HOT SECRETS: A Hostile Operations Team - Book 13

by Lynn Raye Harris

  He sucked in a breath and squeezed her fingers. “Baby, it’s a long story. But Jones—his name is William Carr, by the way—put ricin in your ice cream. He had Martin poisoned too. Robert Mayes injected Martin, and he died a lot faster. But Carr put yours in the ice cream. Fortunately, the dose you ingested wasn’t quite enough to kill you.”

  She frowned. She remembered the ice cream. She’d eaten ice cream with Jones before—hell, she’d eaten an entire meal with him—so she hadn’t thought twice about it that night at Pentagon City. Not only that, but she’d told all of HOT that Jones was true-blue and not a traitor. She’d been wrong. So utterly wrong. It hurt to think so. She’d liked Jones—or Carr, it seemed.

  “He was here, right? In my room?”

  “He put a tracking device in with the money he gave you. When Miranda brought your bag here, he found you.”

  “I remember he had a syringe… And you did something. It hurt so much.”

  “He injected you with fentanyl. I had to get the needle out, so I yanked the whole damned thing. I’m sorry.”

  She smiled, the corners feeling shaky. “But I’m here. I think you did the right thing.”

  “Yeah, I think so too.”

  “How long have I been here?”

  “Five days. You’ve been in and out. You’ve woken up before, and we’ve even talked a little, but this time is different. I can see it in your eyes. You’re awake.”

  “I feel awake…” Dread filled her suddenly. “What happened to the laptop? Did he have it?”

  “He did, but Martin wiped it. The damn thing is a brick. Totally useless. We found it in Carr’s vehicle. He didn’t have anything, which meant he really needed your copy.”

  “Oh God. But why did he send me after the files in the first place?”

  “Because he knew the FBI was arresting Martin. They’d have the laptop and the files—but Martin had a kill switch. He bricked the whole damned thing and they ended up letting him go.”

  She bit her lip. “If I’d given Jones—Carr—the files, Martin might still be alive, right?”

  “If you’d given Carr the files, you’d be dead. And so would Martin. Carr sent Robert Mayes to get the files and kill you. He didn’t want anything tying him to the theft.”

  Her brain was racing to process the information. “But I’d have given them to him at the drop if he hadn’t sent Mayes. He’d have had everything then. Why did he send Mayes to my house? And why did he want Martin’s files in the first place? It’d be suicide to sell them.”

  Sky squeezed her hand. “Martin had versions, some that weren’t so devastating. And Carr had a grudge against the Russians because they killed his son, who was also an agent. He had an elaborate plan, and getting rid of witnesses was part of it. Without you, nobody could tie him to the theft. He’d have the files and he could sell them, the FBI would have Martin and his laptop—theoretically—and all would be well. Except Martin bricked his laptop, Mayes flubbed the break-in, and you didn’t make the drop. As for why he sent Mayes to your house, I think the intention was to make your death look like suicide. Mayes would get the files before you had a chance to do anything with them, and you’d be dead.”

  Bliss shuddered. “I had no idea. I worked with Jones over several assignments. I never thought he’d do this.”

  Sky rubbed his thumb across her palm. She focused on that sensation, feeling jumpy and content at the same time.

  “I think maybe we have to admit that we never know anyone the way we think we do,” he said quietly.

  She scoffed. “Not true. I know you, Sky. You’d never do such a thing. Not ever. You’d sacrifice your soul before you’d do anything that dishonored your country.”

  He smiled softly. “Yeah, you’re right. I wouldn’t.”

  “What about the doomsday program?” she asked, her entire body tensing at the question.

  “We’ve deployed a patch. Highest priority. So far as we know, nothing escaped into the wild—but we’re ready if it does. The patch will fix the vulnerabilities.”

  Someone knocked on the door, and then her bagel and juice arrived. Sky accepted coffee, and they sat together in silence, her eating, him drinking. It was companionable. Comforting. Everything she wanted out of a relationship.

  Except this wasn’t a relationship no matter how much she might want it to be. She was alive and well, thanks to this man. But that didn’t mean they were a couple.

  “Thanks for everything, Sky.”

  He looked up from his coffee. “Of course.”

  “I know it hasn’t been easy for you—seeing me again, helping me—but I really, really appreciate it. If you hadn’t let me in that night— Well, I don’t think I’d be here now.”

  “You’d be here,” he said softly. “You had the good sense not to trust Carr. Even if I hadn’t helped you, that wouldn’t have changed.”

  “I don’t know.” She frowned. “Eventually I’d have met with him on my own. And he’d have poisoned me, right? I wouldn’t have known to suspect him. I’d be like Martin, dying on a park bench somewhere.” Bliss shivered.

  The door opened again and Frances came in. “You ready for that shower, Miss Bennett? Or would you rather wait until the nursing staff can help?”

  Bliss met Sky’s gaze. Her belly flipped. There was nobody she trusted more. Nobody who’d proven they had her back the way he had. Even when he’d claimed to despise her. “No, I don’t need to wait. Now is good.”

  “All righty then, let me just unhook you. Sweetie,” she said to Sky, “why don’t you start that shower? Just make sure she doesn’t fall. That’s key.”

  “I won’t let her fall. I promise.” He got up and disappeared into the bathroom.

  She heard the shower start to run. Frances unhooked her tubes and helped her stand.

  “You’re a lucky girl,” Frances said, “to have a man who loves you so much.”

  Bliss started to protest that Sky didn’t love her. But how would she explain their entire history to this woman who believed differently? She wouldn’t. So she smiled instead.

  “Yes, I’m very lucky.”

  “That boy didn’t leave your side hardly at all. He slept here every night. Such devotion. It’s heartwarming. So many relationships don’t last these days. But yours will. I can see it in his eyes.”

  Bliss bit the inside of her lip to remind herself that appearances and reality were two entirely different things. “I appreciate that,” she said. Because what else could she say?

  Frances walked her to the bathroom where Sky waited. He took her hands, gently and led her to the shower. He undressed her tenderly, then helped her inside the cubicle. Warm water poured down on her skin, so soothing and cleansing.

  “You need me to keep you steady?” he asked, his gaze not straying to her breasts—or lower—at all.

  “I think I’m okay. Just stand outside the curtain in case, okay?”

  He smiled at her. “I can do that.”

  He pulled the curtain between them. Bliss experienced a wild range of emotions—but the biggest one, the one that scared her the most, was love. She’d admitted to herself days ago that she still loved him. But it was a scary thing to experience at this moment when she was weak and vulnerable. Her heart pounded and her breath shortened, and all she wanted was to fling herself into his arms and hold him tight. She wanted comfort, but she couldn’t ask him for it in case he refused.

  Frances had said she was lucky to have a man who loved her so much, but Bliss knew it didn’t have to be love for Sky to be here. He was honorable, and he’d stay with her until she was recovered if he felt he needed to.

  She managed to wash herself off, wash her hair, and then she turned off the taps and gripped the bar mounted to the side of the shower, breathing steadily to calm her racing heart.

  “You want me to hand the towel in or do you need help?”

  She wanted the help, but she didn’t want to feel embarrassed while Sky dried her off. “I’ll take the towel,” she
said. It appeared a moment later as he thrust a hand into the shower.

  Bliss took the cloth and dried herself carefully, her limbs shaking. She couldn’t manage to flip her head over so she could wrap the towel around her hair, so she just slipped it around herself and held it as she slid the curtain back.

  Sky took one look at her, at her hair that dripped water onto her cheeks and down onto the towel, and picked up another one wordlessly. Then he turned her with soft hands and began to squeeze the water from her hair. He gently rubbed the towel over her head, back down her locks, removing as much water as he could.

  There was a pair of underwear and a T-shirt on the sink. “Frances handed them in,” he said, following her gaze. “You think you can put them on or do you need help?”

  “Help,” she said softly, dropping her gaze from his.

  “Then I’ll help you,” he told her. “And after that I’ll comb your hair for you.”

  Bliss started to cry. Sky wrapped her gently in his arms and held her close the way she’d wanted. She clung to him, then shook her head and tried to make herself stop crying. “I’m going to get you all wet.”

  “You aren’t crying that much. I can handle it.”

  She almost laughed. Almost. “I meant my hair. It’s still so wet.”

  “I can handle it.”

  “Why are you being so nice to me, Sky?”

  He didn’t say anything for a long moment. Then he tipped her head back, his hazel eyes searching hers. “Because you’re my girl, Bliss. You’ll always be my girl.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Three days later…

  * * *

  Sky drove up to the hospital entrance while Frances wheeled Bliss out the double doors to his Jeep. She looked impatient as she sat primly in the wheelchair, and he knew she wanted to jump up and run out the hospital doors. She could too. She was still a little weak, but mostly she was cranky and aching to be released. Aching to get back to a routine.

  They hadn’t talked about that routine yet, but he knew a few things she didn’t. Like he wasn’t letting her overdo anything. Like he planned to move her in with him, at least for now, and take care of her needs so she wasn’t trying to do it alone.

  As soon as Frances parked her beside the Jeep, Bliss leaped up and grabbed the handle before Sky could get around the Jeep to help. Frances frowned and shook her head.

  “You be careful, girlie, or you’re going to drop and hit your head on the concrete. Then you’ll be right back inside this hospital. Do you want that?”

  “Heck no,” Bliss said with that cute little drawl she had.

  “Thanks, Frances,” Sky said as he took hold of Bliss’s door. She’d climbed up into the Jeep and was calmly fastening her seat belt. Sky took her bag from the nurse.

  “You take care of her, Sky,” Frances said. “We don’t want her back here.”

  Bliss pursed her lips. “And I don’t want to come back! But not because of you, Frances. You were the best.”

  “Behave, you two,” Frances said as she wheeled the chair around and started back inside.

  “No way,” Bliss called out. “That’s no fun.”

  Frances waved a hand and Bliss giggled. Sky was still standing there with the door in his hand. Instead of closing it, he leaned forward and kissed her. She stopped giggling and sighed. Their tongues touched, and he grew instantly hard. So he broke the kiss and shut the door firmly in her face before walking around and getting into the driver’s seat.

  “That was nice,” she said, her eyes sparkling. “You haven’t kissed me like that since the night before I got sick.”

  “If you’re a good girl, maybe I’ll do it again soon.”

  She stretched her arms above her head and laughed. “Maybe I want to be a bad girl, Sky. Did you think of that?”

  Desire jolted him at the image her words called up. “Let’s make sure you’re feeling better before you start being bad, okay?”

  “Sky.”

  He glanced over at her as he brought the Jeep to a halt so he could turn onto the road. “What?”

  “You’ve been a mother hen for days. I’m fine. I’m recovering. I feel good, but I get tired kinda fast. And I’m happy. Just so damned happy to be alive. So let’s do some things that make me feel alive, okay?”

  “Like what?”

  Her gaze went smoky. “Seriously, you have to ask?”

  His balls tightened. “You gotta take it easy, Bliss.”

  “So you do all the work,” she said softly. “I’ll just lay beneath you and be still.”

  His temples were throbbing. “Maybe not too still.”

  She laughed. “No, maybe not. But hey, before we do that, can I have something to eat that’s not hospital food? Please?”

  Relief and disappointment twined together in his belly. Relief because he wanted to think about something else besides fucking, and disappointment because he really, really wanted to sink into her for hours.

  “What do you want?”

  “Pizza. And a big syrupy Coke.”

  “You got it, baby.”

  He drove them to his favorite pizza joint and parked.

  “We aren’t getting it to go?” she asked as he unsnapped his seat belt.

  He snorted. “No. I’m afraid you’ll make me forget that you need to eat if we take it home. Then it’ll be cold.”

  She arched an eyebrow. “So you do plan to take me to bed. Excellent.”

  He caught her hand and kissed it. “Did you doubt it?”

  “Honestly? I’m still not sure what’s going on here or what you intend to do. Every day is a mystery to me.”

  His heart thumped. “I told you that you were my girl. I meant it.”

  “But what’s that mean?”

  He heard the uncertain note in her voice. But he couldn’t talk about it yet. Not in a parking lot outside a pizza joint. “Pizza first. Talk later. You trust me?”

  “With my life, Sky.”

  They went inside the restaurant and ordered a large sausage and cheese pizza and two Cokes. Then they sat in a booth together, side by side, his arm around her while they waited for the food to come.

  “This is nice,” she said.

  He twisted a lock of her hair around his finger. “Yeah, it is.” He lifted her hair to his nose and inhaled. Cotton candy and flowers. That was Bliss. He’d know her with his eyes closed. Anywhere.

  “You didn’t tell me where you’re taking me,” she said.

  “I thought it was obvious.”

  “Not to me, it isn’t.”

  “Your house is being repaired. I thought you’d stay with me.” Her house wasn’t the disaster they’d feared, but it was going to need a bit of renovation before it was livable again. Robert Mayes had indeed set the incendiary device that exploded, but it had only burned down a shed and caught part of her house before the fire trucks arrived. They’d put out the fire, but there was some smoke and water damage to deal with.

  She looked up at him and smiled that soft smile he loved. “I’d like that.”

  “Mayes has been charged with breaking and entering as well as arson. Just got that bit of news this morning.”

  She frowned. “Is that enough to keep him?”

  “Oh, I’m sure there’ll be other charges forthcoming. He’s done a string of dirty jobs, and the cops are gathering evidence.”

  “What about Gilbert?”

  “Murder. He’s the one who injected Martin.”

  “Who grabbed me in the train station? Or did I imagine that?”

  “Gilbert is on camera standing on the platform, so it was probably him. But we don’t have any proof. Too many people and too much movement.”

  She shivered and he tightened his arm around her. “Once more, you probably saved me.”

  He kissed the top of her head. “I think maybe we saved each other.”

  Her head snapped up, her gaze searching his. “What’s that mean?”

  The waitress walked over with the pizza just then, i
nterrupting them.

  “Eat,” he told her. “We’ll talk later.”

  “You’re infuriating.”

  “But charming,” he added.

  She ate a couple of bites of her pizza and then set it down.

  Worry throbbed to life inside him. “What’s wrong? You feeling bad? Do we need to go?”

  She sighed and sat back so she could face him. “Sky, I can’t take this. I have to know. Is there anything between us, or are you just being nice to me? If you’re just being nice because you feel guilty or something, I’d rather you were truthful with me. I don’t want to get my hopes up. I don’t want to sit here pretending everything is okay and shaking on the inside because I want something you might not be willing to give me ever again. Just tell me the truth. Rip off the Band-Aid so I can heal.”

  As soon as she said the words, Bliss cursed herself for forcing the issue. Did she really want his answer right now? Did she want to ruin what was essentially a pleasant day and make him tell her that he wasn’t in love with her and never would be?

  He dropped his pizza and wiped his hands on a napkin, carefully not looking at her. Her heart throbbed.

  Idiot. Why did you ask? Why?

  He turned to face her, his gaze starting at the top of her head and working its way slowly over her face. Studying her.

  Then he touched her cheek, his fingers skimming along the bone before he cupped her face in both hands. “I guess there’s no perfect time to say this, though I was hoping we’d have more privacy first. But Bliss, if you’re worried—and it’s clear you are—then I have to tell you now.”

  “Sky, I don’t think—”

  He put a thumb over her lips, stopping the words from escaping. Her heart hammered.

  “Shh, it’s okay.” He pulled in a breath, and then his brows kind of drew down like he was preparing himself. “You’ve captivated me, Bliss. You infuriate me and confound me and yeah, you’ve stolen my heart too. I’m not sure you ever gave it back, quite honestly.”

  A sob welled in her chest. He kissed her cheeks, murmured sweet words.

  “Stop, baby. Stop. We’re gonna get it right this time, okay? I’m crazy for you. When I walked into your hospital room and saw Carr with that syringe, I nearly lost my mind. I’d almost lost you once already, and he was trying to take you away again. I’d been fighting myself, not gonna lie, but I knew I loved you at that moment. The moment I thought you were gone forever—that’s the moment I knew I’d never stopped loving you. You’re under my skin, Bliss Bennett. You’ve been there since the minute I first met you and you’ve never gone away. Did I try to drive you out? Yeah, I did. But I know the truth now, and the truth is I’ve missed you for four goddamn years.”