He wanted to tell her he turned down her offer all those years ago for some noble purpose. Truth was he was a self-important kid who didn’t want to get bogged down with any girl from his hometown. His professor father spent years trying to drag him out of football and into more worthy pursuits like chess club. Liam felt the disapproval every single day. He wanted out of the house before he suffocated.
Having the science-geek sister of his best friend ask him to rid her of her virginity was well outside of his life plan. She was too young and naive. He wanted a woman with experience.
He associated being smart with being boring, with stifling and judging him. Sure, he could have let her down easy, told her she was special and that she should wait until she was in love. Instead, she surprised him and he laughed at her.
The memory nagged him. It came back to him now and then. He owed her an apology and an explanation. She had been backward and his harsh words sent her even deeper into her studies. As far as he knew, she never shared their secret. Dan certainly didn’t know, and Liam had no intention of filling him in.
When he looked at her now he saw a different person. A woman. Still shy and almost awkward in a social setting, but beautiful and loyal and everything a man could want a woman to be. Now that he was older he appreciated smart, even though her level of smart scared the hell out of him. It made him feel unworthy, like that underachieving boy who preferred the outdoors to the family library, but that was his issue.
He owed her more than innuendos and drooling stares. He had to make this right.
He stared at the lump in the bed. Somehow she managed to take up most of the double mattress. He guessed she wanted him to sleep on the floor. That wasn’t going to happen.
Without taking off his clothes, and careful not to scare her, he slid into bed next to her. He stayed on top of the covers. The idea of her waking up screaming didn’t appeal to him. He also needed to make sure they didn’t call attention to themselves. Her photo already had shown up on the news as a potential witness in the explosion. Liam knew that was code for suspect.
He had waited to see his picture in connection with the assault on Spanner. That one hadn’t made the news yet, which bought them maybe a day of time.
He wrapped an arm around her and anchored her body back against him. Layers of blanket and sheet separated them, but he could still feel the heat of her skin. This close, the smell of her shampoo filled his nose. Floral and feminine. Just as he had dreamed.
“What are you doing?” She mumbled the question into the pillow.
He kissed the line where her hair lay against her cheek. “I hoped it would be obvious.”
“No, I’m serious.” She turned around so fast that he actually fell on top of her for a second. “What is this?”
He shoved up, balancing his body on his elbow. As much as he wanted to touch skin against skin, he refrained. For now.
“I’m not forcing you,” he said.
“I didn’t say you were.” She pulled the sheet tight against the base of her neck. “But what’s happening here?”
He took in the wide eyes and stress lines around her mouth. Hardly the look of a woman hoping for seduction. “Are you afraid of me?”
“I already told you no.”
He wasn’t convinced. “Then why the panic?”
Her startled gaze scanned his face. “I’m not used to being pawed.”
“Pawed?”
“Can’t you sleep on the floor?”
“Tell me what’s really going on in your head.”
He touched his finger to her lips. “What has you so spooked?”
“Dr. Hammer.”
The revving up in Liam’s gut slammed to a halt. “You’re actually talking about the office now.”
“I just don’t see his motivation. He has prestige and grants. NIH would have given him anything he asked for. What’s missing?”
Liam wondered if anything ever mattered to her more than the job. “I don’t know.”
She folded her arms over the top of the blanket, giving him a peek of bare shoulders and tiny straps of material holding whatever covered her. “I’ve been thinking.”
“Me, too.”
He didn’t telegraph or ask permission. He just leaned down and pressed his mouth against her soft lips. One small touch, only a few seconds and barely moving, and then he lifted his head.
Or that was the plan. He hadn’t counted on how good she’d feel or how much he’d want to keep on kissing her.
Slowly, giving her time to pull back, his lips met hers again. This kiss did more than linger. It went deep and long. His mouth traveled over hers as he learned her taste. Licking his tongue over her lips, he had her lifting her head, wanting him back.
Heat radiated off her. Small mumbling sounds filled her throat.
Losing himself in her felt good. Right.
He shifted until his hands brushed against her cheeks and his fingers tangled in her long hair. Lifting his body, his chest over hers, he pushed her into the mattress. With every pass of his lips, the need to take her grew stronger. A voice in his brain told him to go slow. Reminded him that her mind flew in a million directions and all of them led to work. Getting her to focus on him might take longer than he could bear.
He didn’t know her level of experience, but he assumed she was slim in that department. She’d gone to college before she could drive, finished graduate school before she could legally drink. That sort of detachment from her age group had an impact.
But, damn, the woman could kiss. The way her arms folded around him and her fingers brushed up his back, he knew she wasn’t afraid. For a few seconds, her focus was on him and he wasn’t about to let that get past him.
Sliding along the sheets, he moved down until his lips found her jawline. He kissed in a line until his mouth hovered at the base of her neck. Her skin smelled sweet, like bunches of flowers. It was the same scent that hit him when she threw the bathroom door open earlier. He didn’t know what was in those motel bottles, but it turned to sweetness on the rounded tops of her breasts.
She switched from skimming her fingers through his hair to yanking on a few strands. “Smithfield Enterprises,” she mumbled against his forehead.
From the combination of tugging and nonsense words, his head shot up. “What?”
“That’s it.”
Even in the darkness he could see her bright smile. That didn’t mean he had any idea what was happening. “What the hell are you talking about?”
She shoved against his shoulders. “Get up.”
“Now?”
Her face went blank when she lifted her hips and pressed her lower body hard against his. “Oh.”
“Yeah, oh.”
“You’re a good kisser.”
“Apparently not good enough to keep your mind from traveling all over the place.”
“But you did it.”
“Uh, no, but I was trying to.”
She waved him off. At this distance, she actually smacked her hand against his chin by accident. “It was something you said.”
“My mouth was busy doing something other than talking.”
“I’m not kidding.”
He couldn’t believe she didn’t notice how serious he was. “Let me get this straight. We were all over each other, kissing and touching and getting into it, and you’re stopping to talk about your boss.”
She gnawed on her lower lip. “Is that weird?”
“A little bit, but strangely, I’m not surprised.” He shifted his weight, feeling each warmed muscle groan in frustration as he left her.
“I’m sorry. My mind tends to run ahead—”
“I know.”
“Really?”
If she bit down any harder on her lip she’d bite it off. Since he’d grown pretty fond of that part of her anatomy in the last few seconds, he kissed her to get her to stop. Quick and, he hoped, reassuring.
He reached over and turned on the light. Once he saw her all snuggled in t
he covers with skin flushed pink from their intimacy, he had to battle back the need to touch her again. “Now, fill me in on what I said to get you to stop rubbing your hands all over me.”
“I wasn’t doing that.”
Despite her disgruntled facial expression, he shot her his best you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me look. “Just explain.”
The cloudy confusion in her eyes cleared. “You mentioned Smithfield Enterprises.”
“When?”
“Not important.” She scooted up until her back rested against the headboard. “The point is Smithfield was not included in the reports to NIH.”
“Am I supposed to know what that means?”
“Dr. Hammer was supersecretive, almost paranoid about his research, but other labs and companies have government funding and contracts and do pieces of work that fit together with ours. At NIH’s request, he frequently consulted with those places. In turn, the records to NIH are supposed to detail every meeting with other experts, every time Dr. Hammer spoke or lectured anywhere.”
“So far that all makes sense.”
“When I drafted the interim reports, I included our contacts with Smithfield Enterprises.”
The answer smacked him right in the forehead. “But the ones Dr. Hammer turned in omitted the meetings with the company.”
She pointed at him. “Exactly.”
“Told you I wasn’t dumb.”
She patted him on the knee. “Never said you were.”
Since he doubted she realized when she veered into condescending territory, he ignored that. “What does Smithfield do?”
“Biotech. Lots of work in the immunology field. That plays into handling the downsides of our work in transplantation.”
He rolled his eyes. “So many big words.”
“You’re the one spouting off about your intellect.”
“True.” At least he now had somewhere to start looking. “Now it’s my turn.”
“To do what?”
“Check into Smithfield Enterprises.”
LANGDON HAMMER APPRECIATED his new lab. It occupied most of one floor of a multistory office building. If he wanted something, he asked one of the guards and whatever it was appeared after a series of security measures were disengaged and a huge metal door swung open.
The only problem was the lack of a true assistant. Since he wasn’t supposed to be there, wasn’t supposed to be alive, he spent his days alone and his nights in the suite of rooms off the lab. He didn’t mind the quiet because it allowed him to concentrate at the level he needed to finish his work. But he still preferred the setup he had with Maura. She did her tasks and stayed out of his way. It was the perfect relationship.
After a series of beeps, the pressure lock opened. Steady footsteps rang out, warning of the approach. “Dr. Hammer. I need a few minutes of your time.”
His hands froze in the middle of putting on his gloves. Refusing to show fear, he turned around and faced his visitor.
“Of course.” It wasn’t as if he had a choice but to have the conversation.
Tall and dark with the deadest black eyes of any living creature on the planet, Rex Smithfield could scare even the toughest guards in the building. Dr. Hammer knew because he’d watched panic wash over huge men with even bigger guns whenever anyone even mentioned Smith field’s name.
The man in question shook his wrist as he adjusted his cuffs. “Unfortunately, this is about Dr. Lindsey again.”
“What about her?”
“It would appear she is missing.”
Locked away from news and other people, Dr. Hammer assumed Maura had died in the fiery explosion at the lab. This was the first clue he had that something went wrong that night. “I thought you were going to…”
“Yes?”
Dr. Hammer swallowed at the lifeless tone to the other man’s voice. “Take care of the issue.”
“Dr. Lindsey has proven to be more resourceful than we initially anticipated.” Smithfield leaned against the counter with his arms crossed in front of him. “Which brings me to my question. I need to know what information the woman has about your ties to me.”
Dr. Hammer noticed Smithfield didn’t even bother with a question. He went straight to flat-toned fury. “Nothing.”
“I would warn you that lying to me is not the way to handle this situation.”
The tension in the room threatened to suffocate him. “Nothing more than the ordinary course for a lab assistant. She entered my consultation data into her interim reports, so she knows about my meetings here and at other places.”
Smithfield’s grim frown spoke for him.
“That was before we reached our agreement,” Dr. Hammer explained. “I’ve erased all the references to Smithfield since then.”
“That means she knows to look here for answers.”
“I wouldn’t say that.”
Smithfield’s fingers tightened against his black suit jacket. “You insist she is brilliant, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Then she will start with what doesn’t fit.”
He was a scientist not a military tactician. He depended on Smithfield and his men to control the situation so he could focus on his experiments. In any other circumstance he would order and dictate, remove everyone from his presence. Those strategies didn’t work with Smithfield.
Dr. Hammer knew he had to watch every word and keep all of his boiling anger tamped down. A wrong move and Smithfield could crush him. He was a man who got his way and paid good money to ensure he controlled every situation. He owned Dr. Hammer, and Dr. Hammer knew it.
“Is she talking to the police?” he asked.
“Currently, she is running from them to avoid being arrested for your disappearance.”
“That kind of activity doesn’t sound like her.”
“There is a man with her.”
Dr. Hammer wondered how any of this could be possible. “With Maura?”
“You assured us we only had to worry about her brother.”
The icy edge to Smithfield’s voice sent a chill through Dr. Hammer. “That was my understanding.”
“You were wrong.” Smithfield stayed scarily still. No part of him moved as he offered his explanation. “This man is a security expert.”
“I don’t know who that could be.”
“He is someone who could unravel our delicate relationship.” Smithfield stared at the ceiling as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. “Do you know what that means?”
Dr. Hammer rushed to reassure Smithfield before he got an idea to end their arrangement the hard way. Through the worst type of termination. “We can control her.”
Smithfield lowered his chin and aimed an arctic stare at Dr. Hammer. “That was your promise, yes, but we need to find her first.”
It was as if all of the warmth and air sucked out of the room. Being this close to a man who wielded the power to wipe his existence from the Earth rattled Dr. Hammer’s nerves. He was not the type of person who worried about his place in the world…except when under Smithfield’s watch.
“I don’t know where she could be.”
Smithfield’s eyebrow lifted. “That is unfortunate.”
Chapter Eight
Liam walked into the towering three-story glass lobby of Smithfield Enterprises at noon the next day. Fancy artwork hung on the marble walls. Leather chairs sat around the area in what he assumed was supposed to be an inviting arrangement. Since no one used them, he had his doubts about the look. It all struck him as cold and lifeless, but he wasn’t there to admire the decor.
Using fake credentials he copied after studying the real ones, Liam walked past the welcoming woman at the visitor’s desk after giving her a good-morning nod. All of twenty with a wide smile and perfect, straight white teeth, she beamed with happiness back at him.
The two six-foot paid killers behind her didn’t share her enthusiasm. The one with the shaved head and snarl stepped in front of him, blocking his path to the elevator
bank. “You need to check in.”
Liam lifted his badge from where it was hooked to his belt. “I work here.”
The guard nodded toward the reception desk. “Everyone checks in until we say otherwise.”
So much for thinking working around the metal detector, keypad and sensor screen that validated the chip in his badge would get him in. “Sure.”
“May I help you?” the young woman asked with a false enthusiasm that had him wondering what she’d sound like after a few more years standing there.
“I’m new here.”
“Well, welcome to the building. Let me just check you in so you don’t have to stop here every day.”
“Do all employees stop here?”
The woman’s smile faltered. “Only the first few times. Those are the rules.”
She sat back in her seat and started typing. Liam knew everything would check out because he set up the identity. Breaking into Smithfield’s internal system proved impossible. The company had its private information in complete lockdown, kind of like Liam’s own closed-access, hard-to-crack program. The professional in him appreciated the effort. That same part of him also looked for another way in and found it.
Smithfield contracted out part of its tech work to a staffing company. From what he could tell, a group of workers sat in the basement and stayed segregated from the Smithfield group except when a problem arose. The tech guys didn’t work on confidential projects other than to keep the building’s significant technical components working.
This should have shut Liam down, but he found a loophole. The tech group linked to its home office for administrative things like payroll. The arrangement turned out to be very hackable. Liam could only get in through the tech system on a limited basis, but it was enough to give him access to the badge information and provide cover by adding his fake credentials to the approved list of workers.
The woman’s eyebrows pushed together as she typed. After a few clicks, her smile returned. She handed his badge back. “Welcome to Smithfield Enterprises. Your office is one floor down on the mezzanine level.”
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