“We’re fine. The driver took the brunt of it.” A fact that pissed Rick off and made him more committed than ever to catching this asshole…or group of assholes. “But he’s okay.”
Damn, he wished he had more information.
Concern lingered in Alec’s eyes. “As long as you’re sure.”
Rick nodded. Not a smart move. When his head stopped bobbing, it felt like his brain continued to slosh around. It was like soup up there thanks to that stupid bullet. “I am.”
Alec gave Rick’s arms one final squeeze then dropped his hands. “Griff and Finn say hello, by the way. Finn specifically said to congratulate you on not getting killed.”
The door closed with a click and Seth cleared his throat. “Who are they?”
“Sorry.” Jesus. Rick’s brain blanked, and he struggled to get back in the game. “Seth Lang, this is Alec Drummond.”
He didn’t bother to give more than that. Seth knew at least a bit about Alec’s business. Alec wouldn’t ask any questions about Seth. He knew better.
“Finn and Griff are my brothers.” Alec moved around the opposite side of the conference table and retook his seat.
“You all know Rick?” Seth asked.
A small smile played on Alec’s lips then disappeared. “Some of us better than others.”
Seth shot Rick an unreadable look. “Uh-huh.”
And that was enough of that. The last thing Rick needed was a battle about who knew him best and how. “Let’s all take a seat.”
Alec waited until they were all settled in. “So, accident or intentional?”
The need to get to the point and not waste time was pure Alec. Rick appreciated the trait. “Intentional.”
“The window by his head was shot out,” Seth added.
Alec winced. “Motherfucker. Is this related to Ed?”
“Damn.” Seth whistled. “You’re the asset.”
Alec’s eyebrow lifted. “I like to think of myself that way.”
“Rick’s been pretty closed off about your role in this.” Seth leaned back far enough in his chair to lift the front two rollers off the floor. He didn’t blink as he stared at Alec. And Alec stared right back. They looked two seconds away from lunging across the table with fists flying.
Rick debated putting a stop to the show now, before anyone spilled blood. But they needed to talk this through. He could handle the consulate end, but Alec had the on-the-street intel. His people took the risks to get the documents and collect the evidence.
Being the diplomat, Rick tried for diplomacy. “Let’s all settle down and—”
“My company sometimes does favors for our government,” Alec said, talking right over Rick.
“The U.S. government?” Seth being Seth, he pushed. He didn’t back off or give Alec the benefit of the doubt.
That refusal to show automatic respect had Alec’s mouth thinning into a straight line. All of his attention centered on Seth now. “I’m not a fucking traitor.”
“Okay, gentlemen. Whatever this is, it’s over. Enough pissing at each other. Rein it in.” Rick had no interest in going down this road. The only person he knew who liked being right more than Alec was Seth. Getting into that fight would just derail them, so he gestured for Alec to continue. “Keep explaining about Ed and where we are.”
For a second, neither Seth nor Alec gave up on their staring contest. They sat there, across from each other, neither moving. Neither speaking.
So much for thinking this was a good idea. Still, Rick tried to break the stalemate. “Alec?”
Another few seconds ticked by before he started talking. When he did, his gaze switched back and forth between Seth and Rick. “We ensure that certain shipments get where they need to be.”
“How?” Seth asked.
“Not important.” Alec stopped that line of questioning with a shake of his head. “Suffice to say we have people who watch these things, count crates and can get their hands on shipping manifests.”
“And you noticed the discrepancy.” Seth’s voice had evened out. He sounded more rational and definitely engaged.
“Actually, no.” Alec smiled then. “Rick did.”
That gave him far more credit than he deserved. He’d been listening to the chatter and trying to track it. At first Rick suspected the embassy in Berlin, but then he studied shipments and transportation routes and Munich popped. When Ed died the alarm bells rang. “I was doing a routine check on intel and found the problem.”
Alec nodded. “The shorted vaccine shipments all traced back to here. Combine that with Ed’s erratic schedule and—”
“Wait, what does that mean?” Seth sat forward until the legs of his chair hit the floor again.
“Sneaking out without a guard at night.” Alec shrugged. “Apparently it had become a habit. My people knew, so there’s no way the consulate security guy didn’t.”
Seth glanced at Rick. He understood the look. That scenario sounded all too familiar. They had a guy sitting in his room right now who suffered from the same nightly flight issue. Rick knew that wasn’t a coincidence.
“And you know this how?” Seth asked Alec.
“You’re going to need to trust me.”
Seth shook his head. “Because you’re really CIA.”
“Fuck no.” Alec sounded appalled at the idea.
The response was understandable. Rick got it. Alec did not consider either him or his company to be on the government payroll. He talked about the work they did in patriotic terms. “Alec works with a group of influential businessmen who step up when needed.”
“Okay.” Seth looked two seconds away from an eye roll. “I guess I know what that means.”
Alec smiled. “Good.”
Yeah, not nearly good enough. Rick wouldn’t accept that response if he’d just heard it for the first time, and he didn’t expect Seth to either. “It means they sometimes work with the CIA.”
Alec held up one of his hands as if trying to turn the conversation with pure will. “It’s not as altruistic as it sounds. We get paid.”
“I figured,” Seth said. “So, same theory. Ed was either involved or he figured out the scheme, or some part of it, and someone killed him so he couldn’t talk about it.”
“Yeah, that suicide stuff is bullshit. I saw him the afternoon before he died. There was no sign of trouble.” Alec touched his tie again. Ran his long fingers up and down in a gesture that was almost sexual.
Seth watched each movement. “I’m not sure it always works that way.”
“Since Rick and I both have experience on this point, I’ll go with my gut.” Alec dropped his hand. “I’m telling you, Ed was ready to get married and talking about a future outside of the foreign service.”
Rick wanted off the topic of suicide and fast, so he jumped in. “One financed with weapon-sales money.”
Alec nodded. “Possibly.”
“Great.” Seth leaned back, sprawling in his chair. “So, now what?”
“I have my people watching but you’re going to have to break this from the inside.” Alec turned to Rick as he spoke. “The shipments are clean right now. I’m thinking someone is covering their tracks.”
“Or the scheme stopped with Ed and he’s gone.” That was still Rick’s working theory. The one he’d hoped would be the case, but that died a bit with the car crash.
“Or Tim knows he’s being watched and isn’t causing trouble. Or whomever is doing this is setting up Tim or waiting for the fire to die out.” Seth groaned. “There are a lot of shitty alternatives.”
“No matter what, I’d expect a new recruiting effort to start,” Alec said.
“Uh-huh.” Seth snorted. “You sure you’re not CIA?”
Alec was already shaking his head as the amusement moved back into his voice. “Nah, it’s not for me. There’s no money in it.”
“No kidding,” Seth and Rick said at the same time.
Chapter 15
Seth’s anger had been boiling for twenty minutes. He waited unti
l they left Alec and hung around in the office while Rick took care of another issue. Stood there and burned from the inside out as the questions spun around in his head and frustration built and festered.
Rick’s relationship with Alec. Alec’s flip comment about suicide and Rick knowing something about it. They had a bond. A real one. Seth knew he shouldn’t care, but seeing those two together—the intimacy and history—made him almost feral.
He barely got to the door to Rick’s rooms a few hours later before turning on Rick. “You’ve fucked him.”
It was an unfair attack and stupid. Seth got that. It made sense in his head but his mouth kept going.
“Wow.” Rick dropped the files he’d been carrying on the coffee table and loosened his tie. “How long have you been holding that in?”
Now was not the time for cool. Sure, Rick could date and they didn’t so much as have an understanding about not fooling around with other people. All true. All logical.
So fucking what.
“Just admit it.” Maybe if he heard the truth from Rick’s mouth it would break this connection. Seth had been trying to ignore it, stomp it out—do whatever he could to pretend Rick was just another guy with a good ass. None of it worked, but it was possible this Alec guy would finally drive the point home.
“You picked up on that from a thirty-minute meeting with Alec?”
That almost sounded like an admission, but Seth couldn’t be sure. Half-assing this was not going to rip the scab off.
“I figured it out the minute he touched you. He was two seconds from crawling all over you and drooling.” But him knowing and Rick just saying it were two different things. Seth needed the confirmation.
“I’m thinking you’re reading into things.” Rick stripped off his suit jacket, wincing as he shrugged out of it.
Seth blocked the sudden swell of sympathy. Yeah, Rick was hurt and Seth could still see him all bloodied without even closing his eyes. Not the point. None of this was.
“So, I’m wrong then?” Seth didn’t know what answer he wanted to that question.
Rick shook his head. “Jesus, Seth.”
Forget that thought. Seth did know the answer and wanted to hear it out loud. “Have you fucked him or not? This is not a hard question.”
“Yes.”
The word hit Seth like a kick to the stomach. He nearly stumbled back from the force of it. He shouldn’t care except for how it impacted the assignment, so he hid behind that. “Even though he’s your asset.”
“He didn’t start out as my asset.” Rick sat down on the armrest of the couch.
He looked and sounded so calm. The guy oozed reasonableness. He didn’t fluster. He’d been body slammed around the inside of a car and his first thoughts were about the driver and how the scene would play back at the consulate. Never mind someone tried to kill him.
Well, Seth couldn’t block that fact. At first he pretended his messed-up feelings came from having failed as a bodyguard. He’d had a job and failed. But that was all bullshit. His worry for Rick had little to do with work and everything to do with wanting Rick safe. Not as a general thing. No, this hit on a personal level. Rick in pain had doubled Seth over. He didn’t understand what tied them together or how he could shred that bond, and that vulnerability was killing him.
So, he lashed out. He felt shitty and unsure, and he wanted Rick just as scrambled. “You sleep with every guy you work with?”
“I don’t know, was I the first guy you screwed in the back room of a club?”
Shot landed. “No.”
“Then what the hell is this about?” For the first time Rick’s voice rose. He sounded tired and frustrated.
The question stopped Seth. Not the content but the body language that went with it. Seeing Rick there, slumping over with eyes near closing from exhaustion, got through.
What the fuck was he doing? Seth stood there not knowing. Words tumbled out of him. His anger spewed all over the room, forcing the tension in the small space to rise. He caused all of this. Him, not Rick. He was making these unspoken rules and getting pissed off because they were broken.
Two years ago he’d stepped back from emotions. His relationship with Elizabeth suffered because of it. Everything but his work did. And now he had Rick, who sat there watching him with a haunted expression. Waiting as if he expected the next sentence to tear him apart.
Seth leaned back against the door. He wanted to walk over to the couch but he wasn’t convinced his legs would carry him. Not now. “I wasn’t expecting to run into one of your boyfriends today.”
Rick shook his head. “He’s not that.”
“Fair enough, but maybe a warning next time?” Seth tried to make his voice sound light but when Rick frowned Seth knew he’d failed.
“I never thought—”
“No, this was me.” The energy drained right out of Seth. He didn’t want the fight and Rick deserved better. “Trust me, I didn’t expect to give a shit.”
“Listen to me.” Rick got up and came toward him. “It happened years ago.”
Seth wanted to put up his hands and ward him off but his body had other ideas. His palms smoothed over Rick’s shoulders. Fingers traced that sexy collarbone. “No screwing since then for old times’ sake?”
“No.”
Seth loved the firmness in Rick’s voice. “I mean, you could. We’re not in a relationship or committed or anything.”
“I kind of am.”
“What?”
Rick laughed. “Man, you should see the panicked look on your face.”
Right then Seth wasn’t in the mood for jokes. “You mean with me?”
“Yes. Apparently I’m only attracted to difficult smartass assholes these days.”
The comment helped. It broke through the tension spinning and grinding inside Seth. He should have hated that answer and started screaming his denial, but…“I guess that works out well for me.”
“Yeah, exactly.”
Seth let his head fall back against the door. “I’m going to pretend I didn’t say any of that and that I don’t care.”
“I figured.” Rick rolled his eyes. “Loser.”
They’d reached some sort of equilibrium. The mix of pain and confusion subsided. This was where it got easier. They’d fall back into a comfortable banter. Seth knew because that seemed to be how Rick operated. He didn’t stay at a heightened level of fury for long.
That meant Seth had to make a decision. He could back away and let this sit, or he could take a risk. He walked into battle every day, but this was different. This mattered on a very personal level and so much was at stake.
Just as his brain screamed to pull back, his mouth opened. “This—us—what’s happening in my head is weird.”
“Okay.”
He took the jump. “But I don’t want to have sex with anyone else.”
Rick didn’t even hesitate. His fingers slipped up along the side of Seth’s face. “Me either and since your skin has turned green, let’s just accept that we’re dating and move on.”
“I didn’t use that word.”
“No, but I did.”
“There are days when your big nerd brain is annoying.” But today wasn’t one of them. Seth wasn’t sure he’d had one yet.
“I can understand that.” Rick leaned down and kissed him then. Not long and not deep. It lasted only a second. “Do you really care that I’ve had sex before you?”
Seth blew out a long breath. “Of course not.”
“Then?”
“Knowing you’re experienced—which I love by the way because it benefits me greatly—is very different from meeting that experience in person.”
Rick stared at him with those big blue eyes. “I’m not sure what to say to that.”
“And the fact Alec looks like he does…well, it doesn’t help.” The harder Seth tried not to think about Alec touching Rick, the easier it became to see it. They matched in body type. The way they smiled at each other…“Fucking hell,
man.”
Rick shrugged. “He’s attractive.”
Now there was an understatement. “Don’t help me when I’m pissed off.”
“Sorry.”
Seth’s arms inched around Rick’s waist. “And he’s rich.”
“Stupid rich. Like, shockingly so.”
“Did you not hear what I just said about helping?”
Rick smiled then. “He’s a friend and nothing more.”
Yeah, Seth wanted to believe that. He trusted Rick. That wasn’t the issue. Alec was another matter. He had the resources to buy what he wanted and the history with Rick. One Seth didn’t share.
The whole situation made Seth’s head pound. “One you have sex with.”
“Had sex with.”
That sounded a little better. “Does he know it’s past tense?”
“What we had was proximity and a mutual need to get off.”
That comment didn’t help at all.
Seth dropped his hands to his sides. “Like with us now.”
“Don’t do that.” Rick reached down and lifted Seth’s arms again. Tugged until they wrapped around him. “You’re getting me off just fine. I have no interest in him that way anymore.”
Seth didn’t need help now. He was fine with touching Rick and spanned his palms against his lower back to show him. “Good to know, but I still want to punch him and I’m not someone who gets jealous.”
Rick rested his palms on the door on either side of Seth’s head. “But?”
“It took all I had not to hit him with a chair.” Or reach for his gun.
“Subtle.”
Little did he know. “But honest.”
Rick bent his elbows and dipped his body in closer. His mouth traveled along the side of Seth’s cheek.
“This is big talk. Not that long ago you wanted to slam the brakes on this. Us,” he whispered the words right above Seth’s ear.
“There’s a difference between want and need.” Seth wasn’t even pretending now. He rubbed his hands up and down Rick’s sides, pulling him closer with each pass. Enveloping Rick with the heat of his body.
Rick’s mouth danced along the line of Seth’s jaw. “What do you need now?”
A lobotomy. Seth pulled back and stared into those blue eyes that held him in a trance from the start. “What is it about you? You make me stupid. Reckless.”
Guarding Mr. Fine (Tough Love #2) Page 13
