by E. L. Todd
“Smart woman.” He kissed the shell of my ear.
The knock came again. “Answer the door, asshole.” Wilder’s voice blanketed over both of us, and it was obvious he was pissed.
Oh shit. The last thing I wanted was for Wilder to see me like this. If I saw him in bed with another woman, I wouldn’t be cool about it. Also, he was my boss, so it was even more uncomfortable.
I jumped out of bed and quickly grabbed my clothes.
“What are you doing?” Ben whispered.
“Getting dressed. You think I want him to see me naked in your bed?”
“I’ll just crack the door. Chill, woman.” He pulled on his sweatpants and walked to the door.
I quickly pulled on my jeans and t-shirt, but it was still obvious I slept over. My hair was a mess, my makeup was a goddamn nightmare, and the bed was a mess and right in Wilder’s sight once the door was opened.
Ben opened the door and only cracked it like he planned. He rested one arm against the doorframe and yawned. “Hey, man. What’s up?”
“We’ve got a meeting in fifteen minutes.”
“Oh, thanks for the head’s up. I’ll be right down.” He began to shut the door.
“Where’s Gray?”
“I’ll let her know about the meeting. Don’t worry.” Ben began to shut the door again.
“I just went to her bedroom, and she’s not there.” He didn’t ask the question, but it was implied.
Ben must have given away the answer with the look on his face because he shut the door without further conversation. “You heard all that?”
“Yeah…” I shouldn’t feel awkward about Wilder catching us together. I wasn’t doing anything wrong, and it was none of his business anyway. But I wasn’t happy that Wilder had walked into my personal life like that. I didn’t want to catch him with Maxine or anyone else. It was uncomfortable for both of us.
“I like and respect Wilder, but right now, he’s really pissing me off.”
“Why?”
“It’s obvious he’s ticked about the whole thing. If he wanted you, he could have had you. He even specifically told me he didn’t have any interest in getting involved with you. So he doesn’t have any right to throw a temper tantrum. If he gives me shit for it, I’ll give him shit back.”
“We don’t know if that’s how he feels.” It was just speculation at this point.
“I’ve known Wilder a long time. Trust me, I know what he’s thinking.”
***
Wilder went over the plan we had for entering Moscow. We had to divide into different groups in order to pull off the mission because there were so many factors involved. We had to diffuse the situation with my father, save Mr. Connell, and extract or destroy the pulse. One agent couldn’t do everything at once.
“Gray and I will take care of The Bone Doctor. Our sources tell us he’s in Serbia. Probably waiting for the right moment for extraction. Ben and Maxine, you guys are going to head to the rendezvous point and intercept the pulse once it arrives. You’ll have a team with you. Our number one priority is the pulse. Saving Mr. Connell is our second priority.”
Second priority? “Since when did innocent people fall to second place?”
“The pulse could kill millions.” Wilder didn’t show any emotion when he led the meeting. He got to the point as quickly as possible. “One man can’t compare to that. That’s the cold truth.”
When he put it like that, I couldn’t argue with him. We needed to do our best to save all parties involved, not choose who would make it. But we may not have that luxury when it came down to it.
“Why am I working with Maxine?” Ben questioned. “I’m always with you, Wilder.”
“Change of plans.” Wilder sat down at the head of the table wearing a gray t-shirt with a black leather jacket.
“Should I be offended?” Maxine asked, looking at Ben.
“I just don’t like it when teams change,” Ben said. “Messes up the chemistry.”
“I have seniority, so I should be with Gray,” Wilder explained. “End of story.”
“Technically, I have more seniority than you,” Ben countered. “Since I served in the French army for so long.”
Wilder ignored him altogether. “That’s the plan. We move out tomorrow.”
“You think I don’t know what you’re doing?” The meeting was over, but Ben wasn’t done. He stared at Wilder like an enemy rather than an accomplice. “Don’t switch us all around just so you can—”
“Maybe you should sit out for this operation altogether, Ben,” Wilder said coldly. “You obviously have some issues to work through.”
I locked eyes with Ben and shook my head, telling him to calm down and back off. Nothing was worth getting suspended.
Ben leaned back and clenched his jaw, taking my advice.
Wilder dismissed the meeting. “We leave in two days. Take this time to prepare.”
Everyone left the table and headed to the door.
“Gray, I want to speak to you in private,” Wilder said without looking up from his papers. He stuffed them into the folder then rose to his full height, looking powerful without saying a single word.
Ben stopped at the doorway, venomously glaring at Wilder, and then walked out.
“What’s up, Wilder?” I couldn’t ignore the tension between the two men, and now I suspected Ben was dead on about everything. Maybe Wilder really was jealous of me seeing Ben. It seemed that way, but I hoped it wasn’t true because it made him look like a toddler.
“Let’s get dinner tonight.”
My jaw almost fell open. “We just went out to lunch the other day.”
“Now I want to take you somewhere for dinner. Show you around.”
I justified our beach day as friends getting together, but this distinctly sounded like a date. “What game are you playing?”
“Game?” he asked. “No game.”
I was surprised he was beating around the bush. It made me respect him less. “You’re telling me this has nothing to do with me sleeping with Ben?”
His face hardened like he felt sick. His face became slightly pale, and his brown eyes looked black under the dim lighting. “You said it wasn’t serious.”
“It’s not serious.”
“Then why did you sleep with him?” he demanded.
“Because I wanted to,” I snapped. “I like him. He’s fun to be around, and he’s drop-dead gorgeous. I’d have to be dead not to go for it.”
“Then why wouldn’t you sleep with me?”
Wow. He really was jealous. “Because you would move on to someone else the next day. At least with Ben, I know it has the potential to go somewhere even if it never does. But you offered me a warm bed for a single night. Ben is offering me a lot more.”
He tucked the folder under his arm, still looking furious. “Have dinner with me.”
My eyes narrowed. “Why? Why can’t we keep talking now?”
He rubbed the back of his neck, the irritation obvious in his features. “I want to be with you, Gray.”
Now that he said something meaningful, I could hardly believe it. I tightened my arms over my chest and forgot to breathe altogether. “What does that mean?”
“It means, I don’t like seeing you with some other guy,” he said coldly. “It bothers me, keeps me awake at night.”
I couldn’t believe he was admitting he was jealous. I couldn’t count the number of times I went to bed feeling like shit because I knew he was with someone else. “So…what do you want to do? Do you want to stop seeing other people and just be together?” I would be lying if I said I didn’t want that. I had strong feelings for Wilder the second I looked at him. There was a connection there, a powerful one.
“Let’s just have dinner and see where it goes.”
That response wasn’t enough for me. In fact, it alarmed me. “See where it goes? Wilder, do you want to be with me and only me?” It was a very simple question. Were Maxine and his other women out of the picture?
Or was our dinner just a one-time thing?
He didn’t answer, his shoulders stiffened, and his jaw clenched.
I couldn’t believe it. “You want to have a quick dinner and then screw. You only want me because you don’t want anyone else to have me. Nothing has changed between us, and you’re still the manwhore you’ve always been. I hated the fact I couldn’t be with you, but I respected your honesty. But this…is just low.” I turned around to get away from him as quickly as possible.
“Gray, wait.” He grabbed me by the elbow.
I twisted out of his grasp with lightning speed. “Just let me go. Maybe in a few days I can see you as a friend again. But right now, I just see you as a pig.”
Wilder reluctantly let me go.
I didn’t look at him in the same way anymore. He just made a jerk move, trying to get me away from Ben when he had no intention of offering me anything. I expected better of Wilder. Even then, I knew he was capable of so much more. He refused to have anything meaningful in his life, and a result, he watched someone who truly cared about him walk away. But I refused to get sucked into his trick. I refused to let my soft spot for Wilder get in the way of my judgment.
***
Daniel didn’t want to go to sleep that night. He was rambunctious and restless. He didn’t want to turn off his video game or clean up his toys. It was a hassle to get into his fresh pajamas and then into bed.
“I don’t want to go to sleep…” He pouted his lips and threw his arms down.
“I know how that feels. But think about it this way. The sooner you go to sleep, the sooner you’re awake in the morning. You can play your game then.”
The only response I got was a sigh.
“Sweet dreams.” I ran my fingers through his hair before I kissed his forehead.
“When are we going to get my dad?” His voice was much weaker than it was a moment ago. Now that the lights were off and he didn’t have a distraction, he thought about the painful reality on his shoulders.
“We’re going to get him in a few days.”
“Yeah?” he asked. “What if you don’t?”
“What do you mean by that, Daniel?” He was only eight years old and shouldn’t think about things like that.
“What if he dies…?”
I ran my hand through his hair again. “Don’t worry about that.”
“You promise you’ll get him back?” he whispered.
I could never make a promise I couldn’t keep, especially to a child. “No. But I promise I’ll do my very best to get him back to you.”
“Okay. Where will I go if he doesn’t come back?”
“Somewhere safe. You’ll be very well taken care.” I placed the covers over his body and tucked him in.
“I don’t want to be with a stranger… I want to be with you.”
His words were touching. I’d been looking after him since we arrived here a few weeks ago. I didn’t have a lot of experience with kids, but taking care of Daniel had been a delight. “I’m in no place to have a child right now. But I’ll always be in your life.”
“Okay…”
I walked to the doorway and took one final peek at him. His eyes were already closed, and he seemed to be fading into his dreams. I shut the door then walked across the hall to where my bedroom was.
“Hey.” Ben appeared at my side. He must have emerged from his own bedroom, even though I didn’t hear him.
“Hey.” I got the door opened and stepped inside, certain I didn’t want to have this conversation in the hallway where everyone else could hear us.
“What did that asshole say?”
I slipped off my shoes right away and tossed them across the floor. “He’s jealous. Wants to be with me. But he just wants a fling, nothing meaningful. I told him he was a pig and walked away. That’s about it.” I said everything nonchalantly because my heart had hardened the second our conversation was over.
“He actually said that?”
“Not in those words, but pretty much.”
Ben sat in the armchair in the sitting room, his long legs extending out. “He’s got a lot of nerve.”
“Whatever. Let’s just forget about Wilder.”
Ben eyed me with a raised eyebrow like he didn’t believe me. “I know this must be hard for you.”
I shrugged it off. “I guess I hoped Wilder would take me more seriously. I always thought we had a special connection. But I guess he doesn’t feel it, doesn’t know what I’m talking about. I’m not gonna bend over backward for a guy that doesn’t recognize my worth. Not my style.”
“Good attitude.”
“So, you’re still coming on the mission, right?” I didn’t want to talk about Wilder anymore. In fact, I didn’t want to talk about him ever again. After I had a few days to cool off, I would return to normal and interact with Wilder as usual. But for now, I wanted to steer clear of that man.
“Yeah. There’s no way Wilder could get rid of me. He needs me too much.”
“Too bad we can’t go together.”
He grinned. “I have a feeling we wouldn’t get much work done.”
“Yeah, probably not,” I said with a laugh. “Maybe being stuck with Wilder isn’t the worst thing in the world.”
“He’s a great agent, I’ll admit that. If anyone is gonna get us out of a tough jam, it’s him. He’s been doing this for a long time in many different capacities. I’ve seen him risk his own life for people who aren’t even worth it. I think his actions today have made him a real douchebag, but he really is one of the best guys I know.”
I didn’t need Ben to tell me any of that. Wilder’s goodness was obvious shortly after I met him. He wouldn’t allow himself to have a life of his own because he was too busy saving others. He never had a meaningful relationship because there just wasn’t time—and it was too risky. “I need to ask you something.”
“Fire away.”
“Why do you still have your shirt on?”
That sexy smile met his eyes, and he grabbed his shirt and peeled it over his head. “Excellent question, sweetheart.” He was all man, all power. He gave me a gentle push, so I fell back on the bed. “And I could ask you the same thing.”
I pulled my top off and unclasped my bra. Then I tossed the clothing at Ben.
It hit his chest then fell to the floor. “I’m glad we’re on the same page.”
Chapter Four
I threw my fists against the punching bag and circled around, moving with the momentum as it was swung back and forth. My shoulders and arms were sore, but that didn’t slow me down. My hair clung to the back of my back because it was sticky with sweat. I kept going until my timer went off and my workout was completed.
I grabbed my towel and patted the sweat from my forehead before I nearly drank my entire bottle of water.
“You got a minute?” Wilder’s powerful voice came from behind me. I’d recognize that tone anywhere. It was distinct since I’d heard it every day for months.
“What’s up?” It was the first time I interacted with him since our last conversation. I hadn’t thought about the tense way we left things because I had more important things to do. When I looked at him, I didn’t see the awkwardness on his face either so he must have forgetten about it too.
“I want to discuss tactics with you. After you shower, let’s meet in my office.”
Since there was no mention of lunch or dinner, his request seemed professional. “We can just do it now, and I’ll shower later.”
“You’re sure?”
“As long as you don’t mind the smell.”
He smiled. “Not in the least.”
We walked to the other side of the bunker and entered his office. It was enormous with two large bookshelves on either side of the room. He had a sitting area with three couches and a large desk in the background. The office was good enough for the President of the United States. “This place is so nice I’d sleep in here.”
He chuckled. “Thanks.” He took a seat on one of
the couches and pulled out all the paperwork.
I sat on the other sofa and sunk into the cushions, feeling comfortable despite how hot I was. The bunker was just as luxurious as the chateau up above. For a secret base, it had all the comforts of royalty. “So, where do we start?”
“I have allies in Serbia, so we’re gonna fly in and land at their base. We’ll have to traverse the rest of the way on foot or car.”
“Are you gonna fly the plane?”
“Yeah. But we don’t need to worry about the technical stuff. Leave that to me. What we need to worry about is your father. Ideally, I’d like to handcuff him and hand him over to the America authorities since he’s committed most of his atrocious crimes there.”
Hearing this stuff didn’t make things any easier.
“I want you to do your best to appeal to his humanity and possibly get any intel he has on the pulse, just in case he knows something you don’t.”
“That’s never gonna happen if you’re in the room.”
“I know. But it wouldn’t be smart to leave you. He could either kill you or snatch you.”
Would my father really do that to me? “Yeah…”
“I have a team meeting us at the rendezvous, so we’ll have back up. But I suspect he’s traveling alone. That’s how he works.”
“He pulls off his missions entirely by himself?” I asked incredulously.
“Yeah. I’m not gonna lie and pretend he’s not good at what he does. He’s one of the best.”
Hopefully, we could pull this off.
“I’m hesitant to engage him face to face when I don’t know the parameters of the situation. But perhaps your relationship with him can make all the difference. A peaceful surrender would make things a lot easier.”
“Yeah…but I think that’s wishful thinking.”
“I have an idea, but I can’t tell you what it is.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
He stared at the ground before he began his explanation. “I think I know how to get him to cooperate. But it’s unconventional. He probably will think it’s all an act until I make good on my word.”
I still didn’t know what he was saying. “Wilder, what do you mean?”