“No. We stick to the plan I laid out. You set off the alarm, and I’ll come in as backup.”
“Cruz—”
“I said no, and that’s final. I won’t risk her getting hurt. We’re the professionals. If something goes wrong…” He stopped talking because his voice had thickened with worry.
“I feel like a burden. Let me help,” Shanice implored.
“You’re not a burden, and we can find something else for you to do.”
“Like what, Cruz? Sit here and wait until you come back? I want to do this, and based on the plan you laid out, having me help will make your life easier. If you have a third person set off the alarm, you can both be in disguise without having to change in the building, and then you’ll have less chance of getting caught. Let me help, please. Dennis was my friend, and I want these bastards to pay for what they did to him and for what they’re doing to these tenants. Let me do something.”
Raheem averted his eyes and became preoccupied with one of the open files on the desk.
Cruz dropped his feet to the floor and sighed heavily. Her impassioned, pleading voice was his undoing. When he spoke, his voice was heavy with the gravity of what they were about to do. “You get in and get out. You understand me?”
Her eyes lit up, and she nodded, but he didn’t like the idea of her going to Logan Investors one bit.
With reservations, Cruz said, “Okay, here’s the plan…”
From the doorway of the bathroom, Cruz watched Shanice. He’d hoped she would already be in bed. The room was small but seemed smaller with her standing half naked in the low light cast by the lamp on the nightstand. If he stretched out a hand, he could touch her soft skin and lose himself in her sweet embrace like he had earlier when they hugged goodbye.
His loins still ached from that brief contact, and watching her bent over the sofa, digging around inside her backpack, didn’t help. The curved underside of her backside peeked from beneath the hem of the shirt and made blood rush to his groin.
He’d almost followed Raheem out the door to avoid spending another night alone with her. He wanted her too much, and this close proximity didn’t help. He kept imagining her naked and reliving the night before when he’d fingered her. The only thing saving him from going crazy was his ability to compartmentalize, but he was having a hell of a time doing so.
Cruz rubbed the back of his neck, wondering if he’d made a mistake by including her in tomorrow’s little project to break into the accounting office at Logan Investors. He knew the dangers involved in the work they did. If someone recognized her or anything at all went wrong, they could grab her and hurt her to get the information they wanted.
“You’re very brave,” he said.
She turned at the sound of his voice. “Not brave. I want to help, like I said. Doesn’t mean I’m not scared.”
He walked over to where she stood. Looking deeply into her eyes, he said, “It’s okay if you change your mind. I won’t get mad, and I won’t judge you. Neither will Raheem.”
“I won’t change my mind.”
She spoke with such confidence that she actually put his mind at ease a little bit. Maybe she could handle this. Maybe she wasn’t as fragile as he thought, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t worried about her welfare.
“Just remember the plan. If anything goes wrong, you call us and we’ll be right there. Got it? They won’t get you out of that building without going through me first.”
She smiled. “Stop worrying.”
“I can’t help but worry,” he said gruffly, walking by her. He stuck the last folder in the box on the desk and placed the lid on top.
“I trust you. I trust the plan. I’m not worried because I’ve seen how you work, and I know we’ll get through this just fine.”
“You’re that confident in me?”
“Yes. I know that confiding in you was the right decision,” she said in a soft voice.
Her eyes drifted over his bare chest, and desire filtered into her eyes. His traitorous manhood swelled in response.
His reason for coming into her life might have been fake, but this constant hunger he felt and saw reciprocated in her eyes—that wasn’t fake. He figured she found him attractive because he was different and not like the men she was used to. Maybe there was a little hero worship involved, but she shouldn’t want a man like him. Within her was innocence and light, but he’d seen the ugliest of humanity. He wasn’t innocent, and his world was filled with darkness.
“Don’t look at me like that,” he said, sounding like he had a tennis ball lodged in his throat.
“I can’t help it.”
She cast her eyes downward, and he let out a raspy laugh filled with longing and swiped a hand down his face.
Nothing should happen between them. That’s what he told her, right? A little more than twenty-four hours ago, and he was already contemplating going back on his word.
She’s turned me into a liar, he thought with disgust. A horny, pathetic liar with a dick so hard he needed relief.
He took a single step toward her, and her head tipped back to look up at him. “I don’t want to hurt you, Shanice. Do you understand that?”
“Yes.”
Cruz cursed softly, eyes laser-focused on the fullness of her mouth.
She wasn’t like the other women he encountered during his line of work. She wasn’t a hardened criminal determined to hurt the government or its citizens. She wasn’t a fellow assassin who wore an invisible cloak of steel to protect against falling prey to feelings and emotional entanglements that could jeopardize a mission. Shanice was a civilian and could become attached, which meant he could seriously hurt her when he left her behind.
Which is why what he planned to do made him the worst kind of selfish prick. Telling himself she was an adult and knew what she wanted didn’t help.
He threaded his fingers into her soft hair and tilted back her head. Her eyes fluttered closed and her chest heaved as the rate of her breathing increased.
He knew better. He should stop. But he didn’t.
20
Cruz kissed her, his mouth moving over her soft lips with urgency. He wanted to kiss her all the time and couldn’t remember another woman whose mouth he’d ever enjoyed as much.
Warmth seeped into his limbs as she pressed her body against his. His hands slid down her sides and then moved back up her rib cage to close over her breasts. She moaned into his mouth, and he drizzled kisses along the arch of her neck. Sucking gently on her collarbone, he moved her backward toward the bed.
They lowered onto the firm mattress and he pressed between her welcoming thighs. Impatiently, he ground his hips into hers while taking his time to kiss her properly. Her mouth was succulent and sweet, and the scent of her skin was intoxicating and provocative.
He wanted her, needed her so badly and struggled to control his intense reaction to having her in his arms, worried he’d frighten her with the driving need to conquer and devour. He sucked on her bottom lip and grated her chin with his teeth. Holding her head steady with one hand, his tongue sought refuge in her mouth, claiming her as his with deep, leisurely strokes.