a woman who took foolish chances. He’d like to think she was the former. He could appreciate that kind of dedication to a cause.
But she might be just plain crazy. After all, she talked to furniture and threatened men with vacuum cleaners.
Maybe it was a good thing he’d chosen to drive to Maine and avoid the security checks and flight delays of air travel. He’d need the extended time together to get to know her and establish a predictable working relationship with her.
“You doing okay back there?” he asked.
Sean peeked into his rearview mirror and saw the reflection of one long female leg thrust up into the air from his back seat. The leg was long and tanned and showed off sleek curves of muscle along the calf and thigh. He was definitely enjoying this part of the getting-to-know-each-other process.
The leather interior of his Porsche 911 Targa had never been used as a dressing room before, but the idea took on a definite appeal when a second leg—equally long and curved and perfect—thrust up into the air beside the first one moments before a swatch of denim swept over them. Sean squashed down his body’s responding tension and turned his focus back to the road.
She was only a couple years older than his sister. A kid in comparison to his lifetime of experience. If Sabrina had agreed to gallivant halfway across the country with a stranger she’d just met—even if he did flash a badge—Sean would have her hide. Correction. He’d have the bastard’s hide.
Caitlin had hinted at having an overprotective father so, as an overprotective brother, he should be able to relate. He definitely wasn’t having brotherly thoughts right now, though.
Caitlin’s breathless voice came from behind him in the back seat. “I’m fine. I appreciate you running across to that discount store and buying me a dress while I was in the post office. I can’t very well show up at a posh resort in my cutoffs.” She grunted as she struggled with some piece of clothing. “What do I owe you for it?”
“Not a thing. The Bureau is paying for everything this weekend.” Sean’s gaze slid back to the mirror. She wasn’t making it easy to concentrate on good intentions. Her long-limbed build made it a struggle to change from her shorts into the black sundress he’d bought for her.
But it was an entertaining struggle to watch. With the car on cruise control, he tilted his head to get a better view down into the seat behind him. Caitlin was lying across the leather upholstery, scrunched down out of sight of passing motorists. She’d stripped down to her underwear, demure triangles of pink cotton that covered interesting places without really hiding them. Her small, pert nipples strained against the pink cloth as she pulled the dress over her head and shimmied it down the length of her body. Before she got things into place, he noted a wisp of darker gold hair peeking from beneath the cotton at the juncture of her thighs.
Innocent as her movements were, his body reacted as if the actions were part of a calculated seduction. In the close confines of the car, the earthy smell of the leather combined with the enticingly fresh scent of Caitlin herself. It was an erotic male-female stimulation of the senses that only intensified his imagination. He subtly tugged on the denim at his crotch and adjusted his position behind the wheel to ease the growing tightness in his groin. He could picture himself in the back seat with her, with those legs of hers high in the air and him in between them.
Get a grip, Sean. Sensing fatigue and frustration were fueling his randy thoughts, he politely turned away and changed lanes. But an inexplicable fascination soon had his gaze focused back in the mirror.
Now she was on her knees in a crouching position. Her sweet round rump bobbed up and down as she fought to work the zipper up her back. Oh man. He spread his knees a little farther apart.
“Need some help?” The offer was out of his mouth before common sense could stop his hormones.
Caitlin’s head popped up in the rearview mirror. Her honey-gold hair bounced around her head in wanton disarray as if he had been in the back seat with her. But her cheeks were rosy pink and her eyes wide and startled. Their gazes locked in the mirror before he could look away.
But if she was embarrassed to learn he’d been watching her, she didn’t say so. Instead, she tossed her white canvas deck shoes onto the floor in front of the passenger seat. “Sure. I can’t get this danged zipper up. There’s not much room to maneuver back here.”
Bracing a hand against each bucket seat backrest, she stretched one leg between them and climbed forward. In the process the gentle swell of one breast rubbed across his upper arm.
With sight and scent already providing the tinder, the actual press of female flesh provided the spark that zapped Sean’s fantasy into a reality. His fingers clenched around the wheel as his primed body jerked in response. “Watch it!”
“Sean!”
The car swerved to the left. Caitlin toppled onto him. Suddenly he was cradled from ear to cheek in the softness of her breasts. Her tangy, fresh-air scent surrounded him, and the warmth of her body pressing against his consumed him.
In the next instant, he took control of the car and his wayward reactions. He righted the wheel, steered them safely into the passing lane and pushed against Caitlin’s thigh, forcing her down into her seat. She landed with a plop on her bottom, as a flush of color raced across her skin.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
“I’m fine,” she answered breathlessly. Keeping her gaze fixed on the dashboard, she dropped her feet to the floor, slipped into the shoes and buckled her seat belt. Only after she was breathing more evenly did he see her big gray eyes dart his way. “Sorry.”
“No harm.” He kept his gaze on the last dregs of rush-hour traffic and concentrated on his driving instead of on the gangly beauty beside him.
They’d passed the next mile marker before she angled her face toward him with a wry frown. “Not a very auspicious start to my secret-agent career.”
Oh, no. Miss McCormick needed a quick reality check. “I’m the secret agent. You’re on vacation.”
“But I want to help.”
“You are, just by coming with me.”
That answer seemed to disappoint her. “What will I be doing while you’re investigating the island?”
“You’ll be acting as my girlfriend. My mistress. We’ll have to do a little kissing and cuddling in public to justify our presence there, but otherwise it’s a free day at the spa for you. Use the hot tub or whatever facilities they’ve got. It’s on the Bureau.”
Now she turned her whole body in her seat. The look she gave him must have let any number of junior-high students know they were in trouble. “You said I’d be serving my country. I agreed to do this because I wanted to see some action. How is sitting in a hot tub doing my patriotic duty?”
Sean raised a placating hand. “I’m the one who’s trained in covert ops and investigation procedures. I’m the one with the gun and the experience.”
“And I’m just Mr. Untouchable’s moll. Yippee.” She turned again and glared out the windshield. She crossed her arms with a decisive shrug, and the black strap of her sundress fell off her shoulder and caught in the crook of her elbow.
Sean narrowed his eyes on the road, but couldn’t resist the urge to glance over at that long stretch of bare skin. Too long without sex, his mind warned. He felt equally powerless to stop himself from reaching out and lifting that strap up onto her shoulder. So what if the back of his knuckles brushed across the smooth skin there? He didn’t mind.
He did mind when she flinched away from his caress. “You’ll have to get used to me touching you,” he warned, placing his hand safely back on the wheel. “And you can’t be afraid to touch me. Not if we’re going to make a convincing couple.”
“I’m not afraid of you. I’m angry.” She scooped her hair behind her ear, exposing a long line of naked neck