Rekindled (Titanium Security Series) (10 page)

As they moved on to the next item on the agenda, her phone rang. “Sorry.” She grabbed it from the table and turned it to silent mode, her eyes catching on the name listed on call display. Alex.

A rush of blood worked its way up her neck and into her cheeks. She set the phone down and looked back at her papers, annoyed by the way her heart skipped a beat and that he’d managed to call her while she was in the middle of a meeting. And that parting comment he’d made before sauntering out the door last night—this morning, that is. She couldn’t stop thinking about it.

I haven’t been with anyone since you
.

He had to be lying about that, right? There was no way an alpha male with Alex’s looks, charisma and sexual appetite could go for four freaking years without sex. It just wasn’t possible. Still, the tantalizing idea that he hadn’t slept with anyone since her had tortured her as she lay tossing and turning in bed long after he’d left. Which meant she was crazy, because there was no way it could be true.

But what if it was? What if she really had meant as much to him as he had to her all those years ago? What if she hadn’t just been imagining that incredibly intense connection between them?

“Any comments or concerns about this section?” Travis asked them all.

She jerked her attention back to the meeting, hating that she’d allowed Alex to distract her yet again. As they discussed the next item on the agenda, her phone buzzed noisily against the polished mahogany table. Everyone glanced up at her. She snatched it up, intending to shove it into her briefcase if it was Alex again, but then she saw the text message and froze.

Emergency! Call me ASAP
.

Even as she stared at the screen, another message came in.

I mean it. Call me NOW
.

He wouldn’t seriously keep trying to contact her, wouldn’t use that wording unless it really was an emergency. That bone deep knowledge started a buzz of trepidation in the pit of her stomach. Her remaining misgivings about him aside, she couldn’t take a chance and ignore this in case it was real. She glanced up to find all the team members staring at her. “I’m sorry, I have to take this. Will you excuse me for a few minutes?” she asked, already pushing her chair back.

Once out in the hallway, she called him back, trying to ignore the way her heart pounded. Not just because of the anxiety, but at the thought of hearing his voice again too. God, why couldn’t she let the idea of him go now that she’d seen him again?

He answered on the first ring. “Where are you?”

She blinked at the brusque demand, the tension in his voice. Her stomach muscles tightened. “I was in the middle of a meeting, why?”

“Grace, where
are
you?” he repeated, and this time there was no mistaking the impatience, the urgency in his tone.

“Still at the Serena Hotel, outside the conference room. What’s going—”

“Is your security there?”

She glanced down the hall, spotted one of the security agents standing near the elevators. “Yes, why, what’s happening?”

“I’m coming to get you.”

“What?
Why
?” The anxiety transformed into raw fear. She instinctively glanced right and left, half expecting to see someone coming at her with a gun, but the long hallway was empty. Images flashed through her mind of that night in Mombasa. The explosion of gunfire. Bloodcurdling screams. Agonizing pain. She instinctively placed a hand over her stomach where the scars were and ordered herself to stay calm.

“Can’t talk over the phone. Yours doesn’t have the right encryption.”

Jesus, this had to be very serious. “Is it my team? Are they in danger?”

“No. You are. I’m sending one of the guards to escort you to your room. Pack whatever you need for the next week and wait for me in your room. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes. Be ready to go.”

“Wait, what—” He’d already hung up. As the phone beeped in her ear, Grace drew in a shaky breath and ran a hand through her hair. She was in danger? How? Why, if it had nothing to do with the UN team? Unsettled and not seeing any way around the fact that she had to leave, she went back into the conference room. She must have been as pale as she felt, because everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at her. Travis rose from his seat, his graying eyebrows crashed together in a concerned frown. “Are you all right?”

“I—no. Can I talk to you for a minute, alone?”

He hurried around the table and walked out into the hall with her. As the door closed behind them he set a fatherly hand on her arm. “What is it?”

There was no easy way to tell him. “I have to leave.”

His head drew back in surprise. “Now? Why?”

“I don’t know the details, but there’s some sort of credible threat against me. Someone from the NSA just called to inform me. They’re picking me up in a few minutes.”

The frown deepened. “And taking you where?”

“I don’t know that either.” She rubbed her hands over her arms to chase away the sudden chill. “I just know that I don’t have a choice here. I have to go with him.” She was at risk, so she had to be smart.

Travis’s expression showed not only confusion, but genuine alarm. “Are you sure you can trust whoever called you?”

“I’m sure.” Even if she didn’t trust Alex on a lot of things, she knew he’d never lie about this. “Look, I’ll call you when I can, and I’ll still try my best to make all the meetings. Maybe I’ll have to be on conference call—I’ll let you know. Right now I need to find out what’s going on and make sure there’s no threat to the rest of us.”

Travis nodded. “All right. Don’t worry about anything else, just take care of yourself and update me when you can so I know you’re okay. I’ll tell the other members that there was a family emergency. No sense getting everyone in a panic until we know what’s going on.”

“I agree, thanks.” She blew out a deep breath, noticed a security guard she recognized heading down the hall toward her. “Gotta go.” She paused only long enough to slip into the room and grab her briefcase, murmur her excuses to the rest of the team and then headed up to her room with the guard shadowing her. She shoved everything from the dresser into her suitcase and was jamming her toiletry bag inside when a brusque knock sounded at the door. She glanced over her shoulder just as the door opened.

Alex appeared in the bedroom doorway a moment later. The sight of him standing there was still a punch to her senses. He glanced over at her open suitcase on the bed, then back at her. Standing close enough to catch that delicious scent he always carried, she was reminded of how it had felt to be caged in against the door last night, the feel of his lips on her skin. “You ready?” he asked.

Not really. “Almost. Alex, what’s going on?”

He gestured for her to get her bag before answering, his gaze sweeping over the room. “Hassani knows you’re here.”

She whipped around to stare at him. “How?” The meetings were supposed to be secret, which is why they were being held here rather than in the U.S. or Syria. Pakistan had agreed to play host because the UN had wanted another Islamic country’s help to sway the Syrians during the negotiations if necessary. As far as she knew, even the media had no idea what was going on.

“He’s got deep connections in the military and police, and apparently one of the cops responding to the accident yesterday snapped a picture of us together. Someone leaked it to Hassani’s network, and we got a tip that someone was looking into your background.” He grabbed his phone from his pocket, and as he did the hem of his dress shirt lifted enough for her to see the ballistic vest and the holstered pistol at the back of his waistband. Her pulse went up another few notches. She knew it was necessary for him to be armed, especially now, but ever since Mombasa she hated guns. “This is what he saw,” Alex said as he held the phone out.

Grace sucked in a breath when she saw the picture of Alex embracing her. The look on his face as he stared down at her was intense, concerned. And the possessive way he was holding her was pretty damn hard to mistake. She swallowed, glanced up at him even as the memory of his arms around her sent a flutter of desire through her body. “So he knows…”

“At this point we have to assume he knows everything, from your relationship with me, to the attack in Mombasa, and you being here with the UN chemical weapons team to meet the Syrians.”

She gasped. “Wait, how did you—” She stopped herself as the obvious answer came to mind. He was with the NSA after all. But it begged the question, who the hell else knew about the so-called
secret
meeting? Suddenly she felt exposed and unsafe. Because of the security team placed with them by the UN, she’d felt secure. Now she realized how naive she’d been.

“He’s been attacking my team for weeks now,” Alex continued, “and we’re all on his hit list. One of our members is still in the hospital from an IED blast some of Hassani’s TTP cell contacts hit us with a few days ago. He may never walk again.”

Grace swallowed, didn’t know what to say. She was here to make the region safer. She’d mistakenly thought she’d be much safer in Pakistan than she had been in Kenya.

Alex’s eyes were grave, his jaw set. “Hassani wants me bad, and he now knows you’re a way to get to me. So until he’s behind bars again, I’m not taking any chances with your safety. You’ll be staying with me until the threat’s over.”

Her eyebrows shot up. Of all the things she’d imagined him saying, that wasn’t one of them. “How’s
that
going to make any difference to my safety, if he’s targeting you already?”

“Because your team’s security isn’t good enough anymore, not even close, and they don’t know what kind of threat Hassani might pose to you. My team does. So until I can get something better arranged for you, my guys and I will act as your personal security detail.”

Okay, that did make her feel slightly better, but… “Isn’t that against some sort of regulations for you?” The NSA had to have rules about that kind of thing, and she was pretty sure her safety didn’t matter when compared to Alex’s or capturing Hassani.

He raised a defiant eyebrow. “I don’t give a shit. I care about
you
, and making sure you’re safe.”

In spite of the threat level facing her, her gullible heart melted a little at the conviction behind those words. He meant it. She felt it in her bones.

Alex shook his head slightly, the way his jaw flexed revealing his inner turmoil. “I screwed up the first time with you, acted too late on the intel and you paid the price.” Regret burned in his glittering eyes. “I can’t change what happened in the past, but I can damn well make sure you’re protected this time. If Hassani wants to take a run at you, he’s gotta find you. And even if he does, then he’s gonna have to get through me first,” he said, stabbing a finger against his chest for emphasis.

Grace could only stare at him. Though she was still wary of his intentions because she knew he wanted to try and win her back, she recognized the sincerity of his statement. Alex would protect her no matter what, even at risk to his career, his own life. At his core he was honorable, but more than that, he truly did still care, and it turned her inside out. As Grace digested his words and the force with which he delivered them, she couldn’t think of a single thing to say other than, “Okay.”

He must have been expecting an argument, because he blinked as though surprised by her answer. His entire body seemed to relax, that constant hum of energy he carried with him dimming a little. “Thank you.”

She nodded, part of her suddenly wishing there was a way to bridge the gap between them. Standing before her now was the man she’d fallen in love with. Knowing he’d risk everything to ensure her safety slipped past every defense she had.

Shoving those unsettling thoughts aside, she quickly finished packing and zipped up her suitcase. As soon as she finished, Alex took if from her and opened the door. She followed him down to the lobby with a security guard and through a service access hallway to a hidden exit at the back of the building. He opened the exterior door and stopped to check everything, then stepped outside into the bright, hot sunshine and held the door for her.

He led her to a black SUV parked close to the building, maybe the same one he’d roared up in yesterday, and opened the trunk to load her bag. After opening her door, he took another look around then checked the vehicle—she assumed for an explosive or tracking device—and finally slid behind the wheel. It surprised her that he didn’t have bodyguards with him, but then she noticed another dark SUV tailing them. She relaxed when Alex looked at it in the rearview mirror calmly and realized it had to be a security detail.

He shut his door and immediately the big vehicle seemed smaller, his big frame filling the seat. With his shirt sleeves rolled up, she watched the muscles in his tanned forearms flex as he gripped the steering wheel.

“Where are we going now?” she asked as he fired up the engine.

“My hotel. The rest of my team’s there, and two more members should be arriving sometime tonight. We’re all staying there under aliases and only checked in two nights ago. We’ll be moving again in the morning, just in case, but you’ll be well-protected there.”

Things were too tense for her to start asking about trivial things like sleeping arrangements. Though she had to wonder, could she hold back from him if they spent the whole night in his room together? The physical attraction between them had been explosive right from day one, and judging by her body’s reaction to him just being near, it hadn’t lessened one bit. In fact, her body craved him even more now that he’d suddenly reappeared in her life. It remembered what he could do to her with his hands and that muscular body, what he’d shown her about her true sexuality during their short time together in Kenya.

“I still have to make that meeting,” she said quietly as he drove. There was no way she could miss it. Not only was she a critical part of the team, she’d been at ground zero days after the attack in Syria. Her professional reputation was on the line. If he tried to keep her from going, he’d have a hell of a fight on his hands.