Sexual tension hanging in the space between us, she stared at me a beat longer. Then my beautiful Songbird averted her gaze and lifted her dress.
Except she didn’t just lift it.
The girl who’d become a woman grasped the hem and pulled the material up slowly, making a meal out of her striptease.
I both loathed and salivated over it.
I didn’t want to know where she’d learned the art of seduction. It made me want to kill any man who’d ever touched her. For the same reason I didn’t watch her music videos or clips of her on stage, I didn’t watch the rest of her striptease.
Pulling my cell out, seeing three missed calls from Harm, I shot off a text.
Me: Occupied. Suite off limits for one hour. Keep everyone out. Sitrep?
He replied almost immediately.
Harm: Copy. Sitrep can wait.
My dick hard, adrenaline pumping, I’d waited over a decade for this moment. But if the Marines had taught me anything, it was that you didn’t wait for vital information.
Dialing, I looked up.
And lost my fucking concentration.
Lace thong, full hips, bare back—Jesus. Dark, possessive thoughts fucking consuming me, I didn’t know how the hell I was going to be able to let her go after this.
The call connected.
I issued Harm an order. “Give me the sitrep.” I reminded myself I couldn’t keep her. I couldn’t live in her world where men lusted after her and paparazzi and fans decimated her privacy.
“The two extra L&A guys reported suspicious activity on the loading dock,” Harm replied. “Ty and Tyler checking it out.”
“Elaborate,” I demanded, taking in every inch of her as she stood waiting with her back to me.
“Unscheduled delivery van. Produce order a day early. Driver said the weather coming in had him doing double duty today before conditions deteriorate tomorrow. That’s not why I called.”
I didn’t have time for this. “Continue.”
Harm inhaled. Then, “What if it’s not a man we’re looking for?”
Male, female, animal, in that moment, I didn’t give a fuck what we were looking for as long as we found it. “If you’re going somewhere with this, speed it up.”
“The courier was approached by a woman.”
“Already established.”
“What if it wasn’t a woman?”
Fuck. Fuck. “Hold.” Hitting mute, I strode toward her and stood at her back. Letting her feel my body heat for a single second, I swept her hair over her shoulder and pressed my lips to her neck. Then I issued an order. “Stay. Just like this.” Without waiting for a reply, I walked back out to the suite and went straight to the balcony for privacy. Strong winds whipping against the building, I stood back from the railing and unmuted the call. “Talk to me, Harm.”
“I should be in the lobby. I’m useless up here.”
“Not what I meant, and you’re crucial up here.” I trusted him more than Ty and Tyler, both to keep Vance out and to have a watchful eye.
“Today was off, and I keep thinking about something.”
I had no argument for that. “Agreed. Continue.”
“Four of us have been here for two days, five including your brother. None of us have seen anything. It’s simple math. We’re missing it or we’re looking for the wrong thing. Statistically, five people on site all looking for the same thing, Luna watching security feeds, Trefor’s outfit doing whatever they’re doing behind the scenes—it doesn’t add up. The more likely scenario is we’re looking for the wrong thing.” He paused. “What if the woman wasn’t a courier like the man?”
“The likelihood of a woman building and setting the bombs is slim to none.” Not in this country. Not in London. Not statistically. “The MO doesn’t fit.”
Harm dropped his next statement, and it hit like an IED. “Men dress as women.”
Goddamn it. Instantly, I remembered the woman in the garage who was then in the lobby. I couldn’t fucking believe I’d missed it. “All right, listen up. There was a woman in the garage who was let out of a sedan who I later saw sitting in the lobby before she headed toward the restrooms. Straw hat concealing the face, beach tote, a print dress that was full-length. Get with Luna, tell him to check the feeds. I want to know where she went and what she did. Have Vance talk to hotel security and bring Ty and Tyler up to speed. Get them back in the lobby, along with Vance. I want all eyes on this. Let’s track her movements, and let’s review any other female guests that have been loitering where they shouldn’t.” How the hell had I missed this?
“Copy,” Harm confirmed.
I glanced at my watch. I wanted this information ASAP, and I wanted a plan in place to relocate Sanaa, but realistically, I needed to give everyone time to get this right. Moving her on impulse could be as dangerous as staying. “Thirty minutes, I want us all up here for a sitrep. We’ll decide then if we need to move her.”
“Ten-four,” Harm stated.
“Thirty minutes,” I reiterated.
“I got it.” Harm hung up.
I walked back into the suite.
He strode back into the bedroom in a flurry of tension and untapped energy. Immediately feeling the shift in his mood, I regretted my nakedness.
Covering my breasts with my arms, I glanced over my shoulder. “What’s wrong?”
His eyes a mixed storm of intensity and anger, he only met my gaze briefly as he unholstered the gun on his hip. “Did I tell you to move?” Setting his gun on the dresser, he added his cell phone.
When I first saw him on the private jet, I didn’t think I would ever get used to seeing him carrying a gun as if it was merely an accessory. But after the past couple days, the weapon on his hip had become a part of him as much as his reserved demeanor.
Feeling exposed and vulnerable, I didn’t drop my arms. “No, you didn’t.”
Peeling his shirt off, he tossed it on a chair.
My gaze cut to his chest, and my heart stopped.
The angel wing necklace I’d given him that night before everything went to hell hung from his neck.
“You still have it.” I’d saved for over a year to buy him that. Back then, it was the most money I’d ever spent on anything.
Stepping behind me, the heat of his bare chest covered my back, and he skimmed his fingers down my arms.
My pulse jumped, and my nerves thrummed. “You kept it,” I whispered, my heart both breaking and soaring as I tasted the cruel touch of hope that this was going to be more than sex. I’d given him that necklace and told him it would keep him safe. All these years, and he still had it. That had to mean something.
“We have thirty minutes.” His deep voice so quietly beautiful it was its own song, he didn’t acknowledge what I’d said. Instead, he pressed his lips to my shoulder, then he broke me. “The fact that I’m wearing the gift you gave me isn’t going to alter the way I’m about to touch you.” Taking my wrists, he gently but firmly pulled my arms from my chest. “However, I will give you a choice.” Holding me in his tight grip, he skimmed his nose along my neck. “I can fuck you now or later. Either way, you’re going to come hard in the next thirty minutes.” His grip intensified. “But know this.” Abruptly letting go, he stepped back. “I will fuck you later. It will last longer than thirty minutes, and it won’t have any other intended consequence other than exactly what it is—us doing what we never had a chance to ten years ago. Choose.”