HOT Justice: A Hostile Operations Team - Book 14

by Lynn Raye Harris

  He sighed. “Just be subtle with your questions, okay?”

  “Subtle is my middle name.” She made an X over her heart. “Swear to God.”

  He laughed. “Good. And Haylee…”

  “Yes?”

  “Watch out for other dangers, okay?”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “It means there are men here who’re already looking at you like you’re their next meal. Don’t let it happen.”

  “I can take care of myself, Tony. Don’t you worry about that.”

  He nodded once. Then he melted into the crowd and she was alone. Haylee set her plate down and a waiter whisked it away. She took a swig of champagne for courage and then stood, keeping the flute in her hand but determined not to drink more than necessary. A slow spin around the room brought attention, as Tony had said, but none of them was Silva. Oscar Silva was five-eight, graying, pudgy—and not here. Haylee frowned as she retreated to a corner to watch and think.

  Ten minutes later, a new arrival walked in with a woman trailing behind him, and her heart kicked up a few beats. Silva was wearing a tux and smiling broadly as Senator Watson strode over to greet him. Tony was nearby, watching the meeting but not a part of it. Watson and Silva shook hands and a photographer snapped a photo. Tony’s gaze left his boss and searched the crowd—looking for her, no doubt. She smiled when their gazes met. He frowned.

  But then she took a sip of her champagne and lifted her chin, sweeping her glossy black hair over her shoulder. Her dress was the stuff of wet dreams. Her shoes were of the Fuck Me variety. And she was definitely Silva’s catnip. She’d made sure of it, from the extra makeup she’d donned to the tight dress and sky-high heels and flowing hair—he liked long hair, not short and not pinned up. Her lipstick was red, her nails matching. She started to walk, sashaying with exaggerated movements toward the place where Silva stood talking to the senator. The crowd parted as if she were Moses and they the Red Sea until she was nearly upon them.

  Oscar Silva turned. She could see the moment he spotted her because his eyes widened and then traveled down her body and back up appreciatively. The woman who’d walked in with him stood nearby, glaring. She was blond and gorgeous, but maybe without the extra junk in the trunk that Haylee possessed.

  “Senator,” Haylee said a touch breathlessly when she reached them. Senator Watson turned, blinking, smiling automatically as career politicians did. “I just wanted to thank you for all you’re doing to stop the illicit drug trade.”

  “My pleasure, Miss…”

  “Jamison. Haylee Jamison,” she supplied, offering her hand. He took it gently.

  “Well, Miss Jamison, we’re definitely doing all we can on that front. It’s a great problem. Very great. But we’re working on it.”

  “Yes, I know. Thank you soooo much.”

  “Have you met Mr. Silva?” the senator asked. “He’s a great ally for the war on drugs.”

  Haylee turned to Oscar Silva, who did his best to look humble but couldn’t pull it off if his life depended on it. “Miss Jamison,” he said, offering his hand. “It is an issue I care very deeply about.”

  She put her hand in his, her stomach turning at the touch of his skin on hers. She didn’t know that he was really involved with the Juarez Cartel, but her source had insisted it was true. And how else would the drugs make it across?

  “As do I, Mr. Silva. Thank you so much.”

  He didn’t let go of her hand. His thumb rubbed against her skin. “Perhaps I could buy you a drink and we could discuss it further?”

  Haylee’s heart throbbed. She didn’t cut her eyes to Tony but she could feel his disapproval. “Yes, I would like that very much,” she purred, even though her insides churned.

  Silva drew her in closer, wrapping her arm around his. “Excellent,” he replied, his heavy-lidded gaze dropping to her mouth and then to her breasts. “I think we should have a very long talk about this. Amanda,” he snapped over his shoulder, “find us a table, would you? And then you may go.”

  Bastard, Haylee thought. But she let him lead her to the bar, smiling vacuously the whole way. If there was anything she could learn from this man, then she intended to learn it. No matter how much he made her skin crawl.

  Chapter Eleven

  Wolf didn’t much like these private security jobs, but he took them whenever they came up because he made good money doing it. He needed the money if his parents were going to get custody of Taylor and Jack. They were close to succeeding, and he was determined to help. Tonight, the job was a fundraiser for Senator Frank Watson of Arizona. Wolf and Gem and Easy were working this one together. He stood in one of the back entryways to the hotel, making sure that the special cake the senator’s wife had ordered was delivered smoothly and with no surprises.

  Mundane, sure, but also important not to let some idiot protestor in the back door. His phone rang. It was Gem.

  “What’s up?” he asked as the last of the attendants brought the cake inside. The door shut and he made sure it was locked before following the cake down the hall.

  “I think you might want to make it in here before too long.”

  Gem was in the ballroom along with Easy and several other security personnel. There were others stationed at different points in the hotel, all discreet of course.

  “Why? Are there strippers?”

  “No. But there’s a really gorgeous girl who looks a lot like the one we rescued from the jungle a couple months back.”

  Wolf’s insides went cold. Haylee Jamison? Here? It was possible. He hadn’t stopped thinking about her since they’d returned, but he’d also not looked her up like he’d promised. Because there’d been a couple of missions and things had gone haywire for a while. Then there was his sister and her kids—and he’d decided that the last thing he needed was to look up a sweet girl like Haylee just so he could fuck her up by being emotionally unavailable to her.

  Haylee was going through her own issues and she needed more than he could give right now. More than he wanted to give. But hot damn, what a night they’d had. He’d nearly gone to her place a dozen times in the past two months, whenever he’d been home. But always he’d hesitated.

  “You sure about that, man?”

  “Black hair, golden skin, body that could make a man promise her anything so long as he got to explore it? Yeah, I’m pretty fucking sure. Woman like that stands out in a crowd. And she’s definitely standing out tonight.”

  Wolf’s gut twisted. Did he want to walk in there and see her? What would he do? What would he say? Probably best if he didn’t, come to think of it.

  “Yeah, well, why are you telling me?”

  Gem snorted. “Why? Because you kissed her in front of everyone and then spent the night with her even though you pretended you didn’t? Because you’ve been a grumpy bastard for the past two months? Because I haven’t seen you with a woman since that mission—because I’ve watched you turn down free pussy like a gay man with no use for it?”

  Wolf growled. “Since when are you my daddy, Gem?”

  “Look, just thought you’d like to know she’s here.”

  “Not really,” he said, though it wasn’t true and now he was dying to get into the ballroom and see her with his own eyes.

  “Good thing, I guess.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “Why? Because she’s at a table with Oscar Silva—and he’s looking mighty interested in what he sees.”

  Wolf’s guts turned to ice. Oscar Silva? He wasn’t the kind of man a girl like Haylee should get involved with. Silva was rumored to be dirty, though nobody had any proof of it. Informants disappeared. Evidence was somehow dismissed for being fabricated. Silva was, by all appearances, completely blameless. And yet things happened near him, like he was the eye of the storm and everything swirled in a crazy dark mass around his orbit. He was rich, powerful, and connected. And he owned a lot of property on the border with Mexico.

  Shit. She was still digging, still trying
to piece together how the drugs that killed her friend had gotten into the country. And if she’d set her sights on Silva, she was aiming mighty high indeed. Not that he knew it for sure. But if anybody was involved in the drug trade, it was Silva.

  “Soon as this cake gets to the kitchen, I’m on my way.”

  “Thought so, hoss.”

  “Shut up, Gem.”

  Gem laughed. “Yeah, like that ever worked before. See you in a few—and try not to blow a gasket when you see her, okay? Girl is hot as fuck. Over and out, Wolfman.”

  The line went dead and Wolf dropped his phone into his suit jacket with a snarl. What the hell? Why couldn’t he just have an uncomplicated life for a change? He’d avoided Haylee because his life was too crazy for her and she deserved better, but now he was about to walk into a room and lay eyes on her for the first time since he’d stood over her sleeping form and dropped a kiss on her forehead. He didn’t know how that was going to make him feel, but he suspected it was going to be more painful than he was ready for.

  Because he’d liked her. A lot. And not only that, but he’d felt a certain kind of peace with her that night. Like being with her was somehow better than being with any other woman. Kissing her, licking her, sliding into her body and hearing her moans, feeling her pulsate around him as she came—he could remember it as if it was yesterday. He’d wanted more of her, and he’d intended to get it when he’d walked away that morning.

  But then he’d gotten on the plane that took them out of El Salvador and he’d started thinking about what it would mean to see her back home. To actually show up on her doorstep. Would he take her on a date? Would they have sex? Would he want more of the same? And what happened when he had to leave her and head out on another mission? Or when she wanted more from him than no-strings sex?

  He’d actually thought about it. Thought the whole thing out. He watched Saint and Hacker with their women and he imagined what it would be like if he had a woman. If Haylee was his woman. He took it all the way to a picket fence and a baby before his freak-out meter pegged.

  And then he’d really thought about it and realized it wasn’t going to happen. He couldn’t afford to get distracted, and Haylee was a huge distraction. Not just because of the sex. It was more than that. She was smart and insightful and she wasn’t ever going to be content with a man like him. There was too much he couldn’t tell her, because of the job, and Haylee wasn’t the type of woman to accept long absences and vague explanations.

  Wolf clenched his teeth together and told himself he’d made the right decision. He finished escorting the cake to the kitchen and then walked to the ballroom and stood outside the service entrance for a second. Then he pushed the door open and prepared to come face to face with the woman he hadn’t stopped thinking about since the moment their eyes had met in the Guatemalan jungle two months ago.

  Oscar Silva was a pompous ass. A narcissistic, self-important, pompous ass. Haylee sat at his table and smiled, nodding as he talked. He skimmed his fingers along her arm from time to time, and she tried not to shudder with revulsion.

  “And so I focus money on the problem,” he said. “It is a very real problem, and I support Senator Watson in his desire to rid our country of this terrible nuisance.”

  “My best friend died,” Haylee interjected. “From pills that were not what they seemed.”

  Oscar Silva’s face contorted in a frown. “Oh, that is terrible, Miss Jamison. May I call you Haylee?” His thumb skimmed the inside of her wrist and his lips curved in a slick smile.

  “Yes, of course,” she said, tamping down on the disgust rising like bile in her throat.

  “It is a real problem, Haylee. And yet it would not be if there were not a demand for it.”

  She should keep her mouth shut and just listen, but she couldn’t. “Are you saying that people who take prescription drugs as directed, and then get addicted, are somehow to blame for that addiction?” She couldn’t keep the hard edge out of her voice, no matter how she tried.

  Oscar Silva’s eyes sparked for a second. “Not at all, my dear. I’m simply saying that if there was not a demand, the cartels would not supply it. Until we curb the demand, we cannot expect to completely eradicate the supply.”

  Haylee’s heart throbbed. “We can’t? Even when we have borders and protocols? We can’t stop illegal drugs from coming into this country and reaching the streets of cities like Washington, DC? Really, that is beyond our ability?”

  Oscar Silva’s gaze grew icy. Haylee told herself to stop, just stop, but her anger wasn’t going to let her. She’d only meant to sit and listen, to simper and flatter and glean whatever information she could from him, but she wasn’t capable of simpering.

  He drew himself up coolly. “It’s not so simple as you wish. Nothing ever is.”

  Haylee chastised herself and tried to be meek. She even managed to squeeze his hand for a second before letting it go again. “Of course you are right. I’m just so passionate about the cause that I sometimes forget myself.”

  He seemed to relax, his smile inching upward again. He leaned in and let his gaze drop to her chest. Linger. Do not visibly recoil, Haylee. Do NOT.

  “Understandable, my dear.” He threaded his fingers in hers and then lifted her hand and kissed it. “I must make the rounds, but perhaps we can escape the crowds in half an hour or so? Continue our discussion somewhere more private?”

  Her stomach churned. “That sounds lovely, Mr. Silva.”

  “Oscar. Please.”

  “Oscar then.”

  He stood and bowed over her hand like a courtly knight of old. It was completely fake and utterly insulting, but Haylee smiled as if flattered beyond belief.

  “I’ll send someone for you, pretty lady. Until then, amuse yourself.”

  Amuse herself? Really? Was this a fucking historical romance and he was the duke? Haylee’s smile ached. “I shall, dear Oscar.”

  Uh oh, that was over the top.

  Except he didn’t blink an eye. He kissed her hand again and strode away, into the crowd. Haylee let out the breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. Then she picked up her drink and took a healthy swig. “Holy cow,” she muttered. “What have I gotten myself into?”

  She set the drink down and let her gaze roam the crowd. What was she supposed to do now? Accept Silva’s invitation to go somewhere more private, where he would no doubt make advances she was unwilling to accept, even in the name of research? Or disappear now, with no more information than she’d had before?

  If she wanted to get to the bottom of this, she had to keep going, right? Despite her revulsion, she had to do it for Nicole.

  Her gaze slid across the room—and then rocked to a stop when it landed on a man standing near the wall. His gaze was on her, and their eyes locked. Her heart skipped several beats. Wolf was in a suit, tall and broad and imposing, and he glared back at her with a heat she couldn’t ignore. He was suddenly on the move, making his way toward her, and her belly turned inside out.

  She couldn’t move. She was frozen like a rabbit who’d sighted the big bad wolf. Inside, her brain laughed hysterically at the joke. Outside, she pasted on a fake smile and waited. He loomed tall and large in front of her. She lifted her drink and sipped as if she didn’t have a care in the world though inside she quaked.

  “Haylee Jamison,” he said, a truckload of meaning contained in those two words. “How are you?”

  She ran through a thousand scenarios in her head. None of them were the perfect combination of set down and cool response that she wanted them to be.

  “Well, well. Dean. Didn’t expect to see you again. No, wait, I did expect to see you again. About six weeks ago or so.”

  His eyes popped for a second, and then he laughed. “Goddamn, Haylee. You don’t waste any time getting to the point, do you?”

  “No. Why prevaricate? You said you’d find me. I expected you to do so. You owe me money.” Not that she cared about the money. In fact, the money was the farthest
thing from her mind. She was more hurt that he’d ignored her. That he’d lied when he said he’d come for her once they were home again. He’d memorized her address—or pretended to—and then nothing.

  “I know,” he said softly. “Haven’t forgotten that. I’ve been busy.”

  “Oh, really? Sorry to hear that.” Ice couldn’t melt in her mouth. She was cold and unattached and uncaring. And yet her heart hammered a million beats a second. Her pulse was a crazy thing. Her skin heated and cooled and heated again.

  “I should have gotten in touch sooner.”

  “You could have mailed a check, you know.” She didn’t care about the damned money. So why was she harping on it? Because it was easy. Concrete. A thing to focus on.

  “Yep, could have. Should have.”

  God, he looked good. From his blond hair to his gray-blue eyes, to the muscles beneath the suit jacket he wore. She contrasted her reaction to Oscar Silva with her reaction to Wolf. Why was it so different? Why couldn’t she fake it better with Silva? Why did Wolf make her breath shorten and her belly twist and, God help her, her nipples harden?

  Haylee waved a hand dismissively. “Forget it, Dean. It’s not important. I don’t really want your money. I was just pointing out what a hypocrite you are.”

  Oooh, bitter much?

  His gaze dropped over her body. Unlike with Silva, her skin tingled at the heated look he gave her. “You look amazing, Haylee.”

  “Thanks.” She slid her finger along the rim of her glass, around and around, trying so hard to ignore him. It didn’t really work.

  “So tell me what you’re doing here.”

  “Oh, you know. Attending a function. I have a date, actually.” She lifted her chin and craned her head around the room, looking for Tony. He’d disappeared, of course.

  “You mean Oscar Silva? You sure you want to date a man like that?”

  Her gaze snapped to his. His eyes blazed with anger. Shocking.

  “First of all, you have no right to tell me what to do. Second of all, it’s none of your business who I go out with. You and I were a one-night stand, nothing more.” She flicked her fingers at him. “Move along, Dean.”