by Kym Roberts
“We’re five miles from my hotel.”
“And? You’re in charge of protecting the Vice President of the United States. Are you saying you can’t carry me and my bag?” She noticed her mistake almost immediately, but refused to back down. She needed those stones.
He didn’t comment on her knowledge about his job, instead he focused on their impending journey. “We can’t take the streets. We’ll be going the long way. I’d rather not be drenched in a sweat when we enter the hotel. It will draw more attention than we want.”
The cold ground beneath her feet and the wind cutting through her light-weight sweater and tee made her wonder how anyone could work up a sweat in this weather. “I need my stones,” she insisted.
He stopped and looked at her for a moment. Whether it was the set of her jaw or her hands on her hips that made him change his mind, she wasn’t sure. He just turned around, picked up some rocks splayed across the ground and turned back toward her.
“Happy?” He asked.
She didn’t reply. It was obvious the score was now two to one in her favor and she was going to be a good sport about the victory.
Chapter Seven
He’d given her a piggyback ride all the way to his hotel. Almost all the way. Five blocks from the hotel he’d called Megan and asked her to pick them up as he’d jockeyed his phone and Téa on his back while Téa’d cursed at him in Italian.
“Ummm, I take it you won’t be alone?” Megan asked as the sound of her keys jingled in the background.
“No, it’s me plus one.”
“You’re not using me to sneak a woman into your room, are you? Cause that’s a boundary I refuse to cross.”
He hesitated. He was going to sneak a woman into his room, but not for the reasons Megan was implying. Megan picked up on the suspended silence instantaneously.
“No, Danny. I can’t believe you’d ask me of all people to cross that line.” The anger in her voice reverberated through the night air catching Téa’s attention.
“It’s not like that.” He insisted.
“Then what’s it like?” The accusation in Megan’s voice pissed him off more than he thought possible, especially when he heard the sound of keys clattering on a countertop.
“As your boss—”
“You better rethink using that phrase right now.”
Téa had been listening intently on his shoulder and for some reason, he didn’t want her to know about his past with Megan. At the same time, he didn’t want to spew out the real reason he needed Megan to pick them up over a cell phone. God only knew who was picking up this conversation. As if things couldn’t get any worse, he couldn’t find a way down from the raised rock garden without jumping six feet. Just as his frustration was at a boiling point, his brain said, fuck it.
He jumped. Téa squealed and his knee gave. He crumpled down on the pavement and tried to keep from faceplanting. His phone was the last thing he worried about with a hundred pound woman threatening to go flying over the top of his head. He grappled with her legs and ended up rolling sideways to prevent both of them from having an emergency visit to the dentist.
When they stopped rolling he wasn’t sure who took the most impact. Téa didn’t move and he quickly got up to check on her. To his horror, she was laying on her back staring up at the sky without blinking. Her hair was spread out across the pavement as if someone had laid it there for a photo shoot and she looked impossibly beautiful—if not precisely alive.
“Téa, are you okay?” His heart was racing faster than it had that morning with Stefan. Faster than it had two months earlier when he’d had to step in to protect the Vice President. For some ridiculous reason, fear for this little slip of a woman made his hand shake as he reached for the pulse in her neck.
“Touch me, and I’ll bite your hand off.”
He laughed, he couldn’t help it. The sound burst from his chest with so much relief, he had to sit down next to her. “Are you okay?”
She looked over at him and he could’ve sworn her gaze traveled the length of his body before she returned to the view of the sky.
“I haven’t looked at the stars in seven years.”
Sensing this was an important moment for her, he followed her gaze to the luminous constellations above. “Why not?”
Her voice was soft, almost reverent when she finally spoke. “As a kid my parents used to take me stargazing all the time. We had a book of the constellations and we would point out the different ones whenever we traveled.” She pointed at a cluster of stars. “See the one over there that looks like the Muppet, Beaker? That’s Perseus.”
He looked back at her and wondered if she’d hit her head. Her mouth quirked in what could be a gorgeous smile if she’d just let it go.
“I’m fine.” She insisted. “Look back at the stars.” He followed to where her finger was leading him and tried to figure out what she was trying to show him. “Think of the Muppet who’s a scientist. He’s tall and skinny with a tuft of red hair on his head and he always wears a frown with a green tie and lab coat.”
It was at that moment he saw what she was talking about. The constellation looked more like a skinny stickman running across the sky with his hands and legs going every which way like the Muppet, than any warrior he’d ever met. He grinned down at her.
“I never would have noticed it without you comparing it to a Muppet.”
“Were you a fan of the Muppets?”
He wished he could say he had been, but it was his little sister who loved Jim Henson’s Muppets. “No, my little sister was, but her favorite was Muppet’s Treasure Island. I had a black spot on my hand for almost a year.”
She bit her bottom lip to keep from laughing and he found himself wanting to taste her. Here. Now. Under the stars. He looked away.
Sex was off the table with Téa. Even if he’d already done every possible sexual act with her in his mind in the past several months. The outfit she had on today, made him want to go back through the Kama Sutra with visions of her wearing those high heels in each position. He should definitely buy her a new pair.
“Do you see Andromeda over there?”
“The one that looks like your position right now?”
She snorted. “Yeah, I suppose we damsels in distress tend to sprawl out on the ground.” She sat up and winced.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
“Why’d you wince?”
“Why’d you crash and burn?”
“I tripped.”
“That wasn’t a trip. Your knee gave out.”
“It’s nothing.” He stood up, forcing himself not to wince and reached down to grab her hand.
“You’re a good actor Agent Artino.”
“I’m not acting.”
She reached for his hand, and when he pulled her up, she fell into him. Contact she would’ve avoided thirty minutes ago, became all too up close and personal. The softness of her breasts brushed against his abs making him yearn for her. It’d been too long since he’d held a woman this close. He ached to explore every inch of her body, from the soft silken mass of her hair brushing the edge of her ass, to her nipples pebbling against his body. He would lick and suck every inch of her skin before burying his face between her legs and tasting her sweet ecstasy until she begged him to stop. Her leg brushed his knee and sent pain jolting through him.
“Fu—”
She stepped back and glared at him. “You’re a horrible liar.”
Up until two minutes ago, he’d thought he was a pretty damned good liar. How the hell had she read him so easily? “You did that on purpose.”
“Maybe.”
“Most definitely.” He ran his hand through his hair and tried to dampen his arousal. How the hell was he going to be around her, and not show how damned much he wanted her, if she pulled stunts like that? “I’m a man, Téa. Don’t tempt me like that again.”
“You wouldn’t take advantage
.”
“No, but I’ll push you to your limits.” When she didn’t say anything, he admitted his weakness. “My knee’s a little sore.”
She smiled. “I’ll bet.”
He looked around for his cell phone, and saw the screen lighting up against the pavement twenty feet away. He jogged for it, hiding the limp his leg screamed for him to perform and picked it up. He missed the third call as Megan’s face flashed across the screen and disappeared before he could answer it. The screen lit up again with Megan’s image.
“Hello.”
“Where the hell are you and what’s going on?” She demanded.
“Meet us at the Spanish Steps in ten.”
“I’ll be there in five and you better not piss me off.”
“I think I already did that.” The line went dead proving his point. He turned toward Téa. “Let’s go.” Ignoring the pain radiating through his knee, he bent down for her to jump on his back.
“I think I’ll skip the ride and just walk. The whole shake, rattle and roll routine would challenge a fighter pilot’s stomach. Nine g’s is nothing compared to that ride.”
Her analogy made him want to smile, but he refrained. “So you’ve done nine g’s before?” She refused to answer him so he asked, “What about your ankle and your feet?”
“Look around Agent. The streets in this part of Rome are spotless, and my ankle’s just a bit sore.”
She was right about the streets of Rome; there was little to no garbage. A tourist would have to look to the outskirts of the city, on their way to and from the airport, to see where the homeless camped along the fence barriers. It was there, the trash was allowed to build up. It was also where the low-income housing was located.
When Megan arrived in a nondescript rental car that blended in with the regular traffic on the roads, Téa seemed surprised. Megan’s hair was pulled back in a ponytail and her face was clean of makeup. To anyone else, it probably looked like Megan had pulled herself out of bed. Khaos knew she’d just finished working out.
Megan took one look at Téa and she knew exactly who she was. The woman was freaking scary. What she may not have been able to figure out over the phone, took 20 seconds for her to decipher in person.
“So, how did you two meet?” She asked in her best high school clueless tone.
Khaos rolled his eyes, but Téa looked as if she felt compelled to respond. “Don’t answer that,” he said.
“Awwwwe, you’re such a spoilsport,” Megan quipped.
“I need you to go in the back way.”
With that, Megan nodded and kept silent the rest of the trip. When they arrived at the hotel, she showed her credentials and pulled into an underground parking garage and up to a service elevator. Agent Gilham was standing next to the elevator and Khaos cursed his luck. The young man knew too much about his personal laundry. It was as if he’d left his boxers, jock strap and a pair of panty hose he didn’t own out on the line for the man to analyze.
He sighed and turned toward Téa. “We’re going to get out, go up the elevator to the ninth floor, and into room nine thirteen. Don’t look at anyone, don’t speak to anyone. Got it?”
She nodded and he turned to Megan. “Thank you.”
“You bet. Anytime. Unless of course next time you bring home a hooker. Then the answer will be a solid no.”
The quick intake of breath from the back seat made Megan’s eyes widen in horror. Khaos closed his eyes waiting for the shit storm to start. Megan didn’t normally insult people. Her male counterparts, yes, all the time, but not victims, or witnesses or anyone she perceived to have gone through anything traumatic. Megan wasn’t like that. She had a heart that bled for everyone. “I’m sorry,” she blurted out.
Téa’s mask immediately fell firmly in place. “It’s fine.”
“I didn’t mean—”
“To call a spade a spade? Like I said, it’s fine.” It wasn’t, and they all knew it. There was just nothing they could do about it.
“Is there anything else I can do?” Megan asked.
“You’ve done enough,” he said. Not meaning that she’d screwed up, but not willing to let her off the hook either. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”
Khaos got out of the car and opened the back door. Gilham, who was standing by the elevator, immediately stood at attention, as if someone important was coming back to the hotel with his boss. It was evident the moment the young agent observed his torn knee, old shoes and dirty jacket, along with Téa’s hair gone wild, dirty sweater and bare feet. To his credit, the only words out of Gilham’s mouth were, “Evening, sir,” before Khaos escorted Téa onto the elevator.
“Keep alert, Gilham. I want to know if anything, and I mean anything out of the ordinary happens.”
“Yes, sir.” Gilham keyed his coms. “Artino with one,” he relayed into his mic.
The doors to the elevator closed and they made it up to the ninth floor in silence. Once there, another agent was waiting for them to exit the elevator. Unlike Gilham, Agent Cooper could describe every person down to the length of their fingernails who’d gotten off that elevator in the past week during his shift. The man had a photographic memory to compete with any camera footage or notebook. Cooper was tried and true on his team. Gilham was an unknown entity.
“Stay alert,” he told him.
Cooper nodded without saying a word. Once inside his room, Téa seemed more nervous than she’d been since they’d run from the train station.
“Would you like to use the restroom?”
She shook her head and walked further into the room. Khaos immediately went to the window and pulled the drapes tightly closed. “Would you like something to eat? I can order some room service?”
“I’m not your guest, Agent. There’s no reason for you to act like a host.”
“You are my guest.”
“Let’s be real. I’m your hostage.”
“You can leave any time you want.”
“And have my brains splattered across the pavement when I leave.” A humorless laugh escaped her lips. “Right. That won’t happen until we arrive in the States. If I leave here, it will be with my intestines pouring out of my gut from a knife wound.”
The way she callously spoke about her death was a bit unnerving. Her large onyx colored eyes held resignation in their depths. Seeing the other agents had made her situation very real to her. She no longer held the control over her fate. He did, and she’d already accepted it was only a matter of when, where, and how she would die.
“I’m not going to let anyone get to you.”
“You already did.”
He rubbed the back of his neck and went to the mini refrigerator for a drink. His honesty with her outside the train station had probably cost him any future trust. “I’m sorry, I gave away your identity at the train station.” He pulled out two bottles of water and handed one to her. “I couldn’t let you get on that train.”
“You could have, but you have another agenda.”
She was right about that. “Don’t you want to see your parents’ deaths vindicated?” He asked.
If he expected her to show any kind of sorrow, he’d be disappointed. There was no doubt in his mind her parents were dead even if her grandmother held out hope for him to bring two of them home. The only one he could bring home was Téa. Her mother had disappeared seven years ago. Khaos highly doubted she would have allowed their daughter to be sold into sex trade if she’d been alive.
“Justice is a myth, Agent. The sooner you accept that, the better off you’ll be.”
He’d seen kids who didn’t believe in the system. Poor kids brought up on the streets, kids of color judged by their heritage instead of their merit, but Téa had been one of the sheltered and privileged youth. She’d been raised in wealth. He knew things had gone terribly bad for her, he just didn’t know how badly.
“We have to have faith in the system,” he heard himself say and winced. Justice had
failed Téa for years. The people, who should’ve helped her, had meant to hurt her. But Ty had saved her and he had to remind her of that now. “I know you have reason to mistrust, even hate every law enforcement person you come across, but you have to understand that the vast majority of us are trying to do our jobs to the best of our ability. We’re not all like the agents who paid to have you come to their hotel room.”
“Have you ever paid for sex?”
“No.”
“Have you ever had sex with a minor?”
“No.”
“Do you think I should trust you because you haven’t?”
“No.”
“Then tell me why I should trust you.”
“Because I want to help.”
“Why?” She pried.
“There were two other people who didn’t get justice that night.”
If he wasn’t mistaken, her defiance slipped just a tad before she turned away from him. “What are you talking about?” She asked in a much softer tone.
“I’m not trying to trap you or make you pay for something that wasn’t your fault. I’m trying to get to the truth about that night your friend died.”
“I’ve had many friends die.”
He didn’t want to know how many friends she’d lost. Téa was his sister’s age. In many ways, the two women had suffered the same fate, but Faith had never been brutalized. Nor had she witnessed death. He suspected Téa had seen it all and had come out standing, despite the atrocities she’d experienced.
“I suggest we both take a shower, get some food and start talking. It’s going to be a long night.”
Chapter Eight
Agent Artino exited the bathroom wearing a t-shirt and a pair of gym shorts. The muscles across his chest and abdomen were as defined and hard as she knew they would be and his legs would put any track star to shame. For the first time in her adult life, Téa admired a man’s raw strength. His beauty would inspire Michael Angelo to sculpt him in marble to last forever in the minds of men and women across the globe.
She would’ve drooled all over him at seventeen. She looked away. How she missed that girl.
