Deliciously Dangerous (4 page)

She marched to the door. “Look, I’m not one to push my services on anyone. If you don’t want to talk shop, I’m outta here.”

He grabbed her wrist and pulled her around. His gaze locked on hers, so intent, so focused.

“Gina,” he whispered, bringing his forehead near hers, his face inches away. “Surely you’ve got to know. I did it all for you. He was a man without a soul and an abuser and an enslaver of women. He tried to kill you, and for that he had to die. He got what he deserved.”

She was speechless and touched by this man who’d orchestrated the death of a monster who would have stopped at nothing to see her dead. It cut into her defenses—the defenses she needed to keep him at arm’s length. Standing this close, looking into his eyes, she saw no sign of deception, no wavering. He was either being completely honest and open to her at this moment or he was a really good actor.

“That’s hitting below the belt, Jammer.” Her voice was wobbling, but he’d have had that effect on her even if she wasn’t hanging by a thread.

“No, it’s not. Do you have any idea how hard it was to walk away from you in the hospital when you were injured?”

“But you did.”

“Yes, I did, because it was better for me and for you. I’ve got something to do and it encompasses everything that I am. I’m walking a fine line and it’s a fucking dangerous one. I don’t want you on it. I cannot afford distractions and complications.”

“So you’re saying I’m both.”

“You are a big pain in the ass, Gina, and you know it.”

She laughed out loud because she did know it. She was too much of a smart aleck for her own good.

She wished she could be the one to walk away from him, but Watchdog had given her a mission and she was going to follow through on it. She was confident that Jammer wouldn’t find the weapons he was so desperate for without her.

“Okay, fine. It’s been a slice. I’ll see you around.” She looked at him, so steady, so strong-willed, so profoundly sure of himself. So very sure of her. And if she did her job, that would be his downfall.

She slowly extricated herself from his hand. This time he let her go. And, perversely, her heart fell.

His phone started to ring as she grabbed the doorknob. She got a lot of satisfaction in slamming the door as she left.

But that didn’t last long. Once in her own room, she started to pack. She would have to make it appear as if she was going, but she had no intention of letting this mission fail. The Ghost was as good as caught.

She whipped off her clothes and took a hot shower. She quickly dried herself off, squeezing the water out of
her hair before running a comb through it. She slipped on a white silk robe with butterflies fluttering all over it.

Sitting down on the edge of the bed, she thought about how to hedge her bets. There was a time to give up and a time to fight. If she wanted to get to the Ghost, she was going to have to make sure that she was the only one with all the neat, cool toys.

She picked up the phone she used as Gina and dialed. When the voice answered at the other end, Callie said, “This is Gina Callahan. Let me speak to Reggie.”

But before her contact came on the phone, there was a quick, hard knock on her door. She told the guy that she would have to call him back, and then severed the connection.

When she pulled the door open, she did nothing to make it any easier for Jammer.

“Want a drink?” she asked, a smug smile drifting across her face.

With his stormy eyes and tight jaw he looked so dangerous that she swallowed. But her persona never wavered. Stepping away from the door with a nonchalance she didn’t feel, she walked over to the mini-bar, poured herself three fingers of vodka and downed it.

She sensed his presence behind her. He was like an inferno at her back. She felt the gentle stroke of his fingers down the smooth fabric of her silk robe.

“Let’s talk about the ground rules,” she said.

He laughed softly and turned her around. “There are no ground rules, Gina. I make the plans and you follow through. It’ll be fifty-fifty, just like last time. I have the
buyer and you have the contacts. When I have what I need, we part company. Deal?”

He’d changed and showered, too, his hair a gorgeous spiked disarray. He smelled delicious and male. The baby-blue sweater and tight blue jeans all looked good on his heavily muscled body.

“Deal,” she said.

“This is easy for you, isn’t it? Just another deal in the many you’ve put together. Don’t you get tired of it?”

His questions and serious tone caught her off guard. Something about the morning beard shadowing his jaw, the way his hair wasn’t quite so naturally perfect, made his eyes darker and enhanced how impossibly thick his eyelashes were. And she really, really needed to stop focusing on his mouth. But the ruggedness the stubble lent to his face just emphasized those soft, sculpted lips of his.

Tired of playing the espionage game? Maybe a little, and maybe even more when she thought about how she’d have to put this man behind bars for the rest of his life. He wouldn’t soon forgive her for that. Gina Callahan was a role, and most undercover people would say that you couldn’t play at undercover. A persona must be lived, not adopted, or your identity would soon be given away.

But there was something so open and sincere in Jammer’s face that Callie couldn’t seem to get out the off-the-cuff words Gina would have said.

“Not when I deal so damn well,” she said, finally dodging that odd feeling that Jammer was looking
right through her masquerade and seeing her, Callie Carpenter, peering out.

But that wasn’t possible, or they wouldn’t be having this conversation at all. Callie wasn’t under any illusion that if Jammer even suspected who she was he would come anywhere near her. What he had going with Fuentes was going to pay out big, and she was sure the Ghost wanted his score.

But this time Callie was going to be ready to nab him and fulfill her mission, a mission that had foiled more than one operative before her.

Jammer seemed disappointed in her answer and stepped forward. “You’re not tired of constantly looking over your shoulder? Wondering if the next deal is going to be the last? Giving up so damn much?”

She didn’t know what to say. She hadn’t expected this from him; each time she was with the man she found a different, more fascinating facet to him. He wasn’t a muscle-bound lackey at all, but an intelligent, forceful personality that kept her constantly on her toes.

“Jammer,” she said softly, reaching out to touch his face, his stubble rough against her palm.

He moved in closer, crowding her against the wall, his big body trapping her. Why couldn’t she resist him?

Because the sexual tension hadn’t abated one whit. But also, she told herself, because she
could
give in to him—commitment had nothing to do with lust. She could be as lustful as she wanted, crave his touch, want to know what he tasted like, felt like…and have absolutely no intention of settling into a relationship with him. She had a job to do.

Circumstances being what they were, she could be forgiven for simply taking what she could have. Him.

The silence expanded in a way that lent texture to the very air between them. He was so warm, the temperature rose a considerable notch.

“What do you want me to say? I don’t know—”

He buried his face in the crook of her neck and shoulder and sighed deeply. “Don’t say anything. It really won’t make a difference.”

He raised his head. His lips curved then, and her thighs—or more accurately, the muscles between them—suddenly felt a whole lot more wobbly.

His eyes were so dark, so deep, she swore she could fall right into them and never climb back out. And that part sad, part whimsical smile made it dizzyingly clear that Jammer was more than physically dangerous.

She was a trained operative, trained for all aspects of the clandestine job she performed, but Callie found the compassion she felt for people was a detriment. Like what had happened with Miyagi, a man whom she had originally tracked down—on her own and without the agency’s knowledge—because she’d empathized with another man, Jason Kyoto, who was trying to rescue his sister from Miyagi and a life of forced sexual slavery, and she’d vowed to help him. She’d gone rogue from Watchdog for just a short period of time. Sure, she’d made an enemy of Miyagi and almost got herself and Allie killed because of it, but she’d fulfilled her mission and saved Jason’s sister.

So it was disconcerting that the same compassion
she’d felt was once again going to get her in hot water unless she resisted the impulse.

“What brought all these questions on?”

He lifted his hand, barely brushing the underside of her chin with his fingertips, and tipped her head back a bit farther.

“I think about you,” he said, his voice nothing more than a rough whisper.

Her skin tingled as if the words themselves had brushed against her.

“Too often. You distract me.”

“And that’s a bad thing?”

“It’s…an unexpected thing,” he said.

“I hear you. In our business distractions can get us killed.”

“Bingo,” he said. He smiled.

“Getting this close to me is going to help in some way? Although you won’t hear me complaining.”

His smile broadened as his mouth lowered slowly toward hers. “Either that, or make all this distraction a lot more worthwhile. Let’s seal our deal with a kiss.”

It was never a question of not meeting his lips. Her body was fairly humming in anticipation and it was all she could do to refrain from grabbing his head and hurrying him the hell up.

It was just a kiss and a contract.

His lips brushed across hers. Warm, a little soft, but the right amount of firm. He slid his fingers along the back of her neck, beneath the hair on her nape, sending a delicious little shiver all the way down her spine.

He dropped another whisper of a kiss across her lips,
then another, inviting her to participate, clearly not going any further unless she did. She respected that, a lot, even though part of her wished he’d taken the decision out of her hands. It would make all the self-castigation later much easier to avoid. Given his aversion to commitment, somehow she figured he knew that. They were either in it together or not at all.

She held his gaze for what felt like an eternity, and then slowly lowered her eyelids as she closed the distance between them and returned his kiss.

His fingers fluttered against the back of her neck when she opened her mouth on his, then pressed a bit harder as he accepted her compliance and nipped her bottom lip with a sensual tug before deepening the kiss.

She had no defense against this, against him. It was too delectable, and he was impossible to resist. Especially when she didn’t really want the contact to end. She shut out thoughts of what would happen next, and tried hard, very hard, to just enjoy this for as long as it lasted.

He pulled away. “Get packed. I’ve booked us for the States and the plane leaves in three hours.”

Then he was slipping out the door. Her mouth still tingled as she slumped against the wall. The door hadn’t fully closed when he leaned back inside and gave her a bad-boy smile.

“Get going,” he barked, and she flipped him the bird, but he only laughed.

T
HE LONG FLIGHT FROM
Minsk put them into San Francisco just before dawn, and as they drove into St. Helena the sun was rising over the countryside, showcasing beautiful green vineyards, oak-lined streets and antique hotels. Callie saw a lot of activity for so early in the morning, but September in Napa was no time to rest, as it was the beginning of the grape harvest.

After they passed through the quaint town of St. Helena, Jammer turned off onto a road that led to a stone castle estate with lush vineyards nestled in the rolling hills beyond. The sign out front read Ceo Draiochta.

“What language is that? Gaelic? Do you have Scottish ancestry?” Callie angled around to look at him.

He made a faint curl of his mouth, not quite a smile. He seemed remote, somewhere far beyond her in his thoughts, even though he was only two feet away. “It’s Gaelic and my background…is complicated.”

“What does it mean?” she asked.

“Magic Mist.”

“Ah, how pretty. For the fog that blankets these
hills?” Callie had seen plenty of photos of Napa Valley obscured by thick fog.

“Yes, reminiscent of the hills of Scotland with their mysterious mists,” he said.

“Hmm, very poetic, I’d say.”

“The fog is legendary here. It rolls up the valley or makes its way through the gaps between the Mayacamas from neighboring Sonoma Valley. There are days when I wake up and find the valley ‘was gone; gone were all the lower slopes and the woody foothills of the range; and in their place, not a thousand feet below me, rolled a great level ocean.’”

“Robert Louis Stevenson?”

“I’m impressed,” Jammer said.

“So am I. There aren’t many gunrunners I know who can quote Stevenson. He was, if I’m not mistaken, a Scottish poet and writer.”

“You aren’t mistaken,” he growled.

“Hmm, a pattern here.”

“I would ask that you be cautious of what you say in front of my staff. They don’t know anything about what I really do. They run the winery for me and are good people.”

“Are you changing the subject?”

“Moving on to a different one, that’s all.”

“So, this is a legit business?”

“Yes. I make some of the best cherry brandy and cabernet sauvignon on the market—Craving Cherry Brandy, Brume Reserve, Chimera Estate and Tempest Estate.”

“What name do you go by here?”

“They only know me as Mr. J. I have a manager who handles the staff, since I travel a lot.”

They pulled into a circular paved driveway with a beautiful fountain in the middle and luscious blooms of a wide variety of flowers in a kaleidoscope of shades, all bracketed by verdant greenery.

Then Callie examined the house. It was a castle complete with turrets. “Okay, you’re taking this Scottish theme to the max.”

He laughed as he exited the car.

“Does it have a dungeon?”

“Yes, and if you don’t stop asking questions, I’m going to put you on the rack.”

“Oooh, that sounds way too good. Will you ravish me while I’m helpless?”

“Most decidedly. If only to stop you from talking.”

His gaze slid down her body, touching every part of her with a hot, melting look. Her face, her shoulders, her breasts. She licked dry lips and could almost taste him on them.

He stepped closer to her, that mouth a sensual line of taut beauty. When he captured her lips, she got a thrill of sensation at the feel of his oh-so-soft and oh-so-clever mouth. It was a kiss meant to tease and to tantalize, ending much too quickly.

“Hey, I was just doing as I was told,” he said.

She sighed deeply. “Oh, yes, that’s right. I told you to remind me to keep my big trap shut. Thanks for that.”

He slipped his hand into hers and Callie started at the contact. It seemed more intimate than the kiss they
had just shared and more dangerous than the mission she was on.

He pulled her forward onto the small drawbridge that served as the front path to the winery grounds and the castle beyond. A riot of color surrounded them on the short walk.

The house itself was made of stone and included a round tower on its side, making it look truly like a castle.

“The tasting rooms and the winery production is done in those old barns over there,” he said, pointing to the right of the house.

“Not really old, huh?”

“No, just manufactured to look that way.”

“This is an interesting side of you. A legitimate businessman.”

“I have many identities, Gina. This is just one of them.”

“I can’t imagine how you manage to do your…ah…gunrunning right under these people’s noses.”

“I don’t do that kind of business here.”

“What do you mean?”

“No one from that world knows about this place. Well, except for Fudo Miyagi and he’s dead. He was also escorted here without foreknowledge.”

“Why would you bring that man here, to your sanctuary?”

“To garner his trust and put him at ease. It’s a beautiful place.”

“But you brought
me
here. Does that mean I have to die, too?”

He turned to her, his eyes unreadable. “I wanted us to be untraceable during this deal we have going. I don’t want to entertain any surprises. After all, you have the contacts and I need those. Your welfare is my main concern.”

“Just like you took care of my sister?”

“More,” he said.

He drew her forward again, to the carved mahogany doors. Over the curved archway was a polished coat of arms. More show.

They stepped into a cool foyer, the floor a polished slate gray, the walls a darker gray.

The great room was furnished in deep blues and greens, with comfy sofas and warm wood tables, drawing an appreciative sigh from her. More facets to an already fascinating man.

They passed a large dining room and staircase that led, she presumed, to the second level and the bedrooms, before making their way into the gleaming, state-of-the-art kitchen. “Thirsty?”

“Yes, very.”

He dropped her hand and opened a massive double-door refrigerator, selecting two bottles of sparkling water and handing her one. He opened the other and took a long pull, his throat muscles working.

Callie twisted the top off her bottle and took a sip. She tugged out a chair near the island and sat down, the fatigue of the trip and the sheer act of maintaining her undercover persona catching up with her.

“You’re tired. Let me—”

A sudden knock on the door interrupted him, and he went to answer it. Callie could hear a male voice and Jammer’s deep tones responding. He came back into the kitchen, accompanied by a tall man with a shock of black hair. The newcomer stopped short, his eyes widening as he scanned her sleeveless, pink cotton shirt, which fit like a second skin. That was where the sugar-and-spice-and-everything-nice ended. Her many-shades-of-green camo miniskirt hugged her hips and was belted with chain mail. Black tights covered her legs, ending at stiletto-heeled combat boots on her feet. She knew she looked like Lara Croft ready to do battle.

Callie laughed softly and slipped off the stool. Walking over to Jammer’s employee, she curled her index finger under his chin and closed his gaping mouth.

“Gina, don’t harass the help.”

“Oh, but it’s so much fun.”

“I’m sorry, Mr. J. Didn’t realize you had company.” The man looked at her sheepishly and then smiled through his embarrassment, rubbing at the blush on his cheeks.

“It’s no problem, Jim. This is Gina Callahan. She’s going to be staying with us for a few days.”

“That’s great, Mr. J. She’ll get a chance to see a working winery and taste some of our finest wines.”

“Jim was just letting me know that there are some matters that need my attention. Boring for you, Gina.” Jammer turned to Jim. “I’ll just take her upstairs and get her settled. Could you get her bags out of the car?”

“Sure.”

“Come on, sleepy, let’s get you to bed.”

“All by my lonesome?” She pouted.

Jammer shifted closer, lowering his head slightly so she had to tilt her chin to maintain eye contact. “For now. I’ve got to take care of business, and then I’ll give you a tour.”

On the way up the stairs, she glimpsed a study. The door was partially open, revealing shelves full of books, a desk and a laptop computer on top.

She’d do well to see what was on the laptop, hopefully find out information Gillian could use.

But Callie’s attention was immediately diverted by Jammer’s firm butt in those heavenly jeans he was wearing. If she didn’t need the time to snoop…she’d make sure he ended up in bed with her. But she had to focus on why she was really here—and it wasn’t for a wine-filled Napa Valley vacation.

She was here to nab the Ghost, and she intended to do it.

True to his word, he took her to a charming master suite complete with a big inviting bed, whirlpool tub and a huge shower decked out with more showerheads and nozzles than she’d ever seen.

“Have a good nap and I’ll see you when you wake up,” he said, ready to turn and leave.

“We’ll talk strategy?”

“That was the plan.”

“I know that. I don’t have any expectations.”

“A woman like you who does this kind of a thing for a living never does, right?”

The way he said the words made her inner agent stand at attention. And that made her uneasy.
She
controlled
the situation in her undercover operations, always. But this time, from the moment she had met him, he’d been at the head of the line and she had to wonder why that was the case. He seemed to know what she was thinking, but the expression was gone in an instant.

His big hand came up and caressed her neck. It would have been nothing for him to tighten it and choke the life out of her. But his fingers were gentle against her.

The attraction was there, pulling at her every time he looked at her. Strong, magnetic, beyond her control. And that made her uneasy all over again. He was trouble. A man with secrets in his eyes and a dark side he took great pains to camouflage. A man whose baser instincts ran just beneath the surface. Dangerous. She’d thought so more than once.

But it was as if she was addicted to him, to the danger he embodied. She couldn’t be sure. All she knew was that she was hip deep in alligators and they had razor-sharp teeth. Especially if he suspected her true identity.

But she was certain he would protect his boss with deadly force, so he couldn’t be suspicious of who she really was, or he would have killed her a long time ago.

Unless he was expecting to get something out of her. But what could that be? Of course, she did have something of great value to him—her contacts.

He got that distant look in his eyes again as if he was miles away, and she had to wonder what he was thinking. And who he really was, this man who gave her so much pleasure, tantalized her senses and made her feel so alive.

A man she would have to destroy to fulfill her mission.

He trailed the back of his hand up her neck to the side of her face and sighed. “You make me want to forget about everything, but that’s not possible.”

“No,” she agreed. “We both have a mission to accomplish.”

His eyes darkened slightly, and his smile hardened. “Interesting choice of words.”

She instantly wanted to bite her lip, frantically going over everything she’d said to him. He was standing entirely too close, so she was missing whatever it was he’d picked up on. She decided to play it cool even though she was feeling nothing of the sort. “Mixing business and pleasure can sometimes be a volatile combination. Don’t you agree?”

“As long as one doesn’t interfere with the other, it will work out fine for both of us.”

“I’m not some wide-eyed innocent. I know the score. All’s fair in love and war.”

“No, it isn’t. If things were fair,” he said, “we wouldn’t be attracted to each other in the first place.” He crowded her the tiniest bit nearer to the wall. “We’d never have gotten entangled.” He shifted a bit more. She didn’t stop him. “If things were fair, I’d have never gone to that hotel room in Paris and we would never have met.”

Her heart was beating so hard now she couldn’t even hear herself speak.

“Ah, Gina, if we were different people and this was a different situation, there would be no holding back.”

“Oh, Jammer. We are who we are.”

“Yes, with all those complications. Even though I want more, we will have to do with less.”

Of all the things he could have said, he’d chosen the one guaranteed to raise every defensive wall she could construct. She could never allow herself to be exposed in any way—and what he wanted from her would definitely qualify as exposure. But that was impossible if she wanted to continue with the work she was doing. And she did. Both for her own very selfish reasons and for the more noble goal of helping her country. She was somewhat ashamed to admit that it was the former that drove her far more than the latter. First for Allie, then for her brother, Max, who had been spirited away somewhere to protect both him and the DEA agent he’d been asked to protect.

For her it was about family and minimizing the danger to them. The Ghost was a threat to her country and Fuentes was a threat to her brother, Max, whom the drug lord wanted dead because of Max and Rio’s humiliating escape from Fuentes’s compound. That terrible double threat had to be eliminated.

But Jammer’s recent confessions rattled her. He obviously had feelings for her. He’d orchestrated Miyagi’s death so that she would be safe—at great personal danger to himself and his boss. She wasn’t really sure what that said about him or his motivations, but she couldn’t exactly come out and ask him. Besides, she didn’t really want to know. It would only make matters worse.

Especially since she was unable to find that place inside her that would let her lie to herself, or at least come up with some small thing—anything, really—that
she could latch on to as a means of protecting herself. Because the truth of the matter was that she wanted everything he did.

He’d never been far from her waking thoughts, despite the elapsed time since their last meeting, and no promise of ever seeing each other again. And damn, but he’d consumed her dreams for far, far too many nights.