Everything inside Jessica went cold, the way it did whenever the crosshairs of her scope zeroed a target. There had been no room for emotion then, no room for doubt as she followed orders and pulled the trigger. This time, she went cold and motionless because she was the target. She was the one in the crosshairs.
Sully had caught her in another trap, and he was playing with her—the way a lazy mountain lion played with a hapless mouse. The instant the lion bored with the creature, the game would be over. Still, the poor stupid mouse kept dodging and darting, pretending it could escape right up to the last minute.
Right until the lion devoured it.
Despite the coolness in Sully’s gaze, Jessica knew he was still fascinated with the game. Otherwise, he would have pounced on her the minute he talked to Carol. Pounced and hauled her back to the Houston police. So, the mouse was alive for a while, but it was time to dazzle him. Time to let him draw a little blood. Time to boost his interest in the chase.
Slowly, enunciating each word carefully, she told him, “I don’t recall ever saying that I worked for Munro Security.”
“Don’t split hairs with me. I’m not in the mood.” His hand tightened painfully on her elbow. “I was there when Iris said you were one of Phil’s top people. You didn’t deny it.”
Refusing to grimace, Jessica said, “Obviously, you didn’t listen to Iris. I worked for Phil. Not Munro Security. I doubt Carol, or anyone at Munro Security for that matter, knows about Phil’s dirty little dozen.”
She could see the wheels turning in Sully’s head. He was a smart guy. He’d add two and two real quick. Now all she could do was hope his sum was something other than four. He looked away and then back at her as the tumblers of his mind clicked into place.
“Carol might not know about the dirty dozen, but I bet the CIA does. Am I right?”
She nodded and thought he’d be pleased with himself for figuring it out, but he frowned instead.
“That’s what this is all about, isn’t it? Some secret little group of professionals Munro put together to handle special jobs for the government, right?”
He pushed her away suddenly as if he needed space to breathe. He paced the room, shaking his head the whole time. Jessica rubbed her arm and let him come to his own conclusions. Finally he whipped around as if he couldn’t deny the obvious any longer.
“You’re a spy.”
“I didn’t say that.” Jessica protested a little too quickly, but salved her conscience with the knowledge that she was telling the truth. If Sully jumped to conclusions based on her tone and timing, it was his own fault.
He laughed in disbelief. “Of course not. No one admits they’re a spook. That’s what they teach you, isn’t it? How to lie convincingly? You’re pretty good.”
It wasn’t a compliment.
Crossing her arms over her midriff, she waited him out, neither denying or confirming anything. At this point his creativity was working in her favor. Good cops were always able to piece a story together from thin air. The trick was in making him use more air than fact.
“What’s your specialty?” he asked in the same tone people used at cocktail parties to ask someone’s line of work. “I would imagine it’s getting inside places you have no business being inside. You were awfully fast with that lock for someone who’s been retired two years. You must practice.”
“Any idiot can order a lock-pick kit out of a number of magazines. That doesn’t make them spies.”
His eyes ran over her, appraising her. “What is the job description for a spy nowadays? I bet you did a lot more than pick locks for the government.”
“Does any of that really matter now?” The irritation in her voice was real. She didn’t want him traveling any farther down this path. “I haven’t worked for Phil or anyone else in two years. I’m involved in this mess only because a scared little girl called me. Don’t you get it, Sully? I’m floundering around just like you. I don’t know anything.”
The coldness inside her was gone, replaced with the warm buzz of blossoming anger. Without realizing it, she had taken a step toward him with each sentence until the mouse was once again within reach of the mountain lion. Pride wouldn’t let her retreat. Not this time. The man affected her on so many levels, she’d lost count.
All she knew for sure was that if she let him pick the battles between them, she’d lose the war. Jessica wasn’t certain what was at stake, but she’d rather go down in flames than fly a white flag or run for the hill country. Jessica Daniels had never given up or run from anything since she was thirteen years old, and even then she’d settled the score first.
So why was Sully different from the others? Why did he unsettle her and trigger her fight or flight instincts? Why couldn’t she just ignore him instead of baiting him?
For some obscure reason, Jessica didn’t want Sully to think her a coward. Whatever happened would just have to happen. She wasn’t going to avoid the current flowing between them anymore or pretend it wasn’t there. Ignoring it only made it worse.
“I’m not the bad guy here,” Jessica said quietly.
“If you’re not the bad guy … then who is?” he asked, taking a step of his own, decreasing the distance between them. All that remained now was a scant inch. His eyes bored into hers as he looked down. “If you don’t know anything, then what the hell are you looking for, Jessie?”
“The same thing everyone else is,” she quipped. “A good night’s sleep and another chance to do it right.” Then she ruined the flip answer when she added a melancholy footnote. It was a reflex really. “Neither of which are possible.”
“Why not?” His question was unexpectedly full of gentleness.
“Because no one gets a second chance. You can’t go back and do your life over. Even if you want to.”
Sully knew the truth when he heard it. Or maybe he knew this truth in particular because it hit so close to home. Although … if he could, even if he wanted to, he wouldn’t go back and change a thing. He’d stopped lying to himself years ago. What was done, was done. Written on his soul in indelible ink.
“What would you change, Jessie?” he asked, the need to get inside her head getting the better of him as it always did. The other questions, the cop questions, could wait until she wasn’t close enough to kiss, until the faint scent of flowers in the summer rain didn’t drift over his mind like a mist.
Right now all he cared about was the woman. And the woman wasn’t backing away for once.
“Tell me,” he urged. “What would you change?”
“Simple.” Her crooked half smile squeezed his heart as she said, “I’d change me.”
He reached out to trace the line of her arm, from elbow to shoulder. This close to Jessie he always wanted to touch her. “Oh no, you’re wrong about that. Changing Jessica Daniels would be a mistake.”
She took a deep breath. “I’m good at mistakes.”
“Name one.”
Suddenly their positions seemed so intimate to Jessica. They were no longer adversaries squaring off; they were like lovers maneuvering for position. She swallowed, dropped her gaze to his mouth, and named the first mistake she could think of. “Kissing you. That was a big mistake.”
“I don’t think so.” He smoothed his hand slowly along her shoulder to the side of her neck. “The mistake is taking all the blame for yourself. Shouldn’t you be making excuses? Telling me the devil made you do it? Protesting your virtue? Spouting indignant declarations that it won’t happen again?” His face was so close to hers. “Most women would.”
Her breathing was noticeably shallow, but her voice held steady as his thumb rubbed the side of her throat. “Not me. I don’t make promises I can’t keep. Not anymore.”
Sully eased his hand to the back of her neck, letting his fingers spear through her hair until he could massage her through the curtain of silk. “So, you’re a woman of her word. That’s pretty ironic coming from you, don’t you think?”
His words would have rankled Jessica if his fingers hadn’t been performing a dangerous magic on her muscles and bones. Or if his voice hadn’t been a raspy whisper that swirled heat in the most unlikely places. She had to divide her attention between focusing on the conversation and making her legs support her.
She defended herself and her integrity with a simple alibi because it was all she could manage. “I never made you a promise, so I couldn’t have broken one.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
He tilted her head and pulled her to him. Jessica knew what was coming, but having been kissed by him before didn’t prepare her for this. Sully’s mouth was hot and sure. He cradled her head with both hands as his tongue swept through the barrier of her lips without the tender forays of the morning.
This kiss was unfinished business. It stripped her of her common sense before his hands ever left her head. She was open to him, and he knew it. Surrender was the only way to describe how she felt. Like she’d given herself up to the wicked pulse that began to throb inside her as the heat of his mouth fanned the flame of an unfamiliar warmth between her legs. Of their own accord, her arms snaked around his neck so she could press the length of her body against him without anything in the way except their clothing.
When Jessie softened, Sully’s arousal jumped in response. Just like this morning there was something about Jessie that got inside him and made him forget the rest of the world, forget his responsibilities. Made him even forget the darkness.
He couldn’t think past the feel of her against him or the need to explore what she offered. Kissing her was like sinking into light. He slid his hand down over her collarbone, over the swell of her breast until her nipple rested in the hollow of his palm. He smiled against her mouth as she pushed into his hand, silently asking for more.
Obliging, Sully trailed his mouth downward, flicking his tongue against the base of her throat as his fingers grated across her pebbled nipple. A ragged sigh rewarded him. Now he was the one who wanted more—more sounds from Jessie. Capturing her mouth again, he cupped her rump with his hands, his fingertips almost beyond the edge of her skirt.
He rolled his hips against hers, settling his hardness against softness. Once. Twice. And then she moaned for him. Just a half sound in the back of her throat, the kind of sound a woman made when desire rocked her unexpectedly.
The denim was soft and pliable in his hands, easily gathered up, but he didn’t gather it. Not yet. Instead he let his hand wander over one gently rounded hip, toward the center of her belly, and then beneath the skirt. Jessie tensed as he pulled the material up. He could feel her backing away by the microsecond.
“Let me,” he whispered against her mouth. “Trust me.”
She caught her breath and held herself still, as if moving would shatter her somehow. She wasn’t the only one ready to shatter. Sully was rock-hard, and the hell of it was they were both fully clothed.
Taking his time, Sully let her adjust to the feel of his hand against her bare skin. He toyed with the edge of her underwear, tucking his index finger inside and rubbing from side to side. All the while keeping her mouth busy. Finally he splayed his hand flat against her abdomen, fingers down, inside her panties.
Crisp curls—he didn’t even know the color, he realized—teased the pads of his fingers. But he didn’t shift downward, didn’t touch her. Not until Jessie raised up on her toes, just a bit, just enough to let him know she wanted him to keep going.
Sully figured that admission of need had cost her a lot. Even so, he held back for a second, letting his mouth find her shoulder, pulling her bra strap and shirt aside as he dropped kisses on the bare skin. When her fingers dug into his shoulders, clutching handfuls of his shirt, he touched her finally.
Her sharp, desperate intake of breath was everything he could have hoped for. The next sharp breath was his own as his finger slid into her. Jessie was hot, and wet, and tight.
Need rolled through him like a train at midnight. He wanted to take her. Just rip her panties away and sink himself to the hilt. No bed, just here. Right now. While she was wet. Before Jessie remembered she didn’t trust him. Before he remembered that he didn’t trust her. Before the world interrupted them.
The phone rang, and Sully cursed. It already was too late. Jessie was surfacing for air. She froze in his arms as the phone rang a second time. Reluctantly he removed his hand, but he made damn sure she felt every second of his retreat, forcing a gasp from her as he flicked the sensitive nub. The blush on her face as she straightened her skirt would have done a virgin proud.
“Been a while, Jessie?” he asked, irritated at her ability to make him feel as though he’d been the villain instead of a partner in crime. And he was fairly certain what they did to each other physically was a crime. No one else had ever been able to make him react so quickly.
Before she could answer, the phone rang a third time.
“Where’s Lincoln?” Sully growled. “Isn’t answering the phone his job?”
“He’s probably outside.” Her voice was shaky, and she refused to look at him. “He checks all the gates, all the windows, and every door.”
“Busy fellow.”
Ring.
“Aren’t you all?” Jessica mumbled as she gave up and went to the phone. She grabbed it on the next ring, afraid it would wake Iris, and relieved to have something to do that didn’t require looking at Sully. She was still shaking from their encounter. Her palms were sweaty, and her lungs needed more oxygen than she could quietly suck in.
“Munro residence.”
She heard silence, not the kind of silence from a dead connection, but the breathy silence of someone waiting on the other end. Her heart thudded heavily against her rib cage as she realized the first move was up to her.
“I’m sorry,” she said into the void, trying to sound as normal as possible, as if she were answering a request for Phil to come to the phone. She was playing a dangerous game, trying to convince whoever was on the line to talk while convincing Sully that it was a routine call. “Phil isn’t here at the moment. I’m Jessica Daniels. I could take a message if it’s important.”
“We have him. Is that important?”
“We’d rather have the book.”
Jessica fought the clenching of her jaw and the urge to turn away from Sully. Instead she rolled her eyes and held the phone a little way from her ear as if she’d been yelled at. “You might try later. I know you’re in a bind but that’s about the only advice I can give you at the moment.”
“Police?”
“Yes, that’s right.” The phone clicked, but Jessica didn’t hang up. Her heart was still in her throat as she said, “You could try his secretary tomorrow. She might have his updated schedule. Uh-huh. Bye, now.”
Slowly she lowered the receiver and met Sully’s gaze. He narrowed his eyes, on the verge of suspicion. She had about three seconds to nip it in the bud. “It was some sort of computer security foul-up at Texacon. The jerk wouldn’t leave a message, and I felt weird saying that Phil’s unaccounted for.”
“That was Texacon?” he queried skeptically, walking toward her. “On Phil’s beach house line?”
Jessica threw up her hands and enacted a drama. “You caught me, Detective. It was really Phil’s kidnappers. They’re going to call me back tonight as soon as I get rid of you and I can talk. Of course that could get sticky unless I get to the phone before Lincoln.” She put her hands on her hips as she finished and nailed him with a glare intended to make him sorry he ever doubted her. “Who the hell do you think it was?”
“When you put it like that, I guess it was Texacon.”
“Smart guess.”
Relief flooded through her as the outrageous confession soothed Sully’s misgivings; his frown eased and his brow unfurrowed. One hurdle passed. Now all she had to do was get rid of him.
That wasn’t going to be easy, not without triggering his suspicions all over again. She didn’t need him involved. He couldn’t help anyway; he didn’t know where the book was. And he couldn’t possibly know these people the way she did. She didn’t want to think about what they might have already done to Phil.
No, she had to handle it her way. All Sully could do was make her regret her choices and want what she couldn’t have.
At the moment that wasn’t a hard feat to pull off. Not when he stood there with starburst wrinkles in the material of his shirt, wrinkles she’d put there by grabbing hold of him to steady herself. The last few seconds in his arms blazed through her mind, crowding out rational thought. Even now she could feel his hands on her, stroking, entering her. The horrible reality was that spending time with Sullivan Kincaid was dangerous, and she wanted more anyway. She wanted what would have happened if the phone hadn’t rung.
Right man, wrong place. Wrong time. Wrong world. Jessica Daniels had killed people; Sullivan Kincaid was a cop. That was a match made in hell. A chasm much too wide to cross. At least in this lifetime.
Sully watched the regret seep into Jessie’s expression. Second thoughts were a nasty way to spend time, and she was having a few. Maybe more than a few considering what happened between them. His only regret was that the phone rang too soon.
“Say it,” he ordered.
“Say what?”
“How we’ve just made another mistake.”
“Surely you could figure that out for yourself?”
“I’m funny that way. I like things spelled out.”
“It was a mistake. G-O A-W-A-Y.”
“No such luck. At least not until we settle a few things.”
“Everything’s settled. The Houston police are looking for Phil. Iris is safe and sound in her bed. Texacon is going to make Carol’s life miserable instead of mine. Lincoln is here to protect us. What else is there to settle?”
“Why you fall apart in my arms, and how I could get used to it with very little encouragement.”
“It’s your imagination.”
“Not this time.”
“Nothing happened. We kissed. I—we got a little carried away. Subject closed.”
“Yeah, you already told me how you get a little carried away sometimes. If that’s how you react to a kiss, then lead me to the bedroom, darlin’, ’cause I can’t wait to see what happens during foreplay.”
“That’s not ever going to happen.”
“Sounds like a promise.”
“It is.”
“Are you sure you can keep this one?”
Jessica wondered how he did it. How he found the secret buttons and pushed them. She wasn’t certain at all, but she’d never admit it. “Go away, Sully.”
“I will. Just as soon as you tell me what you and the CIA are looking for. And why it’s so important that you find it.”