Honeymoon To Die For (34 page)

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Ryder asked in a voice too low for anyone but her to hear even though four other people waited for the elevator to the corporate floors. They were probably thinking about how they’d spend their Friday night, not the least worried about the elevator falling.

Ryder had brought Bianca up the stairs to this point so he could inquire about the elevator at the lobby security desk.

All was fine. The technicians had found a small glitch in the computer program.

She would not throw up.

Ryder stood so close to her shoulder she could smell the spicy cologne he had on. His fingers gave a little squeeze at her waist. “Sweetheart, you don’t have to do this.”

“I’m fine,” she assured him. Why didn’t elevators have those little bags airplanes supplied for motion sickness?

“I can have a car take you home.”

And that was why she had clammy hands and her mouth was dry as a cotton ball, because she had to ride this elevator to the top floor if she wanted access to VDE’s electronic files again. She could walk up thirty-two floors, but then she’d be so worn out she’d have to crawl the rest of the day.

“Really. This is fine.”  She gave Ryder a smile she hoped would convince him.

She’d faced her fear of sex last night and look how well that had turned out. Too good, because now she didn’t think she could share that intimacy with anyone else.

Technically, she could.

Emotionally, she couldn’t.

She should have known she couldn’t treat it like an experiment. She wasn’t built that way, which was why Bernard had pushed all the wrong buttons with her when he tried to bully her into treating intimacy like a sporting event with a new challenge every night.

Had he gained her trust, like Ryder had, she might have been open to experimentation and adventure, but in hindsight she’d realized Bernard had been a selfish pig. He’d never wanted to build trust or nurture feelings.

He’d wanted a subservient female.

She’d been naïve, not submissive.

The elevator doors opened and she ordered her feet to move forward. Ryder’s hand touched the small of her back. He moved her over to the corner and behind the other four strangers, basically shielding Bianca from everyone by the way he positioned his body.

Doors closed. The car started going up.

Her heart began its own rendition of war drums. She wasn’t going to be able to do this.

Ryder hooked an arm around her shoulder and nuzzled her neck.

She hissed at him, “Ryder!”

“What?”  His nose skimmed over her neck. “You smell so good I’d like to eat—”

“Stop it,” she whispered, looking to see if anyone had turned to glower at them. Nope. The other four people faced forward.

His fingers were squeezing her arm then moving up to her shoulder. “Maybe we’ll stay in for lunch. Eat in my office. You know, something quick.”  

His words were spoken in a smoky voice and loaded with innuendo.

How could words alone cause her breasts to ache with wanting Ryder to touch them after all they’d done this morning? Her boobs should be ready for a break, but they were worse than two puppies begging for attention from Ryder.

An instant replay of this morning flipped through her mind.

Ryder’s hands finding places that she wouldn’t have thought could turn her on. That familiar ache starting again
.

Wrong frame of mind for walking into the VDE offices. She had a job to do and Ryder was not helping.

She turned to him and got up close. “You’re being inappropriate.”

“I don’t care.”

“You should.”

“Why?”

Because he needed this job? No. Because it might tarnish his business image? Laughable. “Because you represent the company.”

“No, I don’t. Terrence is the proper one. He can represent the company.”

He had a point, but his fingers were making her forget what
her
point was. “Don’t, uh ...”

“Don’t what?” he asked in his bedroom voice that was driving her almost as crazy as his fingers that had moved to her waist. “Bianca?”

What had she been talking about? Him. “Don’t you care what people think?”

“No.”  He kissed her hair and she gave up.

A bell tone sounded and the doors opened.

Ryder curved his arm around her shoulders and chuckled. “See? We’re here.”  

She stepped into the top floor of VDE and shook her head. He’d distracted her to keep her from panicking over being in the elevator.

“What’s so funny?” he asked.

“You.”

He lifted an eyebrow at that.

“You were talking trash just to keep my mind off the ride up.”

“It worked.” He strolled ahead and opened the door to his office, holding it for her.

“Yes, but now those four people think we’re going to have a quickie at lunchtime.”  

“Then they would be right.”  

CHAPTER 35

The money was great, but this was turning into the biggest bullshit job Munk had ever taken. Even for top dollar, this was a bigger headache than it was worth.

Paying for additional operatives on a mission wasn’t unusual, but he’d had to bring in an electronics genius just to override the programming on a fucking elevator.
And he’d had to pay prime money to get that operative there and inserted into Van Dyke Tower within his client’s stupid three-hour window.
He’d bill the client and tack on a nice upcharge, but what a roaring pain in the ass.
 

He should just kill the bitch and be done with this game.

But his reputation was at stake. He would never bail on an assignment until the job was completed, but an op like this would cost triple in the future. Enough money to price himself out of the market for anything but a clean kill.

Munk dialed his client.

“Yes?”

“Last night went without a hitch, but I could have used a little more notice.”  Munk pushed the sheer hotel curtain aside, making note of overcast skies.

“Like I had much notice? I’m just glad that Ryder was the only one at the offices with her. Makes him a prime suspect once something does happen to Bianca.”

Munk took that opening. “When are we going to finish this?”

“What’s your rush? You’re being paid well.”

“Got another project coming up soon.”

“Not until after Sunday.”

“What’s happening then?”  Munk did not tolerate surprises for any amount of money.

“It doesn’t concern you. All you need to know is once I green light you to kill Ryder, you might want to wait to see what price is put on his head before you kill him. Could end up as a nice bonus.”

That smacked of setting Ryder up as a terrorist, which would fit for this whacko. But Munk didn’t trust this psychopathic client not to sacrifice Munk in an attack. “Where is this Sunday event happening?”

“Not on this continent, so don’t focus on that.”

How could Ryder be blamed for the attack? Munk would wait to see what fallout happened after Sunday before deciding how to move forward with Ryder, but Ryder would die. He owed Munk. “What about Bianca?”

“Once I give you the go ahead to take down Ryder, Bianca is all yours to do with as you wish. A win-win. But until then, this operation is still about giving her reason to think Ryder wants her dead.”  

Munk ended the call.

His client could be a pain in the ass, but he’d given Munk reason to smile.

When the time came, Ryder would finally pay his debt to Munk for what Ryder had done in Iraq, and Bianca would serve as interest earned on the debt.

CHAPTER 36

Ryder could feel Bianca’s frustration threatening to explode soon. She did everything she cared about with passion, even digging for information that might prove him innocent of a crime her initial research condemned him of.

Digging, but not finding.  

“I don’t understand this,” Bianca murmured.

Ryder lowered the file he was reading that she’d printed out so they could both get through the load of information. He’d have to shred it all before he left today.

Bianca said something under her breath that had an acidic sound.

Had she just cursed? Ryder found that amusing. “What’d you find?”

She bent her elbow and propped her chin on the heel of her hand. “Nothing, nothing and nothing.”  

No surprise since he’d found pretty much the same.

“That’s not entirely true,” Bianca amended. “From what I can tell, VDE is as solid as Hubrecht claims so I don’t see a motivation based on financial problems. And I can’t find where any inventory has gone suspiciously missing through theft or destruction.”

“But the FBI is certain VDE weapons landed in the wrong hands.”

“Yes.”  

Ryder shook his head. “I don’t see someone at a lower lever than corporate getting weapons out of VDE without notice. That being the case, how is Hubrecht, or someone else, hiding their illegal dealings with so many eyes and hands crosschecking inventory and shipments?”  He considered another possibility. “Hubrecht could be testing you—or us—to see if you’ll tell him if you do find any evidence in the files.”

“Maybe Hubrecht thinks I still have ties, even personal ones, to the FBI and wants to prove his company has nothing to hide.”  

Ryder took it another step. “Or Hubrecht
does
have something to hide and he wants to see if he’s buried it deep enough.”

“I have more questions than I started with.”  Bianca’s disappointed gaze reached out to Ryder, his thoughts echoed in her expression. She was one of the best at what she did, but she couldn’t find intel that wasn’t there.

She chewed on the corner of her lip. “We’re running out of time.
You’re
running out of time. I should have found something by now.”  

She was blaming herself for not saving him.

He would not let her take on that guilt. If they didn’t clear him of this murder charge, he had to make sure she did not walk away carrying that burden.  

He got up and circled the desk.

In the few days they’d been together, especially the last two intense ones, he’d learned enough about her to know she took this as a personal defeat. Stepping behind her, he placed a hand next to the keyboard, which brought his face alongside her cheek. He inhaled, wanting to soak up the sweet scent of Bianca. He would never get that out of his system.

Correction. He’d never get
her
out of his system.

He kissed her cheek then her ear and nuzzled her neck.

She smiled. “You’re not helping.”

“Yes I am. You’re smiling.” He kissed the base of her neck, glad she’d taken off her navy jacket, even though it brought out the gold in her eyes. She preferred formal attire. It gave her confidence when in truth she didn’t need the armor. But under that jacket, she wore an ultra-feminine white silk top held up by two thin straps.

He licked the edge of her ear. “Stop thinking so hard.”

“
Ryder!”
 

“What?”

“Stop killing my brain cells.”

“You can afford to lose a few thousand and still blow away the competition.”

“As a geek?”

“As a woman who is as intelligent as she is hot.”  He lifted the back of her hair and kissed her neck, grinning when she shivered.

That brought on a wider smile. “I see how you earned your Silver Tongue Devil pin.”

“You haven’t heard anything yet.”  He spun her around and braced a hand on each chair arm, hovering close, almost nose-to-nose. He said, “Stop worrying. We’ll find something.”

Hope burst into her eyes. “You think so?”

Not really, but that was all he could give her right now. “I’m sure. If
you’re
sure the VDE Woden rifles were found where you said.”  

She nibbled on her bottom lip. “I’m sure of it.”

Again, he had that sense that she wasn’t sharing everything. “You’ve been working on this a long time.”

“Two years.”

That sounded significant. “Were you assigned this or did something draw you to these cases?”

Indecision wicked in and out of her gaze. “I transferred to the department researching these attacks. My best friend was killed while on a humanitarian trip. Van Dyke Wodens were found there and in two other attacks. We have to find out how they’re being supplied and stop the line of domestic aid to terrorists.”

“What was her name?”

“Sara Lynn.”  Bianca squeezed her eyes closed then opened them. “She shouldn’t have died there.”

He wanted to say something that would ease the pain of losing her best friend, but words wouldn’t heal that wound. Still, he tried. “Sounds like she was doing something she cared about.”

“She was.”  Bianca stared at the desk. “But she wouldn’t have gone if I hadn’t pushed her, then I got sick and couldn’t go. I should have—”

“Don’t do that, Bianca. That’s one thing we learn in combat. If we don’t learn it, we lose our ability to make decisions we
have
to make—in the moment—to do our jobs. Don’t blame yourself for not being there to die with her. Do you think your friend would have wanted that?”

She didn’t answer.

Now Ryder understood what was driving Bianca besides her job. An obsession for justice because of a loss. Could he blame her? No, but had that obsession clouded her judgment when she’d been building a case against a Van Dyke?

She raised heart-broken eyes to him. “I’m sorry.”

“Why?”

“Because now I think I couldn’t see past my need for justice when I was researching and analyzing evidence on your case.”

There was his answer. “You were doing your job. You didn’t tamper with evidence or create what wasn’t there. I told you. I don’t blame you. We’ll keep looking until we find something.”

She lifted her hands to each side of his face. “I won’t stop no matter what.”   

That determination would have thrilled him at the onset of this mission, but that was when he’d only been worried about his own ass. Now he had serious concerns about her safety. He’d anticipated getting her inside VDE covertly so that no one would know she’d been the one to breach the firewalls and dig through the files. He hadn’t expected Hubrecht to give her access.