Out of Sight (12 page)

Easier said than done.

Like the moon to his tide, she was hard to resist.

Tension stretched between them. A single, gossamer thread, as fine and insubstantial as a spiderweb, and just as strong.

She was a houri, Venus on the half shell, a siren… her very annoyance at his presence a powerful lure. The flickering candlelight danced in her pale-green eyes as she glared at him.

She wasn't embarrassed, or coy, that he was seeing her naked. She'd turned into the rim of the tub, facing him, covering up all the interesting parts, and only her naked shoulders and bare arms, slick with moisture, showed. He could almost hear the rapid throb of her heart from where he stood.

Kane wanted to sip the dew from her skin. He wanted to undo that ridiculous sock out of her hair, and drown in the glory of her body. He craved filling his hands with her flesh, sinking into the firm, lightly muscled body that had been driving him insane for days.

Him. Kane Wright. The man who considered self-discipline and control a religious calling. He scoffed at his carefully constructed containment as it slowly, untidily unraveled while he watched her.

"So am I going to need my gun to get you out of here?"

Dangerous. Seductive.

"I'm getting cold," she snapped. "Hit the road already."

He unfolded his arms and shoved his hands into his pockets for safety. "I'm an artist, remember?"

"And how does that impact what we have going on here?" She raised a ginger brow, her eyes very green.
Hot
green.

"I have this fascination with form and color. Your form, to be precise." He took his hands from his pockets and squared a frame around her face with his fingers. "Pretend I'm framing a shot."
Look. Don't touch.

"You took enough shots of me today. So get over it. Go photograph a bowl of fruit or something."

He bit back a grin. "We have a serious problem here."

"We do?" Pale eyes, narrowed suspiciously, and bright with something unreadable, met his. "And what's that?"

"I want you."

She shook her head slightly. Her eyelashes, long and thick, were dark and spiky wet. "Sounds more like
your
problem."

"You want me, too."

"No ego problems here." Her mouth twisted and she huffed out a breath. "Is this your idea of foreplay?"

"I do believe, Angina, that I'm just going to have to show you."

He didn't move.

Neither did she.

"You're not going to show me anything." She tipped her head and scowled at him. "And don't call me that ridiculous name."

"What
is
your name, then? I'd be happy to call you whatever you like."

"Cooper will do just fine, thanks. Now back off." She narrowed her eyes and gave him a steely look that he was sure would have most men obeying. On their knees. He wasn't most men. "You don't even like me," she reminded him. "And right now, I'm not real fond of you, either."

"Didn't say I liked you. Said I wanted you."

"Yeah, well, it's good to want things. Builds character."

"Sometimes, want is the only thing that counts."

"This is not a discussion I want to have with you. Not here, and particularly not now."

"The fact that we don't talk about it won't make it go away."

"Knock it off, Wright. We're both adults. It doesn't mean squat if we find each other attractive or not. As adults, we don't have to act on our urges."

"Speak for yourself," he taunted.

"Let me rephrase that so we both understand. I choose my lovers. And I haven't chosen
you.
I have too much at stake to risk screwing everything up by… by… by screwing you."

She was right, damn it. He didn't even know what the hell he was doing here. He'd never acted so damn unprofessionally in his life. There was just something about AJ Cooper that got to him. And because of that, he'd have to work harder at ignoring her. Shouldn't take more than a coma.

Whether she worked for him or he worked for her—even if they were equal partners—this was way out of line. They both knew it. Fraternizing between operatives,
especially
on a mission, wasn't just frowned on, it was verboten. There were a few married couples with the organization. But they were few and far between, and special cases. This wasn't a special case. Just a horny one.

"Yeah. Understood." Frustrated, annoyed with himself for showing an unacceptable emotion, and pissed that she, damn her sultry smile, was in enough control to draw the line in the sand while he stood there with a yen and a hard-on. He took the three strides necessary to reach the tub—"What do you think you're—"

—leaned down, and hauled her up out of the water, against his body. Water sheeted onto the floor unnoticed. She gave a small scream of surprise as he wrapped her wet, slippery body in his arms and crushed his mouth down on hers. Not enough. Not nearly enough.

He slid his tongue against hers, feeling her heat, tasting her reciprocating desire. A tremor swept over her body, and she opened her mouth, slanted it against his, her tongue dueling, challenging. Making the kiss deeper, wetter.

Alarm bells started clanging in his brain.
God.
He had the sense of being drawn into something bigger and more immense than he'd imagined. Like wading into a kiddie pool, only to unexpectedly find dark, shark-filled waters, sweeping over his head.

Kane slid his palms down her arms, captured her wrists, and pulled them around his neck. She rested her full weight against him, her body slick and hot. Rose-scented steam enveloped them. Her feet were still in the tub, her body braced by his.

He felt the sharp points of her nipples through his now wet T-shirt. The sensation set up a humming throb through his entire body. He wanted to groan with the pleasure of it. With the relief of having her here, under his hands, against his hardened body. But his control was too good. Too complete to give up that last small store of restraint. He ravished her mouth soundlessly, his control shattered but not completely broken.

He was intensely aware of her scent. Not the scent of roses, but the spicy fragrance of her skin, which made him dizzy with need and fogged his brain with desire. He wasn't ready to let her go.

Her lips were firm and warm, her tongue bold. Over the initial surprise of the assault, she was giving back as good as she got. Her fingers tightened in the hair at his nape and she nipped his lower lip, before slanting her mouth under his once more, her tongue wily and aggressive.

The woman knew how to kiss.

Eventually he pulled away. Their lips clung like a promise.

"Had to get that out of the way."

She nodded, breathless. "Feel better?"

"No."

"Me neither," she admitted.

"Dinner's been delivered," Kane told her, steadying her as she slipped out of his arms and back into the now cool water other bath like a mermaid off a rock. "It's getting cold."

Their eyes met. "I'll be right there," she said quietly. He turned to go. "Kane?"

He glanced over his shoulder. Her gaze slammed into his and he felt the solid punch of it from across the room. "Just so you know," she told him quietly. "Next time, P.C. or not, we'll finish what we start."

AJ chugged half a bottle of cold water from the mini-fridge. She glanced at Kane. "What?"

She was sprawled sideways across an easy chair, ankles crossed and swinging over the padded arm.

"You only have an hour to get ready."

She raised her left eyebrow. He'd purposely kept her out all day, taking hundreds more shots of her, then claiming he had to get that last sunset before they headed back to the hotel. "And you're blaming me for this? Who was the one who was attached to his camera all day?"

"That's my cover. And yours," he snapped. "Don't you have to get ready now? "

"Going to do my makeup again?"

"If I need to."

"I'll pass." She smiled that lethal smile that made his heart skip a beat or two. "Think I didn't know what you were doing, keeping me busy all day, Wright?" She paused. "Thanks. It , helped."

Yeah. It had. The look of strain in her pale eyes had diminished as the day had worn on. It was coming back now, however.

"There's nothing wrong with being a little nervous before a hit. Cooper. Keeps you focused."

"I'm okay with this. I really am." She held out her hand, palm down. "Lookit. Dead steady."

"Excellent. Forty-six minutes."

"Slave driver. It'll take me all of ten minutes to shower and dry my hair."

"Take a little longer than three minutes with your hair, would you please? I want you to wear it loose." It rattled him how badly, how
strongly,
he didn't want her to do this. Kane shook it off. It was her job. But, Jesus, he would've preferred she do it from three hundred feet away. This was too close. Too dangerous. Too fucking… personal.

"What are you?" AJ laughed. "My new best girlfriend?"

"Believe me. Cooper," Kane said soberly, watching her slender ankles swing back and forth. His gaze rose to her face. "I'm neither a girl, nor your friend."

The smile slipped. Christ. Her face was so expressive. He saw her mental retreat a second before he realized how that must've sounded to her. Tempted as he was, he wasn't going to clarify the statement. She could think whatever the hell she wanted to think.

"Of course you're not. Sorry." She swung her legs off the chair and rose. "I was only kidding. Guess this is a full-service op. You don't want me as a partner, don't want to be friends. Don't even want to be my lo—" She shook her head. "Never mind. I get it, okay?"

"AJ—"

She put up a slender hand to forestall whatever he'd been about to say. "Can it. Just can it, okay? You don't have to keep beating me over the head with a two-by-four. I totally, 100 percent get the message."

"I don't… fraternize with coworkers. Especially right in the middle of an op," he told her harshly. In truth, he didn't fraternize with
anyone
anymore. Hadn't for a long time now. Which probably went a ways to explain why his dick was in a knot. He didn't spend time with anyone. Not his coworkers, not even his family. He'd been emotionally drifting away from everyone he loved for years. Why hadn't he seen that before? He was an island in the middle of a becalmed sea.

Nothing around him. Nothing on the horizon. Alone. All frigging alone. No highs. No lows.

He liked the view just fine from where he was. Just fucking fine.

This time tomorrow they would be heading home. He'd request they not work together again. Angina Cooper was just too damn hot to handle. Despite that kiss, nothing had changed between them. Nothing.

And everything. At least for him. He was questioning himself in areas he had deemed off-limits years ago. "Wear the short black silk," he told her, suddenly not wanting to think further than tonight.

Without a word she gave him a mocking salute and went into her room. The door didn't slam behind her. But it felt as though it had.

She showered and dressed, then came back into the living room, to find Kane waiting for her. Without a word he looked her over,
inspected
her, from head to toe. AJ felt exposed and raw. Although there was no reason to feel that way.

"Will I do?" she asked, then damned herself for being vulnerable enough to ask, or care, what he thought.

"Do you need to ask?" He cocked his head. "Didn't you look in the mirror? Every man in the restaurant is going to need CPR when they swallow their tongues the second you walk in."

His dark eyes told her that he didn't think that a good thing. "Yeah, well, tonight there's only one man I want looking at me. And he's going to be in a whole lot more trouble than swallowing his tongue." Her temper, fueled by something she refused to put a name to, flared. "If you're finished with the inspection, I'm off." She paused when he didn't say anything. "Unless you want to check my teeth before I go?"

He didn't want to inspect her teeth. Which was a damn good thing. AJ thought if Kane came close enough to do that, she would've bitten him. If he read that in her eyes, he seemed sublimely unconcerned as he looked her up and down.

The short black silk was made to seduce. The dress, what there was of it, was skintight, low-necked, and short.
Very
short. Just about a breath south of public decency. AJ pushed a hank of hair off her shoulder—damn nuisance, and hotter than hell—and tried not to tug the neckline up and the hem down while she stood still under his scrutiny.

What shook the man? Anything? Nothing? He was so one note, one almost had to check his vital signs to see if he was alive. Except for that flash of heat last night.

Her pulse skittered annoyingly when he walked across the room. He stopped right in front of her and ran the fingers of one hand up the side other throat. "What—" She licked her lips. "What are you doing?" Her bones melted just at the thought of his mouth plundering hers again.

"I can see the earpiece."

The earpiece? He could see it from across the room? AJ slapped a hand over his where he seemed to be fondling her ear. Of course, the android wasn't doing any such thing, but the way her nerves were stretched tonight she should be forgiven for a leap of imagination. "I'll fix it." She took a step back.

Kane's hand fell to his side, then he stuffed both of his hands into his pockets. "You'll do."

Gee, thank you very much. Excellency.
"See you in a while," AJ told him, opening the door.

"AJ?" She turned back to look at him, eyebrows raised. The slight concern she imagined she saw in his dark eyes made his usually aloof expression seem more human. Even if the worry was a figment other imagination. "Be careful," he said softly. "Watch your back, and keep your wits about you."

"Don't worry," she told him flatly. "I'll do whatever it takes to get the job done."

Kane grabbed a bottle of juice from the fridge and twisted off the cap. There was a reason operatives didn't get involved with other team members, he thought as he paced the room. He'd never felt a fist to the gut worrying about any
guy
he'd worked with. Not that he was worried about Cooper. She'd do what she was sent in to do. He knew that. Damn it, she was willing to do anything to make up for screwing up the first opportunity. And maybe that's what worried him, he told himself. The
anything.
Did that mean she'd take unnecessary chances? Risks?

He clearly heard the rhythmic sounds of breathing over the small speaker on the coffee table. Slight echo. She was in the elevator already. Must've speed walked down the hallway to get there that fast. He didn't answer her. But he listened to her slightly elevated respiration and found himself breathing with her.

She'd be standing in the middle of the elevator—Yes. In. Out. In. Out. Nice, calming breaths.
That's my girl.

She was going to do fine, he thought, as he paced from one end of the room to the other and back again and resumed his normal breathing before he passed out. In an hour or so, she'd be back up here driving him nuts.

Then why the hell did he have a hole the size of the Grand Canyon in his belly? And why was he the one having arrhythmia?

Raazaq, flanked by Trout Lips and two other equally unattractive bodyguards, was waiting for her in the lobby when AJ arrived at seven minutes past eight.

Fazur Hessan Ali Raazaq was not an Adonis by any stretch of the imagination. If he weren't rich and powerful, he'd be one lonely guy. Shorter than AJ by a few inches, he was thin and almost effeminate, with small hands and dark, soulful, heavy-lidded eyes. For some reason AJ didn't trust a guy with small hands. Now,
Kane's
hands were huge…

"… suite, where a dinner has been prepared by my personal chef."

Dinner in Raazaq's suite instead of the very public restaurant. Hell.

I hope you're paying attention, Kane.

AJ smiled and accompanied the four men back to the elevator. Raazaq put his hand on the small of her back. She resisted shrugging it off as she would've a big black hairy poisonous spider. It felt exactly the same, and gave her exactly the same visceral sensation.

A chill ran up her spine.

The elevator rose smoothly to the top floor.

AJ preceded Raazaq into the opulent red and gold living room of one of the penthouse suites.

"A cocktail before dinner, my dear?"

"No, thank you." Instead of seating herself on the red brocade sofa, AJ wandered about the room, ostensibly looking at the objets d'art, while she was really counting noses and getting the layout of the room. Six bodyguards in all stood arms akimbo, evenly spaced about the suite. If she had to make a run for it, it would be like trying to run through the Chicago Bears' offensive line.

"Come, my dear." He patted the plump cushions of the sofa beside him. "Sit here beside me. I want to know everything there is to know about you. Why is it that I have never seen your exquisite face gracing any international magazine covers?"

AJ moved across the room, all eyes following her every action. Had the lights just dimmed? Slightly, she supposed. Too many A/C units going tonight. "Oh, goodness, honey, don't tell me you read those silly things?" She smiled as she sat down on the sofa. Not too close.

The lighting dimmed another notch, and the sweet strains of an Italian aria came up as the lights went down.

Raazaq smiled. Unfortunately, his smile didn't reach his eyes. Something a great deal more disturbing glittered in those opaque black depths as he watched her. "Fazur, please. And I have some interest in the fashion industry, yes. Where is it you come from, Miss Cooper?"

AJ crossed her bare legs. She should've accepted that drink. At least it would've given her something to hold. "Illinois, originally. Now I live out of a suitcase most of the time. I travel a great deal for work. Not terribly exciting, I'm afraid."

The lights dimmed another notch..

Definitely deliberate.

"Fazur, honey, am I going blind?" She blinked up at the ceiling. "It's getting awfully dark in here."
Translation: Kane, pay attention!

"I'm afraid my eyes are… sensitive. I prefer the lights to be lower."

"Dinner is served, monsieur."

Raazaq glanced up, then turned to AJ, hand outstretched as he rose. "Shall we, my dear?"

Still holding her hand, they went into the dining room, where two white-jacketed waiters flanked the mahogany table. One pulled out AJ's chair with a flourish, and settled her napkin on her lap with a dramatic flick of his wrist. He looked at Raazaq. "The wine, monsieur?"

Raazaq glanced at her. "Would you like wine, my dear?"

"No, thanks. Water's fine."

"Please. Do not feel obliged to drink water on my account. I do not object, should you wish to drink wine."

"Water's great. After spending all day out in that heat, I find it more refreshing than alcohol."

Raazaq waved the man away. Another waiter served their meal. Lamb and rice. It smelled delicious.

"Thank you for joining me on such short notice. Miss Cooper." His smile was too white, too practiced, and too perfect. "I imagine that you and Mr. Wright will be finished with this project and moving on within a short time?"

"A few more days. I hate to leave, though. I've posed in front of many interesting places, but I really haven't gotten to see anything." She smiled even though when he'd adjusted his chair he'd moved it closer to her. Too close. He was invading her personal space and she wanted to shoo him—or shove him—back. She couldn't do either. While she knew exactly just how dangerous Raazaq was, and what he was capable of doing, she realized she was pretty safe. If he wanted to sleep with her, and by the strokes and touches and lecherous looks, he did, then he wasn't likely to do anything to scare her off on the first date. She hoped.

"I'm fascinated by Egypt, and would love a chance to explore once Kane has finished with the fashion shoo—"

She glanced up at a hovering waiter, then feigned surprise when he handed her her earring. She touched her bare lobe as if expecting it to still be there. "Oh. Thanks. I hadn't realized." She had, of course, dropped it on purpose. She inserted the post, finding the small gold backing on the table, where she'd "dropped" it then left it to lie next to her plate.

"I would be delighted to show you the region," Fazur murmured. "I am quite familiar with out-of-the-way places of interest that few tourists ever see."

Oh, she was willing to believe that. He probably knew every back alley that made a good dumping ground for bodies.

"Do you live in the area? Or are you visiting?"

"I have family living locally. However, like you, I am but a visitor, and will be here just a few short days myself. Having the diversion of your company would surely make my stay more pleasurable."

"I'd enjoy that," she said lightly, forcing another smile.

"Thank you."

He leaned over and brushed a finger across her cheek. It took everything in AJ not to flinch. "Your lovely skin is burnt. The sun is strong here. Yesterday Mr. Wright had you under a canopy. Why not today?"

AJ looked up. He'd been observing them as carefully as Kane predicted. "You were there? Why didn't you come and say hello?"

"I was not there. I sent my man to make sure you weren't bothered by the peasants."

"Oh," she waved a hand at him, "I enjoy meeting the locals.
Everyone
here has been just charming, Faz," AJ told him pointedly as she absently picked up her earring from the table and loosely reinserted it into her lobe.