Countermeasure (7 page)

She pulled up the latest reports on the Bristol project and scanned through them for the hundredth time. On the surface, everything looked like the trial results were going like clockwork.
Something’s off,
she thought again.
If only I can pinpoint what it is.

She picked up the phone and called Matt. “Hey, have you noticed anything weird in any of your scans? Any suspicious files? New processes?”

“Come on, Cass! What? Do you think I’m green behind the ears? I’ve been running constant checks and if there is even the slightest hint of strange activity I’ll know right away. I’m even monitoring TCP and UDP ports.”

“Okay, okay! I hear you. You have it covered. Just call me if anything—and I mean
anything
—pops,” Cassandra reiterated before disconnecting.

She knew the formula was too sweet a deal to pass up and that someone could be out there lurking, waiting for the right moment to jump in and take what they wanted
. I
must be paranoid,
she thought as she rubbed her scar. It ached again and, in turn, caused her to second-guess herself.
Am I overthinking this? Reading more into it than I should be?

The phone rang, jarring her from her musings. One glance at the display and she knew exactly who it was.

“Hello, Nate.”

“Hello, gorgeous! How about dinner tonight? And don’t say you’re too busy. I checked with Jessica and she said you were going home for the evening.”

Cassandra tapped her fingers on the desk in frustration. There was no way to beg off the dinner. She had put Nathan off for the past three days, suggesting he take Jessica out instead. She had hoped that they would connect and he would be out of her hair. This time around, though, he was determined to wear her down.
Am I overthinking this too? Bob seems to like him. Maybe I should give him one more chance. Maybe things could be different between us after all this time.

“Okay, okay, fine. Where and when?”

“How about seven o’clock at my hotel? The restaurant is supposed to be very good,” Nathan responded with a touch of triumph in his voice.

“Fine, see you then.” Cassandra hung up, pushed away from her desk, walked down the hall to Jessica’s office, and stuck her head in the door.

Jessica noticed her right away. “What’s the
qué pasa
chica?”

Cassandra stepped fully into her office. “The ‘
qué pasa
’ is that you gave Nate the 411 on me going home and now I am stuck going out to dinner with him.”

Cassandra frowned when a wide grin spread across Jessica’s mouth as she looked back at her computer screen avoiding Cassandra’s eyes. “Cassie, he obviously has a huge crush on you. He’s your friend. Toss him a bone. Have dinner, have fun. Who knows? Maybe you were meant for each other.”

Cassandra plopped down in the chair next to the desk and rested her chin on her steepled fingers. “Don’t you think if there was something it would have showed up by now? You said it yourself: when it happens, I’ll fall hard. Well, I didn’t fall for him before and I haven’t fallen now.”

Jessica looked up again and shook her head. “Just go out and enjoy yourself, will you? Everything’s going smoothly on the Bristol watch. We’ve covered all bases and you have a good friend in town.
Relax
for once, Cassie.”

****

When Cassandra arrived at the restaurant later that evening, Jessica’s words still rang in her ears. As the waiter led her to the table, she nervously smoothed the black leather skirt she’d matched with a form-fitting top. Nathan’s face lit up when he saw her and a gleam filled his eyes. Standing as she drew closer, he waved the waiter off and pulled the chair out for her before taking his own seat.

A cold frothy Guinness was already set on the table waiting for her. Smiling, she took a long sip. “Thanks, I needed that!”

Nathan flashed a grin. “Your wish is my command.”

Cassandra set her glass down and noticed Nathan signaling the waiter. To her surprise, a green house salad with blue cheese dressing on the side was set promptly in front of her. Cassandra, after a moment’s hesitation, shrugged it off, deciding to go with the flow, and took a bite.

With a smug grin, Nathan dug in to his own salad and initiated conversation with a homey, “How was your day? Anything interesting happening?”

Over the next hour, Cassandra and Nathan enjoyed a quiet evening of good food and conversation. They reminisced about their CIA days and how their mutual friends were doing. After a bit of dessert, both she and Nathan relaxed over a cup of coffee in comfortable silence.

 “Cass. Come up to my room for a nightcap,” Nathan proposed, breaking the silence.

Cassandra watched the gleam return to his eyes and hesitated. Jessica’s words—
meant for each other
and
relax for once, Cassie
—swirled in her head. Finally, she came to a decision. “Sure. I can stay a bit longer.”

Nathan grinned as he pushed back his chair and help her with hers. With a hand resting possessively on her lower back, he led her through the restaurant to the elevator. As they waited, his thumb rubbed back and forth in a caress across her back. The message in his touch concerned her, a sign that he was looking for more than a nightcap.

When the elevator doors opened, Cassandra walked to the back of the car and leaned against the rail to avoid any further contact while she gathered her thoughts. Nathan followed her in, pushed the button for his floor, and stepped back to stand next to her.

During the short ride, Cassandra glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. Why didn’t her heart race when she looked at him or when he touched her? Isn’t that how it was supposed to work? When the elevator stopped and the doors opened, Cassandra followed Nathan to his room. Inside, she moved to the balcony window and looked out at the view.

In the background, she heard Nathan pour two drinks and walk toward her. With a deep breath she turned and accepted the glass, holding it with both hands like an anchor. She slowly took a sip. The combination of coke and whiskey burned a warm trail down her throat. Over the rim of the glass she studied Nathan. His blond hair was slightly longer than she had seen before, touching the collar of his shirt, and his soft green eyes quietly observed her in return. Cassandra glanced around the room, eyeing the king-sized bed before sitting in the chair farthest from it.

Cassandra broke the silence. “So, when do you head back?”

Nathan tracked her movements from where he now leaned against the balcony window like a predator silently studying his prey. His breath caught slightly as her skirt crept up, giving him a quick glance of the silky skin of her thighs when she sat.

“Depends.” He took a swig from his glass, crossed his arms in front of his chest, and swirled the drink in his hand.

“On what?” Cassandra took another sip from her drink.

Nathan continued to intently watch Cassandra through hooded eyes. Her soft auburn hair fell in waves around the curve of her face and down below her shoulders. The whiskey brown of her eyes and dusting of freckles across the bridge of her nose had pulled at his heart since the first time she had collided with him in the maze of cubicles all those years ago.

Nothing had changed for him. He had fallen for her then. His heart tightened in his chest. He could still remember when he had confessed his love for her and she had turned him down. He knew he might never win her heart, but, even after all these years, he was not willing to give up trying.

The day he knew he had lost brownie points with her was a memory stamped on his brain. He had kicked himself in his lazy ass every day for slacking on keeping his gun clean. He could remember the pounding in his ears at the thought that she might have been shot because of his idiocy. He had always believed it was his duty to look out for her, protect her, keep her from danger.

He was fairly certain she would have been his by now if it hadn’t been for that stupid incident. Instead, she had told him there would never be anything between them. He had backed off to give her space so that she could see they belonged together. But he had given her enough time and now he was ready to conquer her as he had planned. He knew she would soon see the light. He was confident it was just a matter of putting some time and effort into courting her, showing her he was the right man to make her happy.

When the opportunity to come to California and the Bay Area, Cassandra’s home, presented itself, he made sure that he convinced his boss to send him. It had been easy to tack on some vacation days as a contingency plan, and now there he was, finally alone with her.

Nathan set his glass on the side table and stepped toward her. Cassandra eyed him and sat back when he leaned down and placed his hands on the armrests, leaving just inches between their lips. “It depends on you.”

“Nate, we…” Cassandra started to protest, but Nathan captured her lips in a kiss before she could finish.

At first, Cassandra hesitated, keeping her mouth sealed, but he persisted, taking a teasing approach until finally she sighed and allowed his tongue to breach her lips. Nathan quickly accepted the surrender. He thrust his tongue deep and groaned at finally getting the chance to, once again, taste the mouth that had haunted him all these years. Slowly easing back, he reached for her hand and urged her to her feet as he took a step back.

Following his lead, Cassandra stood. His hands moved to her waist, pulling her against him and capturing her again in a deep, wet kiss. As he continued his assault on her mouth, he moved them slowly toward the bed. In a slow dance, he turned her so that her back was facing it.

Out of breath, Cassandra broke the kiss. “Nate, I don’t think we should do this.”

“Don’t think, Cass,” he ordered, quickly leaning his head down and kissing her firmly and surely, cutting off any further protests. After some more coaxing, Cassandra kissed him back. Nathan slid his hands from her waist to the middle of her back, kneading it as he pulled her even closer. For a while all they did was kiss, exploring each other’s mouths with tongues that danced and brushed along each other. Nathan moved his fingers to the back of her leather skirt; his heart raced as he worked the button and zipper, and then slowly pushed the skirt off her hips. He skimmed his hands to her bottom, savoring the feel and shape of it. Excited, his fingers gripped the globes of her ass and pulled her hips even tighter against the hardness of his erection.

When his hands reached for the edge of her top, pulling it up over her head, Cassandra lifted her arms to help him. Before her top hit the rug, she reached for the button of his pants as he began unbuttoning his shirt. Together, they removed the last of his clothing. Swiftly, he pushed her back onto the bed and quickly joined her. Resting his head on his hand and locking eyes with her, he trailed one of his fingers across the lace at the top of her bra and along the silky skin of her breast.

His bright green eyes turned the color of a dark forest as he slowly leaned down to taste the skin his fingers had just touched. Cassandra’s heart jumped in anticipation when his tongue licked a path along the line of lace and his fingers peeled the cup of her bra away from her breast.

The heat of his tongue and the coolness of the air caused her nipple to pebble and, with another groan, Nathan flicked it with his tongue before circling and pulling it into his mouth. A soft moan escaped Cassandra, her spine arched slightly away from the bed and her hands gripped the covers on either side of her at his touch.

When her mind tried to analyze the situation, she shut it down and refused to think too hard. Her blood warmed and a tingling in her clit caused her hips to move restlessly against him. It had been way too long since she’d last had intimate contact with anyone. Vowing to never have a deep relationship, she had allowed work to rule her life. Now, her body betrayed her, made her crave the physical contact she had avoided for so long.

In search of relief, Cassandra maneuvered her hips so that Nathan became cradled between her legs. She then reached between them to wrap her hand around his erection.

“Damn it, Cass, hold on,” Nathan breathed harshly. He shifted, reaching for the drawer of the nightstand and the foil packets stashed inside. With shaky fingers he ripped one open and made quick work slipping the condom over his cock. He slid her thong down her hips then gripped his cock and positioned it at her slit, rubbing the tip of his head along it.

“Jesus. So many nights I have dreamed of this, Cass,” he gasped before he drove his cock hard and deep inside her, gripping her hips as he plunged into her again.

Cassandra could feel him stretching her, and it pained her slightly because she wasn’t completely ready for him. With a grunt, Nathan’s body stiffened and trembled before pumping out of control. “God, Cass, I’ve wanted this for so long.”

Cassandra was numb. She had no matching words to give him. It didn’t take him long to reach his release, leaving her unfulfilled. She shifted in discomfort and Nathan collapsed to the bed beside her. Unaffected, he rolled onto his back and threw an arm over his eyes. After a few moments, he squeezed her hand and he left to use the bathroom.

Cassandra stared at the ceiling, disappointment and remorse filled her for giving in. It saddened her that even though initially her body craved the physical contact, her heart had never once become engaged.

The bed dipped slightly when Nathan returned, but no words of love or pillow talk were exchanged. Eventually, the sound of shallow breathing broke into her awareness: Nathan was fast asleep. Rolling to her side, Cassandra pulled the covers over her and tried to escape into sleep, but her mind took over again.

She knew that a relationship with Nathan would please Robert. She had also hoped this encounter would break the barrier around her heart so that she could look on Nathan as more than a friend, killing two birds with one stone. But it hadn’t. Years of reinforcing her heart against love while witnessing her father’s mourning may have proven just too strong.