Rekindled (Titanium Security Series) (3 page)

Approaching her from behind, he noticed the sleek curve of her auburn hair glinting in the candlelight, heard the American accent as she spoke. She turned when her male dinner companion noticed them and broke off in mid-sentence. Those gorgeous aqua eyes flashed up to his and he found himself staring, dumbstruck for a moment. Something about her glowed, drawing him in from that first sight.

“This is Dr. Grace Fallon,” Alex’s contact told him. “Grace, meet Jack, a friend of mine.”

Grace pushed her chair back and stood to offer her hand, everything about her poised and confident as she smiled at him and shook his hand in a firm grip that surprised him. And her body. He couldn’t help but rake his gaze over all those seductive curves outlined by her snug skirt and the blouse that hugged the round swells of her breasts. “Pleasure. And please, call me Grace. I’m not much for answering to ‘doctor’ outside of work.”

“What kind of work?” Alex asked, acutely aware that he was still holding her hand and was in no hurry to let it go.

“Grace would never toot her own horn, so I’ll do it for her. She’s got a PhD in chemistry with an undergrad in chemical engineering, and she does freelance work for OPCW,” his contact answered. “But your real dream is to work for the UN one day, right?”

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, based in The Hague. Alex’s eyebrows shot up at that. “Chemical weapons?” Not something he heard too often, let alone about such a beautiful, intriguing woman.

Grace smiled faintly and withdrew her hand, her cheeks taking on a pretty flush of color, as though the praise had embarrassed her. “Yes. And what do you do, Jack?”

“Nothing even remotely that interesting,” his contact said with a laugh.

Intrigued by her, Alex glanced at the table and noticed it was covered in papers and folders. “Sorry to have interrupted your meeting,” he said, already wondering how he could arrange to meet with her again.

She waved his concern away with an elegant hand that he couldn’t help notice bore no wedding ring. “Not at all. Would you like to join us?”

He knew she was just being polite, but without even glancing at his contact for confirmation, Alex nodded. “We’d love to.”

He didn’t even remember eating, he’d been so caught up in his conversation with her. Afterward the two other men murmured excuses and left, obviously having picked up on the not-so-subtle attraction brewing between them. He and Grace had closed the restaurant down. They’d spent the entire night talking, hadn’t realized how much time had passed or that they were the only customers left until a waiter came over and politely asked them if they’d be leaving now. Alex had already been hooked.

It had taken nearly six weeks for her to let him past her defenses and open herself to him completely. Six weeks of long late night phone conversations, leisurely dinners and walks on the beach when he could get the time, then scorching make-out sessions that had left them both trembling and desperate for more. He’d known she was leery of getting involved with him so soon after her separation, so he hadn’t pushed her. He’d never earned anything as important as her trust, before or since.

But he’d shattered it. He’d hated hiding his true identity or the reason he was in Mombasa, especially after getting to know her better and learning about her recent separation, but he couldn’t tell her the truth.

A horn blared close by, pulling Alex back to the present. The traffic was heavy but Gage knew the city better than most local cab drivers did. Without even bothering with the vehicle’s GPS he took several short cuts that got them around the downtown core and to the luxury hotel.

“We looking for someone, or something?” Hunter asked as they turned onto the street where the hotel access was.

“Someone,” Alex said evasively, already staring at the front of the hotel. He already knew why she was here: as part of a secret chemical weapons inspection team attached to the UN. Her dream job. While he hated the thought of her being in potentially dangerous situations that came with that line of work, he was damn proud of her for achieving her dream.

Hunter turned around again and shot him an annoyed look, making it clear he didn’t appreciate being left in the dark. “Fill us in, man.”

Alex didn’t take his eyes off that entrance. “I just wanna see if—” He broke off as a flash of auburn hair caught his attention. Beneath the porte-cochere at the hotel’s entrance, a group of people stood next to two minivan cabs parked at the curb. Including a red-headed woman who was in the process of covering her head with a shawl. Alex leaned forward to peer harder out his window. His heart was pounding. His mouth was dry. The woman was the right height and the right shape, all sexy curves…

She and a man climbed into the back of the second cab.

“What?” Hunter demanded, his voice tense as he stared at Alex.

The minivan pulled away from the curb and headed toward the exit.

Alex ignored him and leaned to the side to maintain his sight on it, aware only of the urgency and elation surging through him. “Follow that cab,
now
,” he commanded Gage.

Gage and Hunter exchanged a
what-the-fuck
look for a second, then Gage hit the accelerator. The SUV’s engine revved as it tore after the minivan. Alex gripped the door handle and willed his heart to slow down. After four long years she was finally right there in front of him.

And this time, he wasn’t going to let her go.

****

“So, Dr. Fallon, do you need to go over anything before the presentation?”

Grace looked up from the calendar on her phone at her assigned twenty-something assistant, David, and smiled. He was new to the job and had only been working with her since she’d arrived in Pakistan a few days ago. “No, I’m good. But thanks.” He nodded, but she couldn’t help but notice the way he tapped his fingers anxiously against the armrest. “You’re not nervous, are you? I’m the one they’re going to grill, not you.”

He laughed softly and some of the tension seemed to melt out of him. “Just want to make sure I don’t screw anything up.”

His self-deprecation and earnestness was a refreshing change from a lot of the arrogant know-it-alls she’d worked with in the industry over the years. Grace reached over and patted his knee. “You’ll do great. I have faith in you.”

She adjusted the slim briefcase on her lap and glanced out the window at the heavy traffic surrounding them. The cab driver turned left at a light. A second later he sped up and jerked the wheel hard to the right to zip into the next lane. Grace threw out a hand to brace herself and exchanged a wry look with David. She’d managed to make it all the way here from New York without dying. Would be highly ironic if they didn’t make it to this meeting in once piece.

David still seemed anxious, however. “Would you feel better if we went over something?” she finally asked.

One side of his mouth tipped up in a sheepish grin. “If you don’t mind.”

“I don’t mind at all.” She settled back against the seat and tried to ignore the driver’s heavy hand on the wheel and the way he kept hammering the brake and gas. Not an easy task.

David began sorting through the papers in his briefcase. “What about the last report we received from—”

“Is someone supposed to be following you?” the driver interrupted in a heavy accent.

Grace blinked at him in surprise, sure she’d heard him wrong. “Pardon?”

“A black truck is following us. Very fast and aggressive.” He was frowning, eyes on the rearview mirror as he stared at whatever was behind them.

Instinctively she turned around to peer through the back window. Sure enough, a big SUV was cutting its way through the lines of cars toward them. “Are you sure they’re following us?”

“Yes, I’m positive.”

“For how long?”

“Since just after we left the hotel.” He glanced around as though searching for an escape route and at his anxious expression, Grace felt her pulse accelerate.

She looked at David, who’d gone a little pale. He turned in his seat to look out the back window, pushing his glasses up on the bridge of his nose. “The other two cabs are in front of us. Is it a security team or something?”

“I can’t tell, but I don’t think so,” she said. They were here for a secret meeting barely anyone knew about. Were they really being followed? They couldn’t be. The team was travelling in unmarked cabs rather than UN vehicles they used while on official inspection missions, but… Grace’s palms grew clammy. She turned back to the driver. “Can you get us off this road and take another route instead?” Then they’d know for sure whether they were being followed or not.

He nodded, checked over his shoulder then yanked the van to the right and forced his way into the far lane. When Grace looked behind them, the SUV was mirroring their movements, cutting off other traffic and narrowly avoiding a collision as it did. No, she didn’t like the feel of this at all.

“Okay, get us out of here.” She yanked out her phone to call the head of the team in the lead cab. Their security guards were in another vehicle somewhere nearby. The driver finally got them clear of the tangle of traffic and hit the gas just as Dr. Travis answered her call. “We’re being followed,” she said quickly. “We don’t know who it is, but they’re not stopping so we’re taking a different route to the—” She yelped as something slammed into the right rear corner of the van, hard enough to jerk her head backward and send her phone flying into the foot well with a thud.

Shaken, she swiveled around to look at the car that had hit them. Its driver was already out of the vehicle, yelling and shaking his fist at the cab driver, who shot out his own door to shout back. She instinctively reached for David, who was rubbing the back of his head where he’d smacked it against the door frame. Before she could ask if he was all right, his eyes suddenly went wide as he stared over her left shoulder.

Grace whipped around in time to see the black SUV roar past, only to veer in front of them and screech to a halt perpendicular to the hood of the cab. Before it had settled the passenger side doors flew open.

Oh, shit.
Memories of the attack in Mombasa flashed through her mind. On instinct she undid her belt and started to scramble across the seat toward David, intending to escape out his side, when her door was suddenly wrenched open. A scream lodged in her throat as hard arms reached in and grabbed her, hauled her up and out of the cab.

She barely had time to drag in a breath before those strong hands turned her around. Gasping, she caught a glimpse of a light blue dress shirt stretched across broad shoulders an instant before those powerful arms closed around her back and crushed her to a hard male chest.

“
Grace
.”

At that hauntingly familiar voice she snapped her head up—and found herself staring into a pair of silver eyes she’d never expected to see again. Shock immobilized her.

Jack.

No, not Jack, she corrected herself angrily.
Alex
.

A tremor snaked through her as his achingly familiar scent wrapped around her, a hint of spice and warm, clean male. His dark hair had more gray in it now, especially around the temples. His face was still the same, all hard angles. Was she hallucinating?

“Are you okay?” He released her to take her face between his big hands, his eyes scanning her face anxiously. “Are you hurt?”

She wasn’t sure, because she had to be imagining this. “N-no.” She was vaguely aware of the sound of sirens close by, of police officers exiting a patrol vehicle behind the cab.

Alex relaxed visibly, then wrapped his arms around her again and hugged her tight as he buried his face in the curve of her neck. The embrace was urgent, on the verge of desperate.
No.
She shuddered in confusion, still trying to comprehend what was going on. Her hands automatically came up to press against his chest. Dammit, he couldn’t just show up like this, grab her and knock her world off kilter again.

She pushed but got nowhere and he didn’t ease up on his hold. He was hot and hard against her, his big body practically vibrating with suppressed emotion. He dragged in several deep breaths against her neck, as if he was inhaling her scent. She froze as goosebumps broke out across her suddenly violently sensitive skin.

Feeling like she was surfacing from a strange dream, Grace shook herself and found her wits. She flattened her hands against the solid muscles in his chest and shoved until he raised his head and she could lean her upper body away to get some badly needed space. “What are you
doing
here?” He’d been in that SUV? Why had he been following her?

His eyes bored into hers. “Had to see you.”

What? Why? “
See
me? What are you talking—”

“Where are you going right now?” His voice was clipped, taut.

Anger punched through her, sharp and powerful. “To a meeting. A very high level meeting I’m now going to be late for.”
Thanks to you
, she added silently, fuming. Her team was meeting with certain high-ranking Pakistani officials in preparation for the upcoming undisclosed summit with an envoy from Syria. And she was a key part of the presentation.

Grace glared up at Alex, who stood there blocking her path. He’d cost her everything. Her marriage—hopeless though it had been near the end, he’d sealed its fate in her mind nonetheless—her heart, her reputation, even her ability to have children by hiding the truth from her.

“Let me
go
.” She pushed harder, didn’t stop until he released her, even though she could tell he didn’t want to. As she pulled away she felt colder all of a sudden, unsettled. God dammit, how could he still shake her to her core like this? She’d sworn to herself years ago that she was over him, that he could never affect her again. She’d also never expected to see him after leaving Kenya and had no defense against this bombardment. Alex had always been shockingly protective and demonstrative with her, even in public. They’d burned so hot together, like thermite. She’d never felt anything like it. It scared her that he could still elicit such a strong, primal reaction from her even after all the damage he’d done and all the time they’d spent apart.