by Amy Gamet
So much bravado, but she was scared, and the knowledge made him soften toward her. This couldn’t be easy. While he’d been hired for a job, this was her real life, and sympathy made him long to help her.
He dipped his head. She was considerably shorter than him, and her body leaned against his as she went up on her tiptoes to reach his mouth. That scent of flowers was back, mixing with something sweet, and his lips touched hers. Her awkwardness felt to Matteo like the nervousness of an inexperienced, tentative lover.
She kisses like a virgin.
Blood surged to his cock at the thought. Of course she was not a virgin. She was a mother, for Christ’s sake. A breastfeeding mother with lush, full tits that had turned him on the moment he walked in the room and realized she was nursing.
Don’t be a pervert.
He lifted his head just slightly, enough to break their kiss, but her eyes blinked open and he saw desire there. She wanted him to kiss her again.
Matteo froze.
If he did, it would affect their relationship for the whole time he was here. This was a job, after all, and it wouldn’t be right for him to go beyond what was required.
But he couldn’t seem to make himself step back. Her cheeks flushed a deep crimson and she dropped her head.
His hand was at her neck, tilting her face back up to him before he could stop it. She leaned into him again and his mouth captured hers.
He moved slowly, tasting the sweetness of her full lips as his hand stroked her back.
The air in the room shifted, this moment suddenly changing from an impersonal experiment to a highly personal embrace. They weren’t practicing anymore. He was a man and she was a woman and they were kissing because they wanted to be kissing.
God, she felt so good.
He should pull back. He knew it clearly, like he was standing on the edge of a high cliff, considering the fall that was possible if he persisted. He lifted his mouth and rested his forehead against hers, knowing he shouldn’t continue but not wanting to stop.
A knock sounded at the door and he met her eyes. She ducked under his arm to answer it, and he turned reluctantly around. A butler stood on the other side, holding up a suit and tie on a hanger. “I’ve brought Mr. Matteo’s things for the reception, Miss Grace.”
“Take them to his room, please,” she said.
The butler looked from Grace to Matteo and back. “But this is his room, madam.”
Jesus, I’m sharing a room with her.
He tucked his hands in his pockets. How the fuck was he going to keep his hands off her for three months? He’d only been here a day and they’d already been making out hot and heavy.
The butler cleared his throat.
Matteo walked to him and took the hanger, thanking him before shutting the door and turning to Grace. “I’m sure it’s just a misunderstanding.”
Her cheeks were red and she shook her head. “No, it isn’t. That son of a bitch expects us to share a room.” She stormed to the phone, picked it up, and dialed. “How could you?” she snapped. “This was not part of our agreement. The wedding reception is bad enough, but you expect this man to share my room with me? Share my bed?”
The irony struck Matteo. Wasn’t that exactly what he’d just been thinking? His stare fell to the floor, unfocused. He was grateful for the interruption. He had to do better going forward, had to stay out of that situation and control his reaction to this woman.
He was a SEAL, for God’s sake. Willpower shouldn’t be a problem.
She hung up the phone, letting it slam into its cradle and sitting eerily still.
“What did he say?” he asked.
She didn’t answer for a long moment. “That I made my bed, and I must lie in it.”
The insensitivity in that response shocked him. How bad was the relationship between father and daughter if that was how he treated her? “You two don’t get along very well.”
“You’re very observant.”
Prickly. She was prickly. He pretended not to notice. “It must be hard.”
“And the fact that I’m here, under my father’s roof again when I never thought I’d be back—ever—is the worst kind of salt for my wounds. He hates me.”
“Don’t say that.”
“Why else would he do the things he does? I understand the necessity of me being married. I get that. But forcing you to share a room with me? There’s no reason for him to put me in that situation unless he wants to punish me.”
“Grace, I won’t do anything to make you uncomfortable. What just happened between us doesn’t have to happen again.”
Unless you want it to.
He didn’t say the words that his mind was screaming for him to add.
“That was a mistake,” she said, covering her face. “I’m so embarrassed.”
He walked toward her. “Don’t be. It’s my fault. It was my idea and I got carried away.”
“It felt good to forget about my problems for a second. To feel something besides awful.” She shot him a sideways glance. “It’s nothing personal.”
They didn’t even know each other. Of course it wasn’t personal. So why did her comment make him want to show her just how personal it could be?
She crossed her arms over her chest. “I think it would be best if we leave each other alone as much as possible.”
“I disagree. This whole situation would be easier if you and I were friends. If we could trust each other and get along well, it would go a long way toward making the next three months easier on both of us.”
“You don’t get it, do you? You work for him. He will exploit that and he will use it to his advantage in any way possible. You are nothing more to him than a well-paid spy.”
The idea that Vasile might treat his own daughter so horribly was appalling. Either Grace was out of her mind, wrongfully convinced of the lengths her father would go to, or the man had no sense of right and wrong where his daughter was concerned. Both of those possibilities were disturbing.
“I’m also your husband.”
She laughed out loud. “You’re kidding now, right?”
He took in her features, from her angry green eyes to her patrician nose and the posture that spoke of long nights with her infant son. “I know we’re not really in a relationship, but we are legally married. And in the Church. I don’t take that lightly. You and I may not be a traditional husband and wife, but you have my loyalty, no matter what your father may expect.”
Her lips parted and her eyes seemed to be searching his for the truth. She was so beautiful, even more beautiful than he’d noticed before, and he wanted her trust. Was prepared to earn it.
“You mean that?”
“SEAL’s honor.”
“All right then. We’ll be friends.” She held out her hand and he shook it. “I need to lie down for a while,” she said. “See if I can wrap my head around this mess before we get paraded around like prized cattle.”
“Fine. I’ll give you some space.”
8
Matteo spent the next hour and a half exploring the house and getting a mental map of the premises. There were fourteen rooms downstairs and eight bedrooms upstairs, each with their own bathroom and most with their own fireplace. The third floor was a combination of storage space and what seemed to be quarters for the staff.
He’d have to get a list of everyone who worked here for Logan to research.
He checked out the security system inside the residence, from cameras and motion sensors to contact alarms on the windows and doors.
An hour in, he found what he was looking for. There, on the contact for a side entrance to the house, was a thin piece of metal.
“Bingo.”
If this door was opened, the metal would make it seem like the contact was still attached. Whomever had gotten into the baby’s room had most likely come in through this door.
He moved into the motion sensor hidden in a corner of the room, suspecting that it, too, had been tampered with. He open
ed up the back of the unit with his Swiss Army knife. Sure enough, the wires inside the motion sensor had been cut.
He made his way to Nico’s room, stopping to check each piece of the security system in between. A clear path had been created from the point of entry to the crib.
Whomever was working inside the house knew exactly where the intruder was headed.
He needed to find out where the main security system was located and check out the circumstances of the missing surveillance tapes.
The security advisor had said the staff who could have been responsible for the security breach had been dismissed, but the existence of a mole meant true security was nothing but a farce.
Still, he would use those names as a starting point.
He frowned. The solitary nature of this assignment meant he must detail without his greatest weapon — the other members of HERO Force. They were a team, and a damn good one. It would be a challenge to protect Grace without them.
His mind wandered back to her phone call.
You expect this man to share my room with me? Share my bed?
He couldn’t help but wonder if that was really what would happen. He could still taste her on his lips, feel the softness of her cheek beneath his fingertips. What the hell had gotten into him? He barely knew her. But she was so damn vulnerable with that hard shell and soft interior, the combination making him admire her and want to make it better at the same time.
Fuck.
He was already in up to his knees and he had to get terra firma beneath his feet before he fell right in. He forced his attention back to the task at hand. The security system needed some serious upgrades before he was confident in its ability to protect anyone. He took out his phone and called the general, explaining in detail what he wanted.
He’d just hung up when something odd caught his attention. There in the fold of the sitting room drapes was something that didn’t belong. He pulled down the curtain rod and picked out a small electronic device.
A bug.
Someone had wiretapped this room.
He looked around. Out of all the rooms he’d explored so far, this one seemed no more notable than the others. If it was bugged, there was a good chance they all were. He carefully put the listening device back where he’d found it before going in search of Vasile.
He found him in his study.
“You’re settled in, I assume?” asked the president.
Matteo took a seat. “I am.”
The older man nodded sagely. “I’m sure you were surprised to learn where you’d be sleeping.”
He seemed to be fishing, looking for a reaction, and Matteo kept his face carefully blank. “A bit.”
“Thirty-two people work in this household. That number does not include my office staff, nor the many people who come in and out of this building on a regular basis. I need your marriage to my daughter to appear sincere on every level.”
“I understand.”
“She does not. She can be difficult, as you may have already surmised. She was not happy she had to marry, but she does understand it is necessary.”
One question was already lingering in Matteo’s mind. “Then why not have her marry the baby’s father?”
“I can only assume he is no longer in her life, but I’m not sure of that. She won’t tell me who he is.”
“I’m sure she will tell you in her own time.”
“Do you have children, Mr. Cruz?”
“Matteo. No.”
The older man leaned forward on his desk, holding his hands. “Lenore and Grace were inseparable.”
“Lenore?”
“My wife. She passed away several years ago. While Grace and I have never been close, she now seems to hold me in contempt, as if losing her mother was somehow my fault. I daresay she would sooner die than reveal her heart to me.”
The sadness in the old man’s eyes touched Matteo. He hoped to have kids of his own one day and could not imagine such a bad relationship with one of his own children.
“But she might tell you,” Vasile said. The stare he gave Matteo made his expectations crystal clear.
You are nothing more than a well-paid spy.
“Sir, if you had hired me to be your daughter’s bodyguard, I would be liable to you. Likewise, if you hired me to be your advisor or a valet or the head of the Armed Forces, I would be liable to you. But you hired me to be your daughter’s husband. My loyalty lies with Grace.”
“It is not a real marriage in any way. You are no more than an actor, and I, the producer.”
“I don’t see it that way.”
“Then I suggest you change your thinking, or I will get HERO Force on the line and clarify your responsibilities.”
Matteo sat forward in his chair. “Don’t you see what you’re doing to her?”
“Rubbish. I don’t need to listen to advice from my staff.”
“She’s just had a baby. She’s tired and overwhelmed and stressed. You asked her to marry a stranger and she did that for you. Then you insisted she share her private space with me and you shamed her when she objected. Now you want to make sure she doesn’t have a confidant in me. And you wonder why she doesn’t trust you?”
Vasile stood up, his height a near-perfect match for Matteo’s. “You will be replaced. I will call Mr. Wilson and tell him your services are no longer required.”
“The ceremony is done. There will be no replacement. Grace is my wife.” The grandfather clock on the wall struck seven. “Time for the reception, unless you’d like to go out there and explain to them why your daughter’s new husband won’t be attending?”
The two faced off for several moments.
The phone on Vasile’s desk rang and he picked it up. “Yes?” he snapped.
The color seemed to drain from Vasile’s face.
“When?” he asked, then he was quiet, listening. “Get Talia in here.” He hung up the receiver and looked back at Matteo.
“They just found a bomb at a baseball game. More than five hundred people in the stands, not counting the players. They are sending the bomb squad to diffuse it.” He leaned back in his chair. “This isn’t the first time—”
Matteo held up his hand to stop Vasile from talking, then held a finger to his lips to warn him to be quiet. He picked up a pen from the president’s desk and wrote on a small pad. THE ROOM IS BUGGED.
Vasile furrowed his brow and raised sharp eyes back to Matteo’s.
“I’d like you to show me around the grounds if you have time,” said Matteo.
“I suppose I can do that.”
9
Cowboy was on the firing range with five potential new hires. Today he was testing their knowledge of weapons and their ability to shoot on target under stress.
His cell phone vibrated in his pocket as the recruits emptied their magazines, and his cock tingled. Charlotte had been texting him inappropriate pictures of herself for the last two hours, telling him to come home.
Her plan to move in with her brother hadn’t quite worked out since Cowboy wouldn’t let her out of his bed.
Talk about working under stress.
He couldn’t look at that shit without getting hard, so he ignored it, taking his ear protection off when the last man turned toward him. “Nice job. For our next challenge, I want you to suit up in full body armor and head out to the outdoor range.”
His cell phone vibrated again. She was insistent, and he liked it. Maybe he would go home for an extended lunch break. He licked his lips before realizing it was a phone call and checked the caller ID.
Red.
“I need to take this. Suit up and take a break until I’m through.” He answered the phone. “’Bout time you checked in,” he said. “I was beginning to think you ran off to Vegas with some hooker and got married. Oh, wait… That’s right. You’re already married.”
“How’s it going without me?”
“Pretty good. Running some drills with a few recruits.”
“Anybody good?�
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“Too early to say.”
“How many women are you looking to hire?”
“At least two. But we need to bring on two or three more guys. Give us some flexibility. Like now, you’re off in Lala Land for three months and we don’t have a pilot. I mean, shit — Logan can technically fly a plane and Hawk can get the bird in the air, but I wouldn’t get on board with either one of their asses unless the alternative was flaming lava and The Rapture.”
“Yeah. We could use more redundancy. Maybe even bring on another tactical guy like Jax, now that he’s spending more time out of the office.”
“I was thinking about that. I’ll bring it up to him. How’s it going over there?”
“Different than I expected. I want you to get some information for me on the woman.”
Cowboy smiled. “Your wife?”
“Cut the shit.”
“Come on now,” said Cowboy. “You can’t expect me not to have a little fun. You looking forward to your wedding night? I should probably tell you about the birds and the bees before you turn off the lights.”
“If you only knew.”
Cowboy narrowed his eyes. “Red, what’s going on over there?”
“Nothing, man.”
Shit would get complicated pretty quick if he really got involved with that woman.
“She was in Switzerland up until recently,” said Matteo. “I want to know who she was with.”
Cowboy pinched the skin between his eyes. “Is she pretty?”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“So she’s beautiful.” He clucked his tongue. “Be careful, Red. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
“Speaking of which, how’s Charlotte?”
The last picture she texted him flashed in his mind and his dick bounced in the shorts. “She’s good. Real good.”
“How’s Logan handling it?”
“You mean, has he started speaking to me in the two days since you left? No. Still yes sir, no sir kind of bullshit. Between you and me, I think that boy needs to get laid. Loosen up a little.”
“According to Hawk, he’s quite the ladies’ man.”