She shook her head. “Hunter, I can take care of myself.”
Before he could tell her that he wanted the job, the door slid open, and Sterling bounced through.
He was smiling until he saw the expressions on their faces. “I didn’t interrupt anything, did I?”
Mila smiled at the older man. “No, Hunter and I are having a difference of opinion as usual. Where are we?”
“We should be docking at Yensletar soon.”
She nodded. “Is there a bathroom? I’d like to freshen up.”
After Sterling gave her directions, and they were alone, Hunter tried to ignore the older man’s penetrating gaze. But in the last few years since Libby and Saint married, Sterling had forced himself into Hunter’s life, showing up and bothering him.
“She doesn’t seem very happy, especially considering what went on here,” Sterling said, waving his hands around indicating the room.
“Please tell me you didn’t spy on us.”
Sterling chuckled and then sat down in the chair in front of the electronic panel. “No, but I could feel the sparks coming off you two. A lot of heat there. Still is.”
Hunter sighed when he realized Sterling wouldn’t let it go. “She isn’t telling me the whole story. She won’t go back to Earth, as any rich, party girl would want to do.”
“She isn’t your typical rich woman, Hunter. You know that.”
He rubbed the back of his neck, trying to sort through all the contradictions. “I know. I just don’t know who’s after her. She’s mixed up with Nikiraki.”
The older man’s eyebrows rose. “Not a nice man. Dirty as they come.”
“And slimy enough to get away. There’s something she isn’t telling me, and it puts her at risk.”
“Are you telling her everything, Hunter?”
“What the hell do you mean, Sterling?”
“Listen, I’m not stupid. I have my ear to the ground. I know you aren’t just a humble outpost keeper.” He shrugged. “You and I both know how high up you go.”
“She’ll find out soon enough. Masters is meeting us when we dock on Yensletar.”
Sterling chuckled. “So, you called on Masters?”
“I was supposed to meet up with him and one of his operatives.”
“So, you are going to take a woman you are involved with --”
“I’m not involved with her.”
“Son, you made love to her. That’s involved for a woman.” When Hunter started to argue, Sterling continued. “Here is this woman you made love to and then fought with, and now you’re going to meet up with your friend.”
“Yes.”
“Her ex-lover.”
Ahh, shit. “I forgot about that.”
“Yes, I just bet you did.”
* * * * *
Within an hour, they were walking down the ramp out of the craft. Yensletar was an easy planet. There was a check-in process, but Hunter made sure Masters had cleared the way for both him and Mila.
When they reached the bottom of the ramp, Sterling gave Mila a hug, enveloping her in his two large arms. Releasing her, he looked at Hunter and smiled.
“I’m sure you two will muddle through somehow. Of course, Libby would probably beat me if I didn’t tell you to be careful.”
“Thanks, Sterling.”
Mila and Hunter stood side by side as they watched him walk back up the ramp, singing an Irish ditty.
“He reminds me of my grandfather.”
“Sterling would love that.”
Mila laughed. “He used to sing dirty drinking songs to make my mother blush.”
“And she would be appalled if she knew her daughter sang them off key when she’s had too much to drink,” said an amused voice behind them.
Mila whirled around and gasped. “Robbie? What the hell are you doing here?”
The next moment she was jumping forward and into his arms. Hunter had to stand there and bear it, even as he fought the urge to separate his friend’s head from his body just for touching Mila.
“Hunter here got hold of me, told me to meet you here.”
He set her back on her feet and smiled down at her. The warm intimate look had Hunter biting back a growl. The next moment, Masters’s too-perceptive gaze settled on Hunter.
“So, now that we’re all here, I guess we should have our meeting.”
Hunter’s mind, still concentrating on the way Robbie’s hands caressed Mila’s shoulders, took a moment to figure out what he was talking about.
“Masters, we’re missing our third party.”
Robbie studied him for a moment, then turned Mila to face Hunter. A frown wrinkled her brow, and she shot Masters a dirty look.
“Hunter? Meet our third party. Or as you know her, number 335.”
Chapter Six
Mila wanted to kill Robbie. Instead of giving her time to ease Hunter into accepting her position, Robbie threw it at him with all the tact of a cold bucket of water. From the stone face Hunter had been wearing for the last thirty minutes, he wasn’t happy with the information.
The harsh overhead light in Robbie’s room revealed nothing to her. Hunter held on to that impassive expression as he sat in a chair situated next to the dresser. He hadn’t made eye contact with her either, which really worried her. She couldn’t detect what he might be feeling.
The second time they’d made love, there had been something there, some kind of connection. Not that she thought it was everlasting love. Mila didn’t believe in notions like that. Still, she worried that now he would want nothing to do with her, and she wasn’t sure she could bear that. She was sure she’d lost his trust. And Lord help her if he found out about her and Robbie.
“So, what did they give you to bring?” Robbie asked.
She turned her attention to Robbie. Sitting on the bed, he smiled at her as if she owed him some kind of gratitude. Jackass. She’d get him back for this.
“It’s just a file. I have no idea what it is, as usual, and as per regs, I haven’t looked at it. But they did say it was a level four.”
Both men narrowed their eyes and studied her. She wanted to laugh, but didn’t. You couldn’t find two men so different in personality, except when it came to the job. They handled it differently. Robbie flirted, charmed. Hunter bulldozed his way through, scaring the hell out of anyone who dared disagree with him. But looking at them right now, you’d have no idea their personalities were so diverse.
“Level four?” Robbie asked and flicked a glance at Hunter, then back to her. “You’ve only done up to level two.”
She nodded. “Don’t you know what it is?”
He shook his head. “No. I was supposed to make sure you made it to another contact, which I thought odd. I assumed you’d be able to tell me something when you got here.” He turned his attention to Hunter. “You have any idea what this could be about?”
Hunter shook his head. “No.”
She scraped her teeth over her lower lip trying to come up with a reason. All of this was decidedly odd. Even Vivica, the agent who’d briefed her, had been confused about it.
“I have the file, if you want to look at it. I can’t; my security level isn’t high enough.”
Both men nodded, Hunter avoiding eye contact again. She sighed, knowing that he was pissed about her “deception.” She asked for a knife, and when Robbie offered up his twentieth-century Swiss knife, she laughed.
“One of these days you’ll realize we’re in the twenty-second century.”
Carefully, she separated the fabric at the seam on her left wrist. Once it was open, she handed the knife back to Robbie. She slid her finger between the layers of fabric that made up the tiny pocket. When her finger brushed the edge of the disc, she eased it out and then passed it to Robbie.
“You weren’t briefed on this at all? Why they might have stepped up your clearance?”
“Nope. You know Vivica was kind of confused by it, too.”
Robbie retrieved his electronic reader and popped the disc in. �
�Vivica?”
She sighed. “Agent Harris.”
He laughed. “Oh, yeah, I forgot that was her first name.”
As he pulled up the file, the strained silence filling the room had Mila itching to leave. Hunter still wasn’t making eye contact, and Robbie was frowning over his reader. As the stillness continued, a ball of tension curled in her stomach.
When she couldn’t stand it any longer, she asked Robbie, “Do you have a room for me?”
He nodded, not looking up from the reader. “Across the hall. They have your thumbprint on record so you should be able to unlock the door, no problem.”
“I’ll leave you gentleman to it, then.” Unwilling to look at the detached expression on Hunter’s face any longer, Mila hurried out.
Robbie was right. Her door unlocked without any problems. After ensuring the door locked behind her, she took in her surroundings. It was a mirror of Robbie’s room, with a massive bed, a couple of chairs, and no windows. Needing to relax, she dragged herself over to the bed and collapsed. Every muscle in her body ached, she was sure of it. As she closed her eyes, she started to wonder just what the hell Hunter was thinking.
What was she thinking? He was pissed, even though he knew the regs as well as she did. She couldn’t reveal her job except in a life-or-death situation, even to an agent. It’d been close, but not that close. The kidnappings had more to do with her being the daughter of a wealthy woman.
She ran a hand through her tangled hair, wincing when it caught on a tangle. Worrying about it wouldn’t get her anywhere. She needed to clear her mind. Clean her body. She felt grungy. After stripping off her clothes, she stepped into the shower, allowing the hot water to coax the tension out of her muscles. Getting the dust from the last several days off had her mind clearing, her body relaxing. After drying off, she slipped between the covers on the bed, and within moments, she drifted to sleep.
* * * * *
“You want to tell me how you hooked up with Mila?” Masters asked as he studied the closed door.
Hunter grunted. He couldn’t formulate an answer because he was too angry.
“Once again, your conversational skills fail, John.”
“Fuck off, Masters.”
“Not much better.” But he didn’t push his line of questioning. Masters knew him better than most people. Bugging Hunter only led to a bloody nose. Masters had already learned that lesson a few years ago.
Masters pressed a few buttons on his reader and frowned. “This makes no sense at all.”
“What?”
“These are just directions for me, which I already have.”
Hunter stood, a knot forming in his stomach. Inefficiency reigned at most government agencies. The Agency wasn’t beyond doing some stupid things, but this made no sense whatsoever. He took the reader, and sure enough, that was all that was in the file.
“You’re right; it makes no sense.”
Masters sighed and shoved a hand through his hair. It took a moment for Hunter to notice his friend wasn’t acting in his usual manner. There was something off.
“I don’t know, Hunter. There was a lot of hubbub a few weeks ago. I have no idea what it was about. I do know that my supervisor and several generals were called in for some huge meeting. When Collins returned, he didn’t discuss it. Just gave me instructions about meeting up with Mila.”
“And you have no idea what’s going on?”
He shook his head. “No. I do know that a few people have been a little jumpy since the last go-round in court with Nikiraki. Then there was that failed coup in the Editon Sector. We lost a few agents. Headquarters has been twitchy about secrecy ever since.”
Hunter’s position allowed him top-secret clearance, as did Masters’s position, but apparently it wasn’t enough for them to be privy to what was going on. But ... Masters was acting odd, secretive.
“You sure you don’t know anything?”
Master’s shot him a dirty look, his green eyes sparking with animosity.
“I would tell you, Hunter.”
He narrowed his eyes and studied his friend. “What the bloody hell are they up to?”
Shaking his head, he sat down on the bed. “Hunter, I have no idea.” He held up his hands as Hunter approached him. “I’m serious. All I know is that I was supposed to take her to Sindlestar.”
Hunter stopped in front of Masters, grabbed hold of his shirt and pulled him to his feet. “You better be telling me the truth. If not, I’ll make sure you think twice about lying to me.”
For a second, Masters looked like he would beat the hell out of Hunter. Then, his face transformed. His lips curved and he laughed. “Well, well, well.”
Hunter released him, practically tossing him on the bed, which wasn’t easy with a man of Masters’s size. He landed with a grunt and a curse but he was still laughing at Hunter.
“Who would have thought John Hunter would fall for a rich woman.”
Irritation slithered into his gut along with a healthy dose of wariness. “You don’t know what the bloody hell you’re talking about. I promised my father I’d get her home.”
“Hmm, yeah, you always do your best to please your father.” Sarcasm laced his words.
Hunter paced away, trying to ignore Masters’s perceptive eyes. Curling his fingers into the palms of his hands, he resisted the urge to punch a hole in the wall, or the pretty boy’s face.
“It’ll get him off my back, and apparently, his fiancée will be forever in my debt.” Even to his own ears, his voice didn’t sound that convincing.
“So all you see her as is your soon-to-be stepsister?” He paused, apparently waiting for Hunter to make a comment. When he didn’t, Masters rolled on. “And I figure if you were with Sterling, he told you about Mila’s and my past relationship. That old man can’t keep a secret to save his life.”
Hunter grunted again.
“And you aren’t involved with her.”
Hunter remained silent, even as anger burned a hole in his stomach. He refused to take the bait. Answering questions about his personal life wasn’t something that Hunter did on a regular basis. It was one of the reasons he preferred not to make friends, and Masters was edging closer to the not-friend category.
“Ahh, so if that’s all it is, I guess you don’t mind bunking down here alone.” He smacked his lips. “Mila won’t mind letting me share her bed.”
Before he could see through the red haze that clouded his vision, Hunter whirled around and had Masters by the collar again. He lifted Masters off the ground, bringing his own face to within inches of Masters’s.
“You so much as fucking think about touching her, you can kiss your pretty-boy face goodbye.”
Masters smiled at him, not looking at all scared. Irritation replaced a bit of Hunter’s anger because he realized that Masters had been messing with him, and he’d fallen for it.
“Fuck it.”
He tossed Masters back on the bed and walked to the door. As the door was sliding closed Masters yelled out, “Make sure to give Mila a goodnight kiss from me.”
As he pressed his thumb on the keypad, Hunter scowled. He hadn’t fallen for Mila. He wanted her; that much was not in doubt. Sharing just wasn’t his style. After they were through, he really didn’t care if she wanted to fuck Masters’s brains out, he thought as he walked through the doorway.
So why the hell does that thought make me want to beat the hell out of one of my best friends?
Because he couldn’t bear the thought of another man touching her, that was why. Bloody hell. He stopped in his tracks and closed his eyes. He didn’t want entanglements. Women expected strings. He wasn’t good with them. Other than Masters and Saint, he had few friends. He liked it that way, dammit. It didn’t matter that she’d never asked about the future. She never asked about his intentions. And, he thought, just why hadn’t she asked for them?
Why the hell did he care?
He opened his eyes and stomped past the entryway and bathroom. Then, h
e stopped short when he saw her. The light of the two moons shone through the window, illuminating the room, but not enough for him to see clearly. He walked closer, never taking his gaze from her. Crouching next to the bed, he studied her face, noting the dark circles beneath her eyes. Damn, even for an agent she’d been put through a lot. It was still hard to accept that she was a courier for the Agency. He’d missed all the signs -- her knowledge of planets, weapons, her ability to think fast in nasty situations -- but Hunter couldn’t wrap his mind around the idea of Mila coming into contact with the scum couriers came into contact with.
Lightly, he brushed the backs of his fingers against her cheek. She smiled, her eyes still closed. Again, he felt the shifting in his chest, but brushed it aside. He moved his hand away. She frowned and mumbled something under her breath, then rolled over, presenting him with her bare back.
Something hot and possessive stirred deep within him. He’d always kept sex light. Women were expendable, but there was something that made him want to make sure any male within a hundred feet of her knew she was his. And even though it was temporary, he still wanted to have that connection. To make her understand.
He rose, and after setting his weapon on the bedside table just within reach, he stripped out of his clothes. His body was already humming with arousal, the need pounding through him. Slipping into bed beside her, he slid his hand around her waist and pulled her against him. For a few seconds, he lay there, enjoying the feeling of her skin next to his.
Slowly, so as not to wake her just yet, he moved the sheets off the two of them. As he ran his fingers over her hip, he enjoyed the contrasts of their skin tones. He rested his hand there, just on the fullest part of her hip, and marveled at how small she looked with his hands on her.
She wiggled her ass, trying to get closer. He groaned and then he heard it. The muffled giggle.
“You think that’s funny, do you?”
She nodded as he slipped his hand over her belly down to her sex. He kissed the back of her neck, breathing deeply. Damn, she smelled good. Clean, aroused female. As he pressed his hand against her pussy, she moved against his cock. Already hard, the slight brushing of her ass against him urged a drop of cum from him. He slid one finger into her and closed his eyes as her muscles clamped down hard.
Hunting Mila Page 6
