THIRTEEN
“Take this.” Con held out a small flesh-toned item on his palm.
“Hearing protection for the concert?” Sophie’s stomach flipped like an Olympic gymnast as she plucked the device from his palm.
“I guess it could double as that. It’s a comms device. You’ll be connected to me and to the guys too. In case.”
Her gaze flew to his. The dark depths were unreadable. “In case of what?”
“Just in case. I never take chances. There’s always a plan B.”
He surely said that to make her feel better, but now her overactive imagination was all over the place.
She pressed the bud into her ear.
“Tap it to switch it on.” He demonstrated.
She did the same.
“Testing.”
His voice filling her ear shouldn’t make her think of him rumbling her name as his orgasm struck…but it did.
“Copy!” She struck the pose with her arms extended in finger guns to lighten the moment and to distract herself from the scorching-hot man in front of her. They’d shared an amazing dinner and a fabulous, stimulating discussion. And his compliment about the way to her being through her mind had made her practically swoon at the table. She still needed smelling salts.
“This is much more fun than Princeton!”
“Sophie, be serious.” The grin that split his usually solemn countenance directly contrasted his stern words.
She began humming the Bond theme song again.
“Sophie, stop.” Con hooked an arm around her waist and yanked her flush against him.
Oh god. He was so big and hard—everywhere.
He backed her up one step and then another, until her spine came up softly against the building that flanked the alleyway.
She tipped her face up to his and saw the want burning in his eyes.
Her heart rate tripled, and her breaths came in small puffs in anticipation of his kiss.
She shouldn’t want him to kiss her. They had a job to do.
Or maybe they should practice their role in public. After all, they were posing as newlyweds.
Con’s head dipped lower. His warm breath passed over her lips.
Suddenly, his eyes cleared. He un-banded his arm from her middle and stepped away. “Come on. It’s time to get to the concert.”
The earbud was still on, sending his deep tone into her ear again. She skimmed a finger over the device to switch it off before following him out of the shadowy side street outside the restaurant. As they reached the sidewalk, he grasped her by the hand.
When they neared the corner, a dark car pulled up. Oh god. Sophie had seen all the movies. A car always drove up before someone jumped out and tossed them into the back.
With confidence, Con led her to the car and opened the back door.
As soon as she spotted Mason at the wheel, relief flooded her hot veins. She slid inside and slumped in the seat as her adrenaline washed through her system, leaving her wiped out before the concert even started.
Upon their arrival, the opening act took the stage. The thump of the bass had her nerves even more on edge, but she gritted her teeth and gripped Con’s hand tighter as he plowed a path through the throng of people with his sheer size.
She saw him reach up and purposely touch his ear.
Having the communication device on would be helpful. If they needed to communicate, they couldn’t exactly yell their moves to each other. A mere whisper would be enough.
At the thought of Con whispering into her ear, Sophie’s body reacted. Her nipples pebbled and her lower belly gripped. The man could read a grocery list to her, and she’d be turned on.
The outdoor amphitheater was packed. She took a moment to brush her hair behind her ear, switching on the device as she did.
“I’m surprised we got tickets. This place looks sold out.”
At her comment into his ear, he threw her a glance. All at once, she realized how they got tickets. With the power of the CIA behind them, they could get anything that would aid them in this operation.
Her heart thudded faster. This was no game. They weren’t here for personal fun. Every step she took carried her deeper into danger. But with Con’s hand around hers, she felt safe.
She dropped her gaze to his waistband where she knew he concealed a weapon, tucked along his spine. She only prayed that he wouldn’t need it tonight.
The music thumped on and on. As they reached a row with two empty seats on an aisle, she knew these seats were too good to be true. Con ushered her in first and took the seat on the end.
For a moment, she got caught up in the concert. The lights onstage and the performers were really good. Then she scanned the rows in front of them.
She blinked. “Is that…?”
“It’s him,” came Con’s gruff response.
Deniz sat a few rows in front of them. If Sophie moved a certain way, she no longer had a clear view of the man, but Con was head and shoulders taller than most people and probably had a perfect shot.
She adjusted the earpiece and accidentally shut it off. Panic swept through her at being disconnected from Con. She threw out a hand to grab hold of him. He gave her a questioning glance, and she fumbled to switch on the earpiece again.
As soon as the small metallic sound filled her ear, she breathed out.
Then in.
God, she would make a terrible spy. What was she even doing?
He squeezed her hand as if to tell her to calm down. “You’re supposed to be enjoying yourself, Sophie. Try to relax.”
When she glanced up at him, he looked every bit the concertgoer. His shoulders loose, at ease. While she looked on, he extracted the recording glasses from his breast pocket and slid them on.
God, he really was hot in those glasses. She pictured him walking across the university campus on his way to the library to study…well, any subject.
She pictured him walking across an English moor, coming for her like Mr. Darcy walked toward Elizabeth Bennett.
Her ovaries were about to rupture. She wasn’t paying attention to the concert or the crowd or Deniz. She only had eyes for Ryan Constantine.
Oh god. She wasn’t having those feelings again, was she? This wasn’t even real, it was a job.
So why did the way he looked at her feel real and his hand in hers feel possessive?
It’s all an act.
She forced her attention to Deniz. The crowd suddenly surged to its feet to cheer on the performer, and he did the same.
To him, this was all an act too. From what she’d seen, Deniz would do anything to be home with his wife, safe and sound. Instead, he was trapped in a terrifying game and his wife was missing.
Sophie leaped to her feet along with the crowd, and Con wrapped his arm around her, pulling her close.
This would be sweet and romantic if they weren’t playacting.
Just then, Deniz twisted around.
Con dipped his head and kissed Sophie.
The ploy caught her completely off guard, and she gasped out, the sound inaudible over the loud music and screams of the crowd.
Their cover of two lovers out enjoying a night on the town demanded it, she told herself. The reality was much scarier and couldn’t be further from reality.
Then why did his lips make it feel like a real kiss?
She sank into the caress, bringing one palm up to his muscled chest to steady herself.
Pitching onto her tiptoes, she angled her head to deepen the kiss.
“Ew, they’re making out again.”
She jerked. Con ripped his mouth from hers.
She blinked at the flashing lights onstage, registering that the guys had seen everything through Con’s glasses.
“Oh god.” She scrubbed a finger between her eyes.
A low chuckle filled her ear.
“Charlie 3, drop and give me fifty.”
At Con’s order, more laughter burst from several listeners on the line. Sophie pressed her fist against her lips to stifle a giggle, but it bubbled out anyway.
Con wagged his head like a disappointed dad and slipped an arm around her again. The warmth of his arms. The music. The atmosphere. Sophie forgot all about Deniz as the second band took the stage, and she threw herself into the experience.
She’d been to a few concerts in her high school and college days, but she couldn’t recall the last time she’d enjoyed music so much.
She looked up at Con and found him watching her closely. She smiled, and his eyes lit up. His fingers stretched along her back, sending tingles through her lower belly.
As she returned her attention to the stage, she remembered the shipping agent. He still stood with everyone else in the crowd, but he wasn’t swaying to the beat the way everyone else did. He appeared to be separated—in his own world.
She spent a long time watching him, but no one approached the man. Nobody spoke to him.
The last song began. Sophie felt the clock running out fast. Each beat that carried them nearer to the end seemed to speed by faster and faster.
After the final notes carried through the amphitheater and the crowd went wild, her stomach dropped in disappointment. Unless the shipping agent got stopped on the way out of the venue, nothing happened.
Turning to Con, she realized that half of her disappointment was the letdown that her wonderful experience…shared with him…was over.
Into her communication device, he rumbled, “We have to hurry.” He grabbed her by the hand.
She craned her neck to catch what he was seeing, but it was impossible. She was swallowed by the crowd and people much taller than her. With no choice but to rush behind in Con’s wake, she clutched his hand and let him pull her along.
“I got eyes on him,” came into her ear from one of guys on Con’s team. “He’s alone.”
Several tense beats of silence thudded. Then he said, “He just got into his car and left. Nothing to report.”
With her free hand, she grabbed at Con’s arm. He sent her a sideways glance and a short shake of his head. “Not here.”
The minute they were in the car with Mason behind the wheel again, Sophie turned to Con. “Is this what the job is like? Nothing happened.”
“It isn’t unusual. Sometimes we sit for days and nothing happens.”
“Do you think it was a trap? To catch us out?”
“I considered that, but we’re hidden deep enough. I doubt we stood out in that crowd—there were a lot of Americans there.”
She compressed her lips. Up to this point, most of this job had been fun. Deciphering codes and jet-setting around the world, dressing up for nice dinners… having fun sex with Con.
Even the strangest cryptograms had logical patterns. Her current state did not. Her scholarly mind didn’t work like this.
She was in Turkey.
With a Navy SEAL so deep undercover he didn’t exist in any records.
Pretending to be his wife.
She didn’t belong here.
Worse were the questions lobbing through her mind—and the biggest blast was her growing feelings for a man she’d slept with one time.
Okay, he was the first in a very long time. While it may seem like she’d hopped into bed, it was so uncharacteristic for her.
Men needed a place to have sex. Women needed a reason. What was hers?
City lights panned over his rugged face.
She liked him. A lot.
Much, much more than she should.
* * * * *
Con felt the shift in Sophie the minute it happened. She closed off, stopped talking. More uncharacteristic, she stopped asking questions.
He knew body language and he knew how people reacted to fear. He’d seen Sophie run the gamut tonight.
Mason pulled up in front of the hotel.
“Head back to the safe house.” Con climbed out of the car and drew Sophie to her feet.
“Copy.”
Before he closed the door, he ducked his head into the car. “Henner’s in command tonight. Keep me updated.”
“Got it.” Mason narrowed his eyes. “You’re not going back out there without one of us on your six, are you?”
“No.” He glanced over his shoulder at Sophie. “I have something else to take care of.”
Understanding filled Mason’s eyes. Con closed the door, and Mason drove away.
He led the way into the hotel, on alert for anything suspicious. Even though he had one hand securely on Sophie’s spine, it wasn’t enough protection in his eyes. She was worried. Scared.
Sophie didn’t utter a word until they reached their room and the door was closed.
She whirled to face him. “I think I’ve wasted enough time for one day. I need to get to work on that cryptogram.”
He gave a brief nod. “You’re right.”
Though he didn’t like the way she avoided his gaze, he didn’t press her to talk about their failed op tonight. She moved to the table and started up the laptop.
He watched her for a moment before going into the bedroom to shower and change. When he stepped out of the shower, he received a check-in from his team with an update on Deniz. The team had set up outside his residence, watching for anyone coming or going, but so far, all was silent.
Con told them to keep watch. Then he threw on a pair of jeans and a black T-shirt, worn to softness from so many washes.
A soft cry from the other room had him whipping open the door and rushing out. His gaze darted right and left in search of danger.
His stare landed on Sophie still seated at the table, tapping wildly on the keys. In two strides, he reached her side. “What happened?”
“I got it. I solved another. Con!” She spun to face him, her eyes huge. “I was able to take Bayar’s name and fit the letters into these spots. See?” She pointed at a B-A-Y-A-R in various locations in the encoded message.
He gaped at the screen. “What does the message mean?”
Her eyes sparked with excitement. “I did a brief search, nowhere near as deep as I need to in order to fully grasp the meaning, but I think it’s pointing to this.” She brought up a map on the screen.
Leaning in, he fixed his focus on the location of a place in New York City’s Chinatown. He jerked. “Bayard Street.”
She nodded emphatically. “I think it’s a target.”
He already had his phone in hand and was shooting off a call to report to Commander Barrett.
As soon as he finished, he dropped his phone on the table and yanked Sophie out of her chair. She issued a noise of surprise, but when he hugged her hard, she embraced him in return.
“Sophie.” He buried his nose in her sweet-smelling hair. “You’re brilliant.”
“Just doing my job.” Her voice sounded raspy.
She drew away from him, avoiding his gaze once more.
He grabbed his phone and placed a call to the front desk. “Send champagne and strawberries. Please,” he added as an afterthought. Manners were rarely required in his line of work.
After he set his phone aside, Sophie blinked up at him. “Champagnes and strawberries, Con?”
“You had a long night. You deserve some self-care.”
Her eyes glazed over for a moment, then she shook her head as if to clear away thoughts. “We attended a concert. A great concert.”
“Yeah. Undercover. Trying to catch the person controlling Deniz. I know you were on edge.”
“How do you know?” She tipped her delicate jaw in defiance.
He balled his hands at his sides and took a step closer. “I felt it,” he grated out.
They stared at each other for three heartbeats. Then five. Ten.
Finally, she broke the connection by running her fingers through her thick hair. “Con…”
“Whenever I touched you, I felt you tremble, Sophie.”
Her mouth opened and closed. “Because…I was reacting to being with you.”
His quick intake of air didn’t stop the whirl of his brain. Was she serious? He’d seen her playful side, but she didn’t appear to be toying with him now.
“Jesus, Sophie.” He started to reach for her, but his phone buzzed with an incoming message.
Sophie took a step toward the bedroom, but he caught her arm before she could walk away. “Stay here. Please. We’re not finished.”
As he responded to the text, she kept her stare trained on his face. Arms folded, her breasts pressed upward as though on offer.
“Let’s try this again.” He purposely set the phone face down on the table and reached out to take her in his arms.
A knock at the door stopped him cold.
With one hand, he swept her off to the side, out of the line of sight of whoever was at the door—and out of the range of fire. He didn’t take chances. Especially not with her.
Shooting a warning glance toward her, he answered the door. A server held a tray containing a bowl of strawberries and an ice bucket of champagne with two flutes.
He took the tray with a nod, kicked the door shut and twisted the extra locks. Then he started toward the table.
On second thought…
He took a detour to the bedroom. The patter of Sophie’s feet behind him made him smile.
With a flourish, he set the tray on the bed.
Holding out his arms to her, he said, “Third time’s a charm?”
“Now who’s asking questions?” Her smoky tone matched the hooded look of her eyes as she slipped into his arms.