Yes, this was Justin and she’d been a fool to think that the chemistry that had always burned between them would dissipate if they ignored it.
“You knew I was there?” she asked, although she knew the answer. This situation was impossible to ignore.
“I knew.”
At the time, just as she was now, she’d been unable to tear herself away. She’d stared at the shower door as if her life depended on it. Although she hadn’t been able to see anything clearly, she had no doubt as to what he was doing while the water rushed over him. She’d seen the slow, steady motion of his arm as his hand worked between his legs, and she’d been so close to opening the shower door. Too close, with a houseful of Turk’s friends just downstairs, waiting for Justin so they could drive to the shore. Justin’s date among them.
That was the only thing that had stopped her. Now there was nothing like that between them.
“Is it warm in here?” she asked him, but again, he only gave her that smile and continued crowding her until the cool water from his body touched her bare arms, soaked through the T-shirt.
Yeah, this part was definitely different than before.
“Did you see me come?”
“You threw your head back and you…howled,” she murmured. It had been a magnificent sight and she asked the question she’d wanted to for years. “Who were you thinking about when you came?”
He leaned toward her, more droplets falling on her face, her chest. “You,” he breathed. “Was thinking about you, Ava. But you’ve always known that, too.”
HE’D BEEN EIGHTEEN and he’d wanted that night, any night with Ava, who was bold, smart, funny and beautiful. Ava, who he’d wanted to join him in the shower. That way, Justin could tell his best friend that his sister had made the first move, because somehow, that would make everything all right.
She hadn’t—not that night. And right now there was nothing more between them but thin cotton that he’d skim off her body in seconds.
His hands were already tugging at the T-shirt’s hem. “Why didn’t you come into the shower with me back then?”
“I don’t know…all those people were downstairs…your girlfriend.”
“She wasn’t my girlfriend.”
“Then you should’ve been honest with me,” she challenged, and he couldn’t argue with her.
“There are a lot of things I should’ve done. And I’m tired of living with the regrets.” With that, he brought his mouth down on hers. She didn’t resist in the slightest, seemed to be ready for his touch, even grabbed him by the hair to ensure that he didn’t think about pulling back from the inevitable.
Like last night, like nine years before, her mouth was sweet, welcoming…hot as hell as her arms wrapped around his shoulders, her fingers digging in as if she wasn’t ever letting him go.
He knew this wasn’t the time or the place, but none of that mattered, not the way it had last night when he and Ava and the word naked seemed like a really bad idea.
What a difference a few hours made.
His body responded instantly with a powerful, primal urge to take her, claim her and protect her all at once.
That all-consuming need burnt through him like fire.
She tasted sweet, so sweet, just as he remembered, and he kept his mouth against hers until he could barely breathe. His body screamed for more contact than just kissing. Until he rushed back to his senses.
He broke away abruptly and she took a few quick breaths, then put her hands to her lips. Seeing her staring up at him in complete confusion reminded him of exactly what his job was. The fact that her cell phone had begun to beep in the background like an early-warning signal hadn’t hurt either.
AVA’S PHONE signaled that there was a message and that’s all it took to put her firmly back into the present situation. She was in hiding. Leo was MIA. And she and Justin were acting without thinking of the consequences.
Dammit.
Before Justin could stop her, she’d pulled away and run to rifle through his bag, where he’d put her phone last night when they were still in the car. The battery was low and she didn’t have her charger, so this might be her last chance to check it, and God, it could be Leo.
“Ava, let me listen first,” Justin was pleading, but it was too late. The tone of the caller—and his message—was echoing in her ear. It was menacing enough to make her drop the phone, but not until she’d heard the last words: If you don’t produce Susie Mercer in the next forty-eight hours, your brother, Leo, dies. And so does Callie Stanton.
The phone fell to the carpet with a soft thud and Justin was retrieving it, putting it to his ear to replay the message. His face tightened.
He clicked the phone shut. He’d pulled on clothes hastily. Even his hair was wet but the look on his face made her feel even worse.
“Are you going to tell me who Callie Stanton is?” he asked. “And don’t say that you don’t know. The caller knew you would.”
“She’s a social worker. The one who brought Susie to me.”
“And that’s all.”
“Yes, that’s all.”
“Ava, don’t fuck with me now.”
“Do you think I’d do that with Leo’s life on the line? With Callie’s life…” She drew in a breath and asked herself if this feeling of being shattered would ever go away. “I’m going to be sick,” she mumbled, and pushed past him into the bathroom.
He was behind her, rubbing her back, telling her it was going to be all right. He wiped her forehead, then the nape of her neck with a cool washcloth, and implored her to just, breathe, which she did until the nausea passed.
“Do you think Leo and Callie are together?” she asked finally, her hands still gripping the sides of the sink for support.
“I don’t know. Does Callie know where Susie is?”
She turned to stare into his deep brown eyes and told him the absolute truth. “No. And neither do I.”
He nodded. “Even if you did, I would never expect you to give her up. Your brother would never want you to do that.”
She was glad she didn’t have to make that choice for herself. “You need to go help him. You need to go find Leo.”
“I can’t, Ava. That’s not my jurisdiction.”
“And I am?”
“This is what he wanted. I can’t run off and leave you alone, and I’m not taking you with me. For all we know, that phone call could be a fake.”
“And if it’s not?” she asked, and saw the pain pass across his face. “We have to do something.”
“We will—we are…we’re doing what Leo asked. You’re going to get dressed and we’re going to get the hell out of here.”
“What about the car?”
“I took care of that.”
“How…?”
He gave her a quick hug. “Better you don’t know. Get dressed.”
She paused and drew a deep breath. “I’m scared. And I hate being scared.”
“There’s nothing wrong with being scared. Fear can keep you alive.”
“You’re scared before your missions?”
He gave her a lopsided smile. “Yes. Every single one,” he said, and it was then that she knew for certain her feelings for Justin Brandt went far beyond lust.
EARLIER THAT MORNING, Rev had gotten into Justin’s house easily enough without keys. He’d forgotten to ask Cash for them and had been halfway to Justin’s before he’d remembered.
You’d think a SEAL would have better security.
There was nothing Rev had come across in his twenty-four years that he couldn’t break into, be it car or house or even a vault. Locks and alarms seemed to melt away under his touch, which had made it very easy for him to get into trouble when he was younger.
Now, two hours later, he was mission accomplished and he and Cash were out on the water, readying for some midmorning fishing so Cash’s girlfriend could finish her work.
“I’m not enjoying this.” Cash was busy cursing as he tried unsuccessfully to g
et their CO’s boat running.
Hollywood’s boat was a beauty—an old AFT Cabin powerboat he’d restored by hand, but she was temperamental as anything and seemed to only want to behave for Hollywood himself. But that didn’t mean Rev wouldn’t try to tame her every chance he got.
“Can you please let me at the engine now?” Rev asked his friend, knew Cash’s temper tantrum had everything to do with Justin.
Cash stepped aside, still swearing. “I hate it when he does this.”
“Sees the woman he loves?”
“You know what I mean, Rev. This isn’t good for Justin.”
“It’s the first time he’s actually talked with her in a while. Only good can come out of that.”
“You sound like a goddamned greeting card.”
“And you sound cynical as hell for someone who’s in love.”
Cash frowned. “I don’t want to see him hurt.”
“Now who sounds like a greeting card? He’s been through much worse. He’ll survive this, no matter what the outcome.” Rev threaded the band around the motor for the third time, held it so it wouldn’t slip off and had it purring in seconds.
The boat cut through the water effortlessly as Rev gunned the engine to get them to the center of the lake.
“That’s an awfully long time to hold on to a torch and not do a thing about it,” Cash said.
“He had his reasons,” Rev replied.
“Do you think feelings can really survive for that long?”
“I think they already have.”
“He’s not thinking straight, Rev.”
“Yeah, well, my papa says that no man who’s with the right woman ever does.”
7
CALLIE WAS AMAZINGLY resilient. She didn’t seem freaked out over his injuries at all. Worried, yes, but Leo knew he looked like hell warmed over. One eye was swollen shut, he wheezed with every breath and his lip was split, yet she just kept talking to him in a low, soothing voice to keep him awake.She was just easygoing enough for him to know how guarded she really was. Reading people was a big part of his job, but it had always been something that came naturally to him.
And with respect to Callie, there was a story there, and he’d get it soon enough.
“Is anything broken?” she asked as she checked him over with a light touch.
“You’re a nurse?”
“No.”
“I don’t think anything’s broken beyond a rib or two. And a cheekbone.” They could’ve hurt him a lot worse, would probably do so when O’Rourke himself got back into Chicago tomorrow night. Unlike most men of his rank in an organization like this, O’Rourke always liked to do the dirty work himself.
Leo really, really hoped Justin had Ava, because this was going to get bad.
“Look, I get that you’re in a lot of pain, but we’ve got to get out of this place,” she told him, her expression so serious he almost laughed.
“When was the last time anyone came in here?”
“Not since I was brought in. Do you think they’re watching us? Can they hear us?”
“No.” He knew that because he knew every inch of this compound. This was the room they put people in who were never coming out alive. Whatever they had to say to their captors or to each other was of no consequence to the O’Rourkes now.
This was a room he’d prayed he’d never be in but counted on being put in anyway. “Listen, under the tile in the left corner…lift it. Use your nail or something.”
She held up her short, clipped nails but then hurried over to the corner and began to claw at the tile anyway.
She came back with a key.
“Nice job,” he said.
“Who the hell are you?” she asked in return.
“I’m your only shot out of here.”
“Funny, I thought that we were both each other’s shot.”
“Touché. Now, listen to me carefully,” he explained, and she waited, eyes locked on his. “When we go into the hall, I’ll disable the guard. They only keep one down here because these cells are virtually indestructible. As soon as I do, grab his chair and get up and rip the wires out of the camera. Can you do that?”
“I’m not the one you should be worried about. You can’t even hold your head up straight,” she pointed out. He grunted, his pride aching along with most everything else, and he pushed himself to his feet and toward the door.
Callie was right on his heels, her breathing sharp and fast, the intensity of what they were about to do pulsing through the air. Her breasts rubbed his back and for a second he put his forehead against the door, trying to get rid of the vertigo and just letting himself feel.
Callie felt really damn good. It had to be the concussion making him all soft and sweet and wanting to hug this woman who was saving his ass as much as he was saving hers.
Whether or not he could truly trust her remained to be seen, but it was the least of his concerns.
Key in the lock, he turned the knob inch by excruciating inch and eased the door open to get a glimpse of the guard. End of the hallway, back to the door, sitting half-asleep.
Leo had visited this area enough to know that the person who took the night shift guarding these doors had the cushiest job in the place.
He slid down the hall as his training clicked into place. With one careful, silent foot in front of the other, he made it safely along the corridor.
Adrenaline, pure and simple, pumped through him as he overpowered the guard. Callie had quietly and effectively blocked the camera at the same time, and within seconds Leo had the man’s gun, knife, cash and ID.
“This way,” he urged, and she followed him down another dark hallway. He used the guard’s knife to slash through the trigger wires of the alarm before pushing out a side door that led into the deep woods of the O’Rourke estate. A place many had tried to escape from and into and never could.
Leo never went in without a plan. Someone at his office knew that. The same someone who, no doubt, had purposely blown his cover because honestly, his plan A was something.
But what the snitch didn’t know was that he always counted on plans A, B and C failing.
He held Callie’s hand tightly as he moved them toward plan D.
JUSTIN DIDN’T HAVE a lot of options. The threat to Turk’s life could be a fake, but he doubted it. The fact that someone—anyone—had made the connection between Turk and Ava wasn’t the best news. The fact that Ava was involved in something that could possibly end her career was second on the list to saving Turk, but none of it was good.
Ava was looking to him to do something. The problem was, that something was going to get all of them in deep trouble.
“I’ll call someone I know in the DEA,” he said finally as they sped along the highway.
Ava had remained silent for the past half hour, following all his directions as if on autopilot. But she’d stopped crying, at least, had let herself lose control for all of three minutes before she told him she was fine, wiped her eyes impatiently and stared straight ahead.
“A friend of Leo’s?” she asked.
“Yes.”
Justin and Cash had worked with Karen last year on a Gray Ops mission that Turk had set up for them because it involved Hawaii, surfing, and a chance to help out the DEA.
Working for an agency like that had a much longer shelf life than that of an active-duty SEAL, something Justin had to seriously consider if he wasn’t planning to go the career-military route.
Karen was thirty. A top field agent. Gorgeous. They’d enjoyed each other’s company in Hawaii but agreed it wasn’t going any further.
Didn’t mean he couldn’t call in a favor.
“Did you date her?”
“No,” he said, because that was the truth. And then he dialed the phone so he could end this line of questioning.
It was Karen’s secured cell-phone line. She had his, too. His name would flash on the screen along with two stars, which was code for, I’m in trouble.
“What’
s happened?” Karen asked, not bothering with hello, obviously recognizing Justin’s emergency call.
“I’ve got Leo’s sister with me,” he started.
“The A.D.A.”
“Yes.” He repeated the caller’s threat to Karen, saw Ava wince and turn away.
Karen was silent for a moment. “Does she know where Susie Mercer is?”
“No.”
“You’re sure.”
“I’m sure, Karen.”
“Why are you with Leo’s sister? Did you have prior knowledge of this?” Karen asked, and Justin gritted his teeth and prepared to lie through them at the same time. No way was he getting Turk into even more trouble, no matter how cool Karen was.
“I was in New York visiting Ava.”
“Convenient that you were there just at the time Ava received the threat about Leo.”
“We’re together. A couple,” he said, ignoring the way Ava’s body whipped around toward him.
“Since when?”
“A while now.”
“Funny, Leo never mentioned that. Or you, a few months ago.”
“It was more of a whirlwind thing. Will you keep me posted about Leo?”
“You know I can’t do that, Justin. But you can keep me posted if you hear anything further. And you should turn the A.D.A. over to us. For safekeeping.”
“She’s safe with me.”
“She’s involved with our case and you are not. Bring her—”
He clicked the phone shut. “We got cut off,” he said by way of explanation to Ava, who was still staring at him. Because the words dating, whirlwind and his weren’t exactly in his everyday vocabulary.
Ava’s cross-examination skills kicked into high gear. “She thinks we’re dating?”
“Yes.”
“You’re not telling her about Leo’s first call to you, then?”
“That’s not a good idea.”
“Can she help?”
“She’s looking into it.”
“What about Leo? Has she heard from him?”
He glanced over to her, wishing he had something better to tell her. “She’s looking into that, too.”
Beyond His Control Page 6
