by Becky McGraw
When they walked out, Susan’s gaze swung to Logan, who was slipping into a robe. She opened her mouth to tell him what she’d overheard, but then scanned the room with her eyes. If their room was bugged, this one could be as well. It would have to wait.
Susan slipped into her robe and spa shoes, then draped her clothes over her arm, and picked up her heels. She spun to see Logan cinching his robe, and tapped him on the shoulder. “Let’s go, pookie bear,” she said sweetly. He turned to face her and Susan tapped her ear as she mouthed, “We need to talk.”
Logan’s eyebrows slammed down over his eyes, and he opened his mouth, but just nodded as he walked to the door. He held it open for her, and, as she expected, Helga and Vlad were waiting for them right outside the door. While they walked down the hallway, through the high-tech gym, across the richly decorated lobby area, across the lushly planted atrium to finally reach their room, Susan counted at least ten security cameras, and three guards on security rounds. It was all tastefully done, discreet, but there nonetheless. Their every move was being watched.
Yeah, there was no way that surrogate could’ve left this compound without help. Now, they just had to find out who’d helped her. If they found that person, they could get this case over with, and Susan could focus on her own issues. Finding out what was going on with Jenna.
Over the last few days, Susan had tried to call Jenna at least four times, twice before they left the compound this morning. Her sister hadn’t answered or returned Susan’s calls. That wasn’t like Jenna. Her sister was responsible. She always called Susan back. Always. Something was wrong, and Susan was going to get to the bottom of exactly what that was just as soon as she got back to Dallas. Whether Jenna wanted to tell her or not.
Susan twisted the knob on the suite door, and it opened. It was locked when they left, she had locked it herself, verification they’d had visitors. Logan dug into his pants pocket and pulled out his wallet, flipped it open and extracted two one-hundred-dollar bills. He handed one bill to Helga and the other to Vlad. They took the money, but still hovered, looking nervous.
“That will be all,” Logan said, pushing open the door and nudging her inside. He all but slammed the door in their faces, before he turned to face her. “What is it?”
Susan put her finger over her mouth, and waved like she was scanning with the device he’d used earlier. Logan nodded, went to the bedroom and came back out looking pissed. He mouthed a curse, then walked over to grab her arm. “I need to get this disgusting oil off of me. We need a shower,” he growled as he dragged her toward the bathroom.
In the bathroom, Logan shut the door then walked over to turn on the shower. He unbelted his robe and dropped it to the floor, giving her a delicious buffet view of his spectacular body. He waved for her to join him in the shower, and gave her a nice view of his muscular back and round ass as he ducked inside. Quickly dropping her own robe, Susan padded across the cold tile floor to the shower with excitement bubbling inside of her. Dave Logan would never have to ask her twice to join him in the shower.
She walked inside the huge stall, and Logan jerked the door closed behind her. He turned and shoved her into the wall, covering her mouth with his, as his hands slicked over her oily body. Susan slid her own hands up the angles of his rocked up biceps to his shoulders to twine her arms around his neck and opened her mouth to meet his tongue. She moaned, rubbing her breasts against his slick chest. This oil thing was pretty damned spectacular, she thought, as his soft, wet, oily fur abraded her nipples to hard, painful points. Susan devoured his mouth in a waterfall of steam and stinging spray, until he pulled away breathing hard.
“You make my dick so fucking hard,” he growled, leaning in to tease her lips with nips and licks, before he covered her mouth again with his heat.
Susan had never been with a more exciting man either. Dave Logan did it for her in every sense of the word, she thought, as his fingers dug into her ass and he lifted her. He shifted his hips, then slowly slid her down onto his shaft. Susan dragged her mouth from his, throwing her head back against the shower wall to savor his fullness. “So good,” she panted, her fingers digging into his shoulder muscles.
Dave bent his head to lick a trail down her neck to her breast, over the peak to suck her nipple into his mouth. Susan’s inner muscles clenched and she shivered. “Yessss,” she hissed, gritting her teeth as his mouth tugged on her nipple. He shifted her weight, and her body sank lower, pushing him deeper inside her body. Her piercing made contact with his cock, and Susan’s fingers dug into his back. Needing more of him, she gyrated her hips.
A tremor rocked him and he groaned, holding her hips tighter, as he shoved himself inside her to the hilt. Holding her legs tighter to his side, Logan pulled his mouth from her breast to cover her mouth again, then pulled his hips back before ramming inside her again, and again. With every entry, his cock raked her jewelry and Susan was catapulted higher, closer to the release that was hovering just above her head. Logan moved faster, went deeper, his pace frantic now, the slapping sound of their oily bodies increasing her response. Susan splintered, her body vibrated and she screamed her release. Logan’s fingers dug deeper, he roared and she felt his hot release deep inside her body.
Dragging in breaths, he just held her to him, then lifted his head. “That scream of yours should answer their questions about our legitimacy,” he said with a grin. “What did you have to tell me?”
Disappointment, and something else warred inside of her. She’d almost think it was hurt, but wouldn’t label it that. “Is that what that was about, then?” A quick, hot fuck to convince the bad guys they were a legitimate couple if they were listening?
He looked confused, then his eyes darkened. “No, that is not what this was about,” he said lowering her to set her on her feet. “But it can’t hurt.”
“I overheard what the guard said to Helga,” Susan informed, folding her arms over her breasts. “He told her to keep us in there for thirty minutes so they could search the room.”
“Really?” Dave asked, running his hands over his face. “They spoke in Russian, didn’t they? Are you just guessing?”
“No, I speak and write Russian, French, Dutch, German and English. I know a little Greek…very little.”
Logan looked shocked, then smiled. “Lady, you amaze me more with every minute I know you. It’s no wonder the agency snapped you up right out of college.”
The look of respect in his eyes salved her ego a little. “They didn’t snap me up, I chose to join them. My father was an agent too, remember?” The shower spray was getting cold now and Susan shivered. They had to get out of here. “Did they take your bug detector?”
Logan huffed a breath, and licked the water from his lips. “Yeah, they did, so we’re either going to have to live in the shower, or find somewhere outside private to talk. I’ll try to look around, but wouldn’t trust that without having the scanner. I’m sure there’s more than one device this time.”
“I vote for staying in the shower,” Susan replied with a grin, swiping a clump of his dark, wet hair from his eyes. His nostrils flared, and he grabbed her to pull her to him for a long wet kiss. The water went ice cold on her back and she shivered violently.
Logan pulled back and reached around her to shut off the tap. “They need to get more hot water in this place,” he grumbled, as he reached behind him to slide open the door. “And we need to get some sleep. We’ve got stuff to do tonight.”
Another shiver worked through Susan, this time not from the temperature. “I love the sound of that,” she said, her voice husky.
“We’re going to get into that area of the compound we tried to get into earlier. I lifted Vlad’s keycard and we need to get in there before he reports it missing.”
“There are ten cameras between here and there, and probably more in that hallway.”
“Their camera system is going to have a little malfunction tonight,” Dave informed smugly. “Sometimes Dex is worth every penny I pa
y him.”
“Remember that the next time you think about being an asshole to him,” Susan said with a laugh. “What did he do?”
“He packed a little tool kit for me in the false bottom of my shaving kit. They aren’t the only ones who can scramble signals.”
Susan groaned. “Logan, tell me you listened when he told you how to use it.”
“Of course, I did,” he replied indignantly, as he walked to the vanity and opened the bottom of his shaving kit. He pulled out the little black box with clamps on the end and showed it to her, before he put it back inside.”
“Of course you did,” Susan repeated, with a bad feeling in her gut that he listened as well as he had listened to Dex tell him how to operate the phone in his city office, as well as he’d listened when Dex explained the security system at his compound. She hoped she was wrong, but had a bad feeling tonight wasn’t going to end well.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“We’re going to have to find a place to set up to time the security sweeps. The camera will be disabled, but we’ll still have to worry about the guards,” Dave said, holding Susan’s hand as they strolled leisurely through the gardens on the west side of the complex.
“I’m worried about it all.” Susan huffed a breath, because even at a leisurely pace, she was working up a sweat trying to keep up with Logan’s ground-eating strides. She wished she’d have thought to bring her yoga pants and tennis shoes, but she only had heels and skirts. The heels would go if she had to run. If it came down to brass tacks, she’d have trouble pulling the pistol she had strapped to her left thigh. Her suit skirt was just too damned tight.
“Stop being a worry wart,” Logan said, shooting her an easy grin. “We’re professionals. This is our business. We got this, sweet cheeks.”
Susan snorted. “Tell me that in the morning, and I’ll believe you.”
“You don’t believe in me?” Dave asked, sounding a little hurt.
“Of course, I do,” she replied, huffing a breath. “I am a worry wart. It’s in my nature and there’s nothing I can do about it. What I’m most worried about right now though is my sister. I called her four times before we left and she didn’t answer or return my calls. She really didn’t look good when I saw her last at the school.”
“She’ll be fine, I promise. We’ll be fine. Just stop worrying!” Dave grated, with frustration and something else in his tone and words. Something that bothered her. Confidence about her sister’s situation when he knew nothing about it.
How could he be confident Jenna was okay, when he didn’t know the whole situation, had never met Jenna? Logan also hadn’t seen her gray complexion or her swollen face and body during their visit. He was trying to placate her, and that pissed her off.
“Don’t patronize me, Logan,” Susan snarled, but rolled her shoulders to relieve some tension. Arguing with her partner wasn’t going to get the job done here, and she had things other than her sister to worry about tonight. Like not getting caught breaking into another secured building and going to jail again. Or worse. And the sooner they could get this night over with, the better in her opinion. “I saw a broom closet over by that door. Maybe we could hide out in there?” she suggested, walking toward the door that led back into the building.
“Good eyes, sweet cheeks. I can’t say I’d mind being in a broom closet with you.”
“Work, Logan…focus,” Susan reminded, as she grabbed the door handle..
Logan’s hands went to her shoulders to massage them. “Damn, baby, you’re no fun tonight,” he said with a snarky laugh. “You’re wound tight. Loosen up.”
Susan shrugged off his hands and opened the door. “I had one massage today, Logan, and Helga was good. This is as relaxed as I get until this is over.”
They walked inside, and he leaned near her ear. “But can Helga strum a tune on that jewelry of yours to make you sing along?” he asked, and Susan shivered as his hot breath tickled her ear. His deep voice vibrated along her nerves to hum through said piece of jewelry and she pinched her knees.
“Hush!” she hissed, elbowing him. She straightened her skirt, and asked under her breath, “Where do you have to put that thing?”
“On whatever thing we want to disable. I zap it with an app on my cell phone and it’s scrap metal.”
Her shoulders relaxed a little, very little. Just because he had technology to help them didn’t mean that he’d learned to use it proficiently. The fiasco with his own residential suite at the compound was a prime example. “Have you tested it out?”
“Yes, Dex and I tested it on a camera at the compound. Stop worrying!” he ground out, as he grabbed her hand and started across the atrium.
“You know we sound like an old married couple, right?” Susan asked with a laugh, struggling to keep up with his stride. She patted his arm. “And slow down so it doesn’t look like we’re on a mission to get somewhere. Stroll, Logan,” she said through her pasted on smile for the benefit of the girl behind the desk in the lobby.
“Yes, mother,” Dave grated under his breath, but slowed his pace. “It feels like we’ve been married twenty years, instead of twenty-four hours. I already want to kill you most of the time.”
“You’ll have to get in line. I think those guys have first shot at it,” she said with a chin nod at the two suited, dark-haired men who walked out of the hallway beside the front desk.
When they fell into line behind them a few paces back, Susan’s heart rate went off the charts. Logan squeezed her hand, and kept walking, but he stopped suddenly. One of the men crashed into him, and he stumbled. Susan stumbled with him, since he held her hand. She fell on her knees and held back a whimper of pain. Rolling to sit, she rubbed her knee and Logan dropped down beside her.
“Bunny, are you alright, baby?” he asked with concern, moving her hand to look at her knee. His eyebrows slammed down over his eyes, and he exploded to his feet to push the bigger of the two thugs. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing knocking my wife down?” he demanded with another shove. “I’m going to sue your ass, and this clinic.”
Susan saw the second mobster shove his hand under his jacket and swallowed hard, as she moved her own hand a little higher on her thigh. The one that Logan pushed cut his eyes at his partner and shook his head.
“It was an accident, and I apologize, Mr. Lawrence.” Looking down at her with his flat black eyes, he added, “Mrs. Lawrence, if you’ll come with us, I’ll escort you to the infirmary to be examined by the doctor. He’s at the reception with the other guests, so it may take him a few minutes to get to you. He also has another patient to see.”
“I’m fi—” she started, but Logan nudged her with the toe of his shoe, and she cleared her throat. They needed to get away from these men to do what they needed to do, not stick with them, but obviously he had a plan. “We’ll follow you, thank you.” Logan took her arm to help her to her feet, and Susan put an exaggeration into her limp as they followed behind the men. After a few minutes, they stopped at the door marked STAFF ONLY. The same door that Susan and Logan were supposed to try to enter tonight.
Evidently Logan either knew, or assumed the infirmary would be behind door number three, which saved them a helluva lot of time and trouble. Maybe their luck was running, she thought, as she waited for the guard to slide his keycard through the slot. The door clicked open and he pushed it inward and held it open for them to go inside first. Susan discreetly checked the hallway for cameras and saw only one at the end of the hallway. She also realized that the door behind them was the only exit from the hallway. One way out in case of emergency. But considering the voices she’d heard behind the wall outside the complex, there had to be another exit behind one of the fourteen doors lining the long hallway.
As they walked, without making it obvious, Susan peered into every room they passed with a glass front. A lab of some kind, an office, another office, a treatment room with what she definitely recognized as a gynecological exam table. You couldn’t miss those
cold metal stirrups. What surprised Susan, though, was to see a dark-haired young woman sitting in a chair in the back corner of the dimly lit room twisting her fingers in her lap.
The girl looked up, their eyes met and Susan studied her ashen, swollen face through the part in the curtain covering the window. Susan saw her arms and hands were very swollen too. She looked just like Jenna had looked when she’d seen her last. The girl’s eyes darted left and right, then met Susan’s again and they glistened as she mouthed, help me, in Russian.
“Mrs. Lawrence?” the guard demanded impatiently, as he stepped up to block her view into the room by taking her right arm. Susan hadn’t realized she’d stopped walking and she needed to cover for the reason she’d stopped.
“I can’t walk any further, my knee is hurting too badly,” she said with a girly whimper.
Dave’s fingers tightened on her arm. “Take those damned heels off, Bunny. If you still can’t walk, I’ll carry you.”
Susan didn’t have to be told twice. She slipped her feet out of the shoes and Logan picked them up to dangle then from his fingers. She limped once and smiled up at him. “Thank you, David, that’s better. I think I’ll be able to walk.”
Logan rolled his eyes, and they started forward again, him on one side of her, and the guard on the other. They stopped at a door on the left side of the hallway about halfway to the end. Susan was disappointed, because she really, really wanted to check out all the rooms.
The guard leaned over to open the door, then released her arm to step back. “Wait in here. Dr. Warman or one of his associates will be with you shortly.”
Susan walked into the large room, and Logan followed. The room was partitioned off into six treatment areas by green hospital curtains. Two glass-fronted drug cabinets lined the left corner of the room, and a few chairs were positioned on the right side of the room. Susan limped over there, scanning the room for cameras as she walked, but saw none. She crossed her legs and bent to rub her ankle. As soon as Dave sat beside her, and the door shut, Susan sprang to her feet. There could be audio monitoring even if there weren’t cameras, so she ran over to pick up the prescription pad from the counter under the drug cabinet. Grabbing the pen beside it, she quickly scrawled a note to Logan.
