Battle with the SEAL

by Leslie North

  “This is quite a cushy set-up you’ve got here.” Loki stepped farther into the cockpit to look around, his arm brushing against M’s and sending shockwaves of awareness through her. This was stupid. This was ridiculous. This was so on, if they ever ended up locked in a room together. Loki winked at her, as if he knew exactly the sort of erotic chaos he caused inside her.

  Bastard.

  “I respect your discretion, Marcus,” Loki continued, a hint of amusement in his tone now that only served to stoke the flames inside M higher. Just wait until they were alone. He wouldn’t feel so amused then. She’d make sure of it. He’d be too busy pleasuring her to care about anything but the electric chemistry between them. The air smelled of his citrusy cologne and warm clean male and if she didn’t get out of that confined space soon, M was liable to do something crazy like pull Loki against her and have her wicked way with him right there in the copilot seat, her brother and this mission be damned. To distract herself, she scanned outside the windows again to make sure the bad guys weren’t getting too close.

  “Yeah,” Marcus said at last, setting his pre-flight checklist aside and pulling out a business card, which he handed to Loki. “I shuttle the rich and famous around for a living. It doesn’t suck. If you ever need quick travel arrangements for your business, let me know.”

  “Or don’t.” M growled. “Don’t offer him any help, bro. He won’t be around long enough to accept it.”

  “Harsh,” Loki said, looking down at her.

  “True.” She reached down and grabbed the duffle bag she’d stowed there earlier, just in case. With these undercover jobs, one never knew when a quick change would be necessary, so she kept emergency bags everywhere. After unzipping it, she pulled out a fresh set of clothes and a wig—this one dark brown pigtails to go with the military grade tactical gear. Because nothing said ass-whooping like pigtails. She unbuckled her seatbelt and attempted to get up and head for the en suite bedroom area in the back of the plane before Marcus took off. “Excuse me.”

  “Don’t change on my account, darling,” Loki said, his voice nothing but a purr. And fuck if those words didn’t curl her toes a little inside her sneakers. Seemed she had it bad for this guy and needed to get over it right quick.

  “Don’t worry. I won’t.” She slumped back in her seat when Loki refused to move. “You gonna move or am I going to move you?”

  Marcus snorted. “Gotta love that about my sister, man. She isn’t shy about being honest. If I were you, I’d get out of her way.”

  Loki seemed to consider this a moment before stepping aside to allow her to pass. She’d almost made it out of the cockpit before she felt his hand on her arm, stopping her.

  M took a deep breath before turning back to find him way closer than she expected, close enough to see the shadow of dark stubble just beneath the skin of his chiseled jaw, close enough to hear the slight hitch in his breath at their contact. She looked up into his deep blue eyes and swallowed hard.

  “I like the short hair better,” he whispered.

  “All the more reason for the wig,” she said, wrenching free and taking off for the shower in the back like the hounds of hell were on her heels. Loki was now officially off limits, not because she didn’t want him, but because he was just too damned distracting.

  3

  “I didn’t know you had a place in Arlington,” Loki said, walking around the well-appointed loft apartment. They’d landed at the airport about an hour before and he’d stuck like glue to her since. No way was he going to let her get the jump on him during this mission. He had too much riding on it. Plus, there was something about her—something intriguing and compelling and utterly mesmerizing about her—that wouldn’t let him walk away. Not yet. Not until he’d discovered all her secrets.

  Then, of course, there was this scorching connection between them, a sizzling bond of lust that went well beyond anything Loki had ever experienced with another woman. She was brash and bold and smart as a whip. Hell, she was basically him. Maybe that was why she seemed to occupy his every thought since he’d first seen her pop up during his research. Loki wasn’t ready to say he was obsessed yet, but it was about as close as a man like him got. Besides, his mission required him to stick close to her. He had a niggling feeling their targets and goals might be the same and he’d be damned if he let her get the advantage over him.

  “I keep places all over the country,” M said from where she was scrounging for food in her galley-style kitchen. “Sometimes I sell them after a job, if I need to so I can’t be tracked or if I need the cash. But I like the security of having a safe place to crash, you know?”

  Yeah, he knew. When he’d founded Norse Security, he’d snatched up places all over the country like this one too, for exactly the same reasons. Another thing they had in common. He took a seat at the breakfast bar while she pulled out ingredients to make what looked like mac and cheese.

  “Must be nice being your own boss,” M said, glancing at him over her shoulder.

  “It doesn’t suck,” he said, paraphrasing her brother Marcus from earlier.

  This gained him a rare smile from M and the effect was like a hammer to the head. Dazed, he blinked at her from across the kitchen. God, she really was beautiful, with those full lips of hers that just begged to be kissed and her big blue eyes. Hell, even that hideous wig was growing on him. Honestly, he’d take her shaved bald as long as she was in his bed, crying out his name as he drove them both to fulfillment.

  Body tight with need, Loki shifted slightly on his stool to accommodate his rapidly hardening cock and changed subjects to safer territory. “Tell me how you got involved in this business.”

  “You really want to know?” She filled a pot with water then set it on the stove and lit the burner to make it boil. “I answered an ad on Craigslist.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Seriously.”

  “What the hell kind of ad was that?” Loki shook his head. “Spy wanted. No experience necessary?”

  “Pretty much.” She grinned and leaned her hips back against the counter beside the stove, arms crossed. “They basically had to hire me after I out-spied their operative.”

  “Out-spied? Is that a technical term?”

  “Smartass.” She tossed a piece of uncooked macaroni at his head which he easily ducked. M popped a piece in her mouth to munch on, and the movement only served to draw his attention straight back to those luscious lips of hers and all the wonderful things he’d like her to do with them. As if sensing the debauched direction of his thoughts, M looked away fast and turned to grab a bag of shredded cheese from the fridge. “No. The company’s agent was undercover trying to investigate the production company for embezzlement and I was working as a makeup artist on the movie set and ended up helping him solve the case. I knew about makeup, but nothing about espionage. The company taught me everything I know.”

  “Interesting.” Loki got up and walked over to the fridge himself to see what she had to drink. He pulled out two pale ales and opened them both before passing her one. “This place is well stocked for a hideout.”

  “Marcus stays here too, when he’s in town. Lately he’s been flying a lot out of Arlington, so you can thank him for the grub.”

  “I’ll be sure to do that the next time I see him,” Loki said, taking a swig of his beer while watching M over the rim.

  “What about you?” she asked, while mixing together milk and flour to start the cheese sauce and setting the oven to three fifty. “What drew you away from being a soldier and into the espionage business?”

  “The two aren’t so different, really,” Loki said, taking a seat on his stool again. He wasn’t telling her anything she didn’t already know, based on the facts she’d recited earlier, and it was kind of nice just to sit around and talk with a woman without an agenda on the table. “I started Norse Security because once a SEAL, always a SEAL.” He chuckled at her eyeroll. “I mean it. All that adventure and danger and the thrills? Hard to go
back to a life of pushing papers after that. Plus, I wanted to start a charity, a program to help the guys who’d been wounded—mentally and physically—from their time in the service. The security company allows me the means to do that. At least it will, once we’re profitable. So far that hasn’t happened under my watch, but I’d like to make things successful. Not for me so much, but for the guys.”

  “And that’s where this mission comes in?” M asked, meeting his gaze again.

  “Yep.” Loki took another swig of his beer. “I had six months from inception of the company to make it profitable for our investors. Things have been a bit bumpy since then, but if I can complete this mission successfully, I can pay them back and have enough left over to fund the charity for a good long time.”

  With a sigh, M stirred the pasta into the now boiling water then went back to making her sauce. “Guess that puts us at odds then. Because I need this job too. And there’s no way I’m going to lose. I’ve put too much time and effort into my career to lose my promotion now.”

  “It doesn’t have to put us at odds at all, actually,” Loki said, considering things. He got up and went to help her with the sauce while she got out a strainer for the pasta then set the timer. “I’ve got a feeling this case is bigger than either of us imagined when we started. If we can find out who’s behind this data leak and break it wide open, there could be enough money and prestige to not only save my business, but help you climb the ladder in your company too.” He stirred in the cheddar cheese to the bubbling milk and flour mixture, sneaking a few bites for himself along the way. “But we’ll have to work together to do it.”

  “Together, huh?” She glanced over at him. “I suppose it can’t be any worse than hanging out at that airshow. Besides, it’ll be easier keeping an eye on you that way.”

  “Agreed.”

  “By the way, your grandma called from 1984. She wants her fanny pack back.”

  “Funny.” Loki gave her a flat look. “So, what’s our next step?”

  “Well, first, I’m going to grease up this baking dish.” She held up the pan in question. “Then I’m going to drain the pasta and dump it into the pot you’re stirring. Then you’re going to put it all into my baking dish and we’re going to let it cook for another half hour.”

  “Haha.” Loki was not amused. He loved a good smartass as much as the next guy, but this case was too important to joke about. “I mean what were your plans after we leave here.”

  “What were yours?” she countered, swinging around to face him with that big metal spoon in her hand, the curved edge of it glinting in the light just like a blade.

  On edge, he reacted without thinking. One second they were standing at the stove cooking, and the next he had M pressed up against the wall, all those soft curves he’d been admiring pressed tight to his front. She still had the spoon in her hand, which he held tight to the wall beside her head. Hot water dripped down onto his forearm, but he barely noticed. His senses were too overwhelmed with the fact that with each inhalation, her breasts nudged into him a little more firmly. Her scent—oranges and spice and warm clean woman—filled the air and it was all Loki could do not to grind his rapidly hardening cock into the heat between her legs. The fact her pupils were dilated and her cheeks were flushed told him she wanted him too, no matter how unwise that might be.

  “Tell me,” he insisted, pressing her more tightly between the wall and himself. “Where were you planning to go after this? We’re a team now, remember?”

  She smiled, slow and sexy. “A team, huh?”

  M ground herself against him in blatant invitation and it took every ounce of willpower Loki possessed not to take her right then and there against the wall of the kitchen, dinner and this mission be damned. But he’d worked too hard and too long on this company to let it all go now. He gritted his teeth and forced his wild libido back into check. “Yes, a team. Tell me where?”

  With a sigh, M relaxed against him and it was almost worse than her struggling. “Fine. I’d place another coded Craigslist ad asking about the information that was stolen from your client. I’d gotten a hit. That’s why I was at that airshow today, to meet the seller. Then all that shit went down and people started shooting at us, so that deal was blown.”

  Loki blinked down at her. “Who was the seller? What was their name?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “I don’t believe you.” He leaned in closer, his lips grazing her soft cheek. “Tell me. Tell me now or I’ll shut down that make-up vlog of yours that you love so much.”

  That got her attention, finally. M glared up at him, her eyes spitting fire. “Fuck you. You don’t know anything about it.”

  “Don’t I?” He flashed her a half-grin before returning to nuzzling the spot just below her ear, because dammit it if he couldn’t help himself. She tasted like strawberry wine and those little sounds she made deep in her throat were twice as intoxicating. “I know that you post regular segments, twice a week, and that you spend hours getting ready for them. I’d say it’s your pet project. Be a shame to lose all that data, all those videos. Hard to start all over from scratch again.”

  She arched against him, harder this time. Whether by plan or need, he couldn’t tell. M clutched the front of his shirt, her nails digging into his pecs and fuck if that didn’t feel so good. “You…can’t do anything,” she said, her voice all breathy and hot near his ear. “You don’t have my…password.”

  That last word might have been totally innocent on the surface, but the way she all but purred it into his skin made it something else entirely. Hard and aching, Loki teetered near the edge of his control, easing her trembling thighs apart to press even closer against her as she panted. Locked together about as intimately as two people could be with all their clothes still on, Loki whispered the password for her vlog against her parted lips.

  It was enough to break the erotic spell surrounding them.

  M shoved him hard, sending Loki stumbling back across the kitchen. She brandished the wooden spoon in front of her like a weapon, jabbing it toward his face. “Listen, asshole. You mess around with my vlog and I swear to God I will take down your beloved Wounded Warrior project so fast you won’t know what hit it, understand? You said we’re a team and this goes both ways. You can’t get the funding you need now without my help. I’m the one who has the leads. My leads, my mole. You’d be flying blind without me. The sooner you remember that, the sooner we can get this over with.” She turned back to the stove and stirred her pasta again. “Now get that sauce made so we can eat.”

  4

  “What’s your problem?” she asked Loki, as she peeked around the corner of the strip mall where they’d set up a second meeting with her seller from Craigslist. Loki had been acting weird since they’d left her apartment after dinner and she wasn’t about to sit here with a pouty man-baby all night. “You going to cry about it?”

  “What?” He glanced over at her, annoyance written all over his handsome face. “No. I’m just not used to working without a disguise, that’s all. I don’t like feeling so exposed.”

  She snorted. “There’s a dollar store over there. They might have a replacement fanny pack for you.”

  He cut her off with a rude finger gesture. Nice. M grinned and turned back to watch for the white Honda Civic their mole said he’d be driving. Good thing this “team” between them was only temporary, because she found herself wanting this guy way more than she should. She was used to fast flings—wham, bam, thank you sir sort of deals. No muss, no fuss. No strings attached. But there was something about Loki that made her reconsider her choices. And for a gal in her profession that was far too dangerous. Not to mention that he looked better than a man should be allowed in those tight faded jeans and black T-shirt of his, the 80s death metal insignia notwithstanding. Her fingertips itched to dig into those taut chest muscles of his again, to feel his hard length pressed into the warm heat between her legs, to…

  Thankfully an old Honda clunker
chugged into the parking lot at that moment, ending that forbidden train of thought. Yeah, she had it bad for this guy and that wasn’t good.

  “C’mon. That’s him,” she said to Loki before straightening to smooth her hands down the front of her black leather miniskirt. She’d chosen to go for the punk rock look tonight, with a short black Mohawk wig and ripped fishnets beneath her skirt. Combat boots and a black leather bustier completed the ensemble. At least she had the satisfaction of Loki’s dazed stare to let her know she looked good. “I’ll act like I’m browsing the store windows while you sneak around back to keep him from running.”

  Loki gave a curt nod then peered around her at the new arrival. “Shit.”

  “What?” M scowled.

  “I know that guy.”

  “Really? Who is he?” From the looks of the driver now exiting the Honda, she would’ve pegged the guy as a scientist, or maybe comic book store owner. Classic geek. Not exactly the type to hang around in their circles. “How do you know him?”

  “He’s a spy, like us.”

  “Seriously?” M scrunched her nose. “Looks like a stiff wind could take him down.”

  “Don’t believe everything you see. He’s a black belt in jujitsu.” Loki cracked his knuckles. “His hands are listed as lethal weapons.”

  M gave their mole a second look. Nope. Still didn’t see it. The most lethal thing about that guy would appear to be his fashion sense. That had to be about the ugliest polyester shirt she’d ever seen in her life. Olive green and shades of brown striped with red-orange. Ugh. She shuddered with distaste before checking the Glock secured in a holster around her upper thigh. “Whatever. I’m going in.”

  “Wait.” Loki grabbed her arm to stop her. “Be careful. I’m telling you, that guy’s bad news. I worked with him on a couple of missions when I was a SEAL. He had access to all kinds of classified intel about the military. If he’s the one selling my client’s secrets, we are in deep shit.”