Read Online Under Pressure by Kira Sinclair - Free Book Online Page B

He wanted to kiss her again, over and over.
    “Sex.”
    Asher blinked. “Excuse me?”
    “You haven’t stuttered once since this—” she wagged a finger between them “—started.”
    He stared at her, realizing that she was right. When he’d first started talking, his throat had been tight, his chest aching with the certainty that he wouldn’t be able to do this. And he’d stuttered, not much, but a little.
    Then she’d started talking back, sharing tiny pieces of herself with him, and he’d put his hands on her. From that moment on, getting more of her had been all he could think about. Obviously not the camera recording in the corner.
    And he hadn’t stuttered once.
    * * *
    B LOODY HELL .
    Asher rubbed his hands up and down his face, trying to wipe away the past several hours.
    He’d walked out of Kennedy’s room, his body revving like a stock-car engine, high-octane need at two hundred miles per hour. His mind was spinning nearly as quickly.
    It wasn’t as if this would be his first sleepless night. It wasn’t even his first sleepless night over a woman. But it was the first in a hell of a long time. Damn her for changing everything with a few kisses and tantalizing words.
    When she’d despised him, it had been easier to suppress his desire for her. But now that he’d seen how her body responded to him...
    Across the room, his cell phone buzzed, vibrating against the top of the dresser.
    It was after midnight. There were only a handful of people who’d call him this late.
    Crossing the room, Asher snatched up the phone and nearly groaned when he read the display screen.
    Jackson Duchane was the last person he needed to talk to right now. Guilt and dread twisted his gut. Had he found out what had happened?
    There was no way, not when Asher had just left Kennedy’s room not twenty minutes ago. But that was immediately where his head went. How bad things would go if Jackson found out he’d touched his little sister.
    A bitter taste flooded his mouth. Jackson, Knox and the team they’d built at Trident were all he had. They were his family. Had been from the moment they’d all been assigned to the same team.
    But there was no question in his mind, should Jackson be forced to choose between him and Kennedy, his sister would win. As she should.
    Just one more reason he needed to keep his hands off Kennedy.
    “Reynolds,” he said, pressing the cell to his ear.
    “Hey, man. Sorry to call so late, but it’s been a crazy couple days here. I have a few minutes before we get started today, so I wanted to touch base.”
    Asher did a quick calculation in his head, realizing that it was actually early morning where his friend was, about seven hours ahead of their location in the Caribbean.
    “It’s fine. I was still awake.”
    “I figured you might be. How’d the first day go? I know you weren’t enthusiastic about taking on this project. Thanks, man, for doing it anyway.”
    Shit, the guilt nearly choked him.
    “It went fine.” Even Asher could hear the lie in his own words. Maybe his friend wouldn’t notice.
    The pause at the other end of the line suggested that was some serious wishful thinking.
    “You sure?” Jackson finally asked.
    Asher sighed, the sound of it echoing down the line and reverberating back to him. “Nothing I can’t handle.”
    “Kennedy giving you shit?”
    He really didn’t want to talk about Kennedy with her older brother right now. “No more than usual. You know how we are.”
    Jackson made a sound, a harsh, strangled laugh. “Maybe being forced to work together will be good for both of you. I just don’t understand the animosity between you.”
    If he knew what had happened tonight, Jackson wouldn’t think his little sister being with Asher on the Amphitrite for the next two weeks was a good idea. But it was a little late for that.
    “One of these days you’re going to have to explain it to me, man.”
    “I already have.” Or he’d tried, without revealing