“Then yes.”
He blinked and gave his head a slight shake to clear his mind. She had him rock hard with that look. Enough flirting with the potential enemy. It all depended on her answer to his next question. “Who sent you?”
She rubbed at her eyes. “Weber.”
“What, too chicken shit to do it himself? Tell him I’m not interested.” David jumped to his feet. Why wouldn’t Weber personally pay him a visit? He didn’t want to admit it, but having Weber pass this off to McKoy bothered the shit out of him. Maybe they weren’t as good of friends as he’d thought.
“Wrong Weber,” she corrected. “JT sent me.”
He sank back down, his chest tight at the sudden realization. Maybe Weber couldn’t come after him. That would explain why JT asked McKoy to do it. She didn’t want to leave her husband’s side. “What happened to Dan?”
“You need to get back to Seattle.”
Her words cut into him. “My God. If something happened... And I wasn’t there... My God.”
“They need you.” She squinted and blinked several times.
He nodded, swallowing over and over to hold the guilt at bay. “I’ll never forgive myself... Son of a fuck.” Closing his eyes, he shook his head as his pulse thudded in his ears. “Why didn’t you say that in the first place? I shouldn’t have left. Jesus. I’ve been so selfish. If the baby—”
“There’s nothing wrong with the Webers. Their baby is fine.”
He hardened his features as he riveted her with a glare. “What the hell kind of game are you playing?”
“TREX needs you back in Seattle. Some top-secret mission the director won’t even talk about. He said he’d only trust one agent to this assignment.” She met his gaze and blinked twice.
The overactive blinking gave her away. Classic sign of a liar. Damn her. Goddamn her. She’d snared him in her web yet again. It baffled him why she didn’t let him believe something happened to the Webers or the baby. At least that would have gotten him on the next plane to Seattle. “It’s pretty shitty, leading me to believe something happened to them.”
“I was just following the rulebook.”
And then you caved. “Fuck the rulebook. You’re not going to get me to come home by exploiting the fact I have a heart.”
“Please, David. I’ll do anything.” She winked.
He abruptly stopped his rant and studied her. Tracing her body with his gaze and curling his lip into a coy grin in response, he arched an eyebrow. “Anything?”
She didn’t break their connection. “Anything.”
“Don’t promise what you aren’t ready to deliver, lady. TREX 101.”
“Actually, TREX rule number one-oh-one is to always have more than one way out of any situation.” She offered him a sheepish grin. “I sort of memorized the TREX rulebook.”
Hot and nerdy. What a combo. “And what’s your plan to get out of this?”
Wink. “What makes you think I want out of this?”
Although she acted brave and sure of herself, the flash of fear and uncertainty in her eyes gave her away. “Nice try, Angel. Too bad you’re bluffing. Besides, I already gave Weber my answer a year ago. I’m not transferring. I’m just not cut out for a desk job.”
“That’s not what this is,” she hurried out. “TREX sent me here to bring you back in.”
“And if you don’t?”
“Then I’m shifted so far down the food chain I’ll be getting coffee for the janitor.”
He chuckled. “Who’d you piss off?”
“Good question. Why don’t you come back to Seattle with me and ask SD Weber yourself?”
“Nice try.”
“Not nice enough,” she retorted in a mumble. “Come on, David. What have you got to lose? TREX needs you.”
“TREX needs to pull its head out of its ass. We’ve never gone after agents like this, luring them back in. Why me? I’m a risk now.”
“Quit pouting. You’re much better looking when you smile.”
He sank back in his chair, ignoring the extra beat of his heart at her compliment. If he could call it that. “And if you succeed?”
“It opens the door for agents in the sideline divisions to transfer in to a frontline division like spec ops. It gets them out from behind a desk and into an exciting field position.”
“Every division of TREX has its own field positions.”
“But they aren’t exciting.”
“For a reason,” he pointed out. “We don’t need sidelines pushing their way in to the frontlines.” He didn’t even want to think about a bunch of desk jockeys in the frontline next his spec ops brothers and sisters. It took more than the want to be on the frontline. Guts. No fear. Protecting the team at any cost. Every last frontline agent put his or her life on the line on every op. The sideline divisions didn’t get that and never would.
“We?” She caught the word he spat at her and threw it right back at him. Damn it. “You left, remember? After you walked out, you lost all rights to speak to the needs of TREX.”
“Now you listen to me—”
“No, you listen,” she interrupted. “I came all the way from Montana to bring you back to HQ. I won’t let you shut me out without so much as the courtesy of listening to what I have to say.”
He’d humor her. For now. He eased back in the chair, folding his fingers on his chest. “So talk. What’s this big top-secret mission?”
“Like I told you, Weber won’t talk to anyone about it.”
“I don’t buy it. I know Weber. He may be a tight-lipped son of a bitch, but this isn’t his style. He wouldn’t withhold information, not when it had anything to do with the op. And he sure as hell wouldn’t call in intel to retrieve a spec ops agent.”
“Maybe I’m different.”
“What do you have that they can’t get from one of their own?”
She looked him square in the eye. “You. I found you when no one else could.”
He laughed at that. “Like I made it so hard. I practically left breadcrumbs.”
“Which tells me you wanted TREX to find you.”
Goddamn perceptive of her, and something he would never admit to. “Have a nice flight back to Seattle. Give my regards to the Webers.” He pushed himself up from the table.
“David!” she pleaded. He paused, listening. “Please give me a chance.”
“And why should I do that?”
“If I fail, I’ll be the laughing stock of both divisions. I told them I’d find you when no one else could. They all laughed, not believing me, making me want to prove them all wrong even more. I found your breadcrumbs when they couldn’t. You’re a great agent, David. Let me take you back so you can prove that.”
He threw a harsh laugh at her. “Being a great agent didn’t stop TREX from selling me down the fucking river. What’s to stop them from doing it again once they get whatever it is they need out of me?”
“Do you think Weber would seriously do that again?”
“I didn’t think he’d do it to me the first time.” Shaking his head, he lifted his gaze off to the distance, remembering back to that day in the hospital. The bitterness twisted in his heart. “I gave TREX ten years. They gave me ten seconds in return.” He pulled his gaze to her. “That’s how long it took Weber to decide to transfer me.”
“I’ll fight for you,” she said softly.
“Why would you do that?”
“Because I believe what TREX did to you, what they do to all their agents seriously injured in the field, is wrong. I’m tired of being forced to take whoever TREX says we have to.”
Before he had a chance to command his legs to move, his body betrayed his will and sank into the chair so he could hear her out. “And how do you propose we change that?”
Wink. “We start with you.”
“Me?” David bounced back. Yet another shock.
“Come to Seattle with me,” she urged. “Tell Weber exactly how it feels to be treated the way he treated you.”
“He needs to know, David.”
“He already does. Dan Weber is my friend—well, was. He wouldn’t throw me out unless he had reason to.” He stiffened as he sucked in a breath. Well, shit. He hated epiphanies. He couldn’t deny the reasoning. Weber did what he had to do. It was the right move.
“I would never turn my back on you,” she purred, barely audible.
Her comment broke him of his melancholy. As he looked at her, he caught movement behind her and clenched his jaw. Not now. He shrank down in his chair and attempted to hide behind McKoy.
“What are you doing?” She whipped around.
“Just turn around and keep talking,” he ordered.
She faced him. “But—”
“Just...” He clenched his teeth and darted down in his chair even more. “Talk to me.”
“Why should I do you any favors?” She threw his words back at him.
“How about this? You keep me busy for a while and I’ll owe you one.” He reached over and took her wine glass, emptying the contents with one swallow. He set the glass down and riveted his eyes to hers. “Whatever you want to do, Angel.”
“All right.” She sat up straight. “But stop calling me that. I have a name. And you can’t go back on your word.”
He kept his attention glued to her. “I never go back on my word, Charis.”
She smiled, no doubt thinking she’d just won. “Good. You can start by returning to Seattle and talking to the director.”
He shook his head. “I said I’d owe you one, not that I’d give in to your little scheme.”
“See? You see? I knew you’d go back on your word.”
Her accusation twisted in his gut. “Going back to Seattle with you is off the table. Any other requests?”
She lost her smile, which he hadn’t seen happen much in the short time she’d been in Maui. Her eyes sparkled in the candlelight, the fresh tears shining. She stared into the flickering flame. “I failed.” She sucked in a quick breath. “My first field assignment since…” She closed her eyes and a tear melted down her cheek. “I can’t believe I let them all down.”
Ah, hell. He couldn’t stand to see her cry. Those tears were brutal to what little self-control he had around her. “Come on, Charis. You didn’t let anyone down.”
“Every agent waiting on a transfer into a frontline division is going to lynch me. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a hate mob waiting to greet me at the airport when I go back to Seattle.”
For a genius, she didn’t pick up on the obvious very well. “You really don’t get it, do you? TREX isn’t about to let sideline agents infiltrate the frontlines. Think about it. You weren’t recruited for your precise aim at five hundred yards out.” That would be another McKoy.
She slammed a wide-eyed look into him. “Are you saying TREX sent me here without any intention of following through with any of those transfers?”
“Pretty much, yeah.”
“They set me up.”
“So set them up in return. Have a little fun on TREX’s dime.”
She dropped her gaze as she labored her breathing. “I can’t believe this. I was never going to get you to return with me, was I?”
“No. My TREX days are over.” Even as he said it, he didn’t know if he believed it or not. Another tear streamed down her face. Jesus, he wouldn’t last if she kept crying. “Please don’t cry.”
“And nothing I say will change your mind?”
He was close to agreeing to return with her just to get her to smile again. “Sorry.”
“Then you were right,” she said and drew in a sharp breath as she brought her gaze up to him. “I’m wasting both our time.”
“At least we got to see each other again,” he teased. When she offered him a hint of a smile, he went on before he could stop himself. “Maybe next time it won’t be a year before I get to see you again.”
Her expression changed. She no longer looked like the wilty flower feeling sorry for herself for being sent on a wild goose chase. Determination flashed in her eyes, determination and something else as undeniable. Lust. “Why wait a year?”
“What are you suggesting?”
“How about we both have a night we’ll never forget?”
He liked the sound of that. “What did you have in mind?”
“Take me away, David. Just for tonight. Let me leave Hawaii with a smile and enough memories to last a lifetime.”
He curled the corner of his mouth and eyed her lips, licking his in response. “The last guy I know who got tangled up with another agent ended up marrying her. I’m not about to go down that path. You don’t expect anything more, right?”
“I don’t want to marry you. I just want...” She stopped and jumped her attention to his groin. Even with the table in the way, the heat from her gaze wrapped around his cock and squeezed.
“What? Me?”
“Exactly. Let’s have a fuckfest.”
He laughed to cover his shock yet again. “Since when did you start dropping the F-bomb?”
She joined in the laughter. “I blame you. You bring out this wild side in me.”
He certainly hoped so.
She signaled for the waiter. He raced over. “Please charge your best bottle of champagne to me and have it delivered to Mr. Snyder’s room.” The waiter hurried off.
Standing, David held out his hand and pulled her to her feet. “Shall we? Shit!”
“Shall we what?”
“David! My sweet! Tony said I’d find you in here.”
Jesus Christ. He’d forgotten about Gabrielle looking for him. She knocked into Charis, bumping her out of the way with her bony hips as she wrapped her arms around David’s neck. She stole a quick glance at Charis, ensuring she had her undivided attention before leaning up on her tiptoes and giving David a slow, sloppy kiss.
Fucking awesome. She’d been in the tequila again. Top shelf stuff, too. He’d have to talk to Tony about how much alcohol he fed the girls at the resort. “Gabrielle,” he chuckled and eyed Charis. “You found me.”
Gabrielle thinned her lips and turned to face Charis. She stepped closer to David, even wrapped her arms around his waist. “And who is this?”
“She,” he answered and removed her wandering arms, “is none of your business.”
“My name is Charis,” she spoke up.
“Why are you with my lover?”
Charis flashed a wicked smile. “Gabrielle, is it? Don’t worry. I’m just planning to use him for sex. You can have what’s left. Now, if you don’t mind, we have a long night ahead of us.” Charis took David’s hand and started to pull him away, but Gabrielle’s voice stopped them.
“How dare you! No one walks away from me.”
“Yeah? Watch me.” He did enjoy a challenge.
“But you love me!”
He almost laughed out loud. Hardly. Where in the hell did she get that idea? He’d never so much as muttered a hint of that word in years. No fouler four-letter word existed in the English language. That word did nothing but leave a path of destruction in its wake. It should have been dubbed one of the plagues. “I’m not capable of love.”
Now why in the hell would he say something like that, especially right now? He firmly believed the conviction, but that didn’t mean he had to admit it in front of Gabrielle, Charis, and anyone else listening in.
“Should I leave you two alone?” Charis cut in, clearly amused. Damn her for enjoying this.
“No!” he answered.
“Yes!” Gabrielle answered at the same time.
“Come on,” he said and pulled Charis toward the elevators. Gabrielle would eventually lose interest and stop following them around the entire resort. Maybe this little incident would be the one thing she needed to move past her infatuation with him. Love? He chuckled inwardly.
Lust. Now that was a word he’d grown accustomed to. Another four-letter word, but one that didn’t leave such a trail of destruction in its wake. �
��Listen,” he started after the need to explain overwhelmed him. “About what happened back there.”
She brought her hand to stop him. Ah hell. He blew his chance with her. And, for some reason, it mattered to him. Her impression of him, her reaction to the situation, the way she looked at him. All of that mattered.
“David,” Charis started after they stopped in front of the double doors to wait for the elevator. “You don’t need to explain anything. We hardly know each other. I’m not about to fill you in on any of the assorted details of my love life, as few as there are. You have every right to have a life. We both do.”
He had to think about something other than the images conjuring up in his mind of Charis’s previous lovers. Like why he couldn’t figure her out. Why did she keep winking at him? She said one thing. Her body said another. Then she’d wink and throw him off completely.
She kept him guessing. He hated it. He loved it. She was the first real company he actually wanted to spend time with since escaping to the beach over a year ago. Working at the resort’s bar during the week gave him the social release he craved, while at the same time giving him a chance to feel out the people without ever raising suspicion. But it didn’t give him someone to actually talk to. The fact he wanted to talk to Charis, to share things with her, didn’t settle well with him. It didn’t change the fact, either.
He’d first spotted her in the bar a week ago. She had on a little floral number that left him begging for release, the pressure fisting his cock unyielding. He couldn’t even come up with a coherent thought after that. He broke three glasses that night and screwed up so many drinks he’d lost count. The little vixen came in every night after that, torturing him by simply sitting there, watching him. She never approached him, never sought him out during the day. It confused the hell out of him.
Why the hell would she want a night alone with him anyway? She didn’t know him. He could easily snap her neck without breaking a sweat and be through with it. There were dozens of ways he could make her dance like a marionette if he wanted. She really needed to be a little more selective on her invitations.
Son of a fuck. He did not just whisper a thought of concern over her well-being. Reality crashed down so hard he swayed. He couldn’t do this, not to her. He wouldn’t be her lover tonight. He needed to show her that she was in way over her head. If he couldn’t at least scare her into thinking twice about taking on a field assignment like this, he hated to think what could. He’d been captured, tortured into unconsciousness. He’d been locked into rooms smaller than coffins. No food. No water. Nothing but a pinhole for air. If that didn’t make a person second-guess their career, nothing would.
Seek and Destroy (TREX, #5) Page 6
