Savvy didn’t take a deep breath until they were in their SUV, driving away from the dock. They couldn’t speak, because odds were, the truck had been bugged while they were at the party. It had been an unavoidable risk.
They couldn’t waste time scanning for a bug when they needed distance from the boat. Cal was bound to be freaked out about hitting her. Not to mention he’d killed a man.
Well, Anton might not die, but no one was rushing to get him medical aid, so odds were he was dead already.
Not that Cal would freak out over the death. She knew for a fact he’d killed in combat. But this was his first kill as part of a covert op. This wasn’t a battle with enemy lines drawn. It was different when there was deception involved.
She’d set Anton up. She’d used him to escape the room and had enraged him by humiliating him. It was her fault Cal had killed Anton. Her fault Anton—no matter how vile he was as a person—was dead.
Cal had been magnificent in his role as Mani, staying in character even when everything went to hell. She’d feared his acting ability would fall short, but he’d delivered a flawless performance. So good she wasn’t sure if it was Mani or Cal who’d kissed her with such intensity.
It would take a while to reach the Japanese sedan they’d purchased this morning and parked near an ocean beach. They would abandon the SUV and head to a new hotel. This would buy them time to regroup and figure out their next step.
She needed to tell Cal about Zagreus.
And the fact that this had been a kill mission—except now, she wouldn’t kill Lubanga. Not until she knew who in the CIA had leaked the operation to the target.
Cal drove, taking a long, slow Surveillance Detection Route through the city. If the car was bugged, they were being tracked anyway, but at least this way, they’d have a few minutes to change cars. The sedan couldn’t be bugged—no one even knew it existed—and they’d take yet another long SDR before heading to their next hotel.
It was hard to believe it was only just after twenty-one hundred hours. They’d been at the party for about an hour. All that prep and days of travel for one intense, horrible hour, and they were done. At least he hoped they were.
If Savvy hadn’t managed to copy Lubanga’s files, he couldn’t see a way to get back on the boat. The ruse of her trying to trade up sugar daddies would never work again. The CIA would have to send someone else.
Tomorrow, they’d be on a plane to Camp Citron, and he’d be Sergeant First Class Cassius Callahan again. She’d be Savannah James. They’d part ways when he returned to the US in a week. They might cross paths again in another country, another deployment, but more likely, he’d never see her again.
That was partly why he’d turned down her offer of sex the other night. He wanted to be able to walk away from her at the end of the op with a clear conscience. But after tonight, was that even possible?
He squeezed the steering wheel. He’d backhanded her, then kissed her, brutally. Forcefully. But the worst part was he’d gotten a fucking hard-on in the process.
She shivered and turned on the heat. She still wore nothing but underwear. He’d offered her his suit jacket, but it had been damp with Anton’s blood and she’d declined. Instead, she’d piled the stacks of hundred-dollar bills in the jacket and tossed the cloth bag out the window. Good thinking. It was probably bugged.
He reached out and put an arm around her, pulling her close to his side, sharing his body heat. She curled up against him as he drove through the dark streets of Dar es Salaam.
He came to a stop at a red light, and she reached up and turned his face, pulling his mouth down to hers. She kissed him, openmouthed and deep. A connection he needed in the wake of their forced silence. Her tongue slid against his, taking, giving. He responded in kind.
A car honked, and he lifted his head to see the light had changed. He pressed the accelerator, still holding her close but his focus again on the road and the SDR. They needed to be alert for followers. Any sign of a tail and they’d have to lose them before going to the sedan, or they’d have to abandon the sedan—which held all their supplies.
With a hundred and ten thousand dollars, they’d get by, but it would be better if they had access to Savvy’s spy gadgets. After an hour of seemingly aimless driving, Savvy gave him the thumbs-up. It was safe to head to the sedan now. There’d been no sign they were being followed.
Twenty minutes later, they pulled into a parking lot near the ocean. The sedan was parked across the street next to an open-air market that was nothing but shuttered stalls this time of night.
He unbuttoned his shirt and handed it to her. At least the blood was dried now and wouldn’t stain her skin. With the market closed, there weren’t many people around, but she’d still draw attention crossing the street in nothing but a bra and underwear. This close to the water, they might look like a couple that had opted to go skinny-dipping, with her clothes being caught by a wave, so they shared his.
Not something that would be approved of in Tanzania—where public displays of affection were frowned upon—but better than the alternative, being arrested as foreign agents.
They could only hope it was too dark for anyone to notice the blood on the white shirt.
She donned the shirt and buttoned it up. He grabbed the jacket wrapped around the money, and together they crossed the street. They reached the sedan without incident and within a minute were back on the road. Savvy did a quick scan of the car with a bug detector, coming up empty as expected. She scanned the money too, just in case. It was clean.
“What will happen to it? The money?” he asked.
“It will fund more missions like this one. A small portion of Drugov’s money was redirected to fund Mani Kalenga’s bank accounts. It was faster than going through channels and getting all the right forms signed. Not every project requires buying cars and chartering planes, but it’s nice to have the money when needed. You and I will both be signing forms in triplicate when we get back, documenting where every dollar went along with where this money came from.”
She climbed into the backseat. A glance in the rearview mirror showed her changing into a T-shirt and sweatpants, which she was able to retrieve by pulling down the seat to reach her suitcase in the trunk.
“Can you grab me a tee as well?” he asked.
She did, and he pulled it over his head at the next traffic light. They settled into silence again as he drove down side streets and main thoroughfares through the city. He wasn’t ready to talk to her about what had happened on the boat, not when he couldn’t look into her eyes as he apologized for all he’d had to say and do.
Things he’d said about her mouth and body, the way he’d objectified her. It was the role she’d signed up for, but that didn’t mean it hadn’t cut them both to play it out in front of men who saw her as a possession.
After thirty minutes of driving, Savvy said, “We can’t go to the hotel I chose when we were at Camp Citron.”
“Why not?”
“We need to hide until I go through the data I uploaded from Lubanga’s computer.”
“You got in?” He’d guessed she had, or she would have found a way to signal their efforts had been a bust, but still, it was a relief.
“Yeah. I copied about seventy-five percent of his files. It should be enough.”
“And we need to hide because?”
“I think we were compromised—by someone in the Agency.”
She didn’t elaborate, and he didn’t press. There would be plenty of time to debrief when they were out of the car and safely tucked away in an anonymous hotel. He felt exposed out here—even though they’d changed cars and swept for bugs. “So where do we go?”
She pulled a cell phone from the glove box—one of the phones she’d purchased in Nairobi. She tapped the screen. After a few minutes she said. “Got us an Airbnb. One bedroom, one bath. It’s a pool house on a larger gated estate in a quiet neighborhood. Owner is expecting us in thirty minutes.”
“That fast this time of night?”
“Yep. I promised him a hundred-dollar bonus.”
Considering hotel rooms could be pretty cheap here—some only fifteen dollars a night—this was an extravagant payout for late arrival, but considering the stacks of Benjamins in the back, it wasn’t exactly a problem. He was more concerned about putting innocent people at risk, but that couldn’t be helped. At least no one would know where they were.
“How did you get the Airbnb account set up so fast?”
“I did that when we were in Kenya. Just in case. I’d already checked the listings and put out feelers but opted to stay in the same hotel as Anton.” She cleared her throat at that.
Anton, who was probably dead.
Not that Cal grieved for the prick. He’d been about to rape Savvy. He just wondered if his body had already been thrown overboard or if Gorev would wait until they were at sea.
The phone GPS issued directions, and he followed the voice, taking a few wrong turns on purpose, still looking for a tail. Savvy had warned him to never directly drive to their destination. The GPS could recalculate their route.
“What’s our cover story?” he asked. “The landlord is going to want an explanation for a last-minute late-night arrival.”
“We arrived in Dar today, checked in to our hotel, and went to the beach, then out to dinner. While we were out, our hotel room was robbed and my jewelry was taken. We were just getting ready for bed when I discovered the theft. The hotel accused me of lying about the jewelry since nothing else was missing. I don’t feel safe there anymore and insisted we leave.”
“Solid.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re pretty good at this spy thing.”
“Thanks. You’re pretty good at the soldier thing. And you were great tonight.”
“I was horrible tonight,” he said
“Well, you were great at being horrible.”
He tightened his fingers on the steering wheel again. “Yeah. That’s what I’m afraid of.”
The phone GPS issued another direction, which he ignored. They’d been only fifteen minutes from the house when Savvy made the arrangements, but it took the full thirty and a few extra to get there. While he drove, Savvy applied makeup to her face, covering her bruises.
At last they reached the gated estate, and he punched in the code that Savvy provided for the gate. Their host met them in front of the pool house, which was set apart from the main house by a separate driveway and garden. The pool nestled between the two buildings at the back of the estate. “How much is this place a night?” he asked.
“Sixty-five US dollars.”
In the US, a place like this would easily be several hundred a night. He felt like they were cheating their hosts, but many factors led to the low cost of housing in Tanzania, not the least of which was the aftereffects of the Rwandan genocide and lengthy war that engulfed Zaire/DRC.
Their host was kind and efficient, quickly showing them around the small house. He expressed remorse at their experience with the hotel and promised they were quite safe on his property. Each guest was given a separate gate code, which was only valid for the length of their stay. They paid cash in advance for a week. What Airbnb didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them.
The homeowner left them, and at last, they were alone. Safe and anonymous.
After bringing in their bags, he closed and locked the door, then leaned back against it. Savvy went straight to the freezer and pulled out an ice cube tray. She dumped a handful of ice into a towel and held it to her cheek.
The cheek he’d hit.
Fuck. They’d been driving for hours, and she’d needed ice. He hadn’t given her so much as an ibuprofen. He crossed the small room to stand inches in front of her. He studied her expression but didn’t touch her. “Does it hurt?”
“Not too bad.”
He lifted the ice pack from her cheek to inspect the bruise in the full light of the kitchen. The makeup downplayed it, but he could see the swelling. He gently pressed his lips to the welt along the bone.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered.
She held his gaze. “I’m not. You did what you had to do.” She tucked her forehead against his chest. “But I’m sorry for putting you in that position. Sorry you were forced to do that.”
He cradled her head between his palms and gently nudged her face up so she would see his eyes. “I’m glad it was me, not someone else from Camp Citron. Not Harry. It means a lot to me that you trusted me with that role.”
“You’re the only one I trusted for this mission.” She pressed the ice pack back to her cheek.
He cleared his throat. This was the part that would be hardest to say. But he had to acknowledge it. “When I…when I got hard—it—it wasn’t because I’d hit you. That isn’t what turned me on.”
Her nostrils flared, and she blinked. “I know.” She took a deep breath. “It was an intense moment. You handled it perfectly by kissing me like you did. You saved us both by turning the violence sexual.”
And he could have fucked her in that room, with cameras rolling. He’d been hard and eager. It would have been so easy. And it might’ve happened if Anton hadn’t interrupted.
She stepped back from him. “You want to take a shower? I’m going to make some tea.”
He took that to mean she needed space. He could give her that. “Sure. You planning to work tonight?”
She shook her head. “The files are probably encrypted. I’m too brain-dead to deal with that tonight. I’m going to have some tea. Take a shower. Then try to sleep.”
He wanted to invite her to share his shower, but it didn’t feel right, not after he’d struck her and then violently kissed her.
The next move was hers.
The three-quarter bathroom had a square, tiled shower stall. Small, but he didn’t need luxury. All he wanted was to wash the smell of Anton’s blood from his skin. The water quickly heated, and in a matter of seconds, he was soaped from head to toe—well trained by three-minute showers at Camp Citron. Done washing in just over a minute, he stood in the hot spray, thinking of all the things he wanted to say to Savvy but didn’t know how.
He was in awe of her, the way she risked every part of herself for her job. It was a kind of patriotism that was beyond his imagining. He risked his life and his health for his country on every mission. He understood that.
But she risked her body. Risked degradation. She’d allowed herself to be objectified in addition to endangering her life. She’d exposed herself to rape and torture. And if she were caught, the US government would disavow her. No rescue would be forthcoming.
No hope. No justice.
He hadn’t quite appreciated the extent of the risks she took until he was sitting in the middle of a room with men who would use, abuse, and discard her without a second thought. And she’d walked into that room fearlessly presenting herself as a whore in order to get the job done.
He’d been such an ass to her in the months he’d known her. He’d never given her the respect she deserved. He’d openly denigrated her because her job required her to lie, manipulate, and risk others. But that was nothing compared to what she was willing to do. She asked nothing that she wouldn’t do herself.
She took a blow to the face without complaint and had thanked him for delivering it.
He’d been in lust with her for months, but now he was in awe.
The door to the bathroom opened. He froze in the hot spray. His heart rate kicked up. He held his breath and waited for her to speak, join him, or leave.
After a long moment, she said, “I changed my mind about the tea. Decided I need to shower instead. Do you want company?”
His cock thickened even faster than he could say, “Yes.”
The curtain shifted, and she stepped into the square stall, her perfect, athletic body as naked as his own. He leaned against the wall to give her room as she stood in the spray. She tilted her head back to let the water drench her hair and run down her beautiful body.
He wanted to touch her, to run his hands over her slick breasts, to cup her ass and kiss her as the steamy water rained down. The fact that she’d stepped nude into his shower was a sure sign she invited his touch, but still, he needed her permission. Direct and unequivocal.
He wanted her to want him. And not because she was reacting to a traumatic evening.
She ran her fingers through her long, dark hair, her eyes closed as hot water sluiced down her skin. Her arms and face were darker, freckled by the sun, while her breasts and torso were a pale, spotless peach.
Her eyes opened, and she held his gaze. She worked shampoo into lather in her hair, creating rivulets of bubbles that ran between her breasts or over the top, then down her belly and into the triangle of dark curls he wanted to explore with fingers and tongue.
She reached down to touch herself and his gaze snapped up to meet hers. She smiled and took a step closer to him in the already confined space. Her breasts brushed against his chest.
“Touch me. Please. I want—need—your hands on me.”
That was as direct as it could get, and he ran a hand down her side, cupping her breast briefly before sliding lower to cup her ass and pull her snug against him.
She touched him in response, running her hands over his shoulders, down his arms, circling his waist to his back. “Your body is beautiful, Cal. A work of art.”
“It’s work. I don’t know about art.”
She laughed. “A masterpiece. I love watching you work out on base. You have this intense focus. It’s the only time you’d let me look at you, because you’re blind to everything but the task at hand.”
Her words hit him in the gut. She hadn’t intended them as a blow, but he felt it just the same. “I’m sorry. I put up barriers to you because you scare me.”
Her lips twitched. “I scare a badass Special Forces soldier?” Her mouth bloomed into a full smile. “I like the sound of that.”
He picked her up, the ache in his gut relaxing a fraction. “Oh, Freya, you’re the scariest woman I’ve ever met. The first moment I met you, I wanted to possess you.”
She wrapped her legs around his hips. This time, there was nothing between them. Just her wet, slick body and his ever-thickening erection.
“You could’ve had me then. You can have me now.” She slipped her arms around his neck and kissed him. Her mouth was open and hot, her tongue taking his, offering absolution for his words and actions.
In spite of everything, she wanted him. From the way she kissed, he could believe she needed him, needed this, as much as he did.
His need was deep. Desperate. And not just for her body. Hell, he didn’t know exactly what he needed, he just wanted to sink into this moment. To lose all sense of time and place and just take in the perfection that was this woman whose last name he didn’t even know.
He kissed her, his mouth taking all she offered and more. Deep and carnal and so hot, his erection was on the diamond end of the Mohs’ scale. He raised his head and looked into her eyes. Water drops landed on her lashes, and he swiped them away so she could see. “You sure you want this, Freya?”
Her beautiful lips spread to reveal a row of white teeth with one canine slightly out of alignment. An endearing imperfection, because he only saw it when she smiled. “Make love to me, Cassius.”
His rarely used name on her lips was damn hot.
He shut off the water and stepped from the shower, not bothering with towels as he carried her to the bed.
They both needed this. Tomorrow, they’d head back to Camp Citron. Tonight, they needed to escape, this brief moment of connection when he could be Cassius, and she could be Freya.
He set her slippery, wet body on the bed and stood above her, staring, her pale skin in contrast to the colorful geometric design of the cotton blanket. For all they’d been through in the last few days, this was the first time he’d seen her fully naked. He was eager to spread her legs and see all of her.
He wanted to taste her. To touch her. To make her come hard and fast and then again slower, longer. More than anything, he wanted to connect with her—not just physically. He wanted the sharing of bodies to be the emotional connection they both needed.
She smiled, flashing that crooked tooth, and sat up, meeting him at the foot of the bed. She ran her hand down his body, pausing when she reached his erection. She licked those beautiful lips and wrapped her hands around him, stroking him from base to tip.
He watched her hands, enjoying the visual as much as the touch. Her light fingers a contrast to his dark penis. Her gaze fixed on the same place where she touched him. “So beautiful,” she murmured. She leaned forward, as if she was going to take him into her mouth.
He stopped her. “Not…now.”
She raised a brow. “You don’t like oral sex?”
He drew her body up, so they were chest to chest. “I love it. But…all the things I had to say about your mouth—I hated treating you like that. It’s one thing for me to have fantasies about a woman I’ve been attracted to for months, but another to say crude things about your lips as if it’s my right, to diminish you by crassly boasting about your ‘talents’ to assholes who use and abuse.”
She cupped his face. “You weren’t talking about me. Mani was talking about Jamie. Neither person is real. I knew it wasn’t you.”
“I’m glad. But still…tonight…this is for you. I want to give you everything. Let me worship your body as you deserve. Let me show you that I’m not that guy. The only thing I want from your mouth is to make you scream with orgasm. And to kiss you. Because I love how you taste.”
She leaned into him, her breasts meeting his chest, her arms wrapping around his neck, and her mouth on his. “I love the way you taste too.” She slid her tongue inside.
He met the stroke of her tongue with his own. He caressed her body, sliding his hands down her back, cupping her ass. Being skin to skin with her was better than his fantasies.
She scooted back on the bed, and he followed, his body sliding against hers. He kissed her and touched her. He was ready to explode at the feel of her hands on him. He left her mouth to kiss her breasts. Lick her nipples, suck the tips. “What do you like, Freya?” he asked.
“You.”
“But what do you want me to do? Where do you want to be touched?”
She took his hand and pulled it down to her thighs. She placed his fingers on her clit. He grinned and stroked the sensitive spot, then he followed the path of his hand with his mouth. At last, he reached the spread of her thighs. He looked his fill before dipping his head down to lick her clitoris. He took his time with it, like she was his favorite flavor of ice cream.
He felt her body release tension. She sank into the mattress, relaxing at the sensual stroke. He grazed his teeth over the bundle of nerves and she jolted as she gave a gasp of pleasure. Then he licked again as his fingers explored the rest of her, tracing her labia, spreading them and slipping a finger inside. She was wet and hot and eager for him.
He was hard and ready, but he’d only just begun exploring. His tongue moved lower, joining his fingers. He slipped inside, and she made a sound that made him even harder.
He licked her slow, long, and deep. Savoring the pleasure he gave her, enjoying the feel of her nails raking his scalp as he licked and sucked, bringing her to the edge of release. When he was certain she couldn’t take it anymore, he lifted his head and moved, his skin sliding against hers as he positioned himself to finally give them both what they needed.
His hard cock settled at her vaginal opening, and he teased her with the head. He hadn’t had sex without a condom in years and had never done so without being in a committed relationship, taking the intimacy of this moment to the next level. He watched as he played, slipping the head inside, feeling her clench and gasp, then retreating before he filled her. Teasing them both to the aching point.
He pulled back and went down on her again, stroking her clit with his tongue, then in one rapid move, he shifted and slid his cock deep inside her, going as far as she could take him in one deep, hard thrust. She groaned and gasped and clenched tight, and he was lost, buried inside this woman, finally as connected as two people could be.
He rolled so she straddled him, and he gazed up at her as she rocked, riding him, her breasts bouncing, her eyes closed. Another roll and she was beneath him again. He thrust in a slow, sensual rhythm, prolonging the buildup and ratcheting the intensity higher.
Her thighs wrapped around his hips, and she made low, soft sounds that threatened to push him over the edge. She was utterly beautiful as she shared her body with him. She took everything he gave her and panted for more.
He increased the rhythm, and she let out a soft, guttural noise as she clenched down on him. His body coiled for release, but he wouldn’t get there before she did. He slid a hand between them and stroked her clit with his thumb. She gripped his shoulders. Her pants became a whimper, then a pleasured groan as her body quivered and quaked.
No longer holding back, he stroked hard and fast. His body pulsed as orgasm rocked through him. Intense, just like everything else when it came to her.
He collapsed and rolled to the side, still inside her. He held her against him as his heart rate slowed, then he shifted while kissing her, leaving her body but remaining skin to skin. No way was he ready for space between them. He rained kisses on her face as he stroked her back.
Wearing a dreamy smile, she opened her eyes and said, “Thanks, I needed that.”
He kissed her neck. “Me too. And I’m not done. Just resting.”
She laughed even as her eyes drifted closed. “That’s good, because it’s my turn to make you feel good.”
He kissed her temple. “You already have, Freya.”
After a few minutes, he rose and cleaned up in the bathroom, then walked through the small one-bedroom house, turning off lights, making sure they were locked up tight. He grabbed the bag with their handguns and brought it into the bedroom.
Sound from the bathroom told him Savvy was in the shower again. He checked the guns, then placed one on each nightstand.
Savvy returned to the bedroom, face scrubbed of makeup and hair smelling of tea tree conditioner. They settled into the bed together. He pulled her nude body to his, spooning with her in the dark room. They lay in silence for a long time before her breathing evened out into a sleep rhythm. Cal was still wide-awake. The sex had energized him. It had been deeply intimate in a way he hadn’t expected. It had been years…maybe forever, since he’d had sex like that. It had in no way resembled the mindless screw he’d once imagined sharing with this woman.
He cared about her, more than he wanted to. And after seeing her in action on the job, what she did for a living terrified the hell out of him.