Bare Nerve (4 page)

She glanced over her shoulder. He was standing behind her looking every inch the tough-ass. She really had a chance to look at him and realized the scars and short military haircut on him weren’t just part of his past, they were who he was.

“Better to be a savage than someone who spends her time hiding behind her computer.”

“I don’t hide behind it. I’m rated a marksmen in handguns. I have a black belt in three different martial-arts disciplines, and I am more than capable of taking on you or any other opponent.”

“Then you must know the world isn’t black and white. And that men like me fill a need.”

“I do know that. But that doesn’t mean…I want to say this the right way. Jack, you could be so much more. When we were planning our strategy for entering Algeria and for capturing Andreev, I heard a real intelligence in your voice.”

“Why, thank you, ma’am,” he said in a self-deprecating tone.

“I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Then how did you mean it?” he asked, moving closer to her.

“I meant you don’t have to sell your gun to the highest bidder to earn a living.”

He stopped next to the chair she was sitting in and leaned his hip against the arm of the chair. He was all muscle—man the way he was supposed to be when he was honed to the top of his physical best. Jack Savage was the ultimate weapon. He was smart and savvy, and Anna had no doubt he knew how to use his body to the utmost advantage on the field.

“I fill a need in this world. If my team wasn’t around to take the jobs we do, people like Andreev would be supplying weapons to untrained rebels, and the killing would go on for a much longer time, Ms. Sterling.”

“I’m not arguing that you’re a necessary evil, Savage, I’m just saying…that loyalty should mean more than a dollar sign.”

“Your clients could say the same of you and your teammates.”

“Touché,” she said. She knew better than to judge anyone by their actions. Jack wasn’t a mercenary from her past. So why was she trying so hard to build a barrier between them?

She looked into his sky-blue eyes and saw the pain in them. She saw his keen intelligence and the wall he kept between himself and the world. And she felt an answering tug in her own soul.

Jack Savage was the kind of man Anna secretly wanted for her own. The kind of man who lived outside of the law and set his own standards.

He was everything she wasn’t. Everything her life had always pointed her away from. He lived and breathed in that gray area between right and wrong. It wasn’t necessarily the area between criminals and law-abiding citizens…it was an area she liked to think of as justice. She knew justice didn’t always come with a badge or in a courtroom. And she saw in Jack’s eyes that he knew this, too.

His life had shaped him into the kind of man who’d be more than happy to get justice for himself and his client however it had to be achieved. And if that meant working outside of the normal boundaries of the law, so be it.

“Why are you staring at me like that?” he asked. His voice was deep and rough, just another thing about him that showed her he wasn’t civilized.

“I don’t know,” she said and then stood up and walked away before she did something really stupid like kiss him. Because giving in to a bad boy like Jack Savage was something she’d never really been tempted to do before.

But Jack Savage was temptation incarnate for her. He made her wish she was a different kind of woman so she could spend all her time with him.

Anna knew she needed to keep her mind on the mission. On making sure Demetri Andreev was captured and put out of business for good. But she couldn’t help watching Jack, and he wouldn’t leave her thoughts alone.

No matter how many times she tried to convince herself she didn’t care what he did, she kept finding her attention drawn back to him.

She wanted him.
Oh, my God,
she thought. She was in lust for the first time in her life, and a part of her was very much afraid she was going to act on the impulse.

J
ack followed Anna out of the room. There was so much more to her than her sexy good looks. The more he talked to her, the more attracted to her he was. He followed her down the hall and into her office. Charity and Justine had left, so they were alone in the building.

“Anna?”

“Yes?” she said, half turning toward him.

Now that he had her attention, he didn’t hesitate. He knew what he wanted from her and closed the gap between them. He touched her soft long hair, letting the cool strands flow over his fingers. She stood stock-still just watching him with those wide eyes of hers.

Her lips parted when he brushed one rough, scarred finger against the side of her face. He saw then the differences between them. Saw her pale, perfect skin and his rough, work-hardened fingers. He had calluses on his hands that would never go away.

And even though they worked in the same industry, they’d never really be in the same league. What the hell was he thinking?

He couldn’t kiss Anna Sterling or even strip her naked and take her the way he wanted to. They were working together, and she was fragile for some reason when Algiers was mentioned.

He needed to pull back.

Yet as he dropped the strands of her hair, he didn’t want to. So instead of pulling away, he cupped the back of her head and drew her closer to him. She leaned toward him, lifting on her tiptoes as he lowered his head.

She inhaled sharply as he brushed his lips over hers. The sweetness of her breath washed over him. She smelled clean and exotic like the flowers that grew in the verdant jungles of South America. And as his lips brushed over hers, he knew this was a big mistake.

But he didn’t stop. Couldn’t pull back from her.

Her lips parted, and her hands came up to his shoulders. She clutched at him, drawing him nearer as her tongue tangled with his, thrusting deep to the back of his mouth.

The kiss was deep and dirty and nothing he’d expected from the ultra-civilized Anna Sterling, yet at the same time it was exactly what he needed from her.

He wrapped his arms around her body, sent his hands down her back to hold her tightly to him. She canted her hips toward his, her center rubbing over his hard-on. He groaned deep in his throat.

Yeah, baby
, he thought,
that’s it. Show me you need me.

And she rubbed her hips over him. Her breasts brushed against his chest, and he realized Anna really was a firecracker, and he wanted all of her. He wanted to use the passion between them to peel back the layers she used to hide from most of the people in the world.

And though a mission was the last place he should be thinking about seduction and sex, he knew Anna Sterling was going to be his.

He lifted his head, and her eyes opened. She was completely bare to him in that moment. There was a freshness to Anna he had never experienced with any woman before.

He cupped her face in his hands, rubbing his thumbs down her cheekbones and then scraping one thumb over her lower lip. She sucked his thumb into her mouth and looked up at him.

There was something very flirty in her reaction, and he felt it all the way to the core of his being.

“Well, that answers my question.”

She tipped her head to the side. “What question?”

“If you were the woman I thought you were.”

She shook her head and backed away from him. “I’m not like that…. I mean, normally I’m not a very passionate person. I think you’re making me…” She wrapped one arm around her waist and took a step back and bumped into her desk. “That’s not true. You aren’t making me do anything, but you do tempt me, Jack Savage.”

“I do?”

She punched him in the arm. “Don’t be a smartass.”

He laughed because despite the dangerous mission they were about to go on, he liked her. He was happy with the thought of spending time with her. Especially in his world—a place to which he’d never taken a woman before. And that scared him a little.

So he dropped back into the role he wasn’t scared to fill: tactical leader. He’d put them back on the business track and wait until they were alone again to explore this attraction.

He knew himself well enough to know that nothing would stop him from having her, even the knowledge that Anna wasn’t the type of woman he normally confined himself to. He couldn’t fool himself into thinking he was a great catch, but he knew Anna was the type of woman who wouldn’t give herself lightly to any man.

“We need to head out. My team will be anxious to get in the air,” Jack said.

She blinked at him. “Of course. You can wait for me in the inner lobby. I just need to gather my stuff, and I’ll be ready to go.”

“I’ll wait here,” he said.

“I’m sorry if that sounded like an optional request, but I need a few minutes alone.”

“Why?” he asked.

“Because I do.”

“I’m not leaving,” he said. “I like being with you.”

“Then why did you just change the subject to business? Why not spend a few minutes just enjoying each other?” she asked.

He shrugged. “I’m not really much more than a savage.”

“You’re a lot more than that, but I think you’ve gotten used to just sticking to that one role.”

The ride to the corporate airport, where the Liberty Investigations jet was kept, was silent. Jack didn’t mind silence. He kept his attention on the road in front of him, and Anna kept hers fixed to the BlackBerry in her hand.

She had started reading e-mails and texting her teammates as soon as they’d gotten into the car. He’d allowed her to ignore him because he wasn’t really in the mood for talking.

Being attracted to her was a distraction, and he truly knew he couldn’t afford that. He tried to let the cold February weather seep into his bones and cool off his libido, but it didn’t work. Instead he pictured Anna lying in his arms in front of the fireplace in his small Florida home.

What the hell?

He’d never brought any woman there and doubted Anna would ever see it either.

“The turn is just up there on the right,” she said.

“Thanks. Did you get the information from Tommy?”

“Yes. Thank you for having him send it. I added it to the database I have, and we can start triangulating where Andreev is. The tracker in his smartphone is still working.”

“Good. I think he’ll probably ditch the phone in either France or Morocco, but if he keeps it, that will give us an advantage,” Jack said. He wasn’t used to talking with women, and he knew this put him at a disadvantage with her.

“I think we’re going to land in the airport outside of Algiers,” Anna said.

“Yes, we are. When were you there last?” he asked.

“As a teenager. My father was the British ambassador to Algeria.”

“Did you move around a lot as a kid?” he asked. He tried to guess her age and figured her for early thirties. She would have been in Algeria in the early nineties, when there was a lot of political unrest.

“We moved a fair amount. My brother and I liked it a lot when we were little.”

“What did you like about it?” he asked.

“The new cultures and people. But after a while I started to realize that for all the differences of the cultures we visited, there was a sameness to life everywhere.”

Jack glanced over at her. “I’ve found that, too. Wherever I’ve traveled for my job, I’m struck by the universal truth of all societies. There’s rich and poor, there’s arrogant and hungry, and there is always someone who wants more power.”

“I would think the sameness you see comes from going to places on the cusp of anarchy.”

“It’s not always anarchy. Sometimes it’s genocide or things like one government’s need to control something they have no rights to.”

“Like oil?”

Jack nodded. “I was in Special Forces before getting out and starting my own group.”

“Why did you do that?”

“I needed the freedom to make my own choices and not worry so much about the government’s agenda. I’ve seen my country leave men behind to die because to rescue them would mean admitting we were someplace we weren’t supposed to be.”

Anna just looked at him.

“I know that makes me sound bitter, and I guess a part of me is, but another part just knows that’s the way of government negotiations and the way of the world.”

She nodded. “I’ve seen that, too. I was kidnapped when we were in Algeria because one terror group didn’t like the British foreign policy in the Middle East. My father was torn between being my dad and wanting my safety and being the British government’s representative. He couldn’t give in to terrorist demands, but…it was hard for him. And as a child I didn’t get it, really, but now as an adult I do.”

Jack pulled into a parking spot outside of the hangar where the Liberty Investigations jet was waiting. He left the car running and turned toward Anna. Some of the mystery he’d sensed in her was starting to make sense—the barriers she kept between herself and the world. “I had no idea.”

“Why would you? Most of the world never knew what happened. And my name was never released. I didn’t tell you to gain sympathy, just to show you I really do understand that the needs of one can’t be outweighed by the needs of many.”

Jack was humbled by what she’d said. But he also now understood her position on right and wrong and the vehemence he’d heard in her tone when she’d talked about him selling his honor to the highest bidder. “Were you taken captive by a group of mercenaries?”

She nodded. “I don’t talk about that.”

“Fair enough,” he said. “But don’t judge me or my men by the other mercenaries you’ve met in the past.”

“Why not?”

“Because we aren’t like those men.”

“Really? What makes you different?”

“A kind of sacrifice you won’t be able to understand,” he said, thinking of all the things his men had lost. Some of them had lost innocence, others family, others their faith in anything other than themselves. And he knew if Anna treated them the way she’d treated him, some of the men—like Kirk—would make it very difficult for them to work together.

“I don’t need social advice from you, Jack. I’ve been interacting with all kinds of people for years.”

He leaned over and grabbed the back of her neck. He hated that haughty tone of hers. The one that said
I’m better than you.

He kissed her hard and deep, thrusting his tongue into her mouth. She drew back and looked up at him. “Don’t do that again.”

“I’ll do whatever I damn well please, Anna Sterling, and you had best remember that.”

“Don’t act like a prick, Jack Savage, or I’ll show you you have a lot more to fear than you think you do.”

He shook his head. There was no give in this girl, and as much as that turned him on, he knew it could spell trouble for them down the road.

Anna got out of the vehicle, glad to no longer be alone with Jack. She didn’t like the way she was acting around him. For years no one had shaken her facade of normalcy, and now this man was getting to her. Making her question things she’d buried in the past. Things she wanted—no, needed—to leave there. Yet she couldn’t.

“Hey, girl. Where’s the fire?” Justine said as Anna entered the hangar.

“There’s no fire, I just want to get to Algeria, find Andreev, and bring him to justice.”

“Me, too. I can’t believe that slimy bastard got away.”

“Me neither,” Charity said as she joined them. Standing near the cargo hold of the plane were a group of five men.

Anna watched out of her periphery as Jack joined his group. They were almost silent as they worked. She saw them talking, but it was quiet. She knew they had to be the best in the business because Sam wouldn’t ask them to work with a group that would sell them out.

Liberty Investigations had all learned a hard lesson when Piper had been kidnapped. And trusting the wrong person could get them killed.

“You looked really pissed off,” Justine said.

She wasn’t pissed off, she was just…agitated. How could one man do this to her? “I am not. I have the new information from one of the Savage team with known hangouts for Andreev. I e-mailed them to both of you.”

“We got it. I’ve been talking to Hamm. He used to be army. I think most of Savage’s team is ex-military, and they seem to have a strong sense of patriotism,” Charity said.

“I’ll start running background checks on the men once we’re in the air. That way we won’t have any surprises.”

“Good idea,” Justine said. “They look like decent guys, but appearances can be deceiving.”

Justine had a long history of not trusting any men, especially those who seemed to be good guys on the surface. Anna realized the situation with Jack’s team could be very tense, given Justine’s attitude. She knew she’d have to keep her own distrust of mercenaries to herself.

“Sam sent me a message saying Marcus Ware will pay for all our expenses. He wants Kirch/Andreev caught and brought back to the States for trial,” Charity said.