FEARLESS (9 page)

“The last job...” Joel choked on the last word when Davis sent him the death glare. “What did I say?”

Oh, something was definitely going on. Something about her that they all knew. She hated that. “Someone explain.”

Pax glanced at Davis and then back to her. “Joel’s just talking out of his—”

“Davis.” Yeah, that was where she would have to get the information. “Now.”

Joel looked over at Connor. “Why did he break up with her again?”

“You think he left her?” Connor frowned. “Come on.”

Davis turned the death ray of a look on them all, clearly not happy with whatever this was being played out in front of them. He should try being in her position.

He finally spoke up. “I was on an off-the-books job.”

And that told her absolutely nothing. Well, except that whatever he was hiding was going to be bad.

She grabbed on to the back of the conference chair and dug her dirty fingernails into the soft leather. “Skip the covert-operative speak and tell me.”

“Someone from an old job made a threat. It got back to me and I neutralized the guy.”

Her stomach clenched. He made it all sound so mundane, but she knew better. “Neutralized?”

He shot her one of his famous you-can’t-be-this-naive glares but stayed quiet.

Joel filled in the blank. “Killed.”

Davis exhaled loud enough to drown out all the other noise in the room. “Yeah, Joel, I think she figured that out.”

She blocked them all out except for Davis. She could see figures moving on the screen behind Connor and hear the buzz of the lights over her head. The only thing, only person, who mattered was the man trying so hard not to answer a straight question.

Davis’s careful wording finally penetrated her brain. “What kind of threat?”

“Against you.” Joel slid his chair back when Davis took a step in his direction.

“Wait, your rib injuries are because of me.” She didn’t phrase it as a question because suddenly she knew the right answer.

“Technically, they’re because a guy hit him with a car,” Pax said.

Davis never broke eye contact with her. “Don’t help.”

It all made sense. A sick kind of sense. “Someone was following me and you stopped them?”

Davis didn’t even blink. “Yes.”

She’d had more attackers following her and he’d never warned her. People she didn’t know wanted her dead and he stepped in front of her and suffered in quiet on her behalf. “Who was it?”

“You don’t know him.”

“I can stand here all night, dripping on this floor, until you spill more facts.”

Davis’s gaze bounced down to her feet, then back up again. “We work with the Department of Defense and other agencies and private companies to conduct kidnap rescue missions.”

He stopped there, acting as if that told her anything. “And?”

“We helped out recently when an off-duty service member got caught in the wrong place in the Philippines. A drug runner was killed and his brother didn’t like it. He decided to make an example of me. Someone from my DIA days sold the information about your identity and our relationship, and the news got back to me. Simple.”

Her life had turned into an action movie. “I think you’re unclear on the definition of
simple.
”

“The point is—anyone who investigates Davis’s background will eventually find you.” Connor shot her a sympathetic smile. “If they look deeper, they’ll see he still watches over you and realize the bond isn’t broken.”

Davis closed his eyes and let out a small groan. “I meant to tell you to leave that last part out.”

It was all too much. She’d given back the ring because he’d picked helping someone over being with her. She’d needed him as her stomach had cramped and she’d felt the blood rush out of her.

She’d lost their baby, miscarried, and he’d been so busy and gone so often that he hadn’t even known what had happened. He thought they’d failed to get married and that was the biggest issue, but that was just the start.

The sudden rush of anger raced up and swamped everything. She was furious over his cluelessness and mad at herself for not confronting him all those months ago.

She’d accidentally left a door open and he’d found it and pushed his way through. Instead of moving on and forgetting about her, he still waged battles on her behalf. The last thing she wanted was for him to wade into even more danger because of her.

She pointed at him. “You stink at breaking up.”

“I believe I warned you about that when you left,” Davis shot back.

He’d actually warned her they weren’t over but she hadn’t listened. Now she didn’t know what to think.

Inhaling as big a breath as she could gulp down, she turned and looked at Connor. “Where is this shower?”

He pressed his lips together as if he was trying to suppress a smile. “There’s a crash pad on the top floor.”

“I don’t know what that means.”

“An apartment,” Connor said. “You and Davis can stay up there until we work this out.”

The guy seemed nice and all, and definitely comfortable in his leader role, but no way was she following that suggestion. “What’s on the second floor?”

His gaze shot around the room before settling on her again. “My home.”

“Good. Davis can stay there.” When Davis opened his mouth, likely to say something to make her temples pound, she held up her hand and sent him her best we’re-done-here scowl. “I took out two attackers with a lamp. Don’t tempt me to practice my furniture-throwing skills on your head.”

This time Connor did laugh, but he tried to hide it with the worst fake cough ever. “I’ll be right up.”

Chapter Ten

Ronald Worth headed toward his front door. The usual headache-producing yelling that went along with having two teen daughters fighting over clothes had ended tonight with banging bedroom doors and his wife playing intermediary. Normally he didn’t tolerate such nonsense for long, but he had other things on his mind.

He opened the front door to his assistant, Wayne, and motioned for him to follow into the study. The visit broke his usual rule of separating work and family. He wasn’t a fan of after-hours meetings, but Wayne didn’t exaggerate. If he took the risk of bothering his boss at home, an actual emergency did exist. Something that might be better handled outside of the office.

“What is it?” Ronald asked in a tone he hoped would signal a need to get to the point quickly.

Wayne stood with his hands behind his back, never leaving the safety of the door. Even though it was closed, Wayne looked as if he could bolt right through it.

As far as Ronald could tell, that was the norm for his assistant. Between the sweating and the heavy swallowing, the guy always looked ready to run.

After one of those throat-moving swallows, Wayne started talking. “Ben Tanner.”

Ronald sat in his red leather chair. It was either that or give in to the frustration building inside him and whip something across the room at Wayne. Not that it was his fault. No, this was Steve Wasserman’s fault. The man had stayed silent, observed the pact, for years. One day he grew a conscience and everything went to hell.

But Ben was supposed to contain this mess. He was the guy who understood that rules often didn’t fit a situation and had to be...manipulated. Or that was what his record had said, the personality Ronald had counted on when he’d maneuvered the case to be dumped in Ben’s lap. “What did he do?”

“It’s more like where he is.”

“I am not in the mood for cryptic word games.”

“There was a fire at one of the marinas in Annapolis tonight.” Wayne stepped forward and slipped a sheaf of folded papers out of the inside pocket of his blazer.

Ronald didn’t see the logical leap from fire to Ben. “Did one of the academy midshipman do something?”

“Someone blew up Paxton Weeks’s boat. He’s—”

“I know who he is.” Pulling every string and using every back channel to make sure the trail didn’t lead back to him, Ronald had read the Weeks brothers’ confidential files. He’d given Ben just enough information to connect the players and keep his focus on the Bart woman. Or he thought he had. “Why is Tanner there?”

“I don’t know but he got onto the scene by flashing his NCIS badge. After a few calls, a detective got rerouted to me to confirm Tanner’s legitimacy.”

After only a day Ben Tanner was proving to be a liability. “Injuries?”

“One dead. A male, but it appears to be unrelated to the fire.”

So, no Lara Bart, the woman at the very heart of everything. “This is getting too messy.”

“Sir?”

Maybe this was a good thing. The more focus on the Lara-Bart-as-scorned-lover angle, the less attention on Steve Wasserman’s accusations. “It looks like we have another link to Lara Bart. That woman does seem to turn up everywhere, doesn’t she?”

“I’m not sure if anyone has made that connection.”

This part Ronald could handle without using Ben. “Call your detective back and make sure they do.”

* * *

S
ILENCE
THUMPED
THROUGH
the room as Lara stormed up the steps. Davis had seen her hurt, seen her ticked off. Tonight was a whole new level of anger. She looked as though she could follow through with that lamp threat.

He just wished she’d saved that for a private conversation. He hadn’t wanted to tell her about the car accident just yet. And having it unspool in front of these guys guaranteed he’d be hearing about it forever. The men had gone in together after their DIA team leader had got married and traded his job for a private-security company.

Pax and Davis had decided they preferred Annapolis over San Diego and came back home. Connor had convinced Pax and Davis to join Corcoran and then lured Joel from the government job that had him disillusioned.

Connor broke through the quiet. “That’s an angry woman right there.”

“I’m kind of in love.” Joel took a long drink out of his coffee mug. “In fact, forget the ‘kind of’ part.”

“She’s had a rough day.” Davis grumbled the words because that was all he could manage at this point. Lara wasn’t the only one who’d had enough for one evening.

“Yeah, the
day
was the problem,” Pax joked.

Davis was ready to declare this conversation over. He glanced around at the empty desks on the opposite side of the room, noticing clean tabletops and knowing that meant one thing. “Where’s the rest of the crew?”

“Doing post-job cleanup in Mexico.”

The idea of a new assignment and the chance to legitimately change the subject appealed to him. “What is it? Who’s missing?”

“A diplomat’s kid. It was an easy run and grab for us. The boy is still stunningly spoiled but he’s home now.” Connor shook his head. “But you don’t get to spend even one minute thinking about that job. You have enough to worry about with your woman and figuring this mess out.”

Davis liked the sound of Lara being his. Well, he usually did. Right now he wasn’t sure.

The fighting wasn’t his favorite. He could never understand why every minute couldn’t run smoothly. You fell in love, lived together and—boom—things should straighten out.

Boy, had he been wrong on that score. “You might want to explain to her how she’s mine.”

“I’m not ticking her off by bringing your name up.” Connor handed the remote to Joel, who immediately turned the volume up and flipped back around to rewind the tape. “But I will go get her some clothes.”

As much as Davis wanted to ignore this, he couldn’t. Letting things fester had helped to land them their messed-up relationship in this spot.

Still, he let out a long-suffering poor-males sigh. “Show me the way. I’ll take care of getting her what she needs.”

Pax whistled; this time it sounded like a warning. “Uh, are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“Whether she likes it or not, we’re in this together.” Davis’s only worry was that she really didn’t like it.

Pax didn’t back down. “Are you talking about this operation or the sleeping arrangements?”

“Both.”

It actually took Davis longer than expected to get upstairs. Connor got the clothes and helped Lara settle in. Because every step hurt, Davis let Pax check his injuries and wrap his ribs. The pain pills Davis took had his eyelids drooping.

All he wanted was to climb into bed...with Lara. No sex because, really, he’d never stay awake long enough to enjoy it now that he had the painkillers in his system. But he could hold her.

When he opened the door to the crash pad, the room was dark. He didn’t need a light. He’d stayed there for a few weeks at the beginning of his employment when he couldn’t bring himself to actually move into the house he’d planned to share with her. For almost a month he’d debated selling it without ever putting so much as a shirt in the closet.

Now he saw the Lara-size lump in the bed and thought about lifting his T-shirt off. He gave up when he decided shifting around would only make his ribs ache more. The boxer briefs only stayed on as a concession to her. Sliding into the cool sheets, he lay back and nearly groaned in relief as his head hit the pillow.

She was up and twisting a second later. The light flipped on, highlighting the room in yellow.

“Hey.” He threw his arm over his eyes to block the light.

She shoved it down and stared at him. “What are you doing?”

“Sleeping.”

“Not here.”

“I’m not going to touch you.” Though he was tempted. Her oversize V-neck T-shirt hinted at the amazing body underneath. It had been a long time but he could still remember how soft her skin was and how perfectly her breasts fit his palm.

“Davis.”

For a second he was worried he’d said that last part out loud. “Lara, look. I’m exhausted and in more pain than I want to admit.” He added that last part in the hope the guilt might sway her. “Pax took care of the new injuries and gave me some pills. I could barely stand up in the shower.”

“I’m happy you took one.”

The smell of his shirt would have kept him awake. “I don’t want to fight.”

“I don’t either.”

Could have fooled him. “Are you sure? Because you’re kind of good at it.”

The flat line of her mouth went even straighter. “How much pain are you in?”

He guessed she was debating if she should add more. “Some. What about you and that knee?”

“It’s no big deal. Not like your injuries.” She nibbled on her bottom lip. “So, you’re skipping the doctor?”

He was done talking about his ribs. That conversation could only lead to trouble. If she asked too many questions, they’d circle right back to what had ticked her off so much downstairs—the reason behind him getting run over by a car.

“Does this hurt?” He traced his finger over the small nick on her throat. The ends of her hair, damp from a shower, brushed against his hand. “I wanted to kill him for hurting you.”

Her eyes did that thing where they got all soft. He had no idea how women did that. It was one of those secrets perfected over time and handed down through the generations. Women’s eyes got big and sweet and men turned stupid. He was no exception.

She rubbed the back of her hand over his beard stubble. “You rescued me.”

“Eventually.” Almost too late, and that ate at him. He’d see her face, the pleading as the terror threatened to swamp her, every time he closed his eyes.

She tilted her head and her hair slid over her shoulder. “Don’t do that. You’re not superhuman.”

“But you are.” Strong and sexy and so damn determined that his heart swelled just from watching her.

He still loved her. A piece of him had always known it, sensed the deep feelings had never gone away. He piled anger and regret on top of the love, but it thumped as strong as ever. Seeing her convinced him of that. Touching her, kissing her brought home the reality that he always would love her.

He had no idea what to do about his feelings or how to win her back. Then there was the very real part where he wanted her to explain and admit that leaving him had at least been a little difficult for her. She’d broken him and he didn’t even know if she cared.

But now wasn’t the time. His words were starting to slur and his brain skipped and stammered over making simple connections. Still, he needed her to know one thing. “You made me proud today.”

Her smile was instantaneous. “Really?”

“Yeah, honey.”

She dropped a kiss on his nose then scooted back to her side of the queen-size bed before he could respond. She glanced back at him over her shoulder. “Okay, you get to sleep here, but keep your hands to yourself.”

“Oh, I can’t promise that.”

“You need your sleep.”

He could hear the smile in her voice. “Then you’re safe.”

But for tonight only. As soon as the pain subsided he planned to remind her just how good they were together. If it took a battle to get her back he’d come armed for war.