Ritt

by Anne L. Parks

  Lance was placed in a tough spot. He needed to stay detached and unbiased. But he had seen Dix during the operation. The man had not only scoffed at Riley’s inputs, he had completely shut down when the SEALs needed him to get them the hell out of Palmyra. If Riley hadn’t jumped in and provided the abort codes, the death toll on the team could’ve been a hell of a lot higher.

  And Riley…well, he needed to stop thinking about her as anything more than a colleague. Hell, she wasn’t really even that. But, whatever she was, he had to cease dwelling on the fierceness in her green eyes. Those lips that both pulled him in and held him at bay. He had to banish thoughts of her naked in his bed, begging him to drive harder into her.

  Yeah, so far that was working like a charm.

  Dix was not in his office when Lance peered through the open doorway. He thought about taking a seat and waiting for the man to return, but decided to feed his coffee addiction before a headache made spending time with Dix even more unbearable.

  There had been no word from Riley in the past thirty-six hours, and he wondered if she had come into work. Most likely she had, but it had to feel odd knowing that there was a guillotine over her head.

  As he turned the corner to head into the cafeteria, he heard Riley’s name. He stopped and listened to the low voices coming from one of the conference rooms. Lance carefully peered around the corner to see if he could make out who was in the room. A sliver of space between the door and the frame wasn’t enough to see who was inside. They must not have paid close attention to ensuring the door actually closed.

  Their spook quals needed a refresher course, apparently.

  “Her computer and cell phone accounts are clean, and her whereabouts accounted for from MSn INTRO to ex.”

  Baines, the intel chief. But who was he talking to? If Lance hazarded a look around the corner, he potentially blew his cover. Baines and whoever he was talking to would clam up.

  “So, how did the info leave the Embassy?” Dix asked.

  Lance should’ve known. The piss ant.

  “We’re still investigating…but it doesn’t appear to be Riley.”

  “Keep a lid on this for now,” Dix said. “I know she’s behind it. We just need to figure out how.”

  Fuck me…Dix was out to get Riley and was using his power and position to railroad her.

  Lance backed down the hall and fast walked to Riley’s office. She needed to know what the hell she was up against.

  Riley was at her desk when he stepped inside and closed the door. Her eyes narrowed and the corners of her mouth dropped.

  “What’s up?” she asked.

  “I thought we could get a bite to eat,” he said, and scribbled on a post it note.

  Need to talk. Not here. Off compound.

  She tilted her head to read as he was writing. Her eyes lifted to his, lines creasing the space between her eyebrows. “Uh, sure. Let me get my stuff.”

  They left the building and headed for the parking lot. “Where to?” Riley asked.

  “Mick and Lucas are at the house, and I don’t want to get them involved unless it becomes necessary. Can we go to your place?”

  “Sure. But you will tell me what the hell is going on, right?”

  “Yes, just not here.” He looked around the lot and spotted three cameras. “You spooks are too nosy for this conversation.”

  Chapter 10

  Riley waved to the guard in the guard house. The heavy steel gate slowly rolled back to allow her to pull forward. Stopping part way through, she rolled down the window.

  “He’s with me,” she said, pointing to Lance in the car directly behind her. The guard nodded. She pulled into the garage, making sure to leave room for Lance to get in. She wasn’t used to having to be careful about where she parked in the two-car garage and was usually happy right in the middle.

  She punched in a code and the alarm disengaged. The garage was on the ground floor—actually under the house—where there was a small bedroom and bathroom and small living room area. At a table next to the entry, she deposited her keys into a basket, and led Lance up to the main level. A large tiled foyer with a floor-to-ceiling window offered a view into the courtyard. Out of sight was a second guard house in case someone tried to gain entry through the front gate.

  The tile spanned the length of the house with a family room type area at one end and a kitchen at the other. Along the opposite side of the house was a large bedroom and a bathroom.

  Riley tossed her cell phone and wallet on the kitchen counter, pulled two bottles of water from the fridge, and handed one to Lance. They both took long draws.

  “So, talk,” she said. The whole way from the Embassy she had a ball of fire burning in the pit of her stomach.

  “I overhead Dix talking to Baines. Baines said there’s no evidence that you’re the leak.”

  She wanted to feel relieved, but Lance’s pensive look made the fire scorch a trail up her throat. “That’s good news, right?”

  “It is.”

  “But?”

  “Dix told him to keep a lid on it and keep digging. He’s bound and determine to pin this on you one way or another.”

  Riley looked at the water bottle in her hand. Drops of condensation slid down the side, pooling as it hit her hand. She set it on the counter, wiped her hand, but couldn’t take her eyes of a droplet slowly worming its way down the bottle. So, solitary in its journey, making it down the side, only to mix with the other drops in the pool at the base.

  Jesus, what if all this time she’d been standing out, ensuring she was making a difference, hours and hours of research to learn about the enemy, only to hit the bottom and none of it make a damn bit a difference.

  “So, I’m fucked.”

  She really wished the bottle of water was beer—or vodka.

  Lance reached across the counter and placed his hand over hers. “Not necessarily.”

  “Really? How do you figure?”

  “Well, we need to figure out what happened.”

  She stared at him. We? Does he believe in my innocence?

  “I know you didn’t do it, Riley,” he said in answer to her unuttered question. “But we have got to get to the bottom of this before Dix finds a way to bury you under a ton of bullshit.”

  “So, where do we start?”

  He smiled and removed his hand from hers. She missed the warmth. The strength he provided her in the simple act.

  “What have you got here in the way of supplies? Paper? Pens? Markers?”

  “There’s a ream of computer paper in the room where my desk is, under the printer. I can scrounge up some pens and markers.”

  They cleared off the kitchen table and Riley dumped a few pens, different color sharpies, and some highlighters.

  “So, the way I see it, there are two options. Either you were hacked or someone other than you leaked the information. How well do you know your way around a computer?”

  “Basics. That’s what IT is for,” she finished her water and tossed it into the bin on the other side of the room. “You?”

  “Same.”

  “Well, we’re off to a good start then.”

  “Have no fears—He pulled out his cell phone and scrolled through his contact list. “I know a guy. He’s a genius, and knows his way around government networks. Good thing he’s on our side because the US would be screwed if he ever switched loyalties.”

  Riley could hear the phone ringing. Finally, the call was answered.

  “Tex, it’s Lance.” There was a pause. “I have a situation that I need your help with—got a minute?”

  Lance hit a button and placed the phone between he and Riley on the table. “I’ve got you on speaker.”

  “Who else is there?” a male voice came across the line.

  “Riley Bray. CIA. She’s my counterpart here in Amman and we’ve come across an issue that we need to handle outside the strict confines of the agency.”

  “Is this going to get me thrown away for life?”
<
br />   “Not anymore than anything else you do.”

  “Then I’m in.”

  Lance explained what that there was an intel leak, and they were unsure who in the agency they could trust.

  “I’ll need to get on the network and nose around a bit. Take a look at the PCAP data. Hopefully, the log hasn’t been dumped. May take a day or two, but I’ll get right on it, and get back to you with what I find.”

  “Thanks, man, I owe.”

  Tex snorted. “I’m still trying to collect from the last favor you asked me. How is Mia, by the way?”

  “In protective custody until the trial. It’s driving Ben crazy, which in turns makes our lives hell.”

  “So you decided to get away by going to the vacation hotspot that is Jordan?”

  “On orders.” Lance glanced at Riley, a nervous smile flitted across his lips.

  He’s hoping neither Tex or I ask him what he’s actually doing here?

  Didn’t really matter to Riley. She was just damn glad to have him on her side—along with his tech savvy friends.

  Lance wrapped up the call, stood, and stretched. “I’m starving.” He walked to the fridge and opened it.

  Make yourself at home.

  “Jesus, Riley, you have no food in here.”

  “I don’t eat here much.”

  “Have you ever cooked anything on this stove?”

  She shook her head. “I usually just bring something with me from the cafeteria at the Embassy.”

  He sighed. “I’m going to run down to that little shop a couple of blocks away. You been there?”

  “Yeah, the owner’s a good guy. You shouldn’t have any trouble there.”

  She followed him to the front door and out into the courtyard.

  “Make sure you tell them to let me back in.” He pointed to the guard house.

  “Bring me chocolate or no dice.”

  “Wow, you’re a cheap date.”

  “Yeah, don’t spread that around. I have a rep to maintain.”

  Lance chuckled. “That ain’t your rep.”

  “Wait—what?” She yelled after him, but he just kept going.

  Smartass.

  The house was empty and cold without Lance there. Smaller, somehow. He was heat and strength and protection. Suddenly, home was not just a place she slept in between working long hours. The couple of hours he had been there seemed at odds with how comfortable she felt having him there.

  Riley’s cell phone rang. She glanced at the caller ID. Tony Abbott. Her eyes and ears at the office whenever she was TDY.

  “Tony,” she said as she answered.

  “Hey, Riley. What the hell is going on?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, Rodney Baines and his sidekick are in your office going through it like they lost the winning million-dollar lottery ticket.”

  “Did they say what they were doing there?”

  “No, but Nervous Nellie Andrew went in to talk to them.”

  That was odd Why would her computer geek, Andrew, go in? He rarely left his cubicle, and was uncomfortable talking to people he worked with, let alone the head of the intelligence department.

  “What did they talk about?” She asked.

  “Idiotic bullshit. He found some anomalous activity. False positive—didn’t trace to anything, so he’s going to dump it.”

  “Okay, why did he take it to them?”

  “He said he wasn’t sure if you would be back and he wanted to let someone know.”

  “What did Baines say?”

  “Told him not to worry about it today, he could get to it tomorrow, then set him on some gopher errands for them. The dweeb took off out of here like he was on a mission from God.”

  Lance came in carrying two armloads of bags, and set them on the counter. He watched her, and she could see the questions running through his head. Probably wondering if he made a mistake trusting her in case she was passing the information regarding the RRA on to the enemy.

  “Okay, well, thanks for the heads up. I’m sure I’ll find out what they’re looking for when I get back.”

  “When will that be?” Abbott asked.

  “Probably not until tomorrow—I’ll see how I feel.”

  “Did you come down with something when you went out to lunch with the Commander?” His voice was light and raised on octave or two as he spoke.

  Wise ass.

  “Bye, Abbott.”

  She ended the call, but chuckled as she set it back on the table.

  Lance was pulling food out of the bags. “What was that about?”

  She filled him in on the pertinent parts of the conversation while they put away the groceries. He held up the final bag.

  “I didn’t know what kind of chocolate you liked, so I grabbed a bunch of different kinds.”

  She snatched the bag from his hands. The thing had to be a third full of nothing but chocolate bars of every brand available—in this part of the world.

  “Holy shit,” She said and glanced at him. “I could kiss you.”

  The words were out before her brain caught up with her mouth. No getting them back now. She stilled and tried to act like she hadn’t just said she wanted to kiss him.

  He moved in front of her and backed her against the counter. Her breath hitched. He placed his hands on either side of her, caging her in.

  “So, what’s stopping you?”

  * * *

  He lowered his lips to hers, lightly grazing them. “What’s stopping you, Riley?” he whispered.

  Her chest moved rapidly with her accelerated breathing. Eyes locked on each other, he was about to pull away when she closed her eyes.

  “Nothing.”

  He pressed his lips to hers. His fingers slid through her hair, the strands like satin. Her lips parted, and she welcomed his tongue into her mouth, greeting his with the slippery hotness of her own.

  Yanking at the hem of her shirt, he lifted it over her head and tossed it on the floor. A simple white bra covered her breasts. So very Riley. He would’ve been shocked to find anything else—no way was she a lacy bra, matching panty kind of woman. She was utilitarian. He rubbed his thumb over her nipple and pressed his palm against it as it hardened to a peak.

  Her hands were under his shirt, grasping at his back muscles. He moved his midsection against hers, his hard length pressed against her sex. She moaned, and the sound sent a shiver through him and made his balls become hard, heavy boulders.

  “Bed,” she murmured against his lips.

  “Lead the way,” he said, and stepped back. She walked around him, through a doorway, and into a room with a queen-sized bed with a gray bedspread. He dug in his pocket for condoms, and placed them on the bedside table as he watched her strip out of her jeans, bra, and basic white bikini briefs.

  He grasped the back of her shirt over shoulder, pulled it over his head. Her green eyes sparkled as they roamed over his bare chest. He knew she was enamored with him when he’d caught her staring at him the day before. The thought of grabbing her then, and fucking her senseless had crossed his mind, but the timing was wrong. It took every ounce of strength in him to turn away from her adoring, lust-filled gaze and put on a shirt.

  She watched him bend over and untie his boots, unbutton his pants, and toss it all to the side. They stood before each other naked. Her nipples perky. His erection big and proud. He could smell her arousal from where he stood, and it just about drove him made with want.

  He stepped into her, backed her against the bed, and slid on top of her as she lay down. He kissed her the apex of her legs, inhaling her sexy scent, before nipping and kissing a trail over her navel to her breasts. Grasping one nipple between his thumb and fore finger, he rolled the hard nub.

  Dipping his head, he took her other nipple into his mouth, sucked it hard, until he heard her gasp. He released the suction. Her fingers slid over his scalp and she thrust her chest up.

  A satisfied grin slid across his face. She liked nipple play. R
ough.

  Good to know.

  His free hand wandered across the firm, smooth plane of her abdomen, his fingers pushing between her hot, slick folds. She spread her legs apart for him. Jesus, she was so wet. So fucking inviting. He pressed his palm against her clit, and pushed a finger inside her. Pulling back out, he added a finger, and slid inside her.

  Her eyes closed. She licked her lips, placed her hand on top of his, forcing him to go deeper, and Lance thought he might blow his wad before he had a chance to really fuck her.

  He reached for the condom on the table, ripped the package open with his teeth, and slid the latex over his throbbing cock. He’d had visions of taking her slowly, enjoying every inch of her, but she had stepped things up when she slipped one of her own fingers inside along with his.

  “Christ, Riley, you’re going to make me come before I even get inside you.”

  “Then hurry the fuck up, Commander.”

  Damn, she made him smile. She was so unlike the women he had been with previously. Of course, he hadn’t really paid much attention to them past sticking his dick in and getting off.

  This was different. He was getting off on watching the shade of Riley’s eye grow darker. Wanton. Was relishing the feel of her hands on him—inside herself with him. He wanted to watch her as she came apart because he knew it was going to be a religious experience just seeing how she reacted to him taking her to the point of no return and sending her into blessed oblivion.

  God, he hoped he was everything she needed him to be—and maybe a little more. He wasn’t sure what kind of guys she had had sex with in the past, but he was damn sure going to do everything he could to make sure she forgot every single encounter.

  He plunged his cock inside her. She let out a long, sweet moan. He moved out and thrust in deep. He knew when he hit that one spot were the nerves were bundled because she dug her fingers into his ass and used her heels to drive him in deeper. Raising her hips, she picked up his cadenced drives.

  “Harder,” she commanded. The deep richness of her voice took him by surprise. He rammed into her, nervous he would hurt her, but her screams of “yes” and “more” silenced his worries.