Page 12 of Tiger on the Prowl

6

It was shortly before 2 a.m. when Jay woke like he’d planned. Olivia was sleeping peacefully. He peeled himself out of her arms and waited for a moment, making sure the action hadn’t woken her, but she continued sleeping. Quietly, and still naked, he got out of bed and walked to the door. He opened it without making a sound, then slipped outside and walked to the foyer, where he’d dropped his backpack earlier. He didn’t switch on any lights. The light shining in from the streetlamp outside was sufficient for what he needed to do. The CIA had trained him well. And Fox had supplied him with the equipment he needed. All he had to do was to install it.

He removed the tiny surveillance devices from an inner pouch of his backpack and went to work. He installed the first device in the foyer to capture anybody entering and leaving the cottage. Two more devices he positioned in the living room and attached kitchen area, one hidden inside a heating vent, the other on a high shelf with decorative plates that, judging by the dust around them, had never been used or moved.

He walked back to the corridor and listened for any sounds from the bedroom, but it was quiet in there. He marched into the other room, an office, and looked for a convenient place to hide the device. He decided on installing it on the wall where Olivia had set up her computer workstation, though he couldn’t see a laptop, only a large monitor and external keyboard. Above the large screen was an abstract wall clock made of metal and wire mesh. It reminded him of a clock the famous Salvador Dali had painted. He managed to hide the camera and listening device within the mesh and was confident that nobody would spot it.

He contemplated whether to install another one in Olivia’s bedroom, but decided against it. If she really had something to do with Smith, he doubted that Olivia would invite him into her bedroom. She wasn’t that kind of woman. Yes, she’d invited him, but he was pretty sure she’d had a crush on him since they’d met and she wasn’t somebody who dated several men at the same time. Jay too, had had a crush on her ever since he’d first laid eyes on her. But he’d suppressed his desire for fear of dragging her into his fucked-up life.

He sighed. Fuck! Why had he slept with her? Why couldn’t he have simply broken in when she wasn’t home? It would have been so easy. Yet he hadn’t been able to resist seeing her, even though he knew what it would lead to. What it had led to. Making love to her had been more amazing than he could have ever imagined. Which was also the reason why he felt a pang of guilt now.

He should disappear right now, leave while Olivia was still sleeping, but he couldn’t do that to her. She would feel betrayed, and he didn’t want to hurt her. However, he had no idea how to let her down easily, without her feeling that he’d taken advantage of her. But eventually he would have to do just that, because he couldn’t stay in Alexandria. His place here was compromised.

Jay suddenly heard a sound coming from the bedroom. He quickly opened the door and snuck inside.

“Jay?”

“I’m here.”

“Are you leaving?”

He heard the panic in her voice, and quickly slid under the covers. “I just needed to drink some water. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

She snuggled into his arms, and the feel of her soft curves pressing against his body aroused him. He kissed her neck and shoulder and she sighed in a way that told him that she wouldn’t go back to sleep right away. Neither would he. Not with the hard-on he was sporting already. He reached toward the bedside table and snatched a condom from it. He quickly rolled it over his erection and spooned her again.

“Tell me you’re not sore,” he whispered into Olivia’s ear.

“Ohh,” she murmured and pressed her sweet ass against his groin. “I’m not sore at all.”

He reached between her legs and found her pussy wet. “Thank God.” Then he aligned his cock with her sex and thrust into her from behind.

“Ohh!” Olivia cried out.

Jay froze. “Too hard?”

“No.” She began to move. “I like it.”

This time, their coupling was slower and gentler. They were both more relaxed and were getting to know each other’s bodies. He took his time with her, made sure she got what she needed so she would at least look back on this night as a satisfying one. A pleasant memory. When they climaxed together, Jay held her in his arms until she fell asleep again, before pulling out of her warm cave, still semi-hard.

It took him a long time to fall asleep, but it was a peaceful sleep this time. For the first time since his fellow Stargate agents had rescued him, his sleep wasn’t haunted by the recollections of what Smith had done to him.

When he woke around 7a.m., Olivia was still asleep. He took a shower and got dressed, then went into the kitchen and checked the refrigerator and cupboards. He found coffee, some cream and not much else. He was about to make coffee, when he heard the bedroom door and the sound of bare feet on the old hardwood floor.

He turned and saw Olivia walk toward him, dressed in a large white T-shirt. She smiled at him. “You’re still here.”

“I was gonna make us breakfast, but your fridge is pretty empty.”

“Yeah, sorry. I was gonna go shopping last night, but then a handsome man whisked me off to dinner, and I didn’t get a chance to buy groceries.”

He chuckled. Damn, she looked cute in the morning. “So it’s my fault then? Fair enough. How about I take you out for breakfast?” At least then he wouldn’t drag her back to bed.

Olivia beamed. “Give me fifteen minutes, and I’ll be ready.”

She wasn’t joking. It truly took her only fifteen minutes to shower and get ready. He’d never met a woman who was so uncomplicated.

At a cozy little breakfast place two blocks from Olivia’s cottage, they ordered coffee and croissants, and sat at a tiny bistro table in the morning sun. It felt like he was living somebody else’s life. The life of somebody who was happy and carefree. A life that didn’t belong to him. He knew it wouldn’t last. His enemies were on his heels, and he had no right to drag Olivia into this.

He shouldn’t even be here at this coffee shop, where any passerby could recognize him and report to Smith that he was still in the area.