by Katie Reus
“Look, I know what I said before, but I was wrong. And trust me, I had the shittiest mom in the world. You’re not it.” Not even close.
She looked at him in surprise and set the tablet in her lap.
He hadn’t meant to tell her anything personal, but if they were going undercover together, trust was a big part of playing the right role. Because at some point, it couldn’t even be a role anymore. They had to trust each other for this to work.
Olivia cleared her throat, looked as if she might ask about it, but he saw the moment she changed her mind. “So…how do you know Colt?”
A change of topic was probably better. “We grew up together. Also worked together when he was with his former employer.” Savage wasn’t going to spell out who Colt had worked for but he was pretty certain Olivia knew anyway—or at least guessed. And he definitely wasn’t going to tell her what he had done. For more than one reason. Mainly he didn’t want to see any judgment in her eyes. “I piggybacked on a few missions with Skye as well.”
Olivia raised her eyebrows. “What was your profession before you started working for a consulting firm?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
“Both.” He would be honest with her about everything except that.
“Okay… Then tell me something real about yourself. Tell me about your mom. If we’re going to do this job together and fake our attraction…” She cleared her throat, her cheeks turning a delicious shade of pink, making him want to lean over and nibble on her bottom lip.
“We won’t be faking the attraction.” A true statement if there ever was one.
She met his gaze then. “No, we won’t.”
He blinked once, not expecting the admission. “I want to taste you again,” he murmured, low enough for her ears only. He shouldn’t be doing this, shouldn’t play with fire, but it was hard to care about getting burned where she was concerned. He wanted her like he’d never wanted any woman.
Her cheeks flushed even darker but she held his gaze. “We shouldn’t do that. Not unless it’s for the job.”
“I know.” Didn’t stop him from wanting her.
“Are you going to tell me something about yourself or not?” The words came out all breathy, from nerves, he guessed.
Zac should say no. “Tell me something about yourself first. Something not in your file.”
“I…okay.” She let out a little breath. “Making the decision to go forward with cochlear implants for Valencia was hard. The hardest decision I’ve ever made. For a lot of reasons. None of which I’ll get into now. But after her surgery I knew it was right for her. It’s not for everyone but it is for my sweet girl. Anyway, when she was about three and a half we were at a birthday party for one of the girls from her preschool. It was at a park, and about an hour into it, it started raining. All the other kids thought it was fun and decided to play in the rain. We didn’t have Valencia’s waterproof covers for her processors so she had to stay under one of the shelters with me and most of the parents who didn’t relish getting soaked.”
She took a deep breath and the agony he saw on Olivia’s face made him want to reach out and comfort her somehow. He didn’t have any experience with that but he’d give it a shot.
“She kept asking why she couldn’t play with her friends. She asked me if all of her friends had taken off their processors to play in the rain. I explained that her friends at the party didn’t have processors. And it was like a light bulb went off, and in that moment she realized she was different from her friends. I could see it in her expression. At the time, she was in a mainstream preschool because there weren’t any schools for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing where we lived. She just started sobbing against my neck, wanting to go home.”
She cleared her throat and took a moment.
“It was like shards of glass tearing me up inside—and I knew it was worse for her. I just wanted to take away all her pain. I realized that there’s only so much I’ll be able to do to protect her from the outside world—though I’m always going to try hard to. It was also a sharp reminder of sorts why I was never going to introduce her to my parents. My mom was still alive at the time and I’d started feeling… I don’t know what I was thinking. But I knew that my parents would only cause her pain, if only from their indifference. And now I’m rambling,” she said, her voice cracking as she blinked away wetness.
His own throat was tight as he listened to her story. The thought of that bright little girl dealing with all those emotions, all that sadness so young—fuck. Childhoods were supposed to be happy, carefree. Not that he knew from personal experience, but it was the way things should be.
“Anyway, after that summer I moved to a new city with more opportunities for her, including a school that has built-in curriculum for the Deaf. Which is incredibly rare.” Frustration filled her voice. “So now you know something real about me, one of the worst memories I have, and why I moved a couple years ago.”
“I’m sorry Valencia experienced that.” He reached out, placed his hand gently over hers.
She seemed startled by his touch, but turned her palm over and gripped him back. “I probably shouldn’t have dropped that story on you.”
“I’m glad you did.” He wasn’t even sure why.
“It happened three years ago and it still carves me up when I think about it. Having kids changes everything,” she murmured, more to herself than him.
He simply nodded. “I imagine it does.”
The plane suddenly dipped and her hand tightened on his a fraction before she let go.
“You okay?” he asked, missing the feel of her soft hand in his.
“Yeah, it’s just turbulence.” She lifted a shoulder. “And now you have to tell me something. You said you learned ASL because of your brother but that he died—but you’re really proficient.”
“Before starting our consulting company I occasionally worked with a man who’s Deaf. So I kept fresh with ASL with online programs and sometimes classes at a local center whenever I could swing it. It…makes me feel connected to my brother even if he’s gone.” Something he’d never told anyone.
“Do you mind talking about your brother?”
Glancing over his shoulder again he saw that yep, Brooks was still dozing, his Stetson placed over his face, his arms crossed over his chest in the reclined chair. Gage looked up, caught his eye before turning back to his computer. Since he had his headphones plugged in it was doubtful he’d overhear anything. Not that his friends didn’t know pretty much everything about him.
When he looked back, Olivia was watching him. There definitely wasn’t a way he could back out of this now. Not when she’d been so honest with him. And she’d given him something real. He owed her the same.
“My brother died of leukemia.” It was like David had never been given a break. “We, uh, we had a shitty mother.” He wasn’t going to get into all those details. Not now; likely not ever. “But when I was twelve and David was ten, she dropped us off with our grandma.”
He couldn’t help but smile when he thought of her. She’d been the sweetest woman to ever walk the earth. It was hard to understand how she’d had such a selfish daughter.
“For a few years things were really good. Anything would have been better than being dragged around the country by my mother.”
“You moved around a lot with her?”
“Yep. Usually in the middle of the night she’d make us pack up so we could sneak out—because she was behind on the rent or had met a new man and was following him somewhere. Her one rule had been ‘If it doesn’t fit in your suitcase, it doesn’t come with us.’”
“That’s…” She cleared her throat.
“Shitty? Yeah, I know.” But it was what it was. No sense in dwelling on it. “Finally though, she left us with our grandma, which was the best thing she ever did for us. My grandma got my brother a tutor so he could catch up with school, and managed to get a grant to enroll him in a private sch
ool for the Deaf. It was three hours away so he stayed there during the week and we picked him up every Friday evening. I hated being separated from him.” Something Zac had never really told anyone. “It had always been the two of us sticking together before that.” He was the oldest and had always been protective of David. “But it was good for him. So good. He started truly thriving, made real friends, wasn’t so frustrated all the time. But then he got cancer and it was pervasive.”
He nearly jumped when she reached over and took his hand, her dark eyes full of compassion. It was still so hard to talk about.
“He died before his sixteenth birthday.” And that was all he was going to say about that. Zac couldn’t force any more words out. Just as he couldn’t force himself to pull away from her.
“I’m so sorry,” she said quietly.
Zac knew when people were just saying the standard I’m sorry, and Olivia wasn’t. He could hear the emotion in her voice. “Thank you.” His brother’s death had left a hole in him.
“Is your grandmother still with you?”
He shook his head. “No. Heart attack.”
More sympathy flickered in her gaze. “It’s good you have such close friends.”
“Yeah.” He knew how lucky he was to have such a solid core of people he could depend on. While he still talked to some buddies from the Marines, the six people he’d grown up with were family in all the ways that mattered. Well, seven now since Skye had joined their group and she was like the badass sister he’d never had. He’d do absolutely anything for them—and getting their new business venture off the ground these last seven months had been unexpectedly therapeutic.
He wanted to ask her more about her life, her family, but knew that would involve Martina Cruz. And he didn’t want to upset Olivia more. She was already missing her daughter and no doubt worried about her kidnapped friend. He wasn’t going to bring it up.
“You said your ex left because of your daughter? What about you?” When they’d spoken before, her phrasing had been specific. It made him curious. And Zac wanted to know if there was a chance her ex was somehow involved in this.
She slowly pulled her hand back, wrapped her arms around herself. “He didn’t want things to end with us.” Olivia rolled her eyes even as she continued. “Not sure what the fool wanted or thought would happen. When he rejected our daughter it killed any feelings I had for him. And…I’d been unhappy with him since I found out I was pregnant. I’ll admit I was hormonal and maybe a little irrational at times, but I met a few friends through a couple pregnancy classes and it was eye-opening seeing the way their significant others treated them. I finally saw how selfish Heath was. And after Valencia was born, I had zero time for a man-child. But…he still wanted things to continue with us.” Another eye roll. “I’m just glad he’s out of our lives. And before you ask—because I can see you want to—no, I seriously don’t think he’s involved in this. Not in kidnapping Martina. He might be a selfish baby, but he’s not a monster. And getting involved in kidnapping? Much less with Kyle… No, I remember him having a healthy fear of Kyle. I can’t see him being part of whatever this is.”
“If for some reason he is there, you need to be prepared for it.” Even the thought of seeing her ex—a man who’d rejected his own child—made Zac feel punchy.
“I know. If he is, he is. That won’t change the parameters of what we have to do.”
Zac felt the same way and hoped she really did too. Because they were walking into the unknown and had to depend on each other to make it out of this alive.
Chapter 7
—We’ve got this.—
Olivia looked up at the fifteen-story boutique hotel, Savage by her side. The man was an intimidating presence, something she was grateful for. Sunglasses on to fight the bright Miami morning, she murmured, “Getting the penthouse is definitely Neely’s style.”
Savage wrapped an arm around her shoulders and a shiver of awareness slid through her veins. Almost enough to make her forget the achiness in her ribs. After that intense kiss they’d shared, thoughts of what he tasted like, felt like against her… Yeah, no need to go there. She couldn’t afford to be distracted. And thinking about what she wanted to do to him? Nope.
He didn’t respond, just leaned down and kissed the top of her head. She knew they were acting, that this was part of their role as a couple in case anyone was watching. No doubt Neely had someone keeping an eye out for them. Either someone on the ground, or he’d hacked the hotel’s security system. Maybe both. It had been a long time since she’d worked with him, but some things didn’t change. Even if they were acting, Savage had been right on the plane. She wasn’t faking her attraction to him and she knew he wasn’t faking his own. The erection she’d felt in that kitchen definitely hadn’t been fake.
Which just made all of this even more complicated. Her only goal was to convince Kyle Neely that she’d help him steal whatever it was he wanted while Gage and the others tried to find out where Martina was being kept.
“You got this,” Savage murmured as they strode through the revolving glass door.
She sure hoped so. She’d worn her “armor” today, needing every ounce of it she could get for this show they were putting on. And that was what it felt like too. An elaborate show. In skintight black pants that laced up the sides, showing off a lot of skin, a formfitting red T-shirt and a black leather jacket to finish off the edgy look, she looked like she would have years ago. Which, according to Savage, was all part of her illusion.
Neely had blackmailed her into doing this, but he was still going to test her. Both of them. And Savage said she needed to look the part, that some part of Kyle’s subconscious would relax if she was the same as she was before. It would give him less to focus on. Supposedly. She was trusting that Savage knew what he was talking about—and still really curious about what he used to do for a living before now.
“If things go south, I’ll make sure we get out of here.” There was no doubt in his voice.
“I’ve got your back too.” She might not be as trained as him, but she had some moves and had gotten out of tight situations before.
He paused once as they strode across the gleaming lobby floor and she would have tripped but he slid an arm around her waist, holding her tight. She liked the feel of him holding her. “If I tell you to run, you run.” His words might as well have been a growl.
Well she certainly wasn’t leaving him behind, if that was what he was implying. But she didn’t think saying that now would serve any purpose other than to annoy him. “Are you always super bossy?” she murmured.
Palm trees were placed strategically around the bright lobby and natural sunlight streamed in from the dozens of skylights high above them, giving the illusion that the area was bigger than it was. They strode right past the seating area and a trendy-looking open bar with glossy high-top tables mixed with comfortable couches, and made their way to the elevators.
“Yes.” Savage’s voice was deep and too sexy for her own good. “I expect my partners to do what I say, when I say it.”
Okay, that should not sound so sexual. Heat pooled between her legs as she mentally translated that into what it would be like in the bedroom, but she ignored it. Sort of. Because it was impossible to completely ignore this man and how her body came alive around him. “I’d say you’re going to be very disappointed with me, then,” she said as one of the elevators opened up.
She stepped inside with Savage right behind her and when a well-dressed man in a business suit started to get in with them, Savage told him to “Catch another ride” and pretty much bared his teeth at him. Okay, maybe not exactly that, but the look he gave the man was a little feral.
And when he turned all his focus on her as the doors slid shut, her breath caught in her throat. He moved at her like a predator, his steps liquid smooth, and before she realized it her back was up against the glass and bronze wall.
He cupped her cheek with one hand, his other sliding back through her hai
r as he leaned down until their lips were almost brushing. His green eyes were dilated, his breathing harsh and uneven as they stared at each other.
Her nipples beaded tight against her bra cups, the friction sending another rush of heat between her legs. Some insanity almost compelled her to lean forward and nip his bottom lip. Almost. What the hell was he doing? And why did she like it so much?
At the sound of the elevator dinging, he stepped back and she sucked in a breath, her equilibrium all out of control. He hadn’t even touched her, not really. Their lips hadn’t even brushed. But she swore she felt as if he’d branded her. And wondered if that had been his intention.
Whatever it was, she needed to get her game face on.
As they stepped out of the elevator onto the top floor—Kyle definitely must have been watching them somehow or given them access to this level—a man standing guard at the only door on the floor knocked once on it and moved toward them, a scanning wand in hand.
She knew the drill and it was clear Savage did too as he held out his arms and slightly spread his legs. She did the same.
“If you touch her inappropriately, I’ll break your arms.” Savage’s voice was quiet, his tone casual—as if he hadn’t just threatened serious violence.
The man with light brown skin paused only once before he scanned her, his moves efficient and professional. When he scanned Savage, Olivia noticed the guy subtly checking Savage’s ass out—and had the most absurd urge to laugh that Savage had been worried about her. Nothing about this situation was funny, but when she was nervous, sometimes she laughed inappropriately. She forced it back and cleared her throat.
So much depended on this first meeting going right. Because if Kyle thought something was off or if she and Savage couldn’t handle the “audition” she knew was coming, Martina wouldn’t be useful to him anymore. She knew he’d killed in the past and wouldn’t have a problem doing it again.
As soon as the man finished, the door opened. Kyle gave her a welcoming smile, all elegance, as if he hadn’t backhanded and kicked her a couple days ago.
