by D. D. Ayres
“Yes, sir.” Cole sat on her urge to defend Shajuanna. That wasn’t her job.
“So I’m continuing your undercover assignment. Are there any questions? Issues?”
“Sir, Hugo needs a rest. I’m concerned about him training to compete constantly.” Cole didn’t glance at Scott because she hadn’t mentioned this to him.
“Is he injured?”
“No, sir. But he wouldn’t let that stop him if I put him in the ring. That’s why I’d rather not push him this weekend.”
Lattimore studied the computer screen before him. “That might be helpful. If you’re not competing, you can concentrate on making friends, getting to know more about the persons traveling for Agility competitions on a regular basis. Our smugglers aren’t operating in a vacuum. They have contacts, messengers.”
He fell silent, letting his fingers play over the keyboard as he seemed to be debating something. He was a man who adhered to the on-a-need-to-know protocol. “We’re doing DNA on the puppy found in New Hampshire. The AKC has begun collecting voluntary DNA profiling for their registered animals. We might get lucky and find its lineage in their records.”
“Have we tried DNA matching with the slaughtered animals, sir?”
“No, Agent Lucca. We didn’t know about the profiling service until the vet in New Hampshire mentioned it. We are, of course, doing so now. But there’s every chance, since it’s a voluntary system, that the smugglers aren’t among those to register their dams and sires. In any case, you will continue undercover while we track backward from the New Hampshire incident.”
“Yes, sir.” Cole and Scott spoke together, more than ready to be out of there.
It had been a very quiet drive into Baltimore, each lost in their own thoughts about what it would mean if the undercover assignment was suddenly scrapped.
Cole slanted a glance at Scott. He wore a button-down shirt, very rare for him, with his best jeans and boots. His jaw was close-shaven today, the sight of that smooth hard angle making her want to touch him. But she didn’t touch and hadn’t touched him since the night in the alley. And he hadn’t touched, either, though she’d seen the dark look of desire on his face several times in the last days.
Something had come between them. That something, she suspected, was X. Scott was being noble. Worried about her, he was spending his nights in his truck with his gun on the seat so that no one could creep up on them unexpectedly.
Was he that worried?
Or, was he just loving the idea of playing gotcha with one very scary scumbag?
Cole waited until they were on the highway before she brought up the subject that had been simmering between them silently for several days.
“About our living arrangements.”
Scott glanced over at her sharply, his expression unreadable. “You’re not thinking anything I haven’t already thought of.”
“Oh.” Because she hadn’t been thinking anything in particular and it sounded as if he had, she decided to let him take the lead in the conversation. Except that he didn’t say another word.
He drove on for another few miles and then took a sudden turn off the highway.
She didn’t ask where they were going or why. But gradually the city gave way to the suburbs and miles later turned into countryside. After a few more turns he had left state roads to drive a two-lane blacktop ribboning out before them in the afternoon sun.
It was apparent that Scott had something else on his mind before they went back to their apartment. If he wasn’t going to say more, she would have to force the issue another way.
Cole lowered her window and let the cooler country air stream her hair back from her face. After a few minutes she kicked off her heels. She’d dressed professionally for her visit to their boss, even wearing a suit. But the heat of summer had her sizzling in her clothes. She began struggling out of her jacket.
Scott noticed how her actions put a strain on the buttons of her blouse so that they gaped a bit, giving him a glimpse of baby-blue satin. That gave him a rush. He was so very glad she was a girl. Even if she was off-limits for the moment.
Once the jacket was tossed in back, she began to unbutton her blouse.
Scott swerved suddenly.
Cole grabbed the dashboard to steady herself. “What was that?”
“Squirrel.” Scott supposed he should keep his eyes on the road. But if she wanted safe driving she needed to stop the striptease. No, what was he thinking? The squirrels would have to take their chances.
She pulled her arms out of her white blouse, revealing a baby-blue cami. The blouse followed the jacket into the backseat, and then she pulled the hem of her cami out of her skirt, letting the scalloped edge float free. As she did so, one tiny strap slipped down her arm.
Scott skimmed it back up onto her shoulder with an index finger. The feel of her warm soft skin riding under his rough finger struck a match to his libido. Didn’t she know what she was doing to him?
“I’m glad you’re feeling a lot better than yesterday.”
Cole screwed up her face. “Almost any feeling would be better than what I was feeling yesterday. I was ready to dig a hole and crawl in.”
Only if he could crawl in after her, and then into her. Yep, he was an asshole. He had wanted her even when she was sick. Now he just wanted her. With that wanting came the need to be territorial.
Scott kept his eyes on the road as a question he wanted an answer to came to mind. “You planning to tell Doc Rob about Noel’s relationship with Sam?”
Propping an elbow on the window frame, Cole looked straight ahead. “I told you I embellished that relationship a bit.”
Scott’s head snapped toward her. “Which part?”
Cole slanted a coy glance at him. He looked mad. Was he jealous? Could that be it?
Her pulse did a happy dance. Men could be so dumb even when the proof of the opposite was right in front of them. Jealous! That had possibilities.
“All of it.”
He did a ninety-degree double take. “You lied. A total lie? Why?”
She shrugged. “Why does anyone lie? Self-protection.”
He couldn’t argue with that.
She played with her hair, wrapping a few strands about her finger. “I may still have feelings for you, Scott. But I have more to lose than you do.”
His expression stiffened. “Oh, I see.” He said each word distinctly, as if each were a whole thought by itself. “For instance?”
She forced herself not to jump to defense mode. She had some things to tell him and he needed to hear them. “For instance, I could very easily fall for you all over again.”
She saw his eyes widen in response and went on before he could speak. “But I’m not going to let that happen.” She touched his arm lightly. “I don’t need a man who’s afraid to be a friend as well as a lover.”
He glanced away from her to check on the dog crossing the road ahead. When their gazes met again it ignited in him a smile so slow and tender it lit up his eyes long before his mouth began to cooperate with the feeling. He reached out and snagged the strap of her cami and slipped it back down her arm. “You don’t think I’m your friend?”
Every nerve ending in her body urged Cole to agree with him. But this was about making him come her way, at least a few steps. She leaned toward him, as far as the seat belt would allow. “Are you my friend, Scott?”
When he reached out an arm to pull her closer she put up a hand to halt him. “Because right now you’re acting like a jerk.”
She pushed away from him and moved back to her side of the seat. “I’m talking friendship and you’re trying to use seduction to avoid the discussion.”
Scott felt something like a wasp sting begin at the back of his neck and rise into his cheeks. Well shit! She’d made him blush. And she was right.
He pulled the truck off the road under a canopy of trees that shaded this section of road, killed the engine, and turned to her. “Okay, let’s talk.”
She
shrugged, arms crossed.
Unhooking his seat belt he turned to her, stretching a long arm on the back of the seat until his fingers could tangle in her hair. “You want honesty? I’m glad there’s no Doc Rob. Because I’d have to call him out or something. This time I will fight for you. I’m not sure what we’ve got but it’s good, Cole. It’s so damn good.”
She couldn’t call him a liar. But … “Damn good is not a relationship. It’s a feeling. We ran out of good feelings the first time.” She stole a look at his expression. He seemed to be listening very hard. “I need more. I need to share lives. Some things you want and some I want, and lots and lots of things we both want. That’s what I mean about friendship. When we’re not in bed, what do we have?”
He reached out and cupped her cheek in his broad hand. “For the moment, we’ve still got a job to do. The fact that we were both thinking about lying to Lattimore in order to keep being together a little longer shows you just how far this situation has taken us.”
“How did you know what I was thinking?”
Two fat dimples popped into his cheeks. “I didn’t know know but I was hoping like hell that it was true.”
She shook her head. “You’re talking work. This task force won’t last long. And then there will be no reason for us to ever see each other again.”
“So then we need to do something about that.”
He ran his thumb over her lower lip. The look he slid over her was pure heat and need. “What can I do to convince you how much I want to be your friend?”
The blood began to pound in her temples, her stomach, and her womb. Her nipples budded, eager for his hands. He had barely touched her, and she didn’t plan for him to get any closer.
He had dazzled and overwhelmed her senses and emotions the first time. Now she had memories to remind her that all the heat and lust in the world wasn’t enough to sustain a relationship. She needed much more. He needed to understand that.
She unbuckled her seat belt, arched her back in invitation, and leaned in to whisper against his lips as she dipped a hand between his thighs. “What do you want, Scott? This? Is this enough for you?”
He didn’t answer directly. He slid across the seat and took her in his arms.
He kissed her soft and slow, as if pressure wasn’t about to leave permanent imprints in his erection from his zipper. She tasted of the orange she’d eaten for breakfast as they drove in to meet Lattimore, and her own unique taste.
When he lifted his head, his voice was almost strangled by his full arousal. “I want everything you got!”
“I feel it, too.” And she did, literally. She had moved her hand over the bulge in his jeans. “But we can’t just screw around like a couple of rabbits. We’re adults with a job to complete. So, for now, you must understand how there can’t be any more of this.” She squeezed. “Or this.” She reached up with her free hand and began unbuttoning his button-down shirt. “And especially not this.” She took his lower lip between her teeth and tugged.
His lips parted with a little pop. Mercy. She knew how to turn him on.
She slid into him, her hands moving over the contours of his bare chest. “We need to behave like professionals.”
Scott had the wild thought that he shouldn’t be trying to guess what kind of professional she was thinking of because she had just climbed into his lap. He reached down and backed his seat up to give her as much space as possible between him and the wheel.
His eyeballs seemed to sweat because his vision was blurring as he gazed at her. To hold on, his hands went to her waist.
She pushed his shirt back off his shoulders. “You were about to say something?”
Maybe. If he could remember. Screw that! There was nothing he wanted to add because she had thrown her leg over him and fitted her lower body to his until the seat of her panties was pressed against his crotch.
She kissed a corner of his mouth. “This kind of thing must stop immediately.”
A husky little laugh escaped him. “Uh-huh. This is the worst. Oh yes, the very worst. Torture me some more.”
She kissed him again, long and sweet kisses with lots of tongue and stroking until they were both shivering and sweaty with desire. He could feel her melting into him, her full breasts dancing across his chest. He just needed to get her out of that little scrap of a cami and then …
It was over as suddenly as it began. Her sensual assault swiftly deserted his arms and his lips. He opened his eyes to find her moving away, back to her side of the truck.
He reached out and snagged her shoulder. “Whoa. Wait. You can’t just stop.”
She looked back at him, her eyes so smoked by desire they were almost black. “We have to live up to the trust Lattimore’s put in us.”
“Trust? Shit. This is about us.”
“No. That’s my point. There’s no possibility of us until Noel and Sam are out of the picture. This was Noel and Sam acting like young lovers in the first blush of love.”
“So? Clearly Noel and Sam are part of us. What’s wrong with that?”
She bit her lip and shook her head. “It’s make-believe. I don’t want to wake up in two weeks, back in Montgomery County and you in D.C., and realize this was all a daydream.”
His fingers tightened on her shoulder. “It doesn’t have to be.”
She brushed her mussed hair back from her face, shaking her head at the same time. “You’re ready for a full-on relationship?”
He frowned at her, remembering that not only the task force, but X stood between him and his future. “I see what you mean. It’s complicated.”
“No, it’s not. Because let me tell you what I want. I want a full-time man in my life. Eventually, I want a little house with a yard. For kids. I want children and a regular paycheck. And nights out. And evenings in. I want to grow a garden and maybe raise Bouviers. I want summer weekends at the shore and autumn weekends in the mountains. I want to come home to someone every day who thinks I’m the greatest thing ever. And I want to feel a smile in my chest when I catch sight of him across the room, before he even knows I’m watching him. I want to know when he looks at me he’s seeing home.”
She paused, all out of breath, and turned to stare straight ahead.
“That’s a lot,” Scott conceded after a few heartbeats.
She nodded, locking her seat belt into place. “So much it scares me to even say the words. But that’s my list. I don’t expect you to share it. But if you don’t, I don’t want you to spoil it for me.”
She looked at him. Her eyes were so wide it was as if he was looking straight into the most secret, intimate place inside her. “Because you could ruin me.”
The confession rocked him to his core.
He knew better than to answer her with some easy promise. Or even try to put her off. She’d given him an ultimatum, and issued a challenge. At the moment, he wasn’t in a position to respond.
When he didn’t say anything, just kept stroking her cheek with the back of his hand, she took a deep breath. “So, except in public, we’re going to live like brother and sister.”
He shook his head, trying to get his thoughts out of his pants. “I don’t think so. Not unless you lock your door and put Hugo on guard. And even then, well, I’ll think of something.”
She half smiled at him. “You could lock your door.”
“I’d have to Super Glue it shut.”
“And the windows.”
He sneaked a smile at her. “I was hoping you’d forget about the windows.”
She shimmied her skirt back down her thighs. “We’ve got issues.”
“Oh yeah.” He buttoned his shirt. “Lucky for us we’re professionals. We can handle the pressure.”
She reached out and touched his thigh. Light as it was, the touch wrung a groan from him. “Cole. You need to take your hands off me right now or I won’t be responsible. Shit. I can’t even believe those words came out of my mouth.”
“Sorry.” Cole removed her hand. She ha
d pushed him really far, farther than she had any right to do. And she was paying the price, trembling with frustrated desire. She definitely felt singed. But she had been honest, stood up for herself. That felt good.
“One more thing.” He turned to her and slid across the seat until he had backed her against the passenger side door. He took her face in his hands, smoothing her frown away with his fingers. “I never meant to hurt you.” His gaze hung doggedly on to hers. “You believe that?”
Cole nodded. But a spurt of pain arrowed its way through her heart as he kissed her softly.
Maybe there was something wrong with her that she couldn’t completely trust him. Some righteous little demon kept her thinking that maybe, just maybe, he hadn’t been all that faithful in the first place.
Or, maybe she just needed an excuse to run away, as she had the first time. Maybe she, not he, was the coward.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Cole paced in the living room of their small apartment. Izzy and Hugo, stretched out on the floor side by side with chins in paws, watched her every step.
“What I don’t understand is why you haven’t heard from X. You called him out in public a week ago. Don’t bikers always retaliate when challenged?”
Scott sprawled in the room’s only comfortable chair with his long legs stretched out before him. “My guess is he is playing with me. That’s been his strategy all along. He strikes then goes back into hiding and waits to see how rattled I get. The first two times, I gave him nothing.”
“Because you didn’t connect the vandalism to your parents’ home to him. And I didn’t tell you about my run-in on Richards’s motorcycle.”
Scott scowled at the mention of that near-miss. “I suspected about my parents’ home but couldn’t prove it. I sure as hell would have come down on him like a ton of bricks if I’d known about you.”
“That could have gotten you arrested.”
He shrugged.
“Why is he after you? What did you do to him?”
“If I had to guess it’s because I was an undercover narc who infiltrated his gang. When things went sideways, he went to jail behind that.”
