Intensity (6 page)

“Says the black woman in Germany.”

She watched her hold the knife and sighed.
Of
course this wouldn’t be a bumbling attempt; they would send someone
with training.
“You trained with Spetsnaz.”

The woman’s grin turned ugly. “And you didn’t.” She
lunged and the fight was on.

Throwing up her arm to block her downward strike,
Sarah lashed out with her leg and took her down to her knees. It
didn’t stall her for long; she jumped right back up and put a punch
to Sarah’s face that snapped her head back.

“Bitch,” she muttered.

Another knife strike. This one, she let graze her
dress and slide right by her ribs where she grabbed the arm and
broke it at the elbow. The woman’s howl of agony wasn’t loud, but
it was enough. Sarah smashed her elbow into her nose as she whirled
by, seconds before shoving her hard toward the mirror. The spider
web veining spread out as her skull connected.

The woman wasn’t done and struck out with her foot,
her long hair coming out of the pins it was in, falling around her
face. Yanking up on the heeled shoe, Sarah cracked the woman’s head
on the edge of the sink. She slumped to the ground without a sound,
and Sarah turned to walk away. She made it out into the sitting
area when instinct had her ducking and turning.

Although not thrown by the woman’s dominant hand,
the knife was straight and on a path which would have been in a
lung if Sarah hadn’t gotten out of the way. She raked a hand
through her hair and beckoned the Irish woman toward her.

She narrowed her eyes. “You wanna play; let’s
play.”

Sarah met her head on, taking out her aggravation
over the Grey situation on this woman. When it was over, she
retrieved her clutch, checked her hair then slipped out, leaving
behind a dead woman, broken mirrors, table, and an overturned
settee. Having locked the door from the inside, she was confident
no one would be able to get in without the key.

“I’m going to see Kendria.” She made the
announcement cool as ever.

Stepping back into the main room, she saw Grey by
the door, eyes burning with anger as he stared at her. Even so, he
pushed away and made his way to her side. Together, they headed for
the stars’ backroom. The man at the door held their gaze.

“We’re here to see Kendria.”

“Names?”

“Mr. and Mrs. Sorenson,” Grey said.

“She’s waiting for you.” He opened the door after
checking IDs and allowed them entrance.

Kendria sat there, drinking something, but jumped to
her feet when she saw them. “Sarah, it’s so good to see you!” She
hurried over and hugged her.

Wincing a bit, Sarah returned it. “And you. Damn,
that was one hell of a performance you put on out there. I’m
surprised Vance lets you go anywhere without him, looking like you
do on stage.”

“I’m sure he’s not a fan of it, but he knows I love
him.” She looked to her left to the tall man beside her. “Now, I
think I deserve an explanation about Mr. Sorenson here.” She held
out her hand. “Kendria.”

“Ma’am,” he said, shaking it. “I remember meeting
you back home. Wonderful show.”

Sarah looked at him briefly, but his attention was
on her friend. He had a tic in his jaw, but she knew whatever he
had to say would wait until they left here.

“They were delivered home safely.” Cooler’s comment
came.

“Now, dish. Last time, you two looked ready to tear
each other apart.” Kendria pursed her lips. “Although come to think
of it, you still have that look. Are you really married?”

“Yes,” Grey announced.

Sarah didn’t want to get into this, especially with
the other four men listening in. She stepped forward. “Look, I know
you’re tired, and we don’t want to keep you. Just wanted to swing
in and say thank you so much for getting us in to hear you
sing.”

Kendria nodded. “I’m glad you came. Always good to
see friendly faces toward the end of a tour.”

“Are you headed home, now?”

“Leaving in a few hours. Which is good, I miss my
husband.” She cut her eyes at them both.

“We should go, babe.” Grey stated it casually, but
she knew he was right.

“I’ll see you later,” she said to her friend.

Kendria wrapped her up in another hug. “Husband or
not, you need to just fuck him all night long. Christ almighty, he
looks like he’s awesome in bed.” She whispered it, but it was
directly by the ear that had the comm, so there wasn’t any way the
others hadn’t overheard.

Wanting to bury her head in the sand and never come
up for air, Sarah hid her groan. All of them heard it, for there
was dead silence on the other end. “Yeah, sure. I’ll give it a
go.”

“I’m sure you already have, Sarah.” Kendria gave her
one more squeeze then released her with a saucy grin. “You two run
along now and have some fun.”

“I plan on it,” Grey said, popping Sarah on the ass
as she walked by him.

“I bet you do.”

She walked out, and Grey took her arm, slipping it
along his. They got in the back of their taxi and sat in silence
after he gave the man the destination.

Her side throbbed, and she breathed deeply, slowing
her heart to slow the blood, not needing a mess until she got to
the room.

“Beautiful concert,” Grey said as they neared the
hotel.

“It was. She’s an amazing singer.”

“Your room’s clean. We’ll be in touch later.”
Cooler’s comment was devoid of any emotion, per usual.

The other three made lowball statements before they
too were gone. She adjusted her clutch and allowed Grey to assist
her out at the hotel. The elevator ride was done without a word.
Even once they stepped into the suite, neither talked. Only once
both had removed their earpieces did he start.

“Were you fucking kidding me, Sarah?”

She strode through to the bathroom, swiping her med
kit along the way. “Don’t you dare question me. I know my job, and
I’m damn good at it. Just because I’m not a Navy SEAL doesn’t mean
I can’t do anything right.”

“You could have given me some warning about what you
were going to do.” He was right behind her.

“Were you part of
my
team, you’d understand I
gave it.” She stood before the sink and dropped the clutch, stained
red with her blood. “We, those men and I, work together. They know
what it means.”

“I was your backup in there. They weren’t there.
Jesus, they were taking bets on how long it would take you to come
out.”

She glared at him and unzipped her dress. “So, it’s
okay when men do it, but not if I’m involved? They may have, but
they are also running down factions of Irish crews, specifically
from Ballymoney to see if she was working alone or not.”

“You were fucking injured. You could have been
killed.” He appeared at her side and ripped away the material. The
towels she used to staunch the blood tumbled out. “Jesus H.
Christ.”

“What?” she snapped. “You get injured, or have been
known to.”

“It’s my job.”

She poked him in the shoulder. “This is my point
exactly, Grey. It’s my job, as well. And those men I work with
understand that. To them, I’m one of the team. You look at me and
see a woman incapable of taking care of herself. You want to
protect me. I don’t need it. I need you to let me do my job and not
second-guess everything that I say or do.”

Grey wanted to punch a hole in the wall. She had a
wicked gash along her ribs. “You’re not just any woman. You’re my
wife, Sarah
Sorenson
.”

“Just until you sign those damn papers.”

He bit back a snarl. “You’re reckless, unorthodox in
your follow-through, and you take unnecessary risks.”

She ripped open some alcohol wipes, and he snatched
them from her.

“No, I do my job. What was so off about what I did?
You wanted me to what, wait and see if she killed someone else or
planted a bomb in the room to take down the building?”

“She could have killed you.” He cleaned the
injury.

“I could get killed walking across the street; don’t
come at me with such a stupid excuse. Your problem is because I’m a
woman doing what I do.”

“No,” he ground out. “It’s because you’re
my
woman doing it.”

She smacked him and stepped back. “Listen up, you
condescending, arrogant ass. I busted my ass to get through the
training I went through. I’m not going to sit here and let you say
shit like that to me. I know my job. I do my job, and fuck you, but
I’m damn good at it. I went after her because I saw her talking to
someone when she was alone.”

“And engaged her. She’d been trained by Spetsnaz?
How the fuck do you know that?”

She gave an offhand shrug. “They have a very
distinctive fighting style. Like Recon does. And the SEALs. I
study; I learn.”

“So, you kill her and almost die. Where does that
get us?”

“First, I didn’t almost die. It’s a graze. Well,
nowhere until we listen to the device I took from her ear and put
in that fucking clutch there. I just wanted to stop the blood flow
first. You’re dragging this out by making it about the fact I have
ovaries instead of a dick. Christ, just bandage me up and let’s get
on with this.”

Okay, so perhaps he’d been wrong about this. Still
bothered him to no end how it had gone down, but he couldn’t
dispute her claim. It was because she was his wife.

And I intend to keep her that way.

“There, you’re fixed up. Let’s discuss this out in
the main part.”

“I need a shirt first.”

He huffed in exasperation. “Christ, Sarah, I’ve seen
you naked before; surely, you can walk to your bag and get
one.”

“I could, but I’d just rather not do so in front of
Cooler and Owl who are out there.”

“What?” He stepped out of the bathroom and peered.
Well, fuck me. She was right.
Seated there were Cooler and
Owl. Both men watched him with what could only be described as
burning dislike.

He returned to the bedroom and grabbed a pair of
boxers along with a shirt for her. “Here.”

She snatched them out of the air and stood. The
dress slid off her body to the floor, and he ground his jaw at the
image before him. She wore only heels and a thong. No, that wasn’t
true. She had a stiletto strapped to the inside of her left
thigh.

Soon, she’d pulled on his clothing and wadded up the
dress. “Let’s go. Bring the clutch.”

He did and followed her out.

“We’ve missed something.” She cut her gaze to him.
“Or weren’t told everything.”

“I was given the same information as you,” he said,
sitting next to her.

“Windy is checking out some contacts for any ID on
that woman.” Cooler looked them over. “Liver’s on the room. I’ll
take the earbud back and see what can be gleaned from it. Do you
want me to send Windy up to look at your injury?” He took the
clutch and pulled out a small clear object, closing it in his
hand.

“I’ll be fine. He did a good job patching me
up.”

Grey expected Cooler to argue, but the man just
nodded and dropped the subject. Her boss pushed to his feet, Owl
following. Again, that silent look moved between the three of them,
and Grey knew there was more communication going on. He hated
feeling left out but understood when you worked with people long
enough, you did develop a way of talking without words.

They left, and he was again alone with his wife in a
hotel room. He stared at her. She sat on the couch, eyes closed,
and stretched her neck.

Her hair was free of the confines it had been in at
the show, and he wanted nothing more than to sink his hands in it.
Experience those long tresses sliding along his skin as they made
love to one another. Skin upon skin. The only noise in the room,
that of passion.

She opened her eyes and cocked a brow at him.

“How long have you worked with them?”

“As long as I’ve been in. I went through the
training with them.”

“And your mother?”

“She knows only a little of what I do.”

He understood that. It wouldn’t be easy for a mother
to accept what she did. Grey stretched out his legs. “I think we
need to come to an understanding.”

She was rolling her shoulders now. “About?”

He readjusted and turned her so her back was to him.
Then, he began massaging her shoulders. “You’re sore.”

“She packed a punch. What do we need to have an
understanding about?”

“How this is going to work.”

“Nothing to understand. We have a job to do. We do
it.”

He scowled at the back of her head.
Stubborn
woman.
“Between us, Sarah.”

“And what would that be?”

“I want two weeks.”

She drew away and peered at him over her shoulder.
“Two weeks?”

“Yes. You and me. We go somewhere for two weeks.
Give me a chance to
be
your husband. A chance for you to be
my wife.”

Her expression was damn near comical, her eyes wide
and her mouth dropped open. “What?”

“I told you, I wasn’t going to sign those papers
unless you went to court about it. That hasn’t changed, but I want
two weeks to prove to you we don’t need to get divorced.”

“Of course we don’t
need
to, Grey. It’s the
logical thing to do, however.”

He crossed his arms. “Logical?”

“Yes.”

I’m going to regret asking this.
“Why,
exactly, is it logical?”

“Because we have nothing in common. We got married
on a whim. No reason to keep pretending there is anything else
there.”

I can’t be mad. I asked the question.
He took
several deep breaths and willed himself to calm down. She held his
gaze without flinching.
Christ, is that what she truly
thinks?

“You were fine that first week we were together.
Then, you fucking freaked out and left.”

The bland look vanished to be replaced by raw fury.
“Perhaps, then, you should have been a bit quieter on the
phone.”