Rekindled (Titanium Security Series) (14 page)

“Of course, and sugar for you, but I still think you’re sweet enough without it.”

She cracked a grin at his terrible line and strode over to take one of the large cups. “In the morning I’m sweeter with it, trust me.” She sat across from him and added her two sugars, giving him the chance to study her up close. A fierce ache started up in his chest as he drank in the sight of her. Her skin seemed to glow in the morning light streaming through the open curtains. The little laugh lines around her eyes and mouth were a bit more pronounced than they had been four years ago, but they only made her more beautiful to him.

She glanced up, paused in the act of stirring when she caught him staring at her. “What?”

He shook his head. “You’re more beautiful than ever.”

Her cheeks turned bright pink and she looked down into her coffee. “Thank you. You don’t have to butter me up though. I already slept with you last night.” Her eyes lifted to his, the humor sparkling there hitting him right in the heart. This was the Grace he remembered. The sharp-witted chemistry PhD, the passionate, generous-hearted woman he’d fallen so hard and fast for from the moment he’d met her.

He huffed out a laugh, wishing he could reach across the table to stroke her cheek without the risk of her pulling away. His gut told him it was too soon, and he wouldn’t risk undoing the little progress they’d made by rushing things, even though that’s exactly what he wanted to do. “And on the first night, too,” he chided. “I seem to recall you making me work a lot harder last time.”

She raised one auburn brow at him. “And I seem to recall it being worth the wait in the end.”

Oh, she had him there. It had been
more
than worth it. He’d never experienced chemistry like that with anyone, and he’d never felt this insanely protective or territorial before or since. “Touché.” He picked up his own cup, raised it in salute before he took a sip.

As she nibbled at the pastry he’d brought her, he watched the laughter fade from her eyes and a serious expression steal over her face. He knew she had something on her mind, so he raised his eyebrows to prompt her.

“What happened after you left Kenya?” she asked, staring right into his eyes.

I dropped headfirst into the worst depression I’ve ever experienced in my life.
“My mom had another stroke. I went back to Baltimore, moved her into a home there, worked myself into the ground…and kept tabs on you from time to time.”

She nodded thoughtfully, not appearing surprised by the admission. “I figured you would have still tried to find out how I was doing. And sorry to hear about your mom.”

“Thanks. She’s still alive, but that’s all, and I know she wouldn’t want to be if she was aware of what was going on. I tell myself it’s not really my mom whenever I go visit her. She’d hate anyone seeing her like that, even me.” He cleared his throat, changed the subject. “When you wouldn’t answer any of my messages initially, it was either find out what was happening with you or lose my mind. So I used the tools at my disposal.” He didn’t regret it and he wouldn’t apologize for it because he knew he’d do the same thing again. “I had your hospital records, your rehab records, your employment records.”

“Did you know where I lived?”

“For the first two years, yes.”

“Why only the first two years?”

“Because of that e-mail you sent me. I knew you were still only separated, and that Robert had been back in the picture. I thought you guys had made a go of it again, and given what you said in that e-mail I knew I had to respect your wishes and let you go.” Giving up the dream of her forever had been just as hard as leaving her in that hospital. But he hadn’t wanted to know any more details once she’d gotten back together with her ex.

Grace exhaled, looked down at her plate where she’d torn the pastry into bite-sized pieces. “No, we didn’t make a go of it. He was in the picture at first when I was released from the hospital. He helped get me back on my feet, but not because he wanted to save our marriage or be a husband again. Looking back, I’m pretty sure it was out of obligation and guilt, since he was supposed to be the one at the dinner the night of the attack.”

Alex’s hands curled into fists to keep from reaching for her. “What?” Even to his own ears his voice sounded low, deadly.

She blinked at him. “You didn’t know?”

He shook his head, feeling the rage bubble up inside him.

“He’d double booked himself with another function and asked me to go in his place. Since I had friends already going, I said yes. I was going to ask you to be my date, but then I thought that would just create a scandal since all the rich and powerful were there along with the media, and everyone knew Robert and I had just recently separated.” She tilted her head slightly. “Would you have gone with me?”

The question damn near killed him. “I would have, except we were getting ready to do the sting. I had no idea you were attending the dinner. When I found out about the attack and that your name was a last minute addition to the guest list…” He had to stop, take a deep breath to ease the swell of emotion in his chest.

Grace surprised him by reaching across the table to wrap her fingers around his hand. “It wasn’t your fault. I know you would have stopped it if you could have.” She squeezed for emphasis and her belief in him almost undid him.

Alex stared at her. Did she truly know that? Did she honestly believe that, or was she just saying it to ease his conscience? “I would have. I would have stopped you from going, then I would have taken those sons of bitches down before they could launch the attack.”

Another squeeze. “I know. I never blamed you for any of that. Only that you left me when I needed you the most.”

He flinched. “I—”

She shook her head, waved his response off with an impatient wave of her hand. “And I’m not blaming you for that anymore either. I’ve decided I need to let that go. I guess I can kind of understand why you did it. Sort of.” She tipped her head to the side, her soft mouth curved in a teasing smile.

The anvil that had been sitting on his chest suddenly lifted. He felt like a condemned man who’d just been given a stay of execution. They might not be back to where they used to be, but she was willing to forgive him for his mistakes and was willing to try to put it behind her. It was probably more than he deserved. Hell, he knew it was.

Alex couldn’t
not
touch her. Her fingers were still wrapped around his left hand. With his right one he reached out and cupped the side of her face, held her gaze. “I bled with you that night, and every day since.” Maybe not physically, but his heart hadn’t known the difference. “I’ve missed you so goddamn much,” he said hoarsely.

He caught the flash of surprise and tenderness in her eyes, then she put her free hand over his, pressing it against her cheek. Holding him there. “I missed you too. But I’m here now.”

The tantalizing words seemed to hang in the air between them, the invitation behind them. Was this real? His throat was too tight to answer her. Instead he let his thumb trail across the satiny curve of her cheek, down to feather across her lips. They parted slightly under his touch and her breath caught.

He lifted his eyes to hers and bit back a growl at the heat and awareness he saw burning there. Removing his thumb from her mouth, he slid his hand around to cup her nape and leaned forward. Her lashes fluttered as he bent his head and closed the distance between them. He covered her lips with his, heard the breathless gasp she gave—

His damn phone buzzed in his pocket.

Her eyes popped open, clear and beautiful and full of needs he was dying to satisfy. She pulled back an inch, resisting the pressure of his hand around the back of her neck. “Aren’t you going to check that?”

What he wanted was to hurl the fucking thing against the wall for interrupting them. He closed his eyes for a second, fought back the tide of arousal so powerful he almost couldn’t see straight. The phone rang again, the sound grating over his nerve endings. But it might be something about Hassani.

Hating to pull away, he made himself release her and sit back to answer the call. When he saw the name on call display he swore under his breath. “Yeah?”

“We’re up and at ‘em,” Blake Ellis replied in a cheery voice. “You ready for us?”

No.
He glanced up at Grace. She was watching him curiously, her cheeks flushed, but that glaze of arousal was gone. He might have told Blake no just to have a few more minutes’ privacy with Grace, but he had to get into the office and if he kissed her again he knew neither of them would be leaving this room anytime soon. “Yeah. Come on over.”

“Who was that?” Grace asked when he hung up.

“Your temporary security detail.” He got up and headed for the door, opened it when he saw his two employees appear in the peephole. “Come on in.” Damn cock blockers, both of them, even if they were oblivious to it. Ellis and Jordyn stepped past him into the room. Even Ellis’s deep gold skin tone couldn’t cover all the fading bruises on his arms. No doubt the rest of him looked the same because he was moving a little stiffly, still not fully recovered from his fall down the cliff during the op when Hassani had been captured. Switching his attention to Jordyn, Alex immediately noticed the ring on her finger.

Well, good for them. Alex glanced meaningfully at it and smiled at them both before making the introductions. “Grace, this is Blake Ellis and Jordyn Bridger, the two other members of the team I told you about. They’ll be escorting you whenever you leave the hotel when I can’t be here. Blake’s a sniper and Jordyn might as well be. They’re both former Marines so you’re in good hands. You know I wouldn’t entrust your safety to them unless I trusted them.”

“Yes, and that’s very high praise, coming from you,” Grace answered, and rose to her feet to shake hands.

“You didn’t tell us she was so gorgeous,” Jordyn teased him as she shook Grace’s hand. “We’ve been dying to meet you, right, Blake?”

“Dying,” Ellis deadpanned in his usual quiet way, though his eyes were brimming with amusement as he shook Grace’s hand.

“If you need to meet with someone from your team or go out for any reason, these guys will take you where you need to go. But don’t tell anyone you’re staying here. I don’t want anything to further jeopardize any of my guys. Or girls,” he added, when Jordyn narrowed her eyes at him. “I’ll be back as soon as I can, but I don’t know when that will be because—” He trailed off when his phone rang again. “Excuse me.” Leaving Grace to talk with Ellis and Jordyn, he crossed the room and answered the call from Evers.

“Just got a call from one of our military contacts,” the Fed began. “Guess who was found dead on his bathroom floor by his housekeeper this morning with a five inch laceration to his liver?”

Alex’s heart sped up. “Who?”

“Sharif.”

Urgency poured through him. “Was it a professional hit?”

“Nope. Looks like Hassani took care of this personally. Sharif wrote his name in blood on the tile floor and they found prints matching Hassani’s at the scene. Cocky bastard didn’t even bother wearing gloves.”

How the hell had Hassani killed a man like Sharif when he only had one functioning hand? “Then he must be close by still. When did it happen?” Everyone in the room was staring at him now.

“They think around ten o’clock last night.”

Shit. Almost nine hours ago. Hassani could be anywhere right now. “I’m coming in. Make sure everyone’s being vigilant about their personal security.”

“Will do. See you in a few.”

Alex ended the call and faced the others. With Grace in the room he knew he shouldn’t divulge the new intel but he didn’t give a shit. She wasn’t going to tell anyone. “Hassani killed General Sharif last night at his place in Islamabad.” He watched the meaning of that hit home in Grace’s eyes, how close Hassani was and that the threat level against the rest of them had just increased tenfold. He looked at Ellis and Jordyn. “Give us a minute.” They left the room and Alex walked over to Grace where she stood in the center of the room with her arms folded around herself.

He put his hands on her upper arms, rubbed up and down gently as he searched her face. “It’ll be okay. We’re gonna find him and nail him, sweetheart. Just stick close to Blake and Jordyn if you need to go anywhere and I’ll see you tonight.” He hoped.

Grace stopped him by putting a hand on the side of his face. “You’ll be careful?”

He leaned into her touch and slid his fingers into her hair. “I will.” Unable to stop himself, Alex lowered his head and kissed her. This time there was no hesitation, no surprise on her part.

She gripped his shoulders and kissed him back, parting her lips to let him inside her in the only way he could right now. He groaned at the feel of that tiny surrender, her familiar taste. His tongue stroked hers, explored the tender places in her mouth as she lifted up onto her toes for more contact. He wrapped an arm around her waist and crushed her to him, her breasts flattened against his chest. Her quiet whimper of need sliced through him.

At that moment he’d have given anything—anything—to be able to finish what he’d started. Tumble her into that wide bed and take her the way he ached to, hear her moans turn into throaty cries of release as he pushed her over the edge. To have her gaze up at him with that agonizing combination of trust and need that satisfied him on the most primal level.

But they couldn’t. Not now. He just prayed he had the chance to share that with her one more time before she left. And once this situation with Hassani was over, he was going to put everything he had into convincing Grace they belonged together.

Holding her head steady, he gentled the pressure of his kiss, paused to lick and nibble at her luscious lips before he forced himself to lift his head. They were both breathing faster and her cheeks and eyes held that gorgeous glow of arousal he’d been dreaming about for so long. He rubbed his thumb across her lower lip, stared down into her eyes. “Hold that thought, angel. I’ll make it up to you later.”

He left her with Ellis and Jordyn and geared up for the race against the clock that Hassani had set into motion.