Chapter 8
Eight
Lila came awake with a start, gasping for air as she shot straight into a sitting position. Pain radiated out from her stomach, filtering throughout her entire body.
“Lila, are you okay?” Ian asked.
His deep voice, and that sexy accent wrapped around her. It was dark in the bedroom and even though she knew he sat in the chair and wasn’t in bed with her, there was something intimate about it.
“Yes. Well, mostly.”
She shoved a hand through her hair, then winced when her fingers tangled in a knot.
“What is it?”
She frowned and looked at Ian. “What?”
“You made a face.”
“There is no way you could see that.”
“I have excellent night vision.”
“There’s no need to brag, Ian. We all get that you were a super spy assassin.”
“I’m not…” He stopped, then muttered something under his breath. “I could see your expression.”
“Oh.”
“I’ll get some pain killers for your incision. How’s your head?” he asked as he rose to go into the bathroom.
“Fine. The headache is mostly gone. Who all is here?”
He returned and handed her the pills. “Just my father. Jenner and El are taking watch over the house.”
She tossed the pain killers into her mouth and took the water that Ian offered her. As she swallowed the pills, she tried but failed to come up with an argument for him to let her go.
“Forget it.”
She glanced at him. “What?”
“I can see the wheels in your head spinning. I’m not about to let you go out on your own. My father isn’t about to allow that either.”
She frowned and crossed her arms.
“And please stop looking at me like that.”
“I’ll look at you any way I want to.” Yeah, it wasn’t that mature, but it was all she had. She had never really had another person make her feel out of control. Not since her family had been killed.
“Well, when you look at me like that, I want to get my hands on you.”
She snorted. “You would never hurt me.”
“I didn’t say I wanted to hurt you.”
She blinked at the way his voice had deepened. He didn’t mean—
“I thought I heard your voices,” Sam said from the doorway.
She looked at Sam, who was smiling at her, then back to Ian, who had one eyebrow raised while he studied her. His blue eyes seemed darker. Her nipples hardened, her head started to spin again, and her entire body pulsed.
“Is everything alright in here? You’re not giving Lila a hard time, are you, Ian?”
“No,” he said, his gaze still locked with hers. “Unfortunately.”
He barely uttered that last word, so she knew it was just for her. What was that about? He didn’t mean—
“I was going to make some pancakes and wanted to know if you two wanted any.”
It took some effort to look away from Ian back to his father. “I would love some.”
He smiled. “I’ll call when they’re ready.”
Then he hurried away, leaving her with Ian, who was watching her like a predator.
“Stop that.”
His eyebrows rose in mock innocence. “What?”
She sighed. “I get that you might use that on other women, but that won’t work on me.”
“Indeed?”
Oh, jeez, that tone. That got to her every time. It took all of her control not to press her legs together. “Yes.”
“And what tone am I using?”
“You use your obvious hotness to get what you need on the job. I’m not a job.”
“What the bloody hell are you talking about?”
“I’ve been watching you for years, Ian. I’ve seen you use that look on women and they melt into a puddle. On the job and off, so stop it. I know you wouldn’t be interested in someone like me. I said I wouldn’t run away.”
For now. She left that part off, because she knew he wouldn’t like it.
He leaned forward, his gaze taking hers in. “Someone like you?”
“Listen, I get it. You want to make sure I stick around. I promised to stay. I don’t break my promises. But please don’t use that look on me. I’m not equipped to handle a 007 spy with the ability to seduce anyone.”
Ian blinked. He had the longest, darkest lashes she had ever seen on a man. They were amazing really.
“What do you mean you aren’t equipped? You aren’t making any bloody sense, Lila.”
Her subtle comment wasn’t breaking through his hard head, so she blurted out the truth.
“How often do you think I went on a date? I don’t have the kind of experience to deal with you. You don’t have to honeypot me.”
His face went blank and for once he didn’t have a comeback. She carefully rolled over to the other side of the massive bed and rose from the mattress.
“I need to clean up.”
He was still staring at her as if she had two heads.
Great. Since he didn’t seem to be stopping her, she strode to the bathroom and shut the door.
Then, she looked at herself in the mirror.
Her hair was a mess, she had creases in her skin from the pillowcase, and she was washed out.
Oh, yeah, Ian was trying to seduce her for sure. What guy wouldn’t want to seduce that?
With a sigh, she pushed those thoughts aside. She didn’t have time for that nonsense anyway.
Ian stared at the bed, then at the bathroom door.
What did she mean by that? And who used the term honeypot these days?
Oh, he knew spies used it all the time, but…
he frowned. He understood women. Most of the time.
Okay, not really. He knew how to satisfy them in bed.
He knew how to partner with them. Emotions…
he wasn’t good at those. And Lila seemed to have a lot of them.
As if she could hear his thoughts, his phone chimed with the tune he’d assigned his sister. He grabbed his phone.
Autumn: Dad filled me in. You need backup?
Ian: No. El and Jenner are here. We plan a trip tomorrow.
He had to be careful about who might be reading his texts. He had pretty good security, but it never hurt to be careful.
Ian: Got a question.
Autumn: Shoot.
He had to word this in a way that would protect Lila’s pride.
Ian: If a woman says she doesn’t have the experience to deal with me, what does that mean?
Autumn: Context.
Ian: I was just looking at her. She said I was using a look.
Autumn: I take it we’re talking about Lila.
Damn, the woman had transformed him into someone who started conversations like she did.
Ian: Yes.
Autumn: Did she say anything else?
Ian: Something about not dating much and she thought I was using a honeypot on her. Like I ever did that.
Autumn: You did use your stupid good looks to get information.
True, but he never slept with anyone in that situation.
Before he could text back, his phone rang. Since he heard the shower start up, he answered.
“Why are you calling me?”
“Cuz you love me. Anyway, what’s going on with you and this Lila? Also, how insane is it that Dad knew her?”
“Pretty insane.”
Then he said nothing else. It was hard to say much more because…fuck, he was still turned on from that frown that Lila had given him. The idea that she was probably naked in the shower made it even worse. He could just imagine all the water running down her body and…
“Ian!”
“What?”
“I said your name three times. What’s up with you?”
He rolled his shoulders back and tried his best to get his body under control.
He had never had this much trouble keeping his mind on task, but then, she had been getting to him for months now.
Now that he was getting up close and personal with the woman, he didn’t want to think about anything else.
She had started to become an obsession for him.
“Not sure. Tired. And worried.”
“Understandable. You are getting older.”
He ground his teeth. No one knew how to put him in his place better than his sister. Except, maybe Lila.
“Okay, she said she hadn’t dated much and she wasn’t equipped for me.”
“Well, it means just that. She doesn’t have much experience with men. It would be difficult for her to date, even before she went on the run.”
“Why?”
“Trust. She lost her whole family, and from what Dad told me, she grew up with a grandmother who was paranoid for good reasons. A woman like that doesn’t just hit the dating apps for hookups.”
He blinked. “I know you’re trying to be subtle.”
“Listen, if she isn’t a virgin, she is damned near close to it.
She probably doesn’t share with a lot of people, so that would make it hard to have long-term relationships.
Isn’t that why you never got involved when you worked in MI-6?
I mean, you use that reasoning now, but we both know that’s bunk. ”
“Like you didn’t?”
She snorted. His half-sister had lived in a cult until she’d escaped with the help of their father. The cult leader had been after her for years—a man most people thought was dead. So no, she didn’t have any long-term relationships until she’d met Seth.
“Nope. But then the love of my life…”
She faded away and he heard the phone jostled around. His brother-in-law was on the phone next.
“Sorry about that. She doesn’t get morning sickness that much anymore, but every now and then it hits her. Can I help you with your woman problems?”
“I don’t have woman problems.”
He heard the water turn off in his bathroom. Now she was rubbing the towel all over her body. Fuck.
“Why are you humming?”
“I wasn’t.”
“You were and it was weird. Listen, I’ve dealt with a prickly woman before.”
“That’s not the problem.”
“Yeah. I got that. 007 doesn’t know how to approach a virgin, I get it.”
“I never said that she was.”
His brother-in-law sighed. “Okay, so maybe she just doesn’t have that much experience. Just, take it slowly. She’s out of her element and probably exhausted from the injury and running for over two years. Be nice.”
“Be nice? That’s your advice?” He couldn’t hide his sarcasm.
“Well, I do know what I’m doing.”
“Oh, you do?”
“Yeah. I’m married to the woman of my dreams and she’s having our baby.”
Well, damn, he was right.
The door opened. Lila stood there, her hair slicked back from her face, and dammit, she was stunning. Was she pale? Did she look like she had been through hell? Yes, on both counts. But he wanted her.
“I gotta go, Seth.”
“Gotcha. Talk to you later.”