Hidden Heat: Hauberk Protection, Book 4 (19 page)

He crossed the room and opened the secret panel leading to the stairs down to his group’s bunker, not waiting for her to don the sweat pants and camouflage tee she’d left at the door.

Moments later, he heard her steps light and quick on the stairs. “May I ask why it was necessary for this charade? Why didn’t you head straight to your office when you arrived?”

“Because it was necessary for me to be seen in the common areas. If I am not seen coming to my rooms on occasion, people will start asking questions as to where I am.” He paused on the landing and fixed her with a look that had her stopping half a flight above. Her caution pleased him. “We’ve been through this before. If you do not wish to accept your role, then you may leave the Brigade.”

A flush rose up her neck though stopped short of her face. “I have no desire to leave the group, sir.” Her lids dropped, hiding the expression in her eyes, though not on her face. Interesting. It wasn’t embarrassment or even anger, but lust she sought to hide. “Sometimes it is difficult for me to be…submissive.”

“Noted. But it is necessary for the roles we play.” He continued down the three floors until they reached the sub-basement, wondering how he could use Delayna’s attraction to his own purposes, as well as those of the Brigade.

Chapter Fourteen

He didn’t remember falling asleep but he must have for he woke up to Jocelyne shaking him.

“
Monsieur
, I am sorry to disturb you but there’s an important call for you. You may take it in my office.”

He carefully extracted himself from the tangle of Sandy’s limbs and climbed from the bed. Though she frowned, Sandy snuggled in his spot and stayed asleep. Muttering to himself that the phone call had better the hell be important for taking him away from a night with Sandy in his arms, he grabbed a robe. Without saying a word, Jocelyne led him to her office then left him alone. The display showed it was an internal call. Which meant it could only be one person.

“McPherson.”

“Garcia’s arrived in Val Varde.” Cooper Davis’s clipped speech shot out of the receiver.

He forced himself to concentrate on the implications of Davis’s announcement. “I thought that fucker was planning to stay in Colombia for another week.”

“Plans changed, I guess. Which means we’ve had to change ours. We take off from Andrews in ninety minutes with or without you.”

Shit, that was going to cut things close. “I’ll be there.”

He got an outside line then dialed Sam’s private number. Sam answered on the second ring.

“A situation has come up in Kinshasa.” While they had clients in Africa, he could only hope Sam wouldn’t ask for more details. “I need to fly out this morning. I’ll be gone for at least forty-eight hours, probably more like seventy-two.”

Silence filled the connection for a long moment before Sam’s deep voice rumbled over the line. “Take care of yourself, you hear?”

He stabbed the button, ending the connection, and dialed his backup. “Heads up. I’m going to be out of the loop for at least two days.” He quickly ran down the outstanding issues and made sure his own agents could handle their assignments.

Troy unlocked his apartment but stalled opening the door. He was pretty sure Sandy hadn’t seen Scott in the parking lot when they’d left the club, nor would she have any reason to check that Scott’s engine would still be warm where it sat in the parking lot. He should have sent her home in a limo but the thought of sending her off alone felt wrong. Like she was a one-night stand, which she definitely wasn’t. “I’m sorry about bailing on the weekend. But this situation in the Congo can’t be put off.”

“It’s all right.” Sandy squeezed his hand. “We can try again another weekend.”

He pushed open the door, blocking it until he made sure Scott had already arrived. “Don’t mind the mess. The lady I have come in and clean up after us only comes once a week. She’s due in tomorrow.”

Sandy’s lips firmed but the tips of them twitched as if she were trying not to smile. “I forgot two guys living in one apartment equals frat central.”

He snatched up the empty pizza boxes from the coffee table. And the half-dozen Starbucks cups. And the discarded Mrs. Fields cookie box and wrappers. The dirty socks got kicked under the couch. “Um, yeah, pretend you didn’t see these. Let me give Scott a heads-up that I’m back.”

Leaving her in the living room, he headed to Scott’s bedroom door and knocked, reminding himself that he had to pretend Scott had been there the whole time. “Hey, Scott. You awake?”

At Scott’s answer, he opened the door and found Scott shrugging out of his jacket. “Look, I was wondering if you could do me a favor?” He kept his voice louder than he normally would so Sandy would overhear. “Something urgent’s come up over in the Congo. I have to head to the airport right away. Can you drive Sandy home and make sure she’s not thinking I’ve run out on her.” He lowered his voice. “Thanks for getting back here without her seeing. I owe you one.”

Scott didn’t bother hiding his smirk. “Yeah, you do. Man, you’ve got it bad for her, don’t you?”

“Fuck you.” Yet as he headed back to the living room, Scott’s taunt became an earworm. Yeah, he had it bad. For a woman who didn’t want any long-term relationship with him. How fucked-up was that?

Sandy was waiting right where he’d left her, her eyes still heavy-lidded and sleep filled. Damn, what he would have given to have woken up to her in the morning looking like that. To wake her by thrusting into her while she was all sleep soft. To wake up every day beside her.

Lost in the depth of her eyes, the curve of her jaw, the softness of her skin, he rested his forehead against hers. Sandy was self-effacing and down-to-earth. She was also sexy and funny and sensual as hell. She didn’t crave the spotlight like some of the women he’d dated.

Dated. No, somehow that seemed wrong for her. Courted, as outdated and archaic as that word was these days, suited her better. She deserved to be pampered and feted, placed up on a pedestal.

The words “I love you” hovered on his tongue but he swallowed them. If he said them out loud, she’d think he’d want to tie her down when he wanted to show her how she could fly beside him. How they could have adventures never leaving their bedroom. How he could show her things she’d dreamed of seeing, take her places she’d always wanted to go. But if he didn’t say them, if something happened to him on this mission…

While he was debating whether to take that leap, she lifted her face and captured his lips. He sank into her kiss like she was oxygen and he was drowning.

We take off from Andrews in ninety minutes with or without you.
Damn it, that window was closing and too damned fast. Hating that he had to leave her, he ended the kiss. God, he hated the idea of leaving her. “I have to go.”

She followed the curve of his ear with one finger. He marveled at how provocative she could be with such a simple touch. “Promise you’re not going to be in danger and you’ll come back in one piece?”

No one had ever asked him to do that. Not because they cared about him.

“I’ll be fine.” Why did Garcia have to choose this weekend to leave his hideout? Why couldn’t he have stayed where he was another forty-eight hours? Was that too much to ask?

Sandy covered a yawn with her hand.

Damn, he’d worn her out. “Why don’t you sleep here tonight? Scott can drive you home in the morning.”

Her nose crinkled, no doubt wondering whether his sheets were clean or not. Given the state of the living room, he couldn’t fault her for her hesitation. “The bedding was changed on Wednesday.” Two days of him sleeping in it shouldn’t be too bad. Should it? “I like the idea of you sleeping in my bed. Waking up in it, even if I can’t be there.”

She yawned again, then nodded. “All right. Scott’ll probably prefer not having to leave his warm bed to go out in the cold to drive me around anyway.”

“He will. There’s fresh linen in the closet if you want to change it.” He raised his voice. “Hey, Scott. You can go back to sleep; Sandy’s going to sleep here for the night.”

“Geez, get dressed. Don’t get dressed. Make up your mind, man,” Scott grumbled from the bedroom in a good imitation of a man just awoken.

Removing his arm from Sandy’s waist was an almost physical pain, but he needed to pack. He settled for holding her hand and leading her into his bedroom. Shoot. He should have at least made the bed before he left. And maybe picked up his clothes. He grabbed his duffel bag from where he’d left it from his last trip. Sandy sat cross-legged on the bed, staying quiet as he packed.

Neither of them spoke until he zipped the case and put it on the floor. He knelt on the bed beside her and pulled her into a hug. Damn it, he didn’t want to leave her. Not right now. “I shouldn’t be gone more than a couple days.”

“Promise you’ll call me to let me know you got there safely, or at least when you’re coming back?” She seemed to be having the same problem he did disentangling herself from him.

“I may not have cell phone service. But I’ll call from the plane on the flight back, I promise.” He hefted his bag and walked to the front door.

Her, “I’ll miss you,” made the thirty-foot walk to the elevator feel like a mile. Especially the way she stayed in the doorway, watching him.

Don’t look back. If you do, you won’t be able to leave.

Chapter Fifteen

Watching Troy walk away made her stomach jump in ways Sandy wasn’t used to. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t watched him leave for missions before. But this time…this time it was different. She’d read the reports, both the private Hauberk ones and the newspaper accounts, of all the turmoil going on in Africa. The risks he took were suddenly so much more real, so much more dangerous.

When the elevator arrived and he hesitated, looking back at her for a brief second, she clutched the doorframe to stop herself from running down the hallway and jumping in his arms.

“He’ll be all right,” Scott said. “Don’t worry.”

His reassurance might have had more strength if he hadn’t sounded doubtful himself.

She wandered back into the apartment.
I couldn’t bear the thought that it might have hurt you. And if you found it enjoyable, I’d prefer that you think of me instead of a stranger
. There’d been something different about the way he’d held her after they’d finished, gentle yet fiercely protective. And then there was how he’d paused to look back at her before he got on the elevator. Did that mean anything?

“You know, you’re the first woman he’s ever brought back here. Try not to screw him over.”

That might not mean anything. It might just mean he hooked up with whoever was there at the time. “He brought me here because he was short on time. And what do you mean about screwing him over? What makes you think—”

But Scott had already disappeared into his bedroom and shut the door.

Left alone, Sandy felt more confident in examining the condo. Other than a couple pairs of discarded socks under the couch, there was nothing personal in the living room. Oh, sure it had the requisite couch and chair, along with one of the biggest flat screens on the market. A stack of games had been piled haphazardly beside a Playstation, but there were no cushions on the couch, no pictures on the wall. Not even a rug covering the hardwood. Nothing that gave her a clue about who lived there. Okay, so she could tell that a guy lived here from the socks and the Playstation but heck, Jazz often left her socks on the floor, and they had an Xbox. But their place felt like a home. This didn’t. It didn’t even feel like a hotel. It was a box with furniture.

The bedroom was no different. She stripped off her clothes and crawled into the middle of the king-sized mattress tucked into the corner of the room. He didn’t even have a proper bed frame for the thing. It was like walking into a college kid’s first apartment.

Maybe that’s why he traveled so much. Kate, the accounting manager, had often complained about Troy’s travel expenses, citing the ability to videoconference these days. Maybe he wanted to travel because he didn’t feel comfortable here. Maybe she could do something about it. Make him want to stay around longer. She lay back on the bed and stared at the ceiling, plotting.

While Cooper had fallen asleep before the plane had taken off, Troy had fidgeted until they were halfway across the Caribbean.

What if Sandy decided she wanted to go back to the Rouge? It wouldn’t be a total disaster. Lots of couples enjoyed themselves in the privacy of their suites. And if she liked having people watch, he could live with that too. He supposed.

Shit. She’d said she’d miss him and he hadn’t said it back. What if she thought he wouldn’t? He pulled out his phone then shoved it back in his pocket. Fuck, he was behaving like an insecure teenager mooning over his first crush.

Focus on the mission. He opened his laptop and pulled up the blueprints for the villa Garcia’s people had rented. The plane had begun its descent before Cooper roused.

After a trip to the head, Cooper stopped to glance at Troy’s monitor. “I’ve got an update to that. And a list of people we think are staying there”

The eighty-degree temperature change wasn’t as bad as the wall of humidity that slapped Troy in the face. Sweat dripped down his back and beaded in places sweat shouldn’t gather. The arrival of a brand-new air-conditioned Jeep had him breathing a sigh of relief. If the gods were kind, they’d knock the temperature down about twenty degrees by the time the attack Cooper had outlined started.