“Well, what do you know? You do have her. For now.” Willy made a grandiose effort to step aside.
Charlie socked him in the pec.
Willy laughed. “You still hit like a girl.”
He did not wrap his arm around her. He took her by the elbow and led her toward the cabin. No one could mistake the gesture for affection. The closeness to her made his cock take notice, but he would not press her up against the wall and kiss her. Would not. She was his prisoner. Plain and simple.
“Charlie?” The soft rasp to her voice did numbers on him. “What’s going on?”
He didn’t answer.
“Please, talk to me.”
He opened the door for her and she stepped inside.
In his ear piece, Willy whispered. “Remember what Mack said. Get close, but do not let her know we have the memory card. She’ll give up her accomplices and contacts if she thinks it’s still at Mr. Lee’s.”
He closed the door.
“I want you—” she began. He cut her off before he knew exactly what she wanted. This is what he needed to hear.
Before he could stop himself, he had Hot Girl against the wall. His hard cock pressed against her. Encircling her wrists with one hand, he locked her arms above her head as he kissed her neck from her shoulder to her jawline. Her skin was soft and smelled so good. He tugged softly on her earlobe with his teeth and asked, “Me? Is that what you want?”
She let out a hot breath. Arching her back, she brought her breasts closer, as if longing for contact. “Charlie...”
“Yes?”
He ran his other hand over her breasts, feeling her pebbled nipples under her T-shirt. He rolled one nipple between his thumb and finger. Her raspy voice could get to him but the moan she made nearly killed him.
“I want you,” she whispered.
He cupped her ass, running his finger along the seam. Her breath hissed on the intake. She wrapped her leg around his waist, giving him better access to her sweet, sweet spot. She tipped her head back against the wall and ground down into his hand. “More, please, more.”
She was so damned hot. Better than anything he could have imagined. He was ready to explode. He wrapped her other leg around his waist and carried her to the bed. Stretching himself on top of her, he pinned her to the mattress.
She looked into his eyes, hardly blinking. Her lids were hooded, sexy.
He traced the bridge of her nose. Was that a tiny hole? She wore a nose ring? What other secrets did the woman hide? “You’re so damned beautiful.”
She ran her palm across his jaw, lifting the stubble. He enjoyed the feeling. For just a second he lamented cutting his long hair. He would have liked for her to thread her fingers through it. Wrapping her hand around the back of his neck, she drew his head down.
Just as his lips met hers he asked, “Did you love him?”
She pulled back. “Excuse me?”
“Dead boyfriend. Did you love him?”
She froze. Her eyes widening. “What kind of a question is that?”
“An important one. Answer it.”
“More important than kissing me?” She lifted up and ran her tongue over his chin.
Shit. He wasn’t sure he could do this. He wanted her so bad that it hurt, but orders were orders. And the truth was…“I need to know.”
Releasing his neck, she tried to sit up. She couldn’t. He had her right where he wanted her—pinned underneath him. She sighed, her chest rising and falling against him. “We were friends, mostly. We’d only started dating a few weeks ago.”
“About the time you stopped playing games.”
She frowned. “How could you know that? Were you spying on me?”
He grinned. “I’m a good gamer, but not that good. I didn’t know where you were, sweetheart. I’d asked you out and then you disappeared. I was worried.”
“And now that you know me, can see me, touch me…what do you think?” Her gaze poured over him.
“You scare the shit out of me.”
She smiled and played with his chin. “In a good way?”
“In a worried-we’ll-both-end-up-dead way. If you didn’t love, Jacques, why did you hack into the D.O.D?”
She stopped playing. “I didn’t know what I was doing.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Right. So you said.”
“You don’t believe me.”
“No. I don’t think any U.S. court will believe you either. Think up a new story, sweetheart.”
“I’m not lying.” She shoved him.
“Tell me about Jacques and his contacts. Who was he planning to sell the data to?”
“I don’t know.” She tried to wiggle out.
He held her in place. “A name, organization, give me something.”
“Get off of me, Charlie. I don’t know anything, I swear. I had no idea what Jacques was up to. I wouldn’t have gone along with it if I had known. He used me.”
He rolled off of her. “I believe you,” he lied.
She let out a deep breath. “Thank God. Will you help me prove my innocence?”
He ran his finger down her bare arm. He couldn’t stop himself from touching her. “How do we do that?”
“First we go back to Night Temple Market. I…I left something there.”
He turned on his side and rose up on his elbow. “What is it?”
Her blinks sped up and she had trouble meeting his gaze. It was her tell. She was lying. “A music box my mom gave to me. It’s special and I want it back. I’m not leaving Hong Kong without it.”
“Uh-huh. What’s inside the box?”
“My little treasures. That’s all.” She looked at the ceiling, the wall, the dresser, anywhere but in his eyes.
“And this music box, what’ll we do once we have it?”
“I don’t know yet.” He could almost see her mental wheels spinning.
Dammit! She’d better not be planning what he thought she was planning. Anger sparked in his chest. He ground his teeth to keep from letting her see it. “Maybe we’ll sell what’s inside the box and buy your freedom?”
Her eyes flashed, but she recovered. She shrugged. “Something like that.”
He jumped off the bed. “Dammit, Amber. Why’d you go out with that French sonofabitch? You should have trusted me! I waited for you at the Take-down in Tangi Valley. You never went in.”
“How’d you know that?” She sat up. “Oh that’s right. You’re a SEAL with mad communication skills. I thought you were a regular gamer, Charlie. I didn’t know you at all.”
“You knew me.” He paced, running his hand through his short hair. “I never hid my real self from you. I told you things I never told anyone. You knew I’d never trick you into becoming a traitor to our country.”
Her cheeks flushed. She blinked hard and lowered her voice. “Are you going to help me or not? I need to get to Mong Kok, Charlie.”
“No.” He strode toward the door. “I’m not helping you leave this junk.”
“What are you saying?” She crossed her arms. “I’m your prisoner, is that it? Like in the Celtic Champion game?“
Wistfully, he remembered the online game. He’d gotten the upper hand on Hot Girl for once and took her prisoner. It had been a very hot game.
“I’ll give you a few minutes to think about it. We need those contacts, Amber. It may be the only way to save your pretty ass.”
She lifted her chin. Defiant. “And if I say again that I don’t know any of Jacques’s contacts you’ll, what? Try to kiss it out of me?”
With his hand on the doorknob, he turned. “Hell, yeah. Every chance I get.”
He closed the door but couldn’t block out the foul language spewing from the sweetest lips he’d ever tasted.
Charlie took the stairs to the deck. Ty and Tavon were off scouting the waters by boat, but the others were up top huddled around the LSAT to monitor hostile activity. Heads lifted when he stepped on deck.
"What did the admiral say? Did we take out the Fre
nchman?" He asked Mack.
"Admiral Collins didn't send a SEAL team. Jacques could have been on another team's radar, though. Black ops? CIA?" Mack shrugged. "The admiral is investigating on the DL. He knows were in the middle of this mess and doesn't want to tip anyone off. We're sitting ducks out here with the girl and the data in our possession.” He spread his hands. “On a damned wooden boat."
Charlie wasn't going to let anything happen to the girl. He slammed his first on the table. "Who’s handling this in Intelligence? Give me a name."
"Chill, bro." Willy threw a balled up napkin at him. "It's Matt Preston. He's the best."
Charlie nodded. Preston was good and he'd keep his mouth shut.
“What’d you find out?” Mack asked him.
“Nothing. She says she doesn’t know anything. The Frenchman didn’t share his contacts before he kicked the bucket.”
He sat next to Mack, feeling the man’s steely gaze locked onto his face like a missile.
“Do you believe her?”
“I want to.”
“Sure you do,” Willy’s long arm reached around Mack and poked him in the tricep. “Don’t let pheromones cloud your judgment.”
“Wow, big word, William. You sure you know what it means?” Charlie reached around to return the poke.
“Stop using me as cover. Do I have to separate you kids?” Mack complained.
“I said I want to believe her, not that I do,” Charlie said.
Jenna arrived with water bottles for everyone. “Why not believe her? I’ve known Amber since she was a teenager. She’s always had a wild streak, but she has a big heart. You guys should give her a chance.”
Mack wrapped his arm around Jenna. “We can’t, babe. Time is of the essence. Her contacts could slime their way out of China and we’ll never find them.”
“We may have an in. Amber wants to go back to Mong Kok to retrieve a music box her mom gave her,” Charlie said.
“Oh, wow. Her mom died when Amber was eleven. They were close and Amber sort of imploded for a while after that. Duncan told me that’s where the wild streak comes from, as if she always feels the need to test the boundaries, write her own rules. I get that. I really do.” Jenna rubbed Mack’s cheek. “If she left something from her mother behind, we need to get it for her.”
“It’s not, Jenna. It’s the memory card, I’m sure of it. She’s got a liar’s tell.” Charlie surprised himself by the anger in his voice. Why wouldn’t she trust him with the truth? He wanted to help her.
“How do you want to play this?” Mack asked him.
“Ten more minutes to let her think about it.” Charlie’s gaze scanned the faces around him. “And then we get tough.”
“Want me to do it?” Mack asked.
“I’ll handle the interrogation. I’m good with the ladies.” Willy wiggled his eyebrows. “They tell me all sorts of shit I never want to hear. I’ll get the truth out of our hacker.”
Charlie shook his head. “I’ve got this.”
Willy rose and Charlie was suddenly in a choke-hold. “There you go again, little man. But I don’t think you do. You’re out of your league, by about a mile. That woman will eat you for snack.”
“If that’s the case…” Charlie grinned, easily breaking free. “Her ten minutes are up.”
CHAPTER NINE
Amber snuck around the cabin, looking for a sharp object, a tool, anything to use to break out of the hellhole she was trapped in. Weren’t porthole’s supposed to open? This thing was jammed shut. If she could find a tool to pry it open, maybe she could scream for help and get off the stinking boat.
In a desk drawer, she found a letter opener that just might do the trick. She began to pry away at the seal around the window. To her surprise, the seal gave way easily. She smiled. This was going to work. Tonka boats surrounded her. Surely, fishermen would come to investigate a woman screaming bloody murder. They’d storm the junk to save her and she’d be free.
And if triad members come running, what then, smarty pants? The little voice in her head just had to chime in. They’ll kill you and Charlie. You want that?
She chewed her lip. Jenna’s team would stop the triad and maybe in the process she’d get the chance to sneak away. Recovering the memory card and keeping it out of enemy hands was the only thing that mattered. More than her life. More than what was going on with Charlie. Whatever was going on with that hot SEAL.
Darn Charlie, anyway. Why didn’t he just take her to Mong Kok as she’d asked him to do? He had to go all he-man on her. Was that because she dated Jacques? It was a little bit crazy for him to think she’d be faithful to an avatar. So why’d she feel like she’d cheated on him? It wasn’t like she’d fallen in love Jacques. She hacked away at the window, determined to do this thing before she lost her nerve. Or completely lost her heart.
“You know that hole’s too small to fit through,” a deep voice said.
Her letter opener froze mid-hack. Charlie. Why did her pulse kick up a beat every time he spoke? She didn’t turn around, but continued digging into the seal. A few more minutes and she’d break the jam. “Are you saying I’m fat?”
“Hell, no. I’m saying I can give you a boost.” She was relieved to hear the humor in his voice. The angry edge was gone.
“Just like you did getting on the junk?” Unable to stop herself, she remembered how his hands felt on her ass. She smiled.
“I don’t know, Amber, that porthole looks dangerous. You’ll be in a precarious position while you try to shimmy through. I’d be compelled to hold on extra-long, extra-tight, to keep you safe. Hell, being the gentleman that I am, I might not be able to let you go.”
“Very chivalrous of you. But I’m fine, really. You can go back upstairs and do your SEAL thing.” She pulled on the window. It wiggled. A few more chops at the seal and it would…
“Amber.” Behind her, his deep voice sending shivers up her spine. She forgot what she was doing. Forgot to breathe.
“Amber.” He said again, his lips brushing her neck. “You want to get out of here?”
The letter opener slipped to the floor. Was he taking her to Mong Kok? “You know I do.”
He wrapped his arms around her. “You’ll have to trust me, then.”
Trust. That was a tough word in her position. “I want to, Charlie.”
He kissed her gently on the cheek. “That’s good enough for me. Come on, let’s go. Tavon came back so we can take the sampan.”
Linking his fingers with hers, he pulled her away from the porthole. Her chance to scream out the window was gone, but if Charlie took her to Mr. Lee’s she wouldn’t need to.
She spun around in his arms to face him. “What made you change your mind? You said you weren’t going to help me leave this junk.”
“Jenna told us about your mother.”
The air in her lungs leaked out in a squeak. “She shouldn’t have.”
Pulling her hand away, she crossed her arms. Okay, maybe she was hugging herself, like her mother couldn’t do anymore. Would never do again. The pain, a poisonous black viper she carried inside her soul, coiled and struck. She was never quick enough to stomp it back down before it sank its fangs into her heart.
“I’m sorry.” Charlie tipped her chin up. “I get it. You don’t want to talk about it. I lost my dad when I was young, too. It sucks.” Pain flashed in his green eyes. “Grand larceny. Ten years in the pen.”
His face was a flood of emotions. The muscles in his jaw flexed. Hurt, ache, and sadness pooled in his eyes. Before she could stop herself, she was rubbing his cheek, smoothing out the frown lines, longing to bring back the dimples. “Do you see him often?”
“Hell, no. I haven’t spoken to him since I was thirteen. I don’t need to hear his sorry-assed reasons why he stole, I don’t care. He has no place in my life.”
Her heart broke. For him, for herself.
He leaned into her palm. “And that’s the last minute I’m going to waste talking about him. Come on, l
et’s leave this junk behind.”
Opening the door, he motioned for her to go first. A true gentleman pirate. Amber was thrilled to be leaving the cabin, but nerves pounded in her chest. What she had to do next would be a whole lot easier if Charlie had forgiven his father. She needed his help to go to Mr. Lee’s. But how would she retrieve the memory card with him by her side? Would he listen to her sorry-assed reasons for stealing national security?
Could he forgive her?
Looking over Amber’s head, Charlie quickly scanned the deck, taking in the team’s positions. Mack head, bent over the LSAT, jerked up the moment Amber stepped on deck. Tavon’s humongous shoulder muscles twitched, but he didn’t take his dark eyes off the binoculars he had trained out at sea. Jenna was curled up on one of the chairs, snoring softly. Ty was still scouting the ocean perimeter. Willy was…Charlie’s gaze shot around the boat…and found him. Willy was playing Mr. Invisible.
“What’s going on?” Mack didn’t ask, he barked, the question. What Mack really wanted to know was why he’d released the prisoner.
Charlie didn’t slow, but continued to maneuver Amber toward the edge of the boat. “Miss Fitz and I are going for a ride. I assume the sampan is available?”
“Not advisable.” Tavon’s usual growl rumbled through the floorboards. Being flat on his belly, focus out to sea, did nothing to diminish his powerful persona. “I haven’t spotted hostile activity, yet. Doesn’t mean they won’t return for her.”
“Yeah, but will they be looking for a couple on a sampan?” Charlie picked up an extra pistol for the road, locked and loaded, and tucked it in his waist belt. “Keep eyes on us. If you see trouble, we’ll circle back. I’ll have the comm on.”
“Where exactly are you going?” Mack demanded.
He faced Amber. She chewed her lip and flashed him a warning with her fiery blue eyes. She didn’t want him to say where they were going or why. Fine. He’d play it her way.
“For a ride. To clear the air.”
“A joy ride, brother? Doesn’t sound like you.” Willy’s whisper came from other side of the deck. If anyone passed by the junk they wouldn’t have seen him. He was in perfect stealth mode as he spied on the neighboring boats. Mr. Invisible.
Lock and Load (SEAL EXtreme Team) Page 10