Operation: Midnight Guardian (12 page)

“Mattie, I told you I’d look into your case.”

“Daniel Savage is a smart man. He was care
ful. My defense attorney was good. She and her army of investigators couldn’t find anything to save me. What makes you think you can?”

“I’m better.”

“You’re not going to risk your career for the likes of me. You don’t know me. You don’t care about—”

“I care,” he said.

“If you cared you would not turn me in.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“It is if you want it to be.”

Cutter set down his sandwich and gave her a hard look. “Doing the right thing and doing what I want are not one and the same.”

“What is it you want, Cutter?” Throwing down her napkin, she rose abruptly. “Justice? The truth?”

“I’m trying to do the right thing.”

“Yeah? Well here’s a newsflash for you—you’re not. I’m innocent and you’re doing your utmost to send me to prison. What can possibly be right about that?”

“I can’t bend the rules because they don’t suit you,” he said. “Damn it, I have to go about this the right way. There’s protocol. I’ll need proof before I can help you.”

“Don’t tell me about protocol or proof or
right and wrong. My life is destroyed. If you take me back none of that is going to save me.”

Angry now, Cutter flung down his napkin and surged to his feet. “A little trust on your part would go a long way right now.”

“Trusting the wrong person is how I got into this mess in the first place,” she returned.

“I’m nothing like Savage,” he said.

“No, you’re just a little more up-front about wanting to ruin my life.”

“Damn it, Mattie, I care.”

“Care about what?” she said. “Protocol?”

He looked into her eyes. “You,” he said, and started toward her.

Chapter Eleven

Mattie stared at Cutter. The draw she felt to him was like a powerful magnet, pulling her with undeniable force.

“It’s the truth.” Cutter stopped a scant foot away from her. So close she could smell the soap from his shower. “You don’t spend two days with someone fighting for your life and not know what they’re made of.”

“Thank you for saying that,” she said after a moment.

“Try to be patient,” he said. “Trust me. Can you do that?”

She studied him for a long time. Such a hardened face. But his eyes did not lie. “Okay.”

“Sit back down and eat.”

Feeling more relaxed, she returned to her chair and sat. But her mind was spinning. Did
he truly care about her? Or would he forget about her once she was locked away.

Trust me.

Oh, how she wanted to put her trust in him. But Mattie had been badly burned by Daniel Savage. She knew Cutter was nothing like him. Still, the one thing the two men did share was an agenda. Cutter’s was to take her in.

It was the one thing she could not allow.

They ate without speaking. When Mattie finished, she rose and walked to the window and looked out at the snowy landscape beyond. She chose her next words carefully. “The Jaguar can clear me, Cutter.”

“We have to catch him first.”

“I agree.” She turned, watched his eyes narrow. “The best, maybe the only way to catch him is staring you right in the face. For some reason you’re not seeing it.”

“Don’t go there, Mattie.”

“Use me as bait.”

“No,” he said flatly.

“You know it will work.”

“I know it’s a bad idea.”

“Bad for whom?”

“For you.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. Don’t you see?
All of us win. You get your man. I get cleared. And we nab this bastard once and for all.”

His jaw flexed. “If he gets his hands on you, he’ll kill you.”

“It’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

“I’m not.”

“It’s my decision.”

“The hell it is,” he said. “Damn it, Mattie, you have no idea what that son of a bitch is capable of.”

“I think I do.”

A rough sound that was supposed to be a laugh ground from his throat. “You don’t have a clue.”

“I know that I’d rather face death than life in prison for something I didn’t do!”

Cutter jumped to his feet. When Mattie turned away, he grabbed her arm, and with his other hand he ripped open his shirt. Buttons flew and bounced on the floor. He worked the shirt from his body and flung it onto the back of a chair. Then he turned his back to her.

She gasped at the sight of the angry red scars crisscrossing his back. It was as if his flesh had been melted, removed and then dribbled back on like hot wax. It struck her that even when she’d treated his bullet wound, he’d never
allowed her to see his back. Now she knew why, and her heart shattered.

“My God,” she heard herself say. “Cutter…”

“This is what he’s capable of,” he said in a low voice. “Take a good long look before you decide you want to use yourself as bait.”

Mattie put her hand over her mouth in shock. She knew the physical wounds on this man’s back had long since healed. But how could someone ever recover from such a terrible ordeal? Cutter had suffered agonies she couldn’t imagine. What kind of monster could do some thing like this? The knowledge that this had been intentionally done by another human being outraged her, sickened her.

“The Jaguar did that to you?” she asked.

“Took him fourteen hours, but he got the job done.” Cutter turned to her, his face an unread able mask. “Take my word for it. You don’t want to cross him.”

Her mind was reeling. She’d always suspected there was something personal between Cutter and The Jaguar. Now she knew what that something was, and it horrified her. “I’m sorry,” she heard herself say.

“Don’t be.” Bending he snatched his shirt
from the floor. “Those scars keep me focused. They help me do my job.”

She didn’t know what to say. She remembered the nightmare he’d wakened from and wondered what agonies were locked inside his head.

He started to put on the shirt. Before Mattie realized she was going to move she was out of the chair and going to him. She didn’t know what she was going to do once she reached him. All she knew was that this man had suffered horribly. The need to take away his pain, to give him what little comfort she could superceded the need for caution, the need to protect herself.

He jolted when she put her hand on his shoulder. Surprise and caution and another emotion she couldn’t quite read filled his eyes when he turned to her.

“He hurt you,” she said.

“I screwed up. The Jaguar upheld his reputation.”

“Cutter, he’s a monster.”

“My point exactly.” He made another attempt to pull on the shirt. When she stopped him, he shot her a questioning look. “Mattie…”

“You don’t have to hide them from me.”

“They’re…grotesque.”

“They’re not,” she whispered. “They’re part of you.”

“A part of me you don’t want to know.”

“Maybe I do. Maybe I want to know all of you.”

His gaze searched hers with an intensity that had her heart racing. “We both know this can’t go anywhere.”

She could see the rapid rise and fall of his chest. Caution flickered in his eyes when she raised her hand and touched his cheek.

“Don’t,” he said, but the word was little more than a puff of breath on his lips.

“Why?”

“Because I’m not a strong enough man to stop you.”

“Or maybe deep inside you know I’m not what they say I am,” she said, and raised her mouth to his.

CUTTER HAD KNOWN this moment would come. He’d known it was inevitable. As a federal agent he knew he should resist. But as a man, powerfully attracted to her, he suddenly didn’t care about right or wrong or repercussions.

He didn’t kiss her back. His body went rigid on contact. He went so far as to set his hands on her slender shoulders, but he didn’t push her
away. Instead, his fingers dug into the softness of her shoulders. Growling low in his throat, he pulled her against him.

Her mouth was wet and soft against his. Her body conformed to his with utter perfection. He was aware of her arms going around his shoulders, her body going liquid against his. He’d wanted to kiss her for so long, and he reveled in the sheer pleasure of it.

He assured himself he would come to his senses in a moment. He knew better than to get caught up in a moment like this. Two years ago he’d fallen prey to temptation while in the midst of a mission, and he’d nearly paid with his life. He’d sworn never to do it again.

But sanity refused to rally. When she sighed and snuggled closer, he knew he had to have more.

He deepened the kiss. She opened to him. His tongue entwined with hers. In the back of his mind a sane little voice cried out for him to pull away and regroup. But the need to feel her body against his was consuming.

Blood rushed hotly to his groin. She was small and soft and curvy. A groan of pleasure escaped him when she put her hands against his chest. He shuddered when her fingertips skimmed over his nipples. The floor tilted be
neath his feet when she wrapped her fingers around him.

Cutter knew he was about to cross a line. He knew it was a line that couldn’t be traversed a second time. This transgression could cost him his career. But with her mouth against his and the knowledge that she was innocent pounding through him in perfect time with his heart, he could no more stop what they were about to do than he could stop breathing.

He swept her into his arms and started for the bed.

THERE WERE A THOUSAND reasons why Mattie should not be kissing Sean Cutter. First and foremost there was the matter of his being a federal agent and her status as his prisoner. That hard cold fact stood squarely in the way of anything ever coming of this moment.

But the sensation of his mouth against hers was like a drug, making her do things she normally wouldn’t do. She realized she was making a mistake. The knowledge that it wasn’t the first one rapped at her brain like insistent knuckles against a door. Mattie had made a terrible mistake by trusting the wrong person once before. She’d given her heart to Daniel
Savage only to have him betray her. Could she be making the same mistake again?

But Cutter was nothing like Savage. His character rose far above that of her former coworker. He was a straight shooter. But he was still a man. They had spent over thirty-six intense, high-adrenaline hours together. Had the intensity of the situation brought about this moment? Or were the emotions, the sensations coursing through her coming from someplace deeper?

He reached the bed, let her slide to her feet and kissed her hard on the mouth. His fingertips were electric against her skin, and she felt the tingle all the way to her bones, the pleasure drowning out the nagging doubts and questions plaguing her mind.

His palms were warm and slightly rough against her face. “You know this is risky business,” he said roughly.

“I know,” she said. “Your job…”

“Risky for both of us,” he cut in. “Not just me.”

Confusion swirled for an instant. “You mean it doesn’t change anything.”

“It changes everything,” he corrected. “But I still have to do my job.”

“Cutter, you know I’m innocent.”

“I know.”

Emotion formed a knot in her throat, but she swallowed it. “You said you’d help me.”

“I will, Mattie. I promise, I’ll do my best to clear your name.” His jaw tightened. “But I still have to take you in. If I don’t, we both become fugitives and that will only make everything worse.”

Hurt twisted inside her. She’d known he was the kind of man who would do his job no matter what. She just hadn’t expected it to hurt so badly. “Cutter, I can help you bring down The Jaguar.”

“No,” he growled.

“Please,” she said, “I’ll do anything to stay out of prison.”

“I’m not going to let you put yourself in danger.”

“It’s my choice, Cutter. Not yours. Don’t take what little hope I have left away from me.”

“Mattie,” he snapped. “I’ve seen his file. The Jaguar has a classic sociopath profile. He doesn’t hurt people because he has to. He does it because he
enjoys
it.”

She thought of the horrendous scars on his back, and tears burned her eyes. “Don’t you see? That’s all the more reason to stop him.”

“Listen to me, Mattie. I’ll do everything in my power to clear your name. But I have to take
you back first. I know it’s hard, but you’re going to have to trust me on this.”

She hadn’t realized her tears had spilled over until he raised his hand and wiped a tear from her cheek with his thumb. She raised her gaze to his. She knew he was going to kiss her. She should stop him; she knew he would ultimately hurt her. But she simply wasn’t strong enough.

The kiss devastated her. A sob caught in her throat, but he smothered it with a second kiss so powerful it took her breath. She could feel her body responding to his. The hurt and pleasure mingling into a bittersweet pool around her heart.

When he untied the robe and tugged it open, she shuddered. “Aw, man, you’re beautiful,” he whispered.

She started to say something, but he brushed his fingertips against her sensitized nipples. The sensation stole her voice, made her knees weak, her head spin. She sank onto the bed. He came down on top of her. Capturing her mouth with his, he gently worked the robe from her body. His skin seemed to sizzle against hers. She could feel the hard length of his shaft against her belly. She heard his quickened breaths. She felt the urgency of his touch. Felt that same urgency zinging through her blood.

She opened to him. A groan rumbled up from his chest when he slid into her and went deep. Every muscle in his body went taut. He whispered her name. Once. Twice. When he began to move, she moved with him, taking him deep and then rising up to meet him. Pleasure warred with the pain of knowing this might be their one and only time together. And even as the ecstasy rose to a fever pitch, her heart shattered into a thousand pieces.

Chapter Twelve

Cutter was not an impulsive man. He liked to think a situation or problem through before acting. He always erred on the side of caution. When it came to women he was wary. He could count the number of women he’d been intimate with on one hand. Sleeping with a prisoner he’d been hired to apprehend and transport was the most irresponsible, reckless thing he’d ever done. Not only with regard to his career, but on a personal level, as well.