by Kaylea Cross
“Well, you’ve never played it like this,” Hamilton said with a wink, and downed the rest of his water.
“Why, how do you guys play it?”
“You’ll see. Just waiting on Maka to get us a buzzer.”
“Okay.” She glanced around, found that her analyst had abandoned her for the SF guys on the other side of the room, who were all transfixed by whatever military video game they had going on there. So she might as well have come alone.
She made polite conversation with the others and Zaid finally came back a few minutes later with a bottle of iced tea and some baked goods wrapped in a paper napkin. Cookies and bars. “I saved these for you,” he said as he set them in front of her. “My mom made the spice cookies. Might be a little on the stale side now, but should still taste pretty good.”
He was so sweet, and so was his mother sending him homemade treats. Her family sent her care packages filled with books and treats too, but never any baking. “Thank you.”
“Hey, is that one of my mom’s blondies?” Granger accused as he came back to the table carrying a box filled with bags of crisps—chips, she corrected herself—and at least a dozen packages of red licorice.
“Yep, and I saved it for Agent Rabani,” Zaid said, sliding into the chair beside her. Lord, he smelled good. And every time he shifted his right arm brushed against her left one, sending sparks along her skin.
Jaliya set the light-colored brownie back down on the napkin. “Do you want it?” she asked Granger.
He waved the offer away. “Nah. Just, if I’d known he still had one, I would’ve stolen it from him.”
“They’re that good, huh?”
“Best.”
Well that demanded a taste test. She broke off half and held it out to him. “I’ll share with you.”
He huffed out an embarrassed laugh and shook his head. “No, it’s okay.”
“I can’t deprive you of the whole thing knowing it reminds you of your mom,” she insisted, waving it at him.
Grinning, Granger took it from her and raised it in salute. “Thanks.”
She bit into hers the same time he did. “Oh, yeah.” She chewed it, savoring the buttery, sugary flavor, and moaned. “Oh, God, she used real butter.”
He made a rumbling sound and nodded as he chewed, taking the chair at the head of the table. “Lots of butter.”
The second bite was even better than the first. She hummed in pleasure and belatedly caught the way Zaid was staring at her as she ate—as though he was imagining taking a bite out of her. Blood surged into her cheeks and she hoped no one noticed. She’d done more than her fair share of fantasizing about tasting him too.
“Okay, I found it. Game on,” Agent Maka said as he strode up to the table holding something she couldn’t see in one hand. He folded his huge body into the last empty chair, hiding whatever he held under the table.
She started to bend over to peek beneath it, but he cocked his head and raised an eyebrow at her, so she stopped. “So, how do we play?” she asked.
“We all came up with a bunch of words to guess and wrote them down on slips of paper,” Zaid said, reaching out to shake the helmet on the table that was full of little folded bits of paper. “We break into teams of two and each team gets a turn. One player pulls a word from the helmet and has to get their partner to say it without using the word itself, or the five other words listed on the paper. The team that wins the most rounds is the champion.”
“And someone from another team watches from behind the person giving the clues,” Maka added with a sly grin. “If they say a word on the paper, they’re done. Next team gets to go.”
Jaliya nodded, all the rules coming back to her now. “Am I going to know these words?” Because considering all the acronyms and pet names they probably had for things, she might not.
“Good point. Yeah, you should. At least most of ‘em.”
“And I guess you guys have some kind of buzzer or whatever, to alert us when someone messes up?”
Agent Maka’s face broke into a wide grin. “Yes, ma’am, we do.”
“Okay, so, teams,” Zaid instructed. “Rabani’s with me. You guys pick whoever you want.”
A flurry of movement followed as the team members repositioned themselves across from their partner. Zaid flashed her a grin as he dropped into the chair opposite her, and she smiled back. He was quite something to look at, and this gave her the perfect opportunity to do so without raising suspicion that something was going on between them. But man, what she wouldn’t give for the long, tight hug she’d been craving from him since the shooting.
“I probably should mention that I’m kinda competitive,” Jaliya said.
His eyes glinted with humor as he gave her a pretend shocked look. “No way!”
She laughed softly and settled back to await the start of the game. “Whatever. Like any of you aren’t just as bad.” Probably worse, actually, considering the grind to make it into the FAST program.
“Okay, ladies first,” Zaid announced, then held her gaze and murmured, “Ladies should always come first.”
Her face heated even more as the rest of the guys chuckled, but she folded her arms across her breasts and raised an eyebrow, not about to be cowed even though all she could think about now was the two of them rolling around naked together, and wondering about all the things he might do to her to get her off.
Though if he’d known how inexperienced she actually was, she doubted he would have teased her like that in front of everyone. Her one and only sexual partner hadn’t been able to make her come at all, so the only orgasms she’d ever experienced were self-induced. Something told her that wouldn’t be the case with Zaid. Her insides clenched, arousal stirring inside her.
“Really. A gentleman then, are you? Glad you feel that way.” She gestured to the helmet, anxious to change the subject because it was already hard enough to sit across from him and not think about sex without him stirring her up even more. “So. Let’s start building some points, shall we?”
He nodded once. “Right on.” Reaching into the helmet, he pulled out a yellow slip of paper and read the clue, then held it shielded in one palm while Maka perched on the edge of his chair to peer avidly over his shoulder.
“Go ahead,” Maka said when Zaid gave him the side-eye.
Zaid turned his attention back to the clue. “This is a word for someone who you use during an…” He paused, frowned before continuing. “The kind of work you’re doing right now.”
“Good catch,” Agent Maka murmured, eyes still fixed on Zaid’s paper.
Jaliya didn’t have any ideas yet and motioned for him to continue.
“It’s a term for that kind of person. For their role when you’re trying to figure out stuff on a case.”
“A witness?”
“Like our young friend we drove back from Kabul the other day.”
“Informant!”
He smiled and met her gaze. “Yeah.” Next to him, Maka looked disappointed. “Okay, our turn again.” Zaid pulled another clue from the helmet. Everyone else was busy watching, while digging into the box of junk food Agent Granger had brought in. As Zaid read the clue, he winced a little. “Ah…okay. Another word for a small, domestic pet.”
“Guinea pig. Hamster. Rabbit.”
“Likes to catch mice.”
“Cat!”
He made a circular motion with his hand, urging her to continue. “Cruder.”
Oh. “Pussy.” They would put that one in there.
“Yeah!”
Two chairs down from him, Agent Rodriguez shook his head and helped himself to another handful of nacho chips. “You guys are getting all the easy ones.”
“Haters’ gonna hate,” Zaid said without looking at him, reaching for another clue. “Okay, this is the term for the force generated by a…” He seemed to struggle with coming up with a hint that wasn’t on the paper. “A vehicle that inserts us by air.”
A force generated by an aircraft. “Yaw
.”
He shook his head.
“Thrust. Pitch.”
Another shake. “Different kind of air vehicle. Rotary—”
Expression full of glee, Maka shot his hidden hand into the air and a deafening blast shrieked through the air. Jaliya jumped a foot, clapping both hands over her ears as the air horn assaulted her eardrums. She stared at him, wide-eyed, until he released the trigger a few seconds later as he smirked at Zaid. “You’re out.”
Zaid glared at him. “I didn’t say a taboo word.”
“Did too. Rotary has rotor in it, which is on the list. And so does rotor wash, the answer. Hence, you said a taboo word. Hence, you’re out, brah.” He held the air horn in Zaid’s face and gave it another short blast for good measure.
Zaid shoved the thing aside and tossed the scrap of paper down. “Whatever. Rule Nazi. Here, give me that thing.” He snatched the air gun from his teammate and gestured to the helmet. “Your turn.” He narrowed his eyes in playful warning. “And I’ll be watching carefully.”
“Yeah, go ahead, you might learn something.” Looking way too pleased with himself, Maka pulled a clue and gave hints to his partner for the game, Agent Rodriguez.
As the game got back underway, Jaliya glanced across at Zaid. His gaze was locked on his teammate’s paper, but it slid her way after a moment and he spared her a wink before focusing on the list of taboo words. She bit her lip to keep from laughing, the crazy humor of it making her glad she’d come. This was going to be quite an experience.
Maka and Rodriguez’s turn came to a screeching halt when Zaid stuck the air horn next to Maka’s ear and pulled the trigger. “Hey! No need to deafen me.” He snatched it from Zaid and handed it to Agent Freeman.
Freeman and his partner went next, and the game continued to move around the table amidst much excited banter and arguments between the team members.
An hour later she and Zaid were two points in the lead when the blast of the air horn ended the game suddenly in the middle of Hamilton and Colebrook’s turn.
“Yes!” Jaliya cried, jumping out of her seat to do a little victory dance, and pointing a taunting finger at the rest of them.
Maka pointed the air horn at her and pulled the trigger. Jaliya’s laugh was drowned out by the blast and she stuck her tongue out at him. “Sore loser?”
“No. Wish I’d gotten to use this more though.” He laid his weapon on the table. “So what now? Poker?”
“I’m in for some poker,” Prentiss said.
“Me too,” said Freeman. “Colebrook, you in?”
“Yeah, for a while,” Colebrook said, leaning back in his chair to stretch his arms over his head. “Gotta call Piper soon though.”
“Awwww,” the guys all chorused.
Colebrook grinned and threw them a mock scowl. “Screw off.”
Zaid took a pull from his water bottle. “What about you?” he asked her.
Poker was definitely not her thing. “It’s been fun, but I’d better get back to work. Thanks for having me though,” she said to everyone.
“Anytime,” Hamilton said, raising his bottle of water in acknowledgment. “Maybe we’ll do a rematch.”
Flashing Zaid a smile, she pushed her chair back and stood. He did the same, coming around the end of the table to meet her. “You sure you don’t wanna stay a while longer?” he asked. “We could watch a movie or something if you don’t want to play cards.” He nodded to the TV mounted on the wall on the other side of the room. A three-person couch sat in front of it.
As much as she’d love to snuggle up and watch a movie with him, that wasn’t going to happen with all the onlookers in here, and she had work to get done before she could turn in for the night. “Thanks, but I really need to make a dent in my mountain of paperwork.” Clues to ferret out, evil drug-smuggling overlords to expose.
“Okay. I’ll walk you back.”
She opened her mouth to tell him that wasn’t necessary, then changed her mind and gave him a nod before heading for the door. Even if a few minutes alone with him were all she could have, she’d still take it.
Chapter Eleven
Once back in her empty office across base a few minutes later, Jaliya’s heart thudded harder when instead of saying goodnight and leaving, Zaid walked inside and closed the door behind him. There was no doubt as to what he wanted, but she was already in jeopardy of letting him in too far and had to somehow bolster her lagging defenses, no matter how much her body craved that hug she’d been dreaming about all day.
Fortunately for her, she had the honest excuse of needing to get her files done before she could go to bed. Prepared to kiss him and then say goodnight so she could get to work, she pushed up her sleeves as she turned to face him and hid a wince as a bit of her sweater pulled away from the scrape where it had stuck to on her elbow. She was sore all over.
Missing nothing, Zaid reached one hand out to gently capture her wrist, his gaze flicking up to hers before he pushed the sleeve up past her elbow and turned her arm slightly to examine it. “Did this happen when I tackled you earlier?” he asked softly, his touch and gentle tone sending a flush of warmth across her skin.
“I’m lucky it’s not far worse than a few scrapes,” she said.
He frowned at it. “It’s weeping. You should have covered it with a bandage. Did you clean it out at least?”
“No, I didn’t have time.” She’d been too busy trying to track down Barakat and get answers about the assassination today. So far the team didn’t think she’d been one of the targets, but they were no closer to discovering The Jackal’s identity.
“You got a first aid kit in here?”
“That’s not necessary, I’ll just wash it in the shower after I—”
His eyes flashed up to hers, and the words died in her throat. He was so close, his strong hands cradling her arm so gently. It was as if he couldn’t stand the thought of her suffering even a scraped elbow. “Have you got one here?”
Got one what? Oh, a first aid kit. “Yes.”
“Then I’ll clean and dress it for you. Easier for me to reach it than you.”
She didn’t need to be babied, even if the idea of being taken care of by him was way more appealing than she wanted it to be. “Zaid…”
He rubbed his thumb along her inner forearm. Just that tiny, simple touch had goose bumps flashing over her skin and her nipples tightening. He had the ability to undo her with a single touch, and it was both thrilling and terrifying.
“I hate seeing you bleeding, even this tiny little bit.” He dropped his gaze to where his thumb stroked her. “I don’t like how close those bullets came to you today.”
“Well I didn’t like how close they came to you, either.”
His eyes warmed as he half-smiled. “I’m going to take you worrying about me as a positive sign that I’m starting to work past your defenses.”
She wasn’t even sure if she had any defenses left against him at this point.
With her heart threatening to turn into a pile of mush in the middle of her chest, she reached to the side and pulled the kit out of her top desk drawer. “Here.”
He opened the kit, eased one jean-clad hip onto the edge of her desk and gently took hold of her arm to clean the scrapes. “Anywhere else?”
Her cuts and scrapes were nothing, but she knew he wouldn’t believe her if she said no. She let out a sigh and gave in. “My other elbow, my right knee and my right side.”
With a gentleness so at odds with a man of his size and skill set, he carefully cleaned her scraped elbows, wiping away the dried blood and dirt before applying a thin layer of antibiotic cream and a bandage over each.
“This feels really weird,” she murmured as he put on the last bandage. It wasn’t hard to see why Zaid was FAST Bravo’s medic. All the team members had combat medicine training, but not as in depth as Zaid. He truly cared about people, wanted to help them, and it showed. His teammates clearly adored him. She was starting to adore him too.
“What, me putting bandages on you?” He didn’t look up from his work. “Your dad’s a doctor. He must have done this for you a lot when you were a kid.”
“Yes, but that was different.”
“Different how?”
“It just is.” The way Zaid tended to her now made her heart flutter and her throat tighten. She wasn’t going to admit that aloud, though.
He finished with her other elbow and reached for the hem of her shirt before meeting her eyes. “May I?”
She raised it for him, baring a few inches of skin above the waistband of her pants. The scrape across her ribs was bigger. Not as deep, but the larger surface area affected made it painful, and her sweater had been sticking to it too.
“Ouch, that’s some pretty good road rash I gave you,” he murmured, reaching for more antiseptic wipes.
“I’d rather have some road rash than a bullet hole any day of the week.”
He smirked and began carefully wiping at her scraped flesh. “So, since we’re here alone,” he began in a tone that told her she probably wasn’t going to like his next sentence. “Can I ask you something?”
Her stomach muscles tightened with a mix of dread and anticipation but she answered anyway. “Sure.”
“Why are you so dead set against sleeping with me? I’m just curious.”
“You’re asking me this while you’re at eye level with the bottom of my boob?” she said with a laugh, trying to shake the tension. She had on her plain black bra, and wished it had some lace or something to sexify it.
One side of his mouth lifted in a half-grin. “I guess I am, yeah. It’s a damn nice view from down here, other than the scrapes I’m cleaning.”
Her cheeks flushed. “Maybe it’s because all you’re offering me is sex, and I’m not that kind of girl.”
Now he looked up at her, his eyes alight with interest as they pinned her in place. “Why, do you want something more?”
She’d set that trap without even realizing it.
