Hot Package (A Hostile Operations Team Novella)(#3) (8 page)

“I’m not crying over you, Billy,” she said, trying to convince herself as much as him. “I’m crying because that felt so damn good. I was wound up tight and you unwound me. That’s all.”

His mouth was still on her shoulder, so gentle, so sweet. “I know, Livvie.”

“I should go,” she said, though she didn’t really want to. But if she stayed, she’d end up deeper in love with him than ever. And she still didn’t know what the future held. If she could trust him to be there for her, or if he’d go away and get killed in a warzone. If he’d leave her.

He turned her in his arms then, came up on an elbow beside her and stroked the tears away with his fingers. “Stay with me.”

The tree twinkled and she could see snow falling when she looked up at the window. Billy was beside her, warm and solid and alive, and something inside her twisted, like a key fitting into a lock. He was the key, she realized. The key to her heart.

And though it frightened her to let him in, even a little bit, she lifted her arms and put them around his neck. “Yes,” she said simply. Because, for her, there was no other choice.

***

Billy couldn’t take his eyes off Olivia. He watched her laughing with Evie, and with Sam McKnight’s fiancé, Georgeanne Hayes. Liv was gorgeous, but it was more than that. There was something about this one woman that tore him up inside and made him willing to do anything to keep her happy.

Anything to keep her.

He hadn’t expected to make love to her for half the night, but that’s exactly what had happened. The best Christmas present ever in his opinion. If he were lucky, he’d take her home and do it all again tonight.

“Looks like you got it bad, Kid.”

Billy jerked his head up to find Sam standing beside him. Sam’s gaze strayed to the women and Billy wondered if the gleam in the man’s eyes as he looked at his fiancé was anything like the way Billy looked at Olivia.

“Pot and kettle, dude,” he said softly.

Sam laughed. “Yeah, no doubt.”

Matt wandered over and joined them. “Y’all hungry? Evie’s been at it since daybreak.”

“Smells amazing,” Billy said. He already knew it would be. Evie Baker couldn’t cook a bad meal.

Matt took a sip of his drink. It looked like a mixed drink—cola and something—but Billy knew better. Richie Rich didn’t drink. Ever.

“Got some news on that recording,” Matt said, and Billy’s gaze whipped to his commanding officer. “Nothing good, I’m afraid. It’s a car radio in the background. The station was DC Metro.”

“So whoever called Olivia was in a car and in the local area.”

“Yeah.”

Billy blew out a breath. “Not helpful at all.”

Matt looked unhappy. “No. And nothing new on Titan either. Mendez is digging. He’s called some of his contacts at the NSA. But there’s nothing, other than a tenuous connection to Congressman Black. It’s his district that will benefit the most if the deal goes through. That’s not enough to stop it. We need hard evidence.”

Sam said, “Congress hasn’t voted yet. We have time.”

“Not a lot, but yeah, we have time.” Matt looked up as the women laughed, his gaze seeking Evie. He stood there for a long minute, about as lost in Evie as Sam and Billy had been in Georgie and Olivia. The only difference, Billy thought with envy, was that Sam and Matt knew where they were headed with their women.
 

“We need to find Cooper,” Billy said. He wanted to get this over with and behind them so he could figure out what was going on with him and Olivia too. Could he let her back into his life again? Or was it best if they left it at a few nights of hot sex and moved on?
 

He knew she’d had a shitty childhood, and he knew she didn’t trust easily. He’d been pissed when she’d asked him to give up HOT, but he understood where it came from.

“If he’s still alive,” Jack Hunter said, and Billy started because Hawk had a way of being there and not being there at the same time. He’d been so damn quiet that Billy hadn’t noticed him. But he was sitting on the couch, a beer in his hand, his surfer-boy looks as golden and gleaming as ever—except for a darkness in his blue eyes that said he wasn’t the pretty boy everyone assumed he was on first glance. No, he definitely wasn’t. When it was necessary, Hawk was a cold-blooded killing machine capable of taking out a target from over a mile away with his sniper rifle.

No one said anything for a long moment. The doorbell rang and Matt went to answer it. A few seconds later he came back with Kevin MacDonald and Lucky San Ramos in tow. Lucky looked stone-faced and Kev looked as if he could chew nails for breakfast. Man, Billy didn’t envy Kev this detail at all. It was clear as hell that Kev was in love with Lucky—and that he was determined not to let it show.

As for Lucky, who knew? She didn’t look happy, that was for sure. And why would she be when she was about to put her life on the line searching for the terrorist who’d tortured her?

Lucky went to join the other women while the men sat in the living room with the Christmas tree twinkling, carols playing softly, and the irritation of being unable to find Alan Cooper—or the evidence to blow the Titan deal out of the water—hanging over their heads like a malevolent cloud.

As the afternoon wore on, they tried to put the situation behind them as much as possible. The food was amazing, as always, and the camaraderie with these guys couldn’t be beat. They were brothers, even if they weren’t actually related. Billy would trust his life with any one of these guys, and they with him.

And they all had, many times.

Eventually, it was time to say goodbye. Billy helped Olivia into the truck and they drove the distance back to his house without saying much. There was an awkwardness between them, but there was also heat and want. No matter how desperately he wanted her again, he decided to let her be the one to make the first move. If she fled when they got back to his place, he’d respect that.

Except his cock was half-hard already, remembering the way she’d melted around him last night, her body opening to him, her soft cries of pleasure ringing in his ears. Billy shook his head. He needed to focus, needed to think about what else he could possibly do to find Alan Cooper or discover who was behind the conspiracy.

He pulled into his driveway, still thinking about how he wanted to strip Olivia naked the instant they walked through the door. He’d just gotten out of the truck when it hit him that something didn’t feel right.

Before he could figure out why that was, a gun jammed right up beneath his ribs. It wasn’t anything he hadn’t experienced before so he didn’t panic. He just put up his hands and tried to assess the situation. He could disarm the guy easily, even now—

Except Olivia stumbled around the front of the truck then, her eyes wide with fear as another guy had one arm wrapped around her and a gun to her jaw.

“Do anything, anything at all,” a menacing voice behind him said, “and Miss Reese will die.”

CHAPTER NINE

They were locked in a warehouse. Billy was zip-tied with his hands behind his back but they’d left Olivia free. It was almost an insult, but then she was thankful they hadn’t thought her enough of a threat to tie her up.

The warehouse was empty, except for a couple of chairs and a table, so there wasn’t even anything they could really use to break free.
 

“I’m sorry, Billy,” she said again.

He’d shut down a long time ago, his expression carefully blank. It scared her that he didn’t show any emotion. How did he do that?

“It’s not your fault, Liv.”

“It is. I didn’t think about my car.” When she’d slid off the road, the car automatically dialed BMW. They’d asked her if she was okay and she’d said yes. They’d asked if she needed assistance and she’d said no. Because she’d known she was close to Billy’s house and she’d intended to walk the rest of the way rather than wait an hour in the car for a man to show up with a tow truck. She’d been too scared to wait.

“Even if you’d told me, I might not have considered that someone would use the tracking information to find you.”

But he would have. She knew it as sure as she knew her own name. It’s what he did.
 

“I appreciate you trying to spare my feelings, but we both know I’m the reason we’re here.”

“No, we’re here because someone wants to defraud the U.S. Government and put soldiers in danger just so they can make a quick buck.”

He was pacing back and forth, his gaze flashing hot. Even with his arms behind him, he looked dangerous.

“Whoever this is, they have access, Liv. Your average guy isn’t going to be able to use your BMW’s tracking info to find you.”

“You could,” she said.

He gave her a grin that surprised her. “And who said I was average, babe?”

She sank down on one of the chairs and tried not to hyperventilate. Her heart was pounding hard. She wasn’t accustomed to someone jamming a gun in her face and forcing her into a car. She’d been thinking about what was going to happen when the door closed to Billy’s house, if she’d jump on him and strip him or try to remain cool, when someone grabbed her from behind and slapped a gloved hand over her mouth. She couldn’t even warn Billy.

When the man had pushed her around the truck, she’d been relieved that Billy was still alive. And scared to death because she could see the violence in his eyes. He hadn’t acted on it, however. He’d stayed cool, even when the men had marched them down the road to a waiting car and shoved them in it. If it had only been light out, they might have seen the guys waiting in ambush.

But they hadn’t.

The door opened then and a man came in. Olivia was on her feet in a second.

“Tom! What the hell is going on?”

Tom Howard sauntered over with his hands in his pockets, looking apologetic. “I’m so sorry to put you through this. I’m afraid Alan has lost his mind.” He waved a hand as if he were waving away a fly. “I tried to keep it quiet, but then he disappeared. He’s dangerous, Olivia. Very dangerous.”

Billy had leaned a hip against the table. He looked so casual, as if they were still at Matt and Evie’s place and he was just listening to the conversation.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Olivia said, focusing on Tom again. “But I don’t know how I can help.”

“He sent you something. I’d like to see it.”

“I don’t have it.” Which was true. She’d turned the disc over to HOT yesterday in case they could find some sort of DNA evidence on it that might help.

Tom’s forehead was shiny. He smiled again. “What did you do with it?”

She shrugged. Maybe she should have denied that Alan had sent her anything, but then she knew that the best lies were those closest to the truth.

“There was nothing really on it. Just some notes of Alan’s.” She forced a laugh. “He tried to say the test results were wrong, but there was no evidence of it. I think he probably wanted to give the company a black eye.”

Tom’s eyes gleamed. “But what did you do with the disc?”

“I shredded it.”

Tom stared at her for a minute. And then he tsked. “Olivia, why are you lying to me? You brought this man—” he jerked his head at Billy “—to the office yesterday. Why would you do that if you weren’t looking for something?”

Olivia’s pulse thrummed. She didn’t dare look at Billy. “Sex,” she said softly. “He’s pretty hot and I…” She swallowed. “I wanted to impress him so he’d sleep with me.”

“Jesus, Tom,” someone said from the door. “The girl’s lying. Shoot the bastard and then she’ll tell you what you want to know.”

Another man came into the light then. He was tall and wore a long cashmere coat. His hair was brown with just a hint of gray on the sides. He was elegant and cultured—and recognizable. But she couldn’t worry about Congressman Black at the moment. Instead, her attention was focused on the man walking behind him. The one who held up a gun and pointed it at Billy’s heart.

“Go ahead,” Black said, shrugging.

“No,” Olivia cried, rushing toward the man with the gun. The gun swung at her and she crashed to a stop. It’s what she’d wanted, but having a gun pointed at her wasn’t any better. “I didn’t shred it. I gave it to an elite Special Operations unit.”

Congressman Black swore. Tom paled. The man with the gun didn’t move. Black stood there for a long moment. And then he shrugged.

“There’s nothing to connect me to it, Tom,” he said. “And I intend to keep it that way.” He jerked his head at the armed guy. “Need it to look like an accident. A murder-suicide.”

“And Howard?”

Black considered it for a long moment. “Suicide is the only honorable way out.”

***

They were alone again, waiting while the men outside this room figured out precisely how to deal with them. They’d taken Tom with them, but Olivia couldn’t spare a thought for him. All she could think about was Billy and everything she wished she’d ever said or done.

“I didn’t expect it to end like this,” she said.

“It’s not over, Livvie. Don’t give up.”

“I know you’re trained to get out of bad situations, but you usually have your team behind you. Or a weapon at least. All you’ve got is a couple of chairs, a table, and me. And you’re tied up. I don’t see how this can work in our favor.”