At Any Cost (10 page)

She whimpered, which drove Dan over the edge. He moved his tongue with hers, devouring her, consuming her. Their lips melted together in the heat of their kiss. His lips left hers to nibble on the tender spot behind her earlobe. He licked and circled the lobe, teasing and flicking his tongue around, gently brushing the tip of it into the warm, tiny crevasse.

When he found her lips again, she whimpered into his mouth. Damn how he loved that sound. Hated that sound. Wanted her to make that sound again. He kissed her hungrily, wanting to take in every sense of her. She eagerly met his kisses, tangoed her tongue with his. God, she was delicious. His dick responded by twitching and aching to be released. He reached down to finally take one of her perfect breasts into his hand.

"Oh, sorry!"

Dan jerked and had the gun out of the back of his pants and in his hand before he knew who spoke. In a split second he had it cocked, his finger resting on the trigger. His nerves were at attention, not to mention other things, his breathing erratic. Holy shit. Who the hell was this guy?

A little Chinese man stood in the doorway holding two brown bags. His eyes were on the gun in Dan's hands, pointing right at him.

"I knock, but no answer. You always say if door open, come in." He eyed the gun again. "Is bad time?"

"No! That's Mr. Wong." JT jumped in front of the gun, eased it down. She met Dan's eyes, tried to get him to focus on her. But he couldn't focus. He couldn't breathe. His mind still reeled from their near sex experience.

He cursed and turned away. "Sorry. I thought—" He stopped. It didn't matter what he thought. He'd almost shot JT's neighbor. Christ. What the hell happened to the Man-of-Steel façade he'd perfected for so many years? Nothing could rattle him.

Damn this woman for making him lower his guard. Lower? Hell, his guard took a hike the minute JT entered that motor home. Along with his sanity.

No way he'd be able to focus on his assignment with JT Turner around. Their attraction grew stronger by the minute. He thought kissing her would lessen his want. Dumbass. He wanted her more now than ever. Replacing the gun in the back of his pants in his belt, Dan took several steps back until he rested against the far wall.

Jesus Christ. He almost took out an innocent. Slowing his breathing, he gave Mr. Wong a sideways glance when he spoke.

"What happen here? You have big party?" He looked carefully at Dan, sizing him up. It almost made Dan laugh when the little old man took a protective step toward JT. Oddly, it made him respect the little man.

JT managed a slight smile, though the look she just shot Dan told a different story. She knew how close he'd come to pulling that trigger. Her hand rubbed at her wound. No doubt his sudden movement to pull out the gun jerked her arm. Her shoulders lifted and lowered along with her deep breaths. From the look in her eyes, the color growing in her cheeks, she was expecting an explanation after Mr. Wong left.

Swell.

"No, not a party," JT answered.

"Oh. Funny. Men come here today. Make lots of noise. I tell Mrs. Wong, JT having big party."

JT and Dan exchanged looks.

"Men?" Dan stepped forward. Mr. Wong took a step back in retreat. With his hands up, Dan slowed his approach. "It's okay."

Mr. Wong looked to JT for reassurance. She nodded. Only then did he let out a breath and nod at Dan. "Four men. Three inside, one wait outside."

Dan stored that in his mental databank. He took a breath to say something, but stopped when he smelled something wonderful. His mouth started to water. "What's in the bags, Mr. Wong?"

He smiled sheepishly as he glanced back and forth between JT and Dan. With a bow, he held out the bags in his hands. "For you and your man. Good food. Mrs. Wong make your favorite."

Her man? Goddamn if he didn't like the sound of that.

JT accepted the bags. "
Domo arigato
, Mr. Wong. I'm starving. Tell Mrs. Wong thank you as well."

"Always to take care of you, JT. You need something, you come see us. We always home." He bowed.

Dan hid his smile.
Domo arigato
? Mr. Wong wasn't Japanese. But he didn't say anything, probably didn't want to hurt her feelings. Clearly, this man thought of JT like a daughter. His affection for her shone in his eyes.

"Mr. Wong, did you get a good look at any of those men?" JT asked as she unloaded the bags on the nearby dining table.

"Very good look of one outside."

Dan jumped in. "Was the guy short, fat, bald?"

Mr. Wong frowned. "No. Tall." He held his hand over his head to show Dan how tall. "Black hair too long for man. Big scar." Using his finger, he traced a line from his chin, up and across his eye. "Like that."

JT and Dan locked gazes. "Peck," he told her.

She stopped unloading the food. "You know him?"

"Oh, I know him. Unfortunately, now so do you. And he knows it. I have a feeling this won't be the last time we'll see Jason Peck—" He looked at Mr. Wong. He didn't know Mr. Wong. He looked harmless enough, but then again Dan wasn't exactly the best judge of character.

"I must go." Mr. Wong picked up on Dan's hesitation, bowed and stepped back. "You eat now. Come down if you need anything."

"
Xie xie, wong xian sheng
," Dan thanked him. Mr. Wong smiled warmly. No doubt he appreciated Dan being able to speak his native tongue, not to mention being able to tell the difference between Chinese and Japanese, even if JT couldn't.

"
Bie ke qi. Ni gui xing?
"

Should he give him his real name? Dan thought about that. He didn't know Mr. Wong, didn't know if the man really owned the restaurant below JT's apartment.

"Alright, Weber. What are you two saying?"

Dan looked at JT. So much for keeping his name a secret. She'd already called him Dan earlier. By calling him by his last name, she'd just given Mr. Wong everything he needed to track him if he really did work for another agency.

"Dan Weber." Dan bowed, and Mr. Wong bowed in return. JT made one of her little noises Dan was really starting to grow fond of. Which irritated the hell out of him.

"
Jian dao ni hen gao xing.
"

"It's nice to meet you, too," Dan greeted in return. JT had since crossed her arms and stood waiting over by the table. Dan glanced back after feeling the heat from her glare on his neck. "We'd better eat."

"Yes. Eat. Dan Weber, you watch JT. Keep her safe. I go now." He bowed and closed the door behind him. Dan lingered over by the door, not ready to face whatever wrath JT had ready for him for almost shooting Mr. Wong.

"You speak Japanese?" She asked and dug into a bowl of rice and chicken.

"Yes. But that wasn't Japanese, it was Chinese."

She stopped mid-chew. "Mr. Wong isn't Japanese?"

"He owns a
Chinese
restaurant. That should be your first clue."

She went back to her food. "You like Chinese?"

"When they aren't shooting at me, yes."

"Or when you don't have a gun pointed at
them
."

Here it comes. "I said I'm sorry. I don't need to explain myself to you, or anybody else. I thought he was a threat."

"Obviously not. Now finish what you were saying about Peck. Who is this guy and what does he want with
LEON
?"

"He was a double agent before dropping off the radar. He's no longer in NASSD."

She stopped chewing. "He's the one who contacted me and pulled me out of
Gahanna
. How could he do that if he is no longer in NASSD?"

Good question. But then again, as with any NASSD agent, Jason Peck was very resourceful. He may still have some contacts with NASSD who don't know of his betrayal. Who was he kidding? Everyone knew how he turned on his entire team, gave up their position, and ran off into the sunset with the enemy.

"My guess is he needed someone to throw HQ off his trail. He obviously knew where to find
LEON
." Dan sat across from her, grabbed the other bowl of rice and chicken, and dug in. "What better place to find an agent who doesn't know who you really are? He had his pick of agents at
Gahanna
."

"So why pick me?"

He shook his head. "Maybe you had less than an ideal record." When he eyed her reaction, he knew he hit it on the head. "Donovan said you were some whiz with a computer. You were the easiest target."

JT thinned her lips and muttered something as she closed her eyes. "So now my career may be over because he thought I was an easy target? That is so unfair."

"Life isn't fair, Turner. And if you think otherwise, then you are in the wrong line of work." They ate in silence, until both were scraping the bottom of the bowl with their chopsticks. Apparently one teriyaki bowl wasn't enough for either of them.

Then again, they could both be hungering for something more. Something primal. Dan sure as hell wanted to pick up where they left off.

Mr. Wong had perfect timing. He'd saved them both from making a huge mistake. Not that that helped with his growing need for her.

"What is
LEON
, anyway?"

"A weapon." He picked at the rice in his bowl, not willing to give her any more information than that. She was on a need to know basis only. It wouldn't be the first time Peck had a beautiful brunette working for him.

"Of mass destruction?"

"Of
targeted
destruction."

She watched him, waiting for more information. When he simply stared back at her, she sighed. "I get it. You don't trust me."

"No, I don't."

He could tell she tried to act like his comment didn't bother her, but it did. Very much. Too bad. Truthfully, he
didn't
trust her. She hadn't given him any reason to think otherwise.

"I didn't know you spoke Chinese," JT commented as she picked at the last few rice grains in the bottom of her bowl.

"There's a lot about me you don't know."

She looked at him. "Such as?"

Nice try. He'd done an adequate job distancing himself from everyone he ever cared about after what happened with Broadway. No need allowing anyone else that close again. He looked at JT. Shame. If only the circumstances were different. Maybe they could... He shook the idea out of his head before it could plant itself.

Dan's best friend was dead because of him. Not a day went by where Dan hadn't thought about him and how he died. It wasn't right. Raven was after Dan, not Gessler. He should have never been there. But the guy was too pigheaded to listen.

No. He had it backwards. He was too pigheaded to listen to Gessler. Steve Gessler hadn't trusted Raven from the very beginning. He tried to talk to Dan about Raven, but Dan was too wrapped up in her little web to listen. And look where it got him. A scar across his chest. And his partner, his best friend of thirteen years, in the ground.

"Are you always this talkative?"

Dan snapped his eyes up, focused on the finger in JT's mouth. She noticed him watching her and removed her finger, wiped it on her jeans. "When it comes to my personal business."

"Separating personal and business?"

"Something like that, yes."

"I've never had much luck with separating my personal life from my business life. By the way, you're a great kisser." She flashed him her smile that liked to make his emotions spin around in his chest. Her remark almost made Dan fall off his chair. Damn if she didn't surprise him in just about everything she said, everything she did. Her mind switched gears so fast he had a hard time keeping up. Dan could feel himself warming to her.

He had to put a stop to it. Now. Before they did something they'd both regret.

"Tomorrow I'm sending you back to HQ to be reassigned. They'll probably want you back at the academy to deprogram you."

"Deprogram me? As in remove me from the field?"

He looked at her. Damn, she was even more beautiful when she was pissed at him.
Focus, Weber.
It wouldn't be too long before Peck realized the disc JT gave him was The Eagles and not the technology for a weapon of target destruction. He'd obviously searched her apartment when Dan had them all hidden in that warehouse, which meant he had something to do with the group at the hotel earlier today.

Shit. Of course he did. How did he not put it together before now? JT wasn't meant to make it out of there alive. If he hadn't been there to save her ass, no doubt she would have been killed. The men at the hotel wore Mercado's mark, which meant Peck was already working with the drug lord.

Oh, this just keeps getting better and better
.

"Face it, sweetheart. You screwed up."

"Thank you for pointing that out. How was I supposed to know this was all a set up?

"Did it ever occur to you to question the assignment?"

She blinked as she stared at him. "Of course not."

He chuckled.
Of course not
. Actually, as her comment settled in, it started to make sense. Why would a rookie agent question someone claiming to be from HQ? Any seasoned agent would know to question a solo assignment, to demand more information at least. Rookies were assigned handlers for the first year, to help them gauge from right and not-so-right, or didn't she know that?