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Damon's stomach growled as he went down the stairs and was assaulted with the sweet smell of garlic and tomatoes. Michael had left over an hour before to meet his friend Blake in the city for dinner, and Damon disappeared into the spare room with his laptop and phone. Alina was left to her own devices in the kitchen. By the smell of things, she had been busy.
“What smells so good?” he asked.
Alina was standing at the stove. A glass of wine sat on the counter next to her as she monitored a boiling pot of pasta on one burner and a large sauté pan filled with vegetables and what looked like chicken sausage on another. She glanced over her shoulder as Damon came into the kitchen.
“Dinner,” she answered dryly.
“I can see that,” he murmured, coming up behind her and peering over her shoulder at the vegetables and sausage in the pan. “It smells outstanding.”
“I was going to make steak, but then thought better of it.”
Alina sipped her wine and turned to face him, a rueful smile playing about her lips. Damon's blue eyes met hers and her pulse quickened at their closeness.
“Should I be worried?” he asked, his eyes glinting.
“Not tonight,” she retorted. “I'm not tired of you yet.”
“I'm not sure how I feel about you joking about that,” Damon murmured. He turned away and went into the dining room to get another wine glass from the table. “It's still a pretty fresh memory.”
Two months before, Alina had made him a delicious steak dinner over an open fire. He enjoyed it thoroughly, right up until she drugged him and ruthlessly relocated him to South America. When he woke up, their old mentor and friend, Harry, was with him and she was gone.
Alina chuckled now and picked up her wine.
“I promised you I would never do it again,” she told him. “Trust me.”
“Trust is earned, and so far, you haven't redeemed yourself,” Damon retorted, returning with a glass. He picked up the open bottle from the kitchen island and poured himself some wine. “Say that again in about a year.”
“A year!” Alina exclaimed. “It'll take you a year to get over it? Sheesh! I didn't even leave a bruise.”
“No, you didn't,” he agreed with a reluctant smile of approval. “In fact, I couldn't even find the injection mark. Where did you stick me?”
“In your ass.” Alina set down her glass and turned back to the sauté pan on the stove while Damon struggled between laughter and outrage. “Can you move the salad into the dining room?”
Damon picked up a wooden bowl full of mixed greens and vegetables and carried it into the dining room. The table was already set with pasta plates and salad bowls. He placed the salad on the table, set his glass down next to one of the plates, and turned to go back into the kitchen.
“There's garlic bread in the oven, if you want to make yourself useful and grab it,” Alina said over her shoulder as she poured the pot of pasta into a colander in the sink.
“You have been busy,” Damon said, grabbing a potholder and opening the oven door. The smell of garlic poured out and his stomach growled in response. “If you keep this up, you'll never get rid of me.”
He went through the cabinets until he found the plates and transferred the hot roll of garlic bread onto a large plate. He carried it into the dining room, then turned and watched as Alina tossed the contents of the sauté pan into the pasta. She reached behind her for some olive oil, drizzled it over the pasta and vegetables, and grabbed a block of fresh Parmesan. She started grating it over the pasta, glancing up when she sensed him watching her.
“What?”
“Nothing.” Damon shook his head and smiled faintly. “It's...nothing.”
Viper's eyes narrowed and she finished grating the cheese before picking up the bowl to carry it into the dining room. As she passed him, she glanced up into his rugged face.
“If you make one comment about women in the kitchen, I'll slice out your tongue,” she told him.
Hawk grinned.
“I wouldn't dream of it,” he murmured. He grabbed her wine glass from the counter and followed her into the dining room, setting it on the table near her plate. “You forget that I know the real you.”
Alina shot him a look from under her lashes and sat down. Reaching for the salad bowl, her mind went back to boot camp. She didn't remember much from those long ago days when she first met Damon, but she was fairly certain they hadn't shared a lot with each other. They were too busy competing with each other to get to know each other very well. The 'real' Alina Damon knew was the Viper she had become.
“Stop thinking,” Hawk said, watching her from his seat. Her gaze flew to his and he smiled. “I know you better than you think.”
“You know what I've allowed you to know,” Alina retorted as she filled her salad bowl. “Nothing more.”
“Hmm.” Damon's lips twitched and he accepted the salad from her. “I wouldn't lay bets on that, Ms. Maschik.”
“I don't even know why we're having this conversation,” she said impatiently. “It's all completely irrelevant. We work together, we respect each other, and we're close friends. That's all we really need to know.”
“Tell me, does everything in your life always fit so neatly into your boxes for you?” Damon asked conversationally, setting the salad bowl aside and picking up his fork. He didn't miss the flash from the dark brown eyes next to him.
“Yes, as a matter of fact, everything does,” Alina snapped, forking some salad and lifting it to her mouth.
“Outside of work, nothing in my life fits in boxes,” he remarked, chewing thoughtfully. “I've always found boxes kind of boring.”
“Do you have a life outside of work?” Alina asked, momentarily diverted.
Hawk looked at her, amused.
“Of course I do. The Organization isn't everything.”
Alina was quiet for a moment, feeling a little sheepish for not knowing anything about Damon's private life. She supposed she should have asked at some point what he did for fun, or where he even lived, but they had lived by an unspoken agreement through the years. Don't ask and don't tell. The less they knew about each other, the better off they both would be.
“It seems a little ridiculous to be asking this now, but where do you live?” Alina finally asked after a few long moments of silence.
“Are you sure you want to know?” Damon asked softly.
Their eyes met and she sighed imperceptibly. They had been trained to live alone, in darkness and secret. They weren't supposed to know anything about each other, and they certainly were never meant to be sitting here together, having a cozy meal in her dining room. The Organization taught them to be ghosts, and ghosts did not have close friends. They were killers, trained to hunt and eliminate targets that were a threat to national security. They were not normal people, Hawk and Viper, and they shouldn't know anything about each other that could later become a liability.
Yet, somehow, the unspoken and unwritten rules had changed for them. Since day one in boot camp, an invisible bond had been forged between them. It was a bond neither of them had acknowledged until recently, and with it came a host of complications.
“Yes,” she decided suddenly. “You know where I live, who my friends used to be, and even who I was going to marry. I think I can at least know where you call home.”
“You already know where I live,” Damon told her, his eyes glinting with amusement.
Alina stared at him, her salad forgotten for the moment. Her face was emotionless as her mind scanned back over the years, searching for some mention of his home. There was nothing in her memory. Unless...
“You grew up out west, didn't you?” she asked. “Out in the boondocks somewhere. Montana, wasn't it?”
“Oklahoma.” Damon couldn't keep the laughter out of his voice.
“Same thing,” Alina muttered, going back to her salad. The mystery was solved.
“Oklahoma is in a completely different part of the country!” Hawk exclaimed, startled despite himself at her complete disregard for her own country's geography.
“Anything west of the Mississippi is all the same,” she retorted.
“Spoken like an East Coast city girl,” he shot back.
Alina burst out laughing. Her eyes lit up with a laugh that came from deep within her and Damon grinned as his Jersey Girl made a sudden appearance. He missed the mystery girl who lurked deep inside Viper. The last time he glimpsed her was two months ago, on a tropical island.
“You still live out there, in Oklahoma?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Damon finished his salad and reached for the pasta, glancing at Alina as he did so. She was sitting back in her seat, her wine glass in hand, studying him.
“I'm sorry?” he asked.
“Why?” Alina repeated. “You could live anywhere in the world. Why stay home in Oklahoma?”
“Why did you come back to New Jersey?” Damon countered swiftly. He instantly regretted it when her eyes narrowed and her mask slid swiftly back into place.
“Raven seems to like it here,” Viper answered smoothly, setting her wine glass down and reaching for the garlic bread. “Besides, thanks to Regina, all my other houses were exposed. Until I finish establishing new living arrangements, this is the only location not compromised.”
“I love it when you try to lie to me,” Hawk told her, digging into his pasta.
Alina clamped her back teeth together briefly and took a deep breath, counting to ten before reaching for the pasta. She scooped it into her dish silently and set the dish down gently. Damon shot her a quick glance under his lashes. She appeared perfectly calm, but he hadn't missed the flash in those dark eyes of hers or the clamped jaw. He hit a nerve, and that amused him. He was getting to know his Viper well.
“My father passed away shortly after we met in Paris that first year,” Damon spoke after a few moments of silence. Alina looked up, her face unreadable. “My mother decided to sell the ranch and move in with my sister. She got an outstanding offer from a group of developers, but I couldn't stomach the thought of the land I grew up on being turned into a shopping mall or cookie-cutter houses. I decided to buy the ranch through a middleman and outbid the developers. She has no idea who owns the property now.”
Alina digested that for a moment, chewing thoughtfully. She didn't know Damon had a sister. Somehow, the idea of him having family seemed absurd. He was too big for something as mundane as a family.
“Have you seen them recently?” she asked, glancing at him. Damon's face was unreadable, his jaw tight.
“Not since his funeral,” he answered. “It's safer for them that way. Have you seen your parents?”
“No.” Alina picked up her wineglass. “I decided when I joined the Organization it would be safer not to have any contact with them.”
“What did you tell them?”
“Nothing.” Alina sipped her wine. “They think I work for an international security corporation, running the European division. We exchange emails occasionally.”
“Same here,” Damon agreed.
“Have you been back to the ranch?” Alina asked, pushing her empty pasta dish away slightly and sitting back in her chair.
“Of course.” Damon sipped his wine and grinned. “It's home, when I'm home.”
Alina's eyebrow soared into her forehead.
“You actually live there?” she demanded. He nodded.
“It's perfect, really,” he said. “It's a nice little spread, out of the way. No one knows when I come and go, except the twins.”
“The twins?” Alina prodded, catching the thread of affection in his voice.
Damon nodded and got up from the table, going into the kitchen. He returned a moment later with the wine bottle.
“My dogs,” he explained, refilling her empty glass.
“You have dogs?” she asked, surprised.
“Mmm. Two.” Damon refilled his own glass and sat back down, setting the bottle on the table. He sat back with his glass, his eyes dancing. Alina looked stunned. “Bull mastiffs.”
“Of course you have bull mastiffs,” Alina muttered, sipping her wine. Her lips were twitching reluctantly.
“Meaning?”
“They fit you,” she told him. “Who looks after them while you're gone?”
“I have a housekeeper and there are plenty of people in and out all day. I kept the family business going when I bought the property, so there are about fifteen people there during the week. The dogs are spoiled rotten.” Damon sipped his wine and shrugged. “I got them as pups, with the intent for them to be guard dogs. That didn't work out quite as planned.”
“They're not good guards?”
“Oh, they're wonderful guard dogs,” Damon told her. “They were supposed to live outside. They took over my bedroom instead.”
Alina laughed.
“I can't imagine you with pets,” she said. “I wouldn't think you're home enough to give them the attention they need.”
“You have Raven,” Damon pointed out.
Alina shrugged.
“Raven's different,” she murmured. “He takes care of himself. He hunts for his food and comes in to sleep when he's full. He doesn't need me.”
“He guards you like it's his job,” Hawk retorted. “That bird needs you, just as much as you need him.”
“You're in a strange mood tonight,” Alina said as she set her glass down. “What's the family business?”
“I'm in a strange mood?” Damon countered. “You're asking a line of questions I shouldn't be answering.”
“Then stop answering them,” Viper said with a faint smile, her eyes glinting.
Damon met her gaze and grinned.
“Horses,” he told her, laughing when she rolled her eyes.
“Good Lord, you're a cowboy,” she muttered. She stood up and gathered their empty dishes.
“Was there ever any doubt?” Damon demanded, laughing harder when she shook her head in disgust and headed into the kitchen with the dishes. He got up, picked up the salad and pasta bowls and followed her. “You knew I was a country boy when you met me. Do you remember the first thing you ever said to me?”
Alina set the dishes in the sink, her lips curving with the memory.
“'You look like a good, old-fashioned redneck,'” she said softly.
Damon set the bowls down on the island and turned toward her. Without thinking about it, he dropped his hands to her hips and rested his chin lightly on top of her head. Alina caught her breath. The back of her shoulders rested lightly against his chest and she was suddenly surrounded with the musky scent she loved.
“I knew you were going to be trouble for me from the very beginning,” he murmured with a smile in his voice. “You and your feisty attitude reminded me of my favorite horse.”
“No, you did not just compare me to a horse!” Alina exclaimed. She drove her elbow back and landed a hard, solid hit to his gut. Damon grunted in reaction, lifting his chin from the top of her head.
“She was a good horse!” he retorted, laughing. He pulled her hips back sharply, clamping her arms to her side. “She used to try to fight me too,” he added with a grin.
“Oh, you're living dangerously,” Alina murmured, leaning her head back and inhaling deeply. She didn't know what it was about Hawk, but the scent of his skin made her feel safe and powerful all at once. Turning her head, she pressed her lips to the side of his neck gently, his skin warm on hers. “I'm not a good horse,” she added huskily as she twisted her right arm swiftly and closed her fingers around his wrist. She twisted it sharply as she turned in his arms, forcing him to move his arm with her or risk snapping his wrist. Once he did, she brought up both arms and pushed him away from her.
Alina started to turn back to the sink and the dishes, but Hawk had other ideas. He grabbed her arm to pull her back to him, and Viper gave in to the impulse to fight back. She stepped back and to the side swiftly, using the force of his own arm strength to throw him off balance. With one fluid movement, she twisted his arm up behind his back and forced him forward, against the counter.
“Maybe it was a poor choice of words,” Hawk admitted, as she yanked his arm up behind him painfully with one hand and applied pressure on the back of his neck with the other.
“You think?” Viper asked sarcastically.
She just had time to hear his chuckle before he turned his head and shoulder, forcing her back with sheer strength. When her grasp on his arm loosened, he twisted quickly and was able to catch hold of her free hand. He leaned into it, forcing it down, and spun her around. A moment later, he had her pinned to the floor in a wrestling hold.
“Now that was just too easy,” he murmured in her ear. “Are you slipping on me?”
Viper made a noise suspiciously like a hiss and Damon felt his hold slipping. A second later, he was flipped onto his back and found himself staring up at her with no clear idea of how she had done it.
“I wouldn't dream of it,” she said breathlessly, straddling him and holding him down with a hand on his throat.
“Nice,” Hawk commended her.
“Thank you.” Viper smiled faintly.
Her dark eyes met his and her heart started thumping as she took a deep breath. Sparring with Hawk was always a challenge. He was so unpredictable and had no compunction about fighting dirty, even with her. It made him a good training opponent, but a formidable foe.
“I think I like this view,” he murmured, his eyes darkening slightly.
He slid his hand softly up the arm that had his neck pinned to the floor, watching as goosebumps followed the light brush of his fingers. He smiled slightly and shifted his gaze back to hers. Alina's lips were parted slightly and her pulse was beating a rapid tempo at the base of her throat. At the brush of his fingers, her breathing increased and Damon felt desire shoot through him like a bolt of lightning.
Alina saw his eyes darken and her breathing grew shallow as her heart pounded in her chest. How she had ended up on top of him on her kitchen floor seemed irrelevant. All that seemed to matter was that she was drowning in a sea of blue glittering with passion and promise.
Catching her wrist with his fingers, Damon took advantage of her distraction. Swiftly pushing her hand off his neck, he threw her off balance and forced her down on top of him. When her lips touched his, he flipped her onto her back, one hand protecting the back of her head while his other arm supported some of his weight as he came down on top of her.
“I've been wanting to do this since I saw you walking toward me outside that old prison,” he whispered as he lowered his lips to hers.
Alina caught her breath as his lips touched hers and a shock of desire shot through her. She had missed him. The past two months had been a blur of activity and work, but she had missed Hawk and this feeling of freedom mixed with passion he evoked every time he touched her. He made her feel emotions she never knew existed, passion she thought had died inside her over ten years ago. With Hawk, Viper let go of herself and rediscovered the woman she buried long ago. She lifted her arms and wrapped them around his neck, parting her lips beneath his and sighing into him.
Blinding passion rolled over her, causing her world to tilt precariously, and the only steady thing was his shoulders beneath her fingers and his heartbeat pounding against hers. Alina moved her hips instinctively, trying to get closer to him, and he groaned. The cold, hard floor faded in the face of raging desire and the only thing that existed was Damon. His body, his skin, his heat was all that filled Alina's senses. She couldn't get enough of him.
Damon lifted his head, his eyes dark with desire, and he smiled faintly.
“What's with us and kitchens?” he asked huskily.
Alina blinked and laughed breathlessly.
“I have no idea,” she confessed.
Damon smiled slowly and was just lowering his lips to hers again when his cell phone started ringing. He groaned, closing his eyes and resting his forehead on hers.
“Ignore it.”
Damon chuckled deep in his throat and kissed her swiftly.
“I can't. It's Harry,” he told her.
He pushed himself up and reached into his pocket to pull out his phone.
Alina closed her eyes and took a deep breath, willing her heart to slow down. Her senses were throbbing, her breathing uneven, and Viper wanted nothing more than to rip the phone out of Hawk's hand, throw it against the wall, and pull him back into her arms. She clenched her teeth and concentrated on taking deep, even breaths until her heartbeat slowed and her desire cooled.
“Hey.”
Damon answered the phone, rolling off her and sitting up. He glanced down at Alina, breathing deeply with her eyes closed, and shook his head slightly. Harry couldn't have planned worse timing if he had tried.
“You're a never-ending source of heartburn,” Harry greeted him. “What the hell are you doing in New Jersey?”
“Enjoying local attractions,” Hawk murmured, sliding a finger along the edge of Alina's tank top. Her eyes opened and he found himself staring into their deep, chocolate depths.
“Hmm.” Harry sounded amused. “Give her my love.”
“I will,” Hawk smiled faintly. “What do you have for me?”
“You're about to have a lot of company,” Harry told him, growing serious. “Be careful. You have two other agencies with a presence there, and neither of them will take kindly to your interference.”
“Do they know I'm here?”
“Of course not.”
“Then what are you worried about?” Damon watched the pulse at the base of Alina's throat increase as he slid his finger under the edge of her shirt.
“I know you,” Harry retorted. “You have a habit of taking things into your own hands.”
Damon grinned as Alina smacked his hand away and sat up, shooting him a glare.
“That's what I'm paid to do,” he answered, watching as she stood up fluidly and moved away toward the sink.
“You're paid to do it offshore,” Harry replied. “Be careful up there. I'm sending you all the information I have, but there's one thing you should know now.”
“What's that?”
“If you get compromised, so does the local attraction,” Harry said bluntly.
Hawk's gaze rested on Viper as she turned on the water.
“That's not going to happen,” he murmured.