His gaze was intense as he waited for a response.
She shifted her attention to Spencer, who was also looking at her as if she were the one they were concerned about, out of the three. Was he kidding?
She decided to deflect. No way would she trap either of them into a monumental life decision while they were hiding in a remote mountain home, just as she wouldn’t have done so back in the hotel suite. “I guess we’ll see when the time comes.” She plucked another apple wedge from Damon’s hand and chomped down on it as he pushed himself upright again.
Maybe they thought she was noncommittal. But they didn’t know her well. She would not be the problem child in this equation. She didn’t have close friends or relatives in the area. It would never be any skin off her ass to commit to two men and set up house.
The idea stoked a fire in her belly and made her nipples stand at attention. She visualized a world in which she owned a home with these two men. Damon maybe worked at a lab somewhere and came home at night. Spencer worked from home, his head buried in a computer during the day. And Olivia? Maybe she was a nurse. Could she go back into that line of work after ten years?
Spencer slid down the bed so that he lay on his side next to her. He set a palm on her belly and kissed her neck. Even after a day of sex, his touch still sent tingles of excitement through her body. She was dressed for the first time all day too. If one considered a tight tank top and panties dressed.
The house indeed had drawers of clothing in various sizes. Apparently this home was often the refuge for people on the run. It was well-stocked with anything someone might need. It hadn’t been hard to find clothing she could lounge in.
She decided to feel them both out. “Do you think you’ll go back to working for Project DEEP when this is over?” she asked Damon.
He winced. “I don’t know. Seems unlikely. I was inside the bunker when someone tried to blow it up. The place still gives me the heebie-jeebies. Plus, I’ve been working night and day to rescue twenty-four people from hibernation for years without a single day off. I might need an extended vacation and then perhaps a day job that ends before the sun goes down and doesn’t require around-the-clock supervision.”
Olivia sobered at that admission. A tear formed so fast, she couldn’t stop it.
Spencer frowned at her. “What’s the matter?”
“Thank you,” she choked out. “I don’t think I’ve thanked you for what you gave up to save my life and that of twenty-two other people. Strangers. You didn’t even know us. Thank you.”
Damon reached to cup her face. “Oh, baby, it was my pleasure. I loved every moment of it. I will never regret a second. I saved lives. And one of them has become someone extremely important to me.”
She tipped her cheek into his palm. “Still. Thank you.” Yanking herself out of the melancholic state, she turned toward Spencer. “What about you? You going to return to a life of marginally legal hacking?”
He frowned at her.
She twisted his direction and grabbed his forearm, the one over her belly. “I was kidding. Sorry. That came out wrong.”
He shook his head. “No. You’re right. Though I didn’t do it intentionally. I was so flattered at being hired by what I thought was a legitimate government agency right out of high school that I never stopped to think about how unrealistic it was to believe it was a legit operation. I was too enthralled with the money and the presumed prestige to doubt my employer.
“I don’t know why I even cared about the success I felt I could thumb in the faces of everyone who doubted me over the years because I didn’t have a living soul to brag to anyway.
“And I was duped. By then it was too late to get out. I just want to live the rest of my life clean. I’d give anything to be able to carry on without always looking over my shoulder, wondering if someone is stalking me. If they might even kill me for going on the lam.
“I’d love to go to college actually. It turns out there is more to life than hacking computers, and though I’m good at it, I have no other skills.”
Olivia smiled coyly at him. “Oh, I beg to differ. You have some pretty amazing skills.” She hoped her eyes danced with the sexual innuendo she intended.
It must have worked because he flushed and rolled his eyes before glancing at Damon. “I take directions well.”
She shook her head. “No. Don’t do that. Don’t diminish your own worth in this. We have a dynamic between us that most people never find in a lifetime. And each of us has a contribution. Yours is just as important as mine and Damon’s.”
“She’s right,” Damon admonished. “Don’t sell yourself short.”
“And,” Olivia added, not wanting to miss the opportunity to set Spencer straight, “you’re young. You can do anything you want. If you want to go to college, go. You’d love it. You’re so inquisitive and outgoing.”
He looked shocked, eyes wide. “Outgoing? Me?”
She shrugged. “When it comes to intellectual curiosity, yes.”
He narrowed his gaze. “Okay. Maybe.”
“Definitely,” Damon added. “I can picture you on a college campus with your wide eyes, big smile, and a new backpack—something camouflage or distressed that looks like it’s ten years old when really you bought it the day before.”
Spencer laughed. The sound was nice. He didn’t laugh often enough. “Thanks,” he whispered. “Both of you. You’re good for my self-esteem.”
Damon reached for him, stroking a finger down his cheek. “You don’t lack self-esteem, baby. You just need some direction and the resources to make your dreams come true.”
Spencer nodded slowly. “You know… I have a bank account filled with money. But it makes me cringe every time I think about it. It’s dirty money. I don’t want to touch it.”
“Blue Cell?” Olivia asked.
“Yes. Years of wages. I never needed it for anything. I just let it build.”
“You earned it. You worked hard,” Damon pointed out.
Spencer sighed. “It still feels like blood money.”
“I get that,” she conceded. Probably, in his shoes, she would feel the same.
“Are you still hoping to take a new identity and start a new life when this is over?” Damon asked, his gaze on Spencer.
Olivia was taken aback. “I didn’t know that.” What would that mean for the three of them? She mentally slapped her own forehead. Her idea of a permanent “three of them” was unrealistic at best, as this conversation confirmed. Hell, there was a chance even she would need to take on a third identity. Soon, she wouldn’t even remember who she was. She’d gone by too many names.
Spencer shrugged. “When I fled Blue Cell, I was scared out of my mind, and I made a verbal commitment to Dade to help the team in exchange for lifetime protection. Maybe that means a new identity. Maybe it doesn’t.”
“Maybe you won’t need protection,” she hedged, knowing her words were empty. They would all be looking over their backs for the rest of their lives.
Damon sighed as he stroked a finger down her arm, watching the trail. “Blue Cell is enormous and goes back decades. Even if we managed to nail a few of them to the wall, the rest will still be out there. Waiting for their moment.”
Olivia nodded. He was right. It scared the hell out of her, but he was right.
“What about you?” Damon asked. “What do you want to do with your life?”
Olivia took a breath and pondered the question. After all, she was the one to ask both of them. It was only fair. “I’m not sure. I don’t have the skills to return to nursing without taking some more classes. Who knows what might be required of me.”
“Do you enjoy nursing?” Spencer asked.
“I’m not sure. I did at first. I like helping people, but I think I pictured myself on a children’s floor, and that never happened. I ended up with adults who were dying and then switched to just the one man who was in the same boat—dying.”
What did she want?
“Well, yo
u don’t have to make any rash decisions. You can take your time,” Damon pointed out.
“Yeah.” Time. What even was that? It seemed so elusive after years of preservation.
Chapter 19
The following morning was peaceful and relaxing. Damon found he immensely enjoyed spending time with these two. Even though they were both in their early twenties, he decided he kinda liked that prospect. He’d stopped thinking of them as too young and instead reminded himself they were blank slates.
Well, not completely blank. They had just enough knowledge of the world to know who they were and what they liked in bed and not so much that they were tainted by bad experiences.
Currently, he was sitting at the kitchen table drinking a cup of coffee and staring out the window. Olivia was curled up in an armchair. Spencer was sprawled out on the couch, his computer propped on his belly, his fingers typing away. Damon had no idea what he was working on, but Spencer never went more than a few hours without opening his computer.
It was Olivia’s demand that had them all in separate parts of the room. She’d put a moratorium on touching for the next eight hours, saying that her skin was raw from so much contact, and if either of them attempted to wring one more orgasm out of her, she might lose her entire identity.
Apparently, she was no longer sure which body parts were even her own.
Damon smiled as he let his gaze roam from Olivia to Spencer and back again. They didn’t know he was watching them so intently. They were both relaxed. Peaceful.
If Olivia needed to be reminded about which body parts were hers, he would be happy to oblige, because the truth was every part of him was hers. Hers and Spencer’s. He might play the role of bossy lover, but inside, he was a blubbering mushy wreck, his heart no longer his own.
And that idea scared the hell out of him, because if the feelings weren’t mutual, he wasn’t sure how he would handle the rejection.
Sure, they were fully in tune with each other on a sexual level that was unsurpassed, but what about emotionally? They hadn’t once discussed what a future relationship might look like. He could only guess and fret over their minds.
He’d pondered the prospect of walking into the safe house in Montana hand in hand with both of them and publicly declaring to his friends that he’d fallen for two people. Every time he visualized it, he grew nervous. It was quite possible one or both of them would balk at such an outward display.
Just because they had a kinky side that matched his own, didn’t mean they wanted to set up house and develop an elaborate story to hide their true relationship from the rest of the world. Because that’s what it would take.
When the phone rang on the coffee table, all three of them jumped. Damon rose from his seat and wandered closer while Spencer answered. “Dade?”
“Yeah. You guys safe?” There was a lot of noise in the background. Dade was not alone. In fact the sounds were frantic, putting Damon on edge.
“Yes. Why? What’s going on?” Spencer asked.
“We had a perimeter breach. Someone found us.”
“Fuck,” Damon blurted. “Anyone hurt?”
“No… Hang on…” Dade muffled the phone while he spoke to someone else. “Sorry. I think it’s isolated. Two men entered the property from the north. They engaged the SURVIVE team who encountered them. Unfortunately, they are both dead, so we won’t be able to get any information from them.”
“Jesus,” Spencer muttered.
“Be diligent,” Dade continued. “My gut tells me there are more. If someone has found us, they might have found you too.” Another muffling. Several voices. “Fuck. Gotta go. Watch your backs.” The line when dead.
Before Damon could even take his next breath, the sound of an approaching car made him rise to his feet. Both Olivia and Spencer did too.
Please, God, let this be Declan.
Damon grabbed a gun from the kitchen drawer and headed toward the front of the house. He opened the door and stepped onto the porch. Immediately, the hairs on his arm rose as a sense of alarm crawled over his skin. There were two cars approaching, winding up the long driveway. Each of them appeared to have at least two people in them. None of the people were Declan.
“Who’s in those cars?” Olivia murmured as she grabbed Damon’s arm.
“I don’t like this,” Spencer added, his heat penetrating Damon’s other side.
“Fuck,” Damon ground out between gritted teeth. “Both of you get inside.”
“Not a chance,” Spencer responded. “We’re not leaving you out here alone.”
Damon swung around and narrowed his gaze at both of them. “Inside. Right fucking now. And arm yourselves.”
Olivia’s eyes were wide. “Okay,” she conceded as she backed into the house, dragging Spencer by the sleeve. As soon as she shut the door, Damon spun back to face the two dark SUVs as they came to a stop.
The goose bumps turned to burning skin as he internalized this was very bad. He had no doubt they were about to be ambushed by the bad guys, and the last person on earth he expected to find leading the group was the first one to step down from the front seat of the rear SUV.
Damon palmed the gun, holding it right in front of him so there was no mistaking that he was armed and he meant business.
The three men who descended from both driver’s seats and the second passenger seat were all armed. Heavily.
They followed their leader toward Damon, weapons at their sides, hiding nothing. Damon, Olivia, and Spencer wouldn’t stand a chance against this group.
Damon couldn’t breathe. A piece of his soul crumbled to the ground to be squashed by the black, practical pumps at the end of the last set of legs Damon ever expected to see approaching him.
Her face was hard, her eyes narrowed. Her graying hair was pulled back in its usual bun. She wore a white blouse, black slacks, and a black jacket. As if this were like any other day at the office.
Except it wasn’t, and her presence there ensured Damon neither he nor his housemates would be leaving here alive. He should have told Spencer and Olivia to run through the back door and make a mad dash for their lives, but they never would have left him, and there was no way these three men wouldn’t have caught them.
“Temple,” Damon stated, his mouth dry, her name sandpaper on his lips.
“I wish it didn’t have to end this way, but this entire project has become a liability,” she responded, not beating around the bush. “You’re a liability. The two people with you are also liabilities.”
“It doesn’t have to be this way.” Damon planted his feet wider, trying to come up with any way out of this mess. “Surely we can figure something out. We’ve known each other for years. Too many.” Temple had been his boss from the moment he’d joined Ryan and the new DEEP team that worked tirelessly to revive the first team for years.
Until a few months ago, he would have laughed hard at the suspicion that Temple could possibly be involved in this disaster. It had been suspected that she might have been feeding information up the chain of command—unwittingly, not intentionally. Not a single person Damon had spoken to would ever in their wildest dreams believe their boss to be capable of anything as sinister as murder. And now, he had his proof.
“Why?” Damon asked.
She sighed. “Because you know too much. Because that girl you’re protecting knows too much. Because the hacker you’re also harboring has the ability to ruin everything. My entire life’s work.”
Damon flinched. “Your life’s work? What would that be?”
She chuckled sardonically, holding up a hand when her goons came right up beside her. Stopping them from advancing farther. “You want to know about my life’s work? Why? It won’t change anything.”
“I think you owe me an explanation, at least.”
“You want me to explain?”
“Yes. That would be nice.” It will also buy me some time. But what the fuck good was time going to do for him? No one would be able to get to them before they w
ere dead, even if he alerted someone. In fact, Damon was certain Olivia and Spencer were doing exactly that. “How did you find us?”
“Your man didn’t have a very stiff spine.”
“My man?” Damon had no idea who she was talking about.
“I believe his name was Declan. Oh,” she snapped, “and his partner. Mike. That guy was harder to crack, but eventually we managed. Declan was easier.”
“Ah.” Damon nodded as the pieces fell into place. “You grabbed Mike from our hotel in Denver.”
“Ding ding ding. We have a winner.”
“You do realize Livvy doesn’t know a single thing. All the efforts your people have gone through to find her were in vain. She had only one tiny piece of the puzzle, and it was useless to her.”
“Livvy? That’s the woman with you? You think she doesn’t know anything? I find that hard to believe.”
Damon shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant. He had a new concern—that these men intended to torture Olivia to get information out of her. Information she didn’t have. He hadn’t lied about that. “You’d be wrong.” He decided it would be better to tell Temple flat-out what Olivia had known, praying it would be enough to keep her alive.
Now wasn’t the time to withhold information. Temple and her men had the upper hand by a longshot. Damon took a breath. “She was preserved against her will and without her knowledge, with only one word of information.”
“What word might that have been?” Temple cocked her head to one side.
“Samara.”
Shocking him, Temple flinched, even taking a step backward. “Samara?”
“Yes. Mean something to you?”
She visibly swallowed. “It’s a city in Russia.”
Interesting. Why would she readily know that? “And why does that distress you?”
“That’s none of your business. I’d like to meet her if you don’t mind.”
“I do mind. You’d like to shoot her.”
“I give you my word that I will not. I just have some questions.”
Reviving Olivia (Project DEEP Book 7) Page 20
