“Shit! Ky, baby, you’re killing me here,” he breathed roughly against her shoulder, biting down on her flesh there with a quick, rough growl. He slipped away after, leaving her shivering with the sudden loss of his heat.
“Get your clothes on. I think our time alone just came to an end.”
The urgency in his voice sounded real, but the aftershocks of his body leaving hers wouldn’t be denied. The climax grew instead of slowing, sliding into her core and tightening on emptiness. She gasped and tried to catch her breath so she could make it stop.
Daren touched her arm, and she opened her eyes to see him leaning over her, his handsome face full of the intensity he’d had before when he’d been driving his body into hers so perfectly.
“Fuck, baby.” She heard him whisper over the sound of rustling clothing. “You’re so beautiful, Ky.”
The ripples died off quickly, but left her so exhausted she curled on her side and shivered. “And you are in such trouble,” she whispered, secretly sighing at how sexy he was all rumpled and still sweaty from his love making. He smelled good, a kind of male scent. She breathed in deeply to take more of him inside her. The thought made her smile.
“Me?” he quirked a dark eyebrow up as if she spoke nonsense.
“I can’t move, let alone put clothes on, Daren, I’m all—”
“No time for that,” he said, brushing a kiss to her cheek. He caressed his hand down her back and he placed another kiss to her shoulder, then behind her ear. With a smile against her neck, he smacked her butt.
She squealed and covered her mouth to keep in the sound.
“Move out, solider,” he growled.
“Don’t do that!” she said through her hand, making sure to stay quiet. Outside the car, they both heard a vehicle draw closer and closer, then the engine idle.
“Is that next to us?” she asked, frantic now to get her clothing back on. Her panties were missing, or maybe torn. Her skirt was in the back somewhere if she remembered correctly, and her bra and blouse were thrown over his side of the front seat.
“Not next to us, but near.” He scanned the inside of the car while he buttoned up and drew his gun immediately after. “The windows are tinted, but fogged up from all your screams of pleasure.”
“My what?” she spluttered. She was halfway in her skirt and trying to get her bra off his seat at the same time, but stopped with a frustrated puff of breath to get her hair off her hot face.
“You heard me. Not complaining, I just want you louder next time,” he said with a look out of the window. “There’s an SUV out there, most likely Tazz.”
Oh, God
. This was the second time his partner had caught them. She hurried into her clothes quickly, watching Daren adjust his at the same time. As soon as she’d pulled her skirt back into place, he handed her a plastic container of wet wipes he’d found in the glove box with a half smile. “Don’t look so worried.”
Her face heated, both at the news it might be Tazz out there—who knew about the side-effects of the drug quite well, she was certain—and the reason for the wet wipes. She couldn’t use those with Daren inside the car and watching her. She also didn’t want him to leave her alone.
“Daren, I don’t—”
“I’m going to be fine, Ky, and I know what you’re thinking and it’s not the drug, baby,” he murmured, and brushed her hair aside to kiss her then stare at her, oddly serious. “Did it ever occur to you, beautiful, that you’re all the drug I’d ever need?”
She froze, halfway to saying something, what she didn’t know, but he went on.
“You stay here, clean up, and I’ll be right back. Do not leave this car and if I’m not back in fifteen,” he said, putting a leather case she remembered from earlier next to her on the seat. “You go to this address, use the key and promise me you will stay safe until I come.”
He reached out and gripped her hand. He gave her his other pistol without saying more.
“Daren, no, please, no leaving. Can’t we drive off? I mean, it could be anyone. It could be”—she swallowed past the fear tightening her throat—“anyone. Someone doing what we’ve done.”
“No arguing,” he reminded her in a whisper. “Ky, this was only the beginning. I want you in a bed. I want to make love to you for days, years, baby. So no getting cold feet. This isn’t over.”
The way he said that, like he was convincing himself than her, scared her.
“Daren—”
A car door shut outside.
Daren’s eyes filled with something amazing, and he said, “I love you, Kylie. Stay here until I get back.”
Before she could respond, before she could process what he’d said and tell him she loved him too, he was gone.
Chapter Fourteen
Daren held his gun out and ready as he left the car and Kylie, behind. The SUV was dark, but so were a lot of others. He centered on the task and shut Ky from his mind. He recognized the plates as soon as he saw them and the tightness in his chest eased.
Tazz.
How had he found them?
The tracking device Tazz had placed on Ky to locate her.
Or, maybe he tagged you too, buddy
.
Tazz sat in the open driver’s door, but gave him a level stare. He got down after saying something to someone inside and shut the door.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Dare demanded.
“I could ask you the same,” Tazz replied in a low voice. He jerked his chin to the vehicle behind him. “I found the contact. He’s slippery, so get your game on. And I hope like hell you have Ky somewhere safe.”
“What? You located—”
“Yes, so—”
“Why the hell did you bring him here?”
“I think she’ll get more out of him then we will. The guys full of shit and stinks so bad there’s no way he’s not part of this.”
Daren heard the passenger side open before he could reply and instead of giving Tazz hell for that load of information, he snapped his mouth shut. What was he supposed to do with this? Tazz had found the man who was Ky’s only connection to her father and brought him here so Ky could talk to him?
When he met Tazz’s look, his buddy shook his head slightly, and jerked his chin to Daren’s gun.
Dare turned sideways so it was out of sight but didn’t take his finger off the trigger. “You’ve got to be kidding,” he grumbled low enough that only Tazz heard him.
A second later, a young looking Asian man came around the back of the SUV, dressed in a dark business suit, white shirt and narrow blue or black tie. The guy carried a briefcase, and seemed to dismiss Dare with a quick glance around the area. He put on a concerned expression, but the look didn’t fit him, and if Daren had to pick what to do with the man, have him at his back or shoot him in the back, he’d choose the latter.
“This is Dr Monroe, an associate of Mr Chung’s, and the point man on his whereabouts.”
The fact that Tazz had discovered where Eric Monroe was, let alone that he’d brought him to a remote location, set off alarms Dare didn’t ignore. The doctor part confused him though. Ky had always referred to him as simply Eric, only once using his last name and never adding doctor to it. But then again, he’d picked up by the snake comment her dislike of the man. The man did look like a snake. A cunning, small snake, but those were the ones he’d learned to expect shit from. He wasn’t letting this one within a yard of Ky.
As they drew closer, the hairs on the back of Dare’s neck lifted, another clear warning that confirmed his first.
Growing up with only his mom and her father, his grandpops, he’d heard millions of times that he had instincts like a wild animal. His pops would say,
‘Listen to your heart, boy, or end up as a trophy on someone’s wall instead.’
Dare would bet his last dime this man was out for something, and that something wasn’t saving Ky’s dad. What had Ky said? He’d been under investigation for misappropriating funds. He’d bet his left nut, he’d also been involved in misappropriating a certain Dr Chung.
“Dr Monroe, this is Daren Scott, one of the newest members of our team, but a long standing team member of mine.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr Scott. I hope that Ms Chung is safe and well.” Dr Monroe held out a soft, weak hand and shook quickly, a smile that Dare thought looked more like a grimace on his face. He had narrow dark eyes behind a pair of expensive looking and fashionable glasses. To Dare, he looked like nothing more than a tech geek, but his instincts warned him not to underestimate Eric Monroe.
As soon as he dropped Dare’s hand, Monroe searched the area with a fearful look. “Is it safe here?” he asked. “I hope Ms Chung is not here. This park cannot be very secure.”
“Sir, it’s a pleasure. I’m sure we can protect you,” he said to the smaller man, and would have missed the quick narrowing of the other man’s eyes at the slight to his ego if he’d not been anticipating a reaction.
So, the doctor has a backbone?
Or he knew an insult when he heard it, Dare thought with a grin at Tazz.
His buddy gave him a quelling look, but didn’t say a word to indicate Dare had it wrong.
“What’s the plan?” Dare asked, not referring to Ky or her whereabouts, but taking control of the thread of conversation.
“The plan is to call in as soon as Ms Chung has opened her father’s lab and retrieved the files the kidnappers are demanding.” Tazz placed his hands on his hips and stared off at the other end of the park, then back at them quickly. He’d changed from his camo to a pair of worn jeans and a black T-shirt and leather jacket. No doubt he’d first had the Palestinians tagged and bagged. He’d probably asked some questions too, but how he’d got the good doctor here so quickly was a mystery.
Dare didn’t like loose ends, or being left out of the plan, but since this mission had started, that’s all that had been happening. New to the team or not, he was still part of it, and after ten years and some change of working with Tazz, he should have been in the know on what was really going down.
“We need to call in, am I correct, Dr Monroe?” Tazz asked.
Dare swung his attention back to the doctor. Eric nervously shoved his glasses higher up on his face and nodded. “Yes, it would be best not to miss the deadlines, I believe.”
“You’ve had proof of life?” Dare demanded.
The doctor blinked a few times, then seemed to realize Dare was asking him the question. “Oh, yes, yes of course. I have been able to speak with Dr Chung twice. He is fine, fine.”
“But he has not spoken to Ms Chung?” Dare asked quickly, before the doctor could go on with whatever he’d opened his mouth for. More questions about Ky, maybe.
“Uh, no. No she has not.”
“Why is that?” Dare moved in closer to the doctor.
Monroe shifted his feet and glanced from one to the other, then back at Dare with a worried frown. “She was not with me when I received the first call. I called her immediately, but she has not been with me. This is the first time we will see each other in several years.”
“Where are you from, Dr Monroe?” Tazz asked suddenly. “Where were you born?”
“Ah, I am from Israel, why do you ask?”
“Israel? If you don’t mind me saying, you look Asian, to me,” Tazz said.
“My mother was Korean,” Monroe offered quickly. “I was raised in Israel before I moved to the United States to study at the university.”
“How long have you lived in the US?” Tazz asked.
“I have lived in the US for over twelve years, I believe.”
“But you are not a citizen? Are you?” Tazz asked, but went right on, “I’m asking because we were attacked by a group of Palestinians, and although you’ve resided in the states for years, you’ve made several trips to your homeland.”
The doctor’s face reddened and sweat dripped down his face. The visual signs of stress were apparent, even in the dimness of the night, increasing Dare’s instinctual dislike of the man.
“I don’t see how my traveling home has anything to do with saving Dr Chung’s life. He’s in danger as we speak. Even now, they could be—”
“And as much as we’re trained to fight, we like to know what we’re fighting and why, before we’re engaged in a battlefield not of our making,” Dare said. “Your travel has everything to do with what is happening, if it’s to a country at odds with the men who just tried to forcibly remove Ms Chung from our custody.”
Monroe took several steps backward before he seemed to be aware of it. He shot Tazz a panicked look, but Tazz had positioned himself next to the SUV, with his shoulder against the passenger door, looking bored.
When he got nothing from Tazz, Monroe turned to look at him with a slightly different look, as if he’d underestimated the hulking SEAL and had now reassessed his first impression of a dumb warrior to a more intelligent being, still not at par with him but somewhat troublesome.
Dare simply waited. He’d broken men tougher and smarter than this man. He didn’t need force to do it either.
“I assure you, I have no idea what you’re talking about. I have lived and worked in the US for years. I’ve not returned to Israel in a very long while—”
“Three months ago. Before that, you were in Israel six years ago,” Tazz offered, sounding as bored as he looked.
Dare took the plunge and connected the dots.
Six years ago, he’d been sent in to help save the lives of scientists captured in Iraq. Those scientists had been at a conference in Jordan, after attending one in Israel days earlier. The prisoners were held along the border of Jordon and Iraq. Dare had never read that Dr Monroe was on that list, but then, Ky hadn’t been on it either. Why was she there? Were the two of them there together? Monroe was small and looked young, but he could be near to Ky’s age or much older. It was hard to tell with his ancestry how old he truly was. If he was a scientist, why couldn’t he fetch and carry all her father’s materials?
“Yes, yes, I was in Israel then, I believe,” Dr Monroe nodded several times, “It’s been so long, I mean, since I stayed for longer than the holidays.”
“Why can’t you gather what these men need, if it’s files and samples?” Dare asked, interrupting what he imagined would be a pack of lies.
“Me? That is impossible. I am not qualified. I work mainly with bacteria and the isolated cases and strains of disease to create cures. I do not work on genetics any longer, Mr Scott.”