by S. M. Butler
She stared back at him coolly—and then she looked away. He stiffened, but only for a moment.
Fuck her. Fuck her and the horse she rode in on. She didn’t mean a damn thing to him anymore, and he wasn’t going to let old memories make him nostalgic.
Colonel Mendez was busy introducing the two agents, telling the team that Ivy and—was it Ace?—would be joining them to observe the mission. Dane cut his gaze to Ace, and a slow burn of something flared in the pit of his stomach.
Something he didn’t have a right to feel, but it burned through him nevertheless.
The guy was good-looking, muscular, though not as tall as Dane. Was he Ivy’s lover as well as her partner? Was he the one getting her kisses and hearing her moans of pleasure? Did he know that’s all it would ever be, that she’d never want the same things from him that he wanted from her?
Would she marry him in a drunken haze one night in Vegas and then abandon him a few months later because she didn’t want to be with him badly enough to make compromises?
With Ivy, anything was possible. She had an air about her of sweet vulnerability, and yet she was probably one of the toughest women he’d ever known. She’d melted in bed and been fierce outside it. He’d found that addictive at one time.
No more. The kind of women he dated now, when he dated, didn’t fascinate him the way Ivy once had. Hell, if he didn’t like sex so much, he’d have probably sworn off women altogether after Ivy.
“Have a seat, agents, and my guys will bring you up to date,” Colonel Mendez said before he turned and walked out of the room.
Ivy and Ace came over and sat in a couple of empty chairs. Naturally, the chair Ivy chose was right next to the one Dane had been sitting in. Karma was a bitch that way.
“We’ll run the briefing again,” Matt said. “Everyone take a seat.”
Dane hoped someone else would sit in the chair he’d been occupying, but of course everyone returned to the one they’d been in. Dane walked over and sat down beside Ivy. He heard her intake of breath, and he worked hard not to turn and glare at her.
Four and a half years since they’d called it quits, and she still had the ability to make him angry. And all she’d done was walk into the room.
He could smell her. The shampoo was the same, or maybe it was simply her own scent. She’d always smelled sweet to him, like flowers and candy. He used to love to pull her close and put his nose against her hair when they were out somewhere. Even better, he’d loved stripping her naked and tasting how sweet she was with his lips and tongue.
Someone flipped off the lights, and the presentation ran on the whiteboard. Dane didn’t pay a bit of attention because he’d already seen it. He pushed his chair back enough that he was slightly behind Ivy instead of beside her. That’s when he dared to glance at her.
She was watching the slides, but her hands were clasped tightly together in her lap. Her knuckles were white. He liked that because it meant she was as rattled by his presence as he’d been with hers.
Or maybe she was angry that she’d been caught unaware like this. Because he had no doubt she hadn’t expected him. God knows what she’d expected, but he hadn’t been it.
Her lids dropped, and then she cut her eyes toward him. Maybe she didn’t expect him to be looking at her, or maybe she did. He didn’t know, but he didn’t look away. Instead, he gave her a slow grin.
And then he winked.
*
Ivy’s heart kicked hard. My God, could it get any worse? Dane was here in the same room. Worse, he was beside her, so damn close, and he grinned as if she were a fresh conquest instead of old news.
She remembered that grin. Remembered when they’d first met in a bar off campus and he’d flashed that grin at her. She’d been unable to speak for a long minute. One of her girlfriends had bumped her side and laughed about it.
But then Dane had strode over, all gorgeous and vibrant, and held out his hand. The band had been playing a slow song, and though she didn’t usually dance because she felt too self-conscious, she’d put her hand in his and let him tug her onto the floor. He’d pulled her in close, but not too close.
His touch had been a revelation to her. She’d burned where his hands rested on her waist, and she’d tilted her face up to look at him.
He’d grinned again. “I’m Dane.”
“Ivy.”
He’d run those hands up her sides, back down. Never touching her inappropriately but setting her on fire anyway.
“Well, Ivy, I think this is going to be the beginning of something special…”
And it had been. For five months, until they’d gone to Vegas and gotten married on impulse, and for three months after that, until their relationship began to fracture over the future. Over choices.
Ivy gave her head a tiny shake and concentrated on the slides. She knew most of the information already because she’d been the one to uncover it when she’d interviewed the worker they’d found alive at the jungle shipyard. The Ruizes had been dealing with a Middle Eastern terror group. She didn’t doubt that they’d planned on fleecing the terrorists instead of selling them a sub, because that was how they operated, but clearly they hadn’t anticipated the buyers showing up with an assault team.
Another slide flashed up on the screen, this one of a missile. The guy who’d been speaking paused here and gave her and Ace a hard look.
“This is why we’re involved now, in case you were wondering.”
“We know there’s a terror group involved,” Ace said. “And that they were planning on detonating a dirty bomb on the Eastern Seaboard.”
“That’s not a bomb,” Ivy said, studying the missile. The markings were Cyrillic.
“No, it’s not,” Dane chimed in beside her. “It’s a Russian-made missile, designed to deliver a nuclear warhead from a bomber. It’s compact enough to fit into this sub.”
She didn’t want to look at him, but to ignore him in front of these men would be strange. Clearly, no one in this room had any idea that she and Dane had once been married. She didn’t plan to tell them either. There were already enough complications here. She didn’t need another one.
She swiveled her head to meet his gaze head-on. It was as if she’d driven her car into an embankment. That’s how suddenly and how strongly his presence impacted her.
“Thank you…” She let her gaze drop to his name tag as if she didn’t know who he was. “…Lieutenant Erikson.”
“Anytime, doll.”
And there was that megawatt grin again. Beside her, she could feel Ace stiffen. He was a good partner, and he took slights to her as personally as he did those to himself.
Someone cleared his throat. The captain in charge of the briefing continued, filling them in until they reached the end and someone flipped the lights back on.
Ivy knew better than to look at Dane again. But she could feel him looking at her. Boring a hole through her.
“Hey, you got a problem, man?”
It was Ace coming to the rescue precisely when she didn’t need him to do a damn thing. Ivy whipped around to glare at her partner. “It’s fine, Ace.”
Ace looked militant. “It’s not fine. You’re as qualified to be here as anyone, and this guy”—he waved a hand in Dane’s general direction—“keeps staring at you like he’s at happy hour looking for a hookup instead of in a room full of equals. Care to explain that, asshole?”
Ivy winced as Dane unfolded himself and got to his feet. All six foot four inches of him. Ace stood as well. Ace was considerably shorter, but Ivy knew from experience he wasn’t going to let that intimidate him.
Ivy shot to her feet and put a hand on Ace’s arm. Dane’s gaze lasered in on her hand, then back up to her face.
“Do you want to explain it, Ivy? Or do you want me to?” Dane asked. So polite, as if they were at tea instead of inside a war room.
“Explain what?” Ace demanded. “That you’re an asshole?”
If Ivy could have glared a hole into Dane, she wo
uld have. But of course he wasn’t content to leave the past in the past. He wasn’t going to act like she was simply another professional he had to deal with. He was going to drag up the whole thing right here for everyone’s amusement.
Dane didn’t do subtle. She knew that from experience.
Ivy met his stare with a hard look of her own. “Since you’re having so much fun, you go right on ahead.”
Dane let that slow grin spread over his face again. He looked like he was having a good time, but she knew looks were deceiving. She knew he was angry and lashing out because he still blamed her for the breakdown in their marriage.
“Well, Ace,” Dane drawled, “I guess Ivy didn’t tell you about me, and that kinda hurts. But the truth is, Ivy and I already know each other really well. So well that we decided we couldn’t live together anymore—isn’t that right, baby?”
“Aw, fuck me,” Ace said, turning to look at her. “Is this the ex-husband? Really?”
Ivy gritted her teeth. “The one and only. See what a charmer he is?”
Chapter Five
‡
“Is this going to be a problem?”
Colonel Mendez sat behind his desk and frowned at her and Dane. After their revelation in the briefing room, one of the guys sighed heavily and said, “I’ll take them to see the colonel.”
Ivy might have argued that point, but Dane walked out on the man’s heels, and Ivy decided she’d better follow or get left out of the conversation. And since she was pretty sure Colonel Mendez had the power to cut her out of this mission, she wasn’t letting Dane speak for her because she already knew what his opinion of her presence would be.
“Not for me,” Ivy said even as her pulse thrummed and heat rolled beneath her skin.
“No, sir,” Dane said, all military rigidity and properness now. “I was surprised. I imagine Ivy was surprised as well.”
“Didn’t part on the best of terms, I take it?” Mendez arched an eyebrow.
“We haven’t spoken in over four years,” Ivy offered. “I imagine that’s due more to our jobs than malice. I have no feelings one way or the other about Lieutenant Erikson. Our marriage is in the past. For all I know, he’s remarried.”
“Nope,” Dane said. “Not on your life. Once was enough.”
Mendez’s other eyebrow went up. “Do I need to repeat the question, Lieutenant?”
“No, sir. It won’t be a problem. Lost my head for a second, sir.”
Mendez glared at them both for good measure. “That’s mighty good to know. Because if it is a problem, for either one of you, I’m removing you both from this mission. Is that clear?”
Ivy’s face burned hotter. No way in hell was she letting Dane get her kicked off this mission. Not when she had a personal stake in seeing the sub captured. The Ruizes had killed her mother and many more poor and desperate people like her—and Ivy wasn’t letting that happen anymore. Not if she could help it. Capturing the sub was only part of the equation. There was still so much to do in order to dismantle the Ruiz network, but she’d start with the submarine and their ability to make more of them.
And then there was the fact that if she got sent home from this mission maybe her bosses would lose faith in her ability to handle the job. Maybe she’d get shuffled off to something besides the Ruiz case.
She couldn’t allow that. She’d spent too many years trying to run the Ruizes to ground, and she wasn’t about to have that taken away from her now. Especially not by a man she’d left in the past.
“Understood,” she said.
“Yes, sir,” Dane replied.
The colonel waved a hand. “Good. Now get the fuck out of my office and get back to work.”
*
Dane shortened his steps as they walked back to the briefing room. Ivy walked beside him, her chin in the air, her long dark hair falling in a luxurious silken wave down her back. She wore a black pantsuit with a red blouse and what his mom would call sensible heels. He knew for a fact Ivy looked fantastic in short skirts and high heels, but clearly she opted for something a little more sedate while working.
Except the shirt was low enough to give a tantalizing glimpse of cleavage, and since Dane knew what those breasts looked like bare, he couldn’t help but let his gaze stray there a bit more often than it should.
Ivy stopped suddenly and Dane was caught short. He turned to face her. She’d put her hands on her hips and her face was flushed.
Still so fucking pretty.
“I can’t believe you did that,” she said. “What in the hell were you thinking?”
Dane dragged his gaze from the scoop neck of her top. “Why are you wearing clothes that hide your figure?”
Ivy blinked. And then her face grew redder. “Un-fucking-believable! I’m being serious here, and you’re talking to me about my clothes? What about your clothes, asshole? Why are you wearing camouflage?”
“It’s my uniform.”
Ivy poked him in the chest with a manicured fingernail. “Exactly, dickhead. We aren’t dressing for a night out on the town here, are we? Not to mention your right to discuss my wardrobe ended when you walked out on me.”
A hot ball of anger coiled tight in Dane’s chest. He worked real hard not to let it explode. “When I walked out on you? Honey, you told me to get out, if I remember rightly. Told me to go join the fucking SEALs and stay out of your life.”
“You were going to join anyway. You told me that. I told you not to come back if you did.”
He couldn’t help the sarcasm in his tone. “Same as I told you when you wanted to join the DEA, right?”
She had the grace to look ashamed—for about half a second. “That was different, and you know it. You knew why.”
Yes, he knew that her mother had died from an accidental drug overdose after her father abandoned them and that Ivy had spent a few years in foster care before going to live with her grandmother. He also knew that she’d had a passion to prevent drugs from reaching the streets. It was her calling, and he couldn’t argue with that. But the Navy had been his calling, and she hadn’t understood. Neither had his parents. His father had gone particularly ballistic at the announcement. It had felt as if everyone in his life who was supposed to support him had bailed on him.
Which they had.
“And before you go getting all self-righteous,” she continued, “you weren’t precisely happy about it.”
“No, but I was supportive. Because you wanted it, Ivy. Because I loved you.”
And when you loved someone, you supported them.
He didn’t miss the way her green eyes darkened for a second or the way even saying those words formed a lump in his throat. Yeah, he’d loved her. He’d learned the hard way that it wasn’t a good idea. Thanks to Ivy, he wasn’t ever letting himself get so emotionally involved with a woman again.
He’d had no idea what love was supposed to be, but he’d thought it meant you did whatever it took to make the other person happy. Yeah, he’d been an idiot all right. Never again.
“If I’d never joined the DEA, if I’d followed you around the world, sat in port and waited for months while you were gone, you’d have been perfectly happy to let that happen. I needed more, Dane.”
“You knew when you met me what my plans were,” he growled. “If you didn’t like it, then why the fuck did you stay? Why did you marry me?”
She’d been the first person he’d told that he planned to join the Navy rather than the Army as expected. He hadn’t told her about the SEALs at that point because he hadn’t realized it himself.
She closed her eyes for a second. “It never changes, does it? We’ve had this argument before. Clearly, we don’t understand each other. We never did. And we shouldn’t have gotten married. It was wrong.”
“Didn’t feel like that at the time.”
She snorted softly. “You know it’s true though. We were young and dumb and hot for each other. That’s not enough to build a life together.”
Dane shook his he
ad. “There are worse things than being hot for each other. It’s a start.”
She pinched the bridge of her nose. “I can’t do this right now. We sat there and told that man this wasn’t going to be a problem. And I really need it not to be because I have work to do. I want to find these motherfuckers and get that sub, and then I want to go back to nailing the Ruizes to the wall.”
Dane put his hands up in surrender. “Not a problem, sweetheart. I’m not the one who started it this time. You did.”
“And you never answered the question. Why did you have to tell everyone I was your ex like that?”
“You think they don’t have a right to know? When they have to put their asses on the line in order to find these terrorists before they destroy innocent lives?”
“But what does that have to do with us?”
“If I have to give you an order, will you do what you’re told or tell me to fuck off?”
She bristled. “Who said you’d be giving me orders? I’m not a military operative, Dane.”
“No, but you’re assigned to this operation. What if I’m the one giving you the order? You think they don’t have a right to know there’s a problem between us when lives depend on the answer?”
She crossed her arms. All it served to do was lift her breasts higher. Dane gritted his teeth and kept his eyes on her face.
“Maybe so, but we could have gone to see the colonel privately. Or you could have announced I was your ex-wife. No need for all the drama and male posturing.”
It was Dane’s turn to snort. She really didn’t get it. He started down the hall, then called back to her, “Yeah, but where’s the fun in that?”
Chapter Six
‡
Ivy was going to go crazy before this mission was over. She got out of her car and locked it, then headed into her apartment building, her mind full of Dane Erikson and HOT, her hands full of groceries.
It had been a long day. Not only because of Dane, but also because of the potential for catastrophe. They had to find that submarine, and they had to put a stop to the terrorists who were planning to sail a nuke into some unsuspecting harbor.