Feeding time at the zoo was right up there with the table full of hungry men, a few good women, and a baby.
Back in her own comfortable, form-fitting black clothing, Sasha sat across from AJ and next to Claire. On the teenager’s knee, Lilly giggled as her diapered butt kept bouncing with every move Claire made. Wade sat at one end of the table, and Trina at the other, her daughter’s high chair to the side, not that it would be used, considering the fascination Claire had with the kid.
“. . . Mandarin, encrypted at that.” Cooper pointed a fork loaded with tri tip in Claire’s direction. “Claire’s a damn genius.”
They were talking about some of the highlights of the day’s findings. Apparently, Linette had what they’d dubbed The Mandarin File. Every highly skilled benefactor orphan who fit the portfolio that Pohl could possibly recruit from was cloaked in Mandarin.
“Gibberish Mandarin. Until Cooper broke the encryption,” Claire explained.
Cooper shoved the meat in his mouth, talked around it. “We need her on our team, Neil.”
All eyes went to the largest man at the table.
Neil glared at Cooper, glanced at Claire. “She’s a child.”
Sasha saw Claire’s spine stiffen. “Bet she could outrun you,” Claire said, looking Neil in the eye.
The murmurs at the table quieted.
Except for Sasha’s voice. “I’ll put money on that.”
Claire smirked and rubbed noses with Lilly.
“I’d stay away from that mess if I were you, Neil,” Wade said with a wink. “Women ganging up is never a good thing.”
“Amen to that,” AJ chimed in. “Try fleeing Europe with these two. Talk about fish out of water. Every time I turned around, Sasha was in a different disguise. Imagine a blonde housewife with that face.”
All eyes turned to Sasha. Gazes narrowed and disbelief washed over everyone there.
Sasha locked eyes with AJ.
He smirked.
She clenched her jaw tight to keep from offering a single ounce of amusement.
“That’s tough,” Trina said, her head cocked to the side. “Maybe brunette with lots of highlights . . .”
“Barbie blonde. Valley accent. I wish I’d recorded it.” AJ bit into a biscuit he’d smothered in butter.
Sasha lifted a small bite to her lips, hesitated. “I can blend in at a nursing home that only accepts men.”
AJ pursed his lips together, shook his head. “That’s taking the joy right out of fantasy, Stick.”
Trina laughed. “I bet.”
“That shoots all my fantasies to hell,” Cooper added.
Sasha shot him a snarl. “Zip it.”
He lifted his hands in front of his face, palms out. “I’m kidding. You’re like a sister.” He took a swig out of his glass of tea.
She brought her attention back to her dinner.
“A hot sister,” Cooper said under his breath.
Neil, who almost never broke a smile, grinned.
Lilly started to fuss and reach for Trina.
Trina stood, lifted her daughter from Claire’s arms. She looked across the table at AJ, then back to Sasha. “You’re going to have to stand in line, Cooper.”
“Ohhh . . .” Eyes fell between AJ and Sasha.
Heat simmered on her face.
“Someone needs to be changed,” Trina said as she left the table to attend to her daughter’s needs.
Claire sat a little taller and changed the subject. “I can teach you Mandarin, Cooper.”
“And how long will that take?”
“Two years, if you’re quick.”
A wave of commentary erupted from the table.
“You’d be better off learning how to sing,” Wade offered.
Sasha noticed Claire staring at Neil; disappointment hovered over her brow.
Neil was mopping up his food and disengaged with the conversation. He didn’t seem to notice that a teenage girl was looking to the largest man at the table for approval.
Memories of Sasha’s own childhood, and the need for positive affirmation, surfaced. “Claire has a point. Her language skills could prove valuable. At least while she’s in college.”
Neil lifted his eyes to Sasha, glanced at Claire.
“Too dangerous.”
Claire leaned back, her chin lifted. “Who said anything about college? I can’t afford that now.” She reached over, grabbed Trina’s wineglass, and took a drink. “Maybe the Service will have me. I’m a good shot.”
Sasha lost her appetite, set her fork down. “They’d exploit everything you’ve learned.”
Claire shrugged. “Don’t all employers? Isn’t that their job . . . find your strengths and use them for a fraction of what they’re worth?”
AJ sat forward. “We don’t have to think about this tonight.”
Claire waved the wineglass at him. “What’s this we thing? I didn’t know any of you a week ago. When this is all over, you’ll all go back to your lives. I’ll just . . .”
Sasha felt, more than saw, Claire trying to keep it together.
AJ leaned forward. “Teach me Mandarin.”
Claire was onto him. “Why do you need to learn a new language, especially that one?”
AJ glanced at Sasha, then back to Claire. “Fine, teach me Russian. I have a feeling I’m going to need it.”
Claire shook her head.
“No one is joining the military,” Neil stated, his voice commanding everyone’s attention. “Last I looked, we’re in the States, and minors aren’t allowed to drink alcohol. Put that down.”
Hair on Sasha’s neck stood up.
Claire slowly turned her head, met Neil’s stare. “What’s it to—”
“Now!” The walls shook.
She nearly dropped the wine.
“You want to work for me?” Neil looked directly at Claire.
She sat quietly.
“Your night is done once every dish on this table is clean. You report at oh five hundred. Showered, bed made. Is that clear?”
Claire blinked. “Uhm . . . h’okay.”
Neil narrowed his already piercing gaze. “Excuse me.”
She glanced at Sasha, then back. “Sir.”
He nodded and turned his attention back to the last bite in his hand.
Trina walked back in the quiet and motionless room, stopped short of her husband. “What did I miss?”
Wade pulled his wife onto his lap. “Claire volunteered to wash the dishes.”
Including Claire.
Sasha’s shift on the cameras was scheduled to start at four in the morning. Instead of fighting sleep and the headache of jet lag, she made her excuses early to find the quiet in her own room.
She shed her clothing the moment the door to her room was closed and headed straight for the shower. With her hair balled in a knot on top of her head, she let the hot water ease some of the tension from her shoulders.
Things were moving along. They were on the tip of new information now that they had more names to run through their system.
Mandarin.
Sasha didn’t realize Linette even spoke that language.
Then again, what did she really know about the woman? Almost nothing. It wasn’t like the two of them had sat down for drinks at the pub the night she’d returned to Richter. Sasha smiled at the thought. Brigitte certainly turned out to be a lot more forthcoming than the headmistress.
Maybe looking into Linette’s personal life would shed some light on things.
Sasha made a mental note to run Linette Lodovica’s name through the paces.
She cut the water and grabbed the towel hanging off the shower door. The cool air of the room combined with her wet skin had her moving quickly to dry off.
A slight breeze coming from the bedroom along with a faint creak of a floorboard caused her skin to prickle.
Her heart rate sped up.
She dropped the towel and removed the needle-like hairpin from the top of her head. She palmed the would-be weapon and peeked out the door.
AJ stood in the open door of the balcony, his back to her.
Sasha considered retrieving the towel, then decided against it. She rested her shoulder on the threshold into the bathroom and adopted his relaxed stance.
“You’re watching me, aren’t you?” he asked without turning around.
Her answer was a long, deep breath.
He turned, slowly, and brought his gaze up last.
Shock registered on his face before he closed his eyes and turned his head. “Oh, damn. Sorry—”
How amusing. “You sneak into my room while I’m in the shower and you’re sorry?”
AJ gave his head a firm shake and opened his eyes. She had to give the man credit, he was doing his best to keep his gaze on her face.
“No. I’m not . . .” His eyes drifted lower. He licked his bottom lip.
The movement of his tongue brought her nipples to attention.
“Is there something I can do for you?” she asked, knowing damn well what he was there for. Even though she cautioned herself for provoking him, and going against her constant rule of not playing where she ate, Sasha also knew what pent up sexual tension did to her psyche. In order to concentrate, she really needed to purge the unknowns of this man from her head.
“I have you at an unfair advantage,” AJ said.
She pushed off the doorway, revealed the pin in her hand, and quickly wound her hair back on the top of her head. “Even naked, I’m not without resources.”
“Naked is your resource.”
With a smile, she took several steps closer.
AJ stopped at the edge of the bed.
“Second thoughts?” she asked.
Speechless. She liked that in a man.
He reached for her waist with both hands and pulled her closer.
She let her arms dangle, curious to see what he would do next without any prompts from her.
AJ traced her hip bone with his thumbs before sliding both palms up the sides of her body. He watched his own action, lips parted. When he reached her breasts, those thumbs teased the edges of them.
“I’ve wanted to taste these ever since I sat down across from you in the pub.”
The thought of his lips on her had her chest rising and falling.
He kept his hands active, brushed just shy of her nipples and up to her collarbone, her neck. Both hands on her neck, thumbs brushing against her throat . . . yeah, anyone else and she’d have put a stop to that action. Instead she tried to control the shudder of her breathing as AJ circled the outsides of her ears and fanned his fingers into her hair. With one hand, he removed the pin and tossed it to the floor. “No weapons for you.”
“I don’t need—”
He stopped her from talking with a finger over her lips. He stepped closer and tugged gently on the hair in his hand before pressing his lips to the side of her throat.
Sasha closed her eyes, let the sensation of his tongue and teeth move up to the side of her ear. She tried to turn her head, meet his lips with hers, but he guided her head to the side with the control he had holding her hair. “Patience,” he whispered.
Not one of her strong points.
Besides, she didn’t want things slow. Hard and fast, that was the way she liked it.
Except there was something about the way he kissed the side of her jaw, skipped over her lips and moved to the other side. Something about the quiet things he whispered into her ear that she couldn’t concentrate on because he had yet to really kiss her.
Sasha finally lifted her hands to his hips and waist, ran them down his ass and pulled him closer.
“Anxious?” he asked.
“Yes.” She tugged at his shirt, pressed her hands onto the bare skin of his back.
AJ caught her hands, forced them off his back, and pinned them to her sides, all while his lips moved down the front of her chest.
“You’re playing with danger,” she warned him.
He teased her right nipple with his tongue.
“I know.”
Her hands balled into small fists.
“You’ve already held off longer than I thought you would,” he said as he moved his way to her left breast.
Her eyes rolled into the back of her head as he latched on before pulling away with a bite.
Her whole body shuddered as if a blast of cold air blew through the room.
The man had ten seconds . . . ten seconds before she turned this slow boat around. By the time she counted down to five, AJ took the back of her head in his hands, pulled her hair until she opened her eyes to look at him.
The darkness swirling in his eyes, the way his mouth hung open . . . she liked his hungry look.
He leaned down like he was going to kiss her.
She reached for his lips and he pulled away and grinned.
Unclenching her fists, she placed her palms against his chest.
Two seconds . . .
He must have seen her resolve to take charge and crushed his lips to hers. All fire, tongue, and passion.
While his hands controlled her head, hers pulled at his clothing. They broke apart only to clear his shirt over his head. His chest smashed against hers, she couldn’t see it, but it felt glorious.
He pulled up for air, kissed her neck, ears, and jaw again, this time with more fire.
Sasha ran her hand down the length of him through his jeans. His hips surged into her palm.
“Do that again,” he demanded.
This time she gripped him, and he had to stop kissing her to hold it together.
Oh, the control . . . how she loved the feel of him under her hand.
She placed one knee on the bed, then the other, all while working the buttons of his pants.
AJ stepped back and kicked off his shoes. Slightly out of reach, Sasha let her eyes travel down his chest and followed his hands when they worked to remove everything between them. He stared at her, and she took advantage of the position she was in.
Resting her butt on her heels, she ran a hand down her thigh and back up. She spread her knees farther apart and did it again.
AJ shook his pants free, briefs along with them, and stopped to stare.
His erection jutted out in front of him.
Sasha let her right hand dance up to the apex of her thighs, felt her own slickness as she brushed against the folds of her sex.
AJ placed his hands over hers, fingers locked together. Her neck strained, looking up at him. “You’re so damn sexy, Sasha.”
He kissed her again, dropped to his knees on the side of the bed, and moved his lips to her chest. Still holding her hands, he nudged her thighs farther apart.
Now this she could get used to, the cool air on her warm, wet skin. The top of AJ’s head as he moved lower, spread her open farther. And like his gradual ease into kissing her, he hesitated over her, hot breath exciting her even more.
Sasha waited, knew it would be worth more if she didn’t rush him.
The first brush of his tongue and she was lost. He latched on like he had with her breast, only this time he didn’t let go. She brought her hips up to meet him, braced herself with one arm behind her, one on the back of AJ’s head.
Everything inside of her wound tight.
“Harder, AJ,” she choked out.
Thank God he took direction.
AJ filled his palms with her ass and made every tight part of her body shatter.
She choked on a cry, reminded herself that others might hear them if she released the scream that threatened, and rode her orgasm to the bitter end.
AJ met her eyes, his lips wet with the taste of her.
“You look pleased with yourself.”
“Oh, I am.”
She unfolded from her position, her knees and thighs now feeling the weight of exercise.
AJ reached for his jeans and returned with a condom in his hands.
Sasha scooted back up the bed, smiled as he crawled up beside her and pressed himself against her.
“Want more?” she asked.
He shook his head, pushed the hair from her face. “I haven’t even started.”