Shift

by Sidney Bristol

  Tori’s gaze landed on him once more. “What else do you know?”

  Normally, he wouldn’t reply. He’d make up another answer. But what was the point?

  “I know your mother’s name was Olga. I know that Tori Chazov isn’t your real name. You’re naturally a blonde.”

  “I think I like Tori the best.” She chuckled and shook her head.

  “Why red hair?”

  “Because it was the last color we hadn’t tried.” She kicked off her shoes and curled her legs under her. “Like it?”

  “I can’t imagine you any other way.”

  “What? There aren’t pictures in your files?”

  “No.”

  “Oh my gosh, something you don’t know.” She grinned at him and the guilt disappeared.

  He watched her a moment, not on the same amused wavelength as she.

  “You don’t mind?” he asked.

  “What?”

  “That I know?”

  “It’s your job. I don’t really like the idea, but if it’s just you who knows, I can be okay. It’s just . . . there are secrets in my past. Things I can’t tell even you, and that’s a lot to ask.”

  “I don’t have to know everything.” He might want to, but he understood that with her history, it might never be open for discussion.

  She held out her hand and he obliged by taking it.

  “What do you want to do about tonight?” she asked.

  Tonight. Right.

  “It would be good to meet with CJ and Kathy, get us all on the same page.”

  “Then we do that. Where? Here?”

  “No, not here. I’d like to keep this place safe, if we can.”

  “Maybe Matt could help?”

  “Perhaps. I’m not sure we want him knowing when and where we do things. Not because I don’t trust him, but because it makes him a liability.”

  “I’m proud of you. Look at you using all these sentences. We’re actually having a conversation, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

  “I’ve always been able to.”

  “Then why haven’t you ever talked to me before?”

  “Too busy admiring the view.”

  Her cheeks tinged pink. He stared in wonder—had he ever seen Tori blush before? Was this a thing that happened?

  “Where do we want to meet them tonight?” Tori’s lips curled into a smile and she shifted.

  “There’s a place.” He had a few in mind, but he was far more fascinated by the color of Tori’s cheeks.

  A day ago he might have packed away this moment to replay in his mind, but that was before he’d known why her cheeks blushed. A lot of things made sense now. The reasons she called him, the little problems. She’d been looking for as many ways to get close to him as he had her. Except his ways weren’t direct. He’d never been very good with puzzling out women, because no two followed the same set of rules. Tori had granted him the key to her code. There was no turning back. They’d accepted that this morning in the car.

  “What do we need to accomplish between now and then?”

  Damn her for being responsible.

  “I’m going to get on that laptop and see what I’m working with. If I can get into my network, I’d like to do some research on Greenworks and look into the Eleventh’s activity. I also want to know how the hell they followed us.”

  “A tail we didn’t notice?”

  “Possibly. We didn’t expect them because we were so focused on the hit team.”

  “What can I do?”

  “I downloaded the paper trail to the tablet. I want you to flip through the documents. See if you can spot anything that might tell us what they’re doing in there.”

  “I can do that.”

  He wanted her to do other things, but she was right. They had to address the threat first. But damn, he wanted her. Again. Now, if possible, but it wasn’t. Later, she would be his again.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Tori’s eyes started to cross. Again. She’d gone through the PDF files at least twice. She hadn’t been able to identify anything that appeared remotely useful, though she’d tagged and made notes on what stuck out to her. But who knew if even that would make a difference? This was all new to her. She glanced at Emery, but he had that look on his face, the one that said nothing else existed except the laptop in front of him. She’d come to recognize this single-minded work mode and knew better than to distract him.

  She set the tablet down on the dining table and rubbed her eyes. Emery frowned at the laptop, but he’d been doing that for hours. Give her an engine to work on and she’d be set for a day. That tablet? Her brain was fried after a couple hours. There was no way she could keep doing that. She stood and stretched, peering out of the corner of her eye at Emery, but he never once glanced her way.

  If he were a normal man and she a normal woman, she might take offense to the lack of attention, but they were nothing like a typical couple. What they did saved lives, and she wasn’t about to intentionally distract Emery from what he was doing, even if all she wanted was to see him smile at her again.

  She strolled to the windows and studied the beach. The sands were nearly covered with people sunbathing, swimming, or playing. She’d gone to the beach some with her sister, but usually they made use of the apartment pool. It was just easier that way. But a carefree day just hanging out? That she could get behind, not that they’d had many of those lately. Would Emery ever step away from work long enough for that? She doubted it, but then again, she was happiest in the garage anyway. Cars made sense to her when the rest of the world was too messed up.

  Whenever Dad had something to work on he didn’t want Roni or her to see or hear, he’d sent them to the garage. They’d tinkered with junk and parts, building make-believe spaceships, box cars, and their ride out of the hell that was their home life. Sure, their father had taught them the basics of how to fix cars, rig things so they’d work in a pinch, but from there it was trial and error, and reading a lot of manuals.

  Tori walked along the window, admiring the view. Chances were she wouldn’t get digs like this again. Detective Smith had to know someone with connections to get them the suite. She stepped through the open archway into the bedroom. It sat against the only solid wall in the space and was bordered on three sides by floor-to-ceiling windows.

  There was only one bed.

  She backed up and glanced around the suite. Okay, so it wasn’t really a suite. More like a lavish room with some elbow space. The bathroom was easily a quarter of the space, and fancy. She was looking forward to the rain shower and soaking tub later. But right now her brain was hung up on one little fact.

  One bed.

  Only one.

  For two people.

  Sure, they’d had sex, but they hadn’t slept together. What if he didn’t like the way she sprawled in her sleep? Or what if he ground his teeth at night?

  She grabbed her suitcase and dug through it, looking at what she had to wear. As hot as it had been to feel Emery rip her underwear off yesterday, cotton granny panties were not sexy. Everything at her disposal was utilitarian and boring. Not that she hadn’t picked out the clothes herself, but she’d been hoping to surprise herself somehow. Tori might not be style conscious like Roni, but neither did she want to look as sloppy as she felt. The right clothes could change a girl. Make her feel a bit more confident or desirable.

  They’d passed a couple boutiques on the lobby level of the hotel, but it probably wasn’t prudent to be out and about. Her style needs would have to take a backseat to impressing Emery. Besides, she had no idea where to start with picking out new lingerie. Her perception of him had been turned upside down and spun around. He was—and wasn’t—anything like what she’d expected him to be, which was fine by her. She liked the man she was coming to know.

  Since her infatuation began, she’d painted Emery as a quiet computer geek with passable social skills, a brilliant mind, and maybe a tad bit shy. The real Emery had far more kick-ass ability than
she’d realized. He was every bit as intelligent, but she’d taken his single-minded focus on the task at hand to mean more than it did. She’d fallen for the wrong version of him, and in the process, fallen for the real him, too.

  Come to think of it, she hadn’t had any one-sided conversations with him in her head for a while now. Which was probably a good thing for her sanity.

  She zipped her bag up, lamenting the lack of a hidden silk-panty stash, and turned away from the bed.

  A figure filled the archway.

  Tori sucked in a breath and drew up short.

  “Shit.”

  “Sorry,” Emery muttered, holding up his hands, but his gaze wasn’t apologetic at all.

  Once more she felt like the prey being stalked. Instinctively she wanted to take a step back, but she held her ground, dropping her arms to her sides. She didn’t mind being stalked by Emery. In fact, she could get used to it. Those arms, the way he held her, how he moved inside of her. Yeah, she was good with this.

  “Found anything?” Her voice sounded dry. She cleared her throat and tried to think past the way she could feel her heartbeat flutter at the base of her throat, as if it were trying to burst through her soft tissue and launch itself at him. It was a gory thought in reality, but damn, all of her wanted him.

  “Gabriel appears to be doing well. They are keeping him overnight for observation.”

  “He’s got to love that.” She set her bag down next to the others.

  “I can’t find any connection between the hit team and Evers’s people. I need my own equipment to dig further.”

  The hit team wouldn’t be connected to Evers. She already knew that, but it wasn’t exactly something she could tell Emery.

  Right now it wasn’t laptops and wires she was thinking about. She had to get herself under control. They had important things to do. Not that she could think of a single damn one with him staring at her.

  “Okay. What do we need to do next?” Her palms were sweating. She rubbed them on her jeans, hyperaware of his clean linen scent mixed with citrus, the wrinkles in Emery’s shirt, and the stubble lining his jaw.

  The moment drew out. It wasn’t unusual for Emery to take a second or two longer than most people to respond to questions, but his lips remained pressed tightly together, bracketed by the thought lines she liked so much.

  “Emery, what should we do next?” she said again, hoping to prompt him into distracting her with some sort of purpose.

  It was the shed all over again. Any second one of them would move and no matter where Tori stepped, Emery was going to pounce on her. Her body always reacted when he was near, but this was ridiculous. Her damn panties were getting damp and all they were doing was talking work. Clearly sex had not been the answer to her obsession issue. It was worse now than before.

  Emery took two steps toward her, his ground-eating stride crossing the space until he almost barreled over her. He stared down at her, his gaze searching her face for something. Yesterday they’d acted on passion. Today, he knew all her secrets. Would it matter? For the first time, she didn’t have to worry about hiding her history from someone. She didn’t think Aiden or Julian knew the full story, but Emery did.

  It was hard for her to breathe. She balled her hands into fists, unable to move or react until he did something. She’d never been shy when it came to men and what she wanted, but this was different. It was Emery, and he mattered. He was part of her crew; he knew what her life was like. Boyfriends came and went, getting the boot as soon as they started picking up that Tori’s job wasn’t exactly normal. But he wouldn’t go anywhere. If they were going forward, it was serious.

  What if it didn’t work with Emery? Or what if it did?

  She’d never know if he didn’t kiss her.

  Emery cradled the back of her head in his hand. She lost all ability to breathe in the seconds he stared at her mouth. If he didn’t kiss her she was going to have to kiss him. It was quickly becoming the most important thing she needed to do.

  He applied the barest pressure to the back of her head and she rose up on the balls of her feet the same moment he leaned down. Their mouths met in an eager kiss. She curled her hands over his shoulders, pulling him closer. Emery wrapped his arm around her waist, bending her backward slightly while he devoured her mouth. There was a rough, bruising quality to his kiss she reveled in. He thrust his tongue into her mouth and she squeezed her thighs together.

  Oh God, why had she waited so long to jump him?

  He stepped toward her, shoving his knee between her legs. The mattress hit the back of her thighs. She gasped when he tipped her backward just a bit more, but she needn’t worry. The man had arms like tree trunks and her weight was nothing to him. Emery laid her on the bed, following her down, his mouth never leaving hers. She wrapped her left leg around his and wiggled her hips just a bit.

  Tori pushed her arms under his until she could get her hands in his shirt. She ran her palms up his back. The scars felt different under her fingers, but they were still part of him and his story. He’d known so much pain, he’d been just as unwanted as she, until now.

  His kiss gentled. He sucked at her lips, her face cradled in his hands.

  This big, strong man wanted her. With no effort, he could have any girl he wanted, and still it was her he desired. There was a freedom in knowing that. It wasn’t opportunity. It wasn’t taking what was readily available. They wanted each other. And only each other.

  Emery’s hand settled on her breast, gently squeezing the mound in his palm. She gasped and arched into the touch. Her bra was chafing her hardened nipples.

  Fuck it.

  She grabbed the hem of her shirt and tugged it up, but the fabric was caught between their bodies.

  “Emery,” she muttered against his mouth.

  “Hm?” He pressed his lips against hers in a gentle kiss.

  “Up.”

  “No.”

  He sealed his lips over hers in a toe-curling kiss. His tongue flirted with hers and he drew her lower lip into his mouth, sucking the bit of flesh. Her clit throbbed with the added suction he applied.

  She let go of her shirt and pushed her hand lower, until she could grasp the tab of his jeans. They were old and worn, so the button slid easily through the slit. Success. She slipped her fingers past the band of his underwear.

  Emery sat up suddenly, pushing her hand away.

  “No, I didn’t mean that.” He buttoned his jeans again, which only drew attention to the erection straining at his fly.

  “Uh—what?” She sat up, trying to wrestle her lust-crazed thoughts under control.

  “I only meant to kiss you.”

  “Okay.” She stared at him. Was he serious? Because, damn, that was the cruelest kind of torture.

  “I mean . . .”

  “You mean you don’t want sex.” There was probably a good reason, like work and having people who wanted to kill them prowling around, but it still stung. She wanted him so bad it was her every other thought. Clearly their desire was mismatched. Never a good place to be. How long until he didn’t want her at all?

  “No, that’s not what I mean. I think about sex with you all the time. Shit.” He pressed his hand to his face.

  Oh really?

  Now that was something she liked to hear.

  “I’m okay with that. It’s kind of hot that you think about me that much.” She smiled. All the time was more than every other thought.

  “It’s distracting.” He dropped his hand to his side.

  “Then . . . what’s the problem?” Was it her? Or work? For work, she could suck up her disappointment and see the bigger picture, even if she didn’t want to.

  “I don’t have condoms.”

  That was it?

  It was her turn to stare at him.

  Was he serious? That was the big problem?

  “I probably broke some cardinal guy rule, but—I didn’t expect things to turn out this way.” His gaze heated and she felt the whisper of his
remembered kiss on her neck.

  Yeah, neither of them had expected for things to get quite so hot and sweaty between them.

  She pushed to her feet, biting her bottom lip, feeling Emery’s gaze on her. She took three steps to the general store bag with her purchases from that morning. She grabbed the little square box out of the bag and turned.

  “I won’t tell you broke a rule.” She grinned and her stomach flip-flopped.

  Emery snatched the package out of her hands and kept coming. He pressed her back up to the wall and kissed her with the same intensity as before. She reached for him, but he captured her wrists and pressed them to the glass. She didn’t even try to break free—why would she? He was where she wanted him. Well, almost. Inside of her would be better, but they were getting there.

  He kissed her cheek, down her throat and licked the pulse point at her neck.

  “Keep your hands right there.” His voice was lower, raspier than she’d ever heard him.

  “Or what?”

  “I’ll put them there again.”

  She spread her fingers until they were each against the wall and watched her lover.

  Emery stepped back a pace and tossed the condoms on the bed within easy reach. He tugged his shirt up and off, treating her to the view of his heavily muscled chest and arms. He was built like a god, and now she knew why. He put his body through strenuous activity just like he did his mind. He wasn’t just the Walking Brain, he was so much more.

  He grasped the bottom of her tank top and pulled it up. He bumped her elbows with his hands, but she kept them where they were.

  “You said keep my hands where they were.” She grinned harder at his deepening frown.

  Emery didn’t reply. He grabbed her wrist and yanked her arm up so high she stood on tiptoe. He wrestled her other arm up and held them in one hand while he jerked the tank top up and off.

  “Turn around. Hands on the glass.”

  Someone had a bossy side.

  Tori didn’t ask questions and she didn’t mind his orders. She faced the wall, all of South Beach laid out in front of her, and planted her hands on the glass. She could feel Emery’s heat at her back. She thrust her hips backward and met his pelvis. The hard line of his erection pressed against her ass. So it wasn’t just her who had a sexual interest.