Tangled Mark

by Becky Harmon

  It was too early to show up at the bar, so she headed for a nearby coffee shop. She drove in circles on the way, partly to kill time and partly to see if she was being followed. She sat at a table by the window and sipped her coffee, watching the traffic on the street. Okay, so maybe she was being a little paranoid. She didn’t see any vehicles that caught her eye. If someone was out there, they were staying out of sight. She glanced around the coffee shop. It was filled with the usual crowd of yuppies drinking expensive coffee and intently typing on various electronic devices. No one seemed particularly interested in her.

  Her stomach churned. She was good at waiting when she was on a mission, but she had no reason to be patient here at home. She tossed the rest of her coffee into the trash can, strode to her car and drove to The Phase, hoping to find someone there who was particularly interested in her—or in her body at least.

  When she arrived there were still spaces in the parking lot, but the music was already booming. Something by Demi Lovato if she had to guess. The bouncer gave her a nod and waved her through without looking at her ID. There was only a handful of people on the dance floor and even fewer at the bar and tables around the dance floor. Nikki walked to the far side and took a seat at the bar, putting her back to the wall so she could watch the entrance.

  Chapter Eight

  Mel stared at the door her mark had just entered. Though she was pretty sure she was sitting outside a lesbian bar, the quick search she’d done on her cell phone confirmed her suspicions. The parking lot was large, but there were only about twenty vehicles here this early. On a Friday night, it wouldn’t be long until the lot was filled.

  Mel had chosen Nicole as her mark because she was interested in her, but she hadn’t thought about the possibility of watching her hook up with someone. She pondered her next move. She could wait for Nicole to come back out, or she could go inside and apply pressure by allowing her to spot her. She should have done that at the beach this morning, but Nicole had looked so peaceful as she ran that Mel couldn’t bring herself to follow orders and try to unsettle her. It wasn’t like her to be solicitous of someone she was tailing, especially this early in the mission. She really needed to find a way to distance herself from this woman.

  As if displeased with Mel’s thoughts, her phone rang. Mel looked at the caller ID, took a long breath and connected the call.

  “Mel?” The caller didn’t wait for her to speak first.

  “Yes, Mrs. Bowden.”

  “What’s your status?”

  “I’m sitting outside a bar.”

  “Your mark is inside?”

  “She is.”

  “Okay,” her supervisor said, slowly drawing out each syllable. “And why aren’t you inside?”

  Good question, Mel thought. “I was going to check in first.” She grimaced at the lie.

  “Is she getting nervous?”

  “I haven’t pressured her since last night. She’s been inside most of the day,” Mel said, lying again. “So I’ve just been sitting on the street.”

  “Well, get inside that bar then.”

  Mel hesitated before responding. “Okay.”

  Bowden was silent for a second. “Is there a problem, Mel?”

  “No. No problem.” What is my damn problem? “I’m headed inside now.”

  “Sounds good. We need to put them on the defensive and see what that stirs up. Keep on her.”

  Mel sighed. Normally she had no problem being aggressive when they were asked to pursue or investigate. She really wasn’t going to admit defeat just because Nicole was a beautiful woman. She sighed and slid out of the car, slamming the door hard behind her.

  * * *

  Nikki turned her gaze to the door again as it opened and watched as the now-familiar chestnut-haired woman crossed to the bar. Fueled by the liquor that was coursing through her body, she stared directly at her. After the bartender set a glass of amber liquid in front of her shadow, she finally made eye contact with Nikki. Nikki raised her glass and offered her a silent salute, which she returned before knocking back the drink and turning back to the bartender for a refill. Downing the last of her beer, Nikki cruised the growing number of single women now in the bar. There were none who got her attention quite like the agent across from her. She really was cramping her style, letting all the air out of the ball of pent-up energy that had brought her to the bar in the first place.

  Resigning herself to striking out tonight, Nikki slid off the barstool and headed for the bathroom. She resisted the urge to look back and see if she was still being watched. The woman seemed very comfortable with her surroundings; this clearly wasn’t her first time in a lesbian bar. Nikki supposed she should be thankful that her nemesis was easy to look at. The cocky bad-girl image looked good on her. Very good. She did wonder if the black leather jacket hid a weapon since she didn’t remove it when she came inside. The thought intrigued her.

  Nikki was zipping up her jeans when she heard the bathroom door open and close. She had a feeling she knew who had entered. She opened the door slowly, prepared to see the agent, and she was not disappointed. She leaned against the frame of the stall and raised an eyebrow at the woman resting against the sink across from her.

  “I seem to be seeing a lot of you lately,” Nikki stated, receiving only a nod in response. She crossed to the sink, choosing the one the agent leaned against rather than any of the other three.

  Nikki’s arms lightly brushed the taller woman’s body as she rubbed her hands under the water. She was surprised at the thrill that rippled through her at this small amount of contact. She turned off the water and stepped right, stretching around the woman to reach the towel dispenser. Quick hands grasped her waist and spun her into the wall, making her head swim. Unwilling to resist, she suppressed the urge to deliver an elbow strike and responded instead to the lips trying to take control of her own. Opening her mouth to the touch of the agent’s tongue and her legs, as a muscled thigh pressed hard into her crotch. Warm hands slid under Nikki’s shirt, grazing her stomach before cupping her breasts, and her body gyrated reflexively against the leg locked between her own. Nikki’s fingers twisted through the thick hair, holding their heads tight together. Their kiss deepened as their bodies began to scream for release.

  The door squeaked open behind them and they broke apart quickly. Without a word, Nikki walked out of the bathroom. She went straight to her car and dropped into her seat before inhaling deeply. Her body tingled all over, and between her legs wetness still flowed. She banged her head on the steering wheel. What the hell just happened?

  * * *

  Nicole’s fast exit spun Mel’s back into the wall, where she remained struggling to catch her breath. She placed her hands on her knees and leaned forward. The woman whose arrival had precipitated Nicole’s departure gave her a curious glance before popping into the empty stall.

  Holy shit. She couldn’t remember ever becoming aroused so quickly. She took a deep breath and pushed through the bathroom door. After a quick look to see if Nicole had returned to the bar, she stepped outside in time to see the Ford tear out of the parking lot. Climbing into her SUV, Mel followed at a distance, not ready for another encounter. She was pretty sure Nicole was heading home, but she hung with her to make sure. She pulled to a stop outside Nicole’s house as a closing garage door hid the Edge from view.

  Mel refused to allow herself to replay the kiss: she had crossed a line and she knew it. She was disappointed with her lack of control. She’d intended to apply pressure on Nicole when she followed her into the bathroom—she had used sexual energy to harry marks before. But the way Nicole responded had led her to take it further than she had meant to go.

  She took a deep breath and dialed Joey. Bowden was too intuitive. If she called her, she would read more into the situation than Mel was ready to admit.

  “Hey, Joey,” she said when he grunted hello. “I need to make a switch.”

  “What?”

  She hesitated, realizing she ha
d awakened him. “I need to switch to the other woman. Do you see a problem with that?”

  “Well, yeah. The agents involved will have to be debriefed and reassigned. What’s going on, Melissa?”

  Mel wasn’t going to give him any information. He wasn’t in her usual chain of command, and she would have to put her feelings into words for him to understand the situation. She wasn’t prepared to do that or to ruin her image. “Nothing is going on. I just thought it would make more sense.”

  “Well, you should have mentioned it last night. Why do you want to make the change now?”

  Headlights shone into Mel’s rearview mirror. Fuck it. I can handle this. “Never mind, Joey. Forget I called.” Mel hung up the phone as a dark body approached the passenger side of the car and opened the door, dropping into the seat beside her.

  “She in for the night?” Angela asked.

  “Yeah, I guess so.”

  Angela’s frown was barely visible in the dim light. “What happened?”

  “Nothing.” Mel felt bad for being short with Angela. She liked her and hated sounding like an ass.

  Angela shrugged. “Okay then. Anything to pass on?”

  “No, it was a quiet day until this evening when she spent about an hour at a local bar. She came home about ten minutes ago. My guess is she’s in for the night.”

  “Okay. See you in the morning.” Angela slid out of the car and quietly closed the door behind her.

  Mel pulled onto the street and drove straight to her hotel. Taking the four flights of stairs instead of the elevator did nothing to calm her still-racing pulse. She threw her jacket onto the bed and grabbed several small bottles from the minibar. Stepping through the sliding glass door, she rested her arms on the metal railing surrounding her and downed the first bottle. She was disappointed in her own behavior tonight. She was coming extremely close to losing her perspective on this assignment. She downed another bottle of liquor, the scotch burning her throat but covering the taste of the tequila from the first bottle.

  She needed to get a grip on her emotions. Tonight had been nothing but a normal response to a very attractive woman; she would not allow it to jeopardize her career. She was good at her job and too experienced to lose her professionalism over a kiss. No matter how good it felt. A soft breeze lifted her hair off her neck, and she shivered, remembering Nicole’s hands in her hair. She opened the third bottle without looking at it. It didn’t matter what was in it. She hung her head and held the cool bottle against her face. Taking a deep breath, she downed the amber liquid, hoping it held the secret to forgetting how her body had betrayed her.

  * * *

  Nikki turned off all the lights and pulled the bedroom curtain back, watching her silhouette as a woman returned to her car and then the SUV pulled away. Now she knew she was being watched. There was nothing paranoid about this.

  What did the CIA want with her? And what the hell had happened in the bar bathroom? Nikki couldn’t erase the memory of heat she had seen in the woman’s eyes before she stormed out of the bathroom. Normally, she would have been eager for a temporary fling, especially given how aroused she had been. Thank goodness they had been interrupted, because she knew she would not have stopped on her own. Even though she suspected the woman was following her, she might have willingly stayed or even followed her home.

  It had been a long time since a woman had that kind of immediate effect on her. Her body still roaring with arousal, she let the curtain fall before heading downstairs. In the kitchen, she filled the coffeepot and set it to brew before popping a frozen apple pastry in the microwave. She leaned against the counter, considering what to do next, then nodded, pleased with her plan to get some answers. When the coffeemaker beeped, she wrapped the hot pastry in a napkin and poured coffee into a travel mug. Taking her own cup, the travel mug and the pastry, she left the house and crossed to the parked car.

  * * *

  Angela dialed Mel and laid the phone between the seats as Nicole approached. “Someone is not asleep,” she whispered into the dark.

  Nicole slid into the seat next to her, handing her the travel mug and pastry.

  “Thanks.” Angela tossed the pastry on the dash and took a sip of the coffee.

  “Black okay?” Nicole asked.

  “Yes.”

  The silence stretched between them and Angela smiled. She could wait. She was here all night.

  Nicole leaned her head against the back of the seat and sighed. “So.” She paused dramatically. “Are you enjoying your night?”

  Angela laughed. She was impressed with Nicole’s cool demeanor. “Yes, it’s a lovely night.”

  Several more minutes of silence passed as they drank their coffee.

  “How about you tell me why you are sitting outside my house?”

  Angela grinned, openly appraising Nicole in the glow from the streetlight. “Because I was told to.”

  “And you were told to because?” Nicole raised an eyebrow.

  Angela shook her head and took another sip of coffee.

  Again the silence stretched into minutes until Nicole finally shrugged. “I’ll leave you to your surveillance.” She opened the car door and slid out. “I’m headed to bed if you want to catch a nap too.” She closed the door on Angela’s laughter.

  * * *

  Mel downed the remaining bottle of liquor from her minibar while holding the phone to her ear. The exchange between Nicole and Angela had stretched into several minutes of silence. She was relieved for the break actually, finding the sound of Nicole’s voice to be more than a little disconcerting. She couldn’t stop thinking about how it felt to press her body hard against Nicole’s or the way her nipples had tightened under Mel’s touch. The alcohol was playing havoc with her body, and she stifled a groan. She heard Angela’s laughter and the slam of a car door.

  “That was interesting.” Mel could hear the smile in Angela’s voice.

  “Yeah, she’s going to be a challenge.”

  Angela was silent and Mel hoped if she had heard the slight hitch in her voice that she would grant her a reprieve tonight. Nicole was going to be a challenge, and Mel needed more time to process the events of tonight. She was relieved when Angela finally spoke.

  “The lights are out again so I hope this time she really went to bed.”

  “Call me if you need help handling her,” Mel said, meaning it more than she or probably even Angela realized.

  Angela laughed. “I got this.”

  Chapter Nine

  Nikki loaded the girls into the car before opening the garage door, and when she pulled onto the road, she didn’t even glance at the dark SUV. The whole situation was ridiculous. The CIA had no reason to put her under surveillance. Besides, weren’t there rules about them performing missions inside the US borders? She had decided last night she would just ignore them for her remaining days off. Josh would set everything right on Monday.

  Her mind drifted back to the agent in the bar, as it had every time she tried to sleep last night. What she had seen of her body was impressive. What she had felt was what fantasies were made of, hard and strong where it had pressed against her, but soft in the places Nikki had touched. The memory was burned into her mind, and no matter what she did, she couldn’t seem to forget.

  Reaching the hospital, she pulled into the parking lot and began circling. She always parked in the last row, never taking a space near the hospital entrance. In her mind, those were reserved for the visiting families. She found a spot and slid out of her Edge, pocketing the keys. One at a time she called Riley and Bailey out of the car and secured them in their harnesses and bright red certification vests. With one on either side of her, she gave them a quick bathroom break before walking toward the five-story tan building. They had only gone a short distance when she spotted her tail, leaning casually against the wall beside the entrance. Nikki fumed as she walked toward the agent. Her resolve to ignore this unjustified stalking was shot to hell. She looked at the woman and anger washed over
her in waves. She was ready to speak her mind.

  Even though she didn’t want to, she raked her eyes over the hard body. The agent’s broad shoulders pulled a black button-down shirt taut across her chest and Nikki caught a glimpse of a white tank top tucked into black jeans. The jeans were stretched tight across her muscular thighs and narrowed to cover the tops of her black boots. Nikki’s fingers twitched, aching to touch her.

  * * *

  Mel waited while Nicole secured the dogs. She had considered walking to meet her but even from a distance she could see the angry look cross Nicole’s face when she spotted her. Mel smiled. Angry would work better than sexy. A flush swept over Nicole’s face and Mel’s body pulsed with arousal. Crap! The angry look was sexy too. Mel looked away in an attempt to focus her mind.

  Her gaze swept the parking lot and then back to Nicole. She was surprised to see the look of anger fading as the heat from Nicole’s eyes burned into her body. The normally closed face was open and the desire Mel was feeling was reflected back at her. Their eyes connected and a look of panic flashed across Nicole’s face before being replaced by a stoic expression. Mel couldn’t stop the grin that spread across her face as she read Nicole’s thoughts.

  “What the hell?” Nicole blurted, looking to Mel as if she knew she’d lost ground in the psychological battle they seemed to be engaged in.

  Mel raised her eyebrows at Nicole’s burst of emotion, but she didn’t respond. The dogs, Mel noticed, had picked up on the tension, and their heads were lowered as they strained forward to sniff the air, trying to get a scent of Mel.