Shades of Gray (KGI #6)(16)

Cole damn near swallowed his tongue. Ho-ly f**k.

P.J. looked like a goddamn million dollars. She was wearing a dress that gave a whole new definition to little black dress. And hell but it was little. Tiny!

It fit snugly at her hips and clung to her thighs, stopping several inches above her knees. The top had a scooped neck that gave an impressive glimpse of her cle**age. The soft mounds rose temptingly just at the neckline but gave enough mystery to make a man really want to tug just a little at that top.

Her hair was upswept and tendrils escaped down her cheeks and at her nape, giving her a soft, feminine look that had Cole groaning. Diamonds hung from her ears. Hell, he hadn’t even known her ears were pierced. Around her neck was a simple diamond pendant that said expensive but elegant and not overstated.

Around her wrist she wore a dazzling bracelet that grabbed the light and bounced it back. Her nails. She even had fingernails for the occasion. Perfectly manicured and painted shiny red to match the splash of color on her lips.

Her eyelashes were long, accentuating startling green eyes, and he was gratified to see that other than lipstick and mascara, they hadn’t done much else. She didn’t need a lot of makeup. She was just fine the way she was.

But the pièce de résistance was her . . . legs.

Holy hell in a bucket. Donovan had said this Nelson guy went for killer legs, and Cole knew from personal experience that P.J. had a very nice set, but seeing her in heels and that short dress?

He wiped at his mouth to make sure there was no drool or that he wasn’t gaping.

She was stacked. Toned from a strict exercise regimen. Her legs were a thing of beauty, and he didn’t have to think hard to remember how they’d felt wrapped around him while he was sliding into her over and over.

Sweat beaded his brow just as the room erupted in reaction to seeing P.J.

“Dayum!” Baker exclaimed. “Holy shit, P.J., you’re hot!”

She grimaced and Cole could see the nervousness in her eyes. Her discomfort was obvious. She didn’t like being in the limelight.

Dolphin whistled and grinned. “Van was totally right. You clean up good, girl!”

Renshaw added a catcall of his own.

“You look beautiful, P.J.,” Steele said in his calm, unruffled tone.

Beautiful? Hell, she was f**king gorgeous. But Cole liked her just fine in camo with face paint on. He’d fantasized more than a few times about taking her to bed, stripping off her fatigues and getting her face paint all over both of them.

“You got nothing to say, Cole?” Dolphin asked incredulously. “She looks sa-weet!”

Cole cleared his throat and then saw the desperate look in P.J.’s eyes. It annoyed him. She should know him better than to think he’d let on what had happened between them. Not that he gave a damn. Right about now, he’d like to have a stamp that said “Mine, stay the hell away” to put right on her forehead.

“You look killer, P.J.”

“Thanks, guys,” she said in a low voice.

“Okay, here’s how it goes down,” Steele said, snapping everyone’s attention back to him. “Donovan and P.J. will arrive together. We’ll be monitoring P.J.’s every move as soon as she breaks away.”

Cole’s eyes narrowed. “Where the hell is her wire and how on earth is it going to hide in that getup? It doesn’t even cover her, much less anything else.”

P.J. scowled at him.

“Don’t mess up that lipstick, darlin’,” he drawled. “It looks too pretty on you.”

She rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“Cut it out you two,” Steele barked.

“P.J. is wearing the latest of my tech toys,” Donovan said with a grin he reserved for any time he was talking about his high-tech playthings.

He lifted her arm and turned it slightly so the inside of her upper arm was visible.

“What you can’t see is the flesh-colored patch. It’s actually made from human skin and blends seamlessly with her own skin. Underneath is the chip that enables us to hear everything she hears.”

“For real?” Dolphin asked.

He got up and moved closer. He reached out to touch her arm, running his finger up and down from her elbow to underneath her armpit. Cole wanted to tell him to keep his hands to himself, but that wouldn’t go over well with P.J.

“I’ll be damned,” Dolphin said. “I can’t tell it’s there.”

“That’s the point,” Steele said dryly.

Donovan continued. “I have flesh patches with GPS locators as well, but her bracelet has a minicam that displays images in real time in high definition. With a simple touch of her cheek or a casual brushing of a piece of her hair behind her ear, she can give us a good view of everything around her. And it has a GPS locator in case we need to find her fast, so it kills two birds with one stone.”

Cole’s gut tightened. He didn’t want to think of worst-case scenarios.

“So let me get this straight,” Cole cut in. “You and P.J. go to this highbrow party. She splits off from you, hones in on this Nelson guy and comes on to him, tells him where she’s staying and then leaves and waits for him to come to her?”

The others looked at him oddly.

“We’ve been over this,” Steele said impatiently.

“Yeah, well, I just want to make sure.”