Edge of Betrayal

by Shannon K. Butcher

  He liked that thought—the idea of claiming Mira as his own.

  Casual sex partners.

  Like hell. That wasn’t enough for him. When it came to Mira, he wasn’t sure that anything would be enough. Even everything.

  That thought scared the hell out of him.

  Commitment, marriage, children . . . those were things that other people had. Not Adam.

  It was better to accept the casual nature of their relationship—let her see him as nothing more than a distraction. When their time together came to an end, he would find a box where he could lock his memories of her away for safekeeping.

  So far, none of his compartmentalization tricks had worked with her—there wasn’t a box strong enough to contain the power she had over him. But that would change. Someday. It had to. He couldn’t imagine spending the rest of his life feeling as unsettled and out of control as he did now.

  “What in the world is going on in your head?” she asked.

  He stroked her face and fought the urge to let his hand stray lower. “Nothing important.”

  She leaned up and locked her arms around his neck. The move pressed her naked breasts against his chest, which in turn made his heart try to beat through his ribs in an effort to reach her.

  “You’re a complex man,” she said.

  “Hardly. Like all men, there are only a few things I truly want.” And she was most of them.

  She grinned and kissed his mouth, moving away far too soon. “Well, after that, what I truly want is another hour with you naked, but it’s not going to happen. We both have to work.”

  She started to pull away, but he held her against him so she couldn’t. He lowered his head and kissed her the way he needed, with plenty of leisurely exploration. When he lifted his head, her eyes had a soft, dreamy look that told him he could take her again and she wouldn’t resist, despite the work that awaited them.

  Instead of taking advantage, he decided to be satisfied with the knowledge that he could do that to her anytime he wanted.

  Mira didn’t know it yet, but she was his. And despite his efforts to hold himself apart and stay detached, he was hers, too.

  Adam’s phone vibrated on the floor where it had landed earlier. He picked it up. “Yes?”

  Payton answered. “Sage is on the move. Find Mira and get up here. Now.”

  * * *

  Riley paced like a caged animal, waiting for Sophie to return.

  She’d stolen his car. Snuck out. Gone to see Payton for some mysterious reason the man wouldn’t admit.

  She’d left him.

  She was a free woman, a grown adult, perfectly capable of making her own decisions and going wherever the hell she wanted. He had no claim to her at all.

  And that pissed him off.

  She slipped through the back door and locked it behind her. One look at his face and she stopped in her tracks. “You know.”

  “Yeah. Kinda hard not to notice my car missing.”

  “I thought you were working and wouldn’t see.”

  He hadn’t for a while, much to his everlasting shame. He’d been so worried about people trying to break in that he’d never once thought she might try to break out. “How did you get past the security system?”

  “Magnet from your shaving case closure.”

  “You shouldn’t even know how to do that.”

  “A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.” She held out her hand with his keys in it. “I’m sorry if I scared you.”

  “If? If you scared me? Good Lord, woman, you took ten years off my life. If not for Payton’s call telling me you were fine, it would have been twenty. What were you thinking? You could have been seen. Followed.” His voice had gotten louder through his tirade, and with each increase in decibels, her shoulders rose a notch.

  “You talked to Payton? He said he was going to let me tell you.”

  “Tell me what?”

  She shifted her position so that there was a solid length of kitchen countertop between them. “I volunteered to help.”

  The words all made sense, but he still could find no meaning in them. “Help who?”

  “You guys.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Stynger wants me.”

  “Which is why you can’t go running off alone whenever you feel like it.”

  She ignored his scolding. “Sage wants what Stynger wants.”

  “So? That just means that there are two bad guys out there who are after you. All the more reason to stay the hell home.”

  Her voice was calm, but small. “This isn’t my home.”

  He wanted it to be. That thought hit him upside the head, rocking him down to his boots. It took him a second before he gathered himself enough to form a coherent sentence. “It’s your home for as long as you need it.”

  She glanced down at his crappy vinyl flooring. He could afford better, but it had just never mattered to him. Taking care of his mom had always been his top priority.

  Her floor was nice. That had to count for something.

  The urge to take Sophie to see his mom flared to life. Maybe if she saw how he took care of his family, she wouldn’t be so quick to take off whenever she felt like it. Maybe if she knew that his priorities were straight, she could trust him.

  He really wanted her to trust him and see him as a good provider. Why, he wasn’t sure, but the desire was there, so big it distracted him from moving on with any other thought but how he could get Sophie out to his mom’s place.

  Sophie and his mom would love each other. He was sure of it. Just thinking about it made some of his anger start to dissolve.

  “Thank you,” said Sophie. “That’s really sweet. But I need to do this.”

  “Do what?”

  “You and Payton talked about needing bait to drive Sage to his lab.”

  He stared at her, unable to fathom what she could possibly mean.

  She lifted her gaze to his, and her green eyes were bright with determination. “I’m that bait.”

  It took him a second for the words to sink in. He simply couldn’t put them in any kind of context that made sense. She wasn’t talking about fishing. She was talking about Sage. And his labs. There was no possible world in which her life would intersect any of that.

  Unless she actually thought she was going to put her life in danger.

  He rounded the counter and took her by the arms. Understanding was setting in now, and while he could not even imagine a scenario where he would let her risk herself, she apparently thought it was an option.

  “You think you’re going to put yourself in harm’s way so that Sage will abduct you and take you to his labs?”

  “I don’t think I am,” she said. “I am.”

  “No fucking way.” He normally would have never used that kind of language in front of a lady, but she had to understand how serious this was.

  “You don’t make decisions for me, Riley.”

  “But Payton does?”

  “This wasn’t his decision. It was mine. I went to him of my own free will and offered to help.”

  “Tell me he turned you down.”

  “He realized that it was the best way. The only way.”

  “No. There’ve got to be other options.”

  “Name one.”

  “Easy. We wait until someone more suitable comes along to be our bait.”

  “Who? And how long will that take?”

  “Doesn’t matter.”

  “It does to me. I need this to be over, and the only way that can happen is if Sage is dead and his work dies with him.”

  “Stynger was the one who sent goons after you.”

  “Yes. And she’ll be next.”

  “So—what? You’re just going to dangle yourself out there until someone takes a big ol’
bite out of you?”

  “It wasn’t my plan to use bait. And I didn’t hear you arguing about whether or not it would work when you were on the phone with Payton.”

  “Your hearing is way too good for my peace of mind.”

  She pulled in a long breath. He did his best not to notice how it thrust her breasts out at him, like a soft, curvy invitation to touch. “This isn’t about you, Riley. I need to feel safe.”

  He needed that, too, but even more, he needed to be the one who made her feel that way. “Then stay with me. Move in. I’ll make sure no one hurts you.”

  “You know that won’t work. Eventually, the bad guys will find me here, and then you won’t be safe, either. We have to take them out.”

  “You’re not trained for this kind of job.”

  “I survived having a miscarriage in the Colombian jungle while dodging bullets and running from madmen. I’m not exactly fragile.”

  “But I was there to keep you safe. If Sage takes you, I can’t come along.”

  “But you won’t be far behind. Will you?” Her shoulders curved inward, making her look vulnerable and fragile.

  He couldn’t stand this. He had to make her see reason. “I’d never leave you when you needed me. But please. Don’t terrify me like this.”

  “There’s nothing for you to worry about. I’ll be fine. And if I’m not, it’s okay. No hard feelings.”

  He nearly sputtered in outrage. “No hard feelings? What the hell does that mean?”

  “You don’t have to understand it. All you have to do is accept it.”

  Time to pull out the big guns. “I forbid you from doing this.”

  She smiled and patted his cheek. “You’re sweet. But you’re not my husband, and even if you were, you still wouldn’t get to forbid me from doing anything.”

  “I could tie you to my bed and convince you to stay.”

  Her eyes darkened at that. “Nice try, but you already told me you’re abstinent.”

  “What if I change my mind?”

  “Thanks, but no thanks. I want you, but not like that.” Her hand covered his heart. “I’m doing this, Riley. You can come along and help, or stay back and worry. Your choice.”

  “Oh, I’m going to help, but I’m still going to worry like hell.”

  “Like I said, you’re sweet.” She covered his mouth, giving him a slow, leisurely kiss. By the time she lifted her head, he was panting against the need to pin her to the wall and fuck her.

  Abstinence sucked.

  It seemed to take her just as long as him to gather her wits. She clung to him, her body shaking. Or maybe it was his. He had no idea anymore. All he knew was that this woman went to his head and did crazy things to it.

  “Let’s forget all of this,” he said. “Leave the danger behind. Fly to Aruba or something.”

  “What about all the people here you love? Your coworkers, your mom?”

  He hadn’t thought that far ahead. “I’ll figure it out.”

  “And what will we do with ourselves? Lounge around all day, not having sex?”

  “No, we’d get married. And have lots of sex.”

  “We have to get married to have sex?”

  He gave a stiff nod. “Yeah. We do.”

  “Why?”

  “I was always the responsible one. Followed the rules. Tried to do the right thing. Always respected women. Then I met Lucille. She didn’t want anything serious, just a one-night stand. I’d never done that before, and I thought, Why the hell not? Everyone does it.” He took a deep breath. Then another. “I accidentally got her pregnant. We were careful. Used condoms. But one broke. I had to take off for an overseas assignment before I knew about the baby. She’d thought I’d abandoned her, because I didn’t call back for weeks. She didn’t see herself being a single mom.”

  “She got an abortion,” Sophie guessed.

  “Yeah. I didn’t even have a chance to talk to her about it, and even if I had, it wouldn’t have mattered. She wouldn’t have changed her mind. She did what she thought was right. I don’t hold it against her—I know she was scared and freaked-out—but I won’t let it happen again. As a man, the only control I have is to keep my dick in my pants, so that’s what I’ll do. Until I marry.”

  “So you think you can control a woman if she’s your wife?”

  He snorted. “Hell no. I could never marry a woman who was that spineless. But any woman I’d want to marry would be ready for kids, just in case one came along by accident.”

  Her expression softened. “You think I’m that kind of woman? You don’t even know me.”

  “Bullshit. I saw the love you had for the baby you lost. I’ve seen you in the worst possible situations. That’s the kind of thing that strips away all the masks and glitter, leaving behind only what’s real. I’ve seen you like that—the real you—and let me tell you, Sophie Devane, I loved what I saw.”

  Did he just use the L-word? The look on her face said he had.

  Funny thing was, he actually meant it.

  Suspicion crept in around the edges, hardening the sweet curve of her mouth. “You don’t mean that.”

  “I do. Marry me. Run away with me. We’ll leave right now and hit Vegas on our way out of the country.”

  She started shaking again, and this time he was certain it wasn’t just him. “You’re a responsible man. If you drop everything and run away, you’re going to end up resenting me.”

  She hadn’t said no. That was the only part of her response that really registered in his mind. He’d asked her to marry him and she hadn’t said no.

  Then again, she hadn’t said yes, either.

  “Let’s go,” he urged. “My bag is already packed. We’ll buy you whatever you need along the way.”

  Her lip trembled. The longer she didn’t say no, the more he wanted her to say yes.

  After what felt like forever, she finally said, “You need time to think about what this means. If you really feel that way, then you’ll still feel that way after Sage goes down.”

  Something in the general vicinity of his heart crumpled. “So that’s a no, then.”

  She swallowed several times. “I won’t leave with you now. I won’t . . . marry you now. But once we finish this job, you should ask me again. If you still think you should.”

  He wasn’t sure he’d have the guts. Her rejection had hurt too much for him to volunteer to get stomped on again.

  “You’re right,” he said, pretending that his heart was still intact. “This was all too soon. I was just trying to save you from making a terrible mistake.”

  She swallowed again and nodded slowly. “So was I.”

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Mira’s hands were shaking when she entered Payton’s office. She didn’t know if it was because of the mind-blowing orgasms Adam had given her or because she dreaded what Payton might have to say.

  “We found what we needed,” said Payton the second Adam closed the door behind them.

  “What’s that?” she asked.

  “Sophie has volunteered to force Sage to his lab.”

  “She has no training,” said Adam. “We can’t send a lamb to the slaughter like that.”

  “He’s right,” said Mira. “I want my dad taken down more than anyone, but not at the risk of Sophie’s life. What if we don’t track him down in time? What if he vanishes right along with her?”

  “The decision is made. I’ve already put plans in motion. Gage is on his way to pick her up now.”

  “Gage?” asked Adam. “I thought he was on assignment.”

  “He was. Now he’s on this assignment.”

  Adam shifted in an uncharacteristic show of anxiety. He almost seemed more upset about Gage’s involvement than he did Sophie’s.

  Mira studied him as she asked Payton, “What’s the plan?”<
br />
  “Gage will pick Sophie up at Riley’s to take her to start her new life. They’re stopping at a safe house not far out of town, where she will wait for her transport to arrive.”

  “You let all the details leak,” guessed Adam.

  “It’s already done. Sage’s men should be on their way.”

  “What about Stynger’s men?”

  “Gage will be nearby. He’ll deal with them if they show up first.”

  “I need to go help him,” said Adam. “I’m his partner.”

  For some reason, that comment stung a little. She’d begun to think of herself as Adam’s partner, and she didn’t like it that someone else was taking her place. Though there were certain things Adam would do with Mira that he wouldn’t do with Gage.

  “You’re not his partner on this assignment. He can handle himself. I’ve made sure he’s wearing plenty of body armor and is stocked with enough weapons to hold off a small army.”

  Mira tensed, picturing poor Sophie caught in the middle of a firefight. “What about Sophie?”

  “She’ll be locked away in an underground safe room. Sage’s men will have to work to find her. Just so it looks authentic.”

  “What can we do to help?” asked Adam.

  “Sage won’t be with the team who goes after Sophie. He may or may not be headed to his lab, but I need eyes on him.”

  Adam nodded. “You want me to close in?”

  “Us,” said Mira.

  Payton looked from her to Adam and back again. “We’re going to need her. Whatever security he may have at his lab, Mira will be able to counter it. We may not get another chance, so we can’t screw this up.” He fixed her with a hard stare. “You’re going only to disable the security measures. If you take one step past what you absolutely must do to accomplish that, it will be the last time you ever go in the field. Understood?”

  “What I understand is that Bella is the one who makes that decision. And she’s not too happy with you right now.”

  “Mira,” he said in a warning tone.

  She held up her hand. “No, I get it. Nerdy girl does the nerdy job and leaves the rest to the big, bad fighters. I’m fine with that, but only because I hate adrenaline rushes. It has nothing to do with you ordering me around.”