand. And just in case you think I don’t know as much as I do… you’re on leave of absence and you’re not on any documented undercover operation.”

“If you know so much why do I need to tell you anything?”

“What are you after?” he demanded, ignoring her question.

“I don’t—”

“Don’t f*cking lie to me again, Kara.”

“Stop with the f*ck f*ck f*ck!” she exclaimed, grabbing handfuls of his t-shirt. “It’s getting old, Blake, and now you’re pissing me off.”

A moment of surprise flashed on his too-handsome face that only made her glare harder at him. She didn’t want to desire this man, yet over and over he made her. He glared right back at her. Words were lost to the crackle of electricity between them. Seconds ticked by and with each one she became more aware of him, of how close her actions had brought their bodies, their mouths.

He cursed softly, and then his hand slid to the back of her head, fingers splaying wide into her hair before his mouth slanted over hers. Kara moaned as his tongue dipped into her mouth, for a fast, hot caress followed by his demand. “You’re going to tell me what I need to know. You know that, right?”

“You can’t f*ck me into telling you,” she replied, trying to sound tough despite the warm tease of his breath against her lips and she failed miserably. Instead, she sounded breathless, and as needy as she felt.

“I’ll f*ck you, sweetheart,” he promised, “because I want to and you want me to. Foreplay is you telling me what you’re after.”

Heat pooled low in Kara’s belly and rushed through her body, proving this man was dangerously in control of her in ways she should be, not him. He had torn down her mental shields, made her vulnerable in ways she swore she never would be with anyone. “I hate you right now,” she whispered, only she didn’t hate him at all. In fact, she felt more for this man, this dangerously wrong man for her, than she had any before him.

He laughed low in his throat, a sexy rumble that made her sex clench, a moment before he kissed her again, stroking his tongue against hers in several deep, luxurious caresses. “If that’s how hate tastes,” he murmured against her mouth, “I’m addicted.”

“I bet you say that to all the FBI agents before you—”

“Don’t say ‘kill them’ or I might seriously have to—”

“Spank me?” she challenged, before she could stop herself from her deep need to challenge this man. “You can try but you won’t succeed.”





Chapter Two


Kara had barely issued her challenge when she was flat on her back with Blake on top of her and her hands pinned over her head. “Don’t tempt me, Kara,” Blake warned. “That would be a hell of a lot better than killing you, which is what every one of the cartel would do if they heard you were FBI. What the hell were you thinking coming in here alone?”

Alone was dangerous. Alone made her disappear too easily. “Who says I’m alone?”

“I know you’re alone. Why, Kara?”

Kara squeezed her eyes shut and fought her urge to trust Blake, but the fight lasted all of two seconds. She was alone. She was alone and she needed his help. She forced her gaze to his. “I was desperate.”