Killer Secrets (30 page)

tiny bathroom was much too small for comfort when dealing
with Diego. "It wasn't exactly a party out

there."

"Do you know he would be angry should I retaliate for
his sake?" Diego bit out. "He denies me even the

smallest pleasures now. Bah. His arrogance. It will get him
killed."

And he was telling her this why? Kira stared back at him
hesitantly. Diego wasn't known for his

compassion or trusting nature. Quite the opposite. So why
was he talking to her?

"Maybe he's trying to protect you?" She put
several feet between them, though how that would help if he

pulled that gun she didn't know.

At her suggestion, his gaze sharpened.

"Do you think this is true?" He frowned as though
he hadn't considered that thought. As though the

suggestion suddenly filled him with hope.

"Well." Kira licked her lips nervously. "He
doesn't let me have any fun either. He even took my guns.

Said it was for my own protection."

God, she was playing games with the master here. Ian was
right, she had lost her mind.

Diego lifted his hand and stroked his jaw, his sharp eyes
watching her like a cobra watches its prey.

"You like to live on the dark side, do you not, Ms.
Porter?"

She wagged her brows. "Darth Vader was my hero."

His lips twitched as he wagged his brow in turn. "You
are a very naughty little girl."

"Well, I used to try hard." She rolled her eyes
mockingly. "As I said, Ian seems to think I should let him

have all the fun. He's protecting me."

"And you do not like protection."

"Not used to it." She shrugged as she took a seat
on the couch and curled her legs to the side as though

she were talking to a normal lover's father rather than one
of the most notorious drug lords in the world.

A man that could kill her as easily as he could smile at
her.

"Neither am I used to this protection," he said
thoughtfully. "It would indicate more than a mere job, am I

not correct? Perhaps a bit of feeling?"

Kira frowned as though confused. "You're his father,
correct?"

A smile split his face then. "Yes. I am his father. He
would try to protect me. I did not consider this."

Kira spread her hands and stared back at him questioningly.
"What else could it be?" Besides an attempt

to make certain that the man he was there to destroy didn't
destroy other lives first.

"My son, he has chosen well for his woman." He
nodded sharply, opening his lips to say more only to

turn in surprise as the door slammed open.

Ian stood framed in the doorway. His overly long dark blond
hair was mussed around his face, his

expression cold and stony. Deep lines bracketed his mouth
and his eyes glowed with fury.

"Is Deke okay?" Kira came quickly to her feet as
she watched him warily.

The look on his face wasn't the least comfortable.

"Deke's awake. The doctor is still with him but he'll
be okay."

"Ah, this is very good." Diego smiled. "I
was telling your woman, you are a man of loyalty. A man to be

proud of."

Kira would have winced if the situation weren't as
dangerous as she could sense it becoming.

"At least he isn't lecturing you on your rants in
Society
again," Ian said as he stalked into the room, his

eyes never leaving Diego. "Are you finished regaling
her with my sterling qualities yet?" Savagery echoed

in his voice.

Diego breathed out roughly. "I am finished. I will
await your report in my office. Hopefully, you will

arrive soon."

"Don't bet on it."

Kira could feel the torment echoing from Ian's pores. It
wasn't in his face, it didn't show in his eyes, but

she felt it. She knew it. It wrapped around her and had her
heart clenching in response.

"Will I get a report, Ian?" Irritation was thick
in Diego's voice now.

"When I know, you'll know. Until then, do me a favor
and give me a while to get a drink and a shower.

Being tossed around in my favorite limo isn't my preferred
sport."

She heard the deliberate restraint in Ian's voice then.
Violence shimmered in the air around him, glittered

in his eyes, and tightened his facial features. His voice
was a gritty growl now though, the broken quality

to it thicker.

"We will get you another limo. I will make certain it
arrives quickly." Diego moved quickly for the door,

his expression placating, filled with hope. "Take your
time, Ian. Rest. Sleep. I will take care of things. I

am rather good at that. And I promise to have no fun in my
efforts."

He wouldn't kill, in other words.

Ian's back was turned to Diego; the other man couldn't see
the flash of dark rage in his son's face or the

gleam of pain in his eyes.

"No bloodshed, pop," Ian ordered roughly.

Diego smiled and nodded toward Ian's back as Kira glanced
to him.

"No bloodshed, son. I promise this. Find me when you
are finished. I will make certain all is well until

then."

Ian nodded.

Diego lifted his hand in farewell to Kira with an almost
thankful smile before leaving the room and closing

the door behind him. She shuddered once the room was secure
again. It was like watching an alligator

cuddle a baby. One just knew the child would become a snack
within seconds, but the sheer shock of

the vision was freezing.

As the door clicked closed Ian turned and stalked to it,
securely locked it then moved to the locked

bureau drawer. The hardware drawer. God, she would love to
get her hands on some of those electronic

toys he was holding in that drawer.

"Room is secure," he said, his voice carefully
controlled.

His body was carefully controlled. His voice, his actions,
everything about him was restrained.

"Is Deke really okay?" Kira asked.

"Deke's fine." His fingers went to the buttons of
his shirt. Kira's heart went to her throat.

Oh yeah. Adrenaline. She could see the dominant arousal in
the flush beginning to mantle his cheekbones

now, in the hard definition of muscles that he revealed as
he shed his shirt.

Hard body. That was what he was. Corded muscles gleamed
beneath richly tanned flesh. They rippled

with power, flexed with force at each movement.

"What were you and Diego discussing?" Predatory
awareness filled his voice. He watched her like a

wolf watching the poor little rabbit destined to be its
next meal.

"You," she answered. "He seemed a bit upset
that you wouldn't let him wreak blood and death in

retaliation for today."

"And you told him what?" His hands dropped to his
belt. Kira's eyes followed. She had to swallow,

hard, because her mouth was watering at the sight of that
bulge beneath the dark slacks. He was hard.

Aroused. Intent.

"Um." She swallowed again, nervously, because she
had a feeling he was not going to like this. "I told

him you might be trying to protect him too."

His lips flattened. "And you based that on what?"

"Well." She pursed her lips carefully. "I
might have told him that you wouldn't let me have any fun either

because you wanted to protect me. It seemed to go with the
image." She clasped her hands behind her

back as she watched him, waiting for the explosion. When
none was forthcoming she tried to explain.

"You know, that whole SEAL persona thing. You can take
the boy out of the military, blah blah—"

"Take your clothes off."

She had known it was coming, but when he delivered the
order, the response that fired inside her body

took her by surprise. It was hard, a fiery wave of intense
heat that rushed through her erogenous zones

and cascaded through her womb with white-hot intensity.

"I don't think so." Amusement fired inside her
along with the arousal though. "I'm not an outlet for all that

adrenaline, Ian. At least not yet. We need to talk."

Talking was the last thing he needed to do. Ian let his
gaze rove over her body. The white slacks and

cream-colored top were smudged with dirt. Her hair was
tangled around her face in sexy disarray and

reminded him of the feel of it beneath his hands, the warm
rough silky sensation that his palms seemed to

itch for.

"I don't want to talk, Kira." He advanced on her
instead. Perhaps he shouldn't have ordered her to get

undressed. Each time he had taken her, other than that
first time, he had been quick and rough. He hadn't

taken the time to enjoy the feel of her flesh that morning
or the night before. Not really.

He hadn't tasted her. Hadn't listened to her scream in
pleasure as she came apart in his arms. That was

criminal, he decided. Not giving her the full range of
pleasure that she needed. Each caress, each lick and

kiss, designed to drive her higher.

"Ian," she protested as he stopped in front of
her, the dark ring of blue around her gray eyes darkening

as the centers became stormy. "There are things we
need to discuss."

"Such as?" He ran his fingers beneath the thin
strap of her shirt, feeling the pure silk texture and deciding

her hair and her skin were softer.

"Such as Diego." Regret flashed in her eyes.

"Diego is the last thing we need to discuss," he
told her, pushing back the bleak anger that threatened to

build inside him again. The pain. He didn't understand the
pain any more than he understood the hunger

and need converging inside him for Kira.

He ran his fingers beneath the strap of her blouse until he
came to the rounded scoop of the neckline.

Heat flowed from her flesh to his fingers, mesmerizing him
with the impact it had on his senses.

He had never experienced anything like Kira before and he
wondered if the effect she had on him was

weakness or strength?

"You can't hide from it forever," she whispered,
her voice strained.

Strained because she was breathing harder, her breasts
rising and falling sharply, drawing his gaze to the

presence of the tight, hard nipples beneath the silk.

"I'm not trying to hide anything, Kira. I just want to
pleasure you. Pleasure both of us."

There was a well of emotion brewing inside him. Ian could
feel it. He couldn't make sense of it, and he

wanted nothing to do with it. He had forced himself to push
back his emotions as a boy. Forced himself

not to want or to need, until Kira. Damn her, she made him
want and need things he was certain would

never be a part of his life.

Hope. Warmth. Real passion. And that real passion was his
weakness. The honest, burning flame of

desire in her eyes and the strength he glimpsed within her
held him as nothing else ever had.

"I wanted you out of this," he told her, his
hands falling to the hem of the shirt, gripping it and lifting it. "I

wanted you safe. So safe. So that when this was over I
could find you and finish what we started in

Atlanta."

Her arms lifted, allowing him to draw the blouse from her
only to drop it on the floor a second later. Her

breasts lifted to him with her hard breaths, her nipples
hard and peaked, a light sheen of perspiration

beginning to shimmer on her lightly tanned flesh as she
stood proudly before him. No hesitancy, no coy

shyness or attempts to deny what they both knew was waiting
to explode between them.

His cock was so damned hard at this point that it throbbed
like an open wound.

"Since when did I seem the type that needs to
hide?" Her hands moved to his chest, her fingers working

on the buttons of his shirt. "When we met in Russia
perhaps?"

His lips quirked at the thought of her Russian persona.