1941002110 (R) (14 page)

Which was a good thing, but who knew how long it might last?

“Come on.” Chase started to push Sophie toward the guy and she pushed back, resisting his efforts to make her move. He was much stronger than she was and could do it forcibly, but that would be too obvious.

“He’s already looked at us. He has no idea who you are. If you act like you’re afraid, you’ll draw attention. Now walk.”

She moved, but reluctantly. Her body trembled as he held her close against his side.

He bent his head to her ear. “I told you I wouldn’t let anyone hurt you. Trust me.”

She relaxed marginally as he led her past the man and then to a seat a couple of rows over where they could see any moves this guy might make.

Chase tugged her down and tucked her against him. She still clutched the magazines and her chest rose and fell a little too quickly. He reached over, took the bag, and set it down on the seat beside him. Then he tipped her chin up so she could look at him—and instead of telling her to calm down, he let his gaze slide to her mouth.

Those red, plump, cherry lips that had tempted him earlier. That he hadn’t stopped thinking about since he’d kissed her at the rest stop. Every thought he’d had about keeping his hands off her evaporated.

He wanted her. Wanted to strip her slowly, discover all her delicious secrets, and eat her up from head to toe. It didn’t matter that he shouldn’t do it, that she was his stepsister, that any involvement with her could bring his father back into his life. And what about his mother? Would she be hurt if he got involved with Tyler’s stepdaughter? She’d never said a negative word about either Justine or Sophie, but then she’d never been forced to endure their presence in her life either.

Guilt ripped through him even as desire followed hard on its heels. Chase glanced up at the people in the surrounding gate area and then did what he wanted so badly to do.

The instant his lips met Sophie’s, she moaned. It was a small sound, but it pounded through him like a summer squall on the Chesapeake. Her mouth slipped open and he thrust his tongue inside, stroking hers. She stroked back, and his cock took notice.

He knew he was getting that damned lipstick all over him again, but he didn’t much care. It wiped off. The cherry flavor of her lip gloss was sweet as he moved his mouth against hers.

Her hands came up and slid around his neck. He tugged her in closer, almost on his lap, and bent her backward, kissing her with the kind of desperate passion he’d held in check earlier.

“Get a room,” a male voice said.

It was precisely what he needed to hear. He gentled the kiss and carefully extracted himself before things got any more out of control than they already were.

Sophie looked up at him with wide eyes. Her lips were wet, and her lipstick was smeared. He knew it was smeared on him too. For some reason, that made him grin.

Sophie grinned back. “You look like a clown.”

“And you look delicious.” She hadn’t dropped the British accent at all. It turned him on more than it should.

“I’d better get out the wipes again.”

“Yep.”

She didn’t bother looking at the man sitting with his back to them, but he knew she hadn’t forgotten he was there. She fished in her purse, handed him a wipe, and then took out a mirror and her lipstick.

“You’re gonna go through that tube mighty fast,” he grumbled. “And the wipes.”

“Not if you’d give me warning first, darling.”

“Hard to warn you when I don’t know I’m going to do it until I do.”

She finished slicking on the red lipstick and put everything back in her purse.

“Feeling better?” he asked as he finished wiping the stain off his mouth.

She glanced toward the man and then smiled. “A little bit, yes.”

“You’re pretty fucking sexy, Beth Chandler,” he said, and she dropped her gaze as if she were embarrassed.

He put a finger under her chin and tipped it up until she had to look him in the eye. “That’s the honest truth, baby. No lie.”

She swallowed. “Thank you. That’s very nice of you.”

He leaned toward her so only she could hear what he said. “I’m not being nice. It’s the truth—and if we were still in that house, I’d sink into you and not come up for hours.”

Her breath hitched and her skin flushed a pretty pink. “Then I wish we were still there.”

He leaned back against the chair and pulled her into the curve of his arm. He told himself it was because they were supposed to be on their honeymoon and they needed to look the part, but in truth he liked having her there.

She sighed and settled in, her hand drifting up to twine with his where it hung over her shoulder.

“Why do you think he’s here on this particular flight?” she whispered after a few minutes.

Chase didn’t take his eyes off the man. His back was still turned and he still seemed oblivious to their presence. Chase’s instincts told him there was no way the dude knew Sophie was here.

“I think he’s here because Androv figured out he needed to send someone to Paris. No sense calling him back to New York first.”

“Do you think he’s figured out the address?”

“Yeah. Even if he didn’t get it from the credit card information, he’ll have figured it out by investigating your background. You have a connection to Paris, and he’ll explore that first.”

“If he has the tracking number, he’ll know when the package is delivered.”

“True. Nothing we can do about it but get there first.”

“I should have kept the flash drive. We could be analyzing it now.”

“You did the best you knew how to do. And if he’d caught you, you’d be dead and he’d have his information back. So, no, you shouldn’t have kept it.”

Chase took his personal cell phone that he’d replaced earlier from his pocket and sent a text to Hawk. “Stay here,” he told Sophie as he got up and sauntered over to the other side of the lounge. He picked up a bottle of water from a vendor, paid, and then turned and snapped a pic of the area with his phone. He snapped a couple of more pics as if he were a tourist taking photos of the airport and then sauntered back to Sophie’s side where he sent the photo of the man to Hawk.

She’d taken a magazine from the bag and was currently flipping through it. He saw clothes, purses, and makeup, and zoned out. Whatever.

“You okay?” he asked.

She glanced up at him. “Mostly. I just wish we were on our way already.”

“Me too.”

Because he didn’t like waiting for the go order. He liked it when they were busting balls to get to the drop zone, when everything was critical and actions mattered. He liked the rush of exploding onto a scene with his team and taking care of business.

The only team he had on this one was Sophie, however, and the mission was not to explode onto the scene so much as to tiptoe in and out again like thieves in the night.

For Sophie’s sake, he hoped that’s exactly how it went down. In, out, and back to DC with the kind of valuable information that meant they could put Grigori Androv behind bars for a long time. Only then would Sophie be safe.

18

T
hey arrived in Paris early in the morning. Sophie was bleary-eyed as they got off the plane. They’d been in economy class and Grigori’s man had been in first. He’d walked right past her when he’d presumably been stretching his legs. His gaze had slipped over to her, but the recognition she’d feared she might see wasn’t there. She’d kept her expression carefully blank, and he’d walked down the aisle and then up the other side while her heart hammered the whole time.

But what could he do on a plane? Not much, though she feared that someone would be waiting for her and Chase as they exited the airport. Even if they were, Chase had that covered, it seemed. He took her hand and tugged her through the terminal. They did not go to baggage claim, instead exiting in a different area and heading for the parking lot.

Of course Hawk had a car for them, an Audi turbo that was sleek and dark and promised to be fast. Chase slung their bags in the backseat and retrieved another bag from the trunk. Sophie tried not to gasp when he opened it to reveal an arsenal of guns, but she couldn’t quite stop herself.

Chase looked up at her as he grabbed a pistol, checked it, and tucked it into the side pocket of the door. He zipped the bag and tossed it in the back with the rest of their stuff.

“I didn’t think guns were easy to get here.”

“They are when you know where to go. Hawk has connections.”

Sophie belted herself in and tried not to let everything feel so surreal. She was in France with her smoking-hot stepbrother, and danger was on her heels. It was so far removed from her life thus far that she sometimes thought she must be dreaming.

But then Chase growled at her or kissed her or just took her hand and held it like they really were Nathan and Beth Chandler, honeymooners, and every cell in her body went on red alert.

No, she definitely wasn’t dreaming.

He started the car and zipped through the parking lot. Soon they were on their way, speeding out of Paris’s Charles de Gaulle Airport and toward the city. Sophie turned to look behind them, but the traffic was so heavy she’d never know if anyone was following or not.

“His name is Sergei Turov,” Chase said matter-of-factly, and Sophie’s head swung around. She knew he’d sent a picture to Hawk—and apparently he’d gotten an answer. “Not a nice guy, but then none of Androv’s associates are known to be nice. Turov’s specialty seems to be human trafficking.”

Sophie’s heart froze. “Human trafficking?”

Chase glanced at her, his hands tightening on the wheel. “He buys and sells women, Sophie. Poor women from Russia and China who believe they’re going to a better life in the US. They end up in the sex trade mostly.”

Sophie put her hand over her mouth. “Oh my God. But Grigori isn’t part of that, right?”

He didn’t say anything, and the horror spread within her heart.
My God.

“I had no idea,” she whispered. “Really.”

She’d trusted Grigori. If she’d been someone else, someone poor and alone and unfortunate… God, it didn’t bear thinking about. How could he? How could anyone?

She shuddered, tears pricking her eyes, and Chase reached over to squeeze her hand. “It’s not the kind of thing he’d mention, I’m sure. And he’s hidden his tracks well, because this is the first Hawk or I have heard of it. Not to say that it wasn’t known higher up the chain, but it’s apparently not common knowledge.”

Fury clogged her throat at the sheer evilness of what Chase was saying. “How could I not have known what a vile man Grigori is? How could I have ever thought he was decent?”

“Because he presented himself that way. It’s not your fault.”

“And yet there’s the maid.” She’d heard the story and dismissed it when Grigori told her it was a lie. Because he was rich and the maid was poor, and it made sense that she’d want to sue him and possibly gain more money than she ever would as a maid.

“He gave you good reason to think it was a setup from someone wanting money.”

Sophie snorted as she looked over at him. Traffic whizzed past, but she barely registered it. “You’re defending me now? I thought you believed I was an idiot for getting involved with Grigori in the first place.”

“I did think that… but that’s before I spent time with you. You’ve got a good heart, Sophie. You aren’t judgmental and you’re trusting. Those are admirable traits.”

She would have laughed if the subject weren’t so serious. “I may just fall out on the floor from all this praise. And then I want to know where Chase is, because I don’t know this alien who stole his body.”

“No aliens. I just realized you were easily duped.”

“And there he is after all—stupid is what you meant to say. You called me that when I was in your apartment.”

He sighed. “There’s a difference between being willfully stupid and being manipulated by a master liar. I could wish you’d been more suspicious, but you weren’t. Now we deal with the aftermath.”

Sophie yawned and shook her head. Maybe he was tired too and that’s what was causing all this niceness. “I just want to go to sleep for a few hours.”

“Usually I’d say that was a bad idea, but since we aren’t really tourists and we’re only staying as long as it takes to get that file, I don’t think it matters whether or not your body acclimates to Paris time.”

Sophie closed her eyes as they sped along the autoroute. And then she opened them again and speared him with a look. “You’re trying to get rid of me. You intend to stash me away, let me sleep, and go looking for the package.” She yawned so hard her jaw cracked. “No way, no how, buddy.”

“You aren’t going with me to Tyler’s apartment. You’re staying in the rental until I return. Besides, it’s not due to be delivered for another day. I’ll go tomorrow—and you’ll stay put while I do.”

“You won’t be able to get into the building.”

“Do you honestly believe that after the past few days? I have the address. I have a lockpick. I know how this is done.”

Panic blossomed in her belly at the idea. “Grigori’s men will be watching.”

“Which is why you aren’t going.”

Sophie bit her lip. “Madame Renard collects any mail that comes for Tyler. The postman delivers it to her box when he’s not in residence. You need me to go with you. She won’t give it to you.”

Chase gripped the wheel harder and swore. “You could have told me that a couple of days ago, Sophie. What was the point in hiding that information?”

He was furious, and rightly so. But she hadn’t told him originally because she thought he might not think the situation so dire. That he might not help her. If all she needed to do was call Madame Renard and ask her to forward the package, why go to Paris at all?

And yet the longer the package was out there, the more fearful she became. She didn’t need to wait days for it to arrive—she needed it
now
. She needed to know if there was anything on that flash drive that could stop Grigori from hurting anyone else. From hurting her.

“I thought you wouldn’t help me.”

He took an exit and they found themselves in bumper-to-bumper traffic. He turned to her, his brows two slashes on his handsome face.