Chapter 6
I know what’s coming. Bracing myself, I cross the grassy area and step into the shade at the edge of the forest. At least the man had the decency to stand in a place that’s out of the sun.
“You rang?”
He slowly blinks at me, then pins me with that look he has down so well. I bet this guy was a drill sergeant. “I don’t see what’s funny about this.”
Good grief.
“Was I being funny?”
“You…never mind. When are you leaving?”
Okay. This is getting old. I sigh. “We’re not leaving. We have a job to do. In case you didn’t notice, there’s a disaster out there, and we’re here to help. I’ll just make sure that I have one of the men?—”
“Sorry to break the news, but those bozos couldn’t protect you from a fly.”
The nerve of the man. “That’s just plain rude!”
“The truth.”
A breeze stirs. It’s unfortunate timing. The scent of his soap mixed with clean sweat invades my nose.
He smells good. Dammit.
I pinch the bridge of my nose.
Things are becoming very clear, and I know exactly what I’m dealing with. A hardass who’s used to getting his way. Right now that includes moving me out of town.
This might be my first job with FamFind, but it is not my first go around with men like this. I know the type well.
Drawing a deep breath, I search for calm. But instead, I just get angrier. “So, let me get this right. Just because a man can’t bench press a hundred and fifty pounds means he?—”
“Two seventy.”
“What’s two seventy?”
“My bench press.”
Oh, brother. Two seventy. That’s like double my weight.
But it has nothing to do with this conversation. “Okay. And?”
“They’re pencil pushers. They are not trained operators. They’re not even mall cops.”
He actually said that, mall cops.
How is this infuriating man making me want to laugh?
Wait, I know how. Absurdity.
He crosses his arms.
I cross mine.
But I can’t look away from his muscles. Those are some big guns.
I fight to get my eyes back to his because I’m not sure I’ve ever been so close to biceps like those.
Silly, I was closer. Remember, I was nearly choked to death by them.
He demands my attention. “You get me now?”
I glance toward Brian and Pembrook. “Hm. Okay, so they don’t look very…operator-ish. But there are plenty of sleeper operatives out there.”
I’ve even met some, but I don’t share that fact.
He gets a funny look on his face. It’s a mix of disbelief and anger. “Fuck, honey. They wouldn’t know which end of a long gun to point at the bad guy.”
Hm. He might be right.
I’m not going to debate that fact. This makes me unreasonably snarky. “You’re just angry that you’re not the boss of everything right now. Someone has serious control issues.”
The narrowed eyes are back, and those razors cut me to shreds. He carefully enunciates, “You have no idea.”
We stare at each other. He’s not the only one with control issues. This is going nowhere.
A standoff ensues.
Beast shakes his head, looks at the ground. Puts his hands on his hips.
I win. Take that.
I almost laugh but rein in my insanity. I don’t even know who this person in my brain is right now. I’ve been pushed to the brink!
But when he looks back at me, there’s steely resolve behind those pools of chocolate brown.
My momentary satisfaction at winning the staring contest evaporates.
I brace.
“Look, ma’am,” he rumbles. “I’m not the boss of a lot of damn things. But right here, right now, I’m stopping a tragedy that might make your parents childless. I’m just telling you that you’re unprepared for this environment. Take a hint from someone who’s been in more than one war zone. Pack up. Or hire a battalion of round-the-clock guards, because a woman like you isn’t safe here.”
I open my mouth but can’t come up with a reply.
He holds up his hand. My eyes fly to the palm. Memories of that heated, calloused skin on my lips send a zinger through my body.
“Are you aware that your life is in real danger?”
My teeth catch my lip.
Crap.
His eyes are… almost worried. Bossy I can take. Worried? It only makes my doubts multiply like field mice.
“I am aware,” I admit.
He really lays it on. “You are aware that woman over there who works for you might become a victim of a heinous crime, all based on your decision in this moment.”
My gaze stutters toward Belle.
She’s tough. A street-smart kid from Chicago. She’s also foolhardy sometimes. Like me, it seems. And she’s not even close to being equipped for this.
Damn.
My reply comes out too soft. Not at all full of the confidence I need right now. “I’ll take that into consideration.”
That lights his fuse.
His gaze sparks with anger. His body somehow gets bigger. He snarls in my face. “Fuck, consideration? Let me decide for you. Pull. The. Fucking. Plug.”
First, I’m stunned.
Then, I waver.
I’m not leaving. But he’s right. Something has to change. I just don”t know how.
He scowls and his nostrils flare. “Did one of my men give you a sat phone so you can call your company for an extraction?”
I reach into my back pocket and pull out the other man’s satellite phone. He glares at me as I push it into his hands.
“You can have it back. I’m not calling. Yet.”
A growly sound comes from somewhere in his chest. Two thick brows slam together. His dark brown eyes burn hot and angry. His nose even tenses. Oh, but the lips are the best—they’re locked together in a fierce line that a jackhammer couldn’t part.
Until he thunders, “Yet?”
I wipe sweat from my eyes with the back of my hand and sway in the humid air. “I need to assess the situation and make some decisions.”
I choose this time to skirt around him and head for the trail the beast-man carried me down.
Wrong move, it seems, because he snatches me up.
“Put me down!” The nerve of this guy!
I twist against his infuriatingly tight hold.
This time, he’s got me cradled in his arms, cinched impossibly tight against the mountains of muscles in his chest.
He doesn’t even acknowledge that I’m kicking to get free. His only reaction is grouching at me. “We’re not done with this conversation, hotshot.”
“Oh yes, we are!”
His nose is within punching distance. Sooo tempting. Only, I have a feeling he might really spank my ass.
This time, he doesn’t stop in the clearing. He keeps going. Down another jungle trail. Crashing through the woods like a wild animal, until we arrive at a small, bright blue cabina.
Have I just been kidnapped?
He unlocks and kicks open the door. Kicks it closed with his heel and drops me on the bed.
I’m breathless from the bounce as I scramble to the edge of the mattress. “What the hell?”
When the man stalks away, I shoot daggers at his back. When he returns with a wet towel and a bottle of water and holds them out to me, I gape. “What’s that for?”
“You’re burning up.”
I am?
Oh, wait. Maybe that’s why my brain is fuzzy and my legs are weak.
Every single piece of clothing I have on is glued to me like a second skin. I even have salt rings on my blue shirt.
“What do you expect, it’s hotter than the underbelly of a car out there? Only slightly better inside this cabina.”
I fan my face and glare at him. “At least the breeze through the window does help.”
He fishes around in his cargo pocket. When he’s done, there is a small, white packet in his gigantic palm. It’s unlabeled and has two capsule-sized lumps in it.
“Electrolytes.”
I shove my hands behind my back. “Are you trying to poison me?”
“Fucking hell, woman. I’m trying to save your life. I don’t poison people. I shoot them, sometimes I slit their throats. I break their necks. Push them out of planes. Blow them up. You get me?”
“What?”
The only answer I get is him crossing his arms.
I swallow hard.
Holy mother of baby Jesus, he’s intense. Like off the charts.
“No! I don’t get you. Maniac.”
He snaps necks. Slit throats.
I know people like that exist. Operators. Assassins. I just never had one really pissed at me before.
I need to get out of here.
But I don’t feel well and arguing with him is making it worse. I’m shaky all over. My fingers tremble as I snatch the bottle of water from his hand, rip the cap off, and down the thing. “Give me the pills.”
He rips open the packet and drops the capsules into my palm.
Reluctantly, I toss them back. Then I grab the wet towel and bury my face in it.
What is wrong with me? Ugh!
How could I be attracted to a man like him?
Why did listening to him talk about slitting throats, breaking necks, and shooting people ignite something between my legs?
This is mortifying.
I hate unnecessary violence.
Hate. It.
When I force myself to look at him again, I’m still dizzy with whatever he’s caused to happen to my nervous system.
He’s still watching me.
Those eyes.
Dangerous weapons. They rove all over my face. I want to both lean in and scoot away.
I need to shake the bossy, overprotective mountain of muscle.
I’m here on a serious mission. There’s a disaster outside that door. People’s lives are broken and destroyed.
Yet, here I am, going nose to nose with a man who’s got my insides glowing with need. A man who wants to send me packing and will cost me my job.
But my body is pulsing with need from my clit to my nipples when it hasn’t done that in an eon. Okay maybe never.
I am a freaking mess. Maybe he’s right. Maybe it is heatstroke.
Because the man is like a magnet.
I don’t know how magnets work, nor do I understand my fascination with this overgrown barbarian. But something inside of me is clearly pleased with that wild look in his eyes.
He bites out his next words. “Brought you here because obviously you’ve had too much heat. You’re not thinking clearly.”
You think?
I’m not sure where the laugh starts, but it feels like it’s deep in the pit of my stomach.
Maybe even in my womb, but it rolls up through me and throws my head back.
It’s loud and unladylike.
You see, I laugh when I’m stressed. Nervous. In over my head. Even laughed when the neighborhood boys used to punch me. It scared them. They’d run off.
Seemingly, I laugh when I’m about to collapse from heat overload too.
Only Beast, isn’t so easily scared off as those pre-teen boys were.
My bad luck.