“I don’t think I can move.”
His arm fell heavy over her back. It was reassuring to know the sex affected him as much as it did her. He wasn’t pretending to be all he-man and bored.
She leaned back just enough to peek up at him. “So, were you able to watch the door the whole time for intruders?”
“Hardly.” His chuckle, low and deep, vibrated through both of them. “I’m pretty sure I lost the ability to see at all there for a while.”
“I guess this will make you rethink your no-sex-on-the-job position.” She hadn’t meant to say that, but it slipped out. No way to call it back now. Whatever smartass thing he said next, she deserved. She’d opened the door.
“No.” His face grew serious. “Unless the job is you.”
The words fell over her, trapping her breath in her lungs. She’d almost wished he’d been a smartass. She could handle asshole men. Decent ones were not her style. “If you’re looking to guarantee more sex while we’re here, you don’t have to try so hard.”
He just stared for a second, then . . . “Neither do you.”
NINE
Natalie was the prickliest woman he’d ever met. Gabe decided that the next morning, after an afternoon inside her on the cabin floor and in the shower that turned cold long before either of them came. One of the hottest women he knew, but damn hard to read.
He should be upset. Thanks to her he’d taken years of grown-up, smart, on-the-job rules and crushed them. Not that he even held out that long against her. After only a few days alone with her, he abandoned his common sense and his control. All those comments about not fucking on the job turned around on him until that was all he wanted to do. And he could not regret that choice. He doubted he could go back to not having her either.
The way she looked, walked, talked back to him, rode his dick. Jesus, he wasn’t kidding about his vision blinking out. Seeing her naked and hovering over him twisted his control to the breaking point. But the heavy dose of denial she seemed to wallow in snapped him back to reality. Her need to put up the shield. That got fucking old fast.
Sure, he understood. He’d been wearing similar armor for years. Kept up his guard. Put Brandon first. Relied only on his brothers . . . until Rick proved that was a big fucking mistake.
But at least he’d had someone. He couldn’t imagine her life and what knowing her father killed her mother must have done to her. Unbelievable shit like that had to mess with your head.
The icy top layer of snow crunched under her boots as she walked. “You’re humming.”
“Maybe that’s frustration over your refusal to stay inside.” He’d bundled up and grabbed weapons. He’d planned to forge this trail alone, but she had other ideas—booted up and followed him. It was either tackle her, shoot her or acquiesce. He picked the third but grumbled and swore about it until she rolled her eyes and followed him anyway.
“Get over it,” she said, as she scanned the trees around them.
“You are not very clear on the whole concept of protection, are you?” He’d had people fight his role before. She made it a full-time job.
“And you’re not getting that I’m an expert shot.”
“I saw your work with a hatchet. I don’t doubt it.” The woman’s skills surpassed those outlined in her file. The suggestion that she was soft or administrative only pissed him off. Made him want to defend her, but he doubted she needed anyone speaking on her behalf. “You seem to be good at everything, actually.”
She stopped and turned to face him. “Are you talking about sex?”
Now there was a conversation jump he was happy to take. “No, but I’ll talk sex with you any time.”
It didn’t matter that she wore a heavy jacket and gloves. That she had a plaid scarf wrapped around her neck and tucked up under her chin. Or that she was all bound up with only pink cheeks and big eyes staring out. Natalie mentioned sex and his body defied the cold. Heat crashed through him, and his mind spun to memories of her breasts and how the tips fit in his mouth.
She stole his willpower until he had to fight the clawing need to scoop her up and carry her back inside. Having sex with her only made him want to experience more sex with her. Different positions. Holding her down. Stretching her out.
So much for the idea of being civilized.
“All those comments about being in charge turned out to be bluster.” She stomped her feet and caked snow fell off. “You’re actually pretty unselfish.”
He had no idea what the hell that meant, but it sounded kind of lame. Like, not what you wanted the woman you hoped to sleep with that night to say about you. “I’m not clear if that’s a compliment.”
“It definitely is.”
He decided to believe her. Then he went back to walking. Standing around seemed like a good way to freeze the soles of her boots to the ground, and he had better plans for the afternoon.
“Good.” But he did need her to understand a few facts about him. Better to be clear and in agreement than risk surprises. “You are wrong about one thing though.”
“Which is?”
“Being in charge in the bedroom doesn’t mean being selfish.” He didn’t know what kind of men she’d been with in the past, but he knew who he was. Sex meant pleasure. Sometimes hot and fast. Other times slow, drawing out every minute and every breath.
“Well, sure. I—”
“It’s about timing.”
She shot him the side eye. “Okay.”
“I am going to tie you to the bed and fuck you senseless.” Her breath hit the air in a visible puff, just as he’d hoped it would. “I just have to know no one is coming up behind me with a knife when I do. That means we wait to make it happen.”
She tucked her gloved hands in her pockets. “I thought you were convinced we were safe here.”
“I never said that.” She knew better. There were too many variables. A chance that someone out there with a big wallet had made an offer Gabe could only combat with a bullet.
“You have the perimeter set up.”
Motion detectors. Infrared sensors. A few traps to welcome anyone who stepped in the wrong place. The usual. “Sure, I’m not a fucking novice.”
“Then?”
“Neither will the person be who comes after us.” This was a game for grown-ups. He lived in a world where experts littered the ground. Finding someone to venture out here would not be a burden if someone really wanted to find her. If that happened, the cat-and-mouse chase would begin. The only way to turn this was to keep running or convince the people after her, if there proved to be any, to back off.
“You still think people are coming.”
“Possibly.” He kept walking and watching, doing the job he’d been sent out here to do.
“Don’t.” When he lifted an eyebrow but stayed quiet, she kept talking. “No hesitating and hiding things from me because you think that will somehow keep me safe.”
Time to come clean. She deserved the facts. Her knowing would double his strength . . . and likely make keeping her there even harder. “The same biplane has flown over twice today already.”
She halted at the edge of a drift with the snow piled around her, past the top of her boots. Her grim expression said she understood the potential peril. “You’re sure it’s the same one?”
He excelled at gathering intel. He could lie on his stomach in a swamp and not move for hours while crocodiles circled and the enemy closed in. Visually tagging a plane and marking its movement counted as child’s play to him. “It’s buzzing low. Doesn’t have any distinguishing marks.”
Skepticism showed in every line of her body and in the smirk she held back, but not by much. “And that’s enough to tell you someone is coming?”
Well . . . “And Andy sent me a signal. Insists the person is not coming to inflict harm, just do a check, which is why we’re walking the perimeter.”
She sent him that same you’re-an-idiot eye roll she’d been aiming his way since they met. “Why would som
eone come out here just for a check?”
“Good question.” As soon as he could raise his brother, Gabe would ask. Right now they communicated through abbreviated code in an attempt not to disclose their location, because there was no question someone out there was watching. “I’m waiting for more intel from Andy.”
“It might be easier to grab the person lurking around out here and squeeze the information out of him.” She slipped her hands out of her pockets and acted out her words.
“I like your style.” Her no-nonsense practical nature appealed to him. He’d known strong women, many agents and military officers throughout the years. He admired brains, and her beauty sure sucked him in. The combination drove him to his knees. “And that was my thought exactly.”
“So, we’re really looking for tracks.” She glanced at the ground to the blank canvas of snow in front of them.
Good instincts but wrong direction. “Something like that.”
“And while we do that, you thought it was a good time to talk about tying me to a bed?” She rubbed her hands together.
“I think about it every fucking second, so I may as well talk about it.” And that was the truth. So was his need to keep her mind unfocused and off the danger. He needed her to act like a job and listen, not question if something life-threatening headed their way.
She froze. “What if I don’t want to be tied down?”
No way that stiffness came from the cold. “Your eyes are all big. Not sure why you’re afraid to admit you’re a sexual being and enjoy sex.”
“I never said—”
“You’re pretty great at it and clearly like it. Seems to me, you should stop fighting it.” Oh, she let go during. He just sensed that she didn’t like losing control with him.
He understood the sensation of being out of control. The way he discarded every personal rule with her and felt a twisting in his gut whenever he stared at her for more than two seconds. All new, and none of it welcome. But he’d ride it out, enjoy the sex and keep her safe until he turned her over to restart her life.
“You don’t know everything,” she mumbled as she started walking again, taking big marching steps.
A white blanket surrounded them. The makeshift forest filled with the sounds of their thudding steps and the crackle of branches as the weight of the wet snow sent them crashing to the frozen ground.
He took it all in, the sights and echoes of the unpopulated area around them, but his mind kept winging back to her. “Tell me what I don’t know.”
Through the scarf, she snorted. “Forget it.”
“Exactly my point.”
She continued to scan the ground, careful before placing each footstep as they ventured closer to the trees outlining the side of the cabin. “You’re trying to bully me into this conversation.”
“I’m trying to let you know that the guy you’re sleeping with gets that things happen and that life can be shit sometimes and is willing to talk it all through with you.” Backgrounds usually amounted to nothing more than lines on pieces of paper to him. With her, he wanted to dig around, get to know the woman who tried to keep him at a distance even as her gaze followed him around.
“We’ve had sex a few times.”
If she wanted to piss him off she’d found the right way to do it. His jaw tightened and his teeth clamped together as he spotted a pattern in the snow about six feet in front of them, right at the edge of the forest.
He knew he should drop the conversation and get back to work. And he would—in a second. “The number of times doesn’t matter.”
She broke eye contact with the snow long enough to glance at him. “You think we’re dating now?”
Not that he was looking for commitment or even nights together once the assignment was over, but still. He’d used that line so many times. Having it thrown in his face made him realize how shitty it sounded. “I think I’m the closest thing you have to a friend.”
She touched a hand to her hat. Pulled it down closer to the top of her eyebrows. “I don’t sleep with friends.”
For some reason that sent his temper spiking. “You sure do have an answer for everything.”
She smiled above her scarf. “How does that feel? Annoying, isn’t it?”
One point for Natalie.
Perfect time to pivot. He reached for his gun and took a step toward the spot that had grabbed his attention a minute ago. “Now we have an entrance point.”
The corners of her mouth dropped. “What?”
“Do not look until we start to turn around and head back to the cabin, but we have covered tracks. No prints, but snow that’s been pushed and not just fallen in that pattern.”
She kept her focus on him. Didn’t engage in the usual panicked rookie mistake of checking out the scene despite all warnings. There certainly were benefits to having a client who knew how the dark side of the world worked.
“Can you see anyone in the vicinity?” she asked, as she gathered her coat around her and turned back to walk directly into the wind.
He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. To anyone watching the move might look romantic. For him it was really about being able to jump in and shield her if necessary, though part of him wondered if she’d let him try.
“No, but I’d be real disappointed in the person’s skill set if I could.” He kept his voice steady and his steps even. No signs they’d found the person scouting him. Even now the person, man or woman, could be watching from nearby, and Gabe refused to tip them off.
“So, now what?” Her hand slipped into her pocket, right where she kept the gun he gave her.
He looked forward, but with each step he did a quick visual sweep of the land, looking for any sign of movement. In the trees. On the ground. The person could be hiding anywhere. But wouldn’t be for long. “We set a trap.”
She hmpf’d. “We could just shoot the person.”
“While I appreciate your bloodthirsty response, we need him or her alive to answer questions.” He squeezed her shoulder but doubted she felt it through all those layers. “And Andy’s code said non-hostile.”
“What if Andy’s wrong?”
Gabe refused to let that thought snake its way in. Andy knew something. Now Gabe needed to know what. “Rarely happens.”
“You’ll understand if I don’t trust your hopeful loyalty to your baby brother.”
The same lethal baby brother who once took down a drug runner by stabbing him in the forehead. But Gabe didn’t start spouting off Andy’s resume or his own.
“Then trust me.” He’d been nothing but straight with her, even though it cost him to admit to the attraction kicking his ass. That had to count for something.
“Because we slept together.” Not a question. She said it as a statement, without judgment. Just a flat tone as she pretended to look at him but glanced past him in a check of the trees.
Part of him thought that should be enough, but he went with the more obvious answer. “Because this is what I do.”
“Fine.”
They walked faster, their boots clomping against the snow as he switched to a wider stride and pulled her along with him. “And, for the record, ‘slept’ suggests past tense, and I think we both know that’s not the case.”
“You’re awfully sure of yourself.” She matched her gait to his, never complaining, even as she grabbed on to his arm for balance.
Words ran through his head as tension built in his gut. Something was wrong. Really wrong.
He wanted her inside and behind a wall. Walking out in the open was an invitation to danger. He didn’t welcome that. “The blame is on you.”
“Of course it is,” she said in a dry tone.
“You’re the one who screamed my name the last time we were naked.” The memory pricked at him, but he blocked it. Had to. He needed all of his concentration to get inside the cabin and hunker down. Regain his bearings.
She picked up her pace even more. “Go to hell.”
A stray thought worked its way back into his mind, and he didn’t fight it. “I’d rather go back to bed.”
They reached the bottom porch step, and she practically jumped on it before turning back around to stare at him. “I have to stay alive for that to happen.”
That sobered him up. “No matter what I have to do, you will stay safe.”
She nodded. “Both of us.”
A nice idea, but he was starting to wonder. “Right.”
TEN
They’d been inside for over two hours, and Gabe hadn’t stopped pacing. He went from one cabin window to another. Since there were only three, and one amounted to little more than a slit for ventilation in the bathroom, that meant he circled. Round and round until she thought her brain might explode.
Since playing the audience seemed to be her only choice, she went with that. She balanced an elbow on the couch’s seat cushions as she sat on the floor and watched him stalk. That’s what it was. Not walking. The intensity rose well above a mere one-foot-in-front-of-the-other thing.
She rested her chin in her palm and continued to follow his set surveillance path from her seat on the floor. “You aren’t exactly inspiring confidence.”
With his back against the wall, he glanced out the window, keeping his body well behind the frame. “I’m checking for infiltration.”
Sometimes she wondered if he could stop a bullet with his bare hands. He came off as so capable and uncomplicated. The kind of guy with an ingrained set of rules and a theory about right and wrong that had more to do with practical life lessons than anything preached to him through the years.
That’s why the kid thing hit her wrong. A guy who stuck to her the way he had, despite her fighting and yelling and even attempts to ignore him, ignoring responsibility? The idea of that guy dropping off his son for a semester or a year and not looking back didn’t ring true for her.
Maybe the difference was cash. Powerful people paid him to protect her. People who insisted they were her friends, even though she’d never had many of those. No one paid him to watch over his son. Could be that made it easier to abandon him.
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