Lethal Consequences (23 page)

He closed his eyes again. “I’m just like him.”

“No, you’re not.” She leaned down and brushed her mouth over his. “You’re nothing like him.” He drew in a sharp breath and held it while her lips gently skimmed his. “I wouldn’t be anywhere near you if you were.” She tipped her head the other way and kissed him once more, wanting to ease his suffering. Wanting to share it with him. “I wouldn’t need to feel you inside me again right this second if you were.”

He groaned, slid his hands up to her face, and opened to her kiss, taking her mouth with so much passion, she felt it all the way in her toes. And as he rolled her to her back and continued to kiss her, she knew this was a start, not an end like she’d thought only hours before.

When she was breathless and aching again, he pulled back and looked down at her. The torment was gone, but that fear she recognized was back. A fear she wasn’t about to let him use against her.

He skimmed a finger over her cheek. “I need you to go home with Eve tomorrow. Can you do that for me?”

She lifted her mouth back to his. “Nope.”

He sighed in exasperation. “Olivia—”

“You use my full name whenever you’re frustrated with me.” She kissed the corner of his mouth. “Ever notice that?”

He frowned down at her. “That’s an awful lot lately.”

She smiled and kissed the other side of his mouth. “I know. I like it.”

“Livy—”

Warmth spread all through her chest. She loved when he called her that. “I’m not going back with Eve, Landon. So you can either leave me here alone or take me with you to find Danica Crossler.”

His expression narrowed. “You can’t manipulate me.”

“I’m not.” She kissed the scar near his cheekbone, then the one along his jaw. “I’m just telling you the way it is.”

He closed his eyes as her lips moved down to his jaw, then across to his ear. “I’ve been beaten, starved, shocked . . . you name it and I’ve lived through it. But you, Olivia Wolfe. You just might be the person to break me.”

“Only if it breaks you to my will.” She moved back to his mouth and kissed him one more time. “I’m not going anywhere, Landon.”

“Yes, you are.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck, loving that he was still fighting her on this, loving that she mattered that much to him. Before, his stubbornness would have aggravated her, but now all it did was reaffirm that she had the power, and they both knew it. “I’d be worried there was something wrong with you if you capitulated too quickly.”

“You’re trouble for me, woman.”

She was. And she loved that too.

She slid her tongue into his mouth and leaned back into the mattress, tugging him on top of her. Her legs opened, and she groaned as his weight pressed against hers and his hand skimmed her side, then traced the length of her arm.

This she could definitely get used to. They’d turned a corner tonight, and whether he admitted it or not, she knew he was aware of that fact too. She didn’t care how long it took, she was going to convince him he could get used to this too.

He eased back from her mouth and looked down at her arm. “What is that?”

Frustrated he’d stopped kissing her, she glanced toward her inner arm and realized what he was seeing. A whisper of unease rushed through her. “It’s nothing. Just a bruise.”

“I don’t remember seeing that before.” He leaned closer to get a better look. “Did you get caught in some brush when we were running? When did you notice it?”

Olivia sighed. He was sliding back into overprotective mode. This was exactly why she hadn’t told him—because she hadn’t wanted him to worry. But now it seemed there was no way to hide it anymore. “When we were at that compound and they took me back to question me, they gave me some kind of injection. I thought it was more drugs to knock me out, but I guess it wasn’t. Maybe truth serum? I have no idea. You’re the superspy. Anyway, whatever it was, it didn’t work because I never felt any different.”

He turned her arm to get a better look in the low light, and she saw the worry creeping into his eyes. Worry that was going to derail their romantic evening if she didn’t head it off. “I have sensitive skin, Landon. It’s no big deal. Whenever I have blood drawn or get vaccines, my skin bruises.”

“That’s not a bruise.” Landon held her arm still in the moonlight spilling through the window, and she watched his face pale. Watched every muscle in his body tighten. He pushed off her and rolled to his hip. “Get dressed.”

The fine hairs all along Olivia’s nape stood straight. She glanced down at her inner arm. The area around the injection site wasn’t just dark blue, it was turning black, something she hadn’t paid much attention to until this moment.

“Get dressed right now,” Landon said again, already tugging on his jeans, his voice tight. “Hurry.”

“
Call me with an update tomorrow.” Jake Ryder ran a hand through his hair as he stood in the hall outside the gym with his phone pressed to his ear, putting out fires three thousand miles away. Cade Blackwell, ex-FBI and one of his best operatives, was currently having problems with a client who refused to listen to reason. A common occurrence with rich assholes who knew diddly-squat about security.

“Will do,” Blackwell said. “And let me know if you need anything in Italy from my end. Can’t believe the shit Miller’s in. Glad it’s not me.”

Jake frowned. “I’ll be sure to pass that sentiment along. Stay out of trouble, Blackwell.”

“Will do, boss.”

Jake hit End and shoved his phone into his pocket. Some days he wondered why the hell he’d started a security company. He could have simply taken over his father’s megacorporation and lived the easy life on his old man’s money.

Shaking his head, he turned back for the gym. Like that would ever happen. He never touched the money that was left for him. Couldn’t stand to take a single thing from the son of a bitch who’d barely spared him a second look in life. Hell, the only reason he used the man’s properties now was because they were beneficial to Aegis. And because his shit-for-brains father never would have approved of his crew running wild through his pristine homes.

He pushed the door to the gym open and stepped back inside. Marley and Mick Hedley were both picking up towels and replacing gym equipment. Jake glanced at his watch, wanting nothing more than to drop into bed for a good five hours before he had to get up and do it all again. “You both should hit the hay. Marley, I need you up early gathering info on the Red Brotherhood’s latest targets.”

Marley dropped the towel in her hand on a chair and stepped out onto the mat. “Sleep can wait. Mick and I have been practicing, but I need a new challenge. What do you say, boss man?”

Jake glanced up from his watch and eyed his assistant. Dressed in only a fitted blue tank and black spandex running shorts that showed off muscles in her ass and legs Jake didn’t need to notice, Marley grinned, the twinkle in her eye catching him completely off guard. She wasn’t serious, was she?

“Dead serious,” she said, as if reading his mind. “Come on, Jake. I dare you.”

“You dare me?” He huffed. “What are you, five?”

Her smile widened. A smile Jake hadn’t seen on her before. One that lit up her face and made her blue eyes absolutely sparkle. “Chicken?”

An odd tingle ran through Jake’s belly. One he didn’t want. “I’m not Marty McFly. Taunting me isn’t going to work. Come on, get off the mat.”

Marley stayed right where she was. “You know, I never see you in the gym with the guys. Getting soft in your old age? Or are you just too afraid to mess up your fancy clothes?”

Jake glanced down at the Brooks Brothers slacks and Hugo Boss dress shirt he’d yet to change out of since he and Marley had hopped that flight from Kentucky to Rome, then looked back to her. He made a point not to work out with the guys in the Aegis gyms. That was their space to blow off steam between ops, and he knew all too well how much it sucked to have a CO—or boss—invading your downtime.

“Trust me, Addison, you don’t want this. I won’t go easy on you like Hedley.”

Across the mat, Hedley swiped a towel across the back of his neck and chuckled. “She might surprise you, boss.”

Jake doubted it. People rarely surprised him. Not after the shit he’d seen.

Marley moved to the middle of the mat. “We’ll see. Take your shoes off.”

A little voice in the back of his head warned this was a really bad idea. He could see from the wicked glint in Marley’s blue eyes that she was just goading him, but for some reason, the implication that she thought he was weak revved his adrenaline.

He toed off his Prada loafers before he thought better of it, pushed his sleeves up past his elbows, and joined her on the mat. “Hedley’s a witness. I warned you.”

Marley smiled as she circled around him. “There you go, thinking I’m nothing but a secretary.”

He didn’t think she was just a secretary. He knew she was a hell of a lot more. But he also knew he needed to make sure she knew her place.

He lowered his head and lunged for her legs to drop her in a two-leg take
down, one that wouldn’t hurt her too much. But before he could grab hold, she slammed h
er arms on each of his shoulders, blocking his momentum, then wrapped her right forearm under and around his throat in a guillotine hold. The movement cut off his airflow, and even before her knee connected with his abdomen and her other hand braced against his shoulder, he knew he was going over. She jerked her weight back, dragging him with her, then shoved hard against his belly, flipping him up and over her shoulder until his back slammed against the mat.

Marley let go of him, rolled over, and pushed to her hands and knees. She grinned down at him. “You okay?”

Jake blinked several times, staring at her upside-down face. That was not a first timer’s move. Not even close. And she knew he knew it. Her sky-blue eyes absolutely sparkled. “You could have snapped my neck.”

“I know.” Her smile widened. “I chose not to.”

Behind Jake, Hedley chuckled. “I warned you, boss. Nice one, Addison.”

Marley rose to her feet, walked around Jake, and held out her hand to help him up. “Truce?”

He eyed her hand and gloating grin and reached for her fingers. Her palm brushed his, silky smooth and small against his own, and the muscles in her arms flexed. But before she could tug him up, he jerked back, yanking her off her feet. She gasped, fell against him, and quickly tried to push off, but he hooked a leg around hers and rolled her to her back before she could. Then he pinned her arms to the mat on both sides of her face and leaned down toward her.

The sweet scents of feminine sweat, followed by sandalwood, vanilla, and some kind of flower he couldn’t name, assailed his nostrils. She sputtered and shook the wisps of hair out of her eyes as she glared up at him. And this time it was his turn to grin. “Now we can call it a truce.”

“You fight dirty, Ryder.”

“No one in the real world’s going to fight fair. Get used to it.”

The door to the gym burst open.

“Ryder, we’ve got a problem.” Zane Archer’s voice filled the room. “I need you and Marley right now.”

Jake’s smile faded, and he let go of Marley, turning his head to look toward the door. Before he could even open his mouth to answer, her forearm connected with his trachea, then her hand shoved hard against his shoulder, knocking him off her in a split-second move. He landed on his back with a crunch. Marley shook back her hair, pushed to her feet, and muttered, “There’s your truce.”

She stepped off the mat and reached for her sweatshirt, and, still laid out on the ground, Jake pushed up on his hands and watched her, awed and . . . more than a little impressed. A one-sided smile pulled at his lips, and that same tingle that had rushed down his spine earlier came screaming back, only this time it brought a wave of heat straight to his belly.

She zipped her sweatshirt and looked toward Archer. “What’s going on?”

“It’s Olivia,” Archer said, bracing the door open with one arm. “Eve’s with her, and it’s not good. I think we’re going to need a doctor.”

Fuck.

Archer’s words knocked Jake right back to reality. He pushed to his feet, cursing himself for spending time dicking around in here when he should have gone after Miller. Every man in Miller’s line of work had a breaking point, and Jake had noticed Miller was dangerously close to his before he’d left the gym. “If he freakin’ snapped and hurt her—”

Archer looked Jake’s way. “It’s not Miller. It looks like Olivia was injected with something when she was taken. Something bad.”

“I’m fine,” Olivia huffed as her sister pushed her into the same chair Landon had sat in earlier when Marley had pulled that bullet from his shoulder. A perturbed look darkened her face. One Landon knew all too well because she’d unleashed the same look on him only an hour ago. “I don’t know why you’re all freaking out. I have sensitive skin. You know that, Eve.”

“Liv,” Eve said, tugging the soft cotton, long-sleeved T-shirt Olivia had slipped into up past her elbow. “Just humor us, okay?”

Olivia frowned as Eve pulled her arm out and laid it palm up over the armrest so she could look at the black markings all around the inner bend of Olivia’s elbow. “I feel fine. There’s nothing wrong with me.” Her gaze shifted to Landon, standing near the door. “Would you tell her I’m fine?”

Landon’s jaw clenched, but he didn’t answer. He couldn’t. Not yet. Not until he knew more. But inside his stomach churned, and that familiar warning that he hadn’t listened to once since he’d met the woman shrilled like a screaming siren.

Footsteps echoed through the open door, and seconds later a sweaty Marley and a rumpled Ryder stepped into the room, followed by Archer.

“What’s going on?” Marley asked.

Eve glanced her way. “I don’t know. She was injected with something. I can’t tell what’s going on, but the skin is definitely not bruised. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

No, it definitely wasn’t bruised. She was having some kind of reaction. Something that Landon guessed was making the skin necrotic. Which meant whatever shit those douchebags had injected Olivia with was bad. Really bad.

Marley stepped close and pressed her fingers all around the blackened skin. “Does that hurt?”

“No.” Olivia frowned Landon’s way, and he knew she was pissed that he’d dragged her in here and was making a big deal about this, but she didn’t know the kind of people they were dealing with or what they could do. He did. “It doesn’t hurt. I’m fine. Would you all stop freaking out already?”

The phone in Landon’s pocket buzzed, and he pulled it out and glanced down. Relief rippled through him when he recognized the number. He held the phone to his ear and turned for the door. “Dani. That was fast.”

“I have to say this is a surprise.” Danica Crossler’s familiar voice was warm and friendly, as always. “Usually I’m the one contacting you through back channels.”

“I know.” Landon moved out into the hall and leaned against the wall. He swiped a hand over his brow. Dammit, he was sweating. He never got worked up during an op. But this wasn’t an op. This was personal. And if those fuckers had done something to Olivia . . .

“You don’t sound good, Landon. Something’s wrong, isn’t it?”

Danica was only twenty-two years old, but she was one of the most world-weary people he’d ever met. He just didn’t like thinking about the reason for that weariness. Or his role in it all.

“Dani, listen. The Red Brotherhood’s looking for you.”

Silence echoed over the line. Then, “H-how do you know?”

“Because they nabbed me and a friend while we were in Barcelona. And they clearly wanted one thing—information on your whereabouts.”

More silence.

Landon knew Dani was already thinking ten steps ahead. He’d taught her well, but the girl was smarter than shit and had learned quickly the importance of taking care of herself.

“Someone must have seen us together,” she finally said. “What did you tell them?”

“Nothing. At first I thought they were just after your father’s research, but now I’m pretty sure they already have it.”

“Why on earth would you say that?” Surprise echoed in Dani’s voice, telling Landon exactly what he’d wanted to hear. She hadn’t leaked her father’s science. The girl wasn’t in hiding just because she was afraid for her life, but because she was afraid for the whole world if her father’s deadly biotoxin was discovered.

“They injected something in my friend’s arm. The skin around her injection site is turning black. I’ve seen some nasty shit in my life, but I’ve never seen a drug on the planet do that.”

“Her who?”

He tensed. “Olivia. Her name’s Olivia.”

Silence echoed over the line, and Landon knew Dani’s brain was spinning, but he wasn’t sure in which direction. He thought of Dani as the younger sister he’d never had, and he’d pretty much bent over backward out of guilt to get her to safety and set up with a new life. But he knew she thought differently of him. And that was just one of the many reasons he kept his distance.