by Raven Scott
“Yeah. We need to root out the broker,” the young agent continued. “We know he operates out of hotels, according to Spencer. So let’s go hire him.”
“Shit!” muttered Raymond. “Carlos.”
The other two looked at him.
“If you want something at a hotel, something you can’t find yourself, who do you call?” he prompted.
“The concierge,” Evan stated, wiping sloppy tomato sauce off his fingers with a napkin. “Makes sense.”
“What are we going to ask for?” Michael asked. “It has to be something expensive, worth the effort. Illegal, but not something that will make anyone skittish, right? What were you going to plant with Nia last week, Ice?”
“Rare Cuban cigars,” replied Evan, realizing how much had changed in just a few days. “I told her that there was an antique humidor in my dad’s collection that I wanted to keep. I was going to stock it with Cohiba Esplendidos.”
“Nice. Black market, but innocent,” Michael added with an approving grin.
“Yeah, but it won’t get much attention if we’re going after Walsh directly,” Evan advised.
“And we should stay away from jewelry or art. Anything that could be easily associated with the auction world,” recommended Raymond.
“Scotch,” Evan stated suddenly. “George Clement is obsessed with it. At the event at the Vineyard, he talked about the most expensive bottles worth over one hundred thousand dollars.”
“You’re shitting me!” Michael exclaimed.
“I shit you not, my friend,” Evan shot back with a quick smile.
“A hundred g’s for a few glasses of whiskey?”
Raymond was back at the computer, his now clean hands flying across the keys.
“How about one worth over ten thousand dollars,” he suggested to the team, looking at the info pulled up on the screen. “There are a few bottles of a rare fifty-five-year-old Macallan in the city. Sounds like the kind of gig that our Walsh would be into.”
“We’ll ask for one at a discount, like half price. If they take the order, we’ll know Walsh and whoever he works with will steal it.”
“And if they actually deliver the bottle, we have them for possession of stolen goods, and enough to squeeze out some intel on Walsh, then from Walsh on the buyer.”
The men looked at each other, letting the idea marinate, searching for holes.
“Boys, it looks like we have a plan. We’ll start with our friend Carlos downstairs. Then we’ll fan out from there. There’s probably twenty luxury hotels in downtown Boston.”
“Thirty-two to be exact,” Raymond threw in with a grin. “I’ll start making room reservations.”
The team continued to fine-tune the strategy while finishing the pizza.
Evan should have been elated. After only sixteen days, he was on the verge of wrapping up his first mission with Fortis. After eight months of recovery and change, he finally felt back in his comfort zone, doing what he was good at. The leadership and orchestration of a complicated investigation felt familiar, and there was the eager anticipation of the safe and secure recovery of the assets. That day should have been a good one.
It wasn’t. It was hell.
He was focused, composed, and committed to getting the job done. But only because he had to be. The alternative was not an option. If he stopped to think about the woman in the other room, vulnerable and betrayed, he wouldn’t be able to leave her side regardless of how angry she was at him. So, he stayed at the helm of his operation, holding on to the sense that his actions had been worth it. The ends had justified the means, and with enough time and discussion, once the whole thing was over, Nia would eventually accept that.
Lianne Bloom arrived at the hotel before six o’clock that evening with a bag packed from Nia’s apartment. Though the sound was turned off, the security feed from the living area of his hotel suite was still connected, displayed on one of the computer screens in the control room. Evan tried not to be distracted, but caught the occasional glimpse of the two women as they moved around the space.
Nia had changed into yoga pants and a T-shirt soon after her friend arrived. Then they had sat in the living room talking. From her gestures and agitated movements, Evan was fairly certain he was the topic of some of the conversation, and not in a good way.
It was almost midnight when the local Fortis team packed it in for the day, leaving Raymond to monitor the progress of the investigation through the night. Evan went back into his suite where Nia was now alone. Lianne had left a couple of hours earlier. He knew she was in the bedroom, and tapped on the door. There was no answer, but the light was definitely on. He tried the door handle. It was locked.
“Nia,” he called softly, knocking again.
“Go away, Evan.”
“Open the door, Nia. I want to give you an update on the investigation.”
He heard movement, then the door opened barely more than a crack.
“Fine. But in the future, I’d appreciate if you would send Michael or someone else,” she demanded in a cool voice.
“Look, I know you’re upset—”
“Upset? Upset doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel, Ice.”
He clenched his teeth at the name.
“I get it. You have every right to be angry, but let’s just talk—”
“Are you serious right now? You want to talk? I don’t even know who you are, so unless you’re going to tell me what’s happened with Chris and the situation at Worthington, we have nothing to discuss.”
Evan took a deep breath. After the day she’d had, he expected this reaction. He’d be patient with her, give her time and she’d come around.
“Okay. Open the door and I’ll tell you what we know.”
“No, you can tell me from right where you are.”
His patience slipped. He felt the need to see her, be close to her, reconnect even through her anger. How was he going to fix things if she refused to even be in the same room with him?
“I’m not talking to you like this, so either you let me in now or you can wait until tomorrow to find out where we are.”
It took a few seconds, but the door swung open and she walked to the other side of the room next to the window. It was a small victory but he took it, following her inside.
“I’m waiting,” she snapped, arms folded across her chest.
Evan clenched his teeth at her tone, but spent a few minutes telling her the latest information about Morton’s disappearance. They would find him, and it wouldn’t be long before the whole thing was wrapped up.
“Do you know where Chris is?” she asked quietly.
“No, not yet. Which is why we need you to stay here for the time being. We have to assume that Morton was behind the attempt today and the hit and run last week. Which means he’s dangerous and capable of anything.”
Nia nodded with understanding. Silence filled the space for several moments. Evan used the opportunity to drink in her presence. She had changed into an oversized cotton nightshirt that fell to her midthigh. It felt like forever since he had held her, kissed her, seen her laugh, yet it was only that morning. The idea that he might never do so again was now unimaginable.
“Nia, let me explain this whole thing,” he finally implored.
“I’m not an idiot, Ice. I kind of put the whole thing together myself. I’ve had hours to work it out. So please save both of us the trouble,” she countered. “You had a job to do, and you accomplished your goal.”
“It wasn’t like that,” he protested, stepping forward.
“It was exactly like that and you know it.”
“Nia.”
She cut him off with the slice of her hand through the air.
“I’m curious; how did you think this conversation was going to go? I mean, you must have known it would come to this eventually,” she reasoned, sounding detached and analytical. “Or maybe not. Maybe, the plan was to just end things once you got what you needed from me. Say thanks for the good
times and just move on.”
Evan hung his head, ashamed that she was able to sum up one of the exit strategies so succinctly.
“I was going to tell you,” he claimed.
“What?” She laughed, a dry humorless rumble. “Why? What could you have possibly hoped to achieve, Ice?”
“My name is Evan. Evan DaCosta,” he finally snapped.
“Thanks for the confirmation. Good to know.”
She turned away, shaking her head sarcastically.
“I wanted you to understand why things started the way they did between us,” he finally explained. “But it doesn’t change anything else, Nia. Not really.”
She turned back to him, the look on her face incredulous.
“You can’t be serious,” Nia whispered. “It changes everything.”
Evan closed the gap between them, ignoring her look of alarm as he stepped in front of her. He wanted so badly to touch her, remove this invisible barrier between them.
“No it doesn’t,” he insisted.
“Damn it! You slept with me to find out if I’m a thief!” she yelled, poking him in his chest.
“That’s not what happened and you know it, Nia!”
“That’s exactly what it was. So own it, Evan. Pat yourself on the back for a job well done. Mission accomplished. But don’t patronize me by watering it down,” she jeered.
“You have no clue what you’re talking about. There were plenty of ways to get information out of you without sex, Nia. And I’m very good at all of them,” Evan shot back.
“Great, so it was just a perk? Something to keep you entertained on the job?”
“Stop it,” he demanded, gripping her shoulders and giving her a small shake.
“Let go of me!” she screamed, pulling back.
Evan released her immediately and turned away. His heart was racing as he struggled to get it together. His throat tightened up from the growing lump squeezing against his windpipe.
“I screwed up,” he whispered. “I wanted you. Yes, I had a job to do. I needed to get close, find out if you were involved. But the minute I saw you, I wanted you. It was never part of the plan, Nia.”
The seconds ticked away as he waited for her to say something. Anything.
“So you took what you wanted, regardless of the lies you had to tell me.”
“What lies? Yes, I withheld some details related to the case, but everything else was true. Everything important was real,” he emphasized, turning back to face her.
“Really? Like taking over your dad’s company?” she snapped back with disbelief.
“True. It’s temporary until I confirm a new CEO, then I’ll take a place on the board,” he explained.
“Your contract with me to sell the collection you inherited.”
“Absolutely.”
“And your job overseas? You want me to believe that while selling defense contracts, you also learned how to kill a professional hit man by snapping his neck?”
That one was complicated.
“That’s what my résumé says and what my mother knows. Anything different doesn’t exist.”
“Wow, no secrets there,” Nia retorted, throwing her hands up.
“Christ, Nia!” he cursed, bowing his head with frustration.
“Don’t try to manipulate me, Evan,” she shot back, refusing to bend even a little. “Nothing important was real. It was all built on a stack of deceit.”
“No,” he countered. “For the first time in my life, it was all real. Don’t you see, the job was a lie, but you and I were true.”
She closed her eyes as though blocking him out. He was starting to see that he wasn’t getting through to her. What if he couldn’t? What if whatever they had shared was damaged for good? Evan tried to swallow, but he couldn’t. The lump was too big.
“What do you want from me?” she whispered, sounding tired.
He wanted to go back to that morning, when he woke up with her tucked warm against his body. He wanted to walk along the river each night in Virginia. He wanted her to feel about him the way he felt about her. Evan wanted more than just a mission, but it was too much to ask right now.
“You,” he stated simply. “I want you.”
Nia raised her head and met his eyes. Hers were dark with anger, glittering bright. They pulled him to her, making him desperate to remove the pain and hurt from their depths. Hungry to recapture their physical connection, he brushed the back of his finger over the curve of her cheek. Electricity shot down his spine, warm and familiar. It was too soon, too much to want, but he bent his head to taste her lips.
After all the day’s events, the tenuous hold he had maintained on his control snapped. Intense need took over his body. Her life had been threatened and Evan had killed a man to protect her. And for the first time since he had met Nia James, she was looking at the real man, not the cover so carefully crafted. The look in her eyes clearly said she didn’t like what she saw. Evan couldn’t accept that. Not when he was finally ready to acknowledge that his feelings for her went deeper than he ever imagined. Too deep for him to just walk away.
This kiss should have been gently persuasive, an attempt to rekindle things between them. But as always, his need for her clouded his judgment and destroyed his resolve. He delved into the sweetness of her mouth, greedy to taste her wetness. God, she was delicious. Everything about her touched him, even her passionate anger.
“No. Evan, I can’t,” she whispered, pulling away from his lips.
But her hands gripped his arms as though she needed his strength. He slid his mouth down her neck, nipping at the pulsing vein along its length. Nia shivered, gasped. It drove him crazy. Hot, white need sizzled into his groin. He bit her neck harder relishing her groan.
The hold she had over him was frightening, uncontrollable, addictive. He now craved her like a drug, and was willing to do anything to have her. Evan hardly remembered his existence before this feeling. He struggled to contemplate life without it, without her.
Something in the back of his mind said he was pushing her. Despite the way her back curved, and her breathing hitched just so, she wasn’t ready for this. He should back away, give her time to process everything. But she felt too good and he was a selfish bastard. If this physical connection was the only way to reach her, reinforce how incredible they were together, then he’d be a fool to give it up.
Evan placed his mouth over hers again, his tongue stroking hers suggestively. Nia raked her fingers across the width of his back. He reached down, pulling up the nightshirt. Then, he slid his hands under the fabric of her underwear to cup her naked bottom. His jutting erection now pulsed between them. She swirled her hips in his grasp, teasing the base of his shaft. He was so hungry for her that his knees went weak. The last thin strings of his control dissolved with blind, urgent desire.
Evan backed up a few steps, taking her with him until the back of his legs met the bed frame and he could sit at the edge. With little effort, he pulled her up on top of him so her knees straddled his hips. His mouth never left hers, still tasting, stroking and thrusting into the recesses with his tongue. She was now fully engaged in the moment with him, mimicking his movements with teasing play. Driving him crazy, stripping away his ability to think beyond the need to be in her and consumed by her heat.
Evan fumbled with the button at his waist, shoving down his zipper. The metallic scrape was lost in the music of their impassioned cries. Released and insistent, the rigid length of his cock brushed along the damp silk of her panties, probing against the thin barrier. Nia moaned into his mouth, sucking on his tongue. He took hold of the thin strip of elastic at her hip, easily tearing the panties from her body.
Driven by pure animal craving, Evan thrust deep into her slippery sheath, burying himself to the hilt. A deep, guttural moan escaped his throat. It was magic. Pure, pristine heaven like he’d never experienced before. She gasped, running her fingers along the back of his head. He stroked into her again and she met his thrust with
an enticing flex of her hips. The world dimmed around him.
“Nia,” he growled.
“Yes,” she begged.
Their rhythm increased, perfectly in sync, faster, harder. It was too good, better than anything before. Perfect. Complete. It was everything life was supposed to be.
Evan wanted to tell her all the feelings racing through his heart, confess the depths of commitment, give her his soul. But he couldn’t find the words to convey the truth. Instead, he could only chant her name over and over again, communicating to her through the power of his body.
“Come with me,” he whispered as the gripping climax surged through his body. She peaked seconds later, gripping his length in her silken depths until Evan was weak from the intensity.
They both came down slowly, falling into their familiar pattern of tender touches and lazy sighs. It all seemed so right. Until Evan pulled Nia close and he felt himself slip away from the caress of her body. He felt naked, bare. Unprotected.
Evan looked up at Nia, ready to tell her his lapse. Her face said she had already realized what he had done.
He kissed her gently, pressed his forehead to hers.
“Christ, Nia. I didn’t mean for that to happen,” he whispered urgently. “It shouldn’t have happened like that, and it’s never happened before. I should have worn a condom, but I was just so caught up in the moment.”
Nia shook her head from side to side.
“Stop, Evan. Just stop.”
She pulled away slipping out of his arms and off the bed.
“You should go,” she demanded, turning to walk to the attached bathroom.
“Nia wait, please,” he pleaded, jumping off the bed to follow her.
“Just leave,” she demanded as she swung back to face him, meeting his eyes dead on. “You can’t have me, Evan. And this is the closest you’ll ever get.”
He took her arm, gently trying to pull her back toward him, but Nia twisted out of his grip. Stubborn denial screamed in his head, pushing him to lay everything on the line.
“Baby, no. I’ve fallen in love with you, Nia.” She froze, staring back at him with wide eyes, and Evan was desperate enough to believe she was hearing him. “Please, just give me a chance.”