Hot Rebel (13 page)

“That was a beautiful shot you made,” he said. They both knew he was talking about that day two weeks ago in the desert. “I admired the skill even though I was pissed as hell you fucked up my mission.”

She sighed. “I didn’t know who the target was until I got out there. And I didn’t know bin Yusuf would be there until the last minute. It wasn’t easy to do the job and not accidentally on purpose hit him too.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, I imagine so.” He let out a sigh and put his hands behind his head. He didn’t want to say the next part, but he had to know if she’d considered it. He had to know where her head was. “You know she may already be gone, right? That it could already be too late?”

“I know.” Her voice was small, and he hated that he’d said anything at all.
 

He could hear her breathing and figured she was working hard to hold in her emotions.
 

“Victoria…” He wanted to drag her into his arms and hold her close, but he didn’t think she’d welcome it. So he lay there, staring up at the ceiling, and did nothing.

“I can’t think that way yet.” She sounded almost breathless. “I can’t give up until I have proof.”

“I understand that. If she’s out there, we’ll find her.”

“You’re my last hope, Nick. That’s the only reason I’m doing this. I don’t like the way betrayal tastes in my mouth, but I’ll do anything for Emily.”

“You care about Black.” He didn’t like that she did. Not at all. It made something inside his belly twist and writhe.

“We’ve been together for two years. He’s always treated me fairly.”

“And if he set you up? Betrayed you to bin Yusuf?”

He saw her shake her head in the darkness. “There’s no proof he did.”

She had a strong sense of loyalty, and this situation had to be testing her to the limit.
 

Or maybe not. He had to remember that it was possible she was on Black’s side and this whole thing was a setup for him and HOT. He couldn’t discount anything just because she made him ache with need. In fact, that was probably the best reason of all to be more vigilant than ever.

“Sometimes there is no proof. Sometimes there’s only a gut feeling.”

*
 
*
 
*

Victoria slept badly, slouched as she was. Finally, when she could take it no more, she crawled into the back of the Land Rover and lay down beside Nick. He was curled on his side, his knees drawn up, and she had to work her way carefully into the hole he’d left for her. The only light was from the stars and a very late-rising moon that was already sinking fast toward the horizon.
 

But it was enough to see the curve of his jaw. Her heart thumped, and her fingers ached to reach out and caress the stubbled skin. In spite of everything, in spite of the heartache and danger, she hadn’t stopped thinking of the way his mouth had felt pressed to hers. Of the way her body had lit up like a gasoline-soaked rag, burning hot and fast, and how she’d wanted to cool the flame by merging into him and letting him ease the burn.

In spite of everything, that knowledge had sat at the bottom of her psyche, teasing her, testing her, making her miserable.
 

She turned on her side, away from him, determined to sleep and not look at him. No wonder. She’d just started to drift off when a hand settled on her hip, instantly waking her. Victoria swallowed, her pulse kicking up, and held herself very still. He was asleep and no doubt accustomed to sharing his bed with a woman. A woman he would touch while they lay together.

Torturous seconds passed, and then his hand slid over her hip, to her belly, and tugged her back against him, fitting her bottom snugly against his groin.

And oh, he was hard. Full and hard, and big enough that sweat popped out on her skin as she imagined what taking him inside her would feel like. His lips settled on her neck, nibbling softly, and she suppressed a whimper. She should move, she knew she should. She should shove him away, shove herself away, and wake him up with a choice curse or maybe a bite to the hand currently cupping her breast over the fabric of her tank top.

Her nipple hardened and she had to bite her lip to keep a moan from escaping as his fingers scraped across the surface again and again. She half wanted him to slip his fingers beneath her shirt and touch her bare skin, but if he did that she thought she might come unglued.

His mouth found her earlobe, his teeth nibbled gently, and liquid heat flooded her. She was wet and hot, and her heart beat hard. She’d been touched before, been kissed, and she’d felt the heat of attraction burning her from the inside out. But she’d never felt quite this way, quite this turned on and aching for a man no matter the consequences. Before, she’d always known what the consequences were, and she’d always managed to use them to stop herself from doing something she might regret.

Nick turned her in his arms then, his body pressing her down into the carpet, one leg going between hers and putting pressure right on the sweet bundle of nerves at the apex of her thighs.

His hands slid up her sides, shaping her as his mouth came down on hers. Victoria was too stunned to protest. And too overwhelmed by heat and emotion to care. Her hands went up, presumably to push him away, but instead they wrapped around his neck. Her mouth slipped open as his tongue plunged inside, drawing her into a sensual stroking that made her grow wetter than before.

He kissed her long and hard before he broke away with a groan, his mouth on her throat, moving down toward her breasts.

“You’re so fucking hot, Victoria,” he said against her skin, and she stiffened at the sound of her name.
 

“You’re awake?” she gasped.

His head lifted, his brows drawn low. “Of course I’m fucking awake. Would you prefer I did this asleep?”

She shoved at his mountain of shoulders until he took the hint and rolled away. Victoria scrambled out from under him, her body a mass of thwarted desire and anger.
 

“I thought you were asleep!”

He shoved a hand through his hair. “I kinda was at first, when you lay down. I thought I was… somewhere else. Don’t usually have a woman lying beside me on a job, do I?”

“But then you realized who I was. And you didn’t stop.” She tried to sound as offended as possible, but even she realized it was pretty ridiculous. She’d had her tongue down his throat too.
 

“You didn’t seem as if you wanted me to stop. You were kissing me back. Rubbing your body against mine. I thought you were as turned on as I was.”

She was, damn him. But she wasn’t going to admit it. She folded her arms over her chest and rubbed her forearms. “I… I didn’t want to be rude.”

“Rude?”
 

He started to laugh then and her face flamed. God, what a stupid answer. What a stupid, stupid answer.

“The right response if you don’t want to fuck someone is either to say no or to knee him in the balls. But use the knee only if he won’t take no for an answer. And I would have, believe me. I’m not some mindless asshole who’s ruled by his dick. I kinda like the woman to want me too.”

“I’ll make note of that.” She sounded prim and he laughed even harder. Really, was it too much to ask to disappear into the sand below the vehicle right about now? Why couldn’t she just shrug it off and tell him no big deal? Or, even better, why couldn’t she drag him back to her and tell him to have his wicked way because she was more than ready?

He popped open the door and stepped outside. “Go ahead and sleep, Victoria.”

“Where are you going?”
 

“Gonna drive, sweetheart. Unless you’d rather do something else?”

She couldn’t think of a single thing to say. He shut the door, climbed into the front seat, and started the car. She lay down again, fuming at herself, at him, at the whole situation. She kept trying to think of things to say, a way to redeem herself, but nothing would come. Eventually, the road noise and hum of the engine lulled her to sleep.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

They drove all that day, taking turns, and long into the night. When they pulled over this time, Nick told her to get in the back and he’d stay up front. When she protested that he’d be more comfortable in the back, he gave her a steady look with those gleaming hazel eyes of his.

“Think it’s best one of us stays on watch,” he said.

“I don’t disagree. But why does it have to be you?”

“Why is everything an argument with you?”

For some reason, that made her smile. “You like it that way and you know it. What would you do with someone who obeyed every command you gave her?”

He snorted. “I’d give her a lot of filthy commands that she could fulfill.”

“Pig.”

“Really? You’re the one who mentioned this theoretical woman obeying all my commands.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, I’ll sleep first,” she grumbled, crawling in the back just to shut him up. Next thing, he’d be telling her what those commands would be—and she didn’t need to hear it.

They were much farther from Baq than they’d been last night, and the roads out here were less traveled and more dangerous. It didn’t take two days to get to Ras al-Dura because it was so far. It took two days because of the crumbling infrastructure and the roving patrols. But Ian had contacts, and so far they’d sailed through every checkpoint.

Still, it didn’t pay to forget they were far from help if something happened. Victoria went to sleep much quicker than she expected, only to be awakened by a rough hand what seemed like minutes later.

“Get up, honey. We gotta move on.”

“But you didn’t sleep.”

“You drive. I’ll nap in the passenger seat.”

She got behind the wheel and headed out onto the road. The sun was still behind the horizon, and the sky was darker tonight because of cloud cover. Nick leaned back in his seat, eyes closed, hands folded over his belly. She didn’t kid herself by thinking he was unaware, however. The handle of a Sig Sauer peeked out of his shoulder holster, and she knew he’d snap awake and draw it in a flash if they encountered trouble.

Fortunately, they didn’t. They rolled into Ras al-Dura as the call to prayer rang from the minarets of the city’s mosques. It took about fifteen minutes, but they found the apartment where they were supposed to stay. As soon as she saw it, she knew what the target was. She glanced at Nick. He was also studying the big compound across the street with interest. There was a crest on the gate, which indicated that it was an official building. There were two guards stationed on the street, holding machine guns and watching the traffic slide by.

Whoever they were here for, he was going to be in that building.

Nick looked grim as she turned into the parking garage attached to the apartment building. “I don’t fucking like this at all.”

“The job is the job, Nick. It’ll be all right.”

“Unless Black’s setting us up.”
 

She didn’t like to think of that possibility, but she knew he was right. Anything was possible out here. Her gut told her Ian hadn’t known that bin Yusuf had intended to kill her in Akhira, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t on board with the project now. Ian was all about the business and the money, and if selling her out kept the money flowing, then she wasn’t so certain he wouldn’t do it, no matter what he said about her being his best sniper.

“Do you have a better plan? Because so far as I see it, we’ve been sent to do a job. The job is here. If you and your people want to know what Ian’s up to, you have to complete the job and return to Baq. If we bug out now, it’s over.”

“I know that. I still don’t like it.”

She parked the Land Rover and they got out. Nick’s gaze roved the darkened garage, but nothing was out of place and no one came gunning for them out of the shadows.
 

“Give me the key to the apartment,” he told her.

“Why?”

“Because I’ll go up and check it out, see if it’s safe.”

“What makes you think I can’t do it?”

He was a big hulking shape standing over her in the gloom. For a second, she thought he might take the key by force, but then his mouth opened and his teeth flashed white. “Be my guest. I’ll wait here.”

She seriously thought of doing it, but then she had to acknowledge that if this was a setup, it probably wasn’t the best idea to go strolling upstairs alone. Still, she wasn’t letting him have his way about everything.

“We’ll go together,” she said, reaching into the Land Rover for her gear.

He jerked his own bags from the vehicle. “If that’s what you want, honey.”

They took the elevator up to the fifteenth floor. She glanced over at Nick before the doors opened. His jaw was set and he had his hand on his Sig. The doors slid open… and nothing happened. They exited the elevator into a long hallway. It was quiet as they moved down the corridor. They found the apartment, but before she could put the key in the lock, Nick stopped her.

“Just a minute,” he said, pulling something from a pocket in his duffel. He took out a white swab and a small item that looked like a tube with a flashlight at one end. Then he proceeded to run the swab over the doorframe and handle before inserting it in the tube and looking at it under the light.