by Lexi Blake
Michael snorted. “There is nothing professional about this. We’re basically running some weird op under the radar, and you know damn well Ian is going to be pissed. What are you planning on doing if we’re gone for any length of time?”
“I already texted Ian. I told him Mia needed some backup on a story she was pursuing and that I didn’t feel like it would be smart to not have a team with me. He said it was fine and that I should wear a condom, a real condom, and maybe two condoms. I’m pretty sure he was holding the new baby at the time. Ian’s fine with it.” Ian would kick his ass if he knew the truth, but Case had to make that call.
If Ian thought he was following Mia across the globe so he could get some, that was all right with him.
Because now that he was here, he really wanted to get some. Not some. Her. Only freaking her. Maybe once he’d had her, he could think straight again. Maybe he could put her behind him and move on with his life. He’d been stuck since the moment he’d met her.
“They should serve dinner soon,” he said, glancing toward the back of the plane. Well, the hallway that led to the back of the plane. Maybe the middle. It was a big fucking private jet and it wasn’t the largest in the Lawless fleet.
And he should remember that. This was Mia’s world. Mia would marry some college-educated fuckwad who got along with her hyper-successful family. Whoever Mia married wouldn’t get called into Andrew Lawless’s office and asked how much cash it would take to get him to stay away.
Andrew Lawless was fucking lucky they needed him or Mia would have been down a brother that day.
She’d gotten up roughly twenty minutes into the flight, saying she needed to visit the ladies’ room. She’d stretched and he’d watched the way her breasts moved and managed to bite back a groan because his dick still hurt. Oh, it worked and he would deal with the pain if he got the chance, but damn. Why wasn’t she back? He couldn’t let her avoid him.
He needed to talk to her before it got too late. “We’ll do the debrief during dinner. I’ll be back.”
He eased out of the chair and turned toward the hall Mia had disappeared down.
“Taggart.” Fain sat up, his hand gesturing for Case to move in closer.
Why had Mia insisted on bringing this ass along? He looked like a whiny-ass dude who would break into song about his feelings or maybe sit down and write poetry. He did not look like a Marine. “What do you need?”
“I don’t like the flight attendant.”
He didn’t particularly like her either, but he wasn’t sure what to do about it. “I think you can handle it for a few hours. Did she hit on you? Just send her over to Hutch. He’s been horny lately.”
Fain sat up, his voice going low. “I’m not talking about her being my type, asshole. Watch her. Something’s wrong.”
Case looked toward the front of the plane where the attendant was looking down at a tablet. “What’s wrong with her?”
“I don’t know, but I don’t like it. I didn’t like the pilot either.”
So he was one of those insanely paranoid assholes who’d seen way too much action during his service and now thought everything was a bomb waiting to explode. Still, he could use the guy’s paranoia. Maybe if Case gave him a job to do, he would stop trying to get close to Mia. “Then I think that should be your job. Watch the stewardess and make sure she doesn’t spit in our coffee or anything.”
“I’m not eating anything she puts in front of me.”
Like the jerk or not, if he’d been Force Recon, he had to consider that Fain knew something. He wasn’t going to let his distaste for Fain’s boss blind him. “You honestly think something’s wrong?”
Fain’s jaw went tight. “I do. I feel it in my bones. She’s not used to wearing heels. You can see it in how tight her eyes get when she’s forced to walk. She kicks them off the minute she can. From what I can see there’s nothing wrong with her feet, so I have to conclude she’s not used to wearing heels. Also her makeup’s off.”
He had noticed that. “Her eyeliner’s screwed up.”
“When was the last time you met a professional flight attendant to a billionaire who didn’t look absolutely perfect?”
He’d ridden the 4L jet before, though it had been one of the larger ones. The attendant had been flawless. Flight attendants on regular people planes—both men and women—took extreme care with their appearance. Whether or not they happened to be beautiful, they always looked professional. And they would know damn well not to wear heels on a six-hour flight if they couldn’t handle them.
But what the hell did that prove?
She looked up from her tablet and smiled his way. It didn’t reach her eyes. He hadn’t studied her closely before. Now he could see how chilly she was despite the smile and saying all the right things.
“I’m going to go and talk to Mia,” Case explained, keeping his voice down. “I’ll keep eyes on her. You slap Hutch awake and see if he can get an Internet connection. There has to be a satellite connection on this sucker. He’s got facial recognition on his phone. Maybe it can pull something up. And talk to Michael. He’s a former SEAL. He knows what he’s doing.”
Fain nodded. “Will do. I don’t particularly like the fact that we’re with the sister of a billionaire going into a country where it would be easy to hold her for ransom. Lots of jungle in Colombia to get lost in.”
And cartels who made money on the side in just such a fashion. Kidnapping had decreased in Colombia and the country was considered safe, especially in the tourist towns. Thousands of Americans flocked to its beaches and cultural centers every year. But thousands of Americans weren’t Mia Lawless Danvers. She was a ripe target. The truth was he would be concerned with her anywhere she went.
Case stood up, sending Michael a look as Fain moved to join him.
Likely there was no trouble. Mia had booked the flight at the last minute. It was entirely possible their slightly unkempt flight attendant simply hadn’t been prepared, but he couldn’t leave that to chance.
He eased down the hall. To his left was the private dining room that Fain absolutely wouldn’t be sharing with Mia tonight. No fucking way. He might be willing to work with the dude, but he could only be pushed so far. To his right looked like a private office. That might be where Hutch ended up. He might cry a little at the thought of sitting at Drew Lawless’s desk.
This place probably made Air Force One look clunky.
Maybe he should have taken a couple of million off that jerk. It wasn’t like he would miss it. Not at all. Mia’s brother could write a check for ten million and never notice it was gone.
How much, Mr. Taggart? Don’t get me wrong. I like your brother. I like you, but you’re obviously wrong for my sister. How much to get you to leave her be?
I haven’t touched her.
But you will. I can see the chemistry between you quite clearly. Do you honestly believe she belongs in your world? Take the money. If anyone asks it’s a bonus for doing your job and doing it well. But we’ll know what it’s really about. Name your price.
Humiliation burned in his gut. He could still remember how he’d felt when he’d gotten up from the chair and calmly explained to Lawless that there wasn’t enough money in the world to buy him off. He could hear Lawless calling out and trying to stop him.
He’d sent the man his happy middle finger and walked out.
Drew had sent him several e-mails and tried to call, but Case was done. He deleted the e-mails without reading them and consigned the calls to voice mail hell.
It had been six weeks since Lawless made his play. Case didn’t get why he’d done it. Seven months had passed and he’d worked off and on with 4L trying to get a better layout of the mysterious group known as The Collective. He’d pretty much left Mia completely alone. Oh, he’d seen her in a couple of meetings and they’d had a single, fairly heated argument over what had happened between them.
So why had Lawless made that play?
He stopped in front of the last
door and the question slipped out of his head. Mia was standing in the middle of what looked to be a bedroom. There was a mirror on the wall and she held a dress up, looking at herself in the glass as though considering every angle.
So damn pretty. Why did she have to be so pretty?
“It’s a nice dress. Are we getting fancy for dinner? I have to warn you I only brought a couple of pairs of jeans and some T-shirts. I’ll have to suit up somewhere if I need anything but casual.”
He watched as she flushed. She shook her head and then opened a drawer, putting the dress back in.
Now that he got a better look at it, the material was filmy, with swaths of lace decorating it. Was that lingerie?
“Sorry. I came here to see if something I’d left behind was still here. It was.” She shut the drawer and turned back to him. “I promise everything’s casual. I mean to keep a low profile. The real problem is I didn’t book enough hotel rooms. I’ll have to see if we can find a couple more when we get there.”
“I’m staying with you.” He needed to make that clear right here and now. “You might shove me on a couch, but I was never going to have a separate room.”
Too much could happen if he left her there alone. And way too little could happen if he wasn’t there. Now that he’d made the decision to go with her, it seemed fairly inevitable that chemistry and close proximity would work their magic.
And her brother could bite his ass.
She shook her head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Then don’t think about it at all.” He stepped into the small but elegantly appointed bedroom, the rest of the world seeming to fade away. “Let me take care of that part. You know I won’t let anything bad happen to you.”
She was silent for a moment, those big blue eyes staring straight through him. “I know you won’t hurt me physically.”
“I don’t want to hurt you at all, Mia. Look, I got angry because you lied to me. I lied to you. In the end we were both doing it for the greater good. Let’s get past that.”
She leaned against the dresser. “I already have. I know why you did it. I actually should thank you. You didn’t take advantage of me. It would have been easy for you to. When I really think about it, you were a gentleman.”
He didn’t want to be a gentleman around her. He wanted more than the polite iciness they’d settled into. “I did kiss you.”
“I kissed you back,” she replied a little wistfully. “I know you won’t believe me, but I meant that kiss. I didn’t walk into Sanctum expecting to find a lover.”
“I would hope not. You were engaged.” It still bothered him. It still made him feel dirty.
“Yes.” Her arms crossed over her chest as though she needed protection. “Is that what the real problem is? You can’t trust me again because I kissed a man while I was engaged to someone else?”
He’d thought through the scenario about a thousand times since he’d opened that folder Ian had given him and learned the truth about her. How far would she have taken it? He’d been so lost that evening. Spending time with her had made him feel good. By the time he’d brought her up to the rooftop, he’d practically forgotten his troubles. And that was when the guilt had set in. That was when he’d known damn well he wasn’t going to sleep with her because his brother was dead and he shouldn’t be thinking about a woman. Then she’d brought him such peace. Sitting with her, talking about Theo with her had felt so right. For the first time since Theo’s death, he’d thought he might be able to deal with it. Then everything had changed.
“Tell me something, Mia. If I’d pushed, would you have slept with me that night?”
She shook her head. “No. I wouldn’t have. Later, maybe, but not that night. I started to trust you specifically because you didn’t push me. You seemed to want more from me than sex and then you didn’t want me physically at all.”
“I wasn’t going to sleep with you when I knew you were lying to me and I was lying to you.” It was the moment he’d known he would always be a soldier and never an operative. He could make hard decisions, but he couldn’t give away that piece of himself.
Her skin flushed the prettiest pink. “Yeah, well, I probably would have. It’s a good thing you saved us from that. And I never said it to you, but I’m glad it wasn’t Jared. I know that would have hurt Kai. I actually came to like Jared. I was happy to be wrong.”
He’d known she would have gone to bed with him. She’d been deeply frustrated by how unphysical he’d been with her. He’d had to turn his head a time or two to keep her from kissing him.
Not touching her had been hell.
“The good news is now everything is out in the open.” It was awkward standing here with her. At one point in time he’d felt so comfortable talking to her. He hadn’t known her then. There hadn’t been a mile-high wall between them. He hadn’t realized how far apart their worlds were back then. He’d thought she was a sweet woman who worked in a dentist office. He’d had something to offer that woman.
What the hell could he give Mia Lawless except a couple of orgasms?
There was one other thing he could give her.
“Are you ever coming back to Sanctum?”
Her eyes flared briefly at the mention of Sanctum, but then she shut down again. “I wasn’t sure I could.”
Ah, yes, she was still invested in the lifestyle. “Ian didn’t revoke your membership. I asked him not to. Kori and Sarah made a plea for you, too. Actually, they made him cookies. My brother can be bribed.”
“Somehow I can’t see Ian Taggart being happy with me in his club. I lied to him, too.”
“You would be surprised at how reasonable Ian can be when he wants to. You should come back.” Another thought hit him. A nasty one. “Unless you joined a club in Austin.”
“No, Case. I haven’t been out trolling for strange Doms,” she said with a sigh. “I’ve been working with my brothers. They have their own insane plans, you know.”
He knew they were investigating a couple of people. Adam and Alex had been working on it. Case had stayed away. He wasn’t sure why the Lawless brothers wanted to take down StratCast Industries or why they seemed to have a hard-on for Patricia Cain, who wrote cookbooks and shit. If they wanted to take down the ice queen, who had a whole network dedicated to her telling the rest of America how shitty their taste was in everything from food to throw pillows, more power to them.
“Well, you’re welcome to come back. I know Kori and Sarah miss you. Erin’s talked about you, too. She likes any woman who’ll threaten to shoot her. Once she hears how you dealt with my rudeness, she’ll want to be your best friend.” His sister-in-law understood the need for a violent reminder every now and then. “You should see your friends. You know, I never asked you about her. About the friend you lost.”
It had been the whole reason for her lie and he’d never asked her about it. They’d been far too busy bickering over inconsequential things or ignoring each other.
“Her name was Carrie. We were roommates in college. She was very excited to be working on her first set.” Mia looked wistful, her eyes misting. “She was my first friend in college. We kind of clung together. She was from a small town and I, well, I had an odd upbringing. We kind of clicked. We roomed together until she moved to Vancouver for the show. I miss her.”
“I’m sorry, darlin’. I really am.”
She gave him a wan smile. “You know what it means to miss someone. I’m sorry about everything, Case. I thought I was doing the right thing. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
He moved in, taking the opportunity she was giving him. They should have done this a long time ago. “And I’m sorry I made you think I didn’t want you. I did. Walking away from you every night was hard as hell. I still want you, Mia.”
She looked up at him. “I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
“Tell me why you looked for Theo.” He should be asking her how she’d found Theo. He knew that, but he couldn’t do it. They would be tog
ether for days. He could find that out later. Right now, he needed to find out if she wanted him, too.
“You know why.”
He did. It was the same reason he hadn’t played with a single sub since the day he’d met her. No play. No sex. No anything because no one was Mia and it seemed like she was the only woman in the damn world who could do it for him. “Because we have chemistry. Because nothing ever felt like kissing me. No sex. No intimacy. None of it ever worked the way it did with me.”
“God, you’re an arrogant man.”
He wasn’t. It was all a front. “I’m not being arrogant. I know how you feel because I felt it, too. Why the hell do you think I lied about having a girlfriend? I haven’t touched anyone since the day I met you.”
Her eyes flared, her mouth dropping a bit. It was good to know he could shock her. “What are you trying to say, Case?”
He finally did what came naturally. He touched her, sliding his palm up her neck to cup her cheek. That was what he’d been missing. Connection. Warmth. “I think we’re going to be together for a few days. I’m tired of not knowing.”
He wanted to know what it felt like to cover her body with his, to have her spread and waiting and offering herself to him. To know how it felt to slide inside all that warmth. To be surrounded with her.
It wouldn’t last. It would only be for a few days, but for those days he would know what it meant to take care of her.
She frowned, but he felt her lean into his hand as though she needed the contact, too. “I don’t know.”
“You don’t want to know what a real D/s connection is like?” He was going to hit her where he suspected she was weakest. She hadn’t gotten to play. She’d taken the class, gotten a tiny taste, and she would need a full meal.
God knew he did. He could make a fucking buffet of her.
“It would only be for play, Case.”
His dick jumped in his jeans. “Only for play and out in the field.” That gorgeous mouth started to open and he was sure she was about to spew some serious bile his way. He put a finger over her lips. “No. This is where we went wrong in the first place. We should have sat down and banged out a contract. We should have taken this seriously.”