by Paige Tyler
Beside him, Ivy sat up straighter. “I love this song. Who wants to dance with me?”
She was looking at Landon as if she expected him to be the one to offer. He wanted to. God, how he wanted to. But dancing with Ivy could be dangerous. Correction—it would most definitely be dangerous. And yet if he didn’t, he’d be kicking himself later. Unfortunately, by the time he got his tongue loosened from the roof of his mouth, everyone else at the table was already on their feet.
“I’m junior in rank,” Diaz pointed out. “So, you guys can suck it up. Take care of your troops, remember?” He came around the table and held out his hand to Ivy. “Lead the way, fine lady.”
She gave Landon a small smile, then took Diaz’s hand. Landon didn’t join in when the rest of the guys cheered Diaz on. He was too busy kicking himself.
Ivy danced the same way she did everything—gracefully. She swayed to the sexy beat, lifting her arms above her head as she moved her hips, and it was all Landon could do not to groan. Dragging his gaze away from her, he picked up his beer and took a long swallow, hoping it would cool him off. On the other side of the table, Mickens eyed him thoughtfully. The medic had an uncanny way of knowing what other people were thinking. That was great when it came to the enemy. When it came to him, not so much. All he needed were his friends figuring out he was lusting after his partner.
“Be real, Captain,” Mickens said. “No freakin’ way is that woman dancing with Diaz your partner.”
Meaning how the hell did he get paired up with a hot number like Ivy. The guys were all looking at him—when they weren’t sneaking peeks at her on the dance floor—like he’d won the lottery. He’d think so, too, if it wasn’t for that lame rule he had about not getting involved with someone he worked with ever again. “I’m shootin’ straight here. She’s my partner.”
“And she does Homeland Security stuff, like go after terrorists and shit?”
Landon chuckled. Good to know he wasn’t the only one who underestimated her. “Yeah, she goes after terrorists and shit.” That raised more than one eyebrow. “Look, what I’m going to tell you is for your ears only. Got it?” They nodded. “Ivy’s qualified with more small arms weapons than you can name. She’s had as many airborne jumps as any of us. She’s a trained diver and explosives expert. She can break into a safe one second and hack a computer the next. I’ve watched her hump a heavy rucksack through deep bush for twenty-four hours straight without so much as stopping to take a breather. The first time we met, she dropped me in hand-to-hand combat like a toilet seat. On top of that, she’s killed men while covering my back. She might look like a Victoria’s Secret model, but she can kick some ass.”
They were silent, their gazes going to Ivy again. She waved when she saw them looking her way.
“Damn,” Angelo breathed. “All that and she can dance, too? Sure this organization of yours isn’t hiring? I could definitely see myself working there.”
Landon laughed. Leave it to Angelo to pick out the most important skill.
“Speaking of dancing, Diaz has been out there long enough,” Deray complained. “It’s time I pulled rank.”
Mickens pushed back his chair. “Me, too.”
Marks, Griffen, and Tredeau clearly didn’t want to wait their turn, either. They followed Deray and Mickens onto the dance floor, leaving Landon alone with Angelo.
“So, you and Ivy are just partners, huh?” his friend asked.
Landon picked up his beer. “Yeah.”
“It looks like more than that to me.”
For a guy who looked like he could get a job as a bouncer in a biker bar, Angelo could be damn perceptive. “Well, I’m trying to make sure it’s not.”
Angelo flicked him a glance as he absently rubbed his thumb up and down the label on his beer bottle. “What’s Ivy have to say about that? Because from where I’m sitting, she’s clearly got a thing for you.
“Ivy feels the same way I do.” Which only made not giving in and taking her to bed even harder.
“You’re both playing with fire, Landon. You remember the last time you got involved with a woman you worked with.”
He didn’t need a reminder. “I know. Which is why Ivy’s off limits.”
“Then you won’t mind if I make a move on her.”
Jealousy immediately shot through Landon. He scowled at his friend, unable to help it.
Angelo grinned as he got to his feet. “Relax, dude. I’m just going to dance with her.”
Landon watched Angelo make his way over to Ivy, trying not to notice the dazzling smile she gave him. It didn’t help that the rest of the guys picked that moment to decide to come back to the table for another round of drinks, leaving the two of them alone on the dance floor. If Ivy was going to hook up with anyone on his former team, it’d be Angelo for sure. Even he had to admit they looked good together. Friend or not, if Angelo and Ivy ended up leaving together, he was going to kill the guy.
Two songs of them gyrating on the dance floor was about all Landon could handle before he went out there and cut in on Angelo. The big Texan didn’t seem surprised. Flashing Ivy a grin, he gave Landon a knowing look, then turned and went back to the table.
Ivy smiled at him as she wiggled her hips to the new beat. “I was worried you were one of those guys who thinks it’s not cool to dance.”
He followed her moves, picking up the rhythm. “Normally, I wouldn’t, but I’ll make an exception for my partner.”
Watching Ivy dance from across the room had been one thing. Being out here on the floor dancing with her was another. If he thought her moves had been sensual before, that didn’t compare to the heat coming off her now. Not letting it bother him was tough given her body was almost touching his. They might have promised to keep things professional, but that promise apparently didn’t extend to the dance floor. What they were doing was about as far from professional as you could get. And as close to sex as you could get in public without being arrested.
Thank God they were in a club or he might have done something seriously stupid, like kiss her again. The memory of how sweet her lips had been was nearly enough to make him ignore the people around them and pull her into his arms to kiss her. Which would be a bad idea because then he’d want to see if her breasts felt as soft as he remembered. And from there, who knew what would happen? He’d never felt this out of control around a woman in his life.
He wasn’t sure if he was relieved or disappointed when Diaz showed up to cut in. “You’ve had her long enough, Captain. Time to share.”
Landon didn’t feel like sharing. And he sure didn’t feel like letting Diaz cut in. But he needed to get away from her, if only to get control of himself.
Thankfully, no one back at the table noticed what had been going on out there on the dance floor between him and Ivy. No one except Angelo. Landon avoided looking at him and reached for his beer.
“Oh shit,” Griffen muttered.
Landon looked up to see Tredeau jerking his head toward the dance floor.
“Diaz is being his usual charming self.”
Something about the way Tredeau said the words made Landon stiffen, and he whipped around to see Diaz facing off against three big, burly guys. Ivy stood beside him, frowning. Landon might not be able to hear what the men were saying to the slightly less than average-sized Diaz, but he figured it out from their body language. They wanted to know what a guy like Diaz was doing dancing with a woman like Ivy and probably assumed they could intimidate him into walking away. Unfortunately for them, Diaz had a chip on his shoulder bigger than the state of Texas.
Tredeau pushed back his chair, but Landon held up his hand. He wanted to jump up and defend both his ex-teammate and his new one—Ivy more than Diaz—but she was more than capable of dealing with this. She wouldn’t appreciate him coming to her rescue in front of his friends.
“There’s only three of
them,” he told Tredeau.
“But they’re big,” Mickens pointed out. “Like head-and-shoulders big above Diaz.”
Landon opened his mouth to tell him Diaz would be offended by that statement, but all that came out was a curse as one of the guys shoved Diaz out of the way while another grabbed Ivy by the arm.
Diaz clocked the one guy across the jaw while Ivy took hold of other guy’s wrist and bent his arm back until he dropped to his knees. Someone screamed. The DJ cut the music. And the crowd on the dance floor moved away to give Ivy, Diaz, and the three men space.
The third guy evaluated the situation, his eyes darting from his two buddies on the floor to Ivy and Diaz. He must have decided he couldn’t fight them by himself because he backed up, hands up in the universal gesture of surrender.
Movement in the crowd caught Landon’s attention. Eight guys pushed their way through the onlookers and stomped onto the dance floor, the expressions on their faces leaving no doubt of their intentions. Landon didn’t care if Ivy got mad at him for coming to her rescue or not. There was no way he was going to sit there while she fought an entire football team.
He glanced at Tredeau “Okay. Now we help.”
Tredeau and the rest of the guys immediately jumped up and charged onto the dance floor with him. Anyone who wasn’t interested in a fight quickly got out of their way—which was pretty much everyone. That’d make it easier to pull Ivy and Diaz away from the fight, then get everyone out of there. Unfortunately, the assholes who’d started it weren’t down with that plan and closed in on Landon and his teammates like some kind of unarmed infantry charge.
Landon slugged the first guy rushing him, then did the same to the next, putting both men on the ground. They were big and brawny, but they didn’t have the hand-to-hand combat skills to compete with trained Special Forces soldiers. He and his teammates were black belts in one type of martial art or another, from jujitsu to tae kwon do. Depending on their preferred styles, they either sent their opponents sliding across the slick floor by using the men’s own aggression against them or laid them out by kicking them in the face.
Ivy and Diaz were standing back to back, defending themselves until Landon and his teammates could get to them.
“You okay?” he asked her as he punched a curly-haired guy in the jaw.
She flashed him a grin. “Never better.”
Her eyes were shining like crazy. As if the animal inside was just waiting to get out. He hoped people assumed it was the strobe lights.
She executed a perfect roundhouse kick, hitting a big, beefy guy in the stomach and sending him flying. “Cops are on their way. I heard the bartender say he called them.”
Landon loved that bionic hearing of hers. He threw a glance over his shoulder at his teammates. “Cops will be here soon. Ten blocks west and rally in the first parking lot you come to.”
They immediately dropped the nearest opponent and headed for the door. Landon hung back long enough to make sure none of his guys were left behind, then grabbed Ivy’s hand and pulled her out of the club.
She gestured over her shoulder as they ran. “My car is parked in a lot on the other side of the building.”
He didn’t stop. “We’ll come back for it later.”
Mickens and Tredeau piled into the backseat of his truck cab, while Ivy climbed in the front. Diaz threw himself in the bed, stretching out so no one’d see him. Landon scanned the parking lot for anyone who hadn’t caught a ride. When he saw it was clear, he pulled out just as cop cars poured in.
He drove west for ten blocks, praying there was a parking lot around. By pure luck, there was a pharmacy on the corner. Angelo’s SUV was already there, Griffen’s fire-engine red Charger parked beside him.
Angelo grinned as he and the others sauntered over to Landon’s pickup. “Everyone came out alive, so I’d call that a successful mission.”
“Just like old times.” Mickens gave Ivy a wink. “But with much better looking company.”
On the street, two police cars sped past, sirens blaring. The pharmacy wasn’t one of those twenty-four hour ones, so hanging around in the parking lot at 0200 hours was bound to get them noticed.
“We better split before someone at the club describes us to the cops and they come looking for us,” Landon said.
“I know this other club. Killer DJ.” Diaz grinned. “And it’s still early.”
As much as Landon enjoyed hanging out with his teammates, he didn’t know what would happen if he gave in to temptation and danced with Ivy again. Kissing her was a definite possibility this time. What was he going to say? That he’d rather go home and go to bed? They’d think aliens had kidnapped him and replaced him with a replicant.
“Another time, Diaz,” Angelo said. “We need to get some shut-eye if we expect to head to New York City early tomorrow.”
Since when did Angelo need sleep? The guy could outlast any of them when it came to pulling guard duty in the middle of the night. Then Angelo gave him a meaningful look and Landon knew exactly what was behind his charade. He had to admit, he was grateful.
Mickens laughed. “It’s only four or five hours.”
“Yeah, well I’m doing the driving, and I’m tired,” Angelo grumbled. “So is Griffen. He looks beat.”
Griffen opened his mouth to argue but shut it again at the pointed look Angelo sent his way. Rank had its privileges.
After giving Landon the requisite man hugs, his teammates crowded around Ivy to hug her, too. They extended an open invitation to party with them anytime she wanted, anywhere she wanted.
“One night with her and the guys are ready to drag their asses across broken glass just to stand next to her in a fight.” Angelo slanted him a look. “I can see why you’re attracted to her. If you do something stupid, no one here would blame you. Just be sure it’s what you really want to do—before you do it—because it’ll change everything between the two of you once you do.”
“Weren’t you the one who told me an hour ago that I should steer clear of her?”
“That was before I saw you dance with her.”
Landon shook his head. “Forget it. I learned my lesson with Erica.”
Had he? If Ivy gave him the go-ahead, he’d be all over her in a second, DOC rules and ex-girlfriends be damned.
“If you ever need anything, give me a call,” Angelo said. “And I mean anything.”
Landon grinned. “I will. Give me a call on your way back down to Campbell and we’ll get together again.”
“Will do.”
Ivy waved as they drove off, a smile on her face. “I haven’t had that much fun in a long time. I’m glad you invited me.”
“Yeah, me too.”
They locked eyes for a moment before she looked away.
“Do you think it’s safe to go back and get my car yet?”
He glanced at his watch. It’d only been fifteen minutes since they’d left the club. “Maybe we should give it a little while longer. I saw a coffee shop a couple blocks back that looked like it was still open. Want to grab a cup?”
That should be a completely safe activity.
She smiled. “Sounds good to me.”
The coffee shop was empty except for the gray-haired barista behind the counter and a twenty-something couple dressed in club clothes sitting at a table near the window. Landon and Ivy ordered coffee, then sat down at a table in the back corner.
Ivy sipped her latte. “So, how come everyone calls you Captain, but Angelo calls you by your name?”
“You noticed that, huh? Because we both used to be enlisted. We went through Infantry School and Special Forces training together. After that, we both got assigned to the 5th Group. That history gives him some perks.”
She frowned. “Wait a second. I’m confused. I thought you were an officer.”
“I went to Officer Candidate Sch
ool when I was an E5. It’s where enlisted guys go to become officers,” he added, then chuckled. “Angelo’s actually the one who talked me into going green to gold. Thought I’d be good officer material. At the time, I wasn’t sure if I should be offended, but he turned out to be right.”
Her lips curved. “Obviously. Wasn’t it a little weird for you guys when you went back to the 5th as his commander, though?”
“It was at first, but Angelo’s an amazing troop. He played it square. Never even let on we were friends.”
“Why didn’t he become an officer, too?”
“I tried to talk him into it, but he’s just not programmed to be an officer.”
“What do you mean?”
“An officer has to be able to put up with a lot of politics and bullshit. Angelo prefers to call it like he sees it and shoot anything that looks like it needs to be shot.” Landon glanced at her over the rim of his cup. “It’s selfish of me, but I’m glad he didn’t. If he had, he would have gotten assigned to another team and he’s a damn good soldier.”
She smiled. “A damn good friend, too.”
A good enough friend to point out how much Landon would lose if he screwed up this partnership with Ivy. Which was exactly what he’d needed to hear right now.
Chapter 9
Kendra intercepted Ivy in the lobby the moment she got to the DCO offices on Monday. “John wants you and Landon in the conference room ASAP. I’ll go round up your partner.”
Ivy opened her mouth to ask what was up, but Kendra had already darted down the hallway. Sighing, she went into the conference room and took a seat.
Landon came in five minutes later, a cup in one hand and a brown paper bag in the other. “Hey.”
“Hey.” At least he’d been smart enough to grab coffee. Could she get to the break room and back before John came in?
Landon sat down across from her, then opened the brown bag and pulled out a monster-sized cream-filled donut with chocolate on top. Her stomach growled, reminding her she hadn’t eaten breakfast.
