by Zoe Dawson
“What are we going to do now that we’re hidden and relatively safe?”
“Lay low until I have a chance to figure this out and get healed,” he murmured, squeezing her tighter.
“Mmm,” she hummed, kissing his chin, then rubbing her cheek on his stubble. “You hung up on your boss.” She sighed a little, then gave him a worried, solemn look. “Are you going to lose your job because of me?”
He held her gaze for a long minute, then sighed a little himself. “I don’t know. I don’t care at this point. What I told him is sound. They found us, and I want to know how before I’ll feel confident in taking you back to NCIS or anywhere near DC Your life is more important.”
Her eyes widened. “You really mean that, don’t you?”
“I say what I mean, Sky.”
She rose up on her tiptoes. Her face softened, and his gut clenched at the look there. She cupped his face and ran her thumb over his cheekbone. “I’m so scared. It would really help if I could get my laptop. I need to work.”
“I know you’re scared, and you want to work to keep your mind off it, but we need to stay off the radar for a bit. I’d like to know what they want you for. This guessing game is getting old. I wish I could have interrogated one of those bastards.”
“But you did what you had to do.”
He drew her to the bed, and they settled under the blankets, snuggling up against each other.
“I’m sorry you had to see that…brutality.”
He’d been trained as a warrior, had seen more than his share of combat and had carried the scars of all those battles on his body in one place or another. He was honed, and, after the military, it just was natural for him to continue to keep that edge. NCIS was not just about chasing down murderers. He’d had run-ins with rogue CIA assassins, terrorists and had been in Afghanistan and other parts of the Middle East that were extremely dangerous. All his combat experience had been a factor in each of those assignments. He knew how to conduct himself out in the field. Did he still think of himself as Uncle Sam’s weapon, even though he was in a civilian organization? Maybe that was how he’d kept his edge, and with this woman, this beautiful woman in his arms safe from harm, he was grateful he had.
She rose on her elbow. She was looking him over pretty good, her blue-eyed gaze focused on his, taking his measure, which was damned unnerving. What did she see when she remembered how vicious he’d been? “You said you were in the Marines. Is that where you learned…”
“How to kill so efficiently?” He hesitated, not sure he wanted her to know anything about this. “Yes. They trained me as a scout sniper. It’s all about stealth, and a knife makes no noise. I made damn sure I was good with a knife.”
“What is a scout sniper?”
She distracted him as she ran her fingers into his hair at his temple. He closed his eyes trying to concentrate. “Shooter and spotter in teams of two. One scouts, one takes the shots, both of us are trained.”
When he opened his eyes, she was looking down at him with a thoughtful expression on her face. “What are you thinking so hard about?”
“What? Oh, nothing. Go on.”
“What did you want to know?”
“Everything. All of it.”
“After boot camp and service, becoming a sniper is elite training.”
“What was that like, boot camp?”
“Hot, sweaty, intense, exhausting. A lot of running, physical conditioning, martial arts and classes. Thirteen weeks of intensity and almost zero personal time. Every moment you’re expected to do something. The cliché, I’m afraid. The Marines did make a man out of me. I had no idea what exactly I was made of until I went to Parris Island, South Carolina.”
She was quiet for a moment, then her hand slipped down to his chest for more distracting caressing. He loved the feel of her hand on him. He raised himself up on his elbow, and she took a breath, watching him.
“What? Why do you keep looking at me like that? Tell me I didn’t scare you. That seeing me…that…savage…”
Her eyes widened, and she covered his mouth. “No, Vin. Seeing you in combat didn’t scare me. The total opposite. I’m awed by the lengths you went to protect me. I feel like you have lived, and I have just…well, existed.”
He leaned forward and nuzzled her neck. She smelled like heaven. “Why is that? Why the isolation?”
“The work. It’s consuming….” She trailed off, lifted a shoulder.
They both collapsed to the mattress, settling against each other. He grazed her jaw with his teeth, and she trembled. A shuddering sigh left her, and her hips rose against him, the smallest movement.
“Ah, now you’re ducking my question.”
She let out a shaky breath when he reached her ear.
When she didn’t say anything, he stayed silent and let it go. They were both tired. The air was almost still, and the smell from the fireplace lent a cozy sense of safety Vin knew was a lie.
There was something special about Sky, something inherently innocent in this woman. He could only wish she had a little more defense against him. He still wasn’t convinced they were compatible. Her comment about him wasting his time had been shunted aside by his desire and their passion, but it was still there. He and Brittany hadn’t worked because she couldn’t accept who he was. He couldn’t remember her asking anything about the Marines. Maybe it was his failing that he couldn’t get past that disappointment in her. It was much too familiar.
Right now, it was about getting through each day. If there was one thing that he was sure about, it was that problems had a way of showing themselves eventually.
He always had to be true to himself.
Always.
That’s what drove him.
He tightened his arms around her.
He wasn’t sure where this would all lead.
But what he was sure about was that he was her shield.
They would have to go through him to get to her.
Chapter Nine
Alexander Andreyev bit into the chicken, pulling the meat violently off the bone, seething. It was probably not good for his digestion. It was late afternoon of the next day after he’d lost the Navy scientist. His name was shit with his employer after having lost her once and then missing her this time. They were adamant that she needed to be in their hands in two days or everything they had done would be all for nothing. They assured him that meant he would not get paid.
He hated not getting paid.
He turned to look at Dmitry, who approached cautiously. He had a terrible temper, and his men knew it. They often gave him a wide berth when things didn’t go his way.
“Alex,” Dmitry said, crouching down so that Alex didn’t have to look up.
“What is it?”
“I have information on the agent as you instructed.”
“Talk,” he said, taking another bite of the succulent meat.
“Special Agent Vincent Fitzgerald has been with NCIS for three years.”
“He doesn’t conduct himself like a wet-behind-the-ears recruit.”
“He isn’t. He was a Marine before he joined NCIS.”
Alex swore softly under his breath. “What kind of Marine?”
“Scout sniper.”
He swore again. “That is how he was able to take our guy on the roof so easily. He is obviously a very good marksman. Dangerous. Anything we can use?”
“Nothing that I could find out from the information I was able to get. He doesn’t own any property, rents an apartment. I could not find anything about his family—that was wrapped up tight. We’ve already been to the apartment. He and the woman are not there. He didn’t return to NCIS in DC I believe he is off the grid.”
“He’s gone dark.”
“Looks like it.”
“Can you hack his email account?”
“I can try, but the security at NCIS is formidable. It might not be possible.”
“No, not his work account. His personal account. See if he’s go
t any friends he corresponds with or family. I need to find out where he’s gone to ground.”
“But we have the microdot….”
“That is not an ace in the hole, Dmitry. I want the advantage to be solely on our side.” He grabbed the younger man behind the back of the neck and squeezed. “Don’t let me down. Earn that high cut I give you.”
“Yes, sir.”
She couldn’t seem to help watching him out the window as he hiked around the cabin. He studied the area, storing information—looking for the best escape route, she was sure—looking for a weakness in their defense.
When she’d awakened, he was already up and dressed, stocking wood, saying that his shoulder was better, but she wasn’t so sure he wasn’t just enduring the pain.
By mid-afternoon, he’d gone outside and started to walk around the perimeter, doing what she could only call reconnaissance. She suspected that was ingrained in him from his military training.
She’d slept with him. Had sex with him, and she couldn’t regret a moment of it. Still, the guilt was there, buried beneath the surface. She should be open and clear with him. This was a time out of time. She wasn’t looking for a long-term relationship. She had her work. That was enough. Would have to be enough.
Now it was getting dark. As he disappeared from view, she craned her neck to keep watching him while she started dinner. He was dressed in jeans that hugged his lower body, a white turtleneck and a red sweater with a zipper at the throat. On his feet were sturdy work boots that traversed through the mud and snow. She could see the river from the window and a dock with a boathouse attached to it. The water flowed past, not yet to the freezing point in Pennsylvania.
He came in through the back door, stamping the snow and mud on to the rug. “I’m going to run into town and pick up some supplies. Did you make a list?”
She nodded and walked across the kitchen to where he was standing and handed him the list. Her skin tingled as she got closer to him.
“Dinner should be ready by the time you get back.”
“Lock the door and don’t let anyone in while I’m gone. I’ll be quick.” He left, and she went back to the preparation.
Fifteen minutes later, it was getting dark. She heard the car before seeing the headlights. Holding her breath, ready to move like he’d instructed, she kept her eyes on the driveway. When she saw the car and him behind the wheel, she slowly let her breath go.
She forced herself to glance up from the pot of chili she was stirring with nothing more than a quick smile. “Hey, get everything?”
His eyes never left hers as he shrugged out of the leather coat, which had been hanging on the hook by the door earlier. She wondered if it belonged to his buddy. It looked good on him.
Her whole body thrummed in reaction to him coming toward her. Not that it was any surprise. He’d done some pretty wonderful things to her body earlier. Of course, it was going to react a little. Okay, a lot. But she should be worried about more important things than where she would sleep tonight. Was it bad that it was all she could think about while she made dinner?
She’d have to chastise herself later; she was more intent on how he fit himself against her backside as if they had been enjoying this type of wonderful interaction for months instead of one night. His breath fanned the back of her neck, his body fitting into her personal space as easily as breathing. Her instant response was to rest her back against him.
“Did you find everything on the list?”
He leaned in and brushed his lips just below her ear, inhaling deeply. “You smell good.”
“Probably dinner.”
He sniffed again. “Nope. That’s all you, sweetheart.”
She couldn’t help it; she was impossibly charmed with the way he so effortlessly made her light up inside. Dipping her chin to hide her besotted expression, she continued to stir the blend of beans and hamburger meat. “I’m sure you’re hungry.”
“Mmm,” he murmured. “Starving.”
Her body went from buzzing to shuddering, and it took formidable self-control to keep from turning into his arms, maybe even pushing him down on the small kitchen table and having her way with him.
“How is your shoulder?” she asked, the warmth of his breath against her skin tantalizing.
“Better. Still hurts, but usable.”
“You should have let me change the bandage this morning.”
“I didn’t want to get…distracted.”
Her pulse dipped, immediately getting his meaning. Maybe she was getting less nerdy and more worldly? “Don’t you think we can behave long enough to tend to you medically?” She turned to look at him over her shoulder, and her insides sizzled at the hot green of his eyes. Okay, maybe not.
“I can only speak for myself and go by the experiences of yesterday. So, that would be a no for me. How about you? Do you have this…this thing we’re doing under control? Any scientific theories?”
“Newton’s Law of Motion fits. When one body exerts a force on a second body, the second body simultaneously exerts a force equal in magnitude and opposite in direction to that of the first body.”
“Now you’re teasing me in nerd-speak. That’s making me hot.”
She giggled. Actually giggled. “We should be focusing on other things. That might help.”
He tightened his arms around her. “Like what?”
“Dinner, for one.”
“It smells great.” He nudged her hips and shifted her around to face him. She lifted the spoon to offer him a taste but suspected it wasn’t chili he wanted to savor. “We also need to talk about…other stuff.”
He cupped her hand and drew the spoon to his mouth, where he slowly licked the chili sauce off while watching her with twinkling eyes. “Mmm-hmm,” he agreed.
Her knees became unsteady, and she knew she should be ashamed at how easily he could seduce her into shirking her promise, but damn the man, he made it really hard to concentrate. And it wasn’t as if there was anything they could do right now to figure out what was going on. That was the whole point of laying low. But she wanted to know if NCIS had found out anything. When she could go home and leave this dreamy time with Vin and this terrible uncertainty of the threat of kidnapping.
“I’m not kidding, Vin,” she told him, the warning directed more at herself than him. But if she’d been hoping to solicit some of his help to remain cool, she was fooling herself. Except being cool was far from what she was feeling when his eyes went dark. He removed the spoon from her hand and set it on the counter, covering the pot, and turning the burner right to simmer.
Simmer was right.
“You started it with the sexy nerd-speak and all that body talk. I got a feeling you don’t know you make me crazy?” he murmured as she backed up. He walked toward her as she playfully backed away from him with a smile. His eyes lit, he followed all the way from the kitchen to the bedroom without laying a hand on her, but remaining so fully in her personal space, she felt thoroughly joined to him on a deep level.
She’d never felt this safe before, this close to a man, and yet, she couldn’t seem to open up. Was she fooling herself? It was probably some sane form of self-preservation. She needed to hold on to her sanity here. This was a temporary situation probably brought about by adrenaline, fear and dependency on this man who was smiling like a rogue. A warrior rogue.
“Did you figure out a good escape route while you were outside?” she asked him, hearing the thread of need in her voice even as she tried to fend off his charming magic. He wouldn’t be around long, and she was fighting with the need to indulge herself while she could and maintain some semblance of control to stop herself from wanting too much of what she couldn’t really have. Certainly, more than she was ever going to get to keep, as that was going to be exactly nothing. It wasn’t about her. It was about what she’d promised.
“I’m always prepared for escape,” he said as she slipped into the bathroom.
Was that the sniper in him? The hit-and-run
kind of mentality. Surely, he was referring to them escaping, but she couldn’t be sure about anything. She didn’t really know him that well. It was for the better, she told herself.
“That’s exactly what I want to hear from the guy who’s supposed to be protecting me,” she said, although the words weren’t much more than a hushed whisper as she came to a halt up against the sink.
Maybe she just needed to take him and keep taking him until they both burned their need for each other out of their systems. Apparently, they hadn’t come close to reaching that point yet. Not if the flames of desire presently raging between them in the small confines of the bathroom was any sign.
“As it should be. Can you change my bandage now?” he asked, keeping his eyes on hers.
“This couldn’t wait until after dinner? After all, you waited this long.”
“I was busy doing my job and keeping you safe. You wouldn’t want me to get an infection, would you?” He kept his eyes pinned on hers as she reached out to unzip the sweater to his breastbone, the knit warm beneath her fingers.
“Oh, no. We shouldn’t chance that,” she said, reacting to the amused smile turning up the corners of his delectable mouth. “That would be too dangerous.”
She slipped her hand under both the sweater and the turtleneck, helping him work the garments off.
This was dangerous. Just as dangerous as the men chasing them.
Pulling the clothes over his head revealed his broad chest and wide shoulders. He leaned down and tried to kiss her. She smirked as she put her hand into the center of his chest and pushed him on to the commode.
“We shouldn’t waste a minute. Look at that. You feel overly warm.”
He smiled, full out, and her heart stalled. It transformed his somewhat austere face into something boyish and appealing, as if he wasn’t already appealing enough.
“I don’t think my temperature rising has anything to do with infection,” he said softly, “but everything to do with…fever.”
He placed his hands on her waist, sliding them beneath her shirt to the bare skin of her abdomen. His head tipped up to hers, that smile still in place.
