by Cynthia Eden
“Tina...”
“As soon as they saw my dad, the robbers panicked. They screamed for him to get on the ground and to lift his hands up.”
He wanted her in his arms. But Drew didn’t move.
His thumb rubbed lightly against her wrist. The beating of her pulse seemed to steady him.
“I had an attack. They were worse back then. I used to get them more frequently.” Her breath eased out slowly. “My dad always carried medicine for me. He was reaching for it, but the robbers thought he was reaching for his gun.”
Hell.
“They shot him. My mother ran at them and they shot her, too.” Tears glimmered in her eyes. “My mother died instantly, but my father didn’t. His blood was all over me, and there wasn’t anything I could do. I was trying to pull in air, begging them to help my dad, and when I looked up—” She blinked and finally seemed to see Drew once more. “The shooter had his gun pointed right at my head.”
Drew didn’t speak. He found that, for once, he couldn’t.
“Sirens were screaming. Help was coming, but it wasn’t going to get there fast enough. I knew I’d die. Just like my mom. I didn’t want to die.”
Every muscle in his body had locked.
“I had been trying to stop the blood from flowing out of my dad. My hand was just inches from his holster—from the gun that he had never grabbed.” A tear slipped from her eye. He carefully wiped it away. “I lifted it and I fired, right before the shooter did. I killed him.”
“You saved yourself.” Eighteen. He’d never imagined that her life had been so dark. No, he hadn’t wanted it to be dark. He’d always liked to think that only good things happened to the doc. She’s my good thing.
But it seemed danger had stalked her for far longer than he’d realized.
“What happened to your dad?” he forced himself to ask.
“He died right after the police stormed inside.”
Hell.
“Mercer was there.”
So this was how Mercer fit into the puzzle of her life.
“He and my dad...they were friends. He was at the funeral. He stayed with me, made sure that I was set for college. Med school.”
Med school. He understood. “You wanted to be able to save lives.”
“I did but...I still couldn’t save that man at Lightning. No matter what, you can’t save everyone.”
She pulled away from him; headed for the connecting door. The room immediately seemed colder without her near.
Tina paused and glanced back at him. “I didn’t tell you that story so that you’d feel sorry for me.”
“Sorry isn’t what I feel.” She was even stronger than he’d thought.
And I always thought she was damn tough.
“You can’t save everyone,” she said again as she gazed back at him. “You should have realized that by now.”
He had. He wasn’t interested in saving everyone.
Just her.
“You don’t know what’s going to happen next. You don’t know if you can save me. Whether I agree to the plan or not, Devast is hunting me.”
You don’t know if you can save me.
She was right. He didn’t know. He had no idea how this case would end.
Tina slipped into her room then quietly shut the door.
He stood there, far too aware of the silence around him.
After a few moments Drew found himself staring down at his own hands. Tina had killed one man. He didn’t want to remember all of the lives he’d taken.
She’s my one good thing.
His head lifted. He looked toward that connecting door. Then Drew took a breath and a step. He kept walking until he was in front of that door.
He didn’t knock. Didn’t hesitate. He just swung that door right open.
If it hadn’t been unlocked, he probably would have broken the damn thing down.
Tina stood near the bed. When the door bounced against the wall, she spun toward Drew and her eyes flared wide with surprise.
“I know that I have to try to save you.” He felt as if a force was pulling him toward her. A moth to the burning flame. She was the fire he craved. “Because I need you.” Then he kissed her.
With the press of his mouth to hers, Drew got that fire.
The desire seemed to ignite in his blood. Her mouth was soft and warm, and she kissed him back eagerly.
This wasn’t a time for fear. Not a time for death.
This was their time.
“I made you a promise,” he growled against her mouth. “There’s something you should know. I always keep my promises.”
“So do I,” she whispered back. Her hands were between them, seeming to singe him right through the thin fabric of his T-shirt. Then she was shoving up that T-shirt.
He tossed the thing across the room. “No going back,” Drew told her, voice rough. He was rough.
She was silk.
“I don’t want to go back.”
With those words, Tina sealed both their fates.
He lifted her and put her in the middle of that big bed with its clean, white sheets. Her hair spread out behind her.
She reached up for him.
She was the most perfect thing he’d ever seen. And this time, for her, because it was her, he was going to show her that he could be more than the wild lover who consumed.
Though he sure as hell wanted to consume her.
He stripped the hotel robe off her. Let it drop to the floor. Her breasts were round and perfect, with light pink nipples. He put his mouth on her and tasted. “Strawberries...” he whispered. His arousal shoved hard against his jeans.
She arched her hips toward him. “That’s my...ah...lotion. I found some in the gift...ah—shop!”
He made a mental note to buy her a case of strawberry lotion. “Love that scent on you.” He loved touching her, kissing her. His lips feathered over her flesh. He licked her nipple, caressed her and held tight to the reins of his control.
He was trying to be gentle and easy.
Tina wasn’t.
Her nails raked over his back. Her fingers pushed between them and fumbled with the zipper of his jeans.
“I don’t want to wait,” she told him. “All I want is you.”
Her voice was the best sin he’d ever heard. She was every thought he had right then.
He ditched his jeans, but made sure to keep the protection he’d shoved into his back pocket. Yeah, he’d visited that gift shop, too. Because I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep my hands off her.
And protecting her, always, was his priority.
His hands pushed her thighs farther apart. Drew nearly lost his mind when he touched her and found her so ready for him. He took care of the small foil packet in a flash.
He heaved in a deep breath—hold on to your control, hold on to it!—and positioned himself at the entrance to her body.
He started to thrust into her, but then Drew stilled and she glanced at him. Tina’s eyes were wide and eager, her lips parted. Desire was on her face. Desire wasn’t enough.
He wanted to see her pleasure.
“No going back,” he said again. This moment would change everything for them. She needed to realize that. This wasn’t just some adrenaline-infused hook-up sex.
Tina’s hands caught his. Their fingers threaded together.
He thrust.
Too good. Drew growled out her name. He withdrew, thrust again. Her legs wrapped around his hips. The pleasure built, rushing fast and hard toward him. This wasn’t just sex. He’d had sex with plenty of other women.
This was more. So much more.
He thrust faster. Harder. His control ripped. No, shredded.
He’d wanted to show her that he could be a considerate lover.
But he was starving for her.
Her sex squeezed around him. He was staring straight into her eyes, and he saw her gaze go bright and blind with pleasure.
His climax hit him. The pleasure slammed through him,
took his breath, and he held on to her as tightly as he could.
Drew kept thrusting. The pleasure wasn’t ending. His back tightened. His muscles strained. Tina whispered his name. She was so beautiful. So perfect to him.
The release crested. The surge was the most powerful climax he’d ever had.
When it ended, when the shudders stopped racking their bodies, Drew could only think—
No going back.
He always kept his promises.
* * *
IT WAS THE ringing of the phone that woke Drew hours later. The steady peal came from his phone, a weak and low sound since he had fallen asleep in Tina’s room.
In her bed.
He glanced over at her. His arm was curled around her stomach. Her lashes swept over her cheeks. She breathed easily. Slowly.
The phone kept ringing.
Drew slipped from the bed. He yanked on his jeans and padded quietly to his room. He grabbed for the phone.
He didn’t recognize the number, but in the EOD, that didn’t mean anything. Burner phones and untraceable cells were used every day. “Hello?”
“Agent...Lancaster?”
He turned away from Tina’s door and headed toward the skyline view. Darkness had fallen over the city now, but the lights from the skyscrapers still gleamed. “Who is this?”
“I believe you’ve been looking for me,” the voice said. It was a male’s voice. No accent. No inflection. “And I’ve been looking for you.”
He glanced toward the connecting door. He could still see Tina in there. Safe in bed. “I think you’ve got the wrong number.” His gut clenched and his body went on high alert.
Laughter. The cold kind. “No, I’ve got the right number, and I’ve got the right man.”
Drew strained to hear any background noise that might give the guy’s location away, but, unfortunately, he heard nothing.
“How valuable is she?” the voice asked him, still as calm and easy-as-you-please.
“Sorry, man, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” His voice came out the same way. He could play this game all night long.
Devast. The big boss had actually called him. Called him on what should have been a secure line. Who was giving the guy this intel? They’d thought that the EOD had outed its traitor months back. A guy in the tech department who was now in a cold grave.
Someone else was on Devast’s side. The bombing on that plane and Devast’s access to his personal number proved it.
A sigh drifted to his ear. “Don’t waste my time, Agent Lancaster. I know exactly who you are. You know who I am. And you know what I want.”
Tina.
Fine. His cover was blown with the guy, so he could cut through the bull. “You’re not getting her.”
The laughter came again. “Why? Because it’s your job to keep her safe?” A taunt.
“Something like that.” He made sure to step away from the glass and yank the curtains closed. He was up so high that Devast shouldn’t be able to take a shot at him, but Drew had never been the type to take chances.
“I’ve learned a lot about you recently. After you killed my men, I had no choice but to learn.”
The guy spoke of death far too easily. But then, Devast had been an instrument of death for most of his life. “You sure don’t seem upset about losing them.”
“And you don’t seem upset about killing them.”
Once more, his gaze returned to Tina’s still form in that bed. She thought that she was safe right then.
She wasn’t.
Drew couldn’t track the call—he didn’t have the equipment handy—but was Devast tracking him? Right then? The HAVOC network was massive. And inside the EOD. “This call is over,” he said. He wasn’t going to risk revealing Tina’s location to—
“I want to make you an offer,” Devast said quickly. “Consider it a business deal. You give me what I want, and I’ll give you a million dollars.”
What? One million dollars was one hell of an offer.
“Like I said,” Devast continued, and now the guy sounded way too confident. “I learned a lot about you. I know that you’re a man who would once do anything for money. Lie. Cheat. Steal. And now...for Mercer...for his money, you kill.”
His back teeth had locked. “You don’t know as much about me as you seem to think.” He didn’t auction off his services to the highest bidder.
“Give me what I want,” Devast said, “and I’ll give you enough money to finally kick all of that poor Mississippi mud off your shoes.”
The bedcovers rustled softly from the other room. He turned away from the room and hunched his shoulders. “Who says there is anything wrong with that mud?”
Silence. Then... “Think about my offer. Think long hard about it. I’m giving you one chance. The money—and your life.”
For Tina’s life.
“I don’t give second chances, Agent Lancaster. This is your one opportunity. Be smart. Take it.”
The floor squeaked behind him. The scent of strawberries drifted in the air.
“Bring her to me. Forty-eight nineteen Demopolis Way. The old factory on the east end.”
Devast sure thought he’d found Drew’s price. “When?”
“Sunset. That will give you plenty of time to get her away from the other agents.”
And it would give Devast plenty of time to lay his trap. Drew was no fool.
I won’t betray her.
The floor gave another low squeak. Tina would be close enough to hear every word that Drew said. “I’m surprised you don’t just want me to kill her right now.”
He heard the sharp, indrawn breath behind him.
“I won’t have another mistake on my hands. I want to see Mercer’s daughter die.”
Drew turned his head. He could look straight into Tina’s eyes then.
“Make the trade, Agent Lancaster.”
The line went dead in his ear.
Fear flashed in her eyes. “Drew, what’s happening?”
He glanced down at his phone. Had Devast traced them? And if the EOD traitor had hacked into the system already... There could be no safe place for her.
No safe place, but with him. Drew rushed toward her and locked his fingers with hers. “We need to leave now.”
* * *
ANTON DEVAST SMILED as he put down the phone. The seed had been planted. Now, it was just about letting it take root.
Drew Lancaster could trade the woman. Or he could die.
A simple enough offer.
Anton looked to the right. Dallas waited. So did his prize.
When I’m done, I’ll send you a piece of her, Mercer.
Then his old friend would know that they’d finally come full circle.
A child for a child.
Payback.
* * *
MERCER STARED DOWN at the faded headstone. Weeds were trying to grow over it, so he bent and jerked them back.
The stone was cold to the touch.
No flowers. No mementos marked the grave.
The man buried there had been gone for nearly twenty years. No one but Mercer ever came to visit the grave. He knew—he’d had eyes on this cemetery for years.
“Who is he?”
He didn’t glance back at the agent’s curious voice. He was bringing Cooper Marshall on to the case because he needed backup. The mission was going to get tough, Anton wouldn’t hesitate to kill—and Cooper Marshall, well, he was an agent who never hesitated.
He was also a guy who didn’t seem to understand fear. Sometimes that lack of fear was a weakness.
Sometimes it was an advantage.
“He was a man who got caught in the cross fire.” A cross fire that had come from Mercer. “And his death started a war that I need to end.”
He backed away from the grave. His gaze slid around the area. The spot hadn’t changed much in twenty years. The trees were still heavy, lush. A pretty spot.
Jon might have liked it.
Grief pulled
at him, but Mercer pushed the memories away. “You’ve been briefed on the situation with Dr. Jamison?”
He couldn’t bring in a full force of agents on this case. The more people who knew, the more potential for word to spread about his “daughter”—and that couldn’t happen.
He’d already sent a message to Cale Lane, his real daughter’s husband. The agent was on high alert, and he had strict orders to keep Cassidy out of the U.S. until this nightmare was over. Cale also had orders not to tell Cassidy what was happening. If she thought that someone else was being risked in her place...
Cassidy would be back here in an instant.
He didn’t want her in that kind of danger. He’d begun the whole ruse with Rachel Mancini to protect Cassidy.
The plan had been for Rachel to draw out his enemies—in particular, Devast. The agents would have taken Devast down, and Mercer’s “daughter” would have died in the cross fire. They’d arranged to stage Rachel’s death so perfectly.
With that fake death, the hunt for his daughter would have ended. Cassidy would have been safe to live a normal life. A life she’d never had before.
But now that perfect plan was in ashes.
“I have been briefed, sir,” Cooper replied.
Mercer’s gaze slid to him. “Dr. Jamison has volunteered to assist in the rest of the investigation. She wants to help us catch the man behind her abduction.”
“Anton Devast,” Cooper said. His blue stare drifted to the grave—and to the name on the headstone.
Jonathan Devast.
“Devast is a very dangerous, unpredictable man.” Mercer cocked his head as he studied Cooper. “You’re rather unpredictable, too.” A point that had almost kept the man out of the EOD.
Cooper Marshall was an ex-U.S. Air Force Pararescueman. He jumped into danger any chance he could get. Literally.
A faint smile lifted Cooper’s lips. “Yes, sir, I’ve been told that I am.”
They were alone in the graveyard. No eyes. No ears. “You’ve been on a mission in Afghanistan for the past seven months.” Mercer exhaled a slow breath. “And I have someone who has been in my agency, someone who has been selling secrets, straight to Devast. Since I personally sent the plane to pick you up on your mission—”