A Taste of Liberty: Task Force 125 Book 2 (4 page)

The smell of the coffee brewing and the eggs frying triggered Sarah’s hunger.
  Her stomach growled and rumbled.  Distracted at seeing Vince again, she’d forgotten how hungry she was.  She plated the two Denver omelets and placed them on the table, then poured two cups of black coffee.  Vince strolled out of her bedroom with nothing but a towel wrapped around his trim waist, his ripped chest and abs caused her to stop mid step.  For all the traveling he did, he never went without a workout or ate poorly.  His heavily muscled body was always cut to shreds.  

How can it be my job demands me to bed men I could easily hate but never touch the one man I could probably love?  Fate is a cruel bitch.

A knock on Sarah's door dragged her back to reality.  She was so flustered she practically forgot where the door was!

Brian bounced in.  “Hey, Sarah, remembering you wet and in your underwear had me so distracted I forgot I didn't drive last night.”  Then Brian
saw Vince walk to the table and sit down in nothing but a towel.  “Hey, glad I caught you, man.  Let me borrow your truck.  I'll bring it back tonight.”

“Sure, man.  Keys are in my jacket on the bed.”

“Cool.”  Brian strode into the bedroom, as Sarah stood there dumb with the coffee pot in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other.  “Thanks, man.  See you guys later.”

When Brian closed the door, Sarah turned her shock to Vince.  “Do you realize what he's going to think?”

Vince took his cup of coffee from Sarah and held her hand while he spoke.  “What?  That in the time it took for him to hit the lobby and then walk back here I'd had my way with you, taken a shower, made the bed and sat down to a breakfast you had time to cook?”  He smiled softly at Sarah.  “Honey, I take my time.  And, with you, I'd savor every second.  I wouldn't have even finished the foreplay in that amount of time.”

Her body tingled with his imagined touch.  She realized how ridiculous she was being and sat down.  “Well, I hope not.”

Neither spoke as they ate.

Sarah tried to focus on her breakfast instead of pushing Vince into the bedroom and thanking him properly for the pearls.

Vince finished his omelet and brought his dish to the sink.  Sarah stayed seated at the table with her back to the kitchen and finished her coffee.

“Sarah, we need to talk.”

A chill shot up Sarah’s spine and erased every fantasy of thanking him for the pearls.  She closed her eyes, willing the conversation away. 
“About what?”

“There has always been chemistry between us.”

Oh, crap!  Not the “I know you have a crush on me, get over it” talk.

Sarah stood and set her dishes in the sink.  Standing directly in front of Vince and close enough to feel the heat from his body, she looked him in the eyes and
lied
a little.  “Honey, I've got chemistry with everybody.  That's my job.  Don't take it personally.”

If I can't be with him, I still want to be able to be around him.  I can't risk getting kicked off the team.

He reached for her and ran his fingertips down her bare arms.  “Do you?”

Oh, sweet Jesus.  Take me now!

Sarah bit her bottom lip and looked at Vince's forehead so she wouldn't have to look into his eyes when she lied.  “It's what I do.”

Vince smiled.  “Okay, cool.  There is a lot at stake here, and we all need to bring our A-games.”

“Oh, I'm bringing it.”  She smiled to lighten the mood.  “Believe it or not, I'm not going to jump anybody on the team just because they're easy.”  Sarah turned and busied herself with the dishes.  Looking at Vince standing there in a towel was too much.

“What?  Are you saying I'm easy?”

“If the towel fits.”

Vince chuckled.  “I wish I'd met you years ago.  Things might have been different.”

Sarah smiled and blinked back the mist forming over her eyes.  “That's sweet for a tough guy, but you know you wouldn't have done anything differently.  What you see here is a product of the mission.  I've never been a beauty.  You never would have noticed me.” 

“I don't know about that.  You're a hard one to miss.”

Sarah turned to look at Vince.  He was the most attractive man she'd ever laid eyes on. 
Every inch of her screamed to touch him.
  It would be so easy just to pull that towel from his waist, but there was too much on the line and she couldn't mess it up by complicating things with sex and emotions.  She cleared her throat.  “You'd better get downstairs and get some sleep.”

“I'm gonna go get dressed.” 

Sarah looked Vince over and took a deep breath through her teeth.  She couldn't help but smile at him.  “Yeah, I think you should.”  She caught a glimpse of a smile as he looked down and walked away.

A few minutes later, Vince emerged from the bedroom fully dressed and headed for the door.  He spoke over his shoulder.  “Thanks for breakfast. 
Mission brief tomorrow at oh-nine-hundred.
 
Usual place.”

Sarah walked toward the door after him.  “I'll be there.”

“I'll see you later tonight.”  He leaned in and kissed her softly on the lips.

A jolt arced through Sarah's body like she just stuck her finger in a two-hundred-twenty volt socket.  Her heart stopped.

“I, uh, I'm sorry.  I don't know where that came from.”

That was the first time Sarah saw Vince nervous.  She caught the gleam of panic in his eyes and gathered enough self-control to let him off the hook. 

Too many mixed signals, Sarah.  It’s too dangerous.  Let it go.

“You're just tired.  Go get some rest.”

He sighed.  “You're a good sport, Sarah.”

“Not the first time I've heard that.”

Good sport. 
Doormat.
 
Same.
 
Same.

Vince stopped short and turned to look at Sarah on his way out the door.  “Sarah, I'm not that guy.”

“I know, Vince.”

You can’t help it.  Your personal life will always be second to the mission.

“Vince, check it out.”  Will nodded in the direction of the bar.

Vince turned to see Sarah in a very short dress, standing near the bar with a man's arm around her waist and liking it.  The guy wore an Armani suit and was flashing a killer smile at her every chance he could.  It made Vince’s skin crawl to see her with somebody else.

Get a grip on yourself, man.  She’s not yours.
 

He turned back to the table and drank his beer in one long gulp.  “So she's having a drink with a guy.  So what?  The girl's not a machine.”  He said the words more for himself than for Will, and he wasn’t buying any of it.  He never had a problem separating his business from his personal life, but Sarah changed all of that.

“Yeah, I'm on board with that but take a closer look at the guy.”

Sarah's date turned around at that moment and Vince suddenly realized the cause for Will's concern.  “You gotta be shitting me!”

Will shook his head.  “I want to chalk this up to a small world but that's just too small.”

No fucking way!

Vince stood up and walked directly to the man with his hand on Sarah’s hip.  “Well, I'll be damned!”  He gave Nikolai a light, one-armed hug as he shook his hand. 

No guns.

Nikolai smiled as he checked Vince for a weapon the same way.  It was the standard underworld greeting when you weren’t expecting to see someone who made their living selling weapons.  “Vince.  What a surprise.  What are you doing here?”

Wondering what the hell you're doing with your arm around my honey pot!

“Everybody likes business meetings in Las Vegas.”  Vince waved to the bartender who nodded back as he poured about twenty cosmopolitans for a squealing bunch of
hotties
who, by the look of the one in the veil, were having a bachelorette party. 
“Fancy meeting you here.”
  He gave Sarah a quick glance
as though he didn’t know her before moving between her and Nikolai and dismissing her.

I don't want this
slimeball
close enough to touch you.

“Hey, sweetheart.
  Excuse us for a minute?”

~~~

Sarah stepped away into the crowd but kept her eyes on Vince.  She wasn't sure what the hell was going on between him and Nikolai, but she was pretty certain she wouldn't be getting anywhere near lucky tonight.

Will emerged from the crowd of partygoers and smiled at Sarah as he took her arm.  “Let me buy you a drink.”  He kept a firm grip on her arm and pulled her into the crowd of squealing girls at the other end of the long bar in the elegant White Room at Pure.  When Vince and Nikolai were out of sight, Will stopped and his tone seemed almost interrogative.  “Sarah, what are you doing here?  Do you know who this guy is?  Where did you meet him?”

Sarah gripped her purse tight and clenched her teeth. 

What the hell?  After his speech about A-games this morning, he’s got the balls to bring Will in on crashing my date?

“Being a bit overprotective, aren't you?  Am I not allowed to date?  Nobody ever said I wasn't allowed to have a life off duty.”  She glared at Will and spoke with an edge of indignation in her voice.  “Did you guys follow me here?”

Will’s blue eyes focused on hers, icy cold.  “Sarah, tell me how you met this guy.”

“He's
Niko
, my Russian tutor's son.” 

Will flipped open his phone and hit a speed dial number. 
“Your tutor?
  Your tutor set this up?”

Going a little overboard about a date, aren’t we?

“Yeah, why?
  There's no policy that says I can't see men outside the job.  What's this about?”

“You can't see this guy again.”

Sarah stopped smiling and glared at Will. 

Where the hell do these guys get off telling me I can't go out for dinner and drinks with someone?

“Why not?”

Will held the phone to his ear and raised his hand motioning for Sarah to stop.  He spoke quickly into the phone.  “Chris, you need to run a background on Sarah's tutor.”  Will’s jaw was firm and his eyes narrowed when he looked at Sarah again.  “Did the agency set up the tutor?”

“No, she's a civilian from the University of Nevada.”

“She's a civilian, Chris.  Get a complete background.”

I need to have the fucking CIA do background checks on my dates?

“What the hell?  Since when do I need a background check for a dinner date?  It's not like I'm shacking up with the guy.”

This is Vince’s doing.  He doesn't want me, but he doesn't want anybody else to have me either.  Like a dog pissing on a tree. 

“This is bullshit.”

What started as an innocent date and some
great
Russian practice turned into a load of bullshit with the Cock-of-the-Walk.

Will
smiled
at Sarah.  “Just pretend you don't know who we are.” 

Sarah turned on her heel to make her way back to the bar and
Niko
.  “I don't.”

Vince smiled politely at Sarah as she returned through the crowd.  “Sorry to interrupt your evening.”  The bartender finally arrived and Vince ordered with a pat on Nikolai’s shoulder. 
“Your best champagne for my friend, Nikolai.
  Put it on my tab.”

The bartender nodded. 
“Sure, Vince.
  I’ll have it brought to their table.”

Sarah smiled at
Niko
. 
“A friend of yours?”

“A business associate.”
  He slipped a hand around her waist and led her through the crowd.  “Our table is in the Red Room.  Let's get out of this crowd and drink that champagne.”

What kind of associate?  If he was a bad guy, Vince and Will would have whisked me out of here.  Wouldn't they?

Sarah had enjoyed her date with
Niko
up until Will and Vince interrupted.  She had some difficulty getting back in the festive, flirty mood they’d been in previously.  Anger at Vince’s mixed messages festered inside her. 

After a glass of champagne and some small talk,
Niko’s
phone rang.  He pulled the phone from his breast pocket.  “Excuse me?” 

Sarah nodded politely, grateful for the interruption.

“Yes? 
Oh, really?”
  He turned to look at Sarah and he wasn’t smiling.

A chill went up Sarah's spine.

Okay, I am definitely uncomfortable now.

“No, there's no need for that.  Yes, I'll take care of it right now.”  He slipped his phone back into his pocket and fidgeted with his tie.

Sarah smiled demurely.  “Is everything okay?”

“Unfortunately, no.
  I need to take care of some business tonight.  I'm sorry to cut this short.  I'll take you home.”