by Becca Van
“How is she?”
“She’s okay. She has stitches in her head, a concussion, and a mother of a headache but she’ll heal.”
“Where are you?” Drew asked.
“At my house.”
“Good,” Drew sighed. “Whatever you do don’t let her go home. Not until I contact you to let you know it’s safe.”
“I was going to send one of my brothers to her place to pick up some things for her.”
“No! As soon as we finish up call him and tell him to abort.”
“What the hell is going on, Drew?”
“I don’t want to tell you over the phone. I’ll work out someplace safe we can meet.”
“Just answer this. How many people are after her and what would be the consequences if they got hold of her?”
“Two that I know of and…deadly.”
“Fucking hell.”
“Yeah.”
“Do you know where I live?”
“No, but it won’t take much to find out.”
“Just make damn sure you don’t bring anyone with you and that you’re not followed.”
“I’m not coming to your place, man. I’ll get word to you.”
Drew hung up and then he pulled his cell apart to make sure there weren’t any bugs attached to his phone. He’d made sure not to mention Roxy’s name once and had hoped that Dusty would be smart enough to pick up on that. Thank God he had and he hadn’t said her name either. The only name mentioned in the call had been his own.
He sighed with relief when he didn’t find a bug but that didn’t mean his calls weren’t being monitored. It wouldn’t be hard for Sanchez to hack into the Android. It would be just like hacking into a PC.
Drew glanced up when his superior entered his office. He held up his hand before Rich North could speak.
“When was the last time this room was swept for bugs?”
“Yesterday,” Rich answered.
Drew nodded. “I want it done again. Now.”
“Okay.” Rich turned on his heel, left the office, and went in search of their tech guy. Five minutes later he was back with Aidan. Drew got up from his desk and watched while the techie scanned the room and he shook his head to let him and Rich know that the room was clear before heading out again.
“Tell me,” Rich ordered.
Drew told him everything he knew and watched as his boss frowned with concern.
“I can put her in witness protection,” Rich suggested.
“Not yet. She’s currently staying with friends and as far as I know no one knows about them or her.”
“You can’t know that for sure,” Rich said. “You don’t know how long they’ve been watching you.”
Drew glanced at his watch. “For about half an hour.”
“Sanchez could have found you before Fretelli. You know he’s a fucking wizard with a computer. Who’s to say that he hasn’t known about you from the start? Perez wouldn’t trust anyone and has probably been keeping tabs on Fretelli. He’s handed huge amounts of money over to Fretelli to launder. Surely Perez would keep a watch on him to make sure he wasn’t skimming. And if that’s the case Sanchez would have known you were in Fretelli’s computer. There is nothing that man can’t do.”
“Jeezus, what the hell am I going to do? I’ve probably put a price tag on my sister’s head as well as my own. Perez isn’t going to let me or anyone else take him down.”
“I think you should bring her in.”
Drew hesitated. He didn’t want his sister locked up somewhere like a criminal or being protected by strangers. She would baulk at being confined for weeks on end and would probably try to sneak away. No, she was better off with the Milan brothers. They had military training and could protect her just as well if not better than an agent. Plus no one could know about them yet.
“I’ll get back to you in a few days. I need to meet someone first.”
“Okay, but make sure you wear a Kevlar vest at all times and watch your back. Do you want me to send someone to cover you?”
“No.” Drew pushed to his feet. “Can I borrow your car?”
“Sure. While you’re gone I’ll get Aidan to sweep your vehicle, too, and we need to arrange to go over your place for bugs.”
Drew nodded and took his boss’s car keys. “Thanks.”
Rich left Drew’s office and he got down to work printing off copies of photos of Perez, Sanchez, and all his goonies as well as Fretelli.
Perez would send his own men after Drew and Roxy if he found out about her but Fretelli wasn’t into getting his hands dirty and he could see the narcissist hiring an assassin to take them out. They were all very dangerous men, but Fretelli more so.
If Sanchez had alerted Fretelli to Drew’s presence in his computer he could see that asshole buying a burner phone or going to an Internet café, or library to hire a killer to take him out. He didn’t care if he ended up dead. It had been Drew’s choice to join the CIA and enter such a dangerous job but it would kill him if anything happened to Roxy because of him.
She was an innocent and he needed to make sure she was protected and kept alive. After he had what he needed, Drew arranged a meeting place with Dusty and hurried out. He had a copy of the photos and he intended to give them to Dusty and his brothers. They needed to know who to look for just in case.
Chapter Seven
Roxy woke feeling groggy and thickheaded but was pleased that the hammering in her skull had died down to a low ache. Her forehead was sore where the sutures held her skin together but she could live with that annoyance since it wasn’t unbearable. She blinked to clear her sleep hazy vision and saw light pouring in around the blinds and curtain covering the window.
She had memories of being awakened frequently through the night and being asked questions by Dusty, Booker, and Stefan but it all felt a little surreal, as if she’d dreamt it. But when she looked around the room and realized that she wasn’t in her own home she suspected it hadn’t been a dream at all.
Roxy needed the bathroom so she pushed the covers down and carefully sat on the side of the bed. She took note of the big T-shirt covering her body and at first she was a little embarrassed that one or all of her instructors had seen her almost naked but she tried to convince herself it didn’t matter. A lot of women wore bikinis on the beach or even went topless, but it was hard to convince herself that she shouldn’t be ashamed that they had seen her since she almost always wore a one-piece swimsuit.
She wasn’t a prude by any stretch of the imagination but she had been taught by her nana that more was better than flaunting her assets. Plus she hated to draw attention to her body since she didn’t think there was anything special about it. She was smaller than average in height but she had arms, legs, hips, boobs and a vagina just like any other woman. She’d seen the way some men leered when women dressed to show off nearly everything they had, leaving little to the imagination, but Roxy had more respect for herself and didn’t want just any Tom, Dick, or Harry hitting on her. Not that she went out of her way to look feminine unless she was going to some special do where dressing up was required. Usually those things were only for work and she’d rather understate her femininity than showcase it like some mega sex diva. She mostly lived in jeans, T-shirts, tank tops and shorts if it was hot, but not those short-shorts that left her lower ass cheeks exposed. She liked to have her private areas covered and hidden.
Roxy sighed as she carefully pushed her hair back from her face and winced when her fingers brushed over the stitches in her forehead. God she must look a sight. She couldn’t remember her hair being taken down from the bun she wore at the back of her neck while she was working, and figured that either the doctor or nurse had taken it down. She would have had to be laid out on her back for the doctor to sew her forehead together again and if her hair was still up in the bun it would have put her neck at an awkward angle.
She got to her feet and was pleased that she didn’t feel too woozy but she did feel rather weak and she
hated to feel that way. Roxy was one of those people who got really bitchy and irritated when she wasn’t feeling well or incapacitated in any way, and she was going to have to watch the snarky comments since she was staying in the Milan brothers’ house. She made it to the bathroom without any incident and after using the facilities she washed her hands. She’d been careful to keep her gaze away from the mirror above the sink and although she wanted to look she was worried over how banged up she was, but she’d never really been a bury-her-head-in-the-sand kind of girl and usually faced things head-on, so she drew in a deep breath and as she released it, raised her head and met her reflection in the mirror.
Roxy gasped when she saw the deep purple almost black bruise on her head and the lump. She looked downright hideous and not just because of the stitches, bruising, and swelling. Her hair looked like a rat’s nest and she was so pale her skin looked almost translucent. And there was a bruise on her cheek where Miller had accidentally clocked her one.
“Oh well,” Roxy muttered. “No use crying over spilt milk. There’s nothing you can do about it now.”
She took her eyes from the mirror and glanced around the large bathroom. The shower cubicle was big enough to fit six people comfortably and so was the large spa bath. As much as she wanted to soak in that tub with the jets bubbling to ease away some of her aches and pains, she decided a shower would be better, and although she wanted to wash her hair she knew she couldn’t get the sutures wet. If she was really careful she could wash most of her hair and just leave the front untouched. She never felt really clean unless her hair had been washed and from the look of the way some of it was clumped together, blood had dried in her hair.
Roxy opened the large clear glass door, turned the water on, adjusted the temperature, removed the T-shirt and her underwear, and stepped into the shower. She kept her head tilted back and wet as much of her hair as she dared and sighed as the hot water ran down over her head and body. Already she could feel her muscles warming up and some of the aches easing. She reached for the shampoo and washed her hair. She’d just picked up the bodywash to squirt some more onto a cloth when bathroom door crashed open, banging into the opposite wall, startling her.
The bottle of bodywash went flying from her hand and crashed on the shower base, bursting open. One of Roxy’s feet landed in the liquid soap and she shrieked as her foot went flying out from under her. She grabbed for anything she could to stop herself from falling on her ass as she slid in the goo but there was nothing to hang onto. She was going down and there wasn’t a damn thing she could do about it.
But she never landed. A thick muscular arm snagged her around the waist and pulled her against a large, warm, male body.
“Shit, Roxy,” Dusty almost yelled at her. “What the hell were you thinking? You could have hurt yourself.”
“Damn it! Let me go!” Roxy yelled back.
“No,” Dusty said in a calmer voice and then he hauled her from the shower by picking her up with one arm and he didn’t lower her until she was over the bathmat. He slowly lowered her to her feet and that was when Roxy remembered she was totally naked. Heat suffused her cheeks and she turned away, presenting her back to him.
“What the hell are you doing in here? Can’t a girl take a shower in peace?” Roxy placed an arm over her breasts and tried to cover her pussy with her other hand, but it was a bit like trying to capture a horse that had already bolted from the stables. He’d looked her body over as he’d pulled her out of the shower. And damn it, had there been heat in his eyes? She been attracted to Dusty, Booker, and Stefan forever and if she was imagining the desire she thought she’d seen in his gorgeous orbs and did something about it, and found out she was wrong, she would be totally embarrassed. It was best to keep pretending he and his brothers didn’t affect her and she hoped like hell that he hadn’t seen the way her nipples had hardened.
“You shouldn’t be out of bed let alone taking a shower by yourself.” Dusty growled, grabbed a fresh towel from the counter, and wrapped it around her wet body. He reached in and turned the water off and moved aside as he glared at her.
Roxy felt a lot better now that her nakedness was covered. She gripped the towel, pulled it around her, tucked the edge between her breasts, and turned to face him.
“I’ve been taking a show…” Roxy words drifted away. He was looking up and down her body and he definitely liked what he was seeing. Her breath caught in her throat and her body responded to his proximity, the clean fresh scent of man, and the hunger in his gaze. Her heart flipped over in her chest and she started panting.
“Fuck, you’re sexy.”
“W–what?”
Dusty moved forward, cupped her cheeks in his hands, and stared down into her eyes. She wanted to break their visual connection but she was mesmerized by him and it was too difficult a thing to do. And then she realized that she didn’t want to. She’d spent the last eighteen or so months pining after him and his brothers and trying to hide the way she felt about them. But he was here, with her, and she didn’t want to be away from him, Booker, or Stefan ever again.
He lowered his head slowly, almost hesitantly, as if to give her time to move away, but she’d dreamt about this moment so often. Her nights filled with dreams of the three Milan brothers kissing her, touching and making love to her. She knew it was probably wrong since they were her instructors but she couldn’t find the strength to stop him. She didn’t want to. She wanted to know what it felt like to have his lips on hers, his hands caressing up and down her body and arousing her more than she was right now.
Finally, finally his lips met hers and she couldn’t help but moan with joy and anticipation of what was to come. At first his lips just rubbed back and forth over hers as if gauging her response. If she’d been able to speak coherently she would have told him there was no need and that she was with him all the way. When his mouth opened over hers she copied and opened hers. His tongue swiped over her lower lip and then he was delving inside.
Dusty’s tongue slid along hers and she mewled with delight at his sweet spicy flavor and twirled her tongue around, trying to get more. He tasted so good. A mix of coffee, mint, and masculinity and she knew from this first taste that one kiss would never be enough.
His hands moved to her hips and his thumbs caressed over her towel-covered hip bones. Desire shot through her blood, melting her bones and heating her from the inside out. She fell into him, not concerned about falling, knowing with a certainty he’d never let her stumble.
They kissed and kissed, neither of them wanting to break the physical connection but eventually they had to pull apart to gasp in air. She met his beautiful blue-green eyes and the heat she saw in them was nothing like what she’d thought she’d seen before. His hands gripped her hips harder but not enough to hurt and then he released her and stepped back. Roxy wanted to grab hold of him and pull him back against her or better yet she wanted to ditch the towel and jump his bones, but she’d never been aggressive around a man unless they were being assholes and she gave them a mouthful. This was so different and she was feeling rather vulnerable and unsure of herself.
“I want you to get dressed and come out to the kitchen, baby. We need to talk.” Dusty gave her one last look before he turned and walked out.
“What the hell does that mean?” Roxy muttered and then lowered her voice as she tried to copy his tone. “‘We need to talk.’ Why do men have to be so damn hard to understand? Is he going to ask me to leave? That is so totally not necessary. I know when I’ve outstayed my welcome. I never asked to come here in the first place.” She was worried that he didn’t like the way she kissed him. Maybe he thought she’d been too easy. Or maybe he and his brothers didn’t want her in their house because they had a hot date coming. She hated feeling so unsure of herself around these men. She was probably jumping to conclusions but she just couldn’t seem to help it right now. She was feeling a little sore and her snarkiness was coming out.
Tears burned the back of her ey
es but she blinked them away. Roxy carefully dried her hair and then rubbed the towel vigorously over her body. When she was done, she looked down to see her skin had a pink tinge since she was so rough but she just shrugged. She was feeling a little aggressive because she wasn’t sure what was expected of her and she was so out of her element. The only time she ever felt confident and in control of her life was with her career. She loved flying planes and she didn’t have to worry about putting her foot in her mouth or making a fool out of herself by doing the wrong thing.
She found a comb under the sink and ran it through her damp hair, brushed her teeth, grabbed the can of men’s deodorant, and sprayed her pits. After she picked up the broken bottle in the shower and rinsed the soap down the drain, she walked back into the bedroom. She spied a pair of boxer shorts and a T-shirt had been laid over the end of the bed, and since she had nothing else to put on and they hadn’t been there before, she presumed they were for her. She pulled the clothes on and looked around for a robe but couldn’t see one. Again she was feeling exposed but this time because she didn’t have any underwear on. She didn’t have a huge bust but is was adequate enough for her not to feel comfortable without a bra, but there was no way she was putting on the one she’d worn the day before. Because no doubt about it, as she’d brought that plane in to land she’d been sweating up a storm and she’d slept in it. The bra could probably walk to the laundry by itself. Roxy smirked and then the smile faded away. Dusty was waiting out in the kitchen for her and from the rumble of voices she could hear his brothers were with him.
She decided that she would ask one of them to take her home. She wasn’t going to let them ask her to leave. She knew when she wasn’t wanted.