She didn’t respond and moved toward the changing room. When she reached the red curtain, she glanced back over her shoulder. “And what about hair? What’s Lennox’s preference there?”
“Up,” Rowan told her.
But that wasn’t for Lennox. That was all for him.
The thoughts of her long neck and back beautifully exposed stayed with Rowan the rest of the day, as did his semi, until they arrived later that afternoon to the private airport in a stretch limousine. No expense had been spared to play the part of a rich couple going on a date night to Seattle. Rowan wouldn’t make one wrong move, not with Mia’s life on the line. He felt so close to the killer, he could taste it, and that meant that soon his sister would be home and safe. The private airport had three small jets on the tarmac. Only one of those planes had a pilot standing near the staircase, with a flight attendant next to him. “I take it that’s our ride?” Rowan asked.
Alex nodded, her sharp eyes on her target. “Yeah, that’s him. Brett Manning.”
Rowan met the limo driver at the trunk and took out their suitcase for the night. He tipped the driver before he placed his hand on the small of Alex’s back, guiding her toward the plane. He was not blind to how much he enjoyed touching her, and by her slight shiver, how she reciprocated that sentiment. That obviously hadn’t changed between them over the years.
As they approached the plane, Alex commented, “He doesn’t look like a killer.”
“Serial killers never look like killers,” Rowan replied. “That’s what makes them so dangerous.”
She acknowledged his remark with a shrug.
Rowan studied Manning as they drew closer. He exhaled deeply, trying not to let his emotions run away with him. For all he knew, he was looking at the very man who abducted his sister and planned on killing her. Manning wore a jacket, leaving Rowan unable to look for the tattoo, but he kept his focus sharp and watched for any and all body language the man put off.
Manning took a big deep breath and gave them an award-winning smile, dipping his chin slightly. “Mr. Hawke and Ms. McCoy?”
“Yes, that’s right.” Rowan offered his hand. “Thank you for arranging this flight for us on such short notice.” They could have given false names, but getting identification took time. Time that they didn’t have. Rowan knew their arrival set off alarms at the CIA headquarters, but seeing that his boss had known about Rowan’s intimate relationship in Paris, Rowan suspected the CIA would overlook his travels with her.
“It’s not a problem,” Manning said, avoiding Rowan’s stare, and then included Alex in the conversation. “And you’re just in Seattle for the night?”
“We are, thank you,” Alex said, then boarded the plane like she owned it. “We must get going immediately or we’ll be late for our plans tonight.”
“Yes, miss, of course. We’ll get up in the air as quick as we can.” Manning’s shoulder curled a little when he gestured Rowan into the plane.
Rowan hurried up the few steps and walked into luxury. Leather seats. A big-screen television. Under different circumstances, Rowan would make full use of this plane for his enjoyment, but he forced his mind clear.
He took a seat across from an already-settled Alex. She smiled at him; obviously her bravado was a show of a person who demanded excellence. This flight was costing Rowan ten grand, but there was no cost he wouldn’t pay if it brought him closer to finding Mia.
“What do you make of him?” Alex asked, after the flight attendant boarded the plane and moved toward the cabin, packing away the suitcase.
“I take him for an anxious sort,” Rowan said. “His shoulders slightly curved when he talked to us. There was a dip of his chin when you got pushy. And I saw him taking repeated deep breaths.”
Alex’s brows drew together. “How do you even see all that?”
He buckled up his seat belt, watching her do the same. “It’s my job to see these little things and know how to read people. It’s the only way to stay a step ahead of them. It’s these subtle cues that will tell you more about someone than anything that comes out of their mouth.”
Her brows tightened further. “What did you read off me?”
“You might be the one and only person I have a hard time reading,” he said with a dry laugh. “You were a complete surprise and bulldozed over any control of the situation that I had.”
She smiled softly, telling him she didn’t mind that one bit. “So, about those little cues, what’s your gut say about this guy?”
“That he’s not our guy,” Rowan stated.
Alex snorted a laugh. “That sure, are you?”
Rowan nodded. “He’s too nervous.”
“But maybe that’s why he kills. To take control of that nervousness.”
Rowan shrugged. “Always a possibility, but he’s not the type of guy I would see my sister being interested in. Manning barely looked me in the eye. He’s timid. Mia hates weakness.”
Alex eventually agreed with a nod and then turned to the flight attendant who sidled up next to them. Her navy-blue blazer and skirt were so neat that Rowan couldn’t find a single wrinkle. Her blond hair was pulled up in a tight bun, without a strand out of place. And her makeup was flawless. Samantha was on her nametag. “Can I get you anything to drink?”
“A coffee with milk, please,” Alex said.
Rowan gave a nod. “I’ll take black.”
“Excellent,” Samantha said with a beaming smile. “Once we’re up in the air, I’ll get those right to you.”
In the same moment she turned away, Manning strode out from the cabin with a matching smile to Samantha’s and his jacket nowhere in sight. “We’re just about to taxi down the runway here. I hope you both have an enjoyable flight. If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to ask Samantha, your flight attendant.”
“Thank you,” Rowan replied. He held his breath and waited for Manning to turn away. Through the light fabric of Manning’s shirt, it became clear he did not have a back tattoo. He turned to Alex and sighed. “One down.”
She nodded. “That may have been the quickest ruling out a suspect I’ve ever been a part of.”
“You and me both,” Rowan agreed with a laugh. “Usually clearing suspects is much more painful.” He had the scars to prove it.
The plane soon taxied down the runway and was off the ground not long after that. Rowan stared out his window, looking at the city disappearing below them until they were over dark blue water.
“You never mentioned you had a sister.”
Alex’s soft voice pulled him back to her. He noted the slight hurt in her expression that she tried very hard to hide. “I don’t talk about Mia to anyone,” he explained gently. “In my line of work, she’d be the first person that someone would go after to hurt me.”
“Makes sense.”
But it still hurt her. He saw that.
The aroma of brewing coffee filled the cabin when she finally looked his way again. “How are your parents doing? Are they still living in Vermont?”
It surprised him that he had mentioned them to her in Paris. He couldn’t recall that conversation, and as much as he didn’t talk about Mia, he also usually didn’t talk about his parents, but it only reminded him how different Alex had been to him. He shared things he never shared with anyone. “Sailing the Pacific at the moment.”
Alex smiled. “That’s good to hear.” Then her smile faded. “Do they know Mia is missing?”
He shook his head. “One perk of being in the CIA. I’ve gotten her name kept out of the media and bought some time with the Feds before they reach out to them. I don’t want to worry them. I’ll find her.” He had to find her. He couldn’t fathom any other outcome.
Silence filled the space between them as Rowan stared into Alex’s warm eyes. The level of comfort with her had not changed. Intimacy was such a foreign thing. Through all the girlfriends he had in the past, none made him feel so at ease and turned on as Alex. In Paris, he thought Alex’s draw was her wit, her
strength, and her abilities. Now, five years later, he knew it had to be something more. Something that only she possessed, whatever that may be. At some point, he needed to find out exactly what had such a grip on him. But it occurred to him that unlike five years ago, this awareness didn’t shake him. She made him curious.
“You’re right—we will find her.”
Rowan blinked out of his thoughts and found she’d come to sit next to him. “Mia,” Alex continued. “We’ll find her before it’s too late. I promise.”
Warmth touched his chest. He reached for Alex’s hand and kissed her knuckles. “You’ll find her, luv.”
A slow, dangerous smile filled Alex’s face. “And you’ll kill him.”
Rowan let the silence be his answer. He glanced past her, out the window. The kind thing would be a quick kill for the man who took so many innocent lives for his twisted sadistic games.
Kindness was not Rowan’s strong suit.
He was so deep in his thoughts that he hadn’t realized the flight attendant had delivered their coffees, and only blinked back into awareness when Alex rose.
“Be back in a few,” she said before heading down the aisle to the bathroom.
Rowan sipped his coffee, knowing the six-hour flight would feel long. The bitter coffee hit his taste buds, providing just the bite he needed. Though the more he sat there, watching the flight attendant busying herself with preparing their food, the more he realized he wanted to taste something more than coffee.
He took one final sip of his coffee, leaving it on the small table next to his seat, then he followed to where Alex had gone. For this one moment, he let Mia go from his mind, and allowed himself to dip into something good. He stopped outside the door and knocked. The door slowly opened.
Alex grinned. “You took way too long.” She grabbed his shirt and pulled him in and quickly locked the door behind him.
She looked hot, eager, and turned on when he grasped her hips, placing her against the sink. The toilet was behind him. The shower to his left. And the amount of space in the bathroom was comparable to the bathroom in Alex’s hotel room. He caught her licking her lips as he lifted the front of her shirt enough to unbutton her jeans. Her gaze heated beautifully when he tucked his fingers into the rim of her panties, and pulled those, along with her jeans, down until she was stepping out of her shoes, then her pants. Only when he had her bottom half bared did he cup her neck, lifting her chin up with his thumb, and sealed his mouth across hers. He gave her long, slow kisses, savoring each and every one. She moaned against his lips when he kicked open her legs and slid his fingers between her thighs, finding her already wet. He loved that about her. How ready she always was for him.
It made them even. He was always hard.
“You feel so damn good, luv,” he murmured against her lips.
She moaned in return. He stroked the silkiness of her arousal and drew it up over her clit, while he swirled the bud, feeling the tremble of her leg against his thigh.
“Rowan,” she breathed.
“Say that again.” He leaned away, threaded his fingers into her hair, staring into her hooded eyes.
“Rowan.”
“Christ, I love how that sounds coming from your mouth.” Heat consumed him, pulling him deeper under her spell when he pressed his mouth against hers again and kissed her roughly, swirling her into pleasure with every hard press of his fingers, until she moaned louder. Then, and only then, did he drop to one knee. He kissed her thigh and heard her sharp intake of breath as he draped her thigh over his shoulder. Teasing her, he gently licked her soft folds. She slid her hands into his hair, tipped her head back, and moaned deeply.
He played, tickled, teased, until she began trembling.
After that, he gave her what she wanted from him. A body-quivering orgasm that had her standing up on her tiptoes and screaming his name.
He wasted no time exposing his cock, applying a condom, and then sinking himself deep inside of her hot and wet sex. She was primed and ready, and he gave it to her hard, exactly how he knew they both liked it.
She stared into his eyes while he took her, giving all of herself, and he took everything she had to give him. Until they were both falling into pleasure. Her first, then he followed, bucking and jerking with his climax.
She sagged against the mirror behind her, with her sweet ass still resting on the sink.
He withdrew his cock, disposed of the condom, then spun her around. “What are you doing…?” She gasped as he slapped her ass. Hard.
“We’ve got six hours before we land.” He pressed against her back, bent her across the sink, dropped to one knee again behind her, and treated himself to her all over again. Her quivering moan echoed around him as he said, “I’m nowhere near done with you.”
And he wasn’t sure he’d ever be.
CHAPTER 6
JUST AFTER EIGHT o’clock at night, in the heart of downtown Seattle, Alex left the spa she’d been spending the last three hours at getting spoiled rotten. The cherry-red, satin mermaid gown fit her like a glove in all the right places. Maybe there was something to being fussed over. She felt a little like a woman in some fairy tale she never believed in before. Her makeup was flawless, her lipstick perfectly matched her dress, and her hair was done in a soft romantic updo that was somehow gentle, sexy, and beautiful all at once. Only this fairy tale included a sadistic killer, five deceased women, and three more missing women—one of them Rowan’s beloved sister. Kinda hard to get all swoony knowing what exactly brought Alex there tonight.
When the spa’s door swooshed closed behind her, she noticed the sun sitting a little lower in the sky. But another view quickly dominated. Rowan was leaning against the limo, glancing down at his phone. He wore a tux and his hair was gelled back, not a strand out of place. Rowan held a lethal edge, and Alex didn’t doubt that if his deadly switch got flicked, Rowan could kill easily. For reasons she couldn’t quite figure out, seeing someone so dangerous, all cleaned up, brought uncontrollable heat low in her body.
Rowan looked very hot and very male.
When she drew close, he slowly looked up and gave a blinding smile. She liked both the instant surprise and heat in his eyes. “Yeah, I know,” she said playfully. “I’m killing it in this dress.”
Rowan chuckled then took the two long steps to meet her halfway. The air shifted when he got in close, and she felt the hot shiver slide over her when he dragged a hand across her lower exposed back, bringing her in tight against the hard lines of his body. “That dress is going to kill me.” As if it was fully his right to do so, he kissed her. She’d like to think that she could pull back at any minute and stop, but she’d fail if she tried.
Intensity and lust, and something she couldn’t even understand, passed between them when his lips pressed intimately against hers. And when he cupped her face and deepened the kiss, she lost herself completely.
By the time he broke away, they were both breathing heavily. Horns honking, brakes squealing, a couple laughing as they walked by, all engulfed Alex again while she caught the smolder in Rowan’s eyes.
He kept his mouth close to hers while he trailed his thumb gingerly down the side of her neck. “You’re making it very difficult for me to remember the reasons we are here.”
“Just keeping you on your toes, Hawke.” She smiled, and then she strode around him, but damn, she was shaken. No man could make her lose herself like Rowan could. Five years ago, that terrified her. It still terrified her. She got into the back of the limo, leaving the door open, and Rowan joined her, sliding against the leather seat until his thigh pressed against hers.
He shut the door then gestured at the driver, who quickly drove off and slid the privacy divider up.
Alex glanced out the window and drew in couple of stabilizing breaths to shed the remaining heat, quickly re-applying her lipstick. The evening had been full of relaxation, but the reminder that she could be meeting a killer alone tonight made her tense.
“You’re n
ervous,” Rowan said, scooping up her hand and tangling his fingers with hers. “Don’t be.”
She glanced his way and snorted. “In case you forgot, I’m the one typically behind the computer screen, not the one talking to possible killers.”
Rowan acknowledged her concern with a gentle nod. “I’ll be there with you.” He reached into his pocket then and handed her a two-way earpiece. “I’ve got mine.” He tapped his right ear. “I’ll be close. Always.”
“Thank you.” Alex accepted the earpiece with a smile and then placed it inside her ear before addressing Rowan again. “What do I need to know about Lennox?” Rowan had told her when he dropped her off at the spa that he would research him further.
“He’s definitely the Dominant type,” Rowan said. “So, as much as you can, entice him by being demure and submissive.”
Well, if that wasn’t a sure way to ruin the fairy-tale buzz. “You do realize how difficult that’s going to be for me?”
“I do,” he acknowledged with a nod. “But Lennox will be drawn to a woman with submissive traits. Wait until you catch his eye, then cast your gaze down and smile shyly. Allow him to have his ego and the control.”
“I think I’m going to be sick,” Alex grumbled.
The limo slowed, obviously at a red light as Rowan chuckled. “You’ll do fine.” He reached into his left pocket then offered her what looked like an EpiPen, only half the size. “Since you seem to enjoy knocking people out, use that on Lennox after you get him alone, then we can check for the tattoo.”
She accepted the auto-injector and tucked it away in her clutch. “You’ve got all the toys, huh?”
“The best ones.” He grinned.
Yeah, he wasn’t talking about toys from the CIA anymore.
Before she could respond, his sly smile faded as he reached into his other pocket and pulled out his phone and then handed it to Alex again. “That’s the target. Have you got him memorized?”
Alex studied the photograph. Heath Lennox was gorgeous. Tall, dark, and handsome, with a body thrown in there that she didn’t doubt was ripped and strong. He definitely was the type of man that stood out. “Yeah, I’ve got him.”
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