Diamonds Are Truly Forever: An Agent Ex Novel 2 (34 page)

Staci set her purse on a sofa table against the wall, kicked the white front door closed with the back of her foot, leaned back against it and locked it for good measure. No use being careless.

Drew stood in the entry, surveying the house. He turned around to face her. “You have five minutes.”

She stepped into him. “
We
have five minutes.”

She pulled her dress off and dropped it onto her shining, evening-sunlit floor, exposing her barely there lace bra and taut nipples.

Drew grinned.

“What are you waiting for?” she said to him. “You need to change, too.”

He tossed off his shirt, exposing a chest so tantalizingly hard and delicious, she barely resisted it as she pulled off her shoes and dropped them on the floor.

Drew stepped out of his dress slacks.

She walked over to him, stepped into him, tipped her face to his, rubbed up against him, and practically purred.

That was all the encouragement he needed. He pulled her into a kiss so savage it took her breath away, swung her into his arms, and carried her upstairs into their bedroom to certain ravage. And oh, she wanted to be ravaged.

In the bedroom, he set her on the bed and fell on top of her, never breaking the kiss.

Her bra and panties fell away. Somehow the two of them managed to scoot beneath the comforter onto her clean sheets and pillow-top mattress. He lost his boxers and slid inside her with a thrust that sent shivers of pleasure through her entire body.

They rocked the bed, bounced it until the headboard slammed against the wall. Pounded against each other savagely, as if there was no tomorrow, no dinner they had to get to, nothing but the two of them.

This was not a slow-build mating. This was a full-out sprint, a total loss of control. A
We’ve just missed death
screw that built and built as Staci coiled her legs around him, held him tight, and moaned into Drew’s kiss.

Until the pleasure was so intense, Staci arched back and let out a moan of ecstasy. Drew stiffened, grunted, collapsed on top of her.

They clung to each other, panting.

Staci fought to catch her breath. Not that she was out of shape, just that Drew had completely taken it away. The sex had never been better between them.

She reveled in the intimacy of their position, of him on top of her, of feeling his breath against her neck.

“I know,” he said, pulling back and staring into her eyes as if searching for something, but not looking the least apologetic for violating the no-three-off rule. “We have to stop making love like this whenever danger calls. No four-off.”

Staci glanced at the alarm clock radio on the nightstand. “I don’t know about that. We still have three minutes left.”

He stared at her, looking stunned, and … happy?

“I told lots of lovely lies today,” she said in answer to his look, as if explaining. “They rolled off my tongue like solid truth.”

“Really?” He grinned and ran his hand up her thigh.

She nodded. “I’ll tell you all about them.
Later.
”

*   *   *

“Good idea. We only have two minutes left now.” Drew studied Staci’s face, not certain if he could believe what he was hearing. Was Staci saying she wanted to get back together?

Drew wasn’t exactly as cold and analytical as the literary James Bond, but he didn’t like to overanalyze his feelings. He’d let Staci throw him out because he’d been convinced it was best for her, that she’d be safe without him, even though he loved her and it was killing him to lose her.

Now, after three failed attempts on her life, two that he’d foiled, he was beginning to think Emmett was right—Staci was safer with than without him. And if that was the case, why would he let her go? He’d never stopped loving her.

Suddenly a real reconciliation looked possible. Even his mission no longer seemed like an insurmountable obstacle anymore. As long as Linda remained unhappy with Sam, there was a chance Staci would forgive Drew for bringing Sam in for treason and destroying her little family.

The upcoming weekend in Victoria coincided with their anniversary and would be the perfect time and place to suggest reuniting. He would propose—that they remain married. He decided on the spot.

He’d bring Sam in, tell Staci how narrow an escape her mother had from the evil Sam, be Staci’s hero for rescuing her mother from an unhappy marriage, and propose.

She looked up at him, her hair fanned over the bed. “What are you staring at, daydreamer?” She sounded flirty and happy.

“You.”

She sighed, probably waiting for him to finish as he always did, with
you’re beautiful.

The words rose to his lips and halted there as he studied her. He frowned involuntarily. He hated to ruin the moment, but, damn it, he hadn’t noticed that welt before, rising on her cheek, ugly and red.

“What? What is it?” She sounded alarmed and felt her cheek where his gaze rested. “Oh, no! How bad is it? What does it look like?”

He knew better than to fall into the trap of telling her how hideous it looked so he hedged, feeling his anger rising as he realized how she’d gotten the welt. “It looks bruised, like someone pistol-whipped you. Did he?”

“Oh, no!” She rubbed her cheek. “He slapped me with it once.” Staci sat up. “Ouch, ouch, ouch! You shouldn’t have mentioned it. I didn’t even feel it before. Now it hurts.”

She didn’t feel it before because she’d been high on adrenaline and surviving, in shock, and in heat. But he didn’t say any of that.

“I’ll kill him,” Drew said, instead. He meant it. The guy was probably a RIOT SMASH assassin scum and deserved to die anyway.

Staci ignored him and sprang to her feet, rushing to the master bathroom to peer into the mirror. “I can’t go to Mom’s looking like this!”

He came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. No use saying it wasn’t that bad. It definitely was. “Call her and cancel.”

“I can’t call her and cancel.” She sounded scandalized at the thought. “Mom will never allow it. You know the real reason she wants us to come over tonight? She wants to know what I found out about Sam.”

“Stace, I told you to lay off Sam.” He tried not to let his concern show, but he didn’t want Staci anywhere near Sam. The closer she got to him, the more danger she was in. RIOT already thought she knew something she shouldn’t. And Sam—he was capable of anything.

Staci ignored him again. “Call Mom, will you? Tell her we’ve been delayed while I figure out what to do about this. Do you think my camera-ready makeup will cover it?”

Not unless it was heavy stage makeup used with a partial mask, the kind artists used to create avatars and monsters. But he had the good sense not to say so. “A little lie might help.”

“Good idea.” She made a face in the mirror and winced. “You’re the expert—what would cause an injury like this?”

“Short of me smacking you around?” He couldn’t believe Staci was agreeing to lie, without even hesitating. Things really were looking up. Maybe she
had
had a breakthrough.

“Come on,” she said, with a little grin. “You can do better than that.”

“You have great faith in my lying ability. In this case, it may be overrated.” He paused.

She looked at him in the mirror and lifted a brow. “Your lying ability overrated? Never!”

He kissed the top of her head. “The truth is always the best lie. How about we ran into an accident that delayed us?”

Staci smiled in the mirror at him as if he was some kind of genius. “A lie of omission—perfect! And I’ll say I got this welt when you had to brake suddenly to avoid the crash. That’s kind of the truth. I love it!”

He smiled back at her in the mirror. “Think you can carry that lie off? Actually lie to your mother?”

“Yes, smart-ass. I told you I had a breakthrough, and I never lie.” She laughed, squirmed out of his arms, and shoved him toward the bathroom door. “This repair job is going to take a while.”

He put a hand on her arm. “You should probably ice it first.”

She shook her head. “There’s no time for icing. Do me a favor?”

“Yeah.”

“The iPhone recovery stick is in my purse. I scanned Sam’s phone at work—”

“Stace—”

“Let’s not argue about Sam’s privacy now.”

He had much greater worries than Sam’s privacy. He and Sam weren’t part of a good-old-boy club. Though Sam might not know it, they were mortal enemies. Drew would kill him if he had to.

“Recover the data for me?” Staci made another face in the mirror. The welt was turning purple and looking more like the butt of a gun by the minute. “See if there’s anything on the stick worth telling Mom about. And take a look at the brochure I found on Sam’s desk—”

“Sam’s desk!” He fought to keep his voice even and control the worried anger welling up inside him. He wouldn’t ruin the last half hour they’d had together. Staci would take his anger wrong. He took a deep breath and modulated his tone, trying to sound almost encouraging. “How did you get to Sam’s desk? I thought you weren’t allowed in the black-box area?”

That had been the plan, anyway. The way he’d arranged things so she wouldn’t get hurt and into trouble.

Staci grinned, looking absolutely gleeful. “I dressed up like the Plant Lady, borrowed her cart, and sneaked back with her badge. But before that, I loaned her my teddy cam and let her put it on her cart as she watered the plants in the classified area. It caught Sam on camera, hiding the brochure and looking worried about it. I’ll tell you all about my exploits later. Everything I know about spying, I learned from you.”

Not good. He hadn’t taught her much.

“In the meantime, it’s weird about that brochure,” Staci continued without missing a beat. “Sam acted suspicious about it. Guilty. And yet, it’s just a boring brochure for someplace called The Random Institute. I think he’s become paranoid.”

Damn it!
Drew’s heart raced. Staci didn’t know what she was stumbling into. The hair stood up on the back of his neck. This was beginning to bear an eerie resemblance to Ciudad. He wished he could tell Staci the full truth, but he’d sworn not to, for the good of the country.

But hell—what if Sam
had
seen her? What if she just hadn’t noticed? What would she have done if she’d been caught? Throw her Kubotan at him? Had she even had it with her?

Drew did a quick mental review of the past few hours. Staci being kept late. The message someone had sent Staci pretending to be him. The car just like his waiting for her.

The whole event had been diabolically planned. It was a first-degree kidnapping that would have led to first-degree murder if he hadn’t shown up when he did. The timing wasn’t skilled heroics. That was damn blind luck and his spy sense kicking in.

What if Sam
did
suspect her of watching him? What if RIOT did? Was that what had prompted the attack on her?

Staci tilted her head and looked into Drew’s eyes. “Oh, Drew, don’t look so worried. We escaped!”

He couldn’t believe she was reassuring him. It was only because she didn’t know the full story.

He grabbed Staci’s arm, urgently. “Babe, I told you not to spy on Sam.”

She shook free again. “I know, I know. You men and your privacy.” She pushed him toward the door as she spoke. “No time now. We’ll talk about it later.” She slammed the door in his face.

There was only one thing to do—comply with her wishes. He got dressed, called Linda and made excuses, and went downstairs where he found the recovery stick and brochure in Staci’s purse.

The brochure sent a chill through him. It was a Random Institute recruitment brochure. He’d seen too many of them during his career. More evidence Sam was not just a greedy bastard. He was something even more dangerous—a true believer.

Drew took the recovery stick to his study and dumped it on his computer. Most of the texts were business or drivel. The Agency had been monitoring Sam’s phone and knew about most of the calls. But a couple of texts stood out.

There was an abundance of messages to Lucy, the Attitude receptionist. Lovey-dovey stuff. Apologetic. Excuses.

Drew cursed to himself. When Drew had told Staci about Sam’s fidelity, he hadn’t been completely truthful. But this thing with Lucy had been going on for a good ten years.

Though Drew didn’t condone it, and certainly couldn’t see a man who loved his wife behaving like this, this wasn’t the new behavior that worried Linda.

Now it appeared there was trouble in yearly paradise.

Drew kept scanning the readout. He sucked in a deep breath. Sam had been texting the Gardener. From the look of things, the deal was set to go down Friday at two in the afternoon. All of the details were there.

He used his encrypted connection and fired the download off to HQ, along with a quick report of Staci’s abduction and escape.

He also scanned the brochure in and included it. He’d examine it more thoroughly later for encrypted intel.

He’d just finished when Staci walked in. “What do you think?”