by Calista Fox
Glancing beyond her shoulder, he could see in the reflection of the window that she was silently crying.
Damen knew about her husband, Conner Kane. He knew Conner had been killed following a rescue mission. The man had saved a lot of lives, but had lost his when his helicopter had crashed in a canyon engulfed by flames—and no one could get to him. No one could get to his remains. Not for days after the blaze had died…right along with him.
“I’m not an asshole, Nikki,” Damen murmured. “I’m trying to save lives, too.”
4
“The problem is,” Agent Castillo said from behind her as Nikki tried to draw in even a sliver of air that didn’t feel like razorblades down her throat, “You’re the key.”
Nikki swept her hands over her face, whisking away tears. She jerked around in her seat. “I swear to you,” she said with absolute conviction, “I have no fucking idea what you’re talking about.”
“Then prove it to me. Right here. Right now.”
She stared into his deep-blue eyes. His amazingly deep-blue eyes. They were gorgeous and mesmeric against his bronze skin and his onyx hair.
Yes…he was ridiculously handsome. Cloaked in expensive cologne—just the perfect faint, yet rich aroma to entice the senses and make the blood hum through her veins.
He hypnotized and electrified her.
He also terrified her. So much so, she knew she had to exonerate herself. This very second.
But she couldn’t.
“Look,” she said, as she attempted to balance out her mind, her emotions and her hormones. “You’re offering a simple solution. I hear you. I appreciate it, even.”
He leaned in a bit closer to her, and she felt his heat, his intensity. It stirred her senses even more.
Damen said, “We could end this now.”
“We could,” she concurred. “But I can’t give you my laptop. Understand, Damen,” she said his name intensely, compellingly. “My entire universe is on that computer. I’m a psychiatrist and the most significant breakthrough I’ve ever experienced is my own. It’s on that hard drive.”
“I’m not invading your private space, Nikki,” he averred.
“How can you even say that?”
He groaned. Dragged a hand down his face. “Okay, yes. It is hugely invasive. I will do my best to minimize that.”
“Then let me close all the windows and transfer everything that’s personal to a secure cloud—”
“I can’t do that,” he carefully insisted. He gently gripped her arm and said, “Think this through. If I granted that sort of leeway, you’d have the opportunity to erase the information I’m looking for.”
“But I wouldn’t,” she swore. “I don’t even know what this information is.”
“Nikki, come on…” He studied her closely. “You’re too smart to believe I can just accept this solution as—”
“I don’t have the information you want,” she said as more tears filled her eyes.
“Você tem certeza?”
“Yes, I’m sure. I speak Portuguese, Damen.”
“Sei sicuro?”
“And Italian.”
“Si si istý.”
“Not Slovakian.”
He grinned, though it was grim.
“I’m not some sort of international spy,” she said, “And I can’t just hand over something that represents my entire existence, that holds—”
“Nikki, goddamn it,” he swore under his breath. “You’re not a representation of what’s on that laptop. You’re…so fucking much more than that. I’ve created a dossier on you, I know what you do, I know who you are.” His jaw clenched so hard, it was a wonder it didn’t shatter. “At least…in some capacities. Listen, I won’t look at your private windows. I just need to see if the dongle is lodged in a port on your computer.”
“You know that word is really annoying, right?”
One corner of his mouth lifted in a sexy grin. “Is that your way of trying to distract me?”
“Is it working?”
“Yes. Everything about you distracts me.”
“Oh.”
Her gaze remained on his mouth. He had the most tempting lips. So perfectly proportioned. Not too thick, not too thin. Soft and inviting and—without doubt—warm and engaging.
Nikki had never thought she’d be attracted to another man again. In fact, as her whole past with Connor hung in the balance—as she was negotiating how to keep it personal and private between her and Conner—she felt the infiltration around the cracks and crevices of her psyche, her soul. Because of this new man.
Nico Valdiviesio had chipped away at her carefully constructed exterior.
Damen Castillo was forcing his way inside.
She didn’t have any real leverage here. Even if she kept her mouth shut until they landed in New York and then Jude arrived…there was no way in hell Damen Castillo was letting her walk off this plane with her laptop.
Unless she could prove to him that what he wanted didn’t exist.
As they still gazed into each other’s eyes, she told him, “I resent the hell out of you for making me do this.”
“I resent the hell out of the fact that I have to do it.”
His reply surprised her. Caught her off guard.
He added, “I don’t want to believe you and Garcia cooked something up.”
“Then why are you so convinced we did?”
He drew in a deep breath. Nikki leaned closer.
“What?” she insistently queried.
“The device has a built-in tracking system.” He didn’t break the eye contact as he reached for the phone in his pocket. With his thumb, he tapped out his passcode and then showed her the screen. “That’s our plane, headed to New York. That red beckon—headed to New York—is the device. It’s inserted in your laptop.”
“No, Damen. That can’t be. I would know…”
“Not necessarily. It’ll lay flush against the frame of your computer. Unless you wanted to use the port or ran your finger alongside it, you likely wouldn’t even notice it was inserted.”
She swallowed hard. “Terrorist info aside, Damen…” She felt a shudder through her. Her stomach clenched. Her breath caught.
“What, Nikki?” he muttered.
“Can this dongle export information?”
His head jerked back slightly. “Fuck.”
“Can it?” she quietly demanded.
“No. Not at all. That’s not… Shit. Don’t worry about us extracting your private moments with… Goddamn it, Nikki.” He shoved his phone back into his pocket. Then his fingertips grazed her temple. “Let me check for the device first. Just…let me check, okay?”
“And what if you find something?” she challenged. “Are you going to immediately assume I know about this? Because, Damen… I don’t.”
“There is another loophole. But you have to let me see your computer, Nikki.”
She hedged. Her pulse echoed in her ears and her heart twisted in her chest.
Jesus…
She wanted to say no, but… What choice did she really have here? He was getting his hands on her computer either way. At least if she let him see it now, it’d still be within her sight.
She reached for her bag with trembling fingers. More tears stung the backs of her eyes.
As she handed over her laptop, she said, “You know I hate you for this, right?”
He leaned close to her again. Regret and remorse flitted over his chiseled face as he murmured, “I hate me for this, too.”
She searched his eyes for any sort of mocking. She didn’t find it. He truly looked repentant. Because…he knew. If he’d created a dossier on her, then he knew about Conner.
Thus… He actually did comprehend how painful this was for her.
That didn’t let him off the hook, of course.
“Get me another glass of wine,” she told him.
“Gladly.” He signaled the flight attendant for a beverage refresh.
Nikki took a dee
p sip as Damen set her computer on his foldout tray. He paused, as though suddenly not eager to inspect the ports.
As though…he feared what he might discover. As though…he truly wanted her to be innocent.
Did he?
She impulsively rested a hand on his forearm. “How will you know if I’m guilty or not?”
His gaze shifted to her. “If the device is connected to your computer, I’m naturally suspicious as to how it ended up there, not just in your bag.”
“Me, too,” she confessed. And crooked a brow.
Taking the bait, he asked, “Have you left either unattended, out of your sight, for more than a minute?”
“It’s not like I take my laptop to the restroom with me in my own hotel suite, Damen,” she ground out.
“I’m talking about in public places.”
“The bag is basically an appendage. I take it everywhere when I’m out and about.”
“But there are instances when you set it aside. Yes?” he prompted. Suggesting he wanted her to be innocent?
My, how the plot—and the sexual tension—thickens.
She told him, “When I was in your room, before you disappeared, and I stepped outside to speak with Kate and Jude. When I was in your room and answered a call on my cell. When I was in your room and questioning people where the hell you’d gone.”
She sat back and took a deep drink.
“Angry-much?”
“Fuck you.”
He chuckled, though it was notably strained. “So you were curious about what happened to me?”
“That’s not the question on deck. You want to know if I left my bag, my laptop, unattended. Yes, sometimes, in what I considered to be a secure environment. Only in the hospital. But never far away and never for long. And yes, in public places, I actually did take it to the bathroom with me, Damen. So just pose or answer a question, already. Because, I’d never actually abandon my laptop.”
“I think we’ve established that,” he said with a nod.
A tear crested the rim of her eye. “Then you know you’re literally killing me right now.”
She wasn’t exaggerating or being overly dramatic.
He seemed to get this. “Let’s just start with step one…”
5
Damen slid his finger along the edge of her laptop.
And groaned. Sealing her fate?
“It’s not fucking mine,” she hastily whispered—in Portuguese. “Goddamn it, Damen. I don’t know anything about—”
“Just chill.”
Seriously?
Her teeth sank into her bottom lip.
“It’s our device,” he confirmed. “I’m going to need your password.” He shot her a look, adding, “And don’t say Fuck You.”
She grimaced.
He smirked.
Then more assertively prompted her. “Nikki.”
She sipped. Sucked it up—as difficult as that was—by caustically saying, “One guess.”
His fingers didn’t touch the keyboard. Not at first.
They hovered mere millimeters away for the briefest of moments. Then he plugged in the letters to spell out Conner…and a screensaver of Nikki and her husband popped up. She was snuggled next to him, leaning over his shoulder, her mouth against his ear as she whispered something into it. While he grinned.
Nikki’s eyes squeezed shut and she turned toward the window.
She remembered exactly the words she’d uttered as Kate had snapped that photo.
I’m pregnant.
It was the only time she’d said that out loud.
Two days later, Connor was dead and Nikki miscarried.
“Just do what you have to do,” she ground out. “And then close the lid.”
“Nikki—”
“Just…for God’s sake,” she said on a mangled breath. “Just—”
“I have to validate if this program has been launched,” he told her. “There’s an encryption code embedded. It’s a one-time code, a one-time launch. If it’s been entered before now—”
“You’ll think I’m a terrorist.”
“Or a spy. It is your computer…”
“Fuck you, Damen.”
He sighed. “Evidence is evidence, Nikki.”
“Justice can be blind, Damen.”
She tore her gaze from the window and they stared at each other.
She wasn’t about to be screwed in this deal.
He said, “Let me enter the code.”
She pulled in a deep breath. Sipped her wine. Gave a slight nod.
Damen’s fingertips skimmed over the keyboard once more. Then he sat back.
Her breath caught in her throat as several intensely suspended seconds held them in limbo, while the screen turned black.
“Goddamn it,” he murmured.
“I did not access that device! Damen—” Nikki started to say.
The program suddenly launched. Codes and algorithms whizzed over the screen, from top to bottom, scrolling too fast for her to register anything.
Yet relief rushed through her veins.
“What is all of that?” she asked, shocked and dumbfounded.
“Part of the encrypted data. It has to be dissected, broken down, processed…”
“But Damen—”
“It’s okay, Nikki,” he said, dragging his gaze from the screen and pinning her with a look. “You didn’t breech the encryption—not the launcher and not the program. I told you, there’s only a one-time usage code.”
“Great. I’m innocent. Give me back my computer.”
“You know I can’t do that.”
“What the hell?” she raged under her breath.
He stared deep into her eyes. “Think this through.”
She gaped. Her relief instantly evaporated.
He said, “Please don’t throw your glass of merlot in my face. Let’s not draw more attention to ourselves.”
“You son of a bitch. You knew that once you launched that program, you’d have to confiscate my computer.”
“I was confiscating it either way.”
“Oh, my God.” She could barely breathe again. She set her glass on the pullout cocktail tray that was part of the large center armrest separating them. Had she been standing, Nikki suspected she would have crumpled to the floor. Anxiety and heartache vibrated through her.
“I need to analyze this data once it’s decoded,” Damen told her. “I can’t transfer it anywhere, Nikki. I’m… I’m…” He swore under his breath.
“You don’t have to fucking say you’re sorry. I know you aren’t.”
“I am,” he averred with a contrite expression.
“You tricked me.”
“I merely followed a protocol to its logical conclusion.”
She reached for her phone again and emailed Jude. Who very unfortunately confirmed Damen could seize her computer.
Still, she told Damen, “I can’t let that laptop out of my sight. If anything were to happen to it… You didn’t even let me download everything that’s on the hard drive. My own personal information and photos and—”
She ripped her gaze from his and tried to pull in a decent amount of air before she hyperventilated.
“I can’t change the fact that the device ended up attached to your computer, Nikki. I can’t—”
An insistent beeping from her computer cut him off. The echoing of the sound on his cell made Nikki’s heart jump into her throat.
“What the hell…?” she muttered.
He entered his passcode on his iPhone, then every single solid inch of him went rigid—and he appeared to resist the urge to yell a litany of obscenities as his jaw clenched.
“What, Damen?” she more fiercely asked. “What the hell just happened?”
“What the hell just happened, Nikki,” he told her in a tight voice, “is that this device is valid, but the launcher has been compromised.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning, I was tracking it when it was in your computer. Now
that I’ve activated the device, whomever inserted it into the port…is tracking us.”
She glared at him with misty eyes…and Damen truly did feel like an asshole of epic proportions.
“Don’t you dare tell me, Damen Castillo, that you’re going to destroy my laptop.”
His teeth ground.
“Jude McMillan is only one of my legion of lawyers,” she forcefully said, with absolute loathing in her tone. “I will fight this so fucking hard that your ass will hurt when we’re done. And you won’t have a job. You will not have a fucking job.”
He closed the lid of the computer. But he didn’t hand it over.
While she seethed, he told her, “I can keep it in my possession, Nikki. This is my case. I don’t have to hand it off to anyone else.”
“Like I trust you any more than I would your QTango Ops people?”
“I’m going to ask you to trust me,” he asserted, his gaze unwavering. “But that comes with concessions.”
“You have my fucking laptop!” she all-but growled. “How many more concessions am I supposed to make, Damen? You just proved I am innocent of any sort of treasonous or terrorist act. I have rights. And Jude and my team will ensure—”
“I can keep your laptop in my possession,” he repeated, calmly. Though on the inside, his gut coiled. He was walking a very fine line here…and it was about to become even more sliver-thin. “And it will be in your sight the whole time.”
Her gaze narrowed on him. “How is that possible? I’m supposed to be on my way to Switzerland. I have people to help there, Damen, while you return to Spy Headquarters—wherever the hell that is.”
“I can work on deciphering this intel tonight. In New York.” He stared more pointedly at her. “While in your presence.”
“While in my—” Her long, sooty lashes fluttered and her lips twisted. She had words to say…they just didn’t come out.
“In a hotel suite I’ll secure for us.”
“Oh, my God,” she said on a harsh exhale. “Do you honestly think…after all of this…that I’d want to be in the same city with you, let alone the same hotel room?”
“Consider this,” he said. “Wherever I am, your computer will be with me. Safe. So will you, if you want to keep it in your sight… I can protect you and your precious photos.”