Carnal Innocence

She reached for the nearest thing that looked like protection and came up with the nozzle on the vacuum cleaner. She held it in front of her in both hands like a weapon.

Sean froze. He looked at the nozzle. He looked at Caitlin. He looked down to where his hand hovered beside the holster. Then he looked at her again, studying her frightened expression with a cockeyed squint that indicated he thought she was the crazy person here.

Their gazes held for about two seconds, just long enough for her courage to waver. Then he was moving again. All-business. He pulled a leather wallet from an inside jacket pocket. “Don’t worry, McCormick. I guess I should have used a little more finesse in my invitation. But I’m afraid smooth moves just aren’t my style.” He inclined his head toward the nozzle she wielded in her hand. “If it’s any consolation, neither is shooting a woman who could suck my brains out.”

Suck? Caitlin’s heart tripped an extra beat. A raw rush of heat and pressure pounded between her legs and left her lightheaded. Sex? This guy wanted her to…? Her gaze flew to his crotch. She’d never. She wanted. She wouldn’t. “How dare you!”

“Here.” He flipped open his wallet. Inside she saw an official-looking ID and a polished brass badge. Uh-oh. “I’m Special Agent Sean Maddox, ma’am. I’m with the FBI.”

The nervous excitement that had pounded through her body flooded her neck and face with embarrassment. Sucking. The vacuum. He’d been talking about the vacuum. Of course. Idiot.

“FBI?”

Ignoring the aftershocks of sexual frustration and indignation that were slow to die, she gathered her wits and took the wallet in a tentative grasp. She studied it a few moments. The picture matched. He hadn’t been smiling when this ID photo was taken, either. U.S. Department of Justice. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Sean Michael Maddox. DOB 05/29/71.

“It is your birthday,” she murmured out loud, but read on. New England Bureau Administrative Chief. Though the tension eased from her posture, suspicion quickly took its place.

She handed back the wallet. “Your ID says ‘Administrative Chief’, not ‘special agent.’ And Virginia’s a little out of your New England territory. Either you’re a liar or that’s fake.”

“I assure you, my work with the FBI is very real.” He returned the wallet to his pocket, making a dramatic effort to show her that he wasn’t going anywhere near his gun. “What I’m about to tell you can’t go beyond this apartment, Miss McCormick.”

Oh God. That sounded serious. Dangerous. His warning, articulated with just the barest indication of a foreign accent, sounded like a line right out of a James Bond movie.

Interesting.

The aftershocks of emotion inside her gained momentum.

“You mean it’s a secret?”

“Top secret.”

Despite her distrust of Agent Maddox or Chief Maddox or whoever the hell this distracting hulk of male animal was, the right side of her brain kicked in, pushing logic and protestations aside. He was about to share a government secret with her. Caitlin breathed in deeply, giving her brain plenty of oxygen to fuel her imagination. She was about to become privy to some real cloak-and-dagger information.

“Is Cassie in trouble with the FBI?” she asked.

“No. But she was going to help me with a time-sensitive case. A mutual friend gave me her name. She was going to provide my cover this weekend while I conducted an undercover investigation.” He paused to read Caitlin’s reaction, then continued without comment. “Since she’s unavailable, I’m asking you to take her place. I need you to be my mistress so I can gain access to an exclusive couples-only resort.”

This man was asking her to take part in an investigation? To travel? To serve her country? To assume a secret role? To be a man’s mistress?

Her father would have a cow.

“Me?”

“You.”

She glanced down at her brother Travis’s USMC T-shirt and the cutoff jeans she wore. She glanced at the vacuum nozzle she still held like a defensive weapon between them.

When she lifted her gaze back to his, his calm green eyes revealed nothing but the fact that his offer was serious. “You want me to be your mistress this weekend?”

He swiped a hand across his jaw and raised his eyes to the ceiling. Caitlin could only guess what this show of patience was costing him.

When he nailed her with those amazingly green eyes—no blue or gray to corrupt their mossy hue—she saw he was all-business again. “I need you to pretend to be my mistress. Pretend,” he emphasized. “Pleasure Cove Island is a haven for rich and powerful couples to get away for the weekend without any public scrutiny. No press. No phone lines. The Bureau has given me a fake background. As a Bureau chief, I have the clout to warrant an invitation. But I can’t very well go to a couples-only resort by myself without raising suspicion, and that’s the last thing I want to do. I need to find answers, and I need to find them quickly.”

“Answers to what?”

“Dammit, lady, I don’t have time to answer all your questions.” His patience snapped and he stalked down the hall to the front door. He had it open and was halfway out when he braced his hand against the open frame and stopped. His broad back rippled with a powerful shrug, and Caitlin realized the width and strength of him was all-man, and not due to the cut of the sport coat.

She held her own breath as she listened to his lungs fill and empty with cleansing breaths of air. When he finally turned around to face her, the anger was gone. But he still wasn’t smiling.

“I can’t give you all the details,” he explained. “Suffice it to say two former guests of Pleasure Cove Island have met with…unfortunate circumstances. One just resigned at the peak of a public career. The other is dead.”

“Dead?” Could the man sound any more detached from his feelings? Caitlin scooped her hair back from her temples. The more Sean Maddox talked, the more convincing his story became. She was already physically attracted to him. He gave the beast of her sexual fantasies a compelling, if not quite handsome, face.

His request for her help played into every escapist fantasy she’d ever had while trying to spice up her humdrum life. But now he was sounding as if this assignment was real. That the need for her help was real.

What should she do? What would her father do? He’d take action. If there was a problem, he’d do something about it, and deal with the consequences later. Her brothers had the same take-charge mindset. But all three would tell her to stay home. To stay safe. Think of your health. Think of your reputation. They’d tell her to take care of herself, while they tackled the problem for her.

But her father and brothers couldn’t help Agent Maddox with this problem. They weren’t women. They weren’t available.

They weren’t here. Now.

A small spark of determination lit inside her. Like a fuse traveling toward its explosive destination, it fired along her nerve endings, heating her blood and giving strength to an idea.

“Would this weekend be dangerous?” She hugged the vacuum hose to her chest, half-afraid of giving in to the burning desire that was slowly consuming her. “You said someone died.”

“Not on the island itself. He was murdered in his hotel room after returning from the island. This is strictly an information-gathering mission. Otherwise, the Bureau wouldn’t consider civilian involvement. There may be some risk involved, I suppose—the movers and shakers of the world don’t like to be deceived.”

“No one does.” Her terse reply was both an agreement and a challenge for him to be completely honest.

Sean released his grip on the door and stepped back inside. Even though it brought him only a few inches closer Caitlin felt the power of his vow reaching out and touching her as he said, “I promise, if things do turn dangerous, I’ll give you all the protection I can. And I’ll get you out of there as soon as humanly possible.”

Caitlin imagined that his protection would be a serious force to be reckoned with. The idea that this Terminator would put his life on the line for hers was at once reassuring and…stimulating. Her father and brothers served their country and protected its citizens with equal fervor. Why couldn’t she?

And pretending to be his mistress? Let’s see. What was the downside of having an extraordinarily powerful and sexy man acting like her lover? If the other guests could buy the fact that Sean Maddox wanted to be with her, it wouldn’t be the worst way to spend a weekend.

Sexy man.

Vacation resort.

Serving her country.

Living out a lifelong fantasy.

Hmm. Downside?

She was back to her father having that cow.

But he was still on his boat in Chesapeake Bay. Ethan was in Washington, D.C., Travis in North Carolina. They couldn’t fret or dictate when they didn’t know something was going on.