Hot Protector: A Hostile Operations Team Novel - Book 10 Page 9

  She knew what he did was necessary, and yet it pained her to think of him taking such risks. Making such choices.

  His phone rang and he answered. Her heart thumped as she imagined all kinds of bad scenarios. But then he broke out in a big grin and relief coursed through her.

  “Yeah, come on. We’ll be ready.”

  Chase opened the door to Hawk and Dex “Double Dee” Davidson.

  The latter smiled and shook his head, his Kentucky twang pronounced as he spoke. “Shoo-ee, boy, what kind of trouble did you get into now?”

  Chase rolled his eyes in mock disgust. “The kind you can’t handle, cowboy.”

  Hawk and Dex came inside and shut the door behind them. Sophie had gone into the bedroom to get dressed and hadn’t yet returned. He was glad for that because he wasn’t sure what Hawk would have to tell him. If it was bad, he didn’t want Sophie to know.

  “How did Mendez take it?” Chase asked.

  Hawk snorted. “About as well as you’d expect. He can’t provide support, but then we knew that. He may have a connection to work—no promises. He’ll probably also take his pound of flesh out of your ass when this is all over. You know that, right?”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  The colonel was a hard man, a scary man in many ways, but there was no doubt he cared about his men. When Ice had been on the run with Grace Campbell, Mendez had put everything he had into helping them reach safety. And then when Gina was kidnapped and Hawk had nearly been killed, he’d sent the team into action to extract Gina and her son even though the mission would take place in the fancy neighborhoods of Northwest DC.

  Again and again, Mendez did what it took in support of his warriors. Chase admired that about his colonel—though he also wasn’t looking forward to the ass-chewing he was very likely going to get when this situation was over.

  “Got some clothes for you both,” Hawk said, handing over a hanging bag. “There’s a carry-on in the car with a couple of days’ worth too.”

  “Sophie needs shoes,” Chase said. “Hers are ruined.”

  Dex held up a bag. “Right here.”

  Chase took everything and laid it on the table. Hawk came forward and pulled an envelope from his jacket. He dropped it on the table as well.

  “Passports, plane tickets, and a short-term rental apartment a few blocks from the Eiffel Tower where Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Chandler will be spending their honeymoon. Oh, and plain gold rings to complete the illusion.”

  Chase picked up the envelope and opened it. He didn’t like having to play mister and missus with Sophie, but he was grateful that Hawk had thought of an apartment rather than a hotel. It would make sleeping in separate beds a whole lot easier. And after this morning and the raging hard-on he’d had, sleeping in separate beds was a very good idea.

  “There’s some cash and a couple of credit cards too.”

  “Thanks, man.”

  If this were a HOT mission, he’d expect this kind of thing. But it was personal, and his guys were right there with him, giving him everything he needed.

  “We called the team,” Dex said. “Everyone’s out of town, but they’re on standby if needed. They wanted to come back, but we told them not to.”

  Chase’s throat constricted. “Why aren’t you somewhere, dude? It’s R & R.”

  Dex shrugged, though the corners of his mouth tightened for a second. “Nowhere I wanted to go. Besides, this is more fun.”

  He grinned and Chase shook his head. “Adrenaline junkie.”

  “And you aren’t? Hell, we all are.”

  “Yeah, that’s the truth.”

  The door to the bedroom opened and Sophie came out. She was wearing her clothes from last night, though she was shoeless. She hadn’t put on her jacket and the tank top molded to her, showcasing her fabulous rack and impressive cleavage. She stopped, her gaze going to his.

  Fuck, those were some gorgeous eyes.

  Her hair was loose and curly, and he found himself wanting to spear his fingers into it to see if it was as soft as it looked. Wanting to see if her lips were as soft as they looked.

  “Whoa,” Dex said, and Chase glanced over at him. He was currently staring at Sophie with his eyes bugged out.

  For some reason, that raised Chase’s hackles. A fierce wave of possession slammed through him. It was all he could do not to go over and shove Sophie behind him, hiding her from Dex’s gaze.

  “Hi,” she said in that sweet voice of hers, and Chase felt a knot form in his gut.

  Dex strode over and put his hand out. Sophie took it and smiled.

  “I’m Dex Davidson,” he said, his voice pitched low and filled with intent.

  “I’m Sophie,” she replied. She shot a look at Chase, and he gritted his teeth and smiled as she turned back to Dex. “Nice to meet you, Dex.”

  Her voice was all breathy sexiness, and Chase thought for a minute he wasn’t going to be able to suck in any air. If he toppled over right here, what would they think?

  Dex lifted her hand to his lips—and that was the end of that.

  “Knock it off,” Chase growled as he strode over and took Sophie’s hand from Dex’s grasp.

  Dex let his gaze slide between them for a second before he laughed. “Sorry, man. Hawk said it wasn’t like that, but I see he’s wrong.”

  Chase dropped Sophie’s hand. “He’s not wrong—but she’s my stepsister. I’m being brotherly here and protecting her from a player like you.”

  He felt foolish even saying it, especially since he didn’t have any brotherly feelings toward Sophie and never had, but shit. What else was he going to say?

  The look of amusement didn’t leave Dex’s face. “You sure about that?”

  “I’ve seen you in action. Hell yeah, I’m sure. Sophie’s too sweet for a guy like you.”

  “Not quite what I meant, Fiddler. But you go on deluding yourself if it helps you.”

  Chase was ready to throw down over that statement until Sophie rolled her eyes. “If you two don’t mind, I think there are more serious issues to discuss than if I’m too sweet for someone or not. Right?”

  15

  The guy named Dex was smoking hot, but he didn’t make Sophie’s pulse trip the way Chase did. When he’d flirted and held her hand, she’d felt kind of stunned and then kind of pleased, but she’d never felt a spark of excitement the way she did when Chase touched her.

  Which was all kinds of fucked up, she supposed. It didn’t matter that they weren’t raised together or weren’t really a family in any way. The reality was that in the eyes of the world they had a familial relationship. Her adoptive parent was his biological parent. No amount of explaining they weren’t raised together would ever make her attraction to him seem less than weird to anyone looking at them from the outside.

  But for some crazy reason, that made it even more exciting. Illicit.

  Oh God, what was wrong with her?

  Chase looked pissed but she wasn’t sure if it was at her or Dex. But then he shrugged and sauntered over to the table where he picked up a bag.

  “Hawk brought you some shoes,” he said, tossing the bag to her.

  She caught it and peered inside. A pair of black leather boots with silver buckles and a definite motorcycle vibe sat inside the bag. She took them out and sat down on the couch to put them on. They had that worn-leather look of boots that had been broken in over years. She slid them on and zipped them. They fit perfectly, and they were completely her style.

  “Wow,” she said, peering at Hawk. “I’m amazed.”

  He laughed. “You shouldn’t be. A few taps of a keyboard and my IT guy pulled up your shopping history off your credit card. Sizes, styles, you name it.”

  Her mouth dropped open. “Seriously, you hacked my credit card?”

  “Yep.”

  A chill went through her then. She looked at Chase. “I used my credit card to mail the package.”

  “We saw that,” Hawk said before Chase could answer. “The address you sent it to
isn’t in the credit card file, only the amount and the place you charged it. Androv can get that information, but he’ll have to hack the carrier’s database to get the address. We’ll make that difficult for his people, but they will break through eventually.”

  “There was a tracking number,” she said, and the guys exchanged a look.

  “Yeah,” Hawk said. “That’s a bit problematic—but we’ll keep him out as long as we can.”

  “He’ll hack the carrier,” Chase said. “Depending on how good his guys are, we’re living on borrowed time here. We need to get to Paris and intercept that package before they do. They’re going to know the address and delivery date soon enough.”

  “I got you on the first flight out this evening,” Hawk said. “Six o’clock, BWI. There’s a secure computer in the car.”

  “A secure computer?” Sophie asked. What the heck was that?

  “As soon as we have the flash drive,” Chase said, “I’ll log on to the computer and send the information to Hawk over a secure connection. He’ll get to work decoding it. If we’re lucky, there’s something incriminating on there. If we’re not…”

  Sophie swallowed. If they weren’t, then there was nothing to stop Grigori from eliminating her. “How do you know you’ll need to decode anything? Why wouldn’t he just password protect his files?”

  The three of them exchanged a look. Chase was the one to speak. “We don’t… But Androv has a lot of, uh, businesses besides Zoprava. One of those is Open Sky. Hackers,” he added when she didn’t say anything. “They broke into an unsecured government system recently and left their calling card—a laughing demon with horns—on the screen. It was on all the news networks.”

  “I remember hearing about that—I didn’t know it had anything to do with Grigori though. I thought his company prevented those kinds of things.”

  “Technically, yes. But software has to be tested for vulnerabilities, which is what hackers do. Androv’s connection to Open Sky is not something widely known outside intelligence circles,” Chase said. “But now you can understand why he isn’t likely to use a computer or digital storage medium without securing the information. Encryption is one of the ways to secure it—and he’s got access to the best.”

  “Don’t worry, Sophie,” Hawk said. “We’re pretty good at this kind of thing. We’ll break the encryption.”

  Chase was still looking at her with a frown on his face. “You know, this would go faster if I went alone. Dex could stay here with Sophie and keep her safe. I’ll be back in a few days.”

  Her stomach flipped at the thought of him leaving her. Her throat tightened and her eyes stung. Damn him for being so sweet and caring last night, for listening to her and telling her his own secrets, making her like him more than she should. He’d done that and he still wanted to ditch her. It hurt, even though it shouldn’t. He owed her nothing. Not only that, but he’d already done more for her in this situation than most men would have.

  “I’d like to do that for you,” Dex said, looking a little sad and angry at the same time. “Really. But I’m waiting for a Red Cross call. My dad’s having emergency open-heart surgery this week. Soon as the Red Cross calls the commander, I’m on my way.”

  “Man, I’m sorry,” Chase said, understanding now why Dex hadn’t left town like everyone else. “I hope your dad will be okay.”

  “Thanks. The doctors say it’s pretty routine even though it’s critical they do it ASAP. He should recover fully. But just in case… I have to be there.”

  Sophie offered her well-wishes even while she felt guilty for being relieved that Dex couldn’t stay with her. Hawk and Dex talked with Chase a bit more, and then they made for the door, though not before Hawk gave Chase a set of keys.

  “Leave it in long-term parking and use it when you get back. We’ll be there to back you up if you need it.”

  “Thanks, Hawk. I can’t say it enough, but I appreciate everything.”

  Chase and Hawk clasped hands. “You’d do it for me. Hell, you have done it for me. Gave up your time off to help me find my son. I won’t forget that. Besides, once HOT always HOT. We stick together.”

  “You’re damn straight we do.”

  It wasn’t yet dark when they left for the airport. Chase glanced over at the woman beside him and felt the same burning in the pit of his stomach he’d felt the minute she walked out of the bathroom with her new hair. It wasn’t that he didn’t like Sophie with black hair. He liked her too much.

  She was gorgeous as a strawberry blonde. She was out of this world as a raven-haired goddess. When he’d handed her the hair dye Hawk had brought, he’d thought she would balk. She hadn’t. He’d apologized for making her cover up the red-gold beauty of her hair, but she’d looked him square in the eye and told him that wasn’t her natural color either.

  “What is your natural color?” He’d thought she had sort of blondish hair as a kid. Or maybe brown. Hell, he honestly hadn’t remembered.

  “I’m a dirty blonde,” she’d said with a shrug, and that had called up a whole host of thoughts in his head. Dirty blonde. Shit. “I like playing with color,” she’d continued. “Haven’t been black-haired in a while.”

  And now she was—and she fucking rocked it. She’d made him stop at Walmart on the way out of town so she could grab some makeup. He hadn’t wanted to do it, but she’d insisted it was part of the disguise. She’d gotten several things, but it was the cherry-red lipstick she was currently smearing on her lips that had all his attention. Her eyelashes were long, and she’d smudged her eyeliner in that sexy just-got-out-of-bed look he’d admired yesterday. She’d done it all while he was driving too.

  The girl was fucking stunning. He just hoped she didn’t draw too much attention because he wasn’t sure how in hell a bottle of hair dye and some makeup was going to hide her from Grigori Androv’s men. In fact, he was pretty sure she would command men’s eyes instead of repel them.

  “You’re going to draw too much attention,” he grumbled when she twisted the tube of lipstick and put it away. She turned to look at him, blinking those pretty eyes.

  “Short of putting a bag over my head, I don’t know what you want me to do. Besides—” She reached into the shopping bag and pulled out a pair of black-rimmed glasses. She ripped the tags off and slid them on, the gold ring on her finger glinting as she did so. “A bag over the head would be even more noticeable than black hair and glasses… don’t you think?”

  He gripped the wheel and stared straight ahead. Jesus, he’d never thought the naughty librarian look did anything for him, but apparently it did. Big-time.

  “Maybe you should lose the red lipstick,” he grumbled.

  She laughed and then turned and started gathering her hair. He didn’t watch what she did, but she rustled in the bag from time to time until she finally said, “There.”

  He glanced at her. And had to stifle a groan. She’d twisted her hair high up on her head and pinned it, but a few strands still escaped to frame her face. Those cherry lips were wet, glossy, and he wanted to bite them.

  It didn’t help that she’d come out of Walmart with a men’s plaid shirt that she’d put on over her tank top and then tied at her waist. The vee of the open shirt only served to call attention to her cleavage.

  Fucking awesome cleavage, he might add.

  “You look like a librarian who’s hiding a dominatrix underneath her sedate clothing.”

  Sophie laughed. “Maybe I am,” she purred, and his cock jerked in response.

  “No the fuck you aren’t,” he growled. “A dominatrix would have whipped the shit out of Androv and made him beg for more.”

  He thought he might have hurt her feelings with that one, but she only arched an eyebrow at him. “Do you like being whipped, Chase?”

  A lightning bolt of heat shot through him at her suggestive tone. Not that he wanted to be whipped or would tolerate it for even a second—but the idea of her in spiked heels and nothing else, holding a crop and running it b
etween her breasts, was suddenly front and center in his brain.

  “No, I don’t like to be whipped. Fuck no.”

  “But you like spanking women, I’ll bet.”

  Jesus H. Christ.

  “Never tried it,” he drawled. “I might make an exception for you though. You need a good spanking, Sophie.”

  She laughed. “You and what army? No way.”

  He couldn’t help but snort a laugh. She was funny and sexy and sweet. She was also too trusting, at least where Grigori Androv had been concerned. For that, he did want to spank her. She needed to be more careful who she let into her life.

  She propped a booted foot on the dash. “I wish you’d talked to me when you were visiting all those years ago. It would have been nice.”

  “I wasn’t nice. I was a moody, pissed-off teenager who wanted to be somewhere else.”

  “Yeah, I gathered that at the time. But it would have been less lonely for us both if you’d talked to me.”

  “I’m sorry you were lonely, Sophie.”

  She shrugged. “I wasn’t always. But when I was, it felt like an eternity. Time dragged.”

  “It dragged for me when I was in LA. I just wanted to go home again.”

  “I wanted to go with you. Bet you didn’t know that.”

  He shot her a look. “No… but why? I didn’t tell you anything about my home. I would have been far too self-conscious about it considering the difference in our circumstances.”

  She dropped her head and fooled with the buckle on one of the boots. “I heard you talking to your mother sometimes. You put it on speaker, and she had such a lovely accent and sounded so warm and nice. I thought she sounded like what home is supposed to feel like.”

  And just like that, she socked him in the gut, her words taking the air from his lungs. “You eavesdropped.”

  But that wasn’t the reason her words ripped into him. No, it was the plaintive way in which she said that his mother sounded like home to her.

  “I did eavesdrop.”

  “What else did you hear, Sophie?”