Catch Me If You Can (Love's Command) (6 page)

What are you and your dad into, baby?

The desert had been a simple mission. Save a few scientists that had been forced to land their plane on the wrong side of a line. The mission had taken all of six days, including getting him to a base hospital. He’d been down for a full twenty days. Kylie had saved his life. She’d been one of those scientists. Or so he thought. How could she have been a full member of the team at twenty, twenty-one?

He still couldn’t believe she’d been that young and saved his life. He wasn’t even clear on how such a small person had moved his heavy ass out of danger. All the digging he’d done had only uncovered that a young woman had hidden him and saved him. On her own. She’d also been in danger. The child he’d talked to had even suggested she’d been followed to where she’d hidden him, and yet here he was. Alive and kicking. And so was she. She was a fighter, and obviously brave enough to drug a man who could toss her over his shoulder without breaking stride. He grinned at that and grabbed the remaining vials for testing later on, closed the cabinet, pocketed the paper with the codes on it and twisted the lock to insure no one else could gain access.

One more look around the place and he pulled out his phone to dial Tazz. He doubted anyone had used this place in months, possibly longer. There was a light coating of dust everywhere, but not enough to indicate years of being empty. Other than the cabinet, it didn’t offer much into the life of one very pretty Ms Kylie Chung.

Well,
he thought philosophically,
I’ve learned one thing about Kylie, she doesn’t like bullshit.
He’d remember that the next time he had her close by and within kissing distance. Right now though, he needed to get her within
kissing distance
and keep her there.

“Yeah, on my way,” Tazz said as soon as he answered.

“Great, I’m ready and—”

“Wait, wait, hold on. I had the ports keep an eye out for her. Someone fitting her description but under a different name is waiting to board the ferry in Busan to Japan. Shit, she is a busy little thing isn’t she?”

“She’s going to Japan?”

“It’s one way to get to the US, but it’s also where her father had another apartment. Ten years ago, he worked with a team located in Hiroshima.”

“And we have eyes on the place?” Dare guessed.

“Yes,” Tazz said, then added, “but not looking for her in particular.”

“And we’re going to make that ferry.”

“You got it. Some technical difficulties with the ferry’s onboard computers are holding it up, I heard.”

“Good.” Dare grabbed his cap off the floor, raced out of the lab and hit the doors within seconds. She’d just gotten to Korea, and now she was going to Japan. What was she really up to? He’d finally found her, but all he had were more questions than answers.

Within minutes, Tazz pulled up beside him.

“Come on. We can just reach the base and get transport to Hiroshima if we scramble.”

Tazz didn’t ask him what else he’d found and he didn’t demand to go inside the apartment. Maybe he trusted Dare’s assessment, but maybe his buddy had already been inside and knew more about what was going on than he was saying. He was just about to demand some answers, when Tazz did a U-turn into oncoming traffic and immediately shot over to a side street.

“All good?” Tazz asked, giving him a quick once over. “Still want to find your girl?”

His girl
. Damn, that sounded right, but so damn wrong, too.

He’d have laughed his ass off if someone had said that a day ago. With Kylie Chung, it sounded right—like breathing.

“What do you think?” he asked, instead of spilling his guts.

“I think you’ve finally been tagged, man. She’s caught you. Now let’s see if we can catch her.” Tazz grinned and floored the SUV, cutting through the slower traffic and heading toward the American base located outside of Seoul. If they got there quick enough, they’d be on a helicopter and hit the ferry before she could even board.

They’d make it because he wasn’t going to lose her again. He’d catch her, and this time, he’d find a way to make her want to
stay
caught.

Chapter Four

Kylie drew a big breath of fresh, ocean-scented air and her tension eased. She’d always loved the ferry ride from Korea to Japan, but this time, her trip was tinged with sadness and anxiety. She’d gotten through the lines and the customs agents easy enough. For some reason, that made her melancholy worse. Even the sight of blue seas all around her didn’t completely unknot the kinks in her shoulders and back.

Her American was partly to blame. He’d not even stopped her at customs.

But then how could he have? You drugged him!

God, she was confused.

She tightened her hands on the railing.
Did I want him to? And then what? Possibly stop me from saving my Dad?
If he did, this rush against all odds would be over. Her father would be dead, wouldn’t he?

The question deepened the hollow feeling in her chest.

No, she couldn’t chance losing her father. Not for a man who’d kissed her simply to get what he wanted.

“Ah, now, baby, you’re going to hurt yourself thinking that hard.”

At the sound of his voice, she barely stopped herself from turning around in shock.

He not only found me, he followed me?

“Don’t call me that,” she snapped, before she’d even known she was going to talk to him. Immediately, embarrassment burned her cheeks, but she shrugged the unease aside and glared at the blue choppy waters surrounding them.

He’d leaned on the railing next to her, but with a grin she could see even without looking fully at him, he stood to move closer. A second later his hand landed on her waist.

“Mmm, you don’t like that, huh? How about darling, or beautiful, or sweet—”

“Stop!” She glared at him instead of the ocean, jerked his hand off and moved farther from him.

A few of the passengers were now focused on her, no doubt thinking she was with the American or that he was hitting on her. Many of the people on board were Japanese and held no love of the Americans and their sexual interest in Japanese women. Too many women had been raped, too many girls as well, for them to encourage relationships with the unruly soldiers, in their opinions.

Well, the American facing her certainly was certainly arrogant.
So why does he make my body feel alive?

He shouldn’t.

“Go away or I’ll scream.”

The threat, the very real threat, didn’t even faze him. If she screamed and said he had attacked her, the people on board, although smaller than him, would still make things difficult. But then what? Let them take him away? If they even could…

He didn’t move. Instead of going away, he stepped close enough that his body heat sizzled along her side. “I’ve decided that you need me. Right here, next to you. So, we need to settle this. Is it going to be baby, or sweetheart? I like—”

“I would like you to call me Kylie, or better, Ms Chung.”

“Is that your name? Kylie?”

She blinked, amazed that he was intent on chasing her down, and yet didn’t even know her name. “You don’t know my name?”

“Well…” He shrugged a big, broad shoulder. He’d changed into a bright white button-down, with another T-shirt underneath and cargo shorts. He looked like any other tourist. Well, if tourists in Korea were six foot six black men. “I read the file, but wasn’t convinced your name was really Kylie.”

“It is.” They had a
file
on her? Her stomach grew sick. She glanced around at the other passengers. They looked away, but obviously they were watching them. “You haven’t asked for my name,” he suddenly murmured.

She glanced at his face to see if he was being serious or not. She couldn’t tell with the silver reflective glasses shielding his eyes, but his lips were quirked up in that sexy smile of his. Arrogance practically oozed from him.

She looked away from him and concentrated on the bit of land she could just begin to spot on the horizon. They’d land soon, if that was the coast. He was right though, she’d not even asked him his name. Did she want to know?

He nudged her with a shoulder and she huffed out a breath to mask her amusement. Yes, she wanted to know.
So ask him, Ky!

“No, I haven’t.”

He laughed and tugged her into a hug. She froze, so startled she couldn’t think of what to do. Everyone was already interested in what they were saying, if she pushed him, she’d end up drawing more attention. Realizing he’d caught her, she gave up trying to resist him enough to rest her head in his chest. Maybe if she pretended to give in, he’d let her go.

You’re rationalizing, Ky.

She was, but not because he was so warm and strong, and she hoped for more of his amazing kisses.

She had to remember he wasn’t real. He was only acting the part, no doubt to get her somewhere so he could interrogate her.

“There, that’s not so difficult is it?” he whispered close to her ear.

A shiver of lust burned down her neck and pooled deep in her stomach, warming her from the inside out. Shaking it off, she whispered back, “You know, this will only make me madder.”

He laughed. “Yes, and I realize now that making you mad isn’t safe.” He brushed his hand up and down her back, then cupped her butt once so quickly that she didn’t even have time to hit him before he released her. “So, no hidden drugs, huh?”

Shocked, she looked up to see if he was serious. “Did you just frisk me?”

“Nah, I’ll do that once we’re all alone,” he said.

Startled even more, she examined his handsome face, but at his smile, her alarm only grew.

He laughed again, turned her, looped an arm around her waist and steered her toward the cabins before she could do more than open her mouth. She baulked, but he used his bigger, stronger body to propel her along. She had a choice, make a scene in front of all the Japanese and Koreans, or let him usher her inside.

“You are not taking me in the cabin—”

“Now, now, it won’t hurt. Heck, I’m counting on you enjoying it.” He grinned again, making her shiver all over. Not the reaction she should have had either.

“I am not letting you do any such thing.”

“Ah, come on,” he murmured against her neck.

The shiver grew until it raced down to her toes. She smacked him on the top of the head. “Stop that.”

“Still mad about the kiss?”

The nerve of the man astounded her. The arrogant—

“Or about me BS’ing you about how damn vital kissing you was in that moment?”

They hit the hallway as he spoke and it took her a moment to make sense of his words. When she did, she nearly tripped on her high heels. He’d thought her kiss was vital?

He took his sunglasses off and pocketed them. Immediately she wished he hadn’t. She could keep some distance from him with those reflective lenses hiding his warm, brown eyes. But now, faced with that cocky, confident smile and his intense gaze, she couldn’t think of a thing to say to him.

“Shocked you, did I?” he asked then bent to whisper, “Wait until later.”

The warmth of his breath on her neck should’ve been illegal. The way it shot from her throat down to her pussy made her feel as if she’d a big mistake not screaming when she had the chance.

She took a step back, distancing herself from the urge to rub her breasts against his chest.

He winked.

God, the man was full of himself.
But oh, there is a good reason for that, isn’t there, Ky?

He was trying to fool her into doing what he wanted. She tried to step backwards down the hallway, but he reached for her, then around her and opened a private cabin. It was either let their bodies meet and have hers catch fire, or let him maneuver her inside. They stared at each other until she heard a couple heading toward them down the narrow hall, whispering to each other, obviously about them.

The cocky grin grew, the dare on his face apparent, but she twisted, trying her best to avoid him, the door and the couple. He placed a hand on her back, forced her around sneakily and used the confusion of moving aside for the couple to push her inside.

She turned to go right back out, but he’d already closed the door.

“She hard to get down here?”

Kylie spun at the question to face another American. His dark hair was cut in a buzz cut much longer than most military on top, so that it stood up in sporty disarray like Jeremy Renner, one of her favorite movie actors. Now, faced with him lounged on a couch, with one foot crossed over his knee, drink in hand, she stepped backward, closer to his partner. Even though this one was dressed in the same kind of casual clothes as the one behind her, the way he watched her, made her feel uneasy, and suddenly exposed like a mouse to a hawk.

She got a push against her lower back for her trouble, and a rough, “Take a seat, Ky.”

“No, thank you,” she whispered to him fiercely. How had she let this happen? Her body thrummed, ready for much more than the interrogation facing her.
What is wrong with me?

“Shit, Dare, you didn’t tell her I’d join the party?”

“Dare?” she repeated, staring from one man to the other.

“Yeah, that’s me.”

She narrowed her eyes on his handsome face. “That’s not your real name.”

His grin slipped and he shrugged a broad shoulder. “No, my real name is Daren Scott. Is Kylie Chung your real name?”

“Yes! We’ve already gone over this, remember?”

Dare settled his big body against the sliding door and folded his arms. “True, but I need a bit more now, Kylie. Take a seat. Get comfortable.”

She moved to keep them both in her line of sight and crossed her arms over her chest. She could be stubborn, too. She had to be. So far this man had taken all she’d given him, and he’d still chased. Her dad was counting on her.

“No. I’m not answerable to you,” she glanced at the dark-haired man and included him, too, “or him.”

“That, Ms Chung, is not actually correct,” he replied, setting his drink down on the table near him. “We need answers. That’s all. Answers.”

Dare drew her attention off his partner, who still remained nameless, by laughing lightly. “Look, it’s simple. We didn’t get a chance to discuss this because you were too busy leaving me behind—drugged.”