Dangerous To Love

by Toni Anderson, Barbara Freethy, Dee Davis, Leslie A. Kelly, Cynthia Eden, J. Kenner, Meli Raine, Gwen Hernandez, Pamela Clare, Rachel Grant

  Ava shuddered and sank against him, their hearts beating in unison.

  Holy shit.

  He swallowed repeatedly, pretty sure his head had exploded. He closed his eyes and wondered what the hell he’d done. Then he wondered how quickly he could get hold of more condoms so they could do it again.

  She went to pull away, but he held her still for another moment. Then she rolled over and lay on the mattress naked beside him. He went into the bathroom and when he came back, he looked at her. She didn’t seem particularly bashful. Maybe she knew how incredible her body was, or maybe she didn’t care.

  She cracked open an eyelid. “Is it wrong that I don’t want you to stop touching me?”

  He swallowed. “I wouldn’t call it wrong, but I’m not sure I have the will power to stop fucking you if I do, and I don’t have any more protection.”

  She didn’t flinch away from his blunt language. In fact, the way she swallowed and squeezed her thighs together made him think she liked it.

  The temptation to see if she did was overpowering. He took a dangerous step forward.

  A knock on the trailer door had him swearing and Ava quietly scrambling back to her side of the curtain. He pulled on his boxers.

  “What is it?” He stalled to give Ava enough time to drag her top over her head and shimmy into her shorts. He strode over to the door.

  “Incident Commander wants you in the command center,” came a low, clear voice.

  Dominic opened the door an inch. “What’s happening?”

  The HRT agent’s gaze slid behind Dominic into the darkness where Ava was getting dressed.

  Dominic shifted his body to block any potential viewing opportunities.

  The guy smirked. “I’m just the messenger boy.” He nodded and backed away.

  Dominic shut the door and climbed back into the clothes he’d taken off earlier. If they’d woken him up it couldn’t be good. “Ava, you don’t have to come…”

  “Remember what I said about sex not changing anything?” She was doing up the buttons of her blouse as he searched for clean socks.

  “Probably better if we don’t mention the sex part to anyone else.” The last thing he wanted was to have Ava put back on suspension because he couldn’t keep his dick in his pants.

  “It’s not the sort of thing I’d broadcast,” she said sharply.

  Ouch.

  “I’m not an idiot,” she added in a stern whisper.

  He shook his head at himself. He’d handled this badly. As confident as she was in her body, it was a different matter entirely when it came to her job and her position at the Bureau. She knew he didn’t do relationships, but she didn’t know anything else about how he treated women after sex.

  He ducked behind the strung-up sheet and clasped her arms gently, made her look at him. Her eyes were huge in the semi-darkness, bright with emotion he couldn’t label. “I have never doubted your intelligence, Ava. I know you’re a smart, hard-working and dedicated agent who’s honest and has integrity. But if people find out we’re sleeping together they’ll separate us, and while under normal circumstances I’d agree with that policy for your benefit, right now I want you close to watch my back and help track down this killer.” His grip tightened, and he said fiercely, “Also, because having sex with you once was not enough.”

  She opened her mouth to reply, but someone rapped on the door again.

  He gave her a quick kiss on the lips. “Gotta go. We’ll talk later.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Ava had known Dominic Sheridan would be good at sex. Passionate. Ardent. Unabashed. Focused. With a keen eye for detail, amazing tactile skills, the stamina to gift her multiple orgasms and still finish with a bang. She felt boneless and energized. Fired up and relaxed. Her whole body trembled with aftershocks of pleasure and that was even as she followed his rapidly moving frame through the sea of muscle-bound HRT personnel.

  She hadn’t expected to enjoy it quite so much. Not only the orgasms, but the entire episode had been something she’d be happy to repeat anytime.

  Best. Sex. Ever.

  Which was exactly why poor, besotted Suzanna had ended up on the doorstep in the rain holding a freaking casserole dish full of beef stew.

  Not gonna happen. Sure, repeat sex like that would be fantastic, but she wasn’t going to invest emotionally in this guy. He wasn’t going to fall in love with her. He’d told her that. She wasn’t stupid. They came from completely different backgrounds and the only thing they had in common was Van. Plus, Dominic was gonna freak if he discovered she hadn’t told him the truth about her past.

  She waited outside the command center leaning against the wall as Dominic went inside the room to talk to the IC.

  She squeezed her hands into fists, aware that her hair was a mess and she hadn’t looked in the mirror recently. God knew what was stamped on her features. Sated lust? She touched her neck where he’d nipped her and prayed she didn’t have a hickey. She dropped her hand and straightened her shoulders. It wasn’t anyone else’s business anyway.

  She pursed her lips. She kept trying to tell him about her association with Gino Gerbachi, but whenever she started talking about it, he was busy and didn’t have time to talk.

  Except she could have told him the truth rather than tell him she was desperate for his cock. She closed her eyes briefly at the realization of all that she’d said to him tonight. She could have mentioned her WitSec background before he’d put his tongue inside her and made her come so hard stars were still imprinted on the back of her eyelids.

  Ava inhaled deeply. She’d messed up.

  Her connection to Gino might mean nothing, but she had no idea how Sheridan would react to the information or how it might affect his job—or even the perception of how he did his job, which seemed vitally important to him.

  She winced.

  They’d spent a lot of time together over the last week and had just indulged in mind-blowing carnal adventures, but she didn’t really know Dominic very well. Sure, Van had said he was a great guy, but add sex to a “relationship” that wasn’t a “relationship” and people started treating you differently. Ava wasn’t about to let that happen. She loved her job. She needed her job. More than she needed a man.

  It took a moment for her to notice that the tension in the prison, usually ratcheted tight, seemed stretched to breaking point right now. What was going on?

  She heard raised voices inside the Command Center, Dominic’s included. Her eyes widened. She met the gaze of a serious-looking operator type leaning against the opposite wall. He pulled a face indicating he’d also heard the exchange, and it couldn’t be good.

  Dominic was suddenly striding out of the room, and she launched herself off the doorjamb to catch up with him. Fury radiated off him in palpable waves. So much for that post-coital glow.

  She stuck close, clutching her laptop case to her chest, ignoring the curious looks HRT was throwing them.

  Dominic headed inside the first door to the negotiation room. Then knocked on the door of the inner sanctum to get the attention of the negotiators working there before he burst inside. Ava followed close enough to be his shadow. She had the feeling he’d completely forgotten she was there.

  Her eyes shot to the screen. Frank was holding the warden down on the steel countertop with a knife to her neck, and Gino was between her legs, dragging her pants down.

  The moisture in Ava’s mouth evaporated.

  Eban Winters was talking to the hostage-takers with his gaze averted from the screen, still pretending he couldn’t see what they were doing. He muted the mic.

  Dominic leaned over the table and asked, “What happened?”

  “They somehow found some liquor. Got drunk then decided they wanted a little fun. Gino smashed Milo on the back of the head when Frank distracted him. He’s lying on the floor unconscious or dead.”

  “They rape her already?” Dominic’s voice was cold, but Ava recognized the emotion in it.

  Eban’s
skin was pale, and Charlotte reached out and squeezed his hand.

  “Not yet. We need to get their attention off of the warden and back onto us, but they aren’t listening to me anymore,” Eban stated in frustration.

  “The IC is arranging a helicopter to arrive in twenty minutes. We’re bringing up the timetable, but if they continue what they’re doing, HRT will stage an immediate assault,” Dominic said grimly.

  Ava didn’t need to be a negotiator to know if that happened, they probably all died, including the warden.

  Eban relayed the message about the helicopter.

  Frank yelled toward the speakerphone. “That’s good news.” But he continued to hold the knife to the warden’s throat as Gino pulled the woman’s underwear from her body. Eban kept talking in calm tones reminding them not to harm the hostages, but from the almost feral look of concentration on Frank’s face, and the fact Gino was undoing the front of his prison jumpsuit, they’d both stopped listening to Eban. That they both intended to rape the warden before they made their escape was obvious.

  Ava looked through the glass window. The tactical commander of the HRT was watching, obviously about to give the order to stage the assault.

  “Let me talk to him,” Ava burst out.

  “You’re not trained—” Charlotte snapped.

  “I can get Gino’s attention for a few minutes, trust me. It might be enough.”

  “How?” Dominic asked, pinning her with a razor-sharp gaze.

  “Gino-the-snake is how I got this scar.” Ava touched her brow. “He murdered my father and left me for dead. I testified and helped put the sonofabitch away in here.”

  Dominic’s blue eyes held a glint of anger but also of opportunity.

  “I might get his attention long enough to get him away from the warden for a few minutes.”

  “Stalling for time is the best we can do,” Eban agreed. “We have nothing to lose at this point.”

  Tension stretched around the room.

  “Put her on.” Dominic nodded. “Make sure there’s a note in the file that the warden is seconds from being raped by Gino Gerbachi.” He looked at her critically. “This might be crazy enough to buy us some time. Do your worst, Ava. Give it all you’re got. We need to shock this guy out of his current mindset. Shake him to his foundations. I’ll be right by your side to coach you through it.”

  Ava sat and took the headset from Eban. Charlotte thrust a list of talking points in front of her. Ava took the list, but it wouldn’t help. It was hard to bargain with psychopaths even for experts. She was just a rookie agent with a big mouth.

  She looked at the monitor, adjusted the mic so it sat below her lips. “Well, if it isn’t old Gino-the-snake. I can see now why they call you snake, big boy.” She emphasized her Greek accent to sound more like her mother. “I just wonder how the rest of the family knew you were such a big dick?”

  Charlotte’s mouth fell open, but Dominic was staring at her with intense concentration.

  Gino froze in the act of jacking his dick into hardness and both he and Frank were staring around in astonishment.

  “What? You thought we couldn’t see what was going on in there? You haven’t learned by now that the Feds like drilling holes in walls and light sockets? Isn’t that what put you in here in the first place, Gino?” She was taunting the man and knew that wasn’t how negotiators worked, but they were past the time for tact.

  “Oh, no, wait, it was that kid, right? That little Greek girl you got too sloppy to kill.”

  Gino was standing stock-still in the middle of the kitchen listening to her with rapt attention. Jaws were clenched. Eyes small and beady. He finally put his dick away which was a relief. No one wanted that thing out in the open.

  Frank let go of the warden and climbed off the counter. The woman curled into a ball and lay there naked in the fetal position. Ava wanted her off that countertop onto the floor where she’d be safer from crossfire should HRT burst in.

  The sound of a helicopter flying overhead and landing could be clearly heard throughout the facility. That got Frank and Gino’s attention.

  Suddenly Milo, the convicted serial killer, who until that moment had looked like he was unconscious or dead, rolled onto his side and slowly climbed to his feet. The other hostage-takers didn’t appear to notice.

  “You remember her name, Gino? The little girl whose father you shot like a dog because he wouldn’t let you steal his hard-earned money?”

  “Emily.” He squinted as he scanned the room, looking for the camera, looking for her.

  “Emmeleia, jackass. She cleaned your clock in court. Had the jurors weeping in their seats.” He picked up a large knife.

  Ava could almost see him vibrate with fury. She’d be lying if she said it didn’t feel good to mess with him. “You ever wonder what happened to little Emmeleia, Gino?”

  “I’m gonna find you and gut you and fuck you until you bleed.”

  “Well, if you gut me first, it’s definitely gonna get messy.”

  “And I’m gonna gut your mother and your sister and little brother.”

  She made a tutting sound even though inside she was numb with horror at the thought. That’s how these guys won, by being more violent than anyone else. Brutal. Unfeeling. Psychopaths. Didn’t matter how much money they had, they were monsters beneath the nice suits and expensive ties. Mobsters were animals and needed to be kept in cages.

  But he wouldn’t track them down. No links to them existed in her files. They were safe. She laughed. “You’ll have to get out of prison for that, and you’re too stupid. You’re gonna miss your chance because it took you so long to get it up. Need a little blue pill, Gino? To put some pep in your prick?”

  Gino walked over and dragged the cook to his feet by his hair. The cook cried out in what had to be excruciating pain. Gino held the knife to the man’s throat.

  Ava held her breath. Dominic squeezed her shoulder in warning. They both worried she’d gone too far.

  “We’re going out into the yard now, and that chopper better be waiting.” Gino sneered.

  Dominic pointed to a line on the sheet.

  “If anyone hurts the hostages the deal is off,” Ava said. Cold sweat slid down her back. She had never been in a situation this intense before. Even facing down Jimmy Taylor last week had been less stressful than this—because other people’s lives were on the line here, she realized.

  It was easier to risk your own life than barter for the lives of others.

  She wouldn’t want this job for all the money in the world.

  Everyone in the negotiation room was wired and on edge. She glanced behind her to see the tactical and incident commanders staring holes in her through the window.

  She turned back to the monitor. Gino had chosen the cook to be his shield as he was the biggest person in the room. It showed what a coward the man was.

  Snake, indeed.

  Frank picked another hostage, and they hovered near the exit into the yard.

  Helicopter rotors could be easily heard in the distance.

  “Is the chopper there yet?” Gino yelled.

  Ava had definitely put the guy on edge and reminded him just how much he wanted to get out of prison.

  Milo made the third hostage climb to his feet and held him loosely from behind. The warden slid off the counter and crawled out of sight. Good. Finally. They seemed to have forgotten about her, or cared more about their own skins.

  Dominic muted Ava’s mic. “HRT agents are set to enter the kitchen as soon as the hostage-takers move down the corridor towards the exercise yard.”

  Frank was unlocking the first dead bolt when Milo thrust the kitchen knife into his back, sliding the blade up under the man’s ribs.

  Ava’s mouth dropped open in shock.

  “Fuck,” Dominic said in her ear.

  She knew HRT was scrambling to get into that room as soon as physically possible, but would it be fast enough to stop Milo killing everyone?

  “That
was for knocking me out, asshole.” Milo turned toward Gino who was now scrambling away from the serial killer, holding the knife to the cook’s throat.

  Blood dripped from the end of Milo’s blade, and he laughed as he advanced on the other hostage-taker.

  “What makes you think I care about him?” Milo flicked the point of the knife towards the cook.

  Gino thrust the hostage aside and screamed up at the ceiling, apparently reconsidering his demands for release. “Get me the hell out of here. This guy is a psycho!”

  “Not so brave now, are you, Gino?” Milo laughed and tracked the mobster who kept backing away until he hit a wall.

  “Where the hell is HRT?” Dominic asked, resting his arm on the desk so close to Ava’s it was like he was hugging her from behind.

  Ava swallowed hard and then decided to try something. At this stage they had nothing to lose. “This is not how revenge works, Milo.” She spoke in Greek. “This man has done harm to my family. I get to decide the price he pays.”

  Milo paused in his pursuit of the mobster and stared directly at the camera. The man had known all along they were watching. “What about my revenge? What about the warden’s?”

  Gino seemed to sense an opportunity or a weakness in Milo and dashed toward the woman hiding behind the big metal island. Milo stuck out his foot and Gino crashed to the floor, lucky not to impale himself on his own blade. The older man’s face was bright red against the shock of white hair. He no longer looked like a gangster, instead he looked like a fat, bitter, frightened, old man.

  “He killed my father. He ruined my life.” Ava insisted holding onto the mic tightly with one hand.

  “Then I’ll say this is for you,” Milo declared like he was giving Ava a present.

  “What the hell is going on?” Dominic asked, muting the mic.

  Ava had forgotten the rest of them couldn’t understand the conversation. “The ancient Greeks were big on revenge,” she explained.