To Russia With Love (Countermeasure Series) (8 page)

Oh, how he enjoyed the way she squirmed under his heated gaze. From where he sat, he could see the pulse pounding at the base of her lovely throat and the dusting of goose bumps along her arms. Cassandra quickly pulled her feet from his lap, crossed her legs, and adjusted her skirt around them before glancing his way with eyes full of false innocence. “Ah…yeah. About that. It’s pretty much been a recurring issue since the day I met you. I can’t seem to figure out what’s causing it.”

“Do you need me to get my tool and check it, Cassie girl?” She squirmed some more and he lowered his voice, dragging out his tone and thickening his accent. In a sing-song voice he added, “Would you like me to check it now?”

A flash of humor crossed her face. “Not so fast, geek boy! Assignments have been handed out and work has to be done!” she laughed, pushing back a wayward strand of chestnut hair with a shaky hand.

He loved the way he could clearly affect her with simple words. “Shite. Foiled by my own hand!”

Cassandra looked him over, a wistful gleam in the depths of her whiskey-brown eyes. “Good things come to those who wait, love.”

A warm glow flooded him. He wiggled his eyebrows and flexed his fingers, cracking his knuckles. “Then we better get at it Cassie, girl. I’m all for good things.”

Lift off

T
HE LONG FLIGHT WAS GETTING on Jessica’s nerves. She fidgeted in her seat and tried to find a more comfortable position, but the confines of the small space were not very giving. She pressed her elbow against the guy’s next to her, but the obnoxious jerk wouldn’t share the armrest. Cramped and boxed in, she gave up, pressed her head against the window, and watched the white fluffy clouds outside.

The time difference wasn’t going to be easy on her, but each minute spent in Ireland would be worth the trouble. She missed Cassandra and couldn’t wait to hug her again. An uncomfortable pang clouded her excitement as her thoughts touched on her best friend. She hadn’t been completely honest with her regarding the reason for her prompt acceptance of their job offer and the move to Ireland.

Hell. She hadn’t been sure herself as to what drove her to drop everything she had worked for and leave her friends behind to embark on a brand new adventure in Europe—Dublin, to be specific. She had convinced herself that it would be the gateway to broadening her horizons—a new job opportunity, new places to visit and people to meet, maybe new boyfriends to enjoy, all tall, dark, and handsome, with wicked accents. But what appealed to her the most was the proximity to Cassandra. They would have the time of their lives. Well, maybe not so much now that Cassandra was married and only had eyes for Trevor, but she expected they would still have tons of fun working together. She was sure of it.

A niggling feeling still ate at her. Jessica tried to ignore it and sifted through the list of in-flight movies but she had seen them all. She tried to read, but had no patience for the heroine in the paranormal novel on her e-reader.
Another sparkling vampire? Seriously?
Without a distraction, the niggling got the best of her, torpedoing her down memory lane.

Cassandra and Trevor’s wedding had been sweet and beautiful. Jessica recalled their conversation that day.

“I predicted you would fall hard, didn’t I?”
Jessica had bragged as she smoothed Cassandra’s veil.

“Yes, you did…never really expect you’d be right, though,”
Cassandra had smirked.

Cassandra’s happiness had beamed through her eyes. She had been far happier than Jessica had ever seen her. Jessica’s heart swelled with love for the friend who had stood up for her all those years ago. She deserved happiness more than anybody she knew. Cassandra had indeed fallen hard. Thankfully, for the right man. Trevor was her perfect fit in every way. The guy would move heaven and earth for her.

A sad smile quirked Jessica’s lips. While she had convinced Cassandra that she was enjoying her single life, the reality of it was, Jessica had been in search of that perfect half for a long time. Unlike Cassandra, who had avoided love and commitment, Jessica embraced it.

She craved the deep dedication, deep commitment Cassandra had found in Trevor. She wanted someone who would ground her, boil her blood, and appreciate her quirky humor. She wanted it all. Damn. If only Trevor had a brother.

The closest thing was an honorary uncle—Stephan. And there it was again…that name. Over the last couple of months, she had tried to avoid thinking about him like the plague. But as hard as she tried, her thoughts always returned to him, time and again. Something stirred in her chest, urging her to make the life-changing decision. The need to know was powerful.

Curiosity was an unreachable itch between her shoulders, one her little research into his life had not eased. She had spent every single night over the past seven months wondering about what had changed her and why she couldn’t get
him
out of her system—the touch of his lips, the warmth of his embrace, his fresh woodsy aftershave…his rejection—all etched into her mind since the day of Cassandra’s wedding.

Stephan had roused her faster than any other man she had met before and she was driven to figure out what it was about him that affected her so. As far as she was concerned, the only way that was going to happen was to place herself in his path—one of the reasons she’d accepted the job offer and was on that plane. Maybe the constant exposure would desensitize her to him. Wash him out of her system once and for all. She would take back control of her life and again find her fun-loving, confident self. Then maybe, just maybe, she could find the one man who would give her everything and wouldn’t leave her wanting for more.

A Flimsy Link

I
T HAD BEEN FOUR DAYS since George had initiated the taps on Andrey Tomlin, and Trevor’s impatience had reached new heights. Devlin had called for another update the day before.

“Any news for me, Bauer?”

“Nope. It’s not like I can put a gun to someone’s head and make them spill where the fucking data is, you know.”

“We need you to destroy the information on their servers as soon as possible. If the development of the program is completed—”

“I know of the consequences, Devlin. You don’t need to spell it out for me. It’s only been a few days. We are talking about hours of transcripts.”

“Make it happen, Bauer. Otherwise you won’t be seeing the scribbled notes you want.”

Mark Devlin was a man on the edge, understandably concerned about the implications around the piece of software his company had approved for development.
And the financial loss it could cause, of course
. Trevor smirked. It didn’t surprise him, considering the value of that particular piece of software. Big money was at play. Wasn’t that always the case? If the software had been finished under his company’s name, Devlin would have had something invaluable under his belt. On the other hand, it would be a tremendous blow if it became known that it had fallen into the wrong hands, resulting in huge losses for corporations around the world. MDS and Devlin personally could be deemed liable for not ensuring the safety of the code leading to its theft, and, in that case, he would be looking financial ruin straight in the face.

“Can’t you get to it faster?”
Devlin had demanded.

“I have all my resources on it. They’ll show themselves soon enough. I’ll let you know when we’re on the move.”

If Trevor could, he would’ve already handled the destruction of the files, but his and Cassandra’s hands were tied until they had a trail to follow. George was like a bloodhound when he was following a lead; Trevor hoped he would sniff it out in no time. For now, they would have to sit tight. But even with knowing from experience these things take time and patience, it wasn’t easy being in a holding pattern.

Trevor wanted results; he wanted his father’s notes. Way more than Devlin wanted his decrypter out of the hands of whoever took it. The sound of footsteps in the hall brought him back from his thoughts. The aroma of coffee reached him first, followed closely by Cassandra walking in the office with a cup in her hand, her eyes still cloudy from sleep.

Trevor smiled brightly and greeted her, “Good morning,
a ghrá
.” He watched as she sat in her chair, nursing the cup between her hands.

“Damn your cheery self. Here I am, dragging ass,” she grumbled.

Trevor chuckled. Gotta love the woman—she was vicious before her first cup.

She took a sip and almost purred. “Hmm. Heaven.” Her delight was a turn-on.

“Glad you could finally make it,” he teased, hoping to brighten her mood. She leaned back in her chair and continued nursing the coffee, almost as if she hoped its aroma and heat would breathe some life into her. The past couple of days had clearly taken a toll on her humor.

“I spent most of yesterday on facial recognition exercises. Had to get back into the groove, just in case it’s needed.” She took another sip and moaned. “Plus, waiting on George to come back with news, my brain was about to burst last night.” As the coffee worked its magic, she lifted her hooded eyes to meet his. “Good morning, love.”

Cassandra had that sensual somnolence on her face every morning; it always tempted Trevor to throw her down and ravish her on whatever flat surface was available. “You, my dear wife, are tempting.”

She looked at him over the rim of her cup and smiled sweetly. “What was that for?”

“Nothing in particular. Just stating a fact.” He’d never worn his heart on his sleeve the way he did now. Letting his love shine through his eyes, he enjoyed the delectable view as she continued to down the coffee.

Cassandra glanced over the rim and grinned, blowing Trevor a kiss. “So, can I play hooky?” Trevor raised his eyebrows and gave her the look. “Damn. Jeez, it was worth a try,” Cassandra sighed deeply. She knew there was no rest for the wicked when they were on the hunt.

Scooting closer to her desk, she readied herself to tackle whatever new assignment they had on queue. As she set the cup aside, she noticed the orange light blinking on the task bar. She rushed to open the chat application and found several messages from George.

Are you there?

Cass?

Trev?

“Hey, it’s George!” Cassandra called out to Trevor as she continued to read.

This is BIG! You won’t believe what I got.

We need to talk NOW!

“He’s jacked about something.”

Be here at 14:00 hours your time.

Cassandra’s brow furrowed, “Okay, he was one unhappy geek last night” She glanced at her watch. “We have about five hours to kill before he gets to work.” A flash of impatience crossed Trevor’s face. “Trevor, he has to sleep.” Cassandra saw the frown set into his features. He hated waiting. “That’s it.” She pushed from her chair and stood. “Let’s go.”

“Where?” Trevor asked surprised.

“Downstairs. Gym. Now.”

“Why?” Trevor’s amusement was written all over his face.

Cassandra turned and briskly headed for the door.

“Hey!” Trevor called out. “You didn’t answer.”

She poked her head back in the doorway. “To see if I can still kick your ass! See you downstairs in five minutes. First one down picks the workout.”

Trevor’s laughter and something that sounded like “payback, lass” followed her across the hall. Within minutes she was changed and racing down the stairs to the basement. She did a happy dance in her head as she walked into the room. She stopped dead in her tracks.
Holy hell!
Trevor was already flowing through a series of stretch exercises. “How’d you change and get here so fast?”