The Trouble With Temptation (Second Service Book 3) (7 page)

He shot her a glare. “No. Whatever is going on here.” He motioned with his beer bottle around the warehouse.

She shrugged her shoulders. “Why? Are you nervous?”

“I think I can handle it.” He threw her words back to her.

“You’re very confident.” She smiled widely, before taking another cheese-drenched bite.

“It’s only cocky if you can’t back it up.”

“So, tell me,” she said, giving him a look of open curiosity. “What’s happened in your life to make you into this self-assured superman?”

“Just life in general.”

“Let me guess. You learned self-confidence from the same place you learned to pick locks?”

Ty smiled. “Could have been.”

“And where was that?”

He took a chip and winked at her. “I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.”

She laughed. “It sounds like a hell of a story.”

“It is.”

“Maybe you’ll tell me some time.”

“Maybe.”

Ty was saved from having to say more when a group needed to get by them on the bleachers. Morgan pressed her legs against his to give them room. He wrapped his arm around her back to steady her as they scooted by, but he didn’t remove it once they had passed.

Morgan didn’t pull away. She leaned into his side.

How long had it been since he had been out on a date like this? With someone he felt totally comfortable with? Someone who teased him? Someone who made him laugh?

The truth was he liked Morgan. He liked her a lot. If it wasn’t for this operation he would have answered her questions. He would have opened up. He would have told her about his time in the Navy. His childhood. His struggles.

There was something about her that made him want to tell her about his life. He never saw any judgment in her eyes. Just understanding and protection…and joy. Lots of joy.

Morgan tilted her head to the side, so it rested on his shoulder. Her body relaxed underneath his arm as she drew in a deep breath and slowly let it out. Her warm weight molded against his body. Ty’s defenses began to lower.

He’d been on high alert for the last twenty-four hours. Ever since he’d first spotted Morgan hunkered down in front of her brother’s office door.

He’d never expected her to keep her promise. She’d told him what she thought he wanted to hear, but her truthful eyes had told him everything he needed to know.

She wasn’t going to give up. She couldn’t. Her brother was in danger. People she cared for were caught in the middle. There was no way she was going to let the chips fall where they may.

Ty could understand. He’d never been able to be a bystander. He needed to be involved. He needed to help. It was something that burned inside him. And it looked like that need was inside Morgan Kincaid as well.

Of course, she didn’t have his Navy SEAL training. She’d never set foot in Quantico. All her sympathy and joie de vivre wouldn’t save her from the
Bratva
.

But Ty would. No matter what.

Last night, after she walked into her building, he’d pulled his bike into the alley across the street and kept watch. It hadn’t been hard to figure out which apartment was hers. It had to be the one with the lights on all night long.

Fortunately, the night had been quiet. There’d been no strange activity outside her building, no suspicious cars slowly driving by. By daybreak, Ty was satisfied that Barinov’s men weren’t planning an immediate attack.

The thought didn’t give Ty too much comfort. He’d been following Barinov for too long. The man never made an empty threat. Ty could only hope that slashing Morgan’s tires had been a warning and not a promise.

Either way, the vandalism was a reminder that Ty couldn’t relax. Not even on a night out. No matter what Morgan had planned for tonight’s entertainment.

Chapter Eight

Morgan worried too much.

It was a side effect of her overactive imagination. At least, that was what her mother always told her. And this one time Morgan was apt to agree.

She’d been running over every terrible scenario in her mind from the moment Ty had picked her up. Scenarios where the Russians ran them off the road, or waited in the bushes as she walked out of her building. In some she and Ty were shot quick and clean in the back of the head. In others, they were tortured with knives.

Of course, none of that had happened, and now, sitting safe and sound inside the warehouse, she felt a little silly. No one was coming after her. Not tonight at any rate. There was no way the
Bratva
would try anything with so many witnesses around.

Of course, being with Ty helped too.

He lifted her spirits. He made her laugh. It didn’t hurt that the man was a bona fide badass. So far, nothing had broken his cool exterior. Nothing rattled the man. Not even death stares from the scariest sons of bitches on the planet.

Who the hell was this guy?

He didn’t seem too keen on telling her, and Morgan didn’t want to press too hard. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know. The truth was, right now, she was just happy he was on her side.

She lifted her head from his shoulder as she heard the familiar rattle of hard metal casters rolling across the concrete floor.

“Here we go,” she said, patting Ty’s leg as teams of three and four pulled massive crates up to the edge of the cage. A few moments later, they flicked open the locks and started hauling out their machines.

The team in front of them set their creation on the ground, a small, four-wheeled armor-plated contraption that looked like a bug. Four spinning saw blades stuck out of its sides and a swinging cudgel was mounted on top.

Ty’s brows pulled together. “Robots?”

“Robots.” Morgan nodded.

Ty looked at her. Confusion swam in his eyes. Morgan felt a strange wave of satisfaction.

So, there was something that could rattle him after all.

“You took me out on a date to a robot death match?”

“Well, technically it’s the Robotics Assault League,” she said with a shrug. “But, close enough.”

Ty opened his mouth as if he was struggling with what to say next, but before he could get his thoughts sorted out someone called her name from the fight floor.

“Morgan!”

She scanned the crowd and found a couple of familiar faces staring at her. One, more familiar than the others.

“Michael,” she said and waved back.

He jumped away from the robot in front of him. His straight dark blonde hair flopped at the sides of his ears as he took the stairs of the bleachers two at a time to get to her. Ty reflexively tightened his grasp around Morgan.

“Hey,” Michael said as he reached them.

“Hey yourself,” she said.

“Corey mentioned you came in.”

“Yeah, I had a night off.” Morgan motioned over at Ty. “Ty Daniels, this is Michael Silva. He’s the head of this whole circus.”

Ty’s arm relaxed a touch. Not all the way though. She could feel energy vibrating through him, even though his smile was as natural as ever.

The men regarded each other for a long moment before Michael finally put out his hand. “Nice to meet you,” he said.

Ty unwrapped his arm long enough to take Michael’s. “You too.”

“This must be your first time,” Michael said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you here before.”

“They say there’s a first time for everything. I guess that includes Robot Fight Club.” Ty slung his arm over her shoulder again. There was something deliberately possessive in the gesture.

Ty wasn’t jealous, was he?

Why would he be? He had no way of knowing the history between Michael and her. And even if he did, why would he care? This wasn’t a real date. No more than their kiss had been a real kiss.

Sure it had
looked
real. And God knew, it
felt
real. But…

“I suppose you’re right,” Michael said before turning back to Morgan. “I’m glad you could come tonight.”

“So am I,” she said. “I would have been around more this season but I’ve been busy.”

“The club’s doing well?”

“It is,” she said with a nod. There was a time that she would have told Michael the truth. Heaven knew, she still trusted him. Even with all that they’d been through, Morgan knew that Michael had her back. But she didn’t want to burden him…or pull anyone else into this mess.

“I thought of you the other night when I drove by. The line wrapped around the block. I thought about stopping by, but one look at all those beautiful people and I figured I’d never get past the door man.”

Morgan felt a blush of shame light up her cheeks. Michael was right. She hated the exclusivity of Kincaid’s but Gregg was insistent. He wanted to fill the place with the ‘right kind of people’. Turned out they had very different opinions on who qualified as the
right kind
.

“Well, you know if you ever want to get in, all you have to do is call me,” Morgan said.

“Are you kidding me?” he said jokingly. “I can’t be seen in a place like that. It would ruin my geek cred.”

“I understand. I’m surprised you let me through the doors tonight.”

“You’ve always been special.” Michael’s face turned suddenly serious, but a heartbeat later the smile was back. “Besides how could I turn away my former lieutenant?”

“Your
lieutenant
?” Ty asked.

“My second in command,” Michael explained. “Didn’t Morgan tell you she used to be on my RAL team?”

“No, she didn’t.”

“Yep. We won two back-to-back championships together.” Morgan smiled at the memory.

“So what happened?” Ty asked.

Michael’s smile slipped a little. “She decided to help her brother open that cash cow instead.”

“I didn’t have the time for both.” Of course, that wasn’t the only thing that she found she didn’t have the time for when they’d opened Kincaid’s. Not that she wanted to talk about it. She rushed to change the subject. “But how are you doing? That’s a pretty sweet-looking ‘bot you’ve got there.”

Michael’s face lit up at the compliment. “Thanks. She’s undefeated.”

“I don’t doubt it. She looks fierce.”

“You seem to be doing well for yourself.” Michael tilted his head toward Ty. Morgan felt the awkward butterflies in her stomach start to flutter. Subtlety had never been Michael’s greatest strength.

“Yeah.” Morgan didn’t bother to correct him. Any explanation she gave would only create more questions than it answered.

“Well, I guess I should get back to my team. I’ll see you around,” Michael said. He turned toward Ty, giving him one last long, openly assessing look. “I hope you enjoy the show.”

“How could I not?” Ty’s tone was light but his body language was anything but.

“Good luck,” Morgan said, as Michael raced down the bleachers and back to the chain link fence.

“So,” Ty said, pulling her in closer. “You used to build robots.”

“Well, I used to do some of the basic wiring. I was crap with conceptual engineering.”

“That’s a yes, then.”

Morgan nodded. “Yep.”

“Is there anything about you that wouldn’t surprise me?” he asked.

“I don’t know. How do you feel about cosplay?”

***

Ty drew in a deep breath as the cold bay air washed against his face. The warehouse had turned into a hotbox in the three hours they’d been inside. The crowd moved en masse toward the exit, jostling Morgan into his side. She wrapped both of her hands around his bicep to steady herself as they stepped out on to the pier.

“So, what did you think?” she asked.

“About Robot Fight Club? It was exactly what it advertised itself to be.”

“You liar.” She pulled one of her fists back and gave him a playful punch in the arm. “You loved it. I saw your face.”

“I never said I didn’t.”

She was right. He
had
enjoyed himself. The time had flown by. He would have never expected to have such a good time at a robot cage fight, but that’s exactly what he’d had. He wasn’t sure if it had more to do with the steel carnage or Morgan’s exuberant cheering at his side. It wasn’t a bad way to spend an evening.

Ty slowed his step and let the crowd pass by. He wasn’t in any rush.

Morgan wrapped her arm around his. Her body slid against his with every step. Combine their closeness with the fog and moonlight, and this had the makings of one hell of a romantic moment.

Except it couldn’t be.

He wasn’t her lover. He was a government agent in the middle of an active investigation. It didn’t matter that he could vividly remember the taste of her lips, or the way her soft body had molded against his.

Ty tried to tamp down the desire that roared to life at the memory.

“Well, I am having a great night. The best I’ve had in a long time,” she said, smiling up at him. “We should go get a drink.”

“I’m not sure that’s a very good idea.”

“Why not?”

Because the sway of her hips was driving him insane.

“Because your brother’s
friends
are still out there somewhere.”

Her face fell. “Oh. I almost forgot.”

“Sorry,” he said.

And he was. There was nothing he’d like more than to wile the night away with Morgan Kincaid, but it was just too dangerous…for a variety of reasons.

Instead, he mentally prepared himself to spend another night camped out in the alleyway, watching her apartment.

His resolve took another hit when she slid behind him on the bike. She wrapped her arms around him without hesitation. Her body pressed against his back, her head rested against his shoulder. There was no denying the intimacy of the position.

Ty revved the engine harder than usual. The roar did little to cool his blood though. Morgan only tightened her grip on him. He took off down the Embarcadero.

Ty didn’t take the direct route back to her place. He told himself it was to shake anyone who was following them. But that wasn’t true. He was going slower than usual, following the water. He wanted to savor the feel of Morgan’s body wrapped around his for as long as possible. He didn’t want the moment to end.

But eventually it had to.

Ty pulled up in front of her building and cut the engine. He stepped off, took her helmet and helped her off the bike. Morgan’s fingers entwined with his. The glow of the streetlights sparkled in her eyes as she looked up at him.

“You know…you could always come up to my place for that drink.” Her voice was low and quiet. It travelled through him, all the way to his groin.

Ty ground his back teeth together.

“I’m not sure that would be a very good idea either.”

“Are you sure? There aren’t any
friends
up there.” Her lips lifted in a slow smile that was filled with sensual promise. Dear God, she wasn’t making this easy.

“I’m sure,” he said.

The fire in her eyes dimmed a little. Her lips closed and she stumbled back a step. “I’m sorry. I thought…I’m sorry.” She pulled her hand away and turned toward her door.

Damn it.

“Morgan,” Ty said, stopping her when she was just a few steps from the entrance. He strode over to her. She turned around. There was very little space between them. “Please don’t get me wrong.”

“I get it. I’m your boss. My life is kind of a mess right now. You’ve got all kinds of good reasons to walk away.”

“I don’t care about any of that,” he said, unsure why he was trying to explain himself. He should have walked away, but for some reason he couldn’t bear the look of loneliness on her face.

“So, what is it?”

Ty raised his hand and pushed a stray strand of brilliant red hair back behind her ear. His fingers lingered near the soft skin of her cheek. She angled her head a fraction of an inch so she brushed against him.

It was a simple touch, but desire surged through him.

She was right. He had dozens of good reasons to walk away, but…

He wrapped his hand around the back of her neck and pulled her close. She let out a little gasp as she crashed against his chest. He tilted her head up. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

The fire was back in her eyes now, a blazing inferno that threatened to burn the hell out of him if he wasn’t careful.

Ty stared at her lips. Red and lush and so very tempting.

Since when did he care about careful?

Her chest brushed against his as she lifted on her tiptoes. Ty inclined his head.