Every time Rowan learned more about Alex, he liked her a little bit more. She wasn’t bitter, as he’d expected. She wasn’t angry, as was warranted. She’d had a hard childhood but had come out on top of it. Something occurred to him then, making him curious. He stopped dancing, wanting to understand, and watched her intently. “Is that what got you into hacking?”
Alex gave a soft nod. “Had I had access to her cell phone, I could have saved her. I felt…helpless”—the word sounded strangled from her throat—“that night trying to find her. The police wouldn’t help because it hadn’t been twenty-four hours since she’d gone missing. When she eventually was found by tracking her cell phone, she had been dead for ten hours, alongside her boyfriend in a crack house, and I swore I’d never be that helpless again.”
His fingers tightened possessively on her back. “And you haven’t been.”
“Never again,” she said, holding his stare.
An emotion-packed beat passed between them.
No matter how hard Rowan tried to stay focused, he got caught up in her. And for one second, Rowan saw the side of Alex that he doubted most saw. The vulnerable side of her. The one that made Rowan only want to draw her closer, refusing to let go, no matter that he knew she didn’t need him.
But that soft, emotional woman was quickly gone, replaced by the hard woman determined to help him find Mia. “What’s Lennox doing now?” she asked.
Rowan began dancing again, keeping Alex close. His stomach roiled at what she’d been through. He couldn’t quite figure out how she’d come out of all that without bitterness and resentment, but damn, did she amaze him. He casually turned in their dance then caught sight of Lennox at the bar, his gaze burning with challenge and directed right at Rowan. “The cat caught the mouse.”
“I really hate that metaphor,” she muttered. “So, what now?”
Rowan began sliding his hand down her back sensually. “I’m going to grab your ass, and then you’re going to slap me.” He barely got a handful of her ass before she walloped him across the face, nearly making him see stars. His eyes began to water, and his cheek burned red-hot. “Fuck.” He hadn’t meant that hard.
“You pig!” Alex shouted in a fearful way that Rowan never would have thought she could pull off. “Security,” she called, hugging herself. “Security.”
Lennox was there in a second. “What’s going on here?” he demanded, with his chest puffed out.
“He assaulted me!” Alex exclaimed, fake tears in her eyes as she inched her way closer to Lennox, playing the damsel-in-destress perfectly.
Damn, she’d make a fine CIA agent.
Security suddenly swarmed the area and had Rowan by the arms. Everything went according to plan. Lennox swooped in to console Alex. Security was escorting Rowan out of the ballroom. But the one thing that Rowan hadn’t been expecting was his reaction to watching Lennox wrapping an arm around Alex’s shoulders and turning her away.
The fury that engulfed him was entirely unplanned. And so was the rage tightening his fists.
CHAPTER 8
ALEX HAD TO give it to Rowan. His plan worked seamlessly. The security had swept Rowan out of the ballroom efficiently, and Lennox had taken Alex into the hotel’s Presidential Suite.
“Just breathe.” Rowan’s voice was a smooth reassurance in her ear. “I’m close.”
It occurred to her then that the earpiece must have had a GPS tracker too, considering how fast Rowan located her whereabouts.
The suite’s door shut behind her, and as she followed Lennox into the two-story living room, she found panoramic views of the skyline through the floor-to-ceiling windows. In the corner of the suite was a baby grand piano, but Lennox moved in the other direction toward the small bar. The space was furnished with grand pieces and gold accents. Taking it all in, she moved to the double French doors, finding a wraparound balcony. Awestruck by the view, she exited the already-opened doors, greeted by a warm breeze.
“It’s gorgeous, isn’t it?”
Lennox’s rumbly voice brushed against her ear. Alex purposely gasped a little, hoping he liked hearing her surprised by his nearness. She also reached into her clutch to take out the auto-injector before she turned around. He stood behind her, leaving very little room between them, and it crossed her mind that she might have placed herself directly in the line of a serial killer. “Everything about tonight has been incredible. You rescuing me from that handsy man, the ball, this, it’s all so magical.” God, kill me now! She swallowed back the bile in her throat.
He flashed her a charming smile then offered her a glass of whiskey on ice. “A little strong, but it’ll take the edge off after dealing with that unpleasantness earlier.”
She took the drink, not taking a sip, in case Lennox was their killer and he planned on drugging her. Keeping the auto-injector in her other hand, tucked behind her clutch, she said, “I really appreciate you stepping in for me like that.” Gag! “I don’t even know what came over that guy. All he wanted was a dance.” Remembering to play her part, she averted her gaze, and said meekly, “I just…”
Lennox’s finger came under her chin, and he brought her gaze back to his heated eyes. “…Should never have to deal with a man like that.”
“You’re right.” She purposely breathed heavily. “No one should.” And that, she actually meant.
Lennox slowly dragged his finger along her jawline. The oddness about it all was that under different circumstances, she’d probably be attracted to Lennox. She liked alpha guys. Sure, she was most definitely the wrong type of woman for him, but she couldn’t help feeling a little flattered that this powerful billionaire seemed totally invested in her. Until she firmly reminded herself that he was also a possible killer. “You’re a surprise I didn’t intend for tonight,” he finally said, releasing his hand to stuff it into his pocket.
“You’re not the only one surprised,” she said with a sweet smile.
He stayed exactly where he was, incredibly close, staring her down like she was some riddle he needed to solve. “You’re not from around here?”
“How did you know that?” she asked playfully.
He dropped his gaze to her eye level. “Because I know everyone in my city, and you’re not from my city.”
She hesitated a moment, searching his eyes for any hint that he was about to push her off this balcony. “I’m actually from New York City,” she said, moving around him and heading back into the living room, carefully keeping the auto-injector behind her clutch, not trusting that balcony anymore now that the thought had run through her mind.
“What do you do?” Lennox asked, following her inside.
“I’m in finance,” she said, taking a seat on the piano’s stool and crossing her legs on an angle to draw Lennox’s attention.
It worked. His gaze ate up her legs. “You deal with money, then?”
“Mm-hmm,” she purred, placing her untouched drink on the piano bench, and then she rose. She couldn’t let this questioning continue. Heath Lennox had the brains along with the good looks. Too many questions would leave him suspecting something. Trying to remain playfully shy, she kept her eyes down when she approached him. “Is that why I’m here, though”—she stopped in front of him, slowly glancing up through her lashes—“to talk about my business?”
Alex met Lennox’s smoldering eyes as he trailed a finger along her jawline. “Why do you want to be here?”
She licked her lips, drawing his attention to her mouth as she placed her clutch under her arm, keeping the auto-injector tucked in her palm. “I knew the second I saw you, I wanted you,” she told him huskily, stepping a little closer, readying herself to stab his neck.
“Is that so?” He closed the distance between them, yanked her against him, and pressed his hefty erection against her thigh. Before she could act, he cupped her face and then he boldly kissed her.
Alex had kissed men like Lennox before. He kissed like he had the right to whatever he wanted and then he’d only dema
nd more. And that was because he held the world at his fingertips. His kiss was meant to consume, yet it lacked that ravenous spark that Alex felt when Rowan placed his mouth on hers.
She began to lift her arm to inject the needle when a whistle came from behind her. Lennox broke the kiss in the same moment a fist flew by her face, and then a second later, Lennox staggered back, eventually landing on the ground, knocked out cold, blood trailing down his nose. Alex slowly turned around, finding Rowan standing behind her, fury etched into his face. “That was totally not in the plan.” She sighed at him.
Rowan’s gaze flicked to hers, his jaw muscles working. “An easier way of getting what we need?”
She snorted a laugh. “Oh, really?” They both knew that was total bullshit. “We gave our real names tonight. He’s going to find out who I am. He’s a smart guy.”
Rowan glared at Lennox. “I’m sure you’ll come up with something.” He pressed his lips shut, but the tightness around his eyes gave him away. He was 100 percent jealous. And since Alex hadn’t had anyone be jealous over her in longer than she cared to admit, she found it sort of endearing.
Endearing if it didn’t come from a CIA agent who always had an agenda, of course.
She quickly moved to Lennox then flipped him over and lifted his shirt. “Damn.” No tattoo.
“Fuck,” Rowan said, thrusting his fingers into his hair in frustration.
Alex dropped Lennox’s shirt, wanting to move to Rowan, feeling heartbroken for him. All these dead ends couldn’t be easy. But as soon as she went to move, Lennox began groaning. Alex stuck him with the auto-injector to give them time to get out.
“Let’s go,” she said, pulling on Rowan’s arm to get him moving.
They dodged the security waiting at the end of the hallway and made it to the staircase. The only sound while they descended the staircase was Alex’s high heels on the cement floor.
Only when they were back in the limo that was already waiting outside did she turn and look at Rowan. He sat next to her with his head resting back against the headrest, eyes closed. His chest rose and fell quickly from their run down the stairs, but it was his stillness that she noted most.
“Where to?” the limo driver asked.
Alex rambled off the address for the airport, unable to take her eyes off Rowan. She reached for his hand. “We’re going to find her.”
She saw his deep swallow and understood it too. The FBI couldn’t find this killer. She didn’t have any success so far either. And she had felt this pain. She knew what it was like to have someone you loved missing. It hurt with every breath.
He finally exhaled deeply then turned his head and looked at her, and there was a vulnerability she’d never seen in him before. “Time is against us,” he told her with a tight voice. “Mia is waiting for me to find her.”
Alex paused, wanting to find the right thing to say. She decided on: “Why do you think I’m brought in on difficult cases?”
“Because you’re the best,” he said immediately.
She slowly shook her head, taking one of his hands in both of hers. “Because I never stop trying, not since my sister.” She leaned just a little closer, drawing in Rowan’s scent instead of Lennox’s. “I know what’s on the line. That’s what drives me. So no one ever has to feel what I felt when Lena died. I will find Mia.”
Rowan’s expression softened, and he cupped Alex’s face. His eyes searched hers while the shadows passed over his face as they drove beneath the streetlights, and then his lips met hers. She felt the raw emotion in his kiss, the sense of urgency in his quivering muscles, and she felt helpless too.
He eventually broke the kiss and leaned his forehead against hers. “You were right, you know.”
“Right about what?” she asked, moving away to hold his intense stare.
He brushed his thumb across her bottom lip then arched an eyebrow. “I did not like seeing his lips on yours.” A thousand things passed in the air between them. Things that were so easy and yet so damn complicated at the same time. “And when this is all over and we have Mia home, we’re going to talk more about that. Really talk without the two of us bailing on that conversation.”
Alex didn’t have the words she needed, so she simply nodded then glanced out her window, watching the busy streets pass her by, realizing this was the first time she’d actually considered having that talk, instead of running.
CHAPTER 9
ON THE FLIGHT back to New York City, Alex had kept her nose stuck in her laptop. Rowan had stayed quiet, trying desperately to control his frustration. Every step forward only seemed to get him that much further away from finding Mia. His parents were on his mind. Christ, he did not want to make that call. And yet, as much as that consumed him, so did the thought of Mia and the life that she should have.
Doubt and sadness continued to engulf him when they landed then took the limo back to the hotel. That dread and worry rested heavy in his chest while he left Alex in the living room and showered. The hot water beat at his tense muscles, and he let the heat take him away from there for a moment.
By the time he finished his shower and redressed in fresh clothes, he rinsed all the bad shit away and refocused his attention. They needed to find Mia, nothing else was acceptable. And Alex would find her.
Rowan held onto his belief in that.
When he reentered the living room, he leaned against the doorframe between the bedroom and the living room. The lamp on the side table was turned on, casting a warm glow into the space. Alex sat in the big chair with her legs pulled up beneath her while she typed away on her laptop. She was gorgeous. So focused on the task, she didn’t even realize he entered the room. He couldn’t look away, so lost in her.
How am I going to let you go this time?
The thought nearly crippled him. She’d go back to San Francisco again. He believed that as much as he believed they’d find Mia alive. But he wasn’t the same man who’d run from her in Paris. His perspective had changed. His wants for his life all looked very different now. In the end, did he want to be remembered as CIA Agent Rowan Hawke, or something more?
He wasn’t sure.
“You’re staring.” Alex’s soft voice broke into his thoughts. He blinked, finding her curious gaze on him before returning to her screen. “Everything all right?”
Nothing was all right, but he didn’t want to make this situation any more complicated than it already was. At least, not yet. “I need a job to do while you’re doing yours.” He couldn’t stand the silence anymore. The waiting. The worrying.
She didn’t take her eyes off the monitor, like she hadn’t even heard him, so tuned into her work. “I’ve missed something. I can feel it. There’s gotta be someone else who’s here. There’s just no way it’s not about this app.”
Rowan understood those type of instincts to stay focused and get the job done. He had them himself. He also knew if he felt like he was onto something, nothing would tear him away. “I’m sure you’re right, Alex, but what can I do to help you?”
Maybe it was the tightness in his voice or the near desperation to be of any assistance at all, but she finally lifted her head again. The makeup under her eyes was smudged, but even so, he could still see dark circles there too. Part of him felt like a selfish prick for bringing her into this, knowing emotionally if they didn’t find his sister, Alex would take it as a hit too. The other part of him knew he had no chance of finding Mia without her.
Alex searched his eyes with a soft look of understanding, then said, “Caffeine and food would be great.”
He doubted she was hungry. She was just throwing him a bone, and for that, he was grateful. “Any food in particular?” he asked.
“Something with substance.”
He nodded. “That I can do. I’ll be back soon.”
She barely gave him another second of her focus before she turned her full attention to her monitor and her fingers began flying across her keyboard. Rowan moved to the door and slipped on his boot
s, then gave her a final look before leaving. He’d have to find a way to repay Alex, though he wasn’t sure how he could ever repay her if they found Mia.
Or maybe he’d let Mia show her gratitude. His baby sister had a way with people that Rowan never did.
Once in the hallway, he took the stairs instead of the elevator, trotting down the sixteen floors. When he made it out into the late, chilly night, Mia’s talks with him filled his memory. He’d thought a thousand times over of all the conversations they’d had recently, looking for anything that would bring him closer to this killer. But there was nothing else there. Nothing his sweet, lively sister told him that would help. Not once had Rowan allowed himself to think about what his sister might be going through. The only thought he had was finding her, and fuck, he felt like he was failing her.
Though as he passed beneath the streetlight, with the slight fog in the air tonight, he hoped wherever Mia was, she knew he wouldn’t stop searching. His sister was strong and fierce, much like Alex, only a little softer and sweeter, definitely more sheltered, and she was smart. She’d stay alive.
He headed down the street, searching out anything he thought Alex might like. He passed a tavern and quite a few five-star restaurants that were long closed for the night, until he noticed a shawarma place up ahead on the right.
A laughing couple passed him on the street before he entered the small restaurant with red metal tables on one side and a long counter on the other with a cash register at the end of the counter.
Rowan quickly moved there, passing three people sitting at a table near the glowing open sign on the window. “Two beef shawarmas and a couple of Cokes,” he said to the female cashier, grabbing his wallet.
“That’ll be twenty-two dollars,” she said, after hitting the buttons on the register.
He paid his bill then moved to the other side of the long counter, waiting for his number to be called while the female clerk tended to the next customer.
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