Taste Me Deadly (Sensory Ops)

by Duncan, Nikki

  Liam stood and walked the few feet to where Grey sat on her sister’s bed. She tracked him with her gaze—piercing blue instead of the honey gold it’d been when he met her.

  “Answer one question.” The biggest one that continued to plague him even with new understanding.

  “Okay.”

  “Did you regret walking or marrying me more?”

  “Marrying you was an impulse I never should have indulged given my situation.” She stood and placed her hands on either side of his head. Pushing to her tiptoes she pulled him down and then pressed her lips to his forehead. She’d made the same gesture when she said yes. As it had then, her touch, sweet in its simplicity, eased the anxiety bouncing about in his chest. “I regret that I saw no other path than to treat you like a fling.”

  So she didn’t regret him. The relief he’d dreamed of since that dreaded morning erased the prints of pain. Like a wave-swept beach, his heart was a clean slate. His mind still questioned: was the Grey he’d married real or an assumed identity she would shed when she was safe?

  “Grey.” Liam lifted his hands, placing one on her hip and one over her left hand. His finger brushed the ring she still wore. His skin absorbed the sensation of her nearness. It was too possible she’d walk again when her business in Miami was finished. “We have a lot to talk about.”

  “Yes.”

  He stared into her eyes. Even with her new look, more fragile pixie than shocking seductress, his wife captivated him. Colored contacts held no power against the bravery that breathed fire into her gaze.

  “First…” Trailing off, Liam wrapped his long fingers around her hand and pulled her to him. She fell against his chest with a huff.

  Creamy chocolate with the slightest hint of pineapple. Sweet. Addicting. Grey’s taste was something else he’d thought about. A lot. Driven by dreams, years apart and the danger that hunted her, Liam kissed his wife.

  Inhaling her deep into his lungs and soul, he kept his mouth gentle against hers. Her pliancy, moving with and against him, encouraged deeper explorations. A press of his tongue’s tip at the crease of her lips begged entrance.

  “Liam.” Grey parted for him, whispered his name in a way that sounded like surrender. Surrender or relief, something had her shaking in his arms. Or, maybe it wasn’t her who shook. It quite possibly could be him.

  “I wish you hadn’t left, Grey.” He reached for the collar of her sweater and tugged the fabric aside. The bare skin, pale as ivory and smooth as his gun’s metal, beckoned.

  His eyelids dropped as he laid his lips against her collarbone. Cravings he’d suppressed for too long awakened.

  Growing desperate, he nipped at the tender skin. She whimpered again and arched into him. His opposite in every way he could recall, she’d brought out a side of himself he hadn’t entertained since high school.

  He tried to stay gentle, but there was a hunger, an urgency, in him. He returned his lips to hers, caressed her bottom one with his tongue as he shook. His erection pressed against her.

  On a moan, she circled her arms around his neck. The kiss simplified the moment, but it complicated the coming hours and days even more.

  Liam closed his arms around her waist. Straightening to his full height, he lifted her off the floor as if she weighed nothing. Her feet dangled in the air and images of her legs wrapped around his waist entered his mind. He carried her to the wall, braced against it and then leaned into her.

  She opened for him, brushed her tongue against his. Liam needed no other invitation. He swiped his tongue against her, in and out, strong and gentle. She brushed her fingers over his neck and shoulders.

  He’d had fun in Vegas and had laughed with her. He’d enjoyed every moment and then replayed each one on a loop for two years. Memories paled beneath the kiss of reality.

  Pulling back, Grey angled her head and lightly bit at his neck. He mirrored her. “Damn,” she breathed heavily. “You taste good.”

  “He must,” Aidan said from just inside the room.

  Liam froze more effectively than any criminal who’d ever been told to freeze. In hopes of staying off their radar, he had told his team he needed a few days off. He’d even been doing his own searches for info on Ruby. Tyler, the team’s tech genius, would have been faster but he’d have wanted answers.

  Grey tapped Liam’s shoulder when he didn’t release her. He jolted to action in his head, playing out all the ways this scene could unfold. Unfortunately, they all had the same ending. Prepared for the inevitable, Liam eased Grey to the floor. Before stepping aside, he whispered, “We’ll finish this later.”

  Liam kept a hand on Grey’s waist as he turned to face Aidan.

  She turned with him and gasped. “You’re a twin.”

  “Yes.” No matter how many times Liam had dreamed of making this introduction it had never included these circumstances. “Grey, this is Aidan.” Liam rubbed his fingertips on Grey’s back instead of swallowing like a coward. “Aidan, this is Greycen Craig.”

  “Nice to meet you, Grey.” Aidan moved close enough to shake her hand. The instant he enveloped her thin fingers with his long ones Liam wanted to pull her back. It was insane, because Aidan was nuts about his fiancée, Lana, and would never consider making a wrong move. Sanity didn’t matter against the idea of letting Grey go, if only for a minute.

  “How do you know my brother?” Humor played in Aidan’s eyes as he looked at Liam. They’d clearly tracked him down through his cell signal or the searches he’d been running. Aidan, more like his journalist fiancée than he’d like to think, had already formulated a story and all that remained was proving or disproving whatever he’d concocted in his head. This had to end before Aidan said too much—like how celibate Liam had been and for how long.

  “We met a few years ago in Vegas.” Grey thought the vague answer would be enough. She definitely didn’t know Aidan.

  Liam captured his brother’s stare and, with a protective hold on Grey’s waist, took the plunge. “She’s my wife.”

  Aidan blinked, scrubbed his left hand’s index finger over his forehead, stared. “Your what?”

  Doubt surfaced in the light of Aidan’s surprise. He should have told everyone about Grey before she showed up.

  The question, two stumbling words, conveyed volumes of confused irritation. It was a reaction Aidan normally had toward Lana when she got into a new story, seeming to always be drawn to the dangerous ones. Aidan wouldn’t accept the truth easily because for all his bluster, he was a traditionalist.

  Protectiveness turned to defensiveness.

  Flattening his hand on Grey’s back, reassuring himself more than her, he said it again. “My wife.”

  “Since when are you married?”

  “Since the Behavioral Analysis Conference I attended two years ago, but what’s important right now is that Grey needs my help.”

  Aidan shifted his stare to Ruby, and, though he stood still as stone, Liam knew his brother was working to bite back questions. Most days Liam looked forward to swapping verbal spars with his twin. Today was not like most days.

  Aidan’s shoulders lowered beneath his leather bomber jacket. When he turned his attention back to Liam and Grey he seemed more relaxed. Their mother had always said Aidan carried the hellraiser genes and Liam the peacemaker ones, but since getting engaged to Lana—hellraiser extraordinaire—Aidan was mellowing. The change was especially appreciated at the moment.

  “Looks to me like Ms. Donovan’s the one who needs help.”

  “Which is why I’m here.” Grey cocked her head defensively and moved to stand between Aidan and Ruby.

  Pride burst in Liam’s chest. It wasn’t everyone who could stand up to Aidan when they didn’t know him, but the woman he’d impetuously married had a spine he hadn’t seen. Getting to know her could be fun.

  “How are you going to help her? You a doctor?”

  Grey did not back down from Aidan, instead she made sure she stood tall, which wasn’t especially easy given h
er height. “I’m her sister. She needs a kidney.”

  “Hold up.” Liam interrupted any response Aidan may have had and crossed quickly to Grey. “That’s why you’re here? To donate a kidney?”

  “Know your wife real well, I see.”

  Grey smirked, clearly enjoying her moment. “Guess Micah didn’t tell you everything.”

  “Who’s Micah?”

  Liam waved Aidan off, not that it would work. His brother was a bulldog. Hell, the whole team was and any one of them would come up with some questions.

  “How did you hope to protect yourself if you’re under anesthesia?” Liam’s demand sounded harsher than he’d intended, but he couldn’t ease it any more than he could slow his racing heart. “What if I hadn’t been here waiting? Would you have called me? If you’d needed help, would you have reached out?”

  “I told Micah I would.”

  “Which isn’t an answer.” Liam knew an evasion when he heard one, and he knew the primary reasons for them—uncertainty and to avoid a lie. He didn’t know Grey well enough to know which reason was hers, but he didn’t care.

  “That’s not an answer.” If they were at an interrogation table he’d be standing, towering over her. They weren’t, though, and he was struggling to keep his cool. She was dealing with a lot, but she wasn’t the upfront woman he’d thought her to be. “Would you have called?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Aidan moved to the chair Liam had spent the night in and settled. He would have plenty to say about Liam being married but he’d wait and learn more first. It’s what he did, just as pretending to ignore him was what Liam did.

  “You came here without Micah’s protection. Did anyone know you were coming?”

  “Ruby’s doctor. I called to set up an appointment to talk about donating.”

  “Did you tell him who you are?” She’d changed her looks, which was smart, but calling ahead could too easily undo that precaution.

  “Only my name.”

  “You think they won’t figure out you’re sisters when they start doing tests?”

  “They ought to see it by looking at her.” Aidan spoke more to himself than either of them, but it was the absolute truth. And clearly one Grey didn’t want to consider.

  Marshal Carpenter hadn’t shared any details about Grey’s time in WitSec or her connection to the case she was testifying in. Liam could only find so much, but what he hadn’t missed was the impression that if Carpenter had known why he’d wanted to find Grey he would never have called.

  “How do you know this isn’t a trap? How do you know Ruby isn’t being watched by someone other than me? How do you know her doctor isn’t on Karl Jessup’s payroll?”

  Liam tossed Jessup’s name out with the slightest weight added. He’d given Aidan a crucial piece of information, but more importantly, the tiniest flicker of her eyelids evidenced that he’d hit his mark with what he knew. She’d considered the same possibilities.

  “I don’t know any of that, but how do you know I haven’t given this proper consideration?” she challenged.

  “I hope you have, because while I get wanting to help Ruby, you need to be smart about it.”

  “I’m smart.” Grey rested her hands on his waist and looked into his eyes. The connection weakened his resolve to argue. “And you’re already here so we don’t have to worry about what I might have done.”

  He really hated evasiveness, hers more than most because it did nothing to ease his suspicion. The biggest one being that she wouldn’t have reached out, or if she had it would have been too late.

  “Well, since I am here and you need protection, you get to play by my rules.”

  “Depends on your rules.”

  “The ones that keep you and Ruby safe while allowing you to be here for her.”

  Aidan’s cocky grin stretched his mouth, probably because he knew how fast and flat that demand would fall if directed at any of the women in their lives. Grey was different. Her circumstances were different. She was used to living under restrictive dictates, and unlike the U.S. Marshals, Liam offered something she wanted.

  “I’m going to need a few more details,” she insisted.

  “You had zero details when you left with Micah. I’m not going to take you away from your sister.”

  “Yes, but your deal sounds as if I’m going to have a babysitter twenty-four seven.”

  Liam nodded. “Because you will.”

  “Then no deal.”

  Aidan laughed. “Oh, she’s going to fit in nicely with the girls. Especially Lana.”

  Liam turned on his brother, who was obviously enjoying seeing someone else fight a willful woman. “You’re not telling anyone else about her. Even Lana.”

  “Lana’s going to know I know something. Woman’s a damn savant like that,” he muttered. “And you’re going to have to tell the rest of the team at some point.”

  “Yes, I will tell them.”

  Aidan leaned forward and braced his elbows on his knees so his hands dangled. It was a stance they both took often and they were rarely as relaxed as they looked. “Let’s see if I’ve pieced this together correctly and then maybe you’ll let me help.”

  Grey shook her head. Liam didn’t bother.

  “And you accuse Lana of being pushy.” Any attempt to stop Aidan from hypothesizing would be wasted so he gave it no energy.

  Expectedly, Aidan ignored him. “You found yourself in some kind of danger that drove you into hiding. Now, your sister is hurt so you’ve left your safety net—I’m guessing his name is Micah—and you need my brother, your husband, to watch out for you while you have and recover from a surgery.”

  “If I qualify as a donor. And I can protect myself.”

  Aidan shrugged off her argument and indulged his preference for facts and things he could control. “What I haven’t figured out is who Micah is. Can’t be a brother or you’d have left him behind with Ruby. Judging by the kiss I walked in on, and hoping for the best in a sister-in-law, I don’t think boyfriend.”

  “Is he always so—”

  “Annoying?” Liam finished for Grey as he stepped up to stand directly in front of her. Locking his gaze with hers he tried to ignore Aidan.

  “Yes,” she said with a sigh.

  “We Feds like our puzzles. Aidan’s missing a lot of pieces.” So am I.

  “The biggest piece is when you two got hitched. Before, during or after you went into hiding. It’s obvious you’re into each other, so for you to stay apart I’m guessing after the danger and during the hiding.”

  Liam ran an index finger over her stomach, wishing they were alone and naked but settling for what he could get. “You may as well tell him. Or let me.”

  “The fewer who know the better.”

  “Do you trust me with what I know? Do you trust me to watch out for you and Ruby?”

  An instant and resounding yes would have been nice, but she took her time with the answer. Her hesitation and consideration lent credence to whatever she’d say. “I do.”

  The whispered words whipped him back to Vegas and had him smiling as broadly as he had that night. He wouldn’t let her down. In fact, he’d do everything possible to win a second chance after the threat to her life was gone. “Then trust me when I tell you I’ll only bring in people I trust with my own life.”

  “And you trust Aidan.”

  Liam nodded. “Plus a few others.”

  Eleven others to be exact, and though they didn’t all see each other daily they would all circle around Grey and Ruby with fists and weapons at the ready. When they heard she was his wife they’d grow especially protective.

  “Fine.” Her shoulders dropped. “Tell them.”

  Chapter Three

  Grey picked at the Band-Aid that pulled the fine hairs on her arm. The cotton ball beneath the tan strip was intended to apply pressure and stop the bleeding faster. It applied pressure. Everything since reading the hit-and-run article about Ruby applied pressure.

 
Her sister was in a coma and could die.

  Pressure.

  The U.S. Marshal who’d kept her safe suspected a trap.

  Pressure.

  Her FBI husband had found her.

  Pressure.

  She needed protection but had left WitSec.

  Pressure.

  Liam was asking her to trust him and his friends.

  Pressure.

  The vein that had already given body-weakening quantities of blood throbbed. A bruise spread around the Band-Aid and darkened the skin of her inner elbow. Her entire arm ached, but, perversely, she preferred it to feeling nothing. With only a brief respite two years ago, she’d lived a numb existence for too long and while she wasn’t thankful for Ruby’s accident, she was grateful for the changes it forced in her.

  Opening the door of the exam room with a stack of pamphlets and forms in hand, Grey found Liam leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. Not all the changes filled her with thanks.

  “Liam.”

  He fell silently into step beside her as they headed for Ruby’s room. His arm brushed hers, or rather, the sleeve of his jacket did. No skin touched and no intimacy was intended, but she felt it.

  He’d asked for her trust, which had been easier to give than she’d expected. Then he’d said he wanted to bring his team, his friends, in. That was when things got dicey.

  She could count on one hand the number of people she’d trusted in the last twenty-nine years. She’d even have fingers left over. Liam could practically fill a notepad with his list and he wanted her to blindly trust them.

  It was more than she’d expected or thought herself ready for.

  “How’d it go?” Liam asked as they entered the stairwell, hushing the hospital sounds behind them.

  “Fine. Why aren’t we using the elevator?” They’d used the stairs earlier too.

  “Always have an escape plan, Grey. Elevators are traps.”

  It made sense, especially when she recalled how she’d felt sharing the elevator with the man earlier. Cornered. Threatened.