“And you can’t fly, so trying to woo me over with a helo is a waste of your efforts unless you’ve taken up flying lessons I don’t know about.”
He was loving every verbal jab from this woman, and he’d happily take them all day long. “Now you got me curious just how much you know about me.”
She opened her mouth, probably to protest something, but her eyes fell to the black silk robe now suspended from the hanger in her hand.
He couldn’t unsee it. Couldn’t unimagine what it’d be like to have her wearing it for him. Pull at the sash and reveal her pale, creamy skin. Naked body. Perky breasts.
“You won’t be seeing me in this,” she quickly informed him. “Don’t get any ideas.”
He lifted his palms in surrender. “I wouldn’t dream of it, sugar.” He worked his eyes back up to her green ones, full of fire right now.
“I guess ‘girl’ and ‘sugar’ aren’t any worse than Ginger or Red.” Her response was almost disappointing because he enjoyed a good back-and-forth with her.
She turned on her heel and went back to the business of packing, most likely checking off a to-do list of Things To Wear On The Run in her head.
A.J. finally left the closet, not before grabbing her weapons bag first, because it really was too damn hot in there, and he was from Alabama, so that was saying a lot.
He set the bag down by the door, then turned to look at her bedroom, which had yet to be decorated. A simplistic plain brown headboard with a gray-ish-hued bedspread. Clean lines. She wasn’t a frills or fuss kind of woman from what he could tell. The lockbox peeked out from under her bed—her secondary weapon she probably had on hand nearby for nighttime. Good.
“My people will figure this whole mess out, by the way,” he said when she exited the closet a quick sixty seconds later, her bag packed. Clearly, he had been slowing her down.
“I don’t need their help,” she answered with her typical stubborn sass. “But could you ask someone on your team to reach out to Adriana for me? I don’t want her to worry, but I can’t make contact with anyone once I leave.”
God, there was so much more he needed to know before he drove off into the proverbial sunset with Ana, but this woman was going to take some time to unravel.
“Sure.” He nodded. Doing his best to get mission-focused once again and stop fantasizing about her wearing the silk robe. “You all set?”
“Just about.”
“I’ll check in with my team while I wait for you.” He dialed up Wyatt when she disappeared into the bathroom.
“Hey,” Wyatt answered on the fourth ring, his voice ragged, or maybe out of breath.
“I bet you and Natasha are in that basement safe house having a quickie.” And if it were true, he wouldn’t blame him. Wyatt had finally found love, and the man was in deep. “You need to finish first and call me back?”
“Shut the bloody hell up.” Standard answer from Echo One. “Where are you?”
“Still with Ana,” he replied. “There’s a change in plans.” A.J. provided Wyatt with a location outside D.C. “Can you meet me there in forty minutes or so? And can you bring my stuff with ya?”
“Don’t tell me you’re planning something stupid,” Wyatt replied.
“Nah, Boss Man. What would give you that idea?” Without thinking, A.J. set a hand to the back of his head, carefully probing the lump there. A little hit on the head shouldn’t have jarred him so much. Two bumps, he reminded himself.
“Anything else you need me to pack for you? Like condoms?” Wyatt asked, and A.J. heard the smirk in his tone.
“Hey,” Natasha snapped over the line at Wyatt’s question.
“I knew it,” A.J. said with a smile. “Finish up. See you in forty.” A.J. ended the call before he had to deal with any protests.
“I’m not sure how I feel about meeting up with your friends on the way out of town,” Ana said, exiting the bathroom with a small blue bag.
“I need my stuff, and they need to know the plan if they’re going to help us.” And this was as non-negotiable as her leaving D.C. alone.
“I said I didn’t need their help. And I meant what I said before. I don’t need yours.” Such a firecracker.
“But you want it.” He tucked his phone in his pocket and crossed the room to be near her, his favorite place to be tonight. “We both know The Huntsman is probably out there collecting sources like it’s his day job, and hell, that sort of is his job, so it’d be better if we stick together. Maybe track down who is after your sources. Find your boss. And then, we’ll clear your name because once you run, there’ll be plenty of people dragging it through the mud.”
“I can’t believe I’m involving you.” Ana huffed out a breath and tossed the blue bag onto the bed, then flicked her gorgeous red-gold strands to her back as if having her hair down was an inconvenience. “I only trust you because of Adriana and because of how you performed on the case we worked together last year.”
He brought a palm toward her face, and she flinched, but she didn’t shove his hand away when he thumbed the last few lonely strands of hair behind her ear. “Nah, it’s more than that, and you know it.” He’d tried to pull off a teasing tone, but his voice had come out as raspy as a country music legend singing a love song. “I believe you’re a good person. A good agent. And I’m a betting man, and right now, I’m betting on you.”
She caught his wrist in the air between them when he’d started to pull his hand back, and held on to him for a long moment, her expression contemplative. “I’ll try not to disappoint you.” Ana’s manner was more FBI special agent than the woman who’d finally let her hair down. In one fast movement, her hand slid from his wrist to settle in his palm, and she stepped back.
A handshake? Or a truce? Whatever it was, he liked having her hand in his.
She was chewing on her bottom lip, and the fingers of her free hand feathered over her mouth. For one adorable moment, it appeared she was pleasantly startled by his touch when her eyes blinked rapidly, her dark lashes fluttering. But the moment was quickly over, and she pulled her hand free, then stepped away.
“It’s okay, you know. You can have feelings for me that make no sense,” A.J. said candidly, not kidding around at the moment.
“I don’t have feelings for you,” she stated, her green eyes intently focused on him.
He nodded, eyes thinning. “Mmhm.”
Ana turned and set her attention on the open doorway of her bedroom, then reached up and slid her fingers through the auburn locks that fell in soft waves just past her shoulders. “I should probably dye my hair.”
“No,” he quickly sputtered, unable to stop himself. He loved her red hair. It reminded him of home, when the sunrise threw streaks of color into the sky as daylight unfurled itself.
Daylight. Ugh, the ledger. The real numero uno objective. He’d never think of daylight the same.
Ana turned to face him and fingered the collar of her black shirt, a slight touch of sweat on her chest from the heat wave D.C. was experiencing. She must’ve tossed her hoodie when she returned home.
Her eyes moved over his body, taking him in, and he grinned like he’d won his first rodeo.