Unexpected. Lori FosterЧитать онлайн книгу.
she discussed invading a foreign country and enacting a clandestine rescue.
“I hope. Things can always go wrong, but there’s usually a way to correct problems before anything disastrous happens.”
She stood and walked to his cabinets to scrounge for food. Eli leaned back and enjoyed the sight. She had a terrific body, honed and sleek like a female jungle cat, sexy in a way only a female body could be.
She was on the slim side, her hips flaring gently from a narrow waist. Her breasts weren’t large, but they were high and firm, displayed beneath the cotton shirt when she stretched up her arm to reach for a bowl.
Her nipples pressed against the soft cotton and he felt his muscles twitch. Damn.
After locating a loaf of bread, some eggs, and the bologna and cheese, she searched for a pan. “I’m going to cook. You want some?”
“Uh, what are you making?” Eli was pleased that she’d offered to fix him breakfast, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to eat whatever she intended to concoct with her ingredients. Bologna for breakfast didn’t seem particularly appetizing.
“I’ll just scramble the eggs and the bologna and cheese together. Sort of a lazy man’s omelet. Trust me, it’s good.”
Actually, he would have said “yes” just so he could stay and watch her cook. Every movement was agile and flowing without deliberate effort and she seemed to get a great deal done without rushing.
That was something he’d noticed about her. She seldom hurried, but she was always productive. At one point, she stopped stirring the eggs to give an elaborate stretch. Eli nearly strangled on his coffee.
Though she’d assured him Jeremy would be fine, and he trusted her experience in the matter, he wouldn’t relax completely until he had his brother home safe and sound. He should have been concentrating solely on that, not on Ray, not on the firmness of her ass or how sweet her belly looked and how he’d like to kiss her there . . .
She glanced up, saw where he was looking, and rearranged her undershirt so it again covered her stomach.
Her expression was devoid of emotion.
Because he normally went after what he wanted, and he definitely wanted Ray, he had a hard time restraining himself. “Sorry.”
She turned away, an odd introspective mood clouding her previous lack of inhibition. The kitchen remained silent while she finished cooking. But when she returned to the table to dish up the eggs, she made a wry face at Eli.
“I guess I don’t have any modesty left. Being in this line of work has a way of forcing you to get to the core of survival. After being around men so often, I’ve begun to feel like one of the guys, and men have always treated me just that way.”
Eli had a really hard time believing any man, young, old, single, or attached could be around Ray without complete and total acknowledgement of her as a woman. It didn’t matter what she wore or how she acted with the men. Unless they were blind, they’d be noticing her.
She gave a self-conscious shrug. “I’m only in this mode when I’m on an assignment. There’re just too many other things to concentrate on to worry about my appearance. I hope you don’t mind too much.” She pushed her bangs away. “I’ll try to remember a little more modesty.”
He didn’t want her to do that. But after that speech, where she took everything so seriously, concentrating solely on the job of saving his brother, mentioning that he had enjoyed the show might seem insensitive.
He’d just have to try harder to hide his reaction to her.
But then she took her seat, reached for her toast, and the strap of the undershirt slid down her arm. For one breathless, heart-stopping, anticipatory moment, Eli thought the shirt would give way to gravity and reveal the fullness of her breast. Neither heaven nor hell could have pulled his gaze away from her.
But she caught the strap and tugged it back up, oblivious to his turmoil.
Eli rubbed his face. Much more of that and he’d be making a fool of himself at the kitchen table. He concentrated on the food, on his brother, on anything and everything other than Ray.
Eating eggs and fried bologna while feeling like an anxious adolescent preparing for his first intimacy wasn’t easy to pull off. His lack of control annoyed the hell out of him.
As she wolfed down her portion of breakfast, Ray pulled out a map and laid it on the table between them. Using her fork, she pointed to a spot in Central America. “This is where they have your brother, just a couple of miles from the Macal River.”
He glanced at the map. “A plateau?”
“Yeah. Real pretty land, but riddled with caves, some pretty treacherous. There’s a clearing here,” she said, pointing to the map, “that used to be an old logging camp. It’s being reclaimed by the forest, though, and isn’t really passable except on foot. Deadfalls are everywhere. The wood makes good campfires, but it also houses some deadly insects and snakes.”
Eli wasn’t worried about a few bugs. “Is the pilot you mentioned reliable?”
Her eyes came up to his with a suddenness that was both startling and provoking. “Would I suggest him if he wasn’t?”
With the morning sunlight flooding through the window, her eyes appeared a shade of brown, rather than black. But there were flecks of gold and ebony in them. They were beautiful eyes, eyes that could eat a man alive. Without thought, Eli reached out and took her hand where it rested on the table. “I didn’t mean to insult you, Ray. The truth is, despite everything, I’m still anxious.”
A strange expression came over her face, and she nodded. “I understand. All I can tell you is that worrying won’t help. In fact, it’s the worst thing you can do because it weakens you, both physically and emotionally.”
“So you never show fear and you never worry?” He said it teasingly, while wondering what kind of restrictive life she’d led when she didn’t want to laugh, didn’t want to connect with people, didn’t want to care enough to feel concern.
“I try not to. Sometimes . . .” She shook her head and sighed. “I have my weaknesses like everyone else, Eli. But if I hear you repeat that, ever, I’ll make you sorry.”
Her threat lightened his mood and gave him a smile.
As if that had been her intent, she smiled, too, then curled her fingers into his and gave his hand a hardy squeeze. “Distract yourself. Think of pleasant things, fond memories, whatever. But don’t dwell on it.”
He already knew what those pleasant thoughts would be, and they all centered around her. Still holding her hand, glad that she hadn’t pulled away yet, Eli asked, “What do you do to distract yourself?”
“Exercise to the point of exhaustion, which I’ll probably do tonight. Sometimes I read a book. If I’m home, I play with my dog.”
Doing a double take, he said, “You have a dog?”
She smiled, a full, genuine smile for once, and Eli felt his stomach muscles contract in reaction. The smile transformed her face, taking her from cool and aloof to warm and open.
“Yeah,” she whispered, “I have a dog. He’s about the meanest mutt you’d ever want to meet. Growls at everyone, and wow, he hates men.” Then, very softly she added, “But he loves me.”
Eli was entranced, there was no other word for it. He sat there staring at her, knowing he’d just been sunk, that he was in over his head and didn’t even care.
Ray was so tough one minute, so oblivious to her femininity, then within a blink of the eye, she turned gentle and sweet. His gaze drifted over her face, taking in every nuance, every small detail. There were tiny lines at the corners of her eyes, testimony to the seriousness of her missions. And those small scars . . .
She looked fragile, if such a thing were possible for