by Alison Kent
“You got it. I’ll see you at one-thirty.”
Drew checked on Allie who was now in deep discussion with Jason. Drew didn’t have to guess what they were talking about. Her expression was one of utter betrayal. Allie looked pale and shaken.
Her blue eyes got brighter and Drew felt something, very near to where his heart might be, turn over. He resented Kyoto. He resented that this news made Allie look as if she didn’t know who she was or where to turn. He should be worrying about how it would affect her role-playing and her effectiveness in the mission at hand. He was her trainer. He was a fool to think that he could be her harbor, her rock. Yet, that was exactly what he wanted to be.
She turned away from Jason and met Drew’s eyes, looking very much like a woman whose world had crumbled.
He called to her. “Allie, let’s go. Now.”
The autocratic tone stiffened her spine and dried her tears, just as he had hoped it would. She marched across the room and out the door. Drew could almost feel sorry for Jason as he watched her go with his heart in his eyes. It was obvious to Drew that Jason cared about Allie. Interesting. What did a possible former yakuza know about caring and decency? The kid was a mystery and Drew did not like mysteries, especially where Allie was concerned.
He jerked his head when Jason looked at him and the kid followed them out.
“ARE YOU okay?” Drew asked Allie after he’d gotten into the driver’s seat of his car and closed the door. Jason followed them out and straddled a sleek red motorcycle right behind Drew’s car. She realized that he had no intention of letting her out of his sight.
Breathe or faint, Allie told herself, knowing it had to be one or the other. She was trembling inside, which she hated, and she couldn’t seem to get her mind around what Jason had just told her in Lily Walden’s library.
Drew drove back to the loft since it was nearly noon. After parking, he led Allie, with Jason trailing, to the deli Allie had mentioned in her note to grab some sandwiches before the meeting with Damian and Leila. The Westwood Building was within walking distance.
“Why is he here, Drew?”
“He’s your bodyguard, Allie. You tell me.”
“He answered an ad in the paper. One my sister convinced me to put in. She said I worked too hard. I really needed an assistant. I didn’t know he’d come with a gun strapped to his chest and lies on his lips.”
“Allie, Callie just wants to keep you safe,” Jason said as calmly and serenely as if he were channeling the Dalai Lama.
“I trusted you. I thought you were a gay designer. Come to find out you’re a straight bodyguard. One my secret-agent sister hired. Man, this sounds like some freaking movie.”
“You don’t have to do this,” Jason said.
She could barely look at Jason’s face and the naked pain in his eyes.
“Yes, I do,” she said, as she collapsed into a booth isolated from the lunch crowd. She let out a breath she’d accidentally held. She wasn’t going to walk away from this mess and leave him to handle it. She wasn’t going to walk away from him, no matter what. This was one job she was going to see through to the end.
It hurt that her sister hadn’t confided in her. Hadn’t trusted her enough to tell her about Jason, to be honest with her. And Jason…he’d betrayed her. Even looking at him now, she was feeling stupid. How could she have missed his street-wise eyes, his hard, honed body, the way he held himself? Just like Drew. He said he was a ninja and she’d never even seen it. Oh, it was all so overwhelming. But as awful as Jason’s betrayal was, it was nothing compared to the trouble she was in, right now between her pseudo-secret-agent status and Drew Miller’s sex appeal.
One look at him and a hundred other memories came flooding back. He’d slowly, methodically brought her to orgasm before she’d even known his name. When he’d kissed her in a bathroom downtown, she’d melted with pleasure and need. Absolutely melted.
Her gaze dropped to his mouth, and her blush grew even hotter. No man had ever kissed her like Drew Miller—long and slow and wet, and deep, as though his next breath depended on her kiss. His mouth fitted hers as if they were made for each other. His body was so strong and hard up against her, moving against her. She could have kissed him forever.
Drew said, “Why don’t you give her some time? We have a lot to get to today.”
The sheer concern in his voice startled her out of her reverie, and with effort, she forced herself to meet his eyes again. He looked lethal with his tough-guy clothes, tousled hair and beard-shadowed jaw, and he obviously needed a reality check on one of the less-pleasant facts of life, one she would have thought he’d known.
“I can’t leave her. I’ve already lost her once.”
The sheer self-condemnation in Jason’s voice cut into her. She almost rose and put her arms around him to comfort him. This was all so real, so not fun. Allie preferred her life to be uncomplicated and easy. That had all changed now that Drew had stepped into her life and she’d agreed to an alias.
“I’ll take care of her. I give you my word.”
The sound of Drew’s voice made her shiver inside. Hot mouth, even hotter hands all over her. The heated memory wouldn’t go away. From the moment she’d woken to find a huge, gorgeous Aussie bodyguard in the loft to now, that one memory of their kiss had set her pulse pounding.
Too bad he’d pulled away. Too bad he’d gone all secret-agent-in-charge on her again. She wondered what his story was. What kept him from taking what he wanted with her? She couldn’t quite understand.
She had every intention of working on the problem until she did.
They ate in silence. When the meal was done, Drew took Jason aside and talked to him quietly. Allie waited at the table.
Jason gave her one more glance, but she couldn’t meet his eyes. Not now. She turned away until he left. Her sister and now Jason. It was too much to take in. Kidnapped, bamboozled into becoming Gina Callahan by a slick government agent and finding herself thoroughly intrigued by a very dangerous man was more than one person could handle in such a short time-span.
It was easy to let all these concerns overshadow the one emotion she didn’t want to feel.
Fear.
Why had Callie felt it necessary to hire a bodyguard for her? Who was after Callie and why did it make Allie a target that needed protecting? Was Callie in the hospital because someone had tried to kill her? What if it wasn’t an accident as Watchdog thought?
“The meeting starts in fifteen minutes. Let’s get going.”
They walked in silence to the Westwood Building. It was convenient that the loft was so nearby. Once inside, they obtained their visitor’s badges and proceeded to the conference room.
When they entered, it was empty, the other members expected in about ten minutes.
“Have you heard anything about how my sister is doing? I don’t even know who to call to get updates,” Allie said.
“There’s no change. Mark told me she’s being moved to Walter Reed. Anytime you want to know about Callie, ask and I’ll find out for you.”
“I’m so worried about her. I really want to be there for her.” She loved the way his eyes softened. It made her feel warm inside.
“Of course you do. It’s only natural.”
He pulled Allie into his arms. She went because she was feeling, oh, so lost with everything that was happening to her. “It’s just that we’ve never had secrets between us before. At least, I thought we hadn’t.” Her words were muffled with her face pressed to his chest.
“This business requires secrets. It’s how we do the job.”
His hand smoothed through her hair and it felt so good Allie had to wonder if this was the way he treated her sister. The question just popped out of her stupid mouth.
“How close were you with my sister?”
He stiffened against her and moved away. “Like I told you before, the chemistry just wasn’t there. We’re more like brother and sister.”
“She’s more your type.”<
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“How do you know what my type is, Allie? You don’t know me.”
“I know some things about you. I know that you care about your country and you do your best to protect its citizens. You’re dedicated and skilled. And your lips are so soft. I have to confess that I can’t get that kiss out of my mind, Drew. I want more.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“No. It probably isn’t a good idea, but I’m not known for my good ideas. Am I?”
“You’re settled in LA. You have a business and friends. I’m nothing like that, Allie. I go where jobs are and face danger every day. Getting involved with me is a bad decision. I’m here today, gone tomorrow.”
“So?”
“So you’re not Callie, even though you pretend to be.”
She turned away.
“Allie, wait…I didn’t mean—”
“I know what you meant. Wacky Allie. Can’t remember important meetings. Goes off on a tangent. Doesn’t have a freaking clue she has a ninja bodyguard. But she does have skills. She can force scary secret agents into moving around furniture.”
Drew chuckled. He couldn’t help it. The memory of Thad dragging that tiny sofa around while Allie directed him was priceless.
“What’s so funny?”
“You are.”
She came closer to him warily. “I think you like that about me.”
“I like way too much about you.”
She reached up and touched his lips with her fingertips, knowing her own mouth was one of the most sensitive places on her body. She wanted to feel him, drink him in through her skin.
She held his dark-eyed gaze and heat coiled low in her belly.
She pressed on his mouth with her thumb, a slow, hot glide across his soft, made-for-kissing mouth. “Don’t make me beg.”
She hadn’t expected that drowning would feel so delicious. But she was drowning. Drowning in desire and confusion—and desire kept winning, every second, every heartbeat.
“Beg, just a few words, Allie.”
“Please, Drew. Kiss me. I want it so…”
She didn’t finish her sentence as the word much got muffled. Slanting his lips across hers, he sought entrance with his tongue. She responded immediately with a gasp of pleasure, and he took the kiss home, slipping inside and giving her a piece of heaven.
The danger of what she’d decided to do seemed to hit her with a force that was felt. The realization added a dark thrill to the whole heart-stopping experience of having Drew make love to her mouth. She didn’t know what else to call what he was doing. It was more than a kiss, more than any kiss she’d ever been given. The slow, deliberate sucking on her tongue was meant without a doubt to make her think of a far more intimate act.
And she was—shameless. The feel of him in her mouth, the taste of him, was intoxicating, dizzying. He set her on fire with his kiss. Every inch of her wanted more. It was crazy. Crazy and hot and utterly sexual in a way she’d thought she would never know except in her fantasies—but the reality of it was much more intense, the silkiness of his hair sliding through her fingers, the rough edge of his jaw beneath her palm, the strength of his arms wrapped around her. In her fantasies, everything was safe. She was in charge. With him, nothing was safe. The pure physical energy of him was a force to be reckoned with. He was powerful, dangerous and unpredictably seductive. She didn’t know what was going to happen next….
Drew pulled away and swore vehemently. She wasn’t sure if it was because he’d succumbed to the craziness that was going on between them or because they had to stop.
The door to the conference room opened and a man stepped through, and Allie felt an instinctual need to be extremely careful. Of all the operatives she’d met up until now, including Drew, only this one made her feel almost as if someone had let a tiger loose in the room.
He was tall and well-built. His dark hair was pulled severely back off a very handsome face, almost unbelievably handsome. His black eyes were alert and full of warnings.
Allie suddenly felt a need to flee.
“We’ve got trouble,” the man said.
Drew scrubbed at his face. “Tell me something I don’t know,” he said, looking at Allie.
Allie wanted to shrink into an insignificant spot on the floor. For the first time since this roller-coaster ride had started, she wished she’d never heard about Watchdog. She wished that her sister was simply a buyer for Neiman Marcus, and that she herself could go there right now and treat herself to a pair of the most expensive shoes she could find—and be normal.
5
“YOU LOOK just like your sister,” Frost said. He had a secretive expression and world-weary eyes.
Allie swallowed and tried to smile, but it felt unnatural on her face.
Locking those scary eyes on her, Frost set down a garment bag, a suitcase and a laptop. He went to a table in the front of the room and hooked up the computer. He then sat down in one of the conference-room chairs. Thad and Leila arrived shortly after Damian. Leila was an exotic beauty, with a tinge of an accent.
Drew did the introductions and briefed the group that they were going to go through with the AK-47 buy that would, he hoped, nab them the Ghost.
“Frost has something he needs to brief us on.” Drew filled Thad and Leila in on what had transpired that morning between Drew and Allie’s assistant as they all settled around the conference table with cups of coffee.
“Allie’s design assistant, Jason Kyoto, is Akira Kyoto and you’re right Drew, he was yakuza.”
With a remote, Frost turned on his computer and Jason’s picture flashed up on a screen.
Damian Frost’s musical Irish accent seemed wrong on such a dark man, as if the night had swallowed him whole and spat him back out. Allie sat close to Drew, keeping Damian Frost in her sight. She just felt better next to Drew.
“He’s no longer in the yakuza?” Drew asked.
“No. He’s out and he’s being paid very well by Callie Carpenter.”
Her sister’s picture flashed up on the screen and Allie was surprised at her sister’s appearance. She looked so different with short black hair.
“That we already know.”
“Do you?” Frost asked, his gaze landing on Allie again.
Allie looked down to her hands. His eyes were so intent, as if the sheer power of them could burn her.
“Why are you afraid of me, lass? I won’t hurt you.”
Startled, she looked back up. Frost was staring at her and there was regret in his eyes. “I only eat little girls for lunch when I’m really hungry.”
The fear and wariness drained out of her at his teasing. A kind tiger? Who would have guessed?
Frost drank from his cup and addressed Drew. “Like the Mafia, the yakuza in recent years have been forced to lower their standards when recruiting new members, and as a result some feel that they are neither as organized, nor as powerful as they once were. In the past, choice recruits came from the traditional bakuto and tekiya. That’s the gambler and peddler classes, but today a rebel spirit and a willingness to commit crime for an oyabun, the head of the yakuza family, is all that is necessary to join the yakuza ranks. Most new members currently come from the bosozuku. In English, that means speed tribes, basically street punks known for their love of motorcycles.”
“So, Kyoto was a bosozuku? What does that have to do with Callie?” Drew asked.
“Akira Kyoto was a street rat who had quite a reputation as a modern-day Robin Hood.”
“He stole from the rich to give to the poor?” Thad asked.
“Aye, until he went into the yakuza,” Damian replied.
“Why would a modern-day Robin Hood hook up with Sir John?” Leila asked.
“Exactly what I thought. Kyoto’s interesting, but I think there’s something you really need to know about Callie,” Frost said, glancing at Allie. She felt her insides freeze up. Whatever he had to say, it wasn’t good. She could see it in those intense eyes.
; “If this concerns the mission, we all need to know,” Drew said.
“It concerns the mission, Captain, since whatever happened between Kyoto, Callie and the yakuza stemmed from this particular deal.”
“Tell us, Frost.”
“Callie brokered a deal with Kyoto’s oyabun, Fudo Miyagi.”
A picture of a middle-aged Japanese man filled the screen. Allie thought he had mean eyes and didn’t look as if he ever smiled.
“We are aware that she would broker many deals to seal her cover. It’s routine,” Drew explained.
“I agree, if this was routine. It’s not. It was a huge shipment and Callie never collected a dime.”
“So she gave up a shipment. Maybe it was a good-faith effort?” Allie said, her voice sounding defensive.
“I don’t think so. Something went down the day the shipment changed hands. There were reports of gunfire and dead yakuza according to a police report. And, here’s the rub—neither the shipment nor the incident were mentioned in Callie’s field report. Right after that, Akira Kyoto severed his ties with the yakuza.”
“She got him out. Usurped the oyabun’s authority.” Leila said decisively.
“She wouldn’t need to get Kyoto out,” Thad said. “The yakuza is more like a club than an organization. A member can leave at any time. No, what Callie did for Kyoto was personal. I’d say if there’s a threat against Callie’s life, it stems from Fudo Miyagi. If he lost face that day—”
“He’d be out to restore it,” Drew supplied the answer. “Kyoto mentioned Miyagi’s name to me. Frost, look into Callie’s hit-and-run in France and dig deeper. Find out what went down that day and how Kyoto plays a part in it. If there’s a threat to Callie’s life, I need to know who I’m dealing with and why. Allie needs that information to portray Gina Callahan.”
“Aye, agreed. What about Kyoto? Do you want me to neutralize him?”
“No. Leave Kyoto to me.”
Damian nodded. “You can count on me, Captain.”
Allie said, “You don’t seem surprised. You already suspected it was an attempt on her life, didn’t you?”
“It’s too much of a coincidence that a simple hit and run took down Callie. Something else is going on here. However, that’s the least of our worries right now. The Ghost knows about the accident. His second in command contacted me this morning after you fell asleep. That’s where I was. Frost.”
