They’d probably also be pretty desperate, which didn’t make any of this sit well with Jared. But he’d be outside with his team, and they’d be listening to everything that happened inside. They’d know if Libby was in trouble, and they’d breach the place if they had to, security be damned. They knew how to breach a building with speed and stealth when necessary, and they could do it so that no one got hurt.
But it wouldn’t go unnoticed and Ian would have a lot of explaining to do afterwards.
“She’s due back at work tomorrow morning,” Dax said. “According to what I was told when I called and asked for her.”
“Tomorrow morning it is then. Make sure she’s ready, Jared,” Ian said.
“She’ll be ready.”
“Good. You kids figure it out and I’ll see you tomorrow.”
The projection of Ian went blank and Jared looked at his teammates. They were watching him with varying expressions of sympathy and understanding. The single guys didn’t look much fazed by the whole thing. The attached ones, however…
“She’ll be fine,” Jace said. “We won’t let anything happen to her.”
Colt nodded. “Angie, Maddy, and Tallie like her a lot. The three of them are made of steel, so I expect Libby is too. Our women aren’t fainting flowers, man.”
Our women.
Jared blinked as the words rolled around in his head. They felt… right. Libby was his woman. He’d known her for less than two weeks, but he knew he wanted to know more of her. He wanted her mornings and her nights, and he wanted her curled around him in sleep and clinging to him in passion. He didn’t know where it was leading, but he was learning that he didn’t mind the journey.
“Libby is tough,” he said. “I know she is, but she’s already been through a lot. I don’t want her hurt again.”
“We aren’t going to let that happen.”
Jared shoved a hand over his head, raking it through his hair. “We need the card. And she’s the one who can get it. So let’s make a plan, and I’ll go and tell her what she needs to do.”
Dax called up a schematic projection of Ninja Solutions’ office building. “Here are all the entry and exit points to the building. We can station a team in front and one in back. Since Libby will be miked up and wearing a tracking device, we’ll know where she is at all times. If she moves toward any of the exits other than the front door, we’ll be there waiting.”
Jared didn’t want her moving toward any exits. He wanted her to go in, get the card, and bring it back out again without talking to anyone. But he knew that’s not how it was going to go. It’d be too suspicious for one thing. And it wouldn’t give them the first clue about who the traitors in the company were.
They spent the next hour going over the plan from top to bottom, refining and tweaking, before everyone was satisfied. Then Jared went downstairs to the Cove with Colt and Jace. Angie and Maddy were there with Libby. They were laughing about something when Jared and the other two entered. Libby’s eyes met his, her gaze sparkling with heat and humor, and his heart did a slow thump in his chest.
He really liked this woman. A lot. She made him laugh, and she made him hard, and even though she talked way more than he would have ever thought he could deal with, he liked the things she said. Silly things. Sexy things. Profound things.
Libby shared her emotions easily, and yet she hid herself away too. It was the damndest thing, really. She was open and eager, but he sensed there was a heart of glass beneath her easy manner. Like she thought maybe she wasn’t worth it somehow. Like she expected people to abandon her.
He needed to find out what that was all about. They hadn’t talked about her past yet. They’d been too busy talking about everything that’d happened recently. She hadn’t mentioned her family since her memory had returned. Before that, she’d told him about random memories such as fields planted with corn and gathering eggs in a basket. Nothing deep, and nothing painful.
Now, he wondered. He went over to her and squeezed her shoulder. She smiled up at him with all the trust in the world. Like he was her knight in shining armor. His gut tightened. He damn well intended to be.
“Is it settled now?” she asked.
“We have a plan,” he told her. “But we need your help.”
She bit her lip. “Okay. I guess it was too much to hope you’d come in here and tell me you had the card already.”
She’d been eager to go get the card when she’d first remembered, but he thought the danger of that choice had probably sunk in during the interim.
“Yeah, sorry.”
She glanced at Angie and Maddy. They looked fierce, and he was glad that fierceness was for her. Tough women, those two.
Angie reached over and patted her arm. “You can do this, Libby. Whatever it is. These guys won’t let you down. None of us will.”
“I know. I just hope I don’t let all of you down,” she finished softly.
Jared dropped to a knee beside her, forced her to look at him. Her eyes were filled with the kind of fear that came from not believing you were good enough. He knew that fear because he’d had it too. Once upon a time, with an abusive asshole for a father, he’d believed he wasn’t worthy. He knew differently now.
“You aren’t going to let anyone down,” he told her. “You’re smart and brave, and you got away from those men before they could hurt you further. You jumped off a damned roof, Liberty King. And you trudged through the snow for almost a mile until you found me. I’d say you’re pretty amazing.”
She smiled. The corners of her mouth trembled, but he knew the smile was genuine. She was trying not to cry.
“Thanks. You’re amazing too. If not for you, I wouldn’t be here, would I?” She put a finger over his lips before he could speak. “Don’t answer that because we both know the truth.”
He kissed her finger and didn’t say a word.
She sucked in a breath and lifted her chin, her gaze taking in everyone there. “All right. Tell me what I have to do. I’m ready and willing.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Nerves punched Libby’s belly as Jared drove her to work the next morning. She’d wanted to go to her apartment and get ready there but Jared had told her it was best if she didn’t. If someone was watching for her, they’d lose the element of surprise when she walked into Ninja Solutions after nine days away.
She smoothed the navy pencil skirt over her thighs and stared out the window. Dax and Colt had gone to her apartment and picked up some of her clothes and shoes, her coat, her makeup bag from the bathroom, her curling iron, and her purse, which contained her company badge and her driver’s license.
It was weird to think of them entering her home without her and going through her things, but at least she liked Dax and Colt. It wasn’t quite the same as random strangers going through her stuff. They’d already been there once, which she’d realized when she got her memory back and knew the glasses they’d given her weren’t actually new. They were hers. She always had an extra pair because she was afraid of misplacing one.
Jared had told her then that someone had broken into her apartment and turned it upside down looking for the memory card. She’d been anguished over that, but he still wouldn’t relent and allow her to return. After this morning, after she retrieved the card, maybe life could get back to normal again.
Libby’s throat tightened. What was normal anyway? Her life wasn’t quite what she’d expected it to be, but then whose was? Jared had said she was friendly and bubbly and that she surely had a lot of friends when she couldn’t remember her life, but now that she had, it was shocking to realize that she really didn’t have close friends.
It was her fault. Her personality. She liked to talk, liked to listen, but she didn’t like to let people in. Letting people in meant they would see the real you.
And when they saw the real you, they’d know you weren’t as together as you pretended. They’d know you were insecure and faking it to get by. When they knew that, they wouldn’t st
ick around. As a result, she had a handful of superficial relationships with people she had fun with. Even Kristin and Merry weren’t allowed much deeper than the surface for fear of getting hurt if they rejected her. Maddy, Angie, and Tallie had made it past her defenses because she didn’t know who she was at the time. Now she did, and she knew she had to be careful with them as well.
Not that she expected to be around much longer. Once she’d gotten the card back, the reason for her and Jared to be together would be over. Even if she’d believed last night, when he’d been deep inside her and making her scream his name, that maybe there was more to what was happening between them than just sex.
But he’d never said so, and neither had she. They hadn’t talked of anything important yesterday. They hadn’t talked much at all, preferring to spend their time naked and wrapped up in each other. Words weren’t necessary then.
“You’re quiet,” Jared said.
She pasted on a smile and looked at him, her heart flipping as always. He made butterflies swirl in her belly, and hot, sweet need flare in her core. He thrilled her and scared her in equal measure. She wanted him more than ever, and she was afraid too. What happened when he got tired of the sex between them? She’d be back to square one, lonely and unwilling to risk her heart again.
She’d had boyfriends before, but never one she’d been serious about. Never one who made her feel the way Jared made her feel. She had to wonder if she would have let it happen if she hadn’t forgotten who she was. That thought made her frown.
No, it wouldn’t have happened at all because Jared wouldn’t have been interested in her in the first place. You don’t know that.
Do too.
“Libby?”
“Sorry. Just thinking about getting that card. I doubt anyone threw my plant away in a week, but I guess it’s possible.”
His hands tightened on the wheel. “God, I hope not. Though even if someone didn’t expect you to return, I’d think they wouldn’t have gotten rid of your stuff so quickly if they wanted people to believe you were on vacation.”
“True.” She frowned. “It has to be Daniel, don’t you think?”
“I think he’s the most likely suspect, yes. But there are others who stand to lose a lot of money if this project doesn’t go through.”
“Anyone else I should watch out for?”
Daniel wasn’t in the office this morning according to Jared’s information. He was at a meeting at the Pentagon. One less person for her to worry about running into. But who else could be involved?
Jared shot her a look. “Everyone is suspect, Libby. There’s not a person at Ninja Solutions who isn’t invested in the company’s success, though I’d think the top-level officers have more to lose than anyone else. Just go in and act as normal as you can. The guys are covering all the exits, and we can see and hear everything. If there’s a problem, we’ll come get you.”
She felt slightly better knowing that. She also felt like she was in a James Bond movie. She was wearing a blush-colored silk blouse, one of her favorites, with a navy blazer and her favorite cream coat. Jared had given her a jeweled pin to affix to the lapel of the blazer. Inside the pin was a camera and microphone. She could hardly believe it until he’d shown her the feed. It was on a small computer that Dax carried. Dax would be watching her, but everyone else could also hear her through the tiny earpieces they wore.
“I sure hope I don’t have to pee,” she muttered. “I don’t want you guys listening to that.”
He laughed. “Babe, we’ve listened to worse. Think of it like this. Right now, you’re one of us. You’re on a mission, and we’re your support. You need us to hear it all. You need Dax to see it all.”
She liked the idea of being one of them, even if only for a little while. She’d worry about tomorrow, tomorrow. “Aye aye, captain,” she said with a smart salute.
Jared shook his head as he laughed. “You’re seriously cute, you know that?”
She couldn’t help the warmth inside. “I’m glad you think so. It’s been my lifelong goal for a sexy man to think I’m merely cute.”
“If this wasn’t important,” he growled in that sexy growl of his, “I’d turn around and head straight back home, throw you over my shoulder, then take you up to my bed and keep you in it all day long just so you’d know exactly how hot I think you are.”
“Promises, promises,” she said, the warmth inside her turning into something more. She knew what it was like to spend the day in bed with Jared Fraser, and she wanted more days like that. Yesterday, after his meeting at BDI, he’d returned to the Cove where he’d left her with Angie and Maddy and then told her what she needed to do. She’d listened carefully, her stomach knotting. But she wanted to do it. She wanted to get that damned card and find out what had happened to Paul. Mostly, she wanted to live without the fear someone was going to snatch her off a street and threaten her again.
After he’d explained everything, he’d taken her back to his place—and they’d ended up naked on the couch, then the floor, and then they’d made their way upstairs where he’d made her come so many times she’d been limp and exhausted. He’d ordered food from a delivery service late that day, and they’d eaten a Mexican meal in the kitchen, talking about nothing more important than the weather and the fact she couldn’t wait for spring.
At eight that evening, Colt, Jace, and Dax arrived with her belongings and the equipment she was going to need. They’d gone over the plan with her, and then they’d left. She and Jared fell into bed, unable to stop from touching and tasting, and then they’d gone to sleep tangled together.
She was happy with him, and that terrified her. Happy never lasted.
Jared reached over and squeezed her hand. “It is a promise, babe.”
She squeezed back. “I’m glad. I just hope today goes according to plan.”
“You’ve got this, Libby. Those assholes grabbed you off the street, but they didn’t break you. You didn’t tell them about the card, and you didn’t give up. You got away. They’re dead and you aren’t, and you’re going to rock this, honey. Go in and get that card, then text me. I’ll be waiting at the door for you.”
She had a new phone in her purse. Not her phone, which was apparently gone, and not a new phone with her number ported over. A new phone with a new number. For now, Jared had said. Until this was over, she couldn’t have her old number back in case someone wanted to track her movements. This phone wasn’t registered to her, so nobody knew it was hers.
“Okie dokie.”
Jared turned into the parking lot for Ninja Solutions. It was a red brick building with darkened windows. Inside were the offices and testing facility where the RIM project prototype resided. She’d never seen it in person, as she wasn’t cleared to that level, but she’d seen the promotional videos for it. They all had. It was a spectacular piece of modern engineering. Except that it was flawed and not safe.
Libby put her controlled access card around her neck and drew in a breath. Her fingers trembled as she clutched her purse in her lap. Jared stopped the truck and leaned over to kiss her. “You look hot in that skirt, by the way. I really want to strip you out of it and fuck you in those heels. Think about that while you’re sashaying that gorgeous ass of yours into the building.”
Her core liquified. “I will,” she said in a whisper. “Wait, can the guys hear us?”
He grinned. “Yeah, afraid so. But who cares?”
Color heated her cheeks as she shook her head. “You’re rotten, you know that?”
“Yup.”
She kissed him back and opened the door. It was now or never. Get the card. Get out alive. Worry about tomorrow, tomorrow.
“I’m with you every step of the way. Don’t forget that.”
“I know. Thanks, Jared.”
Those words seemed inadequate, but the ones she really wanted to say were inappropriate. She knew, looking at him as she clutched the door handle in her fingers, at his serious expression and melty eyes, that
she’d fallen to a pretty deep place she’d never been before. No matter how often she told herself this wasn’t going to last, that it was temporary, that men like him—handsome, serious, exciting, wicked smart—didn’t fall for women like her—basic, boring, too talkative—her heart hadn’t listened. Her heart had fallen hard, and it held out eternal hope his would do the same.
Stupid heart.
Libby opened the door with trembling fingers.
“Libby.”
She turned back to him, hope a living thing inside her. “Yes?”
“I believe in you.”
It wasn’t what she’d wanted to hear, but it was more than she’d expected. She couldn’t help but smile. “I believe in you too, Knight.”
Then she stood on the pavement and shut the door before marching toward the entrance like she owned the place.
“Knight, huh?” It was Dax’s voice in his ear. “Been wondering what your codename was. You never told us.”
“It wasn’t important.” But he didn’t have that tight feeling inside that he usually did whenever he thought of the name. Maybe because Libby believed he was her knight, or maybe he’d finally made his peace with it. Whatever the case, he felt perfectly fine hearing it from his teammate’s lips.
“If you say so,” Dax replied.
Jared parked across the street from the unmarked van where Dax was currently monitoring the camera feed. Colt and Rascal were there with him. Tyler, Jace, and Brett were in another location at the back of the building. Jared got out of the vehicle and sauntered over to the van, surveying his surroundings before opening the door and jumping inside. Three pairs of eyes looked at him.
“I’m glad you’re here,” Rascal said. “It was getting hot in this little space listening to you talk to Libby.”
Jared sat on one of the benches lining the van’s interior. “Fuck you,” he said mildly.
Rascal laughed.
“Is she through security?” Jared asked.
“Yep,” Dax said. “Her badge worked without a hitch.”
Black Knight (A Black's Bandits Novel): HOT Heroes for Hire: Mercenaries Page 19
