“Hear him out,” the Marine said.
“I’m not in the mood for more games.”
“I’m not playing games,” Damon insisted. “This is deadly serious. For the past three years, I’ve been undercover with the MacLear Special Services Unit. After MacLear collapsed a little over a year ago, I took care to maintain my cover. My involvement in the clash that led to the company’s downfall was kept below the radar.”
“By whom?” she asked.
“By me,” Luke Cooper answered. “I kept Damon out of the mess so he could maintain his cover if needed.”
Amanda felt Rick’s hand flatten against her lower back, his touch warm and firm. She barely squelched the urge to lean back into his solid heat. “Okay. So, if you’re one of the SSU bloodhounds on my scent, and you’re working with Quinn, then you should know who hired your fellow goons to kill me.” She quirked an eyebrow at Damon. “No offense.”
He smiled slightly. “None taken. Unfortunately, I don’t know who hired them. There’s no band of brothers working in unison where the SSU is concerned. I wasn’t included in this particular job, but I’ve been putting out feelers to some of the guys I knew, trying to get back into the fold.”
“So you’re not really one of them, then.”
“I’m as close as you’ll get, and I have the added benefit, to you, of not actually wanting you dead.”
“Let’s cut to the chase here,” Rick said bluntly. “Why are you here and what do you want?”
“I have an idea how to smoke out the SSU agents who’ve taken the job of hunting you down,” Damon told Amanda. “If we can get them to try an ambush, we can turn the tables on them.”
“You’re suggesting that Amanda offer herself up as bait.” Rick stepped around Amanda, putting himself between her and Damon. It was a touching show of chivalry, but Amanda wasn’t the kind of woman who needed a man—or anyone else—to make her decisions and fight her battles for her.
She went around him and stepped closer to Damon. “What would the plan entail?”
Damon eyed both of them with wariness. “I have a contact from the SSU I’ve been cultivating ever since things fell apart. I was newer to the group than a lot of the guys, and I disappeared for a while right after the company crashed, so I’m still having to prove myself to some. But I think I can convince this guy that I can be of help to them. They know I did a lot of legwork in this area when I was assigned to go after Luke’s wife and kid. I’m familiar with that side of the family, too—I know the players. I can give them information—inside information—they can’t get anywhere else.”
“They haven’t connected me with Rick and his family,” Amanda pointed out. “Or they’d already be here.”
“Exactly. I can give them that detail. I can direct their attention here, where you and the Coopers will have home-field advantage in fighting back.”
Amanda looked at the other Coopers gathered in the room—calm-eyed Jesse, who was watching the scene unfold as if he were an outside observer, and kindhearted Isabel, whose look of worry and sympathy touched a tender place Amanda didn’t even know she possessed. The Marine, Luke Cooper, looked eager, as if he was itching to get another crack at the MacLear thugs.
Rick, however, was looking at her with gritty determination, poised to put an end to any more discussion of ambushes and playing bait.
“I have to think about it,” she said aloud, even though her gut was telling her to say yes to Damon’s suggestion. She wanted the danger over, even if it meant becoming a casualty in whatever proxy war the former SSU agents were fighting.
She was tired of the limbo in which she’d been living for the past three years.
But making a rash move was never a good idea. Good soldiers planned ahead, even if the plans never survived the first clash. Preparation was as much mental as physical, and she needed to think. To figure out what she really wanted and her best hope of getting it. She needed to be alone, to shut out the noise and chaos for just a little while.
“How can I get in touch with you?” she asked Damon.
“I’ll call. Will you have an answer tomorrow afternoon?”
She nodded. She had an answer now, really. She just had to run through all the possible outcomes before she could commit to such a dangerous plan.
And she had to figure out what to do about Rick.
He wouldn’t let her go through with playing bait. Not without a fight. And if she decided to go through with Damon’s plan, then time for them had grown very short indeed.
She didn’t want to spend what might be her last few hours with Rick embroiled in an argument.
On his way out, Damon stopped and shook Amanda’s hand. “I’ll talk to you soon.”
He let go of her hand, leaving something behind. As Rick went with the others to walk Damon out, Amanda uncurled her hand to find a small slip of paper with a phone number on it.
She pushed it into the pocket of her jeans as Isabel and Rick returned. Everyone else had left with Damon.
“I’m going to head to bed. I have a long day tomorrow.’ Isabel retreated to her bedroom, leaving Rick and Amanda alone in the living room.
Rick caught her face between his palms, making her look up at him. “You can’t do this.”
She curled her hands around his wrists. “I don’t want to talk about this right now.”
“Okay.” He brushed his lips against hers, the kiss so sweet and undemanding it threatened to bring tears to her eyes.
She fought them off, forcing herself to step back from his embrace and find her own feet. “Do you mind if I have a little time alone? I have so much to think about—”
“I’ll be here if you need me.” He gestured at the sofa.
“No, I don’t want you to stay on the sofa.”
“You want me to go home?”
She shook her head. “I want you to stay with me tonight. Just to sleep,” she added when she caught a flicker of heat in his eyes. “I’d feel weird with Isabel in the next room.”
He smiled. “You’re asking a lot.”
“I know. But you’re man enough to handle it, aren’t you?”
“I guess we’ll see.” He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “How long do you need to be alone?”
“Half hour? I just need some peace and quiet to think. You’re used to being surrounded with family, but it’s new to me.” She caught his hand, gave it a squeeze. “Thank you for today. For the trip to the lake and for—”
“The mind-blowing sex?” he supplied with a wicked smile.
“Yeah. For that, too.”
“Oh, believe me, it was my pleasure.” He kissed her again, and this time, there was nothing sweet or undemanding about it. She felt heat pour through her like lava, spreading inexorably to every atom of her body. When he pulled away, she felt unsteady on her feet, as if his kiss were a potent drug.
“I’m going to take a quick turn outside the house to make sure everything’s secure, then I’ll lock up for the night.”
“Okay.” She turned toward the guest room, surprised by her body’s reluctance to move away from him. Even in Tablis, at the height of their passionate affair, she’d never had trouble walking away.
Maybe that’s because she’d believed, even the day they ended their relationship, that it wasn’t really over.
But now, with a death sentence hanging over her head and no sure way out of the trouble she was in, each time she walked away from Rick felt as if it could be the last.
THE PERIMETER WAS SECURE, the doors and windows safely locked. Shutting off the lights, he went quietly into the guest room, in case Amanda had already fallen asleep. The light was off, so he undressed in the dark, stripping to his boxers and a T-shirt, and eased under the covers next to her.
“I’m awake,” she said softly, turning her head to look at him in the dark. Only a faint moon glow through the window shed any light at all, edging her silhouette in pale blue.
He scooted closer under the covers, wrapping his arms around her and spooning her from behind. “Oh, you’re warm.”
“And your hands are like ice,” she whispered, plucking them away when he slipped his fingers under the hem of her short cotton T-shirt. “Is it that cold outside?”
“Yeah, but it’s supposed to warm up tomorrow.”
“Good. I’m tired of being cold.”
He waited for her to settle back against him before he spoke again. “I don’t want you to be Alexander Quinn’s bait.”
“I don’t want to talk about that now.”
“You never want to talk about anything.” He tried not to let the full force of his frustration tint the tone of his voice, but he didn’t succeed.
She caught one of his hands and brought it to her mouth, pressing a kiss against his knuckles. “In Tablis, we had other things to do besides talk.”
“Yeah, well, you took that off the table tonight.”
She laughed softly. “Touché.”
“And this isn’t Tablis, anyway. I like to think we’re a little past the point of living only for the moment.”
“Maybe
you
are.”
“And you’re not?”
She turned over to face him. “Our timing stinks.”
He stroked the hair falling across her cheek. “I can wait for things to settle down. I’m not going anywhere.”
Threading her fingers with his, she nuzzled her nose against his chin. “You’re different now, you know.”
“I’m older. More patient.”
“And more challenging.”
“Is that good?” he asked, hoping she’d say yes.
She seemed to consider the question for a moment, long enough to make him worry. “Yeah,” she said finally. “It’s good. I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want my life to be, now that I’m not a spy anymore, and I don’t think the things that made me content before can ever make me content again.”
He couldn’t stop himself from asking, “Including me?”
She touched his lips with her fingertip. “You’re not the same as you were before, remember? So you don’t count.” Her voice took on a teasing tone. “You get a fresh start to prove yourself, Cooper.”
“But you won’t let me,” he said in an equally light tone, sneaking his hand up to brush lightly against the curve of her breast. “For instance, I could prove how quiet I can be—”
“I’m not sure I could be,” she moaned, arching her back as his thumb brushed over her hardening nipple.
He knew an opening when he saw one. Dipping his head, he covered her nipple with his mouth, tonguing the hard nub through the thin cotton of her T-shirt. She dug her fingers into his back, her thighs parting to accept the pressure of his hips against hers.
They made love quietly but frantically, as if they could erase the years apart with sheer determination. And for a moment, as she surged in his arms, drawing him with her into a maelstrom of pleasure, he thought they’d succeeded.
But afterward, lying with Amanda’s body draped over his in contented slumber, Rick couldn’t shake the feeling that, no matter how they tried, some nightmares could never be erased.
And something dangerous was on its way.