by Alice Bello
Chapter 6
Milly
Okay, I’m not the best at outdoors stuff.
I’ve never baited a hook.
I’ve never started a campfire with some twigs and a piece of flint rock.
I certainly couldn’t tell you which way was north… even with a stinking compass.
But I found my friend’s cabin out in the New York forest with hardly a hesitation.
I came out here at least once a month. Daniela, my dear friend, and owner of the cabin, was also a loyal State Department worker. She did the grunt work for the diplomats for the Middle East; I grunted my heart out for the diplomats dealing with Russia and the parts of Europe closest to its borders.
We often met after work for happy hour frozen margaritas, and once a month we trekked out here, to her family’s cabin, to decompress.
When I’d asked her if I could use the cabin Daniela was nonplussed. Very little got to the girl. But then she asked if I was going to be alone. When I said that I hoped not, I think she dropped something that gonged like a giant bell.
“Who is he?” she said with such urgency.
Uh…
“I didn’t say it was a man.”
Silence.
I don’t know why I was trying to keep this a secret.
Nothing but silence.
“Okay, okay… stop with the third degree!”
“I knew you’d crumble like the cupcake you are,” she said. “Now spill!”
I smiled to myself. I knew then and there I was dying to tell someone. And Daniela was without a doubt my best friend.
“I’ve known him since high school—”
There was a gasp on the other end of our connection. “It’s that Troy guy, right? The one you hated, then slapped, then made-out-with in the girls’ room.”
“The janitor’s closet.”
“Twisted…” she sighed. “He’s the guy whose family died in that house fire, isn’t he?”
I was glad I was almost to the cabin. My throat suddenly felt like I was trying to swallow grit.
“Yeah, that’s him.”
“And you haven’t heard from him in how long?”
I suddenly realized my fingers were playing with my locket.
“Twelve years.”
“And you guys just bumped into each other on Facebook?”
Well…
I couldn’t just tell her, could I?
She had the same clearance as I did.
Just a little?
“Actually, he’s an asset.” There, that was vague.
“An asset? As in he works for the government?”
“Sort of.”
“If you don’t stop dicking around and tell me what he does and how you just suddenly ran into him again, I’m getting my sweet ass into my car and heading up there to chaperone you two.”
“Daniela!”
“I own a stun gun.”
Christ…
“He’s an ex-military surveillance specialist slash spy slash…”
She was quiet for a beat before grousing, “Slash what?”
I took a deep breath and then let loose. “Slash assassin.”
The other side of the connection was silent for so long I thought we’d been disconnected.
And then Daniela started laughing: throaty, near hysterical laughter that morphed into a freaking snort.
When she was done laughing she told me, “You are the worst liar.”
“I’m not lying.”
“If you’re going to make something up, try making it a little more believable. He’s probably an accountant or some shit like that!”
I listened to her chuckle a few more times before she said, “Have fun getting to know Assassin Boy again! There are fresh condoms in the medicine cabinet in my bathroom.”
And she hung up on me.
Well, at least I didn’t have to explain anything else to her.
And true to form I’d forgotten all about condoms.
Not that I was going to have sex with Troy.
Not on the first date.
This wasn’t even a date, was it?
I pulled up to the cabin, parked and grabbed my bag from the trunk.
A couple minutes later I had all the lights on and was unpacked.
And suddenly had no idea what I was going to do.
Usually, I just went along with whatever mini-adventure Daniela pulled me into.
But now I was waiting out a government trained spy: the Shadow.
No… he would always be Troy to me.
Mine…
Oh, brother!
Chapter 7
Troy
Following Milly and her possible kidnappers out to somewhere out in the New York State countryside wasn’t a problem.
Trying to follow my tracking device while trying to guess where the hell she/they were going to stop, that was.
The planner in me wanted to already know where she was going. He wanted to have the place cased, swept for bugs and then monitored 24/7.
But instead, I was trying to keep up without getting so close that her possible assailants would see me.
If there were assailants…
I was getting pretty angry with myself.
Milly wasn’t really my business.
Yes, she is!
No… she isn’t.
Mine…
Good. This is good. I’m literally talking to myself. That would probably seem less scary if both me or my inner voice wasn’t a cold, efficient killer.
You enjoy it too…
There was that too.
When Milly’s location stabilized for more than a minute my phone dinged me.
Okay, now I could start gathering information.
What the holy hell was out here?
A cabin.
A rather nice, three bedroom, two baths, full kitchen, living room cabin with laundry facilities.
Owned by a Roger Fitzsimons, retired architect of many glass and steel towers built across the entire nation and in lands as far away as China and Australia.
How did he connect to Milly?
Ah…
Milly works with his granddaughter, Daniela Fitzsimons.
So this wasn’t a kidnapping.
I felt the adrenalin drop down inside me.
Once that happened, following Milly all the way out here in the middle of nowhere seemed…
Foolish?
Desperate?
Stalker-y?
Pathetic?
All the above.
Okay, enough was enough.
I needed to turn my ass and my car around and head on back to the city.
No, I needed to get to the closest airport.
I needed to get away.
Get drunk.
Forget.
No.
I needed to start another job: another freaking assignment on the other side of the fucking globe.
That was truly the only way to silence my head.
The only way to keep me from thinking about her.
Milly…
I was sitting in my Chevelle, stopped in the middle of the fucking road… like a fucking dumbass.
I closed my eyes and moments with her flickered through my mind.
And the one that came up over and over had been the way she’d looked on that sidewalk, how she’d smelled, how she’d tasted when I’d kissed her.
And suddenly my head was absolutely clear.
I knew what I needed to do.
I stamped my foot down on the gas and headed straight for that damn cabin in the woods, just as fast as I freaking could.
Chapter 8
The forest around the cabin was quiet, except for the rustle of birds and the subtle movements of a fox about twenty yards out.
I checked the surrounding perimeter for any signs that anyone else had followed Milly out here, and found nothing.
Next, I checked out the layout of the cabin, the small shed behind it, and the well-kept tree house nestled in an anc
ient looking cypress.
No signs of trouble.
But I would keep watch throughout the night, making a circular orbit and switching it up every hour or so—just to be certain.
I’d feel better if I had my equipment with me: telephoto lenses, surveillance cameras, audio catching guns, some tripwires and net traps.
But all I had were a few guns and a couple good blades.
That would have to do.
You didn’t bring a condom either.
I couldn’t bring one of those. She would think it was…
Considerate?
I shook my head.
Presumptuous.
I wasn’t even going to let her know I was here. It would be as if this never happened.
Of course, I didn’t need a condom.
Of course not.
I noticed that one by one the lights in the cabin were going out.
It was a quarter to nine in the evening. She couldn’t be going to bed already.
I got out my field glasses and took a closer look.
One after another the windows in the cabin blinked out to blackness.
Until there was but one.
I stared at that single rectangle of light until, as if willing her to, Milly appeared in the window.
And she was staring out that window—
At me…
I gulped, my mouth and throat suddenly so dry.
She had her hands on her jean-clad hips, her hair down, cascading over her shoulders, and the look on her face—total concentration.
As if she was willing me to come to her.
Demanding me to…
Before I knew it I was walking toward the cabin, leaving half my gear by the elm I’d set up by, and heedlessly heading right for her.
I didn’t care.
I didn’t care if this was wrong.
I didn’t care that I wasn’t, and would never be the man for her.
At that moment there was just me and her.
Milly…
Mine…
I stopped right in front of the window she stood in, staring at her as she stared at me.
Reckless.
Reckless of us both.
But I didn’t care. And as she turned and walked toward the front door of the cabin, I knew she didn’t care either.
I was just suddenly climbing the steps to the cabin’s porch, ready to kick in the door that separated me from her.
Luckily she opened that door right before I got to it.
We stood there, so close, so close I could smell her, I could feel her warmth radiating off of her, and I could see the need she had for me.
She needed me.
She wanted me.
I was utterly powerless to resist.
I just didn’t care any longer.
Mine…
I surged toward her, pulling her into my arms, our mouths fastening together hard, desperate—
Hungry.
I was ravenous for her. Nothing else, no thought or emotion, even touched me as we kissed. I ran my fingers through her hair, and then down her slender, lovely neck.
Her hands slid down my chest, and I swear my heart stopped in my chest.
Good god… it was as if just her touch had reached inside me.
I pulled her to me, crushing her chest against mine.
I felt her sigh, her mouth soft as I lapped my tongue into her, tasting everywhere. Falling like a stone into the ocean, I lost myself in her.
Chapter 9
Milly
He stood not two feet from me, across the wood floor of the cabin’s porch.
He hadn’t changed clothes, yet he looked wild and crazed.
And fucking sexy as hell.
Jesus… was he even human?
The only hint that he was were the scars that adorned his arm, shoulder and up his neck—and that slash of red across his cheek.
And those made him even more perfect, more sexy, more him.
But this man has killed untold numbers of people.
Bad guys, good guys…
What was I thinking?
And then he rushed forward, pulling me to him, kissing me, devouring me, his hands running over me, through my hair, making my body tingle and sizzle, ready to burst into flame.
I reached out and touched his chest—hard and warm and oh so broad.
He jerked as if I’d shocked him, his eyes wild and filled with such hunger.
Hunger for me.
I rushed into his arms, my arms encircling his thick, strong neck.
He was mine.
With every kiss, with every touch, with every breath we shared, he was becoming more mine.
Mine…
All mine.
His hands ran down my back and cupped my ass, pulling me up onto him.
He was hard, pressed against me.
I wrapped my legs around his waist, not able to stop kissing him, not for an instant.
He kicked the front door to the cabin shut, and then he walked us back through the cabin.
“First one…” I gasped between kisses, “on the left.”
He pushed the door open and carried me over to the bed.
I bit his lip, pulling a little too roughly—probably hurt. But he just let me.
I slowly slid down his body until I was standing once again on my own two feet.
Grudgingly I pulled my lips from his and stared up into his dark, fathomless eyes.
He exhaled slowly as if he couldn’t believe what he was looking at.
“Why,” I said, licking my lips and tasting him. “Why aren’t you naked yet?”
His eyes never left mine, but his mouth did drop open.
“I don’t think we should—” I silenced him with a finger pressed against his already kiss-bruised lips.
“Don’t think,” I said, letting my eyes slide down the firm, oh so sexy length of his six-foot frame. “Just take off your clothes.” I put some authority into my voice at that last part. At least that’s what my mama, the math teacher called it.
The side of his mouth quirked in a near smile. “Yes, ma’am.”
I watched as he pulled his jacket off, letting it fall to the floor. Next, he pulled his shirt off over his head, and I was treated to the amazing sight of his bare torso. I didn’t even know there were that many muscles in the human body.
And those scars, like crimson stars and swirls over the flesh of his shoulder, and up the side of his neck.
Damn…
He put his hands on his belt buckle and stopped, staring at me with those dark, sexy as fuck eyes.
“Your turn, girl.”
I raised my eyebrows at him. “Excuse me?”
He pinged his belt buckle with a finger, teasingly. “I’m half naked here. I think you need to do some clothes removal of your own.”
I tried not to smile. This was what he’d been like all those years ago before everything with his family had happened. He was a total smartass, flirt, and a first-rate shit-stirrer.
“Sounds fair,” I said, reaching up inside my shirt and unhooking my bra from behind.
I saw his brows furrow, and then they shot up as he determined what I was actually doing.
His mouth opened, but nothing came out.
I slid my bra straps off, down around my arms—which is not easy, but after fifteen years of practicing the “stealth removal” of this certain undergarment, I had it down cold.
As I pulled it down and out the bottom of my shirt, I saw his eyes widen as he could see my breasts through the fabric of my t-shirt. (Side note: I wore a threadbare, white t-shirt tonight for exactly this reason.)
I guess part of me, the devious part of me, had planned on bedding Troy all along.
After all, we’d gone through hot and heavy petting to some pretty intense over the underwear fun back then.
But we’d never actually gotten to do the deed.
I wanted to rectify that now instead of later.
We had the rest of our lives to get thro
ugh the other butt-loads of crap ahead of us.
I imitated the move he’d used to pull his t-shirt off, reaching up and behind my head to pull it up over my shoulders. But I modified it so it didn’t expose my boobs yet, just gave him a bit of a tease of my belly and midriff.
I held my shirt over my breasts and sauntered over to him.
“Hi there,” I said breathlessly.
His eyes were deep, dark pools of want and his beautiful, delicious mouth was just begging to be kissed again.
I could get used to that look.
I reached out and took one of his hands in mine and pulled it up until I could kiss it, gently laying lips on his palm, and then drawing that hand down my neck until his hand was on my décolletage.
That’s a great word, décolletage. Wish I had reason to use it in a sentence more.
Well, just having his warm, calloused hand on my bare flesh made my body start to heat up immediately.
And as my t-shirt slid away and fell to the floor, my nipples hardened as his hand grazed over and then cupped my left breast, making me sigh and gasp at the same time.
His other hand came up behind me, pressing against my back until I was pulled deliciously close against his bare chest.
He took the little gold locket in between his thumb and forefinger and gave it a curious look, and then looked to me in silent askance.
I nodded and he opened it to find himself looking out from the tiny locket.
“I never stopped thinking about you, either,” he said, each word coming out as if he had to force each syllable out. He clicked the locket closed. “I never stopped loving you.”
My heart filled so fast and full it was momentarily painful.
Hearts can love easily, and they can break just as easily.
But my broken heart was filling with the love I’d forbid it to feel for the last twelve years.
It was overwhelming, and thrilling, and made me want to scream with happiness.
I reached out and grabbed the man by his face, pulling him to me as I kissed, kissed, kissed him.
“I’ve been in love with you too,” I said as fast as I could before my head tried to talk some sense back into me.
Because this was freaking crazy…
Crazy and stupid and…
Troy pulled me in and took my breath away with the force of his kiss.
And it’s this…
He pulled me toward the bed until the back of my legs hit against the mattress. I fell back onto the cool mattress, Troy falling atop me, holding his weight up off me with his bulging, sexy arms.
