Live Wire

by Cristin Harber

  Parker unfolded the glasses and watched her as he put them on. “Behave, Beth.”

  “Oh. My. Effin. God.” She basked in her creation and turned him toward a mirror. “You are seriously utter nerd-boy perfection.”

  “Beth…”

  “People do man-candy model shoots that don’t look nearly a tenth as orgasm-worthy as you right now.”

  He glared. “Would you take this seriously?”

  “I am serious as a heart attack. If you don’t look the part, no one’s buying shit. And brother, you look the part.”

  He turned back to the mirror. “Yeah. Works, huh?”

  “Totally. Plus, you’ll get laid tonight.”

  He shook his head, feeling the tips of his ears burn. “Alright. Out. Let’s go. Out the door.”

  But he turned and grabbed one more glance over his shoulder at the mirror. Not that he wouldn’t get laid anyway, but if Lexi had a serious reaction in any way like Beth’s over-the-top joking reaction, rescue night would be… fun.

  That was not at all what he needed to focus on. But for all Beth’s screwing around, he had finally relaxed, and knowing Beth, that had been the point of her antics. Ding, ding, ding. She did everything for a reason. “Thanks, Beth.”

  She twisted as she powered down Titan’s hall, winking over her shoulder, knowing he’d figured out her grand plan. “Anytime.”

  Time to bring his woman home.

  CHAPTER TEN

  The air conditioning blasted as Jared drove to the Belvoir Hotel. Parker sat in the passenger seat, and the teams were already in place. They were two men on the way to where their worlds—their wives—were. Parker’s was in a more precarious situation, but that didn’t matter. A pregnant Sugar could get herself into trouble no matter what the situation.

  Jared’s tight throat tensed, and he popped a Tums. Even if Sugar swore up and down that the feeling she gave him was the remnant or the anticipation of orgasms, this time it really was indigestion.

  Parker perched quietly in his seat, arms crossed, waiting for the moment he could charge across the parking lot and meet with the Russians. “Doing okay over there?”

  “Yup.”

  The last few months—hell, the last few years—shit had changed at Titan. The guys had grown up. Before, they’d all been brothers in arms, fighting the good fight, tearing up the world, making it better, bleeding because shit went down, bruising and busting heads because why not? They’d grab some broads and head home to blow off steam after a job.

  Times had changed.

  He wanted his woman and his family. He had the big-ass house. He had the cars, the trucks, the guns, the money. Jared had it all. When Sugar and Asal had come into his life, all that hard-living shit had seemed so… pointless.

  He’d bust his ass to keep it all, to keep them pampered.

  “You okay?” Parker turned the question on him.

  Jared rubbed his chest, readjusting the seat belt. “How long have you been with Titan?”

  “Let’s see… more than ten, less than twenty.”

  “Years,” Jared mumbled.

  “Yup.”

  “A lot of hell has gone down.”

  “A lot of jobs,” Parker agreed. “Most of which have gone right, and this one will be fine. If that’s what you’re worried about.”

  “No.” He chewed his lip, exiting off the interstate. “Just… Colby has kids. Everyone’s pregnant. Having babies.”

  “Sugar’s about to pop any day, right?”

  “Next few weeks.”

  Parker chuckled. “Doc Tuska going to deliver your kick-ass little bundle of joy?”

  He smiled, shaking his head, reminded that he’d come full circle. “Not his area of expertise.”

  Shifting in the passenger seat, Parker asked, “You guys were Rangers together?”

  “We were.” Jared nodded as he changed lanes. Tuska was their medic, the man on the team sent to offer what he could during the storm of combat. He’d also been in the hell of Africa when Jared was at that life-altering pinnacle in his life, when he’d stood there with Buck Baer, and when they’d gone down separate roads. Baer, Tuska, and Jared each saw warlords destroying their own people. The three of them crawled through mass graves and hid their faces as tears slipped down their cheeks.

  But each man had reacted differently to seeing genocide. Baer internalized it and rotted. He started GSI to make money and wield power. Tuska could’ve gone the Doctors Without Borders way, wandering around the world, administering aid and holding hands, but decided to focus on private practice. Jared had a steady supply of clients for him over the years, and their partnership continued. But in reality, Tuska had used his field experience and medical genius to raise money and awareness for people and places ignored by politicians.

  Jared ran his hand over his cheek. His reaction to witnessing genocide had been to start Titan. Baer was greedy. Tuska worked for a greater good. Jared had seen a way to do the things that needed doing, whether or not his government—or any government—wanted to get their hands dirty.

  It paid well enough that he could do jobs that didn’t pay a dime. He could recruit and command the best and the brightest, expand at will, and ignore red tape.

  And it provided for a safer world for his family. “Funny how life prepares you for the next big thing.”

  “Sugar would kick your ass for anything resembling a comment about her as the next big thing.” Parker snickered.

  Jared slowed down on a two-lane road. He smiled. “No shit.”

  “Right.” He paused. “You ready?”

  “Of course I’m ready. Dick.” When the hell wasn’t he ready for everything and anything?

  More laughter. “Ass.”

  “Yup,” Jared said. “Point being?”

  “You’re going to do a hell of a job with a newborn.”

  The words hit him like a throat punch. Jared grunted his agreement. “Tell me something I don’t know.” But maybe that was his concern. Everyone listened to him. He’d yanked Asal off a cliff, and she became his daughter. He’d sparred with Sugar, and she became his wife. His team listened to him yell and give orders. They respected the fuck out him because he was good at his job. He knew the right moves—the best tactical, strategic way to win in almost any situation.

  But a newborn baby? That little girl wouldn’t be forced to love him. There was no fighting and antagonizing the kid to endear her to him. He took care of people the way he knew how: by telling them how best to do things then making sure they listened to him. He wasn’t Boss Man for nothing.

  Babies didn’t listen. They called the shots. He was completely and categorically out of his comfort zone. What was he going to do about that?

  ***

  If Parker had worked one job undercover for Titan, he’d worked a hundred. He could broker with the bad guys and shoot a target a hundred yards away with his eyes closed. Whatever the situation was, Parker generally handled it with a certain amount of calm, coolness, and collection. He knew with precision accuracy what the risks were and what triggers and solutions would mitigate them.

  That was his normal. Lexi in a room changed the game. Even though his risk analysis said this was a relatively safe operation, he didn’t like it.

  Parker pulled at the starched collar and pushed his glasses up his nose. Wearing them already felt like second nature. The earpiece went live, and in Titan HQ, Cash Garrison manned his office.

  “Alright, Parker. We’ve got eyes on your building and from your shirt. Give me a test.”

  Parker coughed.

  “We’ve got sound streaming live.”

  Parker nodded and pushed into the front doors of the hotel. His two Russian points of contact waited, their eyes narrowed on him with a calibrated focus. He swallowed, praying to God that Beth’s new hairstyle trick was worth its salt.

  One man stood, then the other. Both were clearly armed, and he, the greedy scientist, was not. Not ideal. All Parker had was a computer bag. It had a kni
fe tucked into the lining of the fabric, but a blade versus a bullet? Even on a good day, the odds weren’t great.

  They approached, and Parker extended his hand. “Gentlemen.”

  They grumbled and groused in Russian. One nodded his head, and pleasantries were obviously off the table. They left the hotel lobby briskly and walked down the hotel hall.

  “Where have you been?” the taller, blonder one asked.

  “Working.”

  “For us. You work for us.”

  “I have a real job,” Parker said.

  “You haven’t been there.”

  “They send me to conferences, site visits.” His gaze swept the room numbers, keeping his team visually in the know about where he was. “Minnesota. Iowa. I tested fertilizer in Iowa. Poor cell services; I know I’ve been hard to connect with lately.”

  The other Russian grumbled as they stopped. Parker took note of the room number as the two men opened the door. He hoped to see Lexi but also knew that they wouldn’t walk him into the same place they were holding—

  Well. So he was wrong, and statistically that was an anomaly, so rare an occurrence his palms tickled with sweat. How had he been wrong when it came to Lex?

  The hotel room was a suite. Several men and Lexi sat, not looking completely uncomfortable, while the Russians and their weapons hovered nearby. Some reality trash TV was playing that he vaguely remembered Rocco loved the hell out of. Lexi looked up and... please… she didn’t say a word.

  Of course she wouldn’t.

  Their entourage proceeded to the kitchenette, and then one other joined their group, pulling chairs out at a small table. Parker’s blood pressure climbed. If he was wrong about her in the room, what else would he be wrong about?

  “Sit.” The man’s weathered face showed years of war and tyranny. Speaking in a thick accent, he sounded unamused that Rossi had gone missing.

  “Sure thing.” Parker swallowed away his unease and pulled out the only chair left, setting the bag on the table after he made sure that his camera scanned all faces in the room. “So about my disappearance. I know it’s not great business etiquette. I want to apologize.”

  A powerful hand slapped the table, and for a second, the entire rickety piece of hotel furniture almost gave way. “You owe us—”

  “It’s here.” He patted his computer bag. “But what’s with the peanut gallery?”

  “That’s your incentive.”

  “For?” Parker raised his eyebrow and ignored the trepidation thumping in his blood. “I’m good for the work. You know that.”

  “You went missing. We do not know that.”

  He dropped his eyebrow and shrugged. “Point taken.” He opened his computer. “We have three things that we last left off with.”

  “Get to the only one I care about,” the hand slapper said.

  “Alright.” Parker had read Rossi’s file and knew to expect this man as the head honcho. He was clearly the highest-ranking Gornovsky man in the room. In the city of Kirovo-Chepetsk, the man was a corrupt, dictator-like ruler—the bad-seed kind who didn’t mind poisoning the rivers with the runoff from his chemical companies and making a nice profit from weaponizing fertilizer.

  “You disappear—my trust in you has all but vanished. Tell me what I want to know.”

  Parker’s spine stiffened, and he leaned forward, resting his elbows on either side of his laptop. “Then pay me.”

  The Gornovskys stared as though the greedy scientist had broken Russian business etiquette, and maybe he had. But it was too late to be concerned about that.

  “You want the formula. I want my bank transfer.” Parker closed his laptop. “If you pay, I’ll tell you whatever you want, create whatever you need. You know this. But if you don’t authorize the transfer now, I’ll disappear. Again.”

  A man who Parker decided was number two in the pecking order cleared his throat and nodded to the crowd on the couch, one of whom got up and placed two Makarov semiautomatic pistols on the table. The threat had been made.

  They stared. He stared. Parker’s blood thumped, pulse racing. Sweat trickled down the back of his neck. Wrong once before, he needed to read this situation right.

  He narrowed his gaze on the leader. Everything Parker needed to know was there as he tried to read his mind, to see the gray area in the black-and-white world that the guy lived in.

  The Russian’s eyes narrowed. His jaw flexed. Anger? Impatience? Or was it a hollow threat?

  The man was greedy. What Parker offered stood to make millions, and the time lost to finding another Rossi… if Render had been that easy to replace, they would have done it already.

  “I work for you.” Parker pointed at the lead Gornovsky, playing to his ego. “Not him or the rest of your underlings.”

  There was a shift of testosterone, an uncomfortable challenge made. But Parker was right, and the man let out a sputtering of Russian without taking his eyes of Parker. There was no doubt what the words had been. They weren’t Kill the woman or Shed blood. They were clear and simple: Pay the man.

  Parker and Gornovsky didn’t turn but remained eyeball to eyeball. Another man pushed out of his chair. Parker forced his hands to steady, needing to remain stoic and not check for a gun pressed to Lexi’s temple. His heart slammed in his chest, and for a moment, he prayed that his calculated risk was right and that Lexi wouldn’t be a casualty and Render Rossi’s bank account was about to be filled with an illegal Russian payment.

  “Pay the man.”

  The Russian barked into the phone, and Parker hid his sigh of relief.

  Shaky seconds later, a slip of paper was handed to Gornovsky, and only then did the man look away from Parker. He read it and nodded, sliding it across the table. “Your bank transfer.”

  Parker nodded, opening his laptop again. “And now for your—”

  The hotel room windows rattled as the door burst wide. The familiar-enough sound of a raid stabbed him with shock as booted men wielding high-powered weapons swarmed.

  “Police! Everybody down on the ground.”

  The Russian task force engulfed the space. Shouts repeated, voices escalating. “Faces on the ground. Get down. Weapons down. Police.”

  The Russians complied but with menace and threats that needed no words.

  The civilians shouted their innocence and begged for help.

  Bishop covered Lexi, and Parker took a deep, thankful breath, slowly unfolding himself from the chair, keeping his cover as Render Rossi and dropping to the floor alongside his cursing Russian counterparts.

  They had what they needed for Gornovsky arrests, and his woman was safe. Job well done.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Lexi would have been lying to herself if she said neither adrenaline nor worry had affected her thinking the whole day. But those feelings had gone. What still had her buzzing?

  Parker—in those glasses. She wasn’t one for fetishes. That wasn’t even her thing. But those were hot.

  And they were coming home. He could lose the khaki pants. Or maybe not. The button-down geeky-professor look did something for her too. It was different. As if he were another guy. His hair accentuated his bone structure, and his eyes were dark. It was fun. Like playing dress up.

  She could feel her heart pounding in her chest. All she had to do was wait for him to come find her once this was over and—God, could these cops who had a million questions for her tell that she was hot and bothered—because of a pair of glasses?

  The hotel room door opened, and there Parker stood, eyes searching the room. They landed on her. “Are you done with Lexi Black?”

  She shivered at the way he said her name and how he owned her with an unwavering stare.

  “Absolutely.” Bishop strode forward to Parker, and they made introductions and small talk. Parker kept her in his line of sight until Bishop nodded good-bye, then he headed her way.

  “Nice meeting you, Lex. For someone who says she doesn’t do field ops, you were a pro.”

  A pr
oud blush hit her cheeks. “Thanks, Bishop.”

  “Ready?” Parker asked. The tenor of his voice screamed that he wanted his hands on her as much as she wanted to get hers on him. It was less a question and more Hurry the hell up.

  “Yup.”

  With a quick handhold, Parker moved her into the empty hall and had her pressed against the wall. “Lexi, damn it. All I wanted was you safe.”

  “Hey.” She kissed his neck, nuzzling against him, and hugged his neck until he lifted her off the ground.

  “You have no idea the thoughts that went through my mind.” He squeezed her tight, and still she hung on.

  “Same.”

  He put her down. “You in workout clothes? It’s a good look for you.”

  Lexi raised her eyebrow. “You in glasses, crazy hot… where’d they go?”

  “I forgot about these things.” His hand went for his suit coat. With a quick move, he put them on and struck a pose. “Beth says they might get me laid.”

  Lexi laughed, and as Parker went to take them off, she jumped at his hand. “Don’t you dare take those off.”

  With an amused smile, he shook his head, walking to the elevators. He pressed the button and pulled her against him. “All right. Fun is fun.”

  “I’m not kidding. Crazy hot. They might’ve been the only thing to get me through the last couple hours of questioning.”

  “Stop it.” His eyes danced, and Lexi could’ve sworn he blushed slightly.

  “Not a chance.” The elevator dinged. “I saw you in your glasses and fantasized about my husband. It made hours feel like minutes.”

  His smile could have made her clothes melt away as he held the elevator door for her. “Then let’s get home. We have to make a pit stop on the second floor. I need to grab my wallet and keys to a car.”

  She went onto her tiptoes and whispered in his ear. “As long as you don’t take off those glasses.”

  He grabbed her ass. “Dirty girl.”

  “You like it.”

  Parker slid a key card into a hotel room. Jared and Sugar were two steps from walking out as Parker and Lexi headed in.