“Classified be damned. Tell me what you were sent to that hotel to get. We need to clear your name.”
“We? Dodger, you can’t stay here. They think I murdered my handler. You can’t be seen with me. You’ve got to go back to your op.”
He turned more fully and stepped into her personal space. She should have backed up. She should have made it clearer he wouldn’t be taking part in any of this. She should have never involved herself with him in the first place. But it was far too late for that regret now.
He moved closer still, and her breath caught in her throat. He traced his fingertips down the side of her cheek, then cupped her face in both hands, tilting her head back as he kept his gaze directly on hers. “Are you daft, woman? I’m not leaving you like this.”
“Don’t make me responsible for ruining your life, Dodger,” she pleaded, hating the breathy catch in her voice. “Please, just go. I’ll be all right.”
“I can’t, Anna. I can’t and live with myself. I’m in this until I’m not.”
She let out an anguished sigh. Gathering up his shirt in her hands she shook him. “You fool! I’m trying to save you, keep you alive. This is nasty business, not like combat. That’s straightforward. See bad guy, shoot and kill. This is twisted up shit that will get you killed in so many different ways.”
His eyes flared with both annoyance at the delay and that she was trying to protect him. “Luv, I was an SBS member. You have no idea what I did during my service to Her Majesty. Some of it would make you sick. Actually, most of it. Out of the service, before the SEALs, I’ve done things I’m not proud of, but right now, I’m glad I did. I know what I’m getting myself into, and I’m not leaving. I know how to play dirty, and I’ve got contacts all over the world who owe me. You should be thanking your lucky knickers I’m here. Now let’s get to work.”
“My lucky knickers?” She scoffed and couldn’t help but laugh, even in the face of this dire situation.
“Yeah, definitely,” he said, the flash of humor crinkling the corners of his beautiful eyes despite the seriousness of his tone. “Or lack of,” he added.
“I knew you were looking at my ass.”
Dodger shrugged and grinned in the face of her glare.
What was she going to do with this man? Yeah, she knew exactly what she wanted to do with him. A tingle of heightened awareness shivered over her as she wondered for the millionth time how it would be with him. She thought about him all the time, especially when she woke from that dream, too early, restless and pent up, feeling needy and more alone than she should. It was during those times when she wanted him the most because she couldn’t have him. She was a confident woman who handled herself well. But only with Dodger had she been completely and totally up front on what she wanted. No one had tapped into her inner core as he had—and done it without even trying. All that edgy British bad boy charm innate in every move he made, every word he said, every dark desire that lit up those eyes.
“So, Officer Keegan, spill your classified secrets. They’re safe with me.”
She snapped out of her fantasizing. Dodger knew how she felt about him. There were no secrets between them. Also, he had a top-secret clearance, and she was screwed six ways from Sunday. At this point, she had nothing to lose.
“Can we eat while we do this?”
“Hungry?”
“Starving. I have a fast metabolism.”
She went into the kitchen and pulled out ingredients to make spaghetti and salad. She felt him enter the room behind her but kept her focus on setting the water on to boil. She went to the cupboard.
He stopped just behind her, so close she could feel his breath stir the tendrils of her hair.
“Do you trust me, Anna?”
He leaned a bit closer, and she reached for the cupboard, opening it.
“Yes. I am trusting you, Dodger, with everything because you’re too stubborn and want to be my knight in shining armor.”
He moved an infinitesimal bit closer. “I have been knighted. Did you know that? So, I do come with some shiny armor.”
She paused long enough to draw on whatever reserves she had left, knowing how hard it was right now not to turn into his arms and kiss that sexy mouth where that sexy accent emanated.
She tried not to visibly shudder in pleasure at the feel of his breath on her neck, his body heat warming her even for the slight distance there still was between them. To keep her sanity, she elbowed him in the ribs. “You are a huge pain in my ass, Dodger.” She wouldn’t look at him or fall for his bait. Couldn’t. The last thing she needed right now was him being charming. She felt she needed more than a full meal to give her the strength she apparently needed to deal with him on a continued one-on-one basis. Especially seeing as she was going to be behind closed doors in private with him, at least for the foreseeable future. Her bed was too close.
He chuckled and moved back, and she could breathe again.
She pulled down two plates and got busy making salad. Then after the water was boiling, popped in the pasta. When everything was ready, she gave them each a generous portion, then dished out the salad. Handing him his plate with silverware, she grabbed a bottle of wine and two glasses from the rack on the counter. She went into the living room and settled onto the couch while he took one of the side chairs.
She popped the cork and poured out the deep ruby red wine.
“To classified secrets,” she toasted.
He drank and nodded. “The op, Anna. Just trust me.”
She sighed, shoveled in some food, and washed it down with the excellent wine. She took a deep breath.
“My mark was the hacker, Richard Allen Miller, who was in the hotel room. He contacted the CIA and thought he was anonymous, but we tracked him to Prague. He wanted ten million for the activation code and the means to patch a back door into our satellite system.”
“Our eyes and ears.”
“Exactly. You know the ramifications if this got into enemy hands and they destroyed our system. We’d lose our advantage.” She finished off her plate and leaned back with her wine glass, suddenly feeling very tired. “I was instructed to put a worm on his hard drive so the Company could monitor him, copying all his files was an extra precaution in case he figured it out and wiped the data before we could access it.” She smiled softly. “He has a twisted desire for hookers, especially ones who dress in leather. It was easy in and out until someone crashed through the door.”
She looked at him pointedly and he shrugged. “I saw those thugs in the lobby. Do you know who they were?”
“No. I don’t have a clue. I do know the Chinese woman. She’s intelligence and we’ve had a couple run-ins. I’m assuming Miller had buyers. We were going to pay the ten mil, but we wanted the intel.”
“You think the code is on his laptop?”
“I doubt it. He’s a history buff and a spycraft enthusiast. He thinks this whole cloak and dagger thing is a stupid game.”
“Maybe we should pay him a visit and get some answers.”
“You want to go back there tonight?”
“Yes, he’s the key, and we need to discover if he’s the one who’s behind burning you.”
She nodded. “Let me change,” she said.