Blood Kiss (Savage Security Series Book 1) (16 page)

Mike walked into the main conference room at Savage Securities. The hardened eyes of his coworkers stared at him. He knew what they were thinking. He was thinking it too.
Why the hell didn’t he have Alisha with him?
He wasn’t sure he liked his answer to that question, but she wasn’t his prisoner, even if he wanted her to be.

He walked down one side of the high-gloss table and found his spot. They didn’t have assigned seats, but each man had staked his position at the table, and no one ever tried to highjack another’s spot. Mike pulled out the ergonomic chair, still under the heavy weight of their stares, and sat down. He gave a nod to the men.

Cole stood at the head of the table surrounded by the small team that would work on today’s big assignment. It was a great job, one that could lead to more high-profile jobs. They were used to providing security, but handling security for a public celebrity was the big time. One fucked up job would negatively affect the company’s reputation and cause them to lose contracts or potential clients.

But Cole was conflicted. He didn’t like putting an innocent woman’s safety in jeopardy, especially one that was important to one of his men, in order to make a celebrity’s day easier. The misplaced priority ate at Cole’s gut, but he had to have faith that she’d be good during the day while she was at a public place. Mike would be with her by the end of the school day. Even though he believed that helping Mike outweighed the pompous ass, the brutal truth still remained. If they bungled this job, Savage Securities would take a big hit. News traveled fast in the celebrity world, so he really needed Mike focused on his part of the job, even if it wasn’t his top priority.

Cole acknowledged Mike and said, “I filled the guys in on Alisha. They know about yesterday’s incident. You have all of our support.”

“Thanks.” Mike gave a curt nod and a tight smile. He was still angry at himself for leaving her at work. He wasn’t sure he’d survive if anything happened to her. It couldn’t happen again.

Cole placed a small, round tracker on the table and gave it a gentle push. It slid over the table’s smooth surface like a shuffleboard disk towards Mike. He clamped down on top of the small tracker as it came to a stop in front of him.

“If she won’t cooperate,” Cole started, “you can at least tag her so you know where she is.”

Mike gently gripped the tiny tracker between his fingertips. He’d make her wear this whether she wanted to or not. If she was too stupid or stubborn to comply, then he’d be done with her. He’d have to walk away. He couldn’t watch another woman die. He couldn’t put his heart through that again. “Thanks,” Mike mumbled.

Jack couldn’t help but smirk at Mike. “Heard you got yourself a woman this weekend, and she comes with some baggage.” He chuckled as he shook his head, his cocky grin lighting his face. “You need to drag her ass back here and lock her down tight.” He tapped the table with his index finger. “If she isn’t smart enough to protect herself, then apparently you need do the thinking for her.”

Cole rubbed his chin. “No, that is a bad idea,” he said flatly. “We do not hold people against their will.”

“Most of the time,” Logan added with a laugh. He flipped the pen in his hand back and forth like a metronome.

Cole glared at Logan. “Most of the time,” he repeated, his voice low and gruff.

Jack hated that he was surrounded by intelligent men who knew the darkness that devoured its prey, yet somehow they could clutch at idealistic fantasies. Maybe that’s what love did. Fuck with your mind. The school didn’t offer Alisha any form of security. Jack looked around the table and knew he couldn’t be the only one thinking it, but he
would
be the one to say it. “All that tracker is going to tell you is where the tracker is. It’s not going to tell you where
she
is. I still think you need to zip-tie her ass and lock her down tight here.”

Tyson rubbed his hand over his bald head as he leaned back in his chair. He eyed his friends and crossed his arms over his broad chest, waiting to hear the decision. He wasn’t going to throw any ideas into the ring. That’s just begging to be blamed for something.

Logan gave a thoughtful head nod and slipped the lid off the top of his pen and started to doodle on the notebook in front of him. “That’s not a bad idea,” he said. He glanced up from his drawing to scan the others. “It wouldn’t kill her to be locked up here for the day, and it would give us some time to dig a little more. We may discover who this pervert is. We’ve already got his prints. There’s got to be some data base he’s in that Mike didn’t check.” He gave a shrug of his shoulders. “Besides, she could hang with Bella.”

Bella’s ears burned as she listened to the men in the conference room, but when her name was added to the conversation, a fire lit her up inside. She was used to the profanity and insane ideas that spilled from their mouths. They had to be either the bravest or the dumbest men she knew. Some of their schemes were downright deadly, and she wasn’t even privy to most of their assignments. But she’d worked for them long enough to know that the more dangerous the assignment, the more excited they became. Their language didn’t bother her. She expected it from them. Heck, she thought it was funny the way profanity flowed from their mouths the way water spilled from Niagara Falls, but she couldn’t sit by and listen to them plot the kidnapping of an innocent woman, especially if they planned on involving her. Not a chance in heck!

Bella stood so quickly that her rolling chair slid across the hard plastic mat that it sat on and hit the wall behind her desk. She marched around her desk and stood defiantly in the doorway of the conference room with her arms crossed. Yeah, she knew she looked tough.

Jack’s body went on alert the second she popped into the doorway. He’d wanted to get his hands on her petite frame the minute he saw her, but Cole declared her “off limits”. That really pissed him off. If she hadn’t worked for Savage Securities he’d be after her like a guided missile barreling towards its target.

But now, what a fine picture Bella made standing there all pissed off. Silky black hair hung over her shoulders with pink tips that lay on her perky breasts. Her tiny hands were perched defiantly on her hips with one fantastic leg slightly ahead of the other. Her eyes, which were normally dark brown, seemed to burn with anger. He didn’t know what had gotten under her collar, but he was willing to strip her down and check every inch of her body to see what was burring its way under her delicate skin.

Cole knew from the gleam in Jack’s eyes who stood behind him. He could smell her too. She wore that damn perfume.
Didn’t she know that perfume gave her away? She wouldn’t last an hour in the field
.

Cole turned and said, “Do you need something?” She normally didn’t interrupt their meetings unless it was important. He really hoped there was nothing wrong that needed to be addressed. They were already on a tight schedule.

Bella took in a big breath, crossed her arms and let out the breath with a big sigh. “It sounds like you’re planning on kidnapping someone’s girlfriend.” She put her hand to her chest. “I’m going on the record right now that that’s a bad idea.” She loved them, but she wasn’t serving time over something so stupid. So instead, she glared at the men, willing them to heed her advice.

Tyson had been relatively quiet all morning, but he loved getting under Bella’s nerves. There was just something funny about getting that tiny woman all riled up. “I don’t think we asked your opinion,” he said. He crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. He couldn’t help but smile.

Bella raised her eyebrows and shifted her weight so that one hip popped out to the side, then she rested a hand on her hip, forming a triangle. She took a deep breath, accentuating the inhalation and said, “Listen, up,” the ‘p’ sound popped as she said it. “I’m gonna fill you in on a little secret.” She waved her finger at them.

Jack couldn’t help but imagine how that well-shaped nail would feel gently scraping down his back. He wasn’t listening to a word she said. He was too busy drinking in her beauty. If Cole had wanted them to stay focused at work, then he shouldn’t have hired a Bond girl to run the office.

“If you go and kidnap this woman,” Bella continued, her body language becoming more animated as she went on, “zip tie her to a table, and lock her in a room here at Savage Securities in order to ‘protect’ her from some pervert who’s stalking her.”

Damn
, Jack thought.
Her legs looked great in those heels and skirt. Legs didn’t have to be long to be gorgeous or wrapped around his waist.

Bella continued, “Do you know who’s going to look like the pervert psycho at the end of the day? You are!” She said loudly, pointing to the men gathered around the table.

Jack reeled back a little in his chair and wondered what she was screeching about. Someone must have really pissed her off. She was usually so mellow. Maybe it was that time of the month for her. Some women went bat-shit crazy. He’d have to remember that.

Bella continued her rant, “Savage Securities will be considered nothing but a bunch of fucked up psychos who can’t be trusted with
any
form of security.” Bella gave a dramatic head nod as she put both hands on her hips.

Jack adjusted himself in his seat.
Did she just say, “fucked up”? She was so fucking hot.

Cole was thankful that Jack was smarter than the average Joe because he was confident that when Bella was in Jack’s vicinity that Jack’s IQ dropped by at least 15 points. That usually happened when men thought with the wrong head.

Cole looked over his team as they sat at the high-gloss table, their eyes locked on the tiny Asian woman behind him. He’d worked too hard to build this company, and she was right. If they snatched Alisha, even for her own good, they would be in the wrong. He did not need, “Savage Securities kidnaps and holds young, elementary school teacher against her will,” on an endless loop on the news. That would destroy his company and
all
of their reputations. “Bella’s right. We can’t force ourselves on Ms. Woods.”

Jack sat forward and held his hands out in a questioning gesture. “Who’s Ms. Woods?”

Cole looked up at the ceiling and gently rubbed his temple, wishing Bella would just leave so he could have the intelligent Jack back.

Bella looked at Jack in amazement. Her mouth hung open in awe. How he ever qualified for Special Forces was beyond her. She knew he had to be smarter than he seemed because all she ever saw a jokester who didn’t take life seriously, and that just didn’t make sense with his job. Maybe letting loose was how he dealt with the reality of his world.

“Ms. Woods is Alisha,” Bella explained. “The one you’re
not
kidnapping and holding hostage here, thanks to me. Yes, me,” she pointed at herself, “a tiny, Asian woman just saved all your fine asses.” She pointed to all the men seated around the table.

Jack couldn’t help but smirk. “Hear that? She thinks I have a fine ass.” He chuckled, the sound low in his chest.

Bella couldn’t help but enjoy the sound. Jack may be a smart ass, but he was a cute, smart ass.

Tyson smiled wide, his white teeth gleaming against his dark skin. “No way man. Don’t dis us like that. She thinks
all
our asses are nice.”

“That’s not what I heard,” Logan said. “She called Jack an ass.”

Bella laughed and covered her mouth with her hand in an attempt to hide her smile. Jack could certainly be an ass.

Mike chuckled. “Yep, that’s what I heard. Jack’s definitely an ass.”

Cole looked at the men seated around the table. It was good to see them smile, especially since they were concerned about Mike. “Let’s stop talking about each other’s asses. I don’t need the image of any of your hairy asses in my head.”

Jack sat back in his chair, keeping his eyes locked on Bella. “As long as we all remember that I have a fine ass.”

Bella looked at Jack and shook her head. “That’s your take-away?” she questioned. “You have a nice ass. That’s what you heard? Where is your mind?” She shrugged and flipped her hand nonchalantly.

Baby, my mind is all over you.
Jack stared at Bella, starting at the top of her head and slowly taking in her whole body, his eyes delicately grazing each dip and curve of her form.

A smile that sent goose bumps prickling over Bella’s skin crossed Jack’s face. His green eyes bore into her, not into her eyes, but into
her
. His gaze penetrated her, and her heart rate ticked up a notch. She’d never been looked at with such intensity before, as if she was prey and he was the predator. She’d never seen him in the field, but she could now imagine the predatory look he must get when he’s focused on an op.

She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. She had no reply. So instead, she turned and walked back to her desk. She scooted her chair over from the wall and sat down behind her desk. She tried to settle her heart rate. She fiddled with a few paperclips that lay on the top of her desk and then opened the drawer and put them away. She reorganized a few items inside the drawer and listened from afar to Cole as he continued the meeting.

And as far as the look Jack gave her, she’d just pretend that didn’t happen. He hadn’t meant to scare her.