Newborn Conspiracy (12 page)

“Thanks again." And Logan was ready to end the call so lie could give some thought to what he was going to do about visiting George Deveieux.

“There’s more," Jason announced. And that was all he said for several moments.

That long pause caused Logan to groan again."What’s wrong now?"

“Remember Ellen Danita, the Texas businesswoman you rescued in South America right before Christmas?"

Logan instantly tensed up. Of course he remembered the owner of a coffee-processing plant who was taken hostage just before Christmas—someone had shot him within hours of his return from that rescue."I remember Danita. Among lots of other things, her rescue was my last mission. She was taken hostage by an extremist environmental group. What about her?"

“Well, she has an old foe she believes might have orchestrated her kidnapping,"

“Is it George Devereux?"

“No. Royce Foreman."

Logan didn’t like this particular surprise."Why did all of this come to light just now?"

“Because Ellen Danita only recently put two and two together and called me about it. It seems that Royce wanted to buy her shares of a business. She refused to sell. Ms. Danita speculated that Royce orchestrated the kidnapping so that she’d be murdered and her shares would come up for sale "

“Any truth to it?"

“Yeah, unfortunately. I talked to some people who said that Royce was well past being furious when you went into that jungle and brought Ms. Danita back. Her family and the Department of State had written her off as dead."

Logan considered that a moment."Was Royce Foreman furious enough to have shot me?"

“According to my sources, yes."

So, there it was. Royce apparently had his own agenda for murder.

Logan took that piece of information and put it together with another request."Check and see if Royce has any experience with explosives, then examine his bank accounts to see if you can find payment for a hired gun."

Jason assured him that he would and Logan ended the call. Nothing he’d learned had been good news and now he had another dilemma. He had to decide if he could dare ask Mia to go with him to see Devereux, a man who might possibly want to kill them both.

Logan drew in a weary breath and peeked out the window again. He took a moment to glance in all directions, looking around in case a sniper was on one of the balconies of the hotel directly across from them.

When he was reasonably satisfied that there was no immediate danger, Logan headed back toward the bedroom to check on Mia and have the conversation with her that he was already dreading.

He tapped on the door. No answer. So he tapped again. By the third tap his heart and imagination were racing with all sorts of bad scenarios. Logan drew his gun from his slide holster at the back of his waist and he barged right into the room.

Only to find Mia and Tanner lying on the bed.

The sound of his entry must have startled her because she snapped to a sitting position. And that’s when Logan realized she’d been half asleep and nursing the baby.

She’d lifted up her top to expose her right breast.

Logan felt like a pervert because his concern instantly turned to arousal.

“What’s wrong?" Mia asked. She yawned and rubbed her eyes.

Her attention landed on his gun. Just like that, she went from startled and confused to looking more than a little panicked. Logan quickly put the gun back in his slide holster so that it was out of sight.

Her breath was so rapid now that her chest was pumping."I’m nearly thirty years old, I’ve been through hours of therapy, hypnosis—you name it. And I still can’t make this fear of guns go away,"

He walked slowly toward her. And he took a deep breath."That’s because you went through a horrible nightmare to get to where you are now. A phobia seems natural, considering everything that happened."

“You’ve been shot before," she pointed out, dragging her hand through her hair,

“Several times."

“And you don’t have gun phobias."

“No. But that’s because I’ve been around guns all my life. I’ve had a lot of training and more than a lot of experience carrying a weapon."

Logan reached down and eased her bulky top over her exposed breast.

Her eyes widened to the size of saucers, and she blushed."Oh, sheez. I’m so sorry, I fell asleep and forgot I was nursing him."

“Don’t be sorry. You just gave me fuel for fantasies."

And he wasn’t joking.

Because he needed something to do with his hands-—touching her wasn’t an option—he lifted the sleeping baby and put him against his chest. As he’d seen Mia do. So that he could burp him. It didn’t take much, just a few soft pats on the back, and his son let out a loud belch.

Logan couldn’t imagine a sound of that volume coming from such a tiny body.

Mia and he shared a smile, even though hers was tentative. That probably had something to do with the fact that she was still blushing.

Since he needed to have a serious conversation with Mia, he put the sleeping baby in his new bassinet. He checked the window again, something he’d no doubt be doing a lot, and then he walked back to the bed where Mia was still lying.

Did he even have the right to ask her to visit Devereux? Or was Devereux’s request some kind of ploy to get Mia out in the open so that she’d be an easy target for Genevieve?

Logan sat down on the bed beside her.

“You look… intense. Is this about you seeing my breast?" she asked before he could say anything. The blush was still there on her cheeks and she was nibbling on her bottom lip, Logan suddenly had the urge to nibble on her lip, too.

But he couldn’t put this conversation off since he had to make a decision about keeping that appointment with George Devereux.

“I’ve really made some missteps," Mia supplied."First talking about the awful sex. Then, not remembering—"

“Trust me, I was thinking about having sex with you long before you brought up the subject."

Because he was so close to her, he saw the pulse jump on her throat. It was another jolt to his libido. Of course, anything she did at this point, including breathing, caused him to want her even more.

She shook her head."Some men are really put off by the sight of a woman nursing a child."

“It didn’t put me off"

Her nerves were right there at the surface."Some men are put off after seeing a woman give birth," she tried again.

“I guess some men are."

Logan didn’t see it that way. Delivering Tanner was the most incredible thing he’d ever done or ever would do. He couldn’t possibly be disgusted or put off by that, Logan knew it was a mistake, but he looked at her face.

With her hair all mussed and her eyelids heavy, she looked like the answer to some really raunchy dreams that he’d been having.

He made another mistake. He reached out and skimmed his thumb over her bottom lip. She didn’t flinch. Didn’t have any adverse reaction. But her breath shivered a little.

She shivered.

And that was the only invitation he needed to kick the intensity of the situation up a notch.

Logan took things slow, so she’d have an out if she wanted it, and slid his hand around the back of her neck to draw her closer to him.

Her skin was warm and soft. Welcoming -and she made a slight sound of pleasure when he lowered his head and kissed her.

The kiss was a mistake, too.

But he didn’t care.

In that moment, the only thing that seemed to matter was tasting Mia. So that’s what he did.

Logan took his time, savoring her and letting her own unique taste slide through every inch of his body.

She put her arms around him. First one, then the other. And she eased closer to him, until her breasts touched his chest. Again, Logan waited, to make sure he wasn’t breaking too many rules, but Mia broke some rules of her own. She deepened the kiss and pulled him to her.

‘“We shouldn’t be doing this," she mumbled,

“No, we shouldn’t. Do you plan to stop?"

Her answer was in her kiss, hot, long and French. Just the way he liked kisses. But the problem with really good kisses—and these were good—was that soon his body wasn’t content with just mouth-to-mouth contact.

His body wanted more.

Mia’s, too.

She kept inching closer and closer until she was plastered against him. Until she was seeking the physical contact that would not only make them burn hotter but also give them some release.

However, despite her hungry kisses and the way she was digging her nails into his back, this wasn’t the time for sex.

Logan repeated that to himself.

And he forced himself to repeat the reasons, too. She’d just come away from a horrible ordeal and she wasn’t thinking straight.

“We shouldn’t be doing this," he said, restating her earlier comment.

“We’ve already established that."

But it didn’t stop her. Heck, it didn’t stop him, either. He continued to kiss her. And touch her. He slid his hand along her waist and then her hip.

Mia moved against his touch. And she moved closer until she was practically in his lap. All in all, it was a very good position for her to brush against his erection.

Which is exactly what she did.

She moved. He moved. And. somehow, his erection ended up touching her sex. That created another frenzy of kisses. More movement. More touching.

More of everything.

Oh man, she smelled good. Like sex. She looked even better with her face flushed with arousal and her mouth still damp from their kisses.

More than anything, Logan wanted to finish what he’d started.

He wanted to have sex with her.

But he couldn’t.

For one thing, he didn’t have a condom. For another, he wasn’t sure she was physically ready for sex. since it’d only been six weeks since she’d delivered Tanner.

However, the biggest obstacle was having to live with the consequences of having sex with Mia.

Sex would change things. And she was just starting to trust him. No. He needed to wait until he could assure her safety before he could even think about having a relationship with the mother of his child.

“We’re stopping," she said.

“Yeah" Though that one word of agreement hadn’t come easily.

His body was still begging and his willpower was zero, but Logan eased her away from him. He went one step further and turned her on her side, so they were in a spooning position. It was far better than the alternative.

No more frontal body contact for them.

Well, not today anyway.

“Say something," she whispered.

“I’m afraid to," Logan admitted.

He held his breath, waiting for her reaction and was surprised when she laughed. It was smoky, thick and laced with arousal."Have you ever wondered why you’re attracted to some people and not others?"

“No. In the past. I’ve always just gone with it. I’m trying to be more careful with you "

“Careful," she repeated. ‘That’s ironic. Because I’ve been reckless with you."

He didn’t doubt that. Nor did he mind it. Well, his body didn’t mind it. His brain was having a little trouble with the fact that he was going to have to be the one to do the resisting.

Logan waited for a lightning bolt to hit him.

Because he knew he stood a snowball’s chance in Hades of resisting Mia much longer. He wanted that mouth, that body. Hell, he wanted all of her. Even if wanting her was the last thing he should have on his mind, Mia turned, rolling on her side so she was facing him. That wasn’t a good move, not with the sexual energy still stirring between them.

“You have something you want to say to me?" she whispered."Not about the kisses. Or this,"

She bumped his aroused body with hers and had him seeing stars.

“No, I don’t want to talk about that."

But he couldn’t help it. He kissed her again. Not a sweet little this-ends-now kiss, either. It was a kiss of hunger. Of frustration, Logan latched on to two handfuls of her hair, dragged her closer and kissed her.

And then, because he knew he had to, he eased her away from him.

“You lost control," she said."Well, for a few seconds, anyway,"

“It won’t happen again," he lied.

She stared at him and Logan thought for a moment that she would call his bluff. All it would take was a kiss, a touch or that look in her eyes. But she, too, must have realized the need for some distance because she inched away.

What she didn’t do was stop touching him.

She slid her fingers down his chest."You want to talk to me about what Jason told you."

Not really—he didn’t want to have this conversation. But it had to be said because Mia needed to know what he’d learned.

Logan caught her hand to stop the caressing. He was enjoying the heck out of it, but this was info best delivered while in a non aroused state."My team found a bug in the diaper bag,"

“Donnie Bishop," she immediately offered. She did that caressing thing again. She rubbed her finger along his cheek but then pulled back, knowing it wasn’t a good idea."I should have suspected something when I saw him near the bag at the hospital."

“You had a lot on your mind that night. You’d just witnessed a woman being shot and you’d had bullets fired at you. Anyway, the device is like the one we found on your car. And since you saw him near the diaper bag and since he was on the parking lot surveillance videos, it’s a good guess that he’s our man. Of course, that doesn’t prove he fired shots at us,"

“No," she said softly.

Logan hesitated. This wouldn’t be as easy to tell her as what she’d already heard.

“Just tell me" Mia insisted."Even if it’s bad, I want to hear it."

“Okay." He nodded."I have a meeting scheduled with George Devereux tomorrow at the prison.

The place is about a half hour outside the city "

“Oh, Well, a meeting with Devereux is a good idea." She didn’t sound totally convinced.

“Not really."

She sat partly up, pressed her elbow into the soft mattress and rested her head in her hand.

Most of her hesitancy faded."But it is good. He might be able to tell us who’s behind these attempts to kill us. He might even implicate his daughter—"