She grinned up at him. “Mm, I can’t wait to hold you to that.”
Tilting her face, she caught the tip of his finger between her teeth. Her tongue played him the same way she’d tormented his cock, maddening little flicks combined with ruthlessly intense suction.
Nathan grunted, a spasm shooting up his spine and straight into his rigid shaft. “Holy hell … on second thought, who needs a bed?”
She laughed softly as she released him. Nathan grabbed for her, but she ducked away, playful. The sexiest damned woman he’d ever seen. He wanted her badly, and he wanted her now.
She smoothed the hem of her red dress down over her fine bare ass and long legs, shimmying to adjust the silky fabric back into place. “I should get back out there, don’t you think?”
He shook his head, eyes hot on her. “I think you belong right here, with me.”
“Now who’s the greedy one?” she tossed back at him, arching one delicate brow. Bending down, she retrieved the tattered remains of her thong from near his discarded pants. “I’m going to go freshen up, and, ah, destroy the evidence.”
The scrap of black silk dangled from her fingers, and the understanding that she would be na**d under the dress for the remainder of the night sent another shock wave of lust into his bloodstream. How he was going to survive the next few minutes, let alone potentially another couple of hours, in public without pouncing on her again, he didn’t know.
As he contemplated all the things he wanted to do to her, a low buzz sounded from somewhere near his feet. Despite his preternatural senses, he could hardly hear the faint hum over the roar of his pulse in his ears.
Shit. His comm unit.
Jordana gestured toward the floor where the device lay forgotten in his pants pocket. “You take care of your business,” she said lightly. “I’ll go take care of mine.”
Nathan stooped to pick up the comm, bringing his pants up at the same time. He fastened them hastily, unable to tear his eyes away from her as she strode for the door.
“See you back inside the exhibit hall in a few minutes,” she said, beaming as she opened the door and slipped out.
Nathan glanced down at the comm unit buzzing again in his palm.
“Yeah,” he said into the receiver, struggling to wrench his attention away from thoughts of Jordana as he took the call from the Boston headquarters.
“Nathan.” Chase’s deep voice held a grim edge. “We just got intel from Gideon in D.C.”
Nathan’s combat instincts went on immediate full alert. “What is it?”
“Are you with Jordana?”
Fuck. This couldn’t be good. “She was just here with me a minute ago.” Nathan gripped the comm device harder in his fist, started stalking toward the office door. “Tell me what’s going on.”
“It’s Gates,” Chase said. “He’s been allied with Cassian Gray this whole time, partnered with him in the club. Gates isn’t who he’s pretending to be. The son of a bitch is dirty.”
Ah, Christ. No.
“Do you think he’s part of Opus Nostrum?”
“We don’t know that yet,” Chase said. “We’re digging deeper. If it turns out Gates is involved with Opus …”
The commander let the statement trail off, but Nathan knew well enough what it meant. If Gates’s partnership with Cassian Gray tied back to Opus Nostrum in any way, the Order would have no choice but to deal with him as an enemy and terminate him.
Nathan didn’t even want to consider what all of this would do to Jordana.
He exited to the gallery outside, swiveling his head to ascertain which direction she might have gone.
“In light of this new intelligence,” Chase said, a carefulness to his tone, “it makes Cass’s visit to Jordana at the museum the day he was killed more than a bit troubling. Is it possible she’s aware of the link between her father and Cassian Gray?”
“She doesn’t know any of this,” Nathan blurted. He would stake his life on it.
Jordana couldn’t have been keeping a secret like that. She was too open, too innocent. She couldn’t have been playing Nathan for a fool this whole time.
“The team and I are en route to the museum now,” the commander said. “We know Gates is there tonight. We have to take him in for questioning. No delays. No warnings.”
Goddammit.
“I understand,” Nathan replied, his cold warrior’s logic instantly at war with the man who dreaded the heartbreak about to visit the woman he loved.
“Don’t let him leave,” Chase ordered. “We’re two minutes out at most. I need you to do whatever you must to hold him until we arrive.”
“I understand,” Nathan confirmed woodenly, ending the communication on a harsh curse.
Outside the open entryway of the exhibit hall, he spotted Carys chatting pleasantly with a small group of ladies. He motioned her toward him as he marched at a soldier’s clip across the marble floor. “Find Jordana. Now. Keep her out of the exhibit hall.”
The Breed female’s face blanched. “What’s happened?”
“Find her,” he barked sharply. “Take her home. Don’t leave her side, do you understand? And tell her … ah, f**k. Tell her I’m sorry.”
“Nathan?” Carys called from behind him, but he didn’t answer.
His heart as heavy as his feet, he strode into the glittering society event like a wraith, his ruthless Hunter’s gaze searching out his quarry through the crowds.
22
STANDING IN FRONT OF THE RESTROOM MIRROR, JORDANA finger-combed her hair back into some semblance of order and checked her appearance one last time after freshening up.