A blast of heat from the furnace that was Outback Australia slammed into him.
He paused for a second, waiting for his body to adjust. For the sweat popping out on his forehead to evaporate.
And in that barest of seconds, he scanned his heat-shimmering, red-dirt-dusted surroundings and his heart thumped fast in his throat.
Of course, if Dani were out there, she wouldn’t just walk up to him in public. That wasn’t her style. Not if she were here to kill him.
If she were here to kill him, he wouldn’t see her until she sank her blade into the space between his second and third ribs.
If that happened, he’d be having words with her.
Pulling the door shut in an effort to keep Timothy and the Dutch tourist in lock-up 2 in some semblance of air-conditioned comfort, he pulled a breath of hot air. Felt it blister his windpipe on its way to doing the same to his lungs.
The flesh between his ribs stayed intact. Unpierced.
With a grunt, and another quick survey of the empty strip of dirt that passed for the main road in the Ridge, he stepped from the porch of the stationhouse and made his way to the Outback Skies pub.
It took him fifteen minutes to get there by foot, a ridiculous length of time given the pub was only a few metres from the cop shop. However, the people of Wallaby Ridge were friendly country folk, which meant Charlie was stopped constantly on the way.
Once by the town’s resident baker, Ross, the owner of the bakery the Dutch tourist had trashed the afternoon before in a drunken search for some kind of Dutch pastry Charlie had never heard of.
When Ross shoved the box of oliebollen at Charlie and asked him if it was okay for Charlie to deliver it to the confused, homesick tourist in lock-up, Charlie couldn’t help but laugh.
Yeah, threat to his life or not, he wasn’t leaving this place.
The second time he was stopped, he had to tell the town’s gossip, Esmee, that, no, the doc wasn’t going to be moving to the big smoke just because his wife was expecting triplets, regardless of what Esmee had heard.
Finally arriving at the pub, he crossed to the bar and handed the owner, a wiry bugger only known as Lacky, the box of Dutch pastries. “Keep those in the fridge for me, mate? And don’t let me forget ’em. They’re for the tourist I locked up last night.”
Lacky nodded, poured Charlie his normal beer and pushed it across the bar. “Can do, Charlie.”
With a grin at the proprietor—a man Charlie knew had notched up more kills in Vietnam as one of Australia’s snipers than any other in the country’s Defense Force—Charlie turned from the bar to look at where the rest of the Outback Skies Fly-Boys’ Club members sat.
And froze.
Dani De Vries was sitting at the table with Evan, Matt and Ryan, a beer in her hand, smiling at him.
Fuck.
Charlie stopped himself pulling his Glock a heartbeat before his fingers could wrap its grip.
Dani’s smile stretched to a grin.
He noticed it didn’t make it to her eyes.
As always, Dani’s eyes were unreadable.
Whatever was going through her mind as she sat at his usual table with his mates, Charlie had no clue.
Which put him at a disadvantage, because there was no way she would have missed the shock on his face when their eyes first met.
Fuck. Again.
He didn’t like being at a disadvantage. Especially not against Dani.
“Hey, Baynard!”
At Ryan’s shout, Charlie sucked in a deep breath.
His brain told him he could smell Dani’s scent, an intoxicating mix of Chanel No. 5, gun oil and jasmine, from where he stood.
His brain needed a reality check. Hard to do though, when the only woman to ever make him lose control was but a few feet away. Looking sexy as hell. And just as dangerous.
Damn it, she’d always been his weak spot.
Ever since the night of their first mission.
And then, when he’d learned of her history…what had driven her to become—
“Baynard!” Ryan shouted again. “Get your arse over here. You’ve got some explaining to do.”
Dani’s grin curled into what could only be described as a smirk.
She held his stare.
Stroked a strand of her hair—no longer black but a dark russet he noticed for the first time—across her forehead with the trigger finger of her left hand.
Charlie’s balls rose. His gut clenched.
Without uttering a word, Dani had told him the situation was seriously fucked up.
For who, he didn’t know.
Not yet.
Forcing a relaxed calm into his body, he let his own lips curl into a grin and ambled over to the table. Placed his beer on it. He hooked an empty chair from the table next to theirs and dropped into it. Directly opposite Dani. Making sure he could reach his Glock without impediment or delay if needed.
She watched him.
Eyes unreadable.
Fuck. This was going to be interesting.
“So?” Ryan—sitting next to Dani—leant his elbows on the table and fixed Charlie with a pointed look. “Wife?”
Charlie slid his stare back to Dani.
She raised one dark eyebrow at him. A pulse ticked at the base of her throat.
The only sign she was as on edge as he was.
“Wife,” he said.
Beside him, Matt burst out laughing. “Oh, man, and I thought I had some skeletons in my closet. Care to provide us with more details, Senior Constable?”
On the other side of the table, Dani lifted the beer she was drinking to her lips. “Anyone would think you’re ashamed of me, baby cakes.”
“Baby cakes?” Ryan snorted, shaking his head. “This is just too good.”
Charlie didn’t look away from Dani.
She may be holding a beer in one hand, but the other was under the table. Out of his line of sight.
Which meant he could be dead in five seconds, depending on what she was holding in that unseen hand. Dani could, in theory and practice, end his life without Ryan, Matt or Evan knowing it had even happened.
There was an art to taking someone out in a crowded room without anyone becoming aware what was going on. An art Dani practiced with the talent of a master.
The only person better at it that Charlie knew of was himself.
But it had been four years. Four long years…
Are you seriously thinking of taking Dani out? Before she—
“What brings you to Wallaby Ridge, sweet cheeks?” he asked, killing the disquieting contemplation.
At the words sweet cheeks, Dani’s eyes glinted.
Finally. An emotion.
Trouble was, Charlie recognized it as an emotion that usually preceded someone’s clavicle being broken.
“Work,” Dani answered, the word a husky promise.
Charlie drew a steadying breath. His heart turned to a thumping canon. He didn’t blink. Instead, he raised his own beer to his lips, watching her over its rim as he took a slow pull.
The glint in her eyes danced. Somehow different.
He’d been playing with fire, calling her sweet cheeks. It was a name she’d always hated when they were on the job. Of course, back then the odds of her topping him were not as high as what they were now.
“Okay, okay.” Matt laughed, positioned between them both. “We need details. Serious details. For starters, wife?”
Lowering his beer, pulse pounding as he leant back in his chair and pressed his foot to the single leg of the table, Charlie grinned at Dani. “It’s a complicated relationship,” he answered. “Dani works overseas a lot.”
Opposite him, Dani laughed. As always, every part of him that was governed by purely male instinct responded to the sound. Her laugh had always gotten him hard. Didn’t matter how much he’d tried to train his body not to respond, when Dani laughed like she did now, a real laugh, full of real humour, hot blood pumped into his dick and his balls throbbed.
/> “It’s a simple relationship,” she counted and took another sip of her beer. The slight accent she’d had the last time they were together—a sinfully exotic mix of Asian, European and Australian—was nowhere to be heard. “I do what I have to do and Charlie here waits for me to come find him when it’s time.”
Charlie didn’t miss the emphasis on his name. She’d never known him as Charlie. Charlie hadn’t existed when they’d been together. What else did she know about his new life?
Did she know she was the reason he’d walked away from his old one?
And if so, would that have an impact on what she was here to do?
Which is what, exactly?
Too many questions. Not enough answers. He was going to have to do something about that soon.
Very soon.
“Time for what?” Ryan asked.
Charlie couldn’t help but notice all three men were enrapt by the situation. Mirth played on all their faces. Even Evan, who was normally as stoic as a stone, was hanging on every word.
They swung their collective stares back and forth between Charlie and Dani. Ryan was close to wriggling on the seat. As it was, the bloke had pushed that damn cowboy hat he rarely took off his head so far back it was a wonder it didn’t fall off completely.
Dani lifted a single eyebrow, her gaze battling Charlie’s. “For fucking.”
Charlie jolted to his feet. “And on that note,” he said, flicking his mates a quick grin, “my wife and I are outta here. Things to do.”
Evan snorted. Matt and Ryan burst out laughing. “Those kind of details we don’t need to know,” Matt said, holding up a hand.
“Speak for yourself, Doc,” Ryan chuckled. “It’s been a while since I’ve had any action. Jeremy’s been stuck in Canberra for a month.”
Adjusting his belt—and surreptitiously loosening the locking strap on his Glock’s holster—Charlie gave Ryan a mocking look. “As if I’m going to tell you about my sex life. You think I want you picturing my naked arse?”
Ryan smirked. “You don’t think I already have?”
“I like your friends, Charlie,” Dani murmured from the other side of the table. She was still seated. Damn it. He needed to get her away from them ASAP. “They’re entertaining. It’s enlightening to see you with them.”
Charlie ground his teeth, meeting her unreadable gaze.
Hurt them, Dani, he tried to tell her with his own stare, and I will kill you.
“I’ve got other forms of entertainment in mind now, sweet cheeks,” he said aloud, deliberately raking a slow, lustful inspection over her. “We’ve got some catching up to do.”
Ryan hooted with laughter again. “Oh, man, this is too good.” He turned to Dani. “Can I convince you to put off the catching up for a bit? I mean, I know the senior constable here is a sexy bastard, but this is just too—”
“Let the happy couple be, Taylor,” Evan cut him off. “Otherwise, when the deputy prime minister is next in town, we’ll keep interrupting the pair of you while you’re catching up.”
Charlie forced out a relaxed chuckle at Evan’s promise, watching Dani where she studied him from the other side of the table.
Body thrumming with an energy he didn’t want to analyse, he raised an eyebrow at her. “My cuffs are waiting, wife.”
Dani’s lips parted. Her chest rose with a sharp intake of breath.
Charlie wondered if she was remembering the last time he’d put cuffs on her. What they’d been doing…
Without a word, she slowly rose to her feet.
He ground his teeth again. Christ, she looked good.
The skin-tight faded-blue jeans she wore did nothing to hide the toned perfection of her long legs. The loose white shirt that draped from her shoulders highlighted the natural brownness of her skin. Its floaty fabric hinted at small breasts that required no bra and were perfect to cup in his hands, and it hid anything else that may be under there with those perfect breasts. Like a gun. Or two. Or a knife. Or three.
He swallowed, not from trepidation, but anticipation.
What he was anticipating, he didn’t want to consider. Not until he had Dani out of the pub, away from his mates and in the privacy of his home.
If they made it that far.
A heavy throb filled his groin. The thrumming in his body intensified.
He remembered this sensation all too well. The pre-rush that came with action.
Once upon a time, he’d only ever experienced it in the moments before the irreversible conclusion of a job. In the brief minutes between when he’d fixed on his target’s heart and his target’s heart stopped beating. Then Dani had entered his life, and that rush had preceded something else.
Something that had once been just a part of their cover but had become so much more.
So what was the reason for the rush now?
The kill? Or the—
Dani stepped around the table, destroyed the small distance between them in two fluid steps, and slid her arms around his waist.
He felt her hand skim his gun. Bit back a groan at the slight contact.
What had she done to it?
And then she was pressing her body to his, her groin, her hips aligned with his, her nipples brushing his chest.
“I’ve missed you, baby cakes,” she murmured, rolling her hips as she squeezed his arse cheeks. “You have no idea how much I’ve wanted to be with you since we said our goodbyes.”
He stared into her eyes. Registered the rapid beat of her heart pounding against his chest. “I think I’ve got an idea,” he answered, snaking his own palms over her waist, up her back, down to her butt.
Not a weapon to be found.
What the hell was going on?
A dark emotion shimmered in her eyes, one he’d never seen there before, and she let out a soft sigh. “No,” she whispered. “You don’t.”
And before he could respond, she brushed her lips over his in the softest kiss he’d ever experienced.
A kiss unlike any Dani had ever given him.
A hesitant, shy kiss.
God help him, he was truly fucked.
Chapter 2
There was no way he was going to believe her. Or trust her. She didn’t trust herself. Too many years of being duplicitous for a living meant she had no idea how to be anyone else. The messed-up part of all that, the irony of it, was who she was had never been concrete.
Not since ASIO recruited her that was. At barely sixteen, the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation had plucked her off the streets of Indonesia where she’d been living since before she could remember.
They’d been watching her for some time, had noted the skill with which she went about luring in and then dispatching vile foreign tourists who thought it was perfectly acceptable to come to her country of birth to fuck girls scarcely old enough to be pre-pubescent.
They’d recruited her, trained her, honed that skill until she’d become one of their best agents.
And in doing so, she’d become fluid in her identity.
When the job required her to be a clueless backpacker, she was. When it required her to be a plain, nervous mouse of a secretary, she was. When it required her to be a vixen seductress, she was.
When it required her to be a timid housewife married to a sales rep sent around the world for his work…she was.
The thing was, when it came to Charlie Baynard—or as she’d known him in those days, John Tennant—timid had never been an option.
She’d spent the entire length of the housewife/sales-rep job fighting the urge to fuck him senseless.
When the job was done—successfully, thereby ending a planned infiltration of Australia’s Sudanese embassy by a factious arm of the military—they’d been reassigned a new job.
Still working together.
For that job, she’d been the charity-obsessed, sex-kitten wife to Charlie’s mining magnate, a woman who bumbled her way through life, finding herself in the wrong rooms at official functions often.
Every job, every assignment, they’d grown deeper and deeper into their roles as a loving husband and wife.
Deeper into the ruse.
A ruse that had sometimes inadvertently laid their souls bare. Conversations and interactions with normal people had allowed Dani to see the man her partner really was beyond the cold-blooded spy. A man with a moral high ground and a sense of mercy no assassin should ever possess.
So deep into the ruse, Dani—who had been named Aanjay by a mother she never knew and become Dani De Vries the day she’d signed the ASIO contract—often found herself wondering what a normal life with her husband would be like. So deep she actually longed for that life. Ached for it.
They’d spent hours talking about what a life away from ASIO would be like as they cased out targets and locations. Too many hours talking, perhaps? Too many hours fantasizing about a life beyond her. In those conversations, she’d found herself not only sexually attracted to her partner, but emotionally as well, a situation she’d never expected to experience but couldn’t deny.
It had weakened her. Instead of concentrating on the task at hand, she’d found herself concentrating on the way the corners of his eyes crinkled when he laughed, on the way he’d slow to avoid birds on the road.
No matter how hard she’d tried not to, she’d fallen in love with him a little during those talks. Not just because she’d learned more about him, but because he’d made her feel something beyond the calculated rush of a job.
Without even knowing it, he’d shown her she was more than a hollow killing machine. Even if she could never act on that knowledge.
One night during their last job, as they were preparing for their appearance as husband and wife in the company of their target, John—Charlie—had wondered what a life together away from ASIO would be like. Had joked about living the simple life with her, one of normal, every-day activities—grocery shopping, pet ownership, trips to the vet, renovating a home together, children…
Dani had wanted to drop everything and start living that life with him straight away.
Had almost said let’s do it.
And then they’d gotten the call it was time to move and the topic had ended and their last job had begun in earnest.
rubbingitout_GEN Page 12