Savage Secrets (Titan #6) (31 page)

Great. Because she wasn’t at rock bottom yet? “Hit me.”

“Before Titan came to London, when we dropped dude off at that MI6 hotspot…”

“
Si
?” Suddenly she had a bad feeling, and it had nothing to do with the post-rape apprehension she was hiding from Rocco.

“I had just walked away from a girl. Relationship. Whatever you want to call it.”

The pit of her stomach bottomed out. It was less jealousy and more anticipating bad news. “All right.”

“Wasn’t anything serious. Well, I guess she saw it differently.”

Sadness crept into her chest. Still not jealousy. But it still didn’t sit well. “We all have a past.”

Actually, she didn’t really. Caterina had never let herself get close to anyone. She wasn’t in the same place long enough, and no one understood what drove her day in and out. Besides, when she lived her life tracking an underground terrorist, clipping articles and scouring pictures of what El Mateperros could’ve looked like, it wasn’t conducive to inviting a man to come over. Newspaper clippings and maps with dozens of tacks across the world didn’t say “stable woman.”

“She wanted something serious. I didn’t.” He cleared his throat. “Honestly, with some of the guys settling down, I’d thought maybe a regular girl in my life would be, I don’t know, interesting. But it wasn’t. Things moved faster than they probably should’ve, and she started talking rings and the future. So I…said no thanks and hightailed it to London.”

Caterina stopped the urge to balk. Did she want him to want a ring? A future? What did she want? “Okay.” She wasn’t a rebound girl, but still, self-doubt crept out of nowhere and joined their conversation.

“Why bring it up now?”

“Because no one else would sit here and understand how freakin’ on top of the world I feel right now, not succumbing to a tripped-out mindfuck, and keeping a job that I’m crazy about. I don’t want to have any secrets between us.”

“An ex isn’t exactly a secret.”

“Well, I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”

“Why would I be?”

“I wasn’t kidding when I said I ended it and left on a job. You know how it goes. Anyway, we came back from London, but I never went home. Crashed over at Roman’s place. There’s a good chance some of her stuff is at my place.” He groaned. “Like a toothbrush or something.”

Yeah, jealousy was trying to make her first trip to the US suck. She wouldn’t let it. “A toothbrush I can handle.”

Throwing his other arm around her, Rocco pulled her tight against his hard chest. “Pretty flippin’ cool chick, you know that?”

“I try.”

He kissed her temple, and she took a deep breath, handling their closeness with less of a problem. She nuzzled against the scruff on his cheek.

“You doing okay, Cat?”

Every muscle from her calves to her shoulders locked.
No, I’m not
. “Yes.”

“The further we get from Somalia, the jumpier you are. Even before you knew it wasn’t London.”

Just tell him the truth. It wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe. “I know you’re not him, but sometimes, I feel…claustrophobic. And hot. Like I can’t breathe. It doesn’t make any sense.”

“Hell, Kitten. It makes a lot of sense.”

She shrugged. “I feel stupid.”

“I bet you’re going to feel a lot of things.”

Pushing her hair back, she agreed. It’d been a roller coaster. “I keep trying to forget, but the clearer my head gets, the more I panic.” She closed her eyes. “It’s like I can’t take a breath sometimes.”

“What do you need? We’ll park this jet if you need some fresh air.”

What did she need? So much. “I want to look toward the future. I want to visit America with you. Just… tell me about it. Distract me, and then eventually it won’t be a distraction. It will be life.”

He went to kiss her but pulled back. She hated herself for being thankful that he stopped short.

Rocco licked his lips and looked like he was trying to reorganize his thoughts. “You’ll like where we’re going. Titan’s based in Virginia, but Jared’s got business in Baltimore, a couple hours away, so we’re landing there. Let’s just stay put. We’ll get a doctor to come check you out. Maybe bind up your ribs. Then, if you want, we’ll hit the Inner Harbor. Do a chilled out date night. Get a hotel room and relax—”

A shiver ran over her skin but it wasn’t panic. “Wait. What did you say?”

“Dinner delivered. Movie on the TV. All-American Friday night. Think of it as a welcome to the country.”

Now it was her turn to rub her head. Something he said triggered a recent memory. Fuzzy. But it was there. “No. Wait. Where?”

“Baltimore.”

Come on. She was so close. On the tip of her tongue. “No.”

“What’s going on?”

“I just—something—I’m trying to remember something. I swear it has to do with the ACG. I just can’t—God. This is so frustrating.”

He turned to her, hands on her shoulders. She flinched but didn’t care. “Virgina. Jared. Baltimore. Dinner.”

“No.”

“Inner Harbor. Hotel room—”

“Inner
Harbor
.”

“Inner Harbor? They’re going to hit a harbor? A—”

“Harbor.” So close. That wasn’t it. What was she trying to remember?

Memories pushed from the edge of her conscience. Her time with the ACG was rough. Mentally, she blocked out the physical pain, toughening her exterior.
Harbor. Harbor. Harbor.
There was something there. Something she should remember. What…was it? She groaned, trying so hard. Just on the tip of her—“Harhour!”

“What?”

“Harhour? Harhour.
Si
. Yes. Harhour.”

“What is?”

“His name is Harhour.” Her stomach cramped. Remnants of the conversations raced through her mind. “Yassine Harhour. And he wants to be famous.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Caterina had come up with a first and last name for the Dog Killer. Rocco was up and on his feet before she could continue her thoughts, moving them down the hall as if he were Secret Service headed toward a bunker. Spanish flew from her lips. Eventually, he’d have to learn more Spanish, but if he had to guess, he figured she’d just said, “Slow the hell down.”

He burst through the doorway of their flying war room. “Got something else.” Nodding to her, urging her on, he nudged her in front of him.

“Yassine Harhour.” Her breath was a little rushed, and damn, he should have been more careful because she was hurt. “He wants to be famous.”

“Famous?” Jared asked from the head of the table.

“Yes. He was obsessed with planning his… coming out.”

Roman slapped the table. “Lady Gaga.”

Boss Man swung his gaze over. “Excuse me?”

“At the ACG compound, El Mateperros had some how-to-be famous book written by Lady Gaga.”

“So either something more newsworthy hit today, and they put their plans on hold, or…” Jared cracked his knuckles. “Something more newsworthy is coming up.”

Cash had been balancing on the back two legs of his chair, but he let it fall forward. “There’s a big royal thing happening at home.”

Jared grumbled. “A big royal thing?”

“Yeah, Nic and the girls have been following it. Getting all excited over some—”

“Where?”

“DC.”

“When?”

“No idea.”

“Fuckin’ A. Someone call Nic and find out when the big royal thing is so I don’t sound like a dick when I call the Secretary of Homeland Security.”

“Roger that.” Cash grabbed the phone from the middle of the table. A few button pushes later, he lounged back in the chair and everyone waited for him to find out whatever the royal thing was. “Hey, sweet girl.”

A few groans and eye rolls followed.

“Hold on a sec, Nic.” He put the phone to his chest. “You fuckers mind?” Then back to the phone. “Remind me what you and the girls were blabbing about? A prince or something.”

A few uh-huhs later, he smiled and hung up the phone.

“Well, lover boy?” Jared cracked his knuckles. “What says Nicola?”

“There’s a prince and princess, a new baby prince, and they’ll be at the White House in two weeks. That seem big enough to make an elusive terrorist mastermind come out of his shy shell?”

“That’s worth a phone call to make sure it’s a known threat even if they can’t find chatter on the wire to collaborate—”

“We’ve got a good source.” Rocco tilted his head toward her.

“True enough.” Jared nodded. “Good job, Caterina. Told you, you’d remember something. Not get some sleep. You did good.”

***

Baltimore, Maryland. In America
. The painkillers had worn off, and sun cracked its sleepy, morning light into the hotel room. It seemed odd that she’d been all over the world and never swung by the States, but neither had El Mateperros, to the best of Caterina’s knowledge. Funny how, once she stopped chasing him, even if it was for one night, he would end up in the place where
she
was going. To the United States. To Rocco’s home.

Jared took what she knew and fed it to the American protective agencies. Homeland Security. FBI. The CIA and her friends at MI6. While this was planned for US soil, it was the royal family and those agencies and so many more had been chasing El Mateperros.

Her ribs were wrapped tightly after a Titan doctor had shown up in the middle of the night to give her a medical evaluation in her hotel room. The doctor knew Rocco, too. By the time they went to bed, both she and Rocco had been expertly inspected, dressed, and prescribed to, and good thing. She hadn’t noted her fever, nor had she realized that the pain was masking a possible infection. Their doctor made her promise to get a full work up at his office in the coming days and gave her a heavy dose of antibiotics in the meantime. He also suggested that she find a counselor. Uneasy pinpricks moved across her skin. No. She didn’t want that. She wasn’t ready to deal with her attack. Only her retribution.

More sunshine spilled into the hotel room. The smell of coffee pushed her further awake, and she stretched every tender muscle. “You did it again, didn’t you?”

“Yup.” Rocco’s voice was sleep drenched.

She wouldn’t complain about his habit of slipping out of bed to get coffee as long as he made it back under the covers by the time she woke up. “God, you’re a good man.”

“You just use me for your caffeine.”

“Least you know the truth.” She burrowed into his chest. “So now what?”

“Room service.”

“And after that?”

“We go home.”

“What’s your home like?”

“Well, if you’re staying there, you can call it your home too.”

A blush crept through her cheeks. It was more than just him extending that to her. “I’ve never had a place called home before.”

“Sure you did. You just haven’t in a while.”

“Spain?”

“That was home, wasn’t it?”

“That was a nightmare.”

“Maybe you’ll go back one day, and it won’t be so bad.”

She shrugged. “Probably not. Only if I had no other place to go.”

“How about this: we go home, you get the lay of the land, and we make our next plan after that.”

“What about El Mateperros?” She flinched. Seriously, she couldn’t help it. No matter what she did, he was on her mind. “I know. That’s all I talk about. I’m trying.”

Rocco’s hands were far away from her. Every time he touched her unexpectedly, or God forbid, romantically, she jumped out of her skin. It was weird, wanting someone to touch her so badly but yet feeling so panicked by the idea. He must have picked up on it, so while he was bringing coffee into bed, he wasn’t doing much more. It broke her heart, hardened her heart, then broke it all over again because a kiss was all she could handle. A touch and hug when she saw them coming. But nothing more.
Pathetic
.

He shifted from her. Maybe he saw on her face what was in her head, and that was why he spent more time smoothing the sheets between them than running his hands over her. “If he’s doing what we think he is, Titan can help, but the US government’s all over it.”

Tears welled. She was freakin’ sick, wanting to hurt someone and feeling such loss at losing the chance. But it was for the best, letting the government stop a terrorist attack, protect the heads of state, and hopefully catch the major players in the ACG.

Rocco picked up his hand and deliberately brought it down, stroking her arm. “I know. It’ll be okay though. I promise.”

The tears fell for so many reasons. “I just want him so damn bad.”
And I’m destroyed that he took something from me—from us—that I may never get back
.

“You’ll get your revenge one day. I’m sure.” With exaggerated, careful movements, he pressed his lips to hers, and her crazy urge to maim drifted.

“Okay. Take me home.” Between wanting to forget about El Mateperros and remembering that Rocco had an ex-girlfriend whose stuff might be lying about, she was less thrilled than she should’ve been but happier than hell she’d handled the kiss without reaction. Maybe she’d summited Mt. Freak-Out and could go back to loving him without problems, maybe even by the end of the day. Yes. She could do that.