Liaising Kai

Chapter 3

“Hey, we’ve got company,”Jason said from Lennon’s desk as he worked at accessing his computer. Davis was going through Lennon’s phone dump, and he looked up from his screen to see Kai Talbot and Austin Beck walking into their office. Their CO appeared, greeting Kai, and they spoke for several seconds before the two NCIS agents headed toward where he and Jason were working.

She hadn’t enlisted the aid of her teammate to face him the morning after their charged encounter, so this had to be business-related, and he immediately wondered if it had anything to do with Lennon’s disappearance.

He and Jason were still reeling over discovering the terrible state of Lennon’s home. Knowing that their friend and colleague was in mortal danger somewhere out there galvanized them into pulling out all the stops. If NCIS could help, Davis would be all ears.

He rose as they approached, noting how good Kai looked for a woman who’d been on a bender the night before with him in her sights. She met his gaze unflinchingly, the instantaneous sparks of awareness between them undeniable.

Damn, but she did look amazing. Davis took in the khaki-toned chunky sweater that accentuated the delicate line of her jaw, the hem half-concealing the gun on her hip, and a pair of black linen cropped pants paired with black suede flats. With her hair back like that, she looked sharp, fresh, and stunning, her face a lovely oval, and that kissable mouth as tantalizing as always with those full lips painted in a shade of rose. She was the finest damn thing he’d ever laid eyes on.

He could still feel the sting of her slap, and as if she’d read his mind, her gaze went to his cheek and for a moment, her hard-as-nail expression faltered just enough for him to notice before it righted itself. It was clear from the expression on her face that she was closed right now. Very much into a professional mode.

That was understandable—their personal shit would have to wait. He was as keen as she was to keep their encounter out of the public eye. He’d much prefer to talk to her privately.

“Special Agent Nishida,” she said in greeting. “Sorry to barge into your morning, but we have a situation we need to discuss regarding Special Agent Carter Lennon.”

Davis’s eyes flicked to Jason who frowned. “Did you tell her?” His gaze went to his CO, but he could see Kai tense up.

He shook his head. “I thought it better that you all talked from a fresh point of view. I’ll be in my office once you’re finished.” That meant he expected a breakdown of what was going on.

Kai tensed further, and he could see her wage her own internal battle. He had no idea what was going on, but it was clear she hadn’t intended to deal with him, much less the news he was about to deliver to her.

“Let’s head to the conference room,” he suggested, herding them toward the back. Jason rose and followed, looking like he wanted to continue searching Lennon’s computer, but it would be important that they were all up to speed on not only Lennon’s disappearance but whatever case had brought Kai and her teammate to CGIS.

Once inside and they were all seated, with Davis at the head of the table, he said, “Carter Lennon is missing.” A night’s sleep hadn’t erased any of the strain on her porcelain-fine features. But he intended to see to it that she had better mornings, once they got past this awkward stuff. “There’s more,” he said, deciding there was no point in leaving out any detail if it could help with their investigation. “There was an obvious struggle, so he’s been abducted.”

“No blood at the scene,” Austin asked.

“No. Trashed, but no, no blood. We gathered evidence and our forensic guy is looking at it now.”

“Any demands?” Austin asked.

“No, nothing.” Carter was counting on him…them, more than a colleague, he had been friends with the man since their enlistment. He had a job to do, but there was so much at stake for Lennon. He focused his gaze on hers, wondering just why they were here. He also couldn’t escape the personal side of his relationship with Kai or shake the feeling that he’d simply been waiting for her, for a moment to talk. Which, considering how their past encounters had ended, should have made him want to give up and withdraw. But he only felt the opposite now. “Why are you all here? What does Lennon have to do with an NCIS case?”

“Petty Officer Mayta Mosquera was brutally murdered last night between nine-thirty and ten o’clock. She is linked to Special Agent Lennon through their phone contacts. She had him listed as My Man, so we believe they were romantically involved,” Kai said.

“Numerous phone calls back and forth for two months,” Austin said. “Do you know where Lennon was last night?”

“He was supposed to have dinner with me and my father at seven, but he texted me and said he couldn’t make it.”

“Did he say why?” Austin asked.

“No. Just said something came up.”

“This doesn’t bode well for your friend,” Kai said. “I hate to be blunt about it, but Mayta was tortured for information and then she was murdered. Is there anything that Special Agent Lennon was working on that could have involved Mayta?”

Jason looked at Davis, then frowned. “The roof repairs?”

“Roof repairs?” Kai asked.

“Lennon was working on something yesterday afternoon that he didn’t want me to see. He blanked his screen when I approached. He said he was having problems with a roof repair issue.”

“It was also his reason for leaving early yesterday,” Jason said.

“But you got a gut feeling about it, didn’t you?” She studied Davis for a moment. She focused her attention on Jason. “You were working on his computer when we came in. Maybe it would be a good idea to get back to that,” Kai suggested. She turned back to Davis. “Austin is very good with computers. He can assist.” Jason nodded. Kai fired off another question. “How about his phone records?”

“I was just about to look at them when you got here. We can look at them now.”

She rose and said, “Lead the way.”

When they reached his desk, he pulled up a chair for her while Jason did the same for Austin.

He settled in behind his desk while Kai sat down in the chair. He pulled up the dump, and they started looking through the numbers.

“There’s Mayta’s number,” Kai said, leaning forward to touch the screen and brushing his shoulder. Damn, she smelled good, floral and sweet…hibiscus?

He felt himself leaning closer, breathing in her scent. Which was dangerous, given his current state of mind, and their location, but an impulse he seemed helpless to curb. Her skin looked so smooth and soft. Then there was that cute, upturned nose. She wasn’t the cute type. She was no-nonsense and wore her confidence as easily as she did her weapon.

She was just as affected as he was, the evidence in the little shuddering breath she released, then lowered her voice. “I’m sorry about last night, Davis. You were just being?—”

“A pain in the ass? My own supreme king of cockblocks? An idiot?”

She laughed, and the lilting sound charmed him off his cockblocking ass. Her smile was indulgent and soft. She kept her eyes on the screen and Jason and Austin in her sights. They had barely any intimacy here, and it effectively kept them both in check physically, but there was so much more to seduction than touching.

“A gentleman. You were trying to rescue me from myself. I could have saved you the effort, Davis. I’m a lost cause. You should cut your losses and run in the other direction.”

“I only run when I’m chasing suspects, or exercising,” he said, charmed all over again by her “gentleman” word. There was a slight roughness to his tone, one he knew damn well she would pick up on. She had an advantage over him. If she only knew how difficult it had been for him to keep it in his pants, she wouldn’t have complimented him so easily. But her words gave him hope. “Are you cracking open the door a bit to us being able to get to know each other a little better?”

“I don’t think it’s a secret that I’m attracted to you, Davis, or that the feeling is mutual,” she whispered. She dropped her gaze, then lifted it once again, glancing at him, her eyes much darker now as her pupils expanded. She was careful to look quickly away. “But under the circumstances of what could possibly become a joint investigation, it might be wise to proceed cautiously. Don’t you think so?”

He understood where she was coming from, but it had been too long for him. Too long without putting his wants first, even for a night. And if he was being honest, too long without someone like Kai. And after years of ultimately unfulfilling women in his life, he’d learned there was no one like Kai. Her words inflamed him in a way that went deeper than desire as his dick hardened behind the fly of his jeans.

After all, he’d imagined this moment more times than he cared to admit, all the while never letting himself believe it would actually happen. They’d tangled for years now, and he’d waited patiently…okay…not so patiently. He stared at her profile, keeping Jason and Austin in his peripheral vision. He didn’t need Jason to get wind of this. He had been supportive and would have a lot of wisdom to impart. He didn’t want to be told anything about Kai and the possible relationship they could have. Or a disaster in the making.

That was up to them.

He nudged her shoulder, wondering what he was putting at risk here. Considering how their past liaisons had ended, should have made him run in the other direction like she suggested, yet kept him riveted to his chair.

“We both know what we want. The evidence was quite clear last night, and it has nothing to do with work or with caution. It has to do with restraint, and mine is running thin about now. Let’s throw caution to the wind, Kai. We owe ourselves something more, like me deep inside you until we don’t know where each of us leaves off. Don’t you think so?”

She gasped and her head jerked to him, her eyes flashing. Her skin glowed a soft pink across the bridge of her nose, before tinting her cheeks. An oh-so-innocent reaction, when he knew oh-so-differently. In that way, they were both alike. Innocent didn’t describe either one of them. They’d done too much, seen too much. Just as she had to know how diamond-hard he was, ready to pick up right where they left off last night. He bet she was as wet as he was hard.

This was getting way too heated, sitting and presumably chatting, as if the explosive chemistry between them wasn’t electrifying every atom and air particle in the room. Austin and Jason were looking at them now, Jason frowning, and Austin’s bright, perceptive eyes narrowed.

She immediately looked back to the screen, her sweet breasts rising and falling a little faster beneath her soft sweater. He was primed to move forward with her. It was sink or swim as far as he was concerned. He’d know once and for all. He’d waited long enough, maybe his entire life.

Kai made a soft sound and leaned forward, apparently quite distracted. “What is this number doing in his phone?” she whispered. Then got her face closer to the screen. “That’s?—”

“Did you just discover that Jason called Special Agent Nathan Curran?” Austin said abruptly.

Kai looked up, her face tight. “Yes, many calls to him in the last three days.” She lifted her eyes to meet Austin’s. “What did you find?”

“Lennon was trying to access NCIS files…Nathan’s files.”

“Why?”

Austin glanced at Jason. “We can’t tell. But he tried to hack into our database with no luck.”

Kai pulled out her cell phone and pressed the screen. She put it to her ear and waited.

“Nathan. I have questions regarding Special Agent Carter Lennon.” She listened then frowned. “Nathan, wait!”

“What did he say?” Austin asked as he approached the desk.

“He told me he couldn’t talk about it and hung up on me.” Her whole body was trembling, anger made her eyes bright. He decided right then and there he didn’t want to be on the bad side of this woman.

“What?” Austin said, incredulously. “That’s ridiculous. He’s duty-bound to help us.”

Kai rose abruptly. “Well, that’s not going to fly. Austin, let’s move.”

“Wait a damn second,” Davis said, grabbing her arm, and turning her around. “You’re not cutting us out of this. Lennon is one of us and we’re not leaving this in your hands alone.”

“Right now, we’ve got a murder to solve, and one of our agents is holding back information. I intend to find out why.”

“Not alone,” his CO said as he came up to them. The commandant and the director agree. These cases are directly intertwined. You’ll be working on them together in a joint effort between NCIS and CGIS.”

After the commander left a pretty speechless foursome, Kai grabbed his wrist and dragged him away. “We’ll be right back. Stay put.”

Kai was movingon gut instinct right now, the headache, which had receded, was now back in its pounding glory. As soon as she pulled Davis into the conference room and shut the door, she whirled on him. “See, this is what I was talking about. Now we’re working on these cases together.” He was so damned distracting in that rough-edged way he’d always had. He simply undid her, and thinking about him being in her life both terrified her and made her want to sigh with satisfaction. He was so beautiful with his Asian/American features, six incredible feet of raw, lean power, silky dark hair, tough, but always gentle with her. His body gave her fever dreams. She’d fought for so many years against this attraction. Had she finally lost it? Yeah, she’d finally lost it.

He stepped closer to her, his hand coming up to smooth a strand of her hair back in place, and his face was too close to hers as he leaned in. In violation of her personal space, he unrepentantly took one step further as he drew the end of her hair over her ear. “We’ve worked quite effectively on cases in the past,” he said huskily. “You’re just spooked because now everything is in the open. I’m not one to panic about that, Kai.” He shrugged. “Nothing happens in a vacuum or overnight. Life is a journey.” His tone was amused and dry, as it often was, yet completely at odds with the intensity of his gaze.

“What was that?” she demanded dryly. He was always so sure of everything, of what steps to take, of the job he did, of what to do with her and about her. Such a fascinating mix of tough guy and natural elegance, and she had the feeling that she hadn’t even seen everything he was capable of, that there was some kind of well of energy that wasn’t only deep inside him, but that radiated out around him like a beacon. This is a man you can trust. This is a man who is safe.

Bullshit. He wasn’t safe, not by a long shot. He was so damned dangerous, and for the first time since she’d lost her daughter, she wanted to drink it in and experience everything she’d buried, hid, shut off, and suppressed.

It’s no wonder she’d been able to resist him this long. She was so turned on by him, that she smacked him again on the shoulder to keep herself from doing something even more stupid. “Some Eastern philosophy?” She leaned her head back and breathed around the turmoil churning inside her. “I am a little unbalanced.” She shoved his shoulder. “You unbalance me, and being rational is just part of your damn charm.” Her heart skipped a beat. It was as close to a revelation as she’d had yet. Her brain scrambled to weigh all the pros and cons, but it was in constant flux with the reactions of her body, and her heart, and it was all such a huge jumble, there was no way she could make any rational judgment. Not with him looking at her like that, and her wanting all sorts of things that were in direct conflict with what she was supposed to be doing right now, and this wasn’t it.

He trapped her between the wall and his hard-muscled body. “We will sort everything out in time, Kai. We will satisfy every craving we have.”

Her body responded instantly to his suggestion, which wasn’t surprising since she was sure he could deliver on that promise. Without a doubt. Thoroughly. And repeatedly. With that well of energy, she could just imagine how creative he would be.

He cupped her cheek and turned her gaze to his when she looked away in a vain effort to regroup. So sincere, real concern outlined in every inch of his handsome face. “It’s okay to melt down, Kai. That’s the raw material we use to build ourselves back up.”

This time her heart didn’t skip. It stopped altogether, then thundered on with such ferocity she felt it might explode from the sudden intensity of it. How could he have known she was nothing but slag, and how could he see that slag as nothing but gold instead of the leftover waste of who she had been?

And she feared that she wasn’t enough for him, like she hadn’t been enough for Alissa. If she played it safe, she’d avoid the hurt and disappointment that was sure to come, and that would be a crushing blow she wasn’t sure she could survive. Her fear of that kind of loss had ruled her for so long, was still ruling her.

“Why don’t you just tell me why you dragged me in here? I know you have it right on the tip of your tongue. Just say it and we’ll get past this and go question Curran.”

“You think you’re so damned perceptive.” She ran her hand through her hair. “Dammit, stop being so perceptive.” Her body trembling with the sheer effort it took to hold back, she let out a shuddering breath. “I’m in charge. I need to be in charge, and I have the rank.”

“Agreed. But I know you always take counsel from your team. That’s what makes you a good leader. Expect my counsel.”

She closed her eyes and laughed, the sound of it echoing in the conference room. “You are way too charming. Damn you.”

She swore she could feel the tension leaping between them. Then from one breath to the next, she took in his features and the longing in her made her feel full to bursting. It was as if the very air pulsated around them as she met his wonderful, open gaze. How had she missed this? How had she missed his hunger, making her falter, thinking it was more than her own?

Her breathing out of control, she locked her arms around him, pulling herself flush against him.

Hoarsely whispering her name, he brushed his mouth across hers, and the surge of raw sexual energy was like being infused with a live wire. Her breathing paralyzed, she wrapped her arms around him and opened her mouth, needing the heat of him. Davis shuddered, grinding his mouth against her as he crushed her even tighter. He took her mouth, and Kai yielded everything to him.

And he burned her right down to the inert slag she had been, firing her and heating her up until she bubbled with promise, stirred with a need to feel that fire tempering her into someone she needed to be, wanted to be, but just wasn’t certain she could ever be again.

With Alissa the fire had gone out, leaving her cold, deadened, numb, and locked into that hollow existence.

He was the spark and the flame.

His breathing raw and labored, Davis tore his mouth away as she gasped for breath.

Shockingly, she felt a sudden burn behind her eyes and immediately squeezed them tightly shut to ward off any ridiculous tears that might have formed. What a hopeless case she was. She was the one who had placed Davis out of reach. She still wasn’t sure of her own role in all of this, and whether their lives could entwine, and sex wasn’t enough. She blew out her breath. What little she’d had of it, of him, was already too much. Her thinking was that if he couldn’t be everything, then he had to be nothing.

And now after all this, nothing wasn’t going to cut it.

He stepped back. “We have to get a grip, Kai.” He licked his lips as if savoring the taste of her.

“This is all your fault. It must be exhausting to be such a charming, handsome?—”

“Bastard?”

She knocked the back of her head against the wall. “Yeah,” she said, her voice not much more than a hushed whisper.

After several minutes they exited the conference room, the heat in her cheeks gone, but the fire inside her only banked, and all that was left was that nagging and persistent fear.

It didn’t take long to get back to Pendleton. Davis was in the car behind her with Jason Hollow. He knew something was up, and her sense of Jason’s ability to assess situations and come to conclusions was in full force. There was a reason he was a good investigator.

But she had her own nosy and perceptive man to deal with.

“Everything all right between you and Nishida?”

“Yes, it’s fine, Austin. We’re just handling our working relationship. He knows who is leading and that’s all that matters right now.”

“So, there’s nothing else going on between you?”

“Austin—”

“Because that would be great as long as he doesn’t hurt you. If he does, we might have to find some lime and a shovel.”

She took her eyes off the road in surprise, met his affectionate gaze.

“It would be great like I said. You deserve some happiness,” he said sincerely. She whipped her eyes back to the road. “Being in love and loving someone is a jumbled up, screwed up cluster and goat fuck combined. If you can navigate through that, then I say you’ve won the human race.”

She released a huff of laughter and shook her head. “Okay, duly noted. Can we stop talking about this now?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said decisively, then smirked. “You have to save your energy to rip Special Agent Curran a new one.”

She was hell-bent on finding out why Nate was sandbagging her. So, when she reached his office and was put off by his assistant, she barged into his office anyway. Closing the door, she set her hands flat on the edge of his desk and said, “What the hell is going on? I have a murder case to solve and a missing person to find, something I’m sure you’re aware is time sensitive. How dare you hang up on me? Last time I looked, we were on the same side.”

“Well, hello to you too, Kai.” He released a hard breath. “You can ask me your questions.”

That tone didn’t bode well. But she wasn’t going to back down from getting as much information as she could to solve these crimes. “What did Lennon want?”

“I have no idea. I didn’t speak to him,” he said flatly. One thing she knew. Nate didn’t lie.

“He called you constantly. Why didn’t you call him back?”

“Because, whatever he wanted didn’t matter. Anything I’m working on is classified. You know that I’m on the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force specifically to stem the tide of drugs coming into Pendleton. You’ll have to solve your murder and missing person without me. I can’t help you, Kai.”