“Bunker Hill monument,” Sev added.
“Old Ironsides.” She added the naval ship, U.S.S. Constitution, that resided in Charlestown near Bunker Hill.
Sev gave her one of his infuriating smiles. This one wasn’t meant for seduction, either. It was his way of being condescending, which was common for him. When he looked at her like that, it was enough to kill her interest. And it was hard to remember why she’d ever loved him in the first place. Arrogant ass!
“Wrong war, sugar. That’s the one in 1812.”
He had deliberately used the hated endearment. A year ago, when they had still been jumping each other at every opportunity and planning a future together, it had become a real endearment, one she treasured as a sign of his love, not condescension. But that was then. Now it was the sort of inappropriate thing a guy called a female colleague. If he had hoped to get a rise out of her, she was determined to disappoint him.
Haley shrugged. “These guys aren’t the sharpest tacks in the box. It’s a big tourist attraction and loaded with symbolism because it’s still maintained as an actively commissioned ship manned by naval personnel.”
“I agree.” Ms. Mac’s sharp voice cut between them, reminding them they weren’t alone and this wasn’t some lover’s game. Lives were at stake, and Noah’s life and career were also on the line. What would happen to him if his memories didn’t come back? There was no time to dwell on that extra matter, however. The boss turned to the doctor.
“Is there anything, any treatment, to help regain a person’s memories?”
With a head shake, Dr. Alvarez gave the harsh answer. “No, not really. The brain is still a big mystery to us, memories even more so. We can only hope as his physical condition improves, his memories will return, although there isn’t a physical reason for his amnesia. The blow to the head he obviously took was enough to knock him out but not enough to keep him out as long as he was or to rob him of his memories. His fever, while high, wasn’t high enough to render him insensate either. His condition was and remains mostly psychological as near as I can tell with the medical results. His mind is hiding from a truth he can’t bear.”
“I don’t understand why that would be,” Sev interjected. “Noah’s not that green as an operative and pretty emotionally tough from what I’ve seen. Sure, they worked him over, but he could take the pain.”
The women remained silent for a few seconds in reaction to his comment. Sev only had the bare facts of what had happened. With a glance at Ms. Mac, Haley reluctantly took on the task of giving him the details. “They tortured Markowitz to death in front of him to make him talk,” she said in a low voice. The image of the poor woman’s body was burned into her memory. It would be there forever.
“Christ,” Sev murmured.
“They showed some spark of intelligence in that decision, I’m afraid,” she continued grimly. “They must have known how well we’re trained against breaking under physical pain, so they used a woman as leverage against him. They hoped he’d talk rather than allow a woman to be slowly killed.”
“Any man would,” Sev agreed. “Any decent man, that is.” He sighed heavily and pressed his thumbs against the corners of his eyes. “Except a man trained to keep his mouth shut no matter what. No wonder he’s wiped those memories from his mind. I’d do the same.”
Haley understood the sentiment. If she could forget what she had found inside the warehouse, she would. Knowing she had managed a rescue while Noah still lived was hardly comfort enough.
“They’re not necessarily gone for good,” the doctor replied. “This isn’t like brain damage. The memories are locked inside and may come out with the passage of time. It’s also possible something will trigger them.”
“Such as?” Ms. Mac prompted when the doctor fell silent.
The doctor waved vaguely. “Such as a sight, a sound, a smell. It’s hard to say, but we do know it happens. The smallest things can cause a memory to come flooding back.”
“Doc, are you suggesting we wave some…what, blood or gunpowder under the kid’s nose to make him remember?” Sev asked skeptically.
“It might work,” the doctor allowed. “It might also send him into shock and shut him down entirely if you’re too heavy handed about this. It’s going to be difficult enough for him to cope with what happened when he does remember. We don’t need him going completely catatonic on us.”
“That would be a no,” Haley added, grimacing at Sev. A germ of an idea started to form in her head, however. Perhaps it was her own memories of the intimate moment she had shared earlier that morning with the still-unconscious Noah. “How about a touch?” she ventured leaning forward. Severin’s gaze whipped over to her, but she ignored it and concentrated on the doctor’s response.
“A touch,” agreed the other woman. “Touch can be very evocative, too.”
Haley sat back in her seat, a plan blossoming in her tired, yet eager, brain. Noah was a very sensual young man. He had spent hours caressing her body, reveling in the feel of her, delighting in the sight and smell of her. Reliving those moments might do the trick. It was a crazy idea, maybe a little unfair to Noah, given his condition. He had to be frightened as well as confused. His life was in limbo, and what she had in mind would either help or possibly make him more confused. It would certainly make him more emotionally dependent on her. She could handle that, though. She had known when she took the first step toward taking him as a lover as well as a trainee that she was accepting greater responsibility for him. He wasn’t like Sev, he wasn’t an experienced operative or even very experienced as a man. He wasn’t a player. She was older and more powerful, and with power came responsibility. She would and could tread carefully.
She wondered if Sev was as concerned about Noah. The relationship between the two men was mostly a matter of conjecture on her part. Neither had spoken about it to her, thank God. She had no interest in hearing about her old lover’s conquests with her new lover. Things were complicated enough as it was. She knew, too, that for all his faults, Severin Blake was not a callous predator. Whatever had happened between the two men would have been consensual as it was between her and Noah. Or her and Sev, some part of her brain added. Several years her senior, Sev had been her mentor once upon a time. Their relationship had worked out well back in those days. It was exciting, as were the missions. It wasn’t until she came into her own as an operative and was given her own missions and her own trainees that things started to go wrong. He had changed, or maybe she had. Things between them had changed, that was for sure.
He stared at her. The heat in the room kicked up a notch or two and it was Haley’s turn to want to squirm. She held firm, though. No way would she let him see he could get to her. She shut down thoughts of her plan for Noah. It wasn’t possible for Sev to tell what she was thinking, and yet it was exactly how it felt. Instead, she offered up her assessment of their next move to their boss.
“Ma’am, I suggest while we wait and hope for Noah to recover his memories, we send agents out to canvas the more obvious targets. Maybe we’ll get lucky and notice suspicious activity.”
Ms. Mac nodded her head once. “I agree, it’s our only course of action at this moment. Now that the terrorists know we were able to infiltrate them, they’ll be extra careful. I believe they’re arrogant enough to go through with their plans, however. Allowing the detonation they set to blow a few minutes after your rescue was completed was a wise decision, Ms. Walker. And they likely saw the fake news story we put out about two dead bodies being found inside. Draw up a list and assign the agents. If you need more people, let me know.” Turning to look at Sev, she added, “Ms. Walker is team leader on this one, but she needs a lieutenant. That would be you, Mr. Blake.”
“Yes ma’am,” he replied and shot Haley yet another look she knew too well. Sev was ex-military and followed orders, yet his expression reminded her he never followed them blindly. He would challenge her and make her justify her decisions. Typical alpha male, he would be a p
ain in her ass. Still, there was no one she trusted more in the field, and a part of her she kept trying to beat back was thrilled at the prospect of being with him again. She had never really gotten over Severin Blake, and wasn’t that a testament to how utterly exhausted she was to even think such a thing?
Standing up abruptly, Haley dismissed herself. “I’d better get started.”
“Get some sleep first,” Ms. Mac ordered. “You can’t think straight with as little sleep as you’ve had in the last few days. We have time, so let’s do this as right as we can.”
“Yes ma’am,” Haley replied, although she didn’t want to sleep while mass murderers planned their attack. Even as she thought it, though, the room tilted a bit. She was that tired. Ignoring the vertigo, she walked into the hallway, only to be stopped by a hard grip on her arm. Training and the touch’s familiarity kept her from twisting away and launching a counterattack. Back against the wall, she lifted her tired eyes to Sev’s devastatingly sexy ones.
They held each other’s gaze for long seconds, he searching hers as if to glean some information, and she giving herself the pleasure of the mere sight of him. It was wrong and stupid. They were long over and there was no going back. Still, she loved his blue eyes. Besides being such an interesting contrast to his black hair, they always seemed to convey a sense of mystery and invitation. It was as if Sev’s eyes said, “I know something and I’m going to give you a chance to find out what in very interesting ways.”
Sev’s hand told tales, too. His fingers still held her arm in a loose grip and it was impossible for her to not respond to the touch. Her skin tingled where pressed, a flash of heat and arousal careened throughout her entire body. Tired and worn out, Haley closed her eyes as she leaned against the wall and focused on the sensation, enjoying how her nipples tightened against her shirt and her pussy’s folds swelled against her panties. It was so delicious, she forgot for a moment who was making her feel so good.
“Haley?”
And then she remembered. Sev’s voice could be a turn-on, too, but his tone was one of faint amusement. He knew what was happening to her. Her eyes popped open and, straightening from the wall, she shook off his hold. “What?” she demanded in a clipped tone.
The look in his eyes said he wasn’t fooled by her effort to appear unaffected. Her nipples jutted out from her soft cotton shirt, betraying her. His gaze flicked down briefly and when he looked at her face again, a small teasing smile played at the corners of his lips. She ignored it.
“Is there something you want, Sev, because I have a lot of work to do?”
The amusement left his face. “We both have a lot of work to do. I’ll help you draw up a list of possible targets and we can set up a recon schedule, after you get some sleep.” She opened her mouth to argue the last point, and knowing her the way he did, he overrode what she was going to say. “After,” he emphasized. “I know you want to jump right in on this and so do I, but you’re obviously exhausted and the boss lady was right about the sleep.”
Haley rolled her eyes and looked away, hating how he was right. “Yeah, yeah,” she griped, “I’m sure I look a fright.” As soon as she said it, she was appalled she had uttered such an obvious female line, the kind geared to induce a man to reassure a woman. Sev, damn him, played his male part without hesitation.
“You look beautiful, as always.” The statement was so simple and said with such earnestness, she looked at him with suspicion. His eyes conveyed sincerity and tiredness. For an instant, perhaps only in her own mind, she saw something else, regret. If it had been there at all, it was gone. “I’m going to check in on Noah in the meantime,” he added in a more businesslike tone.
Happy to be focused on something other than them, Haley said, “His fever broke, but he’s still weak, still confined to bed.” She shook her head. “He’s so lost.”
“We’ll help him find his way back again.” It was said with conviction. Typical Sev, capable of reading her mind, he added, “You have a plan on how to do it, don’t you, sugar?”
“I have no idea what you mean,” she lied, and as good as she was as an operative at lying, she knew she sounded unconvincing even to someone who didn’t know her as well as this man did.
“You can’t hide from me, Haley Walker. I know you too well. You mentioned using touch to prompt memories back in the meeting. What kind of touch are you thinking about?”
Haley stood straighter and pushed away from the wall. She got right in Sev’s face. Too close, too arousing with this guy, but she suspected it bothered him as well, and she wanted to shut down this conversation as fast as possible. “I don’t answer to you, Severin. I’m team leader on this one. I give the orders and you follow them. If I think you need to know something, I’ll tell you. Otherwise, stay the hell out of my way.”
They stood toe to toe, staring each other down for long seconds. Sev’s eyes shifted first, lowering to gaze at her lips instead. Without conscious thought, she licked them. His nostrils flared in response, and he inhaled a quick breath. For a moment, it seemed as if he was going to lower his head, close the few inches separating them and kiss her. It passed before she could even wonder whether she’d greet his lips with a sigh or a snarl. In any event, Sev backed away.
“Yes ma’am.” His tone was anything but sincere. Still, she let it slide and was both grateful and disappointed he hadn’t tried anything more.
Turning away, she said, “I’ll call you in a few hours and we’ll draw up that list.”
“Sure thing,” he replied. “But, Haley?” When she looked at him over her shoulder, he winked. “Just so you know, I’ve got my own ideas about jogging memories.”
Oh, no he didn’t! Was Sev going to initiate her plan himself? The bastard! Well, why the hell not? He had a connection to Noah not unlike her own, and Severin Blake was nothing if not competitive.
“Fine,” she tossed out as she continued down the hall. “Give it your best shot.” As she said it, Haley wondered if she had lost her perspective. They all worked for the same goal, find the terrorists’ target and stop the attack. This wasn’t a game between her and Sev. And yet she couldn’t help feeling it was exactly that. It was a game of Who Can Seduce Noah into Remembering First. It was a game without rules, but the stakes were high. Whoever won would help save human lives, and in that, they would all win.
Game on.
Chapter Two
Severin stopped at the closed bedroom door and marshaled his thoughts and his courage. The doctor had told him Noah was awake and was allowed visitors. Still, Sev hesitated. What did one say to a lover who couldn’t remember him? And, standing there, pondering this, Sev could finally think of Noah in that way. They were lovers, only a few times and in a hot and furiously primal way. But lovers they were even if the emotions involved hadn’t had time to gel. If nothing else, Noah Turner was a friend and Sev cared about what happened to him. It had been a punch to the gut to learn Noah had been injured, and while it was always bad when one of their own went down, this was different. Noah mattered in a way other people did not.
Not other people as in Haley, of course. Haley had always been the exceptopn to the rule in Sev’s world. He had never been involved with a subordinate before Haley. He’d worked hard to ignore the desire that hit him whenever she was around—tried, failed, and failed miserably when he fell in love with her. She had gotten to him as no one else had, and their breakup still hurt him more than he could even acknowledge to himself. It was like looking at the sun. He had to turn away or get hurt in a way he wasn’t sure he could recover from. Seeing her now and working with her was already torture. He wanted her as much as always and just looking at her caused his heart to squeeze tight.
It also made his cock hard. It strained against his zipper and had since he’d confronted Haley in the hallway. Shit, he hadn’t lied when he told her she was beautiful. It had taken great control not to add how desirable she was. It had taken even more control not to grab her and kiss her and hold her tight. O
r take her against the wall the way his cock begged him to. It certainly didn’t seem to understand they were no longer together. It always did the happy dance of arousal when she was near. Knowing his cock wasn’t going to get what it wanted, and knowing he had to go in and see a sick man, he worked to get himself back under control. He concentrated on what the poor guy was going through. It helped to kill his growing erection.
Except thoughts of Noah in general brought it back again. Sev remembered the second time he had seduced a subordinate, mere months ago. The kid was a good ten years younger than himself, nearly as tall, but leaner and almost as pretty as Haley. Technically, Noah was Haley’s subordinate, but he had been sent to run a routine mission out in California with Sev, so the issue was one of semantics. The guy’s allure had been immediate. Sev’s cock had given the new guy a welcoming salute which said something. As a bi-man in a straight world, Sev had always been careful not to approach a man simply because he found him attractive. That had been particularly true in the army. Perhaps his body had known more than he had, because Noah hadn’t even tried to ignore what he saw. He’d glanced down at the tent in Sev’s pants and issued a smile of pure invitation.
Neither had acted on their interest until after the mission. They had been in the locker room shower at L.A. headquarters, alone, tired from a job well done, but not too tired.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Standing under the hot stream, Sev looked across the communal shower room to find Noah slowly pumping himself erect under one of the showerheads.
“Do you mind?” the kid asked. “It’s the adrenaline, I guess.” His smile clearly indicated his willingness.
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