Beautifully Cruel

Chapter 41

JENNIE

I'm too exhausted at the moment to insist he tell me how he escaped from custody and got to Buenos Aires, and my brain is too mushy to take it in, anyway. So I simply allow him to carry me into the bedroom of this cozy, lovely ranch house and set me on the bed.

He silently removes my sweater and shoes and shucks off his boots. Then he takes us down to the mattress and holds me tight, front to front instead of our usual spooning.

Cupping my head in his big hand, he murmurs, "How was the flight?"

"Endless."

"You smell like vodka."

"Remind me to smack you when I wake up."

Then I fall into such a deep, dreamless sleep I could be dead.

When I awaken, the light has changed, but that's the only thing. Taehyung and I are still in the same position we were in when I fell asleep. Only now, he's asleep, too.

I take a moment to gaze at him and let my fluttering heartbeat settle, then reach up and touch his jaw. His beard is rough and springy under my fingertips. I lean in and sniff his neck, sighing in contentment.

If someone had told me a few months ago that I'd be so in love with a fugitive mob boss that the mere smell of his skin would make me shimmer with happiness, I'd have told that person she was crazy.

Taehyung's voice is a sleepy rumble. "If I didn't know better, I'd think you were huffing me like glue."

"I never got the appeal before, but now I can see how glue sniffing could be so addictive."

He lifts his lashes and gazes at me with warm, loving eyes. "Hullo again."

"Hi. Who's house is this?"

"Mine and my brother's."

"So that's what Estancia Los Dos Hermanos means: house of two brothers."

"Two brothers' ranch," he corrects, drawing me closer. He leans in and nuzzles my neck, sniffing me exactly the same way I sniffed him earlier. He makes a noise of pleasure low in his throat.

"Taehyung?"

"Aye, lass?"

"Does this family ranch of yours have condoms?"

He pulls back and grins at me, so handsome it takes my breath away. "I should put you on nonstop international flights more often."

"It's just that I don't know how soon the FBI will be arriving, and I want to make sure I try to fit a lifetime worth of lovemaking into whatever time we have left."

Taehyung kisses me softly on the lips. "The FBI won't be arriving."

"Oh. Right. They're a US agency. What's Argentina's equivalent?"

"The Federal Police Intelligence. They're not coming, either."

"How can you be sure?"

"They have no reason to be looking for me."

I crinkle my forehead. "But you're a fugitive from the law."

"No, lass, I'm not. Now about those condoms—"

I sit up abruptly and look down at him, my heart revving like a race car's engine. I say loudly, "What do you mean you're not a fugitive? I saw you on TV being arrested by the FBI!"

"Did you?" His smile comes on slow and heated. He trails a finger up the inside of my arm.

I am so going to smack him.

"Yes, I did! You were on the evening news! There were like six federal agents leading you up the steps of—"

When I falter, understanding blossoming in my fevered brain, Taehyung's grin grows wider.

I whisper, "Woojin?"

"Having an identical twin can be incredibly convenient for that sort of thing."

"But—but—he's not in prison, either! I saw him at my apartment! He gave me the ticket and the passport, and at first he had an Irish accent but then he didn't, and he told me he was a spy..."

I gasp. "Hold on. Are you a spy, too?"

Taehyung chuckles, pulling me down by my shoulders to give me a deep, soulful kiss. When we come up for air, he says, "You're adorable."

I hide my face in his neck and whimper. "Please tell me your Irish accent isn't fake."

He wraps his arms around me and presses a kiss to my hair. "It's not fake. His isn't, either. He's just learned how to fake a lot of other accents during the course of his life. Comes in handy for the spy gig. You should hear him do an Australian accent. He sounds just like Crocodile Dundee."

I push away from him, sit up, and stare down at his face, shaking with all the adrenaline coursing through my veins. "Okay. What's happening? Short version. Go."

Taehyung props himself up on an elbow and smiles at me, reaching out to caress my cheek.

He murmurs, "You're so beautiful. I've always thought so. Those eyes..." He sighs. "That's what got me, you know. Right from the beginning. I took one look into those sea glass eyes when you were helping an old woman cross the street and—"

I push him onto his back, straddle him, and shout, "Shut up and tell me what's happening already!"

He laughs, pulling me down to his chest to wrap his arms around my back. "What's happening is that we're here, we're safe, and you love me. Everything other than that can wait."

Then he kisses me, hard, his hands dug deep into my hair and his mouth demanding.

When he reaches behind me and unzips my uniform, I let him.

He's right: everything else can wait.