Heated Pursuit

by April Hunt

  “Do the Americans not have a saying about not putting all your eggs in one basket? My contacts remain beneficial for as long as they remain discreet. When there is nothing to lose but money, discretion can be compromised. As you’ve said, you would be putting your name, your company, and your reputation on the line. You have a vested interest in remaining discreet and efficient.”

  “I admit I’m intrigued, but as I said, I don’t do a damn thing without physical proof,” Rafe stated firmly.

  “As you wish,” Diego finally conceded. “But it will take a few days to secure a flight and to make certain everything is prepared for your arrival.”

  “You don’t perform any of the testing here?”

  “What I have on location is nothing but a decoy, something that if found, would distract authorities long enough to protect my other assets. But you will get your wish, and then we can start this new venture. Together.”

  “Señor Fuentes.” Diego’s head guard appeared at the mouth of the office, a grim look hardening his face. “We have a situation—with Señor Manuel’s friend.”

  Diego smiled as if unconcerned. “Then let’s go see her, shall we?”

  Rafe schooled his expression to show nothing but the faintest bit of curiosity as Diego’s man led the way toward the back of the mansion. Penny’s voice reached him before he laid eyes on her. Two of Diego’s men clenched each of her arms in a grip that would more than likely leave behind handprints.

  “What do we have here?” Diego asked calmly as they approached.

  “Oh, thank God,” Penny cried out. “I was just explaining to these gentlemen—and I call them that very loosely—that I was simply out for a walk when I bumped into Carlotta. She was upset and I was just trying to make her feel better. They’re acting as if I tried to shove her into my suitcase and kidnap her or something.”

  Though her performance made the explanation sound feasible, Rafe still took a step forward when Diego did the same. Cover or not, he wouldn’t tolerate anyone threatening her in any capacity.

  “It is thoughtful of you to want to help someone in distress, señorita.” Diego kept his voice low as he brushed a strand of hair from her cheek. “But I assure you that Carlotta wants for nothing. She has been my constant companion for many years now. Your concerns are best turned in your own direction.”

  Despite Penny’s supreme efforts to hide it, Rafe saw the flinch. Hell, the double meaning nearly made him cringe. He brushed by Fuentes before tossing a lethal glare to the two men restraining her. Only his Delta-taught control kept him from ripping their arms from their fucking sockets.

  At Diego’s slight nod, they released their holds. The second she flew into his outspread arms, Rafe cupped the back of her head and pulled her close. He shot Diego’s thugs another death glare before leveling the man himself with a fixed stare.

  “Nell’s misguided attempt at assistance or not”—Rafe’s voice went flat—“I will not tolerate anyone putting their hands on what’s mine. The next time your men do more than give her a passing glance, they’ll be wiping their asses with their noses. If you want this business arrangement as bad as you say, then you’ll make sure they remember that.”

  Diego stayed silent for a beat before nodding. “Consider them warned.”

  With their first night in the compound at an official end, Rafe twined his fingers through Penny’s and led the way back to their room. By the time the door closed, his teeth ached and his jaw twitched. A wave of the hand silenced her explanation as he inconspicuously scanned the room for replacement bugs.

  Furious couldn’t begin to describe the anger coursing through his veins. A man like Diego Fuentes didn’t need a good reason to put a bullet in someone’s head. And now she was on his fucking radar.

  He counted to ten—twice. Only when his heart fell back into his chest did he let words slip from his lips, ice cool and level. Penny flinched as if he’d screamed them in her ear. “What the hell did you think you were doing?”

  “We’re being eyeballed, remember?” she reminded him needlessly.

  He kept his back turned toward the camera. “The only thing Fuentes is going to see is that I’m pissed off, and that’s pretty damn close to the truth. What the hell, Red? I didn’t bring you along so you can fly off, half-cocked.”

  “There was no flying—half-cocked or otherwise. Do you not remember that I was practically ordered to go for a walk in the gardens so the manly types could talk business?”

  “Were you told to go snooping? Or to cross-examine Fuentes’s resident pet?”

  “She’s not a resident, Rafe. She’s American—at least I think she is from what I could tell of her accent. And I wasn’t snooping, or cross-examining. I stumbled across her and she was honest-to-God upset, mumbling and muttering incoherently.” Penny lowered her voice to a near whisper. “Gazing toward the east, she said something about prisoners and a bunker. How was I to know that she was going to go apeshit crazy?”

  “That is exactly my point—you don’t know. Which means you do nothing without my knowledge, and that includes approaching anyone on this compound. You may not be helpless, but you’re still my responsibility. Your actions affect my ability to do my job, and more importantly, they directly influence our chances of getting to Rachel. Diego’s now going to be watching us closer than ever, and that’s if he doesn’t decide to get rid of us entirely.”

  “I didn’t realize—”

  “No, you didn’t realize,” Rafe growled, hauling her onto her toes.

  She flinched, more from his words than his firm grip, and he almost apologized. Then the thought of her at Diego’s mercy fired him up all over again.

  “I was a few minutes from getting the ‘in’ we needed. Unless the man is sampling his own drug, Fuentes seems to think Freedom is going to make him the ruler of the world and everyone in it. He’s not planning on this being a run-of-the-mill street drug, Red. He’s going to sell stashes of it to the highest bidders, and those people, who could be anyone with a fat wallet and a fucking twisted disposition, will intentionally addict people so they have no choice but to come back to them for more.”

  “Instant obedience.” Penny’s face paled.

  “Exactly. I know I don’t have to tell you the litany of fucked-up ways that can be used. Mass distribution means that—”

  “Rachel’s already gone.”

  Rafe witnessed the heartbreak in her eyes. Goddamn, he wanted to chase that look on her face away as if he were the fucking Grim Reaper of Bad Thoughts. Instead, the replayed mental image of her in the hands of Fuentes’s thugs turned him into ten different degrees of asshole.

  “Let’s hope your little stunt hasn’t blown our chances of finding her before it’s too late. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go suction my lips to the man’s ass and see if we can get them back.”

  * * *

  Rafe’s words echoed in Penny’s ears long after he’d left the room. They gnarled her insides, souring the contents of her stomach to the point she barely made it to the bathroom before bringing it all up. When the dry heaves finally dissipated, her throat was raw and her body ached. A hot shower did little to relieve the tension of her sore muscles, but she didn’t really deserve to feel better.

  At some point, she must have closed her eyes and fallen asleep, because the soft rustle of clothes hitting the floor snapped them open. Facing the wall, she waited for the dip of the mattress. Rafe’s scent beckoned her to slide backward into his warmth. Instead, she burrowed her face into the pillow and denied herself the comfort.

  He’d been right. Any misstep, slight or huge, could blow their chances of finding Rachel, and there’d be no one to blame but herself. The bucket of tears she’d cried earlier had nothing on the ones that rose fresh to the surface the moment Rafe’s arms wrapped around her.

  “It’s okay.” His mouth brushed against the shell of her ear, his embrace tightening.

  “No, it’s not.” She squeezed her eyes closed on a hiccup. An anvil bo
re down on her chest, making each breath more difficult than the last. “You were right. I could’ve seriously ruined everything—our chances of finding Rachel, of bringing down the Fuentes cartel. All of it. You have every right to be mad at me. I’m mad at me. I can’t even tell you how sorry I am.”

  “I’m the one who should be apologizing, Red. Not you.”

  He must have heard her snort of derision. With gentle hands, he rolled her over and captured her chin between his fingers until she had no choice but to look him in the eye. Even in the darkened room, his eyes glittered, homed in on her face. “Other than Fuentes thinking you’re a Grade A pain in the ass, we’re fine. One thing you should know about me is that I don’t give false assurances. If this is the only problem we run into on this op, we’re in good shape.”

  “But you were so—”

  “Angry?” Rafe’s brow lifted. “Funny how I’ve always been able to control my temper—until you.”

  “Are you trying to tell me that I have a knack for pissing you off?”

  Rafe’s thumb brushed over her bottom lip. When his gaze dropped to her mouth, breathing became an issue all over again. “I’m saying that I was angrier at the thought of you putting yourself in harm’s way than with you possibly blowing the mission.”

  He stilled, watching as she traced the wings of his bald eagle tattoo strategically placed over his heart.

  “You were worried because I’m your responsibility?” she asked, using Sean’s words from the hotel.

  “Yeah. And a hell of a lot more.”

  Rafe slowly slid the tips of his fingers up the length of her arm, her shoulder, her neck. There was no alpha-man stoic mask in place at the moment. His gaze held hers, open and curious and just as confused as her own.

  “I don’t know how you managed to do it, Red,” Rafe murmured. “I’ve never felt unsteady a day in my life, but worrying Fuentes would get rid of you before I could react…I nearly tumbled right to my damn knees.”

  Tense silence hovered over their heads, and Penny didn’t want to be the one responsible for breaking it. Silence was safety. It deepened, had the potential to develop into a bottomless pit, but as long as everything stayed unspoken, it was relatively harmless.

  Rafe shattered that safety net the moment his gaze dropped to where his thumb brushed against her lower lip. She saw the kiss coming, yet when he touched his mouth to hers, she startled. It started as gentle exploration, sweet and more tender than anything she’d ever felt before. Rafe was hard in so many ways but this.

  When he gradually began to slide away, she slipped her fingers through his hair and brought him back.

  Hot and languorous, this wasn’t a savage attack of mouths and limbs. Rafe came over her, careful not to crush her with his weight as he braced his forearms on either side of her head. The warmth emanating off his skin sent her hands into motion.

  His chest, all hard muscle and smoothness, was velvet-covered steel beneath her palms. She traced down the width of his torso and around his defined abs. Slipping beneath the band of his boxers, she found his cock, already hard and pulsing.

  “What the hell do you do to me, Red?” Rafe murmured against her neck as he slowly rolled his hips and thrust his erection into her hand.

  “If you don’t know, then I’m doing it wrong,” she whispered, her bravery encouraged by the dark.

  With a low groan, Rafe slipped his hands beneath her body. Over her behind and down her thighs, he lifted her legs around his waist. Penny arched into his touch. The instant her already sensitized breasts caressed the heat of his skin, her satin slip of a nightgown may as well have been nonexistent.

  Her body burned. Craved. Needed. It needed him and the impenetrable comfort that came along with his arms. Being with Rafe, it was easy to pretend nothing existed except for the two of them. No operation. No danger. Just them and the warm glow that started forming in the center of her chest.

  From somewhere in the mansion, a door slammed. This time, it was Penny who broke the kiss with a painstaking groan.

  Rafe tucked his nose into the curve of her shoulder. “Hell, Red. You see what I mean? Unsteady. This isn’t the time or place to ravish you head to toe, and yet I’m one hip roll away from not giving a hot damn about either and taking you right here.”

  Penny completely agreed. Fighting the temptation to spread her legs and rub against the hardness pressed against her upper thigh probably wouldn’t have been a battle she’d have won. Rafe unknowingly tested every set of limits she’d ever drawn for herself and probably a few more she should’ve made up.

  Taking a deep breath, she slowly slid her hands over Rafe’s bare back. “I guess we should change the subject before we end up starring in our own adult film. Any suggestions?”

  “Grandmas and puppies?”

  She almost smiled, right until a torrent of guilt nearly swallowed her whole. Flashes of Rachel’s face, dirtied and frightened, tightened Penny’s chest. Each image was worse than the last until her heart pounded in her ears. She struggled, tried to squirm out from beneath Rafe, but he kept her still, his body still pressed into hers as he tried to gain her attention.

  “Breathe,” he ordered gently. When she didn’t obey, he cupped her face in his hands and forced her to hold his gaze. Calm and steady, he ordered again, “Take a slow breath, Red. Breathe. Relax.” He ran a hand up and down the length of her arm. “It’s okay.”

  “No. No, it’s not.” She fought against a surge of tears. “How horrible a person am I to be doing this…with you…while Rachel is being subjected to God only knows what?”

  “It doesn’t make you horrible. It makes you human.”

  Penny waited for him to tuck tail and run from the emotional display, but he didn’t. As a matter of fact, he never did what she expected. The corners of his eyes softened as he brushed away the moisture dampening her cheeks.

  “Even the biggest badass needs a release valve.” He sounded so adamant, she almost believed him. “Why the hell do you think soldiers are scheduled R and R in cities close to where they’re stationed? Constant stress and danger weighs down even the most dedicated.”

  “But—”

  “It’s not wrong.” Rafe silenced her words by gently brushing his mouth over hers. “And it’s not selfish if it’s what helps you to move forward. We will find Rachel.”

  “What if she’s a carbon copy of Carlotta by the time we find her?”

  “Then she’ll have you to help remind her who she is. She’ll have you to help her through it.” He curled her into his side, the move so natural she nestled her bare cheek against his chest. Callused fingers caressed her arm from the back of her hand to the bend of her elbow.

  Lingering sexual tension made every inch of her body tingle, but it wasn’t alone. Something infinitely more dangerous huddled beneath the hum of their bodies. Warm and cozy, it settled in the center of her chest, branching out until she didn’t give it a second thought when her hand absently stroked down the length of his torso and back up.

  It was intimacy.

  Beneath her ear, the quick thumping of his heart matched her own.

  Rafe murmured softly. “Get some sleep. Tomorrow we’ll start mapping out the lay of the land, look for things that may be hidden beneath the pretty surface—like why Carlotta was so preoccupied with what was toward the east.”

  “And if it’s more nothing?”

  Rafe tugged her gaze upward. “Then we’ll deal with that just like we’ll deal with anything else that happens to come along. And we’ll deal with it together.”

  Penny didn’t have the strength to ask him what that meant. She was too preoccupied with his use of the term we.

  And together.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Quick and easy. That’s how this was supposed to go. With Penny keeping the eyes of Fuentes’s men turned in her direction, this would be a piece of cake. Of course, that meant Rafe had to keep his head from wandering to Penny keeping the eyes of Fuentes’s men turned in her dir
ection.

  He hadn’t liked the plan when she’d suggested it, but he’d had to admit that it made the most sense. Keeping the focus away from him, he’d be able to slip away undetected and find the main source of the compound’s power. Now that he had, he cursed.

  Fucking solar.

  “Where’s Charlie when you need her?” Rafe muttered.

  Give him a Glock, a KA-BAR, or a fucking pair of boxing gloves and he was golden, but don’t expect him to pull out the science. Knowing he didn’t have time to nap on the job, Rafe got down to work.

  Luckily for him, there was no way in hell Fuentes had the compound on-grid, not this far away from civilization. And sure enough, he found the battery bank that kept the system running off-hours. Once he took away the backup, it would be lights out at sundown.

  Rafe couldn’t just pluck a wire or snip it in half, because even the dense security Fuentes had on staff would be able to tell the difference between sabotage and a furry critter. So he pulled out his toys and got creative, quick. The longer it took him to disrupt the compound’s solar grid, the longer Penny was out there alone.

  * * *

  Eyes closed but not the least bit sleepy, Penny pretended to enjoy a lazy morning at the pool. Jungle life surrounded her with the cackles of mischievous monkeys and chirping birds, but it wasn’t a symphony fit for the masters. Each sharp trill drilled through her temple like an ice pick and reminded her that she wasn’t here on vacation. She had a job to do, and this morning it was to keep the eyes of Fuentes’s guards on her so Rafe could sabotage the compound’s power.

  Her plan had seemed like a good idea at the time. A cup of ice and a bathing suit didn’t really leave room for errors. But that was before she remembered the suit Maria packed was less suit and more like brightly colored dental floss.

  Penny picked up another ice cube and forced her mind away from the watching gazes. Neck. Collarbone. Arm. Occasionally, she threw in the slope of her leg or alternated the order. But every time she ran a piece of ice over the bruises circling each bicep like a black-and-blue version of a tribal tattoo, she was reminded how close she came to screwing up every inch of progress they’d made.