Chapter 18
Natalie smiled as Emily talked a million miles a minute. It wasn’t because Emily was nervous. It was mostly due to the fact that she was highly caffeinated, which was normal.
“Missed you at the party this weekend. They’re simply not the same without you.
” Emily walked around the tables and stools to the front of the lab.
“Brad looked awful. He kept asking if I’d call you for him.
I refused, because frankly, honey, you’re better off without him.
” Emily then threw a look at Owen and wiggled her brows as she grinned.
She should’ve known Emily would bring up her ex-husband. Emily had never been a fan of Brad’s.
“Now he, on the other hand,” Emily said and pointed to Owen, who stood by the door, “is a different story. He’s a hunk.”
Words wouldn’t budge past her throat. All she could do was nod. Because he was exactly that.
“Is he single?” Emily leaned in close to ask in a whisper.
“I believe so.”
Emily’s gaze narrowed as she stared at her. “There’s history between the two of you.”
“How can you possibly know that?” Now she wondered if it was written all over her face. She thought she was doing a better job of hiding her feelings.
Emily shrugged. “By the way he keeps looking at you, it’s obvious. Now, spill. I want all the juicy details. Because, sweetie, I’m not sure how you could’ve let that go.”
“I didn’t. He left me.” She cringed when it came out louder than she’d expected.
She didn’t bother too look behind her. She could feel Owen’s presence approaching by the way her skin prickled with awareness.
“Yes,” he said in his deep baritone. “It was my fault.”
She thought she was past all the hurt and resentment, but apparently, she’d been wrong. Having Owen with her, kissing her, touching her, was bringing back feelings she wasn’t prepared to deal with.
“Interesting,” Emily said with a wide smile. “Very interesting. Now, let’s get to work, shall we?”
“Please,” she mumbled.
She started to walk away when Owen’s hand grasped her wrist and kept her in place. He leaned in so close she could feel his breath on her neck, which made her heart race with anticipation and delight.
“Look at me, Nat. I won’t bite.” There was a long pause before he said, “Hard.”
She stopped the moan before it passed her lips. Damn him for tempting her in such a fashion. But she kept her back to him.
“Look at me,” he demanded softly.
She could never refuse him when he used that smooth baritone filled with sensuality and the promise of exquisite pleasure.
She gazed into his dark gaze and melted under the flagrant desire she saw there. His hand slowly caressed down to her fingers. Breathing became difficult as her blood pounded in her ears.
She attempted to swallow. No matter how she tried, she couldn’t look away from him. A thick black line encircled his irises, and his pupils were dilated. Their bodies were touching so that every bit of his heat soaked through her clothes and into her skin.
Unable to help herself, she gripped his fingers. “Don’t do this,” she begged. She wasn’t strong enough to deny him. She couldn’t do it as a teenager—and she certainly couldn’t do it now.
Not with the imposing, commanding man who held her immobile with the promise of ecstasy she knew he could deliver.
“I don’t have a choice,” he whispered. “I’ve never had a choice with you. I see you, and I have to have you.”
The urge to give in, to melt in his arms was overwhelming. She’d dreamed of it so many times. Now, he was offering himself.
How could she refuse?
How could she accept?
It took her years to get over Owen—if she ever really had. She was beginning to seriously doubt that. But she knew there was no future together. He had his life where he thought she didn’t belong, and she had hers.
Granted, she was now out of a job, but once the Russians no longer wanted her dead, she’d find something else. A job could be replaced. Her life couldn’t. So she wasn’t going to give her position at the embassy much thought for the moment.
Owen, on the other hand, stood before her. It would be so easy to lean into him and let him hold her, to let him take care of her. He did it so effortlessly.
But for how long? That’s what kept her from giving in, but that argument was wearing thin when his heat and words kept pulling her closer.
Somehow, she found the wherewithal to pull her hand from his. Then she took an intentional step back to guard her heart. “I thought you said I didn’t fit in with your life.”
“I was wrong.”
“Will you still think you’re wrong once we find Orrin and stop the group after this?” she asked, holding up her purse.
“Yes. And I like your faith in me,” he replied sarcastically.
“I’m basing it on past experience.” She didn’t give him time to respond. She turned and started toward Emily, who stood watching with unabashed curiosity.
“Damn,” Emily said when Natalie reached her. There was a hint of sadness and even a little envy in her black eyes. “I’ve looked for that kind of passion my entire life. Don’t be a fool and let it go.”
“He nearly destroyed me once. I won’t go through that again.”
Emily touched her arm in comfort. The moment was broken as one of the doors at the back of the room opened and a man in a white lab coat entered.
His dirty blond hair was pulled back in a ponytail. Vivid blue eyes behind black-rimmed glasses took in the room. He held Owen’s gaze the longest.
She noticed how Owen remained where he was, closest to the doors. Were the men out there? She hoped they’d walked on, but she doubted that was the case. Owen would know. But she didn’t ask. Sometimes the not knowing gave a person a measure of desperately needed peace.
It was an illusion. She knew that. Yet, she grasped what little she could and held on tightly. Because the worst had yet to come.
Emily’s welcoming smile as the man approached was genuine and reflected in her black eyes. “Simon. Thank you for agreeing to do this.”
“I don’t know what I’m doing, and until I know for sure, I won’t be doing anything.”
She wasn’t offended. She would be just the same in his shoes. She held out her hand to him. “Hello. I’m Natalie Dixon, and we’re in a bit of a bind. Your help would be greatly appreciated.”
“Simon Moore,” he said as he took her hand and shook it.
Natalie set the purse on the table between them and took out the container that held the vial. “As much as we’d like to tell you the entire story, it’s classified.”
“You talk as if you work for the government,” Simon said, glancing at Owen.
Owen crossed his arms over his chest. “We do. I’m a Navy SEAL. The few facts I can give you are that a vial was stolen from another country because our government wanted it, and those people want it back.”
“Needless to say, that country is furious,” Natalie added.
Simon braced his hands on the table, eyeing the tube and the vial within. “How angry?”
“They killed my aunt and uncle,” Owen stated. “They’ll go after anyone associated with whatever is inside that vial.”
Simon turned to Owen. “What’s in it?”
“That’s what we want you to tell us.”
Simon snorted and shook his head as he once more looked at the cylinder. “It’s dangerous, isn’t it?”
“We think so,” Callie answered. “It’s why I put it in this tube.”
“Smart thinking,” he told her. Then he held out his hand.
Her heart leapt. “Are you going to help us?”
“I’m a chemist,” he told her as he turned the cylinder over and over in his hands. “My curiosity won’t allow me to walk away without knowing what it is.”
“Even if it puts your life in danger?” Owen asked.
Simon swung his gaze to Owen. “Even then. Someone has hurt your family for this. Tell me, why not ask the government for help?”
“Time,” she replied.
With a nod, Simon walked back through the door he entered from. The top portion was glass. There was also several tempered glass windows looking into the room.
“It’s his lab,” Emily explained. She then swiveled her head to Natalie. “They’re after you, too, aren’t they?”
“I’m just helping some friends,” she lied.
Emily raised a black brow and cocked her head to the side. “Nice try. Is there anything I can do?”
“How much control do you have here?” Owen asked.
Emily said, “Quite a lot. What do you have in mind?”
“There are two large men looking for us. They’ll make their way into the building, if they haven’t already. Think you can get rid of them?”
Emily winked. “Give me a second, sugar.”
“No,” Natalie said. “I don’t want anyone else involved.”
“They won’t know I am,” Emily assured her and exited through a back door.
She pulled up a stool from another table and sat. Her gaze swung to Owen. He watched the door in case the men came through.
She’d used to joke that he had eyes in the back of his head. No one was ever able to come up behind Owen and scare him. He always knew when anyone ever tried.
And she had attempted it many different ways.
Suddenly, his eyes slid to her. She recalled his words, and chills raced over her skin. She wanted him with a desperation that was all too familiar. Not even the long years apart could make her body forget him.
Once Orrin was found—because she knew they would find him—Owen would return to his unit of the SEALs. And everything would go back to the way it was.
He was so sure she wouldn’t like the military life. What irritated her was that he was right. She wanted her time with him, and to have that reduced to just a few weeks a year wasn’t much of a relationship.
How could she stay angry with him for protecting their country? He risked his life every day for their freedom. He was a hero in every way possible.
He wanted her. It was there for the world to see. He wasn’t hiding it. But she refused to allow him back into her life—and her heart.
Even if being with him was pure, unadulterated bliss.
“What’s Simon doing?” Owen said.
She blinked and looked away from him. “I don’t know. I always hated chemistry.”
He moved to stand near one of the windows and looked inside. “He’s trying to figure out the compounds within the liquid.”
She glanced at the biosuit Simon wore and wondered how safe they were in the lab next to him. Would walls and glass stop Ragnarok?
Probably not with a name like that.
The door opened, and Emily walked. “The men following you are out of the building, but they haven’t left the campus. They’ll be waiting.”