Other men had died that night, and they were called Taliban assholes. Only one had escaped, the wickedest of all—Nizari.
Lee blew the ugly thought away with a deep breath and focused on the angel in his arms instead. Tess seemed content to be there, almost like she didn’t want to leave. Like she was done fighting. “Where did you go? Who took care of you after they...?” He couldn’t finish.
She rubbed her cheek against his scarred chest. “My brother.”
The need to absorb this wild woman into his soul confounded Lee. Of all the people to have come into his life, why her? Why now? All he could do was breathe while he calmed himself at what they’d both endured. But he was angry she’d suffered, angrier than he was when Hasim Nizari had tortured him.
“I’d like to try something,” he whispered. She lifted her eyes to his, and he had to ease her off his lap before he tried something different than what he intended. Those tender lips begged to be kissed, if not in thanks for sharing her secret, then just because they were close and looked as sweet as hell. Not much lower, the soft, creamy pillow of two seductive breasts begged for the same attention. He had to move away before he moved in to stay.
Locating his torn shirt on the floor, he tugged it over his head to cover his ugly body, and retrieved the handcuff keys from the nightstand at the other side of his bed. Without any hesitation, he gulped and unlocked her. “There. You’re free to go. I won’t keep you here anymore.”
Lee took a step away from her, his hands at his side, still breathing hard and fully aware that Alex would have his head for this insubordination. Lee just couldn’t do it anymore—couldn’t hold Tess prisoner, not now that he knew what she’d lived through. No wonder she hated being cuffed. Hell, he did, too. “Go on.” He nodded at the door. “Go. Just go.”
She demurred. “I can’t.”
“Yeah, you can,” he encouraged her. “I won’t run you down. I won’t hold you back. In fact, I’ll call a cab. I’ll help you get away.”
She ducked her neck into her shoulders, and damn. A feminine blush danced across her cheeks. Genuine embarrassment glistened in her eyes. She wrinkled her nose. “I’m naked, remember?”
“Oh. Yeah.” A flame of heat rushed him. He knew that. Really, he did. It was hard to miss that robe she had mostly on, but kind of off.
“Besides…” She took a step toward him.
He gulped and took a step back, but then he caught himself. She was all of five-feet-six in bare feet. Why was he running?
“I’d like to try something, too. You know, just to see what happens.”
“No, Tess.” He stopped her cold, breathing hard and wanting to try that exact same thing, but damn it, he was messed up beyond the norm and uglier than sin. No gal as beautiful as Tess should ever settle for less. For him. It wasn’t fair to her, but deep down he knew better. Fear was a powerful deterrent, and he was plenty scared.
A shadow of hurt crossed her face, but still she advanced, tugging the sash loose on that very fluffy robe. The tiniest slice of her tasty body revealed itself as she took another step, the perfect line between her breasts, down her stomach, and all the way to Never-Never Land. He couldn’t hear over his heavy breathing, and his heart had just launched itself into hyperspace. The reverberations of all those wonderful possibilities she’d just hinted at rattled him to his toes. Blastoff would definitely commence in Lee-minus-ten.
He shook his head to reaffirm his spoken denial. “No,” he repeated weakly. “Just—no. I can’t.”
“But I think you can.” By then she was directly in front of him, and his body was aimed in the right direction like the dummy it was, thick and hard and throbbing for her attention. That she was trembling didn’t help. That she wasn’t afraid of him or running in the opposite direction, or worse, kicking him in the crotch like she’d tried to before, confounded him. Women were such a mystery.
Slowly, she lifted to her tiptoes and reached one hand for his neck. His breath stalled. She was going to touch him, only this time he had a choice in the matter. Did he dare take that kind of risk again and let her? Did he have the guts to face the loneliest possibility in the world? Rejection? Worse, rejection by a beautiful woman with lovely eyes and a sinfully tempting body that he wanted to run his hands and lips, his fingers and his tongue all over?
Those damn violet-blues enticed him, and he succumbed like the weak man he was. There was no way to resist this woman. Slowly, he stooped to allow her to do that very foolish thing—to touch him. She was his client—in a way. He was her armed escort—in a way. Never the twain should meet. Until now. In a way.
Her slender fingertips at the back of his neck brought a world of warmth and comfort, feelings that had been foreign to him for too many years. Just those silky soft fingers on his bare skin poured the oddest sensation of peace over his scarred, knotted body. It felt like the sweetest, kindest rain edging over the toughened lines on his chest, running in sensual rivulets over the gnarled skin where Nizari had worked his red-hot blade like an insane artist.
Lee’s heart thudded to a halt. How could he let her do this knowing how damaged he was? How could he allow her to get so close? Truth was he couldn’t stop. She’d held all the power the minute she’d lifted to her toes. He stooped lower, his hand suddenly at the very warm small of her back, still outside her robe and afraid as hell to enter.
She no more than tilted her chin upwards when he fell. An enormous ball of fire ripped through him, blowing his negative opinions of himself into the universe with all those other fallen dreams and stars now restored to heaven. She moaned, her lips pressed against his, and a fire ignited—a fire that needed one outlet.
Her name was Tess.
Chapter Eleven
A solid knock at the door startled Tess, but she was lost in the warmth and hunger of Lee’s arms. His mouth. His tongue. She’d never tasted a man as sweet as cinnamon honey. She curled her fingers in his hair and opened her lips, needing more of the tenderness pouring into her. More of his taste and his strength. This—this!—was heaven, a sensual feast she could never get enough of.
“Hey, Lee. You in there?” a man called from the other side of that damned door.
“Go away,” she mumbled around the masculine tongue dancing with hers, tangling and untangling, probing and tasting. Needing her as much as she needed him.
Lee didn’t budge, and Tess didn’t dare. She maintained the contact, her bare breasts flattened to his T-shirt-covered chest. She couldn’t let him go. Kissing him had started a nuclear reaction she didn’t want to shut down. Not yet. He might be worried, but she’d felt the trembling, ropey muscles beneath his skin. Rock-solid shoulders descended to sculptured biceps and forearms that circled her in steel as if they’d never let her go. She burrowed into him, wanting under that shirt he’d just hidden behind. Wanting inside of his heart. Skin to skin. Soul to soul.
“Hey,” he muttered into her mouth, his teeth softly nipping her lower lip as he ended the kiss. His tongue kept savoring, lingering on her lips and groaning even as he withdrew, almost like he couldn’t get enough, like he couldn’t bear to separate himself from her. Breathing heavily, he pressed her under his chin, his hands flat to her back, still not letting her go.
“I’m naked,” she murmured, not sure why she’d said that other than she wanted him to tear the robe off and take all she had to offer. Whoever was on the other side of that door could wait. This opportunity might never come again.
“Believe me,” Lee ground out, his voice deep and rumbling beneath her ear, “I know.”
“Yo, Lee. Open up, man.” The guy at the door was persistent.
“Damn it, Eric,” Lee muttered softly. “Not now.”
Tess turned, her arms still circling his waist, and her ear listening to his hammering heart. Intentionally, she spread her fingers up under his shirt and stroked those very strong back muscles as far up as she could reach, letting the constellation of scars on his back become her map, her universe. He growled, th
e sexiest, rumbliest sound she’d ever heard. In that instant, he’d transformed from a battle weary soldier into a Himalayan snow leopard that hadn’t been petted in far too long. And she intended to handle every last inch of him until he purred.
“I have to answer the door,” he explained, his breath coming in short, quick huffs. “Eric and Seth are here. I knew they were coming.”
“Your sniper friends?” She remembered, still stroking, still gentling the beast beneath her fingertips.
“Yes,” he breathed hotly, the smell of cinnamon reminding her of another close encounter in a dark warehouse. Was that all she was ever going to have with this man—close encounters?
Slowly, he extricated his hands from her until she relinquished him only because she had to. She stood there with her arms at her sides, unwilling to step away from the tender light radiating down upon her. Green had never shone so warmly. She placed both of her palms on his chest at each side of his sternum. A small murmur escaped his lips, but he didn’t step away.
“Tess,” he whispered, trembling beneath her touch, his palms covering her hands.
“Yes?” she asked breathlessly, not knowing what life-changing words he might utter next, but preparing herself for all possibilities. ‘Love me,’ she commanded his heart. ‘Want me,’ she ordered his soul. ‘Take me,’ she wished with every fiber of her being.
“You’re not dressed. Go hide in the bathroom,” he whispered.
She blinked. Okay, that wasn’t exactly what she wanted to hear, not now with her romance thermostat set on high. Make that hot and climbing, but what else could she do? “’Kay,” she said softly. If he wanted obedience, she would give him that. For now. She closed her robe and stepped away.
“They won’t stay long.”
That made her smile. At least he had the good grace to sound hopeful.
“Coming,” he muttered while he undid the chain lock and the deadbolt, offering her one last tender smile over his shoulder as he invited his buddies inside.
She closed the bathroom door quietly and turned to her reflection in the mirror. A very flushed but strange looking woman with bright dark eyes smiled shyly at her. With a toss of her head, Tess smiled back. When the woman in the mirror grinned, Tess giggled quietly to herself. That really, really happy woman was her. She touched the glass, her fingers to the outstretched fingers of that other person. “Hi,” she whispered. “It’s good to see you again.”
“You got the video?” Lee asked from the other room, his voice nearly back to normal.
“Yeah. This was on your doorknob by the way,” another deep voice answered. “Looks like the dry cleaners brought your lady friend’s clothes back or something. Wonder what’s in the brown paper bag. Should we check it out, Eric?”
“Damn, Seth. Give it to me.” Tess smiled. Lee sounded protective.
“Look. It’s lady’s underwear. Where is the sexy gal this belongs to? Taking a shower?”
“I said give it to me.”
Tess wanted to giggle. Seth was definitely given to profound understatements. She flushed the toilet just to provide a little authenticity to her activities in the bathroom, but then she couldn’t hear the men’s conversation. As soon as the toilet ceased gurgling, she pressed her ear to the door.
“I have another copy so go ahead and keep this one. You got a way to view it?” That husky male voice had to be Lee’s friend, Eric. Tess listened, her ear flat to the door, trying to differentiate voices and personalities. Seth seemed playful, almost boyish, Eric more serious.
“Grab a seat. Let me see if there’s a DVD player in the television cabinet.” Definitely Lee.
“Brought one with me just in case.” Seth. “Here’s the cable. Should be easy to hook up unless your TV’s too old.”
“Good thinking.” A deep, throaty chuckle. Eric again. Tess smiled to herself. That guy had to be a character. His sexy baritone oozed personality. “You’re one surprise after another, buddy.”
She listened as the three men tried to load the DVD, cussing when it didn’t work. Someone flipped a few buttons to get the player to play. Seth wanted a beer. Lee told him to check the refrigerator in the corner and get it himself. Eric muttered about another hot day in paradise. The oddest sensation persisted. Here she was, half-dressed, a room away from three men, two of whom were total strangers, all of them snipers, but she felt not one bit of worry. Was it because Lee was there? And why did she suddenly trust him? Because they shared common experiences and a common enemy? Because she’d been given the privilege of seeing another side of him? Those seemed like good enough reasons to her.
The men quieted. They must’ve gotten the video loaded. Garbled voices and static at last evolved into Eric’s tense voice. Then Seth’s. A shot rang out. Then another, followed by an anguished cry from one of the men, she couldn’t determine which.
“I figure,” Seth said quietly, “that someone told Turik she’d be up there. How else would he know where to set up his rifle and which way to aim? I mean, really, he was positioned perfectly, his butt to Kabul and his scope on the palace rooftop, just waiting for her.”
Tess’s heart stopped. Mohammed Turik? He tried to kill me? No, no, no. He’s a friend. He wouldn’t do that.
“He knew exactly where she’d show,” Eric muttered, “and the guy was prepared. He’d dug a shallow trench. He meant to stay there all night if he had to.”
“Like he knew we’d be there too,” Seth cut in. “He dug his hide alongside a drainage ditch, then hightailed it out of there when he missed Culver. We never saw him after he took that shot.”
“But who told him?” Lee asked.
The men were quiet as the video ended, but Tess wanted to scream. Clint! That’s who! Damn him. Was it possible? Had her own brother betrayed her? Lee said he’d split with a fifth of booze. Was he also low enough to get her shot? How much had he received for that cowardly act? It was nothing compared to what he was going to get from her. A flash fire called temper annihilated her common sense. Clint was going to die. All she had to do was catch up with him. And to think she’d paid him in advance to drive his truck? To catch her when she fell? He couldn’t have hurt her worse if he’d missed her and she’d fallen to her death. He’d better run. That explained his unexplained absences over the last few months. He’d been hanging around with Mohammed, maybe the Taliban. The jerk! The nerve!
“It’s not her brother,” Lee declared as if he’d overheard her mental rant through the bathroom door. “It couldn’t be. No way.”
“Who else then?” Eric asked.
“Yes,” Tess whispered to the closed door. “Who else knew I’d be on the palace roof last night? I only told Clint.”
“Turik was at the orphanage where she works. You said so,” Lee explained. “Maybe he overheard something.”
“I never told him,” she replied softly, but Lee was right. Mohammed did frequent the orphanage. He usually brought treats for the kids, not intrigue and deceit. Or did he? Her foot set to tapping. Come to think of it, he was also at the orphanage the day before that creep Nizari had her beaten. Was Mohammed behind all of this?
“She’s just like her goofy brother, Lee,” Eric muttered. “You can’t trust her. Sounds like you’re getting involved with—”
“You guys haven’t spent any time with her to know what she’s like,” Lee snapped. “She’s a lady. She’s not like Clint Culver at all.”
“And you have?” Eric shot the accusation.
Tess stilled, straining to believe she’d heard right. Lee thought she was a lady? What was he? Blind? She was no lady. If anything, she was more of a swashbuckling pirate. The kind opinion brought tears to her eyes. He really thinks I’m a lady?
“Hey,” Eric groused. “You’re the one who wanted the video. Show it to her. If nothing else, you can prove she’s on somebody’s radar. Let Miss Culver figure out who’s trying to kill her.”
She listened to the DVD being expelled from the player and the sound of a zipper, probably
the camouflage covered bag she’d seen in the closet.
“I will,” he answered, “but she’s been through enough.”
“Sounds to me like she’s turned into your girlfriend pretty damned quick,” Eric mumbled.
“She’s not my girlfriend. Just a client. Any one of us could’ve drawn this duty. You want to trade?”
She stiffened at the door. He wants to trade me?
“No, I don’t want to trade.” Eric chuckled softly. “Don’t get your knickers in a twist, Hart. It just looks real comfy in here with her in one bed and you in the other. Whose idea is that?”
“Shut it, Reynolds.”
Eric chuckled. “There might just be hope for you yet.”
Tess smiled. She agreed. There was hope for Lee. But not for Clint.
Maybe not for Mohammed, either.
The door had no more than shut behind Eric and Seth when Tess exited the bathroom, her face masked. One glance and Lee held his breath. The bossy woman was back in full force, the seductress gone. Here it comes. Back to reality, dumbass.
“I was listening,” she said. “May I see the video?”
“Sure.” He acquiesced quickly. The sooner she saw it, the better. Then they could get back to being nothing more than client and bodyguard.
He stuck the DVD in the player. Hitting the play button, he stepped back, his chin to his knuckles. She sat on the coffee table as the dark video played. Figures were hard to make out, but Seth had done a decent job capturing Eric’s perturbed face over and over again. The view panned to the palace rooftop. Once again Seth exclaimed, “Wow, look at that guy run.”
Lee observed Tess’s reactions carefully while Eric and Seth decided she was that guy. The helmet-cam followed her to the edge of the roof. It panned back to Eric laying on his belly to the ground, his eye to his scope and a dark ball cap backward on his head. Just before he fired, Seth switched back to view the palace. There she stood on the edge of the roof, Tess Culver, the heroine all Kabul talked about, the infamous lady cat burglar who’d dared defy the Taliban over and over again. The sexy silhouette ready to plummet to her death, her arms spread, her hair billowing, and the bright floodlights behind her. God, what a sight.
Lee (In the Company of Snipers Book 12) Page 12
