Sugar

by S. L. Jennings

  He gave her a smile that sent a tingle of warmth through her body.

  “It’s better than after midnight,” she countered, “but it’s not five, either. The agreement was you’d cook dinner—”

  “If I didn’t stop working on time.” He placed two hats and a stack of silver discs in a small black padded lockbox on the desktop.

  Playing wife to him hadn’t been a hardship at all. Mia had expected the creator of an invisible suit to be a full-on nerd, complete with glasses, a white lab coat, and pocket protector. What she landed was an intelligent, handsome, muscular man who oozed sex appeal. Mia closed the case, setting the lock code with the new code protocol the firm had her beta testing. “Are you ready for the Texas demonstration in a couple of days?”

  “Yes and no.” He rose from the executive chair, standing to his full height of well over six feet. “I’m glad this project is wrapping up, except for one thing.” His smile widened and her heartbeat quickened. “This time with my wife has been amazing.”

  When her team leader Walter requested that she pretend to be the scientist’s wife until The Suit was safely delivered into the hands of Sanibel Research Center, she jumped at this new opportunity. Walter could have selected one of the more seasoned women who had years of threat assessment and tactical training. Her co-workers mumbled when her name was put in place, her directors feeling she’d taken an assignment that was out of her league.

  “I’ve a new gift for you.” Calvin rounded the desk, retrieving a small velvet pouch from his jacket pocket. He placed a gold bracelet on her wrist to match the one on the opposite wrist, then pressed a gentle kiss on her cheek.

  Mia stepped back. “We’re at home. Your staff isn’t here. No need for a display of affection.”

  “It’s not my fault my wife is irresistible.” Calvin issued her a searing look, daring her to take the bait.

  Her gaze lowered to his arm, taking in the fact that he was wearing a similar bracelet to hers.

  She placed the container in the safe. Calvin could unlock the safe, but he still needed her to unlock the case—a failsafe plan that should deter someone from going to extreme measures to get Calvin to open it and remove the goods. She’d also taken the liberty of teaching him several defensive moves that could possibly keep him alive in the event of a personal attack.

  “Can’t we eat out?” Calvin asked as she neared the desk.

  Mia glanced up at him since he towered over her by five inches. “A bet is a bet.”

  Despite sleeping in separate rooms, the nightly conversations and occasional disagreements made this “marriage” feel all too real at times. Mia had to remind herself she was playing house. Getting involved with a client could ruin her career, but the man was a Harvard graduate who had the charm, humor, and compassion that had been lacking in the men she’d come across in her dating world.

  This security detail ending meant Mia had to deal with her real life. She’d been living with her boyfriend when she took this opportunity. Now he was an ex and her personal items were waiting in storage. She couldn’t lie; she’d miss Calvin when the assignment ended.

  His gaze roamed her body before slowly returning to her eyes. Mia’s body tingled under his heated inspection. “It’s dinner time,” she said, as he slid the notebook into the briefcase.

  Calvin guided her to the door with his hand possessively on her lower back. They stepped off the tan carpeting onto the bamboo flooring that led to the kitchen.

  “Let’s eat on the deck,” Calvin said as they reached a white kitchen island filled with stainless steel appliances.

  “Not a good idea.”

  Calvin picked up the remote and soon Luther Vandross crooned, breaking the silence in the two-story brick house. He grabbed Mia around the waist and pulled her to him. She gasped.

  “What are you doing?” she asked, struggling to put some distance between them.

  He held her firm. “Dancing.”

  Mia pressed her lips together, giving him the side eye. Soon she found herself smiling as she swayed in his arms. He sang If Only For One Night directly into her ear, causing a warm feeling to explode in the pit of her belly. A rush of sensations enveloped her as he pressed his body against hers.

  His brown eyes held her gaze as he lowered his lips to hers. Mia’s body throbbed with desire. The need to be open with him, to risk her heart, almost made her give in to the moment. Gently she pushed him back. “Umm. How about you get to cooking?”

  Calvin gave her a peck on the lips. “If you insist, dear. But I was enjoying a delectable appetizer.”

  “I want an entire meal,” she quipped, trying not to smile.

  He slid off his jacket, tossed it on a kitchen stool, and rolled up the sleeves of his button-down shirt. Calvin pulled her to him and stared at her with fire in his eyes as he said in a low sexy growl, “An entire meal, eh? I can provide that.”

  She tapped his hands down and guided him toward the sink. “Go cook.”

  A mischievous grin spread across Calvin’s face. “I’m willing to fill you up. Whenever you’re ready.”

  “Mmmhmm,” she said, holding back a grin. “Did you tell Gordon our flight was delayed until tomorrow?”

  He pulled his massive hands from under the spray of water, dried them and opened a slate blue cabinet. He placed the box of angel hair pasta on the quartz counter. “He has special plans tonight with his lady. I’ll text him the update later.”

  When she had called the firm earlier to inform them of the change of plans, her two main contacts were both in a meeting. Neither had called her back. That was totally unlike them. One night before the delivery and several things had put her on high alert.

  Chapter 2

  Mia glanced at her watch, once again wondering if Walter assigned her to Calvin because he expected her to fail. “Where are you going?”

  Calvin froze near the dining room table. “To sit on the deck while the pasta cooks.”

  “If I vetoed dinner out there—”

  “I need some fresh air.” Calvin continued his walk to the glass door.

  Mia darted in front of him, blocking his path. He gave her the pretty please eyes, saying, “I’ve been inside all day.”

  “Well played. Finish cooking.” She crossed her arms and pursed her lips, knowing if he’d actually intended to go out he’d have disarmed the alarm first. The closer Calvin came to finishing, the more likely one of the international factions or various government agencies would speed up their efforts to capture him. Once they had what they needed, he’d be expendable. “I’ll walk the perimeter. If I don’t see anything out of the ordinary, then we can eat on the deck.”

  Calvin grinned as she gestured to the stove.

  The keypad beeped as she disarmed the front door alarm.

  Mason Jakob, Mia’s dad, said it was a privilege to protect those who were making a difference in the world and a pleasure to travel the globe in the process. Since working with Calvin, she now understood exactly what he meant. Mia always wanted to have a career in the security arena like her father. When she was younger, her dad had trained her to protect herself and others.

  She slid into a comfortable pair of shoes before heading outside. Her long black hair blew in the warm wind as she walked around the large brick home in a quaint northern Illinois town. The place was situated on two acres of land, which meant the neighbors were a good distance from the house. Unfortunately, people cut through the manicured lawn instead of using the brick path to get to the man-made lake or the bar on the other end.

  Satisfied that no suspicious cars, people, or activities were present, she went back into the house. The scent of garlic assaulted her nose, bringing a rise to her taste buds and making her appetite dance with anticipation. Not only was the man intelligent, fine, and sexy, but he cooked well enough to put her to shame.

  She washed her hands at the sink, drying them with a paper towel. An empty spaghetti sauce bottle rested on the sink. “You cheated.”

 
; “I’m still cooking.” He smiled back at her, stirring the contents of the silver pot. “Dinner will be ready soon.”

  She laughed, a little disappointed she wasn’t getting his mother’s special sauce. “We’re good for the deck, but we can’t linger out there too long.”

  “Good.” He switched off the fire. “I’ll go set up.”

  “I’ll help.” She made a quick detour to her room, grabbing a holster to affix under the cedar patio table.

  Mia stepped out onto the wood planks and extracted one of the dishes from Calvin’s hand. Her head snapped up at a sound that wasn’t anything like the faint music from the bar down on the other end of the lake. She listened for a moment before returning to the task of setting the table.

  “Having dinner out here was a great idea,” Mia said for the sake of their nosy neighbor Patty, who was walking in their direction as Calvin approached the table.

  “You like me cooking for you.” He brought out the spaghetti and salad and slid it on the table. He leaned in, kissing Mia. He wrapped his arm around her waist, nuzzling her neck. “Maybe we should have dessert first.”

  “I’ll not be reheating dinner tonight.” Pushing him away, she turned him back toward the house, then swatted that gorgeous rear end of his to send him on his way. Mia waved at the smiling Patty, who changed direction and shifted toward the path that she should have been on in the first place. “You need to go grab those breadsticks. I’ll open the wine.”

  Calvin, who had never been married, enjoyed playing the role of husband a little too much. He winked before stepping off the planks and into the dining room. He paused at the door and glanced over his shoulder. “We need to do this more often.” He slid the glass door closed.

  Several minutes later, she poured him a glass of red wine before fixing their plates. She scanned the area again and a tingle of suspicion ignited in her mind.

  What’s taking him so long?

  “Calvin, today would be nice,” Mia yelled. She perched on the chair, waiting for his smart response.

  None came.

  She placed the glass on the table and swept into the house. Calvin wasn’t in the kitchen where he should be. She tamped down on her anger. If he had slipped into his office to work instead of joining her outside, there was going to be a problem.

  Mia laid eyes on Calvin as she rounded the corner, but his voice halted her in her tracks.

  “Run, Mia. Run,” Calvin yelled, lunging for the stocky Asian man near the office door.

  A hefty Black guy slammed his weapon across the back of Calvin’s head.

  Chapter 3

  Mia sprinted down the hallway past the study and powder room, aiming to get her weapon. She kicked herself for not bringing it inside. She slid a cast iron skillet from the cooktop. They wouldn’t kill Calvin, but they could hurt him if he didn’t cooperate.

  “Go get her,” someone yelled from the office. “I’ll take care of this.”

  Several things crashed to the office floor. Calvin put up one hell of a fight. Mia waited for what felt like an eternity, though only mere seconds had passed when her pursuer rounded the corner. She slammed the skillet into his chest, causing him to fly into the wall. He recovered and reached for her arm, but she jumped out of reach. The skillet crashed down onto his head with a backward swipe. This time, his body hit the ground, right on top of his gun.

  Damn.

  An armed man darted into the hallway and sprinted toward her. Her feet pounded on the hardwood floor as she raced for the front entrance, aiming to find some type of reinforcements.

  She slammed the front door, locking it. Keys jiggled in the tumbler. She turned right in time to see a Native American man rushing from behind. Mia grabbed the potted plant off the floor and smashed it across the side of his head. His body hit the wood planks with a thump.

  Mia ran top speed toward the kitchen ahead of a spray of bullets that landed in the cabinets. She slid toward the island like a baseball player trying to reach home plate. She scrambled around the counter, bolted to the deck and made it to the table.

  “Mrs. Atwood, you have nowhere to run,” a man with an ivory complexion said as a Latino guy calmly stepped over the threshold onto the deck as though nothing out of the ordinary had transpired.

  “Don’t be so sure of that.” She snatched the Ruger, aimed, and pulled the trigger five times. Mia didn’t wait for the Latino man’s advancing body to hit the ground. She hit the stairs. The ivory man took cover in the dining room and held up on a perfect vantage spot.

  Three armed men raced toward her. Her heart sank, but adrenaline kicked in as she turned back.

  Damn, how many did they send?

  She had to make it to the Lincoln.

  “Mrs. Atwood, don’t do it,” he yelled as she climbed from the patio chair to the railing.

  He aimed his Glock and fired.

  Mia took a flying leap from the banister and dove into the water.

  Chapter 4

  Calvin was uncomfortably situated in the back seat of a Tahoe with his hands tied behind his back, sandwiched between two burly men with weapons nestled in his side to keep him in check.

  The ivory man they’d called Jesse scoured the crowd sitting in the lakeside bars, evidently looking for Mia. Calvin’s gaze did its own sweep, hoping that she’d made it someplace safe. All this for a project that was flawed, still in the development stage, and had no global performance metrics.

  When he lost his brother during an attempt to rescue a hostage, Calvin wanted to create something to improve the chances of survival for both the hostage and all the rescuers. He mentioned the concept to his best friend Gordon, who introduced him to one of his contacts. The Emperor’s Suit Project was established to create the prototype of a protective suit for soldiers to use as camouflage. He never would have thought that something so simple would become so in demand by factions who wanted it for their own salient purposes.

  Several lucrative offers poured in from foreign governments and private firms. Gordon was convinced that The Suit would be better placed in the hands of a private security firm known for rescuing people all across the world, rather than the American government. After previous attempts to take the technology, he questioned whether it would do more harm than good. He started developing The Suit when President Obama was in office, but given the current U.S. administration, he realized they might not even use The Suit for saving lives as he intended.

  One of the husky men stumbled into Jesse, who pushed him away, then moved out of Calvin’s line of sight. This wasn’t the night he had in mind. He was hoping dinner on the deck would get Mia to relax a bit and maybe she’d open up to him.

  Calvin originally thought Gordon was being dramatic when he insisted on having bodyguard protection that would cover him and the project. The number one reason he’d asked for discreet twenty-four-hour protection was he didn’t think Gordon could provide covert security. Then Gordon and Walter pitched an idea of a “pretend” wife as part of a close detail. Calvin was against it until Mia Jakob sauntered into his Morgan Park lab. She was beautiful, tall, slender, but shapely. She looked like a woman who stepped straight off someone’s runway in Paris. Later, he would have another reason for the attraction—she grasped his scientific process, world events, and politics with an intelligence that amazed him.

  Jesse’s angular face and cold steel blue eyes came into full view as he returned to the Tahoe. The passenger seat window lowered. Jesse stared in the direction of the lake. “Dammit, where is she?”

  “You’re sure she made it?” asked one of the men as he approached from the far side of the parking lot. “She’s swimming.”

  “I doubt she ran into much traffic in the water,” Jesse snarled.

  The other man’s brandy eyes narrowed to slits as he said, “She could’ve run into other things.”

  “It’s a man-made lake, Franco. She isn’t going to run into a shark.” A drunk blonde stomped barefooted past Jesse. He immediately put his focus on t
he ground. “A wet woman shouldn’t be too hard to find.”

  “I’ll station someone near the water in case she hasn’t gotten here yet, then check the hotel,” Franco said.

  “Good idea,” Jesse said as he stepped back toward the back door. “See if you can get access to their security feed.”

  “Okay.”

  “Don’t draw any unnecessary attention to yourselves or the Atwoods.” Jesse slid into the passenger seat, then leaned out of the open window.

  Franco nodded. “I’ve got this.”

  “Meet me back at the Atwoods’ in thirty minutes,” Jesse instructed, as his cell rang again. He answered it, looking back at Calvin, and said, “We have a serious problem. The Atwoods didn’t leave town as planned.”

  How did this crew know about the trip?

  The team at the house must have expected the place to be empty and the case to be sitting in the safe. The original plan was for him and Mia to leave the case at the house for four specialists to transport to Texas, but their flight was canceled and pushed back to the following day. The select few who were aware of the project should have been notified of the change.

  “We have Calvin, but his wife got away,” he said.

  Calvin released a sigh of relief.

  Jesse signaled for the driver to go as he raised the window. “It would’ve been nice to have known ahead of time that the wife would put up more of a fight than the husband. She took out a couple of our men.”

  Jesse returned to the Atwood house, pushing Calvin into his office. Calvin smiled.

  “Why is that fool smiling?”

  “My wife’s coming for me,” Calvin said as they forced him into the black leather chair. “You all have pissed off the wrong woman.”

  Chapter 5

  Calvin struggled to break the ties around his hands without drawing the attention of his captors.

  Jesse paused momentarily in response to Calvin’s “wrong woman” comment. “Oh really?”