Double Vision (Unknown Identities #2) (8 page)

For her, this was almost as calming as the hot chocolate
and cookies. The crowd felt like a safety net. Galloway couldn't open fire or attack them here without causing a scene and drawing way too much negative attention.

Apparently it wasn't the same for Adam. He'd gone rigid beside her, his footsteps slowed and the muscles of his arm had turned to stone.

"Are you okay?"

"
I'm fine," he bit out.

"You don't look it."

"I'm fine," he repeated. He rubbed at his eyes. "You were right. This is a good place to hide."

She recognized the sound of pain when she heard it. "We won't stay long," she promised. "Brevo will let us crash at his place tonight."

"Great. Boyfriend?"

She wasn't sure she'd heard him correctly, so she ignored the question. It wasn't his business anyway, no matter what they'd recently survived.

They wound their way through the bodies gyrating on the crowded dance floor to the elaborate bar at the far side of the cavernous room. While she instinctively moved with the music, Adam remained stiff and awkward at her side.

Something was seriously wrong with him and her
intuition had her questioning the wisdom of sticking with him. He'd managed to be everything people expected to see. He'd been the friendly food vendor, a Good Samaritan at the ambulance, a thoughtful new friend in the coffee shop, and a self-defense expert in the alley. He might have all the right moves, but she sensed the tough guy in the alley was the real Adam.

Watching him now, she wondered if the awkward discomfort was another act. She'd seen him fight with the graceful movements comparable to a dancer, yet here, he couldn't seem to adapt to the club atmosphere.

She thought about the gunfire and worried one of the bullets had found a target after all.

As they neared the bar, more than one waitress greeted her with a smile and a lingering admiration for Adam.
The hot, inviting looks irritated her. A wholly irrational reaction as she didn't have any claim on him, but she couldn't stifle the feeling. Adam either didn't notice the blatant invitations or didn't care.

Reaching the service end of the bar where Brevo filled orders for waitresses as well as customers, Selena caught his attention. Her cousin beamed a welcome, and motioned for a customer to step aside and give her the bar stool. Instead she pushed Adam down onto the open seat.

Brevo frowned. "What don't I know?"

"My purse was stolen," she said, not wanting to get into the rest
of what he didn't know. He'd lose it if she told him about Renata. A furious Brevo wouldn't help the situation with Galloway. It would only make things worse.

Of course, he'd be pissed at her later, but she'd rather have Renata alive and well as a balm to his indignation.

"Did this guy take it?"

She rolled her eyes.
"Of course not. He helped me out."

"Doesn't look like much."

"Be nice or shut up," she scolded. She slid a look at Adam. He looked like a whole lot to her. "Can we crash at your place tonight?"

Her cousin scowled at her as he filled orders. When he skewered olives for a martini, he slid it her way.
"On the house. You don't just want your spare key?"

She shook her head. It was impossible to hear him sigh over the noise of the club, but she recognized the way he planted his hands on his hips. It was just like Uncle Torry.

"How close is his place?" Adam picked up the martini she hadn't touched and took a sip. He'd covered his eyes with dark sunglasses and seemed to be surveying the crowd. "Does he have a car?"

"No need. He lives just upstairs."

Adam dipped his chin. "Fantastic."

"How do you know the bartender?" Adam asked as she flipped the deadbolt behind them. He recalled a vague reference to a club owner in her file, but he couldn't recall the details right now. The man clearly cared for her and he'd posted a guard at the bottom of the stairs, assuring Adam the security cameras were working and wired into an office monitored twenty-four-seven.

When the lights came on, he
understood all of the precautions. He let out a low whistle. "Nice place."

"He has a good decorator," she agreed. "He's my cousin."

"Ah. Makes more sense now."

"What makes more sense?"

Adam ignored her in favor of the more pertinent details. "Show me what you took from the apartment." He extended his open palm.

"Look, I don't know anything about you or why you're involved but –"

"Safer for us both that way." He admired her grit, but he needed more information before he gave up anything about his prior association with Galloway. "Just give me the watch."

"You caught that, huh?"

He just arched an eyebrow and waited. With a quiet huff, she pulled the Rolex out of her pocket and dropped it into his hand. "Renata said it was a gift from her boss," Selena explained. "She travels with the Italian diplomatic corps."

Adam took that in, put it with the file Messenger provided and his knowledge of G
alloway through the years. "When did he tell you he took your cousin?"

"He threatened my
assistant with a nasty photograph first thing this morning," she said. "Later at the deli, he showed me a shot of Renata tied to a chair."

"That's it?"

"He threatened my friends and family," she said, incredulous. "Isn't that enough?

Adam stared at her until the devotion and compassion in her eyes became unbearable. "I wouldn't know," he said, looking away. The closest thing he had to family was Messenger, and that was too pathetic to mention.

"Renata met Galloway a couple of months ago. It was all good for a while, then he got weird when she suddenly returned to Italy to work."

Adam concentrated on th
e watch and found a micro-SD card imbedded in the first link of the bracelet. Hard to believe so much danger was on this small card, but it was what Galloway and Messenger were fighting over. Replacing the card, he slid the watch into the hidden pocket of his jacket for safekeeping. "How come this didn't end up in your purse? Deliberately double-crossing Galloway doesn't end well."

"I'm
more than aware he's dangerous." She walked toward the tall counter that separated the front room from the kitchen, pulling the band from her hair. "I cooperated to help Renata. It was supposed to be a trade, but he wasn't waiting with her at the showroom when we got there."

His blood heated as
she finger-combed the pale waves over her shoulders. "What color is your hair?"

"Is that supposed to be a
joke?"

"No."
He desperately wanted the answer. Almost more than he wanted his revenge on Galloway.

She turned, cocking that ripe curve of her hip.

Forget the hair
, he thought, determined to get back on track. Galloway wouldn't give up until he had what he needed. "Why make it look like a robbery?"

She tossed that glorious, pale mane over her shoulder and glared at him. "I
didn't mean to. I went up there through the front door, completely legit."

"To water the plants."

She shrugged at the lie. "That is my job when she travels. The power was out and I knew the place well enough I didn't think it would matter. But I didn't feel anything like a Rolex in her jewelry box. Thinking it was a nervous mistake, I dumped all of her watches into my purse and went for the emergency flashlight to be sure I had the one Galloway wanted."

"But someone else snatched the purse."

"It's like you were there," she said, eyes wide with a false innocence. Giving him her back, she opened the refrigerator. "Want anything?"

She wasn't offering what he really wanted – her body hot and willing under his. Adam closed his eyes and scrubbed at his face. He was like a moth to flame with this woman.
Adrenaline didn't explain it. No, the attraction probably stemmed from watching her for the past week. Except he'd logged enough field experience to recognize the justification as false. Something about this woman mesmerized him as no one had done before.

"Selena."

She turned around, a pitcher of water in her hand. He saw her mouth move, but he didn't hear the words. Telling himself he was a fool, he stalked over and pushed his hands through her hair. It was heavy as velvet, soft and luxurious as silk as it slipped between his fingers. He brought it forward over her shoulders and she pulled a face.

"I smell terrible."

Not to him. This close, he could still pinpoint the floral scents of her perfume. "What color?"

"
What's wrong with your vision?" She studied him closely. Too closely. "Something made you struggle when we were in the club."

He shrugged that off as irrelevant. "
I see what I need to see." He was looking at her hair, the curve of her ear, high cheekbones models would envy, the sweet fullness of her lips. Oh, he was looking at her, hungry for her. Too damned hungry to mask his need. He let it show, let her make the next move.

"I see you." He'd been watching her, learning
the little nuances of her, of her personality long before they'd met tonight. "You are independent and talented. Brave and loyal."

"Blond." Her tongue slid across her lips. "It's a golden blond."

He closed his eyes, filling his hands with her tresses, struggling to remember what that looked like. "Like honey?"

"I guess so," she whispered. "Yes," she said with more confidence when he opened his eyes and met her gaze. "You weren't always colorblind."

"No."

Her fingers fluttered against his cheek, then up to push the hair back from his face. He wanted to lean in to the touch.

"What happened?"

"Galloway." It was the simplest explanation. "He pinned an intel
breach on me. It was prison or –" He wouldn't jeopardize her by sharing too much of the UI program. "Or a secret research kind of thing."

"Are you happy with the choice
you made?" She stroked a fingertip across his jaw.

What an odd question. He couldn't recall a time when anyone cared about his happiness. Not even him.

"Usually, yes."

Her lips tilted into a soft half-smile. "Then
I won't feel sorry for you. That choice led you to be in the right place to help me when I needed it."

If sweeter words had been spoken, he'd never been on the receiving end
of them. But the kiss that followed was sweeter still. She pressed her body to his, winding her arms around his neck. He caught her at the waist and pulled her closer.

He angled his head, taking the kiss deeper. As his tongue dueled with hers, he gripped her ass and lifted her off her feet.

She tossed her head back on a surprised giggle and wrapped her legs around his hips. Happy? Oh, yeah. This qualified. More than.

He carried her away from the kitchen and had to use the wall for support when her busy mouth
landed on a sensitive spot on his neck. Filling his hands with her breasts, he lost himself in the process of peeling her shirt over her head so he could suckle her hard nipples through the Christmas trees decorating the sheer fabric of her bra.

"You're a work of art," he murmured against her skin.

"Bed," she demanded, her breathing ragged as she locked her ankles and rocked her hips against his hard cock.

Personally, he didn't see anything wrong with the wall, but
arguing would be rude. She made it worth the effort when he laid her back on the soft mattress.

She held him close with drugging kisses, her hands roaming over his body. Then she wriggled away. Before he could protest, she came up on her knees beside him.

His eyes tracked every move as she caressed her breasts, teasing her nipples with the damp fabric he'd just had in his mouth, down her midriff. Then she popped the button of her jeans, revealing more of that holiday patterned lingerie.

He groaned.

She smiled, halting the striptease to run her hands under his shirt. "You're overdressed," she said with a hot smile full of sexy promises.

"You're the boss." He sat up so she
could pull away his jacket and shirt.

"Good attitude."

He let her have her way, touching and exploring his body as she stripped away the rest of his clothing. She stood up long enough to remove her own jeans and slide out of her lingerie. He promised himself next time he would take care of those details. When her mouth followed the path of her hands, the searing kisses contrasting with the cool silk of her hair, he thought he might come right there when she licked his cock from root to tip.

She repeated the motion, and then took him deep in her mouth. Boss or not, Adam seized control before he embarrassed himself.

He reached for her, drawing her on top of him. Soon her sultry laughter became soft moans of pleasure when he drove up, fast and deep, into the intense heat of her wet body.

He changed the angle, bringing her breasts close so he could suckle her
nipples and tease her as she set the pace. He didn't need his thermal vision to know where she was hottest, his other, natural senses informed him completely.

"A work of art," he murmured again, gazing up at her. He might only see a warped rainbow in the thermal spectrum, but he was learning to appreciate every highlight and hollow of her with his normal eyesight. From her pale hair, to the dusky color of her nipples to the dark color of her nail polish.

Her back arched and her rhythm faltered as her climax struck hard. Gripping her hips, he thrust once, and twice more, letting the release wash over him.

She leaned close to kiss him and he gathered her into his arms, savoring the feel of her warm body draped across his chest.

* * *

Selena woke, feeling immensely
satisfied, and thinking that had been the best sex dream of her life. But the heavy arm at her waist and the firm body at her back brought her back to reality with a delicious shock.

If there was any doubt, the lingering scent of sex in the air was confirmation enough.
Amazing, perfect, but definitely not a dream.

Had she ever done anything so stupid in her life?
She started to move, to roll over or escape or
something
. She hadn't made up her mind when his arm locked her in place.

"Do me one favor," he said, his voice
rough.

She thought of what she'd done last night and couldn't decide if she shou
ld be turned on or embarrassed.

"What's that?"

"I can be out of your life as soon as we deal with Galloway. Until then, please pretend you don't regret what we did last night."

There were several ways to pick apart that statement and she fought the urge to start with 'can be'. She wasn't sure she wanted him out of her life, foolish as that sounded even inside her head.

But Galloway still had what mattered most: Renata. If he hadn't already started retaliating it was only because he thought she had, or knew how to get, the watch.

"What do you propose? For Galloway," she clarified quickly, afraid he'd misinterpret her poor choice of words.

"I propose you go about business as usual today," he said quietly against her nape. "Let him come to you. I'll be ready with a special present for him."

"But it's Christmas Eve."

"True. The last shopping day in the biggest retail season."

"What if he already did something to –
"

Adam's arms came around her, chasing away the chill
of her fear. He pressed a soft kiss to his ear. "He's been preoccupied with me all night, wondering how and where I fit in to the situation."

"Why did he call you Carter?"

"That's how he knew me."

"Is Adam Maxwell who you really are?"

"Yes." He shifted, kissing her shoulder and stroking his hot palm over her hip. "You know the real me. Go on and clean up. Your uncle will wonder if you're late for coffee today."

She glanced over her shoulder at the handsome man sprawled across the bed. "I
t should bother me that you know my routine."

"But it doesn't?"

She shook her head. "No. I feel better knowing you were watching me when Galloway put that creepy guy on my tail." She hesitated to tell him the rest and sound like a foolish girl with her head full of romantic holiday nonsense.

"Go on," he prompted. "Say it. As long as it isn't
a regret."

His guarded expression made her want to give him all kinds of assurances that were inappropriate at this stage of their acquaintance. But premature or not, she felt every last one of them.