by Giselle Fox
“If you can’t put it back in his pocket, leave it on the chair behind him. Or on the floor next to his foot. Even if he thinks it fell out of his pocket, that will be good enough.”
Cate groaned. “I thought we were going to have bathroom sex. You got me all worked up.”
“He’ll pick up on the pheromones and that will distract him.”
“You got me horny on purpose?”
Lexi gave her a peck on the lips. “Tell him we’re going back to pick up the package tomorrow. If you stay here too long, he’ll think something is up.”
“I told him I wasn’t feeling well.”
“Perfect. I’ll meet you back at the hotel.”
“Be careful,” Cate said and then remembered she was the one doing the dangerous work.
“Remember, smooth, light movements. Pull his attention somewhere else before you replace the phone. And don’t kiss him!”
“Got it,” Cate said. “Wait, are you jealous?”
“Focus. Deep breath.”
“Okay, got it.”
“Now, go.”
Cate opened the bathroom door and closed it swiftly behind her. She walked back through the bar and saw Agent Marquez sitting exactly as he’d been. His jacket was still hanging on the back of his chair. The sleeves of his white shirt were rolled up loosely on his arms. His slick black hair shone under the warm lantern light. Had it been another time and if she wasn’t vibrating with anxiety at that very moment, she may have found his interest appealing. He was classically handsome, with his olive skin and dark eyes. But Cate was more absorbed in the task at hand, of returning the phone to his pocket and finding an excuse to leave.
He followed her movements as she walked back to the table and stood up to pull her chair out. “I was beginning to worry,” he said.
“Something is not agreeing with me,” Cate said and smoothed her hand over her stomach.
Disappointment flickered over the agent’s face for a split second but then his expression shifted. He raised his hand to flag the waitress. “Bitters and soda.” When his arm came down, Cate felt it wrap around the back of her chair. He looked at her and smiled. “It will make you feel good as new.”
Cate wondered if Lexi might be watching from somewhere. The thought made her feel a little less trapped. She focused on the performers until the bitters arrived. She sipped it casually, allowing the sharp effervescence to calm her nerves.
Agent Marquez’s arm was too close to risk replacing the phone. But when the dance was over, the agent shot out of his seat and cheered with the rest of the audience. Cate’s hand was ready. She dropped the phone back into his pocket and stood up beside him for a round of applause. “That was fantastic,” she said as she clapped enthusiastically.
He smiled down at her. “Feeling better?”
“A little but I’m going to head back to my room. It’s been a long day.”
The agent frowned. “There is another flamenco bar near here. You would like it, I think.”
“Thank you, but I’m done. Goodnight Agent Marquez.” She held out her hand.
The agent’s expression changed. “I will walk you to your hotel.”
“There’s no need,” Cate said. It wasn’t far and the streets were crowded with festival goers. But the agent stood up and put on his jacket. Cate watched as he patted his pockets and seemed satisfied that everything was where it should be.
Cate walked swiftly to the exit and out onto the street as he ambled slowly behind her.
“Will I see you again?” he asked.
“I guess that depends on whether you keep following me,” Cate said. Her tone was both playful and sarcastic. “I’m sure my friend will be well enough to pick up the package tomorrow.”
The agent smiled. “Then yes, perhaps.”
When they arrived at her hotel she offered her hand. “Goodnight.”
He gripped it tight and tried to make deeper eye contact but Cate pulled away.
“I hope you and Miss Montevega feel better,” he called as she opened the door.
She gave a small nod and pulled her room key from her purse. She nodded to the clerk at the front desk and climbed the marble steps to the third floor.
When she opened the door to the room, she found Lexi sitting in the dark by the open window. Her laptop was on her knees. The pale glow of the screen illuminated her face.
“Anything interesting?” Cate asked.
Lexi didn’t look up. Her focus was intense. “Very.”
Cate walked over and kissed the top of her head. Lexi reached up and grabbed her hand when she placed it on her shoulder.
“How did it go?” she asked without tearing her eyes away from the screen.
“It was fine. I waited until the dance was over. He tried to get me to go somewhere else with him.”
Lexi’s eyes flashed up at her. “Did he make a pass at you?”
“He had his arm around my chair. Other than that, he was pretty much a gentleman.”
Lexi’s eyes returned to her laptop. “Good.”
“So?”
Lexi sighed. “He is who he says he is.”
Cate didn’t know whether to feel relieved or more anxious about that.
“He’s also got some pretty interesting associates. I’m running some background checks now.”
“Why was he waiting for you at the warehouse?”
“As far as INTERPOL is concerned, it seems like a random security check. They screened the manifest, they think there may be something of interest inside. They want to find out what.”
“Is that normal?”
“When there’s a global APB out for a missing processor, I guess it could be.”
“A missing processor? For what?”
“Last month there was a security breach at Northrop Grumman. A graph analytic processor was stolen from their prototype facility.” Lexi locked eyes with her.
“Lexi … did you have anything to do with that?” Cate asked carefully.
“I’m just borrowing it.”
“Is that what was in the suitcase?”
“And some other things.”
“Other … prototypes?”
Lexi shrugged.
Cate sat down on the edge of the bed. “Obviously your night went off without a hitch.” She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
“What?” Lexi said.
Cate regarded her, slouched in her chair dressed in black from head to toe, with a laptop and a stolen processor in her bag of tricks. She shook her head. “I hope you’re worth it.”
“What?” Lexi asked again.
“Haven’t you been listening? INTERPOL thinks I’m a person of interest. Where does that leave me? In jail?”
“No,” Lexi said. She put her laptop down on the table. “I’m sorry. This is all a big fuck up but we’re fixing it, right now. The best thing you could have done was exactly what you did.”
Cate felt marginally better. “Really?”
Lexi nodded. “That lift was pure genius. We have everything - his email, his security clearance. Level five too, not bad.” Lexi rubbed her hands together. “I could kiss you.”
Cate slumped down where she sat and pouted. “I wish you would.”
Lexi knelt down in front of her. “You want a kiss?”
Cate nodded.
“What kind of kiss?” Lexi asked.
Cate sighed. “The kind that assures me that I’m not going to get into serious trouble for following you today. I feel like I’m going to barf.”
Lexi’s face softened. “Don’t worry. It’s all taken care of. We’ll go and pick up the package tomorrow. Agent Marquez will be there to watch us open it. He’ll make a little show of it - show his badge and try to scare us.”
“He likes me,” Cate said as she laid back on the bed. “He might not.”
“Well, once they confirm that the goods inside the package are what’s listed on the manifest, we’re gone. End of interest. It’ll be just another boring day in the life o
f Agent Orlando Marquez.”
“You sound so sure,” Cate whispered.
Lexi reached up and stroked her face. “I am sure. When this is over, we’re going to have some fun, okay? My treat.”
Cate took a deep breath. “Okay.”
Lexi snuggled in beside her. “You’re brave and you did really well today.”
“Thank you,” Cate said as she propped her head up on her elbow. “I need something else to think about. Tell me about your night. Give me all the details.”
Lexi rolled onto her back. “Details?”
Cate sat up. “Yes. Tell me what it was like.”
Lexi grinned. “Alright.” She sat up on the bed. “I found a super nice Audi R8 parked in the valet stalls behind the theater. I lifted the keys from the box and drove out to the warehouse.”
Cate sat up again. “Wait a second - slow down. You stole a car?”
Lexi stared back at her. “Well, I couldn’t take our rental.”
Cate shook her head.
“I brought it back!”
“Of course, you were borrowing. Continue.”
“I parked down one of the side streets we were on today and jogged the rest of the way.”
“No one saw you?”
“Well, I wouldn’t say no one. But I had a dog with me, they probably figured I was working out.”
“Hold up. A dog? Did you borrow him too?”
Lexi grinned. “Only for a couple of blocks.”
Cate stared back at her in horror.
“I’m joking! There was no dog.”
Cate slapped her arm. “Then what?”
“I took the long way around because of the camera.”
Cate remembered seeing it. “The one in front, up on the left?”
Lexi grinned at her. “Good eye.”
“Thanks,” Cate said. “Then what?”
“Then,” Lexi smiled. “I flipped open the latch on the window and in I went.”
“No alarm?”
“I killed that earlier too.”
“How?”
“Unplugged it.”
“You’re kidding, that’s it?”
Lexi nodded. “Sometimes it’s easy.”
“So you went in and …?”
“This was the part that took the longest. I had to open the package without making it look like it had been opened.”
“How did you do that?”
“Very carefully. Then I switched the goods and sealed it up again. Put it back in exactly the same spot. Went out the way I came and jogged back to the Audi.”
“You make it sound easy.”
“It was a piece of cake,” Lexi said and kissed her neck. “Meanwhile, you were sweating bullets in that bar all night with Agent INTERPOL. I should have taken you with me, you would have had way more fun.”
Cate stared back at her. “You’re not serious, right?”
Lexi looked at her lovingly. “No, of course not. This will never happen again.”
“I wish it never had to happen again for you either.”
“That would be nice,” Lexi said. She rolled on top of her. “You almost looked happy, sitting there with him.”
“It was all an act. Believe me, I was petrified. The dancers were amazing, though. I’m glad I saw that.”
“I’m glad you did too. I think it would be best if we put some distance between you and Spain tomorrow.”
“Like, where should we go?”
Lexi bent her head and planted tiny kisses along her jaw. “There’s a little place in Portimao where we could disappear for awhile.”
It didn’t take long for Cate to respond to that. “Portugal sounds … perfect.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Cate didn’t sleep the whole night but Lexi did. She’d fallen asleep wrapped in Cate’s arms and had slumbered peacefully until morning. Meanwhile, Cate felt as if she had wild rabbits running around in her brain. By the time the sun rose, she was thoroughly exhausted.
Lexi stirred and moaned. Her warm, sleepy body coiled tight around Cate’s rigid and alert frame.
“What time do you want to head out?” Cate asked.
Lexi lifted her head and opened her eyes. Her hair was wild on one side and pressed tight to her head on the other. Cate smoothed it down but gave up when Lexi laid down again on her chest.
“Did you sleep?” Lexi asked.
Cate shook her head. “Not even for five minutes.”
Lexi groaned. “I’m so sorry, baby. You’ll sleep tonight, I promise.”
“Maybe I’m just being ridiculous about all this. I just couldn’t relax. What if something happens today?”
Lexi lifted her head again. “What could happen? There’s nothing in the package.”
“What if, I don’t know ... they saw you break in last night? What if they’re recording us right now?”
Lexi kissed her chest and gazed up at her. “You’re just tired. Things like that start making sense when you haven’t slept.” She rolled over and sat up. “Another fantastic day,” she said as she looked out the window. Sun was streaming in on all sides of the curtains. The room was already beginning to feel warm. Lexi turned to her again and dragged her hands through her hair. The unruly locks magically fell into place and she looked stunning as ever.
“After checkout, we’ll have a nice breakfast on the patio and then we’ll pick up a few things for the drive back to Valencia. Then, we’ll head over to the customs office and have a little fun.”
“Are you serious? You think this is going to be fun?” Cate’s mind was spinning. The light around the curtains was playing tricks on her tired eyes.
“Let’s have a shower,” Lexi said. She held out her hand.
“Alright,” Cate grumbled.
The water did feel nice. Relaxing even. Cate closed her eyes and imagined she was back in her apartment in Chicago, that she’d either never left or was now safely back home. But then Lexi climbed in behind her and shut the glass door. The tight space filled with mist. Cate smelled lavender and bergamot shampoo. Lexi’s hands slipped up her back and over her shoulders. Cate let her head tip under the water until all sounds were drowned out. She imagined them under the cool waterfall in Panama and then under a canopy of trees high above the forest floor. What was different? Everything.
Lexi’s breath was at her ear, her hands slid down her body and over her hips. She knew exactly what Lexi was doing and soon she was spun around. Cate kept her eyes closed as the water cascaded over her face. She tipped her head back, exposed her neck to Lexi’s kisses and love bites. To her tongue.
It traveled down, between her breasts. Down her belly and down ever further until she felt the hot slippery warmth between her legs. Lexi’s moan reverberated through Cate’s body and echoed through the tiled enclosure. Cate wanted nothing more than to let everything fall away. She rested one hand on the cold tile and the other on the glass door. She raised her leg and balanced her foot on the side of the tub. Then she opened her eyes.
Lexi gazed up at her.
“Are your eyes really blue?” Cate asked.
Lexi nodded.
“And your hair - is it blond?”
Lexi shrugged.
Perhaps she didn’t know anymore, Cate thought. And what did it matter? Her hair wasn’t natural either.
“Relax,” Lexi whispered.
Cate tried to relax but soon enough, her body gave in. Lexi pulled her from the shower and laid her down on a haphazard blanket of fluffy white towels. The hard tile around them was solid ground. Not comfortable, but something Cate could hang on to. She spread her knees, opening herself. Lexi knelt between her legs and then pushed inside.
There was the familiar surge of pleasure and then the warmth of Lexi’s body as it connected to her skin. Everything was slippery, from the shower that was still running behind her, to their bodies, sliding effortlessly, to the undeniable desire that had welled between her thighs.
“Open your eyes,” Lexi said.
Cate did.
She looked up into Lexi’s face; her cheeks flushed with heat, her plump ruby lips. Cate wrapped an arm around her neck and rested her other hand on Lexi’s bum as it thrust and pulled, sinking and drawing.
“Are you with me?” Lexi whispered.
“Yes,” Cate breathed.
“You’ve done nothing wrong. Nothing. There’s nothing to be afraid of. I will never let anything happen to you again.”
“Okay,” Cate said.
“Just relax.”
“Part of me is becoming very relaxed,” Cate said. She felt her smile break through.
Lexi’s eyes smiled back at her. “There you are,” she said softly. Her hips began to move again.
“That feels ... really good,” Cate moaned.
Lexi thrust a little deeper. “This does?”
Cate’s whole body reacted. She felt her cheeks go hot. “Mmm, yeah that.”
Lexi did it again, first gently, then forcefully, teasing and unrelenting. Water dried on Lexi’s back and then turned to sweat again. Cate was lifted from the tile and deposited on the bed with the crisp white hotel sheets. She watched Lexi walk to the window and fling open the curtains. Light sizzled in and illuminated everything. Lexi moved across the room and crawled up the bed. In another instant, Cate was lost in the push and pull again - this time, on a cloud of soft linens under brilliant sunbeams. The outside world came in, through the windows, through the screens. The sounds, smells, and the pale blue sky. Lexi’s grunts and moans mingled with her own whimpers and cries and the bed that creaked beneath them like some tired old train. Lexi’s powerful body drove Cate where she needed to go. Staring into the fathomless blue eyes of her lover, she went there.
***
They woke an hour later, wrapped in twisted sheets. Cate felt softer than before as if her hardness had been sanded away.
“How do you feel?” Lexi whispered.
“Better,” Cate said. She began to laugh. “Next time I lose my mind like that, you know what to do.”
Lexi kissed her neck and then continued up and around her ears.
“Tell me more about what happens after all this,” Cate asked. “In the fall and winter.”
Lexi thrust her hips a few times. “You want me to tell you, or show you?”
She was kidding, of course, and Cate knew it. Check out time was in less than forty-five minutes and they still had to shower and dress.