Chapter Eight
“I SHOULDN’T HAVE done that. I’m sorry,” he said, and got off the bed.
He was a jerk. What had he been thinking?
But she’d been staring at him with those dark, soulful eyes like pools of liquid sable, and he’d wanted to dive right in.
The last thing he should do was take advantage of her, especially when she was feeling vulnerable and scared.
It was unprofessional as well as reprehensible.
Before this, when he’d wanted to kiss her, he’d been able to control himself.
Just. But this time something had slipped and overridden that restraint.
She’d been so close, she was disrupting all his defenses, drawing him in with a siren call so strong he was unable to ignore it.
That was it. It was her proximity that’d caused his lapse in judgment. He was stupid to have sat so close to her on the bed. All he needed was to keep his distance, and everything would be fine. He’d be able to maintain his equilibrium if he just stayed away from her.
M?rten still had his back to Summer, a part of him not wanting to turn around to see the hurt in her eyes.
Hurt that he knew he’d put there by being a jerk and letting his urges get the better of him.
Then he’d been a double jerk by leaping off the bed as if she’d burned him.
He’d rejected her, and they both knew it.
But he had plenty of good reasons if he could only make her understand.
Steeling himself, he turned to face the bed. “Look, Summer,” he started. “I’m a police officer. I make it a rule not to—”
She cut him off. “It’s fine, M?rten,” she replied, voice tinged with ice. “I get it. I’m sorry it happened too.”
Okay. It looked as if she didn’t want to hear his reasons.
Which was fair enough. Part of him wished he could take his words back.
How could he regret something as primal and hot as that kiss?
But that would do neither of them any good.
He needed to leave this room for both their sakes.
He opened the door and stalked out into the passage, almost letting out a shout of alarm when a dark figure emerged from the kitchen in front of him. Jesus Christ, it was only Jacob.
Not allowing his shock to show, M?rten walked toward his friend as if nothing was wrong; as if he hadn’t just appeared from Summer’s bedroom in the wee hours of the morning.
“I have a favor to ask of you,” he said, ignoring the look of open surprise on Jacob’s face.
M?rten wasn’t about to account for himself.
They’d known each other long enough for Jacob to know not to probe, and he wouldn’t be offended when M?rten proffered no explanation.
But Jacob was also very good at not letting things go.
He’d bide his time, survey the situation, and launch an attack when M?rten was least expecting it.
“Okay,” Jacob replied, slowly taking a seat at the kitchen table as M?rten did the same.
But before M?rten could open his mouth to elaborate, Summer appeared in the doorway looking all rumpled and cute and stealing his breath from his lungs.
Was it just his imagination, or were her lips slightly swollen?
Swollen from his kisses? Shit. M?rten dipped his head, not wanting to meet her gaze.
“Have you told him yet?” she demanded.
M?rten’s stomach twisted and flipped over, and he kept his gaze lowered, not wishing to meet Jacob’s eye now either. It took him a few seconds to realize she’d meant the photos and not their illicit kiss. Shit, he needed to get his head back in the game.
Because M?rten hadn’t proffered an answer, Jacob leaned forward and asked, “Told me what?”
“No. Yes… I was about to,” M?rten replied with a sigh, lifting his chin; he couldn’t avoid her now, she was right there, and Jacob was looking at them both with growing incredulity.
He locked his gaze with Summer’s, caught in her powerful tractor beam of silent recriminations and hurt feelings, reminding him just how much of a jerk he was.
If only he couldn’t still feel the echo of her lips upon his, he might be able to act half normal.
But as it was, he could barely stop himself from standing and taking Summer in his arms, to apologize for being an ass, to tell her how much he wanted to kiss her again, to protect her from all that was to come.
None of which he could do, so he just sat there like a dumbass, staring at her.
“Told me what?” Jacob repeated a little louder this time when neither of them answered, a frown drawing deep lines across his forehead.
“Anyone want some hot chocolate?” Nikki shuffled sleepily into the room to stand beside Summer, stifling a yawn. Then she seemed to catch the vibe and stopped. “Or do we need something stronger? Shall I break out the whisky? What’s going on here?”
Great, now everyone was awake and asking questions.
M?rten gave a resigned sigh. Perhaps it was for the best; at least they wouldn’t have to tell their story more than once now.
He just hoped Nikki wasn’t as adept at picking up the awkward vibe between himself and Summer as Jacob had been.
Because she wouldn’t let it drop like Jacob had.
She’d want to know in minute detail what’d just passed between him and Summer.
And there was no way he was going to mention how he’d given in to temptation and kissed the woman he was supposed to be protecting.
Yeah, he knew Jacob would say that technically, Summer wasn’t his problem; she was the Seattle Police Force’s problem.
But now that this thief had attacked a second time, M?rten was determined to keep her safe, whether she was in his jurisdiction or not.
The police here were doing a piss-poor job as far as he was concerned, and no one else seemed to take her plight seriously.
Yet, anyway. Maybe after tonight, they would.
“No need for whisky,” Summer said, breaking the impasse. “Hot chocolate would be nice.” She moved to grab four mugs out of the cupboard. “I’ll help.” Nikki gave her a curious glance but turned to fill the kettle, saying nothing.
“So,” Jacob said impatiently as the two women busied themselves at the countertop. “What’s going on?”
M?rten schooled his features into what he hoped was his normal implacable mask before he answered. “We may have found a clue,” he said. “Can you pull some strings and run a license plate for us? Or get Miller to do it?”
Jacob sat up straighter. “Possibly,” he hedged. “But I’d need to know why first.”
“Summer discovered a photo that might be important,” M?rten replied, then filled them in on his and Summer’s unexpected find of the image of the two men who were acting mighty suspicious on the mine site.
Nikki said nothing, merely made an interested humming sound and looked to Jacob for his response.
But Jacob pursed his lips for many seconds before he said, “That sounds like a long shot.”
“I agree.” M?rten steepled his fingers on the table, saying not a word more, waiting as silence descended and everyone turned to stare at Jacob. The ball was in his court now.
Jacob rolled his eyes. “Fine. It’s a little early in the morning, but I guess it can’t hurt to give it a go. What’s the vehicle registration number?”
M?rten gave it to him, along with a description of the white van.
“As long as you don’t get in any trouble,” Summer added, her forehead crinkling with lines of tension as she watched Jacob like a hawk.
Jacob didn’t answer. Instead, he kept his face shuttered, pulled out his phone and tapped out a number, then disappeared down the hallway.
“He wouldn’t do it if it were going to cause problems,” Nikki assured Summer.
But M?rten and Nikki both knew that wasn’t strictly true.
M?rten was usually the stickler for the rules, and Jacob was usually the one who bent them.
M?rten had known that when he’d put forward his request. He hoped he wasn’t asking too much of his friend and that Jacob wouldn’t be risking his career.
Jacob returned to the room ten minutes later, his lips pursed in thought.
“Well, that was interesting,” he said, taking a sip of his cool chocolate and then grimacing with distaste.
Without a word, Nikki took the cup and warmed it up in the microwave.
“I think I may have just stirred up a hornet’s nest.” He let his gaze rest on Summer.
“Or rather, you have just stirred up a hornet’s nest.”
“What? Why?” She leaned forward, her long hair draping across the table as she fixed Jacob with her astute gaze, momentarily distracting M?rten with images of running his fingers through those silky lengths. Jacob’s next words pulled him back to reality.
“The guy on night shift agreed to run the plates for me after I mentioned I work with Agent Miller. I didn’t want to wake her unless I had to this early in the morning, but it seems her reputation precedes her, and that was enough for my colleague,” Jacob began.
“He got an immediate hit on the car, and that’s when things got interesting.
He wanted details about where someone had spotted this van and my reasons for asking.
” Jacob waved a hand in the air to forestall questions.
“I won’t go into specifics; this stuff isn’t highly classified; it’s more that it’s available on a need-to-know basis within the FBI, and he wasn’t sure why I needed to know.
Turns out that the registration for this vehicle belongs to a man connected to a known eco-terrorist group.
A man who’s on top of our Most Wanted Terrorist list.”
M?rten sat back in his chair at the unexpected news.
“Oh, wow,” Summer breathed, eyes going wide.
“I mean, of course I’ve heard the term eco-terrorist, especially as I work with lots of environmental groups, but aren’t they just toothless tigers?
They’re not real terrorists, are they? They’re not dangerous?
So why would he be on a Most Wanted list? ” Summer continued.