One BAD Night
  
  Chapter i
If sin had a proper name, it would be Jason Banks. He was what Samantha Winslow's mother would call sex-on-a-stick, and as much as she hated to admit it, Sam wouldn't mind taking a bite out of him.
In more ways than one.
But then she wasn't the only woman who felt like that. He was what her mother often referred to as a man-slut. Ever on the make, he went through women faster than Sam went through panty hose. And considering that she seldom put a pair on without running them, that said it all.
He had that boyish kind of charm that could get him out of most any fix with anything female. Incredible good looks that didn't belong on a mere mortal man, and enough intelligence to get him into all manner of trouble.
And at the moment, he was in the kind of trouble that none of the above could bail him out of. The kind of trouble that was always fatal.
Sighing, Sam stared at the picture of him in her hand, taken by their surveillance team last week as he left his flat in London for a rendezvous with a group of known European terrorists.
He wore a pair of dark designer sunglasses that hid his devilishly green, taunting eyes. His dark brown hair was tousled around his head, but then he always wore it a bit shaggy. She was one of the few people who knew that he paid a small fortune for that supposedly lackadaisical cut that fell perfectly around his sculpted face.
The black leather jacket and turtleneck he wore only added to the air of dangerousness that enveloped him. A dangerousness that was belied by his charming smile.
He was gorgeous. No doubt about it. What a waste that something so hot was about to be extinguished.
She jumped as her cell phone rang from the black leather car seat beside her.
Picking it up, Samantha flipped it open and answered it.
"Have you seen him yet?"
She let out a small growl at the sound of Retter's dispassionate voice as she scanned the empty dark street where she was parked. "I'm waiting for him to show now."
"C'mon, Sam. Don't get cold feet on me. If you can't finish this, tell me now so I can do it for you.
We have to make sure, no matter what, that our target is neutralized."
"Don't worry. I know what my mission is, and I understand why I have to do it. The Road Runner is through this time. I told you I'd take care of it, and I will."
"Good."The line went dead.
Samantha sighed as she tucked her phone into her pocket and glanced wistfully at Jason's picture. He was about to become one seriously unhappy double agent.
But she had a job to do, and that was her top priority. Jason knew their code, and he knew the rules.
So did she.
Return with your shield or upon it. If you betrayed the Bureau, the Bureau would exact full retribution.
After all, they weren't called BAD without reason. Originally the acronym had stood solely for Bureau of American Defense, but since their inception, they had taken BAD to heart and it had become a way of life for all of them.
"You screwed BAD, and BAD screwed you. The entire lot of them were renegades who lived solely for their missions. This wasn't a job to them; it was a way of life and a code of honor they held dearly.
And Jason had betrayed them.
Now it was time to make him pay.
After laying the picture aside, Samantha screwed the silencer onto her weapon and held it in her lap while she waited for Jason to enter the street. She was outside his favorite club in Berlin, a known terrorist hangout where all sorts of riffraff from all over the world liked to gather and sell their secrets.
It was here that Jason had given over the name of one of their BAD operatives: Hunter Wesley Thornton-Payne. A name that truly suited the self-centered, proselytizing prick. But prick or not, Hunter was one of them.
That had been the week before Jason had blown Hunter's car into pieces to show the terrorists that he was on their side.
It had been a stupid thing to do.
The door to the club opened.
Samantha froze as she saw Jason coming out. She curled her lip at the sight of him draped around two of the sleaziest-looking women she'd ever seen and given the fact she'd been raised among strippers, that said a lot.
She studied his lips as he talked to them so that she could understand what was going on.
"So we're going back to your place, huh?" he asked the artificial redhead on his right in German. "Are you sure your daddy won't come home and disturb us?"
"Oh, no, he's gone until Monday."
Jason smiled wickedly.
Just keep smiling, asshole. Samantha aimed the infrared at his chest.
Jason froze as he saw the red dot suddenly appear on his black sweater, then quickly shoved the women away from him. He reached for his weapon, which was concealed at the small of his back.
Samantha squeezed off two rounds before he could even draw it and watched as they hit him dead in his heart. She was, after all, the best shot in her class. It was why Joe had recruited her from the FBI to work for BAD.
That and the fact that she was a workaholic who didn't let anything like ethics, laws, or morals stand in the way of doing her job.
Jason staggered back as a dark red stain spread over his chest. His eyes large, he fell to the sidewalk. The women with him screamed and ran back toward the club.
Samantha whipped her car around and sped toward him. Parking it next to where he'd fallen, she hopped out and opened the passenger door.
She moved to stand over Jason.
"Sam?" he gasped- in disbelief as he struggled to breathe.
She grabbed him by his sweater and hauled him to his feet. "Get in the car, Jason. Now!"
They were running out of time.
He staggered a few steps before she shoved him roughly into the seat, slammed the door shut, then ran to get in as a group of bouncers came running from the club.
Gunning the engine, she whipped her rented car through a back alleyway, far away from the scene. Sirens rent the air. Hopefully no one had caught a good look at her or her car before they notified the authorities.
If they had, she was screwed.
Jason lay in the seat beside her, panting in pain.
"Keep breathing, you lousy bastard," she said to him. "I want you to suffer before you die."
Jason was trying to make sense of words that seemed to come to him out of a hazy fog. He felt so strange. So weird. He'd been shot before, but it hadn't felt like this.
His body didn't respond to anything, and his breathing seemed to have a ten-second delay.
All he could focus on was Sam's angry face. Of course she would be angry. She didn't know the truth, and he couldn't afford to let her learn it.
"Sam?"
"Shut up, asshole. I don't want to hear anything from you right now."
He licked his lips, which were suddenly chapped from dryness. Streetlights streaked across Sam's angry face as she whipped them through the Berlin streets.
There was an air of calmness to her that belied the anger in her tone and the tight grip she had on the steering wheel. She wasn't classically beautiful, but there had always been something about her that had appealed to him.
But not at the moment. At the moment, he wanted to kill her for this.
"Where are we going, Sam?" he tried again.
She cast a glare at him that was bone-chilling. "Just shut up and die."
Jason closed his eyes as a wave of nausea consumed him. Fine. They were enemies, then; it was her choice, not his.
Unable to fight the darkness that wanted to drag him under, he surrendered himself to it and let it take him.
Samantha breathed a sigh of relief as they reached the warehouse apartment she had rented under an unknown alias. They would be safe here, at least long enough for her to interrogate Mr. Banks and find out the truth about Hunter's "death."
She woke him up enough so that he could assist her in getting him into the building, but not so much that he could fight her. Jason was a large man who could snap her neck and leave her dead faster than she could say "Boo."
That was if she gave him the chance.
Samantha wasn't a fool.
They staggered toward the elevators that took her upstairs to her apartment. It wasn't easy directing him, since he kept trying to fall down, but after a few minutes she had him inside the small apartment.
She led him to the full-sized bed and allowed him to collapse onto it. He fell right back into his drug-induced sleep. Good. That would give her time to make a few preparations for when he came to.
Samantha wasted no time in removing his leather jacket, sweater, and T-shirt, then handcuffing his arms to the wrought-iron headboard. She used his shirt to mop up the red gel from his chest that had exploded when she'd shot him with the tranquilizers. It was designed to look like blood in case he was under surveillance by their enemies at the time she shot him. They had to make it look as real as possible.
The last thing either of them needed was for someone to know he wasn't dead ... yet.
Sam hesitated as she reached for his fly. It was suddenly disconcerting to undress an unconscious man. Really, it should be easy, but it wasn't. It was like she was invading his privacy or something.
You've got no choice.
She had to strip him down for both their sakes. He could have a bug hidden in anything. All of his clothing had to be destroyed before the bad guys found them.
Biting her lip, she forced her hands to unbutton his jeans. It wasn't as if she were a virgin, or she hadn't done this with other guys.
Still, it felt odd. Bizarre.
Especially once she had his pants pulled off.
"Whoa." She breathed in awe as she ran her gaze over his long, lean, muscular body, covered with deep, tawny skin. His shoulders were wide and sculpted like a gymnast. Even while unconscious, he had a well-defined eight-pack of abs she could do laundry on.
She'd never really looked at a guy's legs before, but Jason's were remarkable. Well muscled and athletic and dappled with dark hairs, they were quite a pleasing sight.
Who was she fooling? They were more than pleasing, they damn near begged her to fondle him.
Honestly, she'd expected him to go commando. He seemed the type of guy who wouldn't wear any kind of underwear. But in total contradiction to his "rules and decency be damned" attitude, he wore a pair of white-and-blue-striped cotton boxers. There was something strangely old-fashioned about his choice, and that was completely at odds with what she knew about this man.
God, you are scrumptious, she thought as she took in the sight of him lying on the bed. His darkly tanned flesh was smooth and dimpled over the muscles she knew he worked hard to perfect.
There wasn't an ounce of extra fat anywhere on him. He was the perfect specimen of male flesh, and it was all she could do not to scale all six feet of him and lay herself over him like a blanket.
That image hovered in her mind, making her whole being burn. Every female hormone in her body begged her to rub herself against him. To taste those lips that were parted ever so slightly while he breathed.
To dip her hand through the small slit of his boxers, through his short, crisp hairs, to see if he really was as large as he appeared, and to stroke him until he was hard and begging her to take him.
What would he taste like?
Feel like?
Sam shook her head.
Get a grip! What the hell is wrong with you? Yes, he looked good, but she had a job to do, and if she didn't get it done, they could both die. Not to mention the small fact that he was a traitor who had come way too close to killing Hunter. But for Hunter's lazy habit of starting his car by remote, the agent would be dead now.
And Jason would have been the one who killed him.
Growling from her wayward lust, Samantha forced herself to strip those boxers off and cover him with a blanket. This wasn't the time to get personal with Jason.
It was time to get serious. And seriousness dictated that she keep herself calm and cool toward a man she fully intended to kill.
Chapter 2
Jason was dreaming of a luscious, naked nymph with long brown hair that she whipped over his body to torment him. Each lash of the silken strands against his bare skin made his body jerk with painful need. She had deep chocolate brown eyes that pierced him with anger and with a potent desire he'd never expected.
She ran her long, manicured nails over him, scraping his skin in a bittersweet pleasure that caused him to arch his back, aching for more of her touch. He wanted her to kiss him, but every time she came close to his lips, she would veer off with a teasing laugh.
His nipples hardened as her breath fell against them.
"Sam," he said under his breath, wanting her to sate the lust she'd stoked.
Instead of easing him, she pulled back with a sadistic laugh and vanished into a cloud of cold, dark smoke.
Jason came awake to a fierce pounding ache in his skull. His arms were sore, and his chest throbbed. The tendrils of his dream hung on the fringes of his memory, but the pain in his body caused it to flee entirely. It was a full minute before he remembered what had actually happened to him outside the club.
Someone had shot him in cold blood.
Confused anger gripped him as he recalled Sam shoving him into the car and then her rude behavior toward him as he tried to explain to her what had happened. Why he'd betrayed them.
She'd refused to listen.
As he tried to move, he realized someone had handcuffed him. Frowning, he twisted his body to find himself stripped completely bare on a full-sized wrought-iron bed in a room he'd never seen before.
It was cold and uninviting, with a minimal amount of furnishings that said it was only a temporary place and not someone's home. One lone lightbulb shone brightly over his head, casting weird shadows on the faded yellow wallpaper. He could hear the faint sound of a television set with a program in German seeping through the walls, along with misplaced male laughter. The air was damp and musty, as if the room needed to be aired out.
Whose place was he in? How had he gotten here?
He could recall a few hazy images—stairs that made him stagger ... a red door. But none of it made sense, and he damned sure didn't remember a bed or bedroom.
Had Sam brought him here?
Or had someone else cuffed him?
He wasn't sure if he should be scared or pissed. Deciding on the latter, he tried to pull himself free.
He still wasn't one hundred percent sure if Sam had been the one who shot him or not. Maybe she'd saved him after someone else had opened fire on him.
Granted, that wasn't likely, but who knew? Everything had happened so fast that he still wasn't sure about anything other than leaving the club with the two women who were going to take him into the lion's den. He'd been so close to finding his target and arresting him ...
But after seeing the red sights on his chest and feeling the impact of a bullet, he couldn't really remember the rest of the details clearly. Things had happened too rapidly.
For that matter, he wasn't sure how long he'd been unconscious.
As he looked at his chest and saw the remnants of red dye on his skin, he decided that it must have been Sam who shot him after all. Who else would have gone that far for a charade?
For some reason, the shooting had been a ruse. One that seriously ticked him off, since it had interfered with his case. Damn it!
Then again, given what he'd done in London to Hunter, he was lucky one of the BAD agents hadn't killed him tonight. But he had trusted Retter, his European BAD contact, to understand what he'd been doing.
If he hadn't...
Well, he'd be lucky to be in one piece come dawn.
Jason tightened his hands around the cufls that were secured to the iron and tried again to pull himself free of the headboard.
Damn, it held.
"So, you're finally awake."
He paused at the sound of the silken voice that went over his body like a lover's caress. What was it about Sam's southern drawl that set him on fire? It always had, even though she herself wasn't the kind of woman he normally found appealing. Stern and somber, she took everything way too seriously.
Most times, she kept that accent under wraps, but whenever he heard it peeping through ...
He burned.
"At your beck and call," he said in a light tone that contradicted his serious mood and situation. "You know, Sam, when women handcuff me naked to the bed, they usually make sure I'm awake for the pleasure of it."
Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly as her cheeks pinkened. He had to give her credit, she was beautiful like that.
He grinned at her. "You didn't have to go to all this trouble, love. If you wanted my body, all you had to do was ask."
Samantha glared at him. "You and that arrogance ..."
He wiggled his brows at her. "Yeah, but it makes you want me even more, doesn't it?"
Her tense expression didn't waver. "Want you dead, you mean."
He scoffed at her. "You wouldn't really kill me."
Before he could blink, she pulled her weapon out from the holster at the small of her back and angled it at his temple. "There you're wrong, Mr. Banks," she said from between clenched teeth.
Jason sobered as her sweet breath fell against his cheek. Gambling and women were two things he knew extremely well, and gambling on women and their motivations had never failed him.
He'd never lost at a game of chance or bluff.
"Am I?" he asked, arching his brow at her. "If you wanted me dead, I have a feeling I'd be in my grave now, not tied naked to your bed."
Her brown eyes sparked fire an instant before she pulled back and dropped her weapon back in its holster. "Is there no limit to your arrogance? Why are you not afraid of me?"
He shrugged. "I know people. I understand them."
"You don't know me."
"Sure I do," Jason said, raking a slow, penetrating glance over her body. He'd known her from the moment Joe had first introduced them. Sam had been completely uptight and overly serious, yet he'd seen through her veneer.
Intrigued by her lack of humor, he'd done some checking on her background and found out exactly why she was so hard-nosed.
"You were the studious daughter who was appalled by your mother's wild ways as she sought one more good time. While she went out at night with another 'uncle,' you stayed home, convinced that your education would buy you out of your run-down apartment and save you from being another pregnant sixteen-year-old destined for minimum-wage jobs and revolving husbands. You could only afford college through scholarships and the GI Bill, so you wrapped yourself up in textbooks while playing weekend warrior until you were recruited by the FBI." He paused to rake a meaningful look over her. "Did you ever once go out drinking in college with your friends?"
Samantha stiffened at his eerily correct recitation of her life. It bothered her a lot more than she cared for. "Shut up, Jason."
"Why?"
Because he was telling the truth, and she hated him for it. Why was he able to see what she'd hidden from everyone else? No wonder he was cocky. He really could see straight into people's souls.
"You know," she said coldly, "I think killing you might be enjoyable after all."
Even through her anger, Jason could tell he'd struck a nerve with her. A painful one. It was a curse he'd inherited from his Romanian mother, his ability to sum up people with an unerring accuracy. His mother had blamed it on her Romany blood. Maybe some of that was true, but Jason had never really believed in any hokum.
But in his professional life, the ability to sum people up quickly was a godsend.
In his personal life, it sucked.
"Sorry, Sam," he said quietly.
She didn't respond.
"So why do you want me dead?" he asked, trying to change the subject back to why she'd dragged him here.
"Oh, let me count the ways. Would you like them alphabetically or placed in the order of their significance?"
He snorted at that. "Alphabetical works for me. If I hum a few bars, would you sing it?"
She rolled her eyes at him.
"C'mon," he said, almost playfully. "Why am I here, chained naked to your bed? Really?"
"Because I'm going to kill you. Really."
There was no misreading her tone or her body language. She meant that.
He gave her a sincere stare. "I didn't betray BAD, Sam. If I'd wanted Hunter killed, I wouldn't have rigged his car. I'd have gone for him one-on-one."
She shrugged nonchalantly. "It makes no never mind to the ones in charge. You've compromised yourself. There's nothing to be done to salvage it."
Was she telling the truth? "Then why did you tranq me and not kill me?"
She gave him a nasty glare. "I couldn't leave you dead on the street. We don't make those kinds of mistakes. You're only alive until Retter gets here, and then we'll dispose of you properly."
Jason clenched his hands. "I didn't try to kill him, Sam. You have to believe me."
"I don't have to do a damn thing."
Why couldn't he make them see reason? "C'mon, you know me. When have I ever gone at someone's back?"
"London."
"Sam!"
Every expression on her face told him he was talking to the wall.
Her cell phone rang. While she answered it, Jason twisted his hands, trying to find sorneway to break free of the cuffs. As a kid, he used to be able to bend his thumb in and escape ...
Unfortunately, he'd lost that talent.
"Really?" Sam said as she narrowed her gaze on him. "Uh-huh. And you're sure about this?"
He truly hoped she wasn't talking about his death.
"There's no doubt? No chance for error?"
Jason strained, trying to make out the words that were coming from the phone in a tone reminiscent of Charlie Brown's teacher.
"All right, then. I'll do it." She hung up the phone.
"Do what?"
She didn't answer as she drew closer to the bed. "You really went too far this time, didn't you? Selling us out. Slumming with the enemy . . ." She clucked her tongue at him. "Tell me what I should do with you."
"Let me go so that I can finish my assignment and prove to all of you that I'm innocent."
"Yeah."
Jason threw his head back and let out a disgusted sigh. What was he going to do?
Sam left the room for a few seconds, then came back with her weapon drawn.
Jason tensed as he realized she'd screwed the silencer onto it. For the first time in his career, he was really scared. There was no way to fight back. No way out of this one.
"Don't, Sam. You're only going to hate yourself when you find out the truth."
She snorted at his words. "I assure you, Banks, that'll never happen."
Her eyes cold and empty, she aimed the gun at him. Jason refused to flinch. He'd never been a coward. If she was going to do this, then she was going to kill him with him looking her dead in the eyes.
She didn't even blink before she squeezed the trigger. Jason sucked his breath in, waiting to feel the bite of a bullet tearing through his body.
He didn't.
Instead, a slow smile spread across her face. "Did you wet yourself, Banks?"
Jason cocked his head in disbelief as her words rang in his mind. "What the fuck is this?"
She pulled the mag clip from her back pocket and slid it into the gun. "Basically, I'm harassing you for the near fatal heart attack you gave poor Hunter in London ... and for all the other pranks you have perpetrated on the unsuspecting members of our group. Including me."
His anger melted under a look of disgust. "Dammit, Sam! Do you know what you've done? What you interrupted tonight? I was going—"
"To get killed," she said simply, interrupting his tantrum. "Not just by me, apparently. That was Retter on the phone a second ago. He said he'd just left one of his informants in a club, and the man had given him some interesting news. He said you were busted by your target, Banks. Big-time. Ariston found out from a plant of his in the MI-5 that you blew up a pig in Hunter's car to make it look like Hunter was dead."
"I told you I was innocent."
She rolled her eyes. "Retter said that you must have figured on Hunter being such a coward that he'd immediately jump the next plane home—which he did, but not before Ariston's people got a hold of his flight information. Ariston knew you hadn't betrayed the agency, and those two heifers you were leaving the club with tonight were about to take you down to his house, where they were going to fillet you into itty-bitty Jason pieces."
Jason felt the color leave his face as he went completely still. "Are you sure?"
Sam nodded gravely. "Retter had no doubt. If he had, he'd have told me to go ahead with my assignment." She sighed as if the thought of not killing him was more than she could bear. "Luckily you're not the only agent we have in Ariston's group. Now my mission is to hold you here until Monday, at which time Retter will construct a very real-looking death for you so that I can smuggle you out of the country."
He shook his head in disbelief. "I can't believe I let them fool me. I'm never fooled. Not like that."
Sam almost felt sorry for him. It hurt to be misled, especially on something that could turn out fatal. "It happens to the best of us."
His face spoke plainly ... Not to me. "Fine, let me go"
Sam knew that she should, but as she looked down at him, completely helpless and at her mercy, the devil crawled inside her. This was a once-in-a-life-time opportunity to pay him back for that little spy job he'd done on her. God love him, but this man had caused her endless hours of humiliation.
Now vengeance was hers, and this little booger was going to pay,...
"Why should I? Retter said to keep you in place until Monday. Well, you're in place. What better way to make sure you don't do something stupid."
"I'm lying here naked, Sam. I would like to get up and get dressed."
She didn't answer. Instead, she gave him a saucy smirk as she trailed one fingernail down his perfectly tanned, bare chest. Chills sprang up in the wake of her caress, and to her dismay, she wasn't entirely immune to the steely feel of that body. "I don't know, but you're awfully cute lying there all nice and nekkid." She skimmed the length of that hard, six-foot-tall body with her gaze.
In spite of herself, her mouth watered for a taste.
He gave her a droll stare. "You know, if I did this to you, you'd have me up on sexual harassment charges."
"Double standards are such a bitch, aren't they?"
He didn't comment on that. "So are you going to leave me here naked for the entire weekend?"
She shrugged again. "Why not? At least I know you can't get into any more trouble this way."
He glowered at her, but even so she saw the underlying amusement. "You are an evil woman."
Jason wasn't sure what to think. He really didn't like the idea of his cover blown, but spending the weekend with Sam wasn't the worst thing to ever happen to him.
That is, if she'd let him get up and get dressed.
"Evil to the core of my backwoods Mississippi self." She dropped a mischievous gaze down to his body and to the small lump that he wished wasn't so prominent. "You know, my mother has a theory about men ..."
Before he could even react, she grabbed the blanket just over his erection and snatched it free from him and the bed.
"Sam!" he snapped as he and his obvious erection from her hand on his chest were completely bared to her gaze. "What are you doing?"
She draped the blanket over her shoulder as she took her time perusing every inch of his naked body ... and he meant every inch. Her gaze was slow and hot as she seemed to savor staring at him. As much as he hated to admit it, there was something oddly erotic about this.
"I'm paying you back," she said with a wicked grin.
Jason had never felt so exposed to a woman in his life. "For what?"
"I overheard you talking to Retter eight months ago in our offices in Nashville. Do you remember?"
He frowned even more as he tried to recall which conversation she was referring to. "I talk to him all the—" Jason hesitated as he suddenly remembered that talk. It was back when he'd flown to Nashville for a few days to rest and debrief. It'd been an entire week of freedom and while he'd been there, he'd seen ...
Oh, jeez. Had she really overheard them talking about that?
"Yes," she said pointedly. "I know you were spying on me in the locker room while I showered."
And it had been a most beautiful sight too. One that had haunted him ever since and had led to his dreams of her appearing to him as a water nymph out to seduce him. Though she wasn't a skinny woman or very busty, there had been something about the water sliding over the length of her tanned, athletic body that had scorched him. Even now he could see the water dripping from her breasts, see it sliding from her navel to get caught in the dark triangle between her slightly parted thighs.
He'd dreamed of nothing since then except of parting those thighs more and seeking out the sweetest part of her body with his tongue ...
Oh, yeah, that moment had certainly been worth this little bit of embarrassment.
Her eyes burned him with fury. "Have you any idea how embarrassing it is to know that you and Retter have discussed my attributes? I can't even look the man in the eyes now. Any more than I can show him my backside for fear he's thinking of me in the shower. Thank you so much, asshole."
"That was an accident," he said, trying to placate her. "Joe had sent me in there to fix the light that the maintenance department kept missing."
He could tell by her face that she didn't buy it.
"Why didn't you tell me you were in there when you heard me enter?" she asked.
"I was going to, but you whipped your shirt and bra off so fast I didn't have the chance, and I knew if I said something then you'd be pissed, so I—"
"Spied on me."
He offered her a boyish grin. "I had my eyes closed the whole time."
She put her hands on her hips and narrowed those brown eyes on him. "Really? I believe you told Retter that I had one of the best asses you'd ever seen."
Well, okay, so he hadn't closed his eyes even to blink ... and she did truly have one of the best asses he'd ever seen on any woman.
"You should be flattered." He tried again to charm her. "At least I complimented you."
That flew over her about as well as a chicken headed south for the winter. Instead of easing her temper, it only seemed to worsen it.
"Who else have you told? Huh?"
"No one, I swear."
She shook her head. "And I'm supposed to believe a man who lies for a living. Yeah, right."
He gave her his sweetest smile. "I promise, Sam. I didn't say a word to anyone else."
Still he saw the doubt plainly etched in her face. "You are so unrepentant, aren't you? You can't even say you're sorry for being a peeping Tom. For invading my privacy!"
Jason crossed his legs, trying to hide his erection from her. "If I said yes, would you give me my pants back now?"
"No." She turned around and left the room.
"Hey!" Jason snapped as he realized he was hanging out to breeze in his entirety with no way to cover himself at all. God help him if someone came into the room unannounced.
Over and over his mind played a news clip, "American Agent Found Nude in Apartment." Laughter at eleven.
This wasn't funny!
"Sam! Get back in here."
"Why?" Her voice was faint, as if she were heading out of the apartment.
"Sam! I swear if you don't give me my clothes back, I'm going to make you pay!"
She returned not with his clothes but with a Polaroid camera. Jason went cold in fear. The last thing he wanted was to see his Longfellow stuck on some Web site somewhere.
Or worse ... the office bulletin board.
"What are you doing?"
She answered by snapping a picture of him lying bare-ass naked on the bed.
"Sam, I swear—"
"Don't swear, it's not nice." She took another picture, and another.
Jason bent bis leg up, hoping to block himself from her lens.
Looking completely satisfied, Sam pulled the pictures out and set the camera aside while she held the pictures in one hand, waiting for them to develop. She took a look at the first one, then smiled coyly at him. "Bet you're wondering what I intend to do with these, huh?"
He glared menacingly at her. "You better burn them."
She arched a taunting brow at that. "Why? I'm thinking they'd make a wonderful addition to this gay male revue Web site I know. Besides, it's not like most of Europe hasn't already seen you naked. I hear tell you make more time than a Swiss clock factory."
Jason growled as he tried to pull himself free.
She drew her breath in sharply between her teeth, as if she appreciated the way his muscles were bulging. "You keep doing that, baby, and I might have to take some more."
He growled even louder. "What is this? You know if I did this to you, you'd report me."
Samantha decided she had tormented him enough. He really was starting to get angry, and that was the last thing she wanted.
Besides, she fully intended to hand the pictures over to him ... eventually.
Maybe in a year or two.
"Calm down, Banks," she said as she slid the pictures into her back pocket. "Believe me, I wouldn't report you. I'd just hire some thugs to beat you senseless. Or shoot you myself one night when you least expected it."
Jason cursed under his breath as she vacated the room again. Dammit!
And then he heard a door open and close.
Surely she hadn't left ...
He was just beginning to get really nervous when she returned a few minutes later with a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt. She dropped them over his groin before she pulled out a set of keys to unlock his handcuffs.
He frowned at the clothing that didn't belong to him. "Where are my clothes?"
She unlocked the cuffs. "I drove them miles away from here and dumped them in an incinerator."
He was aghast at that. He'd loved his leather jacket that he'd bought a few months back in Italy. No one had bugged his stuff. He was always careful to check for such things. "Good God, you're paranoid."
She arched a brow at him. "Like you wouldn't be? For all I knew, one of Ariston's thugs was following me to try and help you before I could shoot you for real."
Jason rolled his eyes at her as she turned around to give him her back while he dressed. "Aw, c'mon, babe, admit it. You really do love me. It killed you to think of me being dead."
With her back to him, she scoffed. "What I love is the sight of your butt as it's walking away from me."
Jason got off the bed. He moved toward her silently. Grabbing her, he started to spin her around, but before he could, she kicked his feet out from under him and had him on the floor, flat on his back.
"Ow!" he said, looking up at her as she placed her small foot in the center of his chest to hold him there. "I bet you're hell on a date."
Glaring at him, she removed her foot and moved away. "You'll never know."
No, but he wanted to. He pushed himself to his feet and gave her a hot once-over. "So what are we going to do for the next couple of days to pass the time?"
"I've got Parcheesi in the other room."
"Really?" he said, giving her a playful half smile. "Ever play Strip Parcheesi?"
She made a disgusted sound in the back of her throat. "You're such a pig."
"Yeah, but have you ever had a pig in the blanket? They're mouthwateringly yummy."
She wrinkled her nose at him, and for some reason he couldn't fathom, that look turned him on. "Yeah, I had one in college. It made me sick to my stomach."
He closed the distance between them, stopping close enough to her that he could smell her sweet perfume. "Maybe that pig didn't know what he was doing. But this pig ... he knows how to curl a woman's toes."
"I'll give you that one," she quipped. "My toes always curl away from the floor anytime I see something disgusting."
Jason laughed. She was quick. He admired that in a woman. "So do you have a steady boyfriend, Agent Winslow?"
"Not since I shot him for snoring. Do you snore, Agent Banks?"
He ached to pull her into his arms, but knowing her, she'd have him back on the floor—which, if she'd join him, wouldn't be a bad thing at all. "Guess I won't be getting any sleep tonight, huh?"
"Yeah, and not for the reason you think."
Jason had to shake his head at that. It wasn't often anyone got the better of him, but this feisty little woman from the Deep South had his number.
"Well then, I guess I'll just limp over this way and pout for a while."
"Yeah" she said, "you do that."
As he started to move, Jason heard something strange outside. It sounded like someone coming up the stairs.
Sam cocked her head.
"You hear that?" he whispered.
She nodded. She pulled a gun from an ankle holster and handed it to him before she drew the weapon from the small of her back.
"No one knows we're here," she whispered back.
"Maybe it's another tenant coming home." But even he knew that was bullshit. It sounded like at least two people, maybe more, and they were coming up the stairs in a way that sounded like someone trying to be quiet. Stealthy. More than that it sounded like someone who knew exactly where they were going, and that place was their door.
Sam bounded away from him, to crouch to the side of the bedroom door frame as Jason made his way over toward the window that led to the balcony outside.
He'd just reached it when something hit the front door. Hard. Two seconds later, gunshots exploded as the people outside fired into the door.
"Sam!" he shouted.
She was already darting toward him as the people in the hallway outside kicked the front door open.
Infrared sights danced eerily through the dim light, seeking a target.
"Kill them!" a tall blond shouted in German. "Leave no survivors!"
This was about to get ugly.
Chapter 3
Sam was less than happy as she saw the men rushing forward to kill them. And who could blame her? Being shot dead would ruin even the best of days.
Jason flung open the window as he opened fire on the men. She ducked shrapnel and flying bullets. He grabbed her from behind and pushed her toward the iron balcony and fire escape. Not one to argue with sound thinking, she squeezed off a couple of rounds before jumping outside.
As she headed for the roof, Jason grabbed her from behind. "Down, woman, not up. There's no place to go that way."
"They'll be waiting for us on the street." "Trust me, they'll be waiting for us on the roof." Before she could argue, he jumped on the fire escape ladder and took the express ride to hell as it rattled, then slammed onto the pavement below. How he managed to keep his grip and not jar his bones, she couldn't imagine.
Bullets ricocheted past her.
So much for her plan of running to the roof. Gripping her weapon, she started down the ladder after him. She heard more gunfire on the street below.
By the time she reached Jason, there were three bodies on the ground, and he was checking the clip on a much larger weapon than the one she'd handed him. It was obvious he'd stolen it from one of the dead bad guys.
"No offense," he said, slamming the clip back into the handle of the new gun, "your backup weapon is for Girl Scouts. But this"—he slid a bullet into the chamber—"is the weapon of champions. Now I can do some serious damage."
Before she could respond, bullets exploded around them. She turned and fired a round that caught a man on the fire escape. He groaned before he flipped over and fell to the alley not far away from them.
"Into the car," Jason said before he skidded over the hood to the driver's side.
"I don't have keys."
"Don't need no keys." He shot through the glass, then opened the door and got into the car. She gasped in protest, but it was too late. He'd already killed her little smart roadster rental. He leaned over to unlock her side.
By the time Sam was in, he'd already hot-wired the car. "I don't think I want to know how you came by that talent, especially when it concerns a European make."
"No, you don't," he said as he started forward under a barrage of gunfire.
The bullets sparked off the hood, but luckily missed shattering the windshield.
Sam ducked low as they went flying down the dark streets with no lights on.
"Damn," Jason said in a low tone as he shifted gears.
"What?"
"They're chasing us, and I have a feeling that their car is faster than this one. I swear I had a faster go-cart when I was ten." He snatched the wheel, making a drastic right-hand turn. "Don't you people have homes?"
Sam pulled herself upright to see the black Mercedes chasing them. She lowered her window to fire at them, hoping she could hit their radiator.
It didn't work.
And Jason was right. They were closing in.
"Do they have to build reliable cars?" she said from between clenched teeth as she ejected her empty mag. She glanced over at Jason. "You didn't happen to grab any spare ammo, did you?"
He handed her his gun.
Sam started to use it, then thought better of it. "Better to save this in case they catch us."
"Good point."
He turned around another corner so fast that she swore the car was on two wheels. She twisted in the seat and grabbed the seat belt. "Where did you learn to drive? The state fair?"
"Yeah. I love bumper cars. They taught me everything I need to know about New York City and Rome driving. Best of all, it taught me how to survive it."
Sam held her hands up over her face as they went crashing through a street vendor's cart. "That's real nice, Indiana Jones. Hope he didn't need that to feed his family or anything."
"Excuse me," Jason snapped at her. "I'm in the middle of a car chase here. Can you leave the sarcasm for later?"
Maybe, but sarcasm was how she coped.
Sam frowned as she heard the other car open fire on them. She braced herself, half expecting to feel a bullet in her back at any second.
"That's what I wanted .. ."Jason's voice was filled with dark glee.
She looked to see a v-e-r-y narrow arched tunnel in front of them. Her eyes widened as she took in the size of their car versus the size of the tunnel. "We won't fit."
"We'll fit."
"We. Won't. Fit!" she screamed as he flew into it.
Her heart pounded in terror as she prepared for impact.
It didn't come.
They did lose the side-view mirror, but other than that, they came through unscathed. Sam crossed herself, even though she wasn't Catholic.
The sound of twisting metal filled the air. Sam turned to see the car that was chasing them get lodged fully in the narrow arch. Luckily it had trapped them, so they couldn't even open the car doors to shoot.
"Wa-hoo!" she shouted, punching the roof of their little smart roadster. "You know Jace, I could actually kiss you for that."
He flashed a wicked grin at her. "Hang on to that thought, and I'll collect later. Right now, we need to find someplace safe to hide."
She couldn't agree more. They also needed someplace where they could rearm themselves, which in Germany wasn't exactly easy. "There's a little two-bedroom inn on the outskirts of the city, toward Wedding. We should be safe there."
"You sure?"
"Yeah. The owner is related to Retter. I've stayed there a couple of times in the past."
Jason slowed down as he headed toward the northwest of Berlin, away from their "friends." "What I want to know is how the hell they found us."
Sam nodded. "That makes two of us. I took your clothes halfway to Poland before I burned them. Maybe they backtracked to the apartment after finding them, since the clothes had paused there."
He scoffed at her reasoning. "Trust me, they're not that smart."
"Then how do you explain it?"
"I don't know. Maybe we have a leak."
It was possible. "Speaking of leaks, Mr. Double Agent, that was really mean, what you did to Hunter in London. He won't even leave his Brentwood house now for fear of another car exploding on him."
Jason made a noise of complete disgust. "Please. I only picked him to target for my attack because I knew Mr. Prep-School-High-Brow has that damned remote that starts the car to warm it while he's still inside, drinking his coffee. God forbid, Hunter ever have a cold ass. He's the only agent I knew for sure wouldn't get caught in the blast."
Sam had to force herself not to laugh at his description of Hunter. The man did love to lord his superior breeding over all of them, and Jason was right—there was no way Hunter would manually start his own car. "Maybe, but you had Joe riled about it."
Jason shrugged. "He'll get over it... especially if I end up killed."
"That's not funny."
"No," Jason agreed as his handsome face sobered, "it isn't. The object isn't to die for your country, it's to make the other poor slob die for his."
There was a quote she hadn't heard in a long time. "Thank you, General Patton."
He arched a brow at her words as if they impressed him. "You know the good general?"
"My mother's favorite movie. I've watched it a billion times as a kid. I swear I've seen George C. Scott more than I have my own father."
Grinning at her, Jason slowed as they passed a German police car. Sam watched them cautiously until they were out of sight. Even though they worked with several German groups, she had to be careful. BAD wasn't officially sanctioned by the American government. They worked outside the parameters that guided the other agencies.
If they were caught, they were on their own. There was no diplomatic immunity or leniency to be had for them. Essentially, mother America would turn her back on them and leave them to rot. It was a risk they all understood, and one they each agreed to. None of them would have it any other way.
She looked at Jason as he navigated the streets like a pro. The streetlights cut interesting shadows across his handsome face. His jaw was set, and she could see the skill and determination in his eyes.
It was just the two of them now.
"I think we need to call Retter," she said, "and let him know we're on the move. I wouldn't want him to turn up at the apartment and get blitzed or shot or something."
He nodded before he turned down a street that led in the opposite direction from the one they were headed, just in case the bad guys were looking for them. For all they knew, the men after them could have Retter's cell phone tapped.
Jason scanned the street. "I'll look for a hotel with a lobby. We can catch a pay phone there."
He was right. She couldn't use her cell phone either. If the ones after them had a GPS trace, they could pinpoint them in a heartbeat.
It was strange; she'd never given Jason much credit for sense. Around the office he'd always been a jokester who was constantly playing pranks on the others.
But in the field ...
He was truly capable. Frighteningly so. No wonder Joe had recruited him from the Marines.
"You know," she said slowly, "it's weird seeing you with your game face on."
That familiar grin curved his lips, and she had to admit, he could be incredibly gorgeous like that. There was just something about him that was so delectable she could eat him with a spoon. "Didn't think I could manage one, did you?"
"Not really."
He laughed. "Yeah, I know. It's part of my camouflage. You lure the enemy into dismissing you as a crackpot, then they don't watch you so closely. It makes taking them by surprise a whole lot easier."
She definitely had to give him credit there. "I never thought about it like that."
Jason whipped the tiny car in between two others in front of a small hotel. He checked behind them to make sure no one was following them before he got out.
Sam joined him on the street, then followed him into the lobby. They found the pay phones across from the front desk. Jason stood with his back to her, to guard their position.
Out of habit she reached for her credit card, only to remember that if the bad guys knew who they were, they'd be able to trace it to the hotel.
Grimacing, she shoved it back into her pocket and pulled out a few euros. "I need change."
He took the money from her. "I'll get it."
She waited while Jason went to the desk to exchange it. His German was flawless as he charmed the older woman working the desk. The woman absolutely preened before him.
"Danke, Schatz," he said, winking at the clerk before he headed back toward Sam.
Not sure if she should be offended by his flirting or not, Sam shook her head at him. He was hopeless. How could she ever take him seriously? He was always on the make.
She took the change from him and dialed Retter's cell.
He picked up on the third ring.
"Hola, mi amigo," she said, using a phrase they had set up in advance to let the person on the other end know they were in trouble and they might be bugged.
"Hi, Bella," he said in that deep, even tone of his, using one of her aliases. "Did the hunters find their quarry?"
"Ran them right out of the hole."
"Damn," Retter growled. "Did both rabbits make it?"
"Yeah. At least for the moment. But you know how bolt-holes go ..."
"No place like family, huh?"
She had to smile at his intuitiveness. There were times when she swore that man was psychic. "Exactly."
"Okay. I've got some stuff here to work on. You see to the rabbit and make sure it doesn't die on us."
"You got it. Hasta la vista."
"Buenas noches."
Sam hung up the phone and turned around. "All right," she said to Jason. "He knows where we're going."
"Good." Jason reached out and brushed a stray strand of hair back from her face. His green eyes were sizzling as they scorched her with heat. "By the way, do you know how sexy you sound when you speak Spanish?"
There he went again. The man really couldn't help himself. "Oh, please."
He actually managed to look slightly offended. "No, I'm serious. It really turns me on ..."
"Yeah, right. Please tell me what doesn't turn you on. I think I need it by the bucketful."
Jason stood back as Sam led the way out of the hotel. What she didn't suspect was that he was deadly serious. He didn't know what it was about her, but she lured him like Parthenope lured Odysseus—now there was an obscure metaphor left from one too many days spent in college.
It wasn't easy to think straight while he was this hard for her. Of course it would help if she didn't smell so damn good. He didn't know what perfume she wore, but if the military bottled it and sprayed it over the male troops, it could be a potent distraction.
It was all he could do not to pull her to him and just take a deep breath in her hair. Oh, yeah, he was losing it for a woman who would rather shoot him than look at him.
What was wrong with him?
Shaking his head to clear it, he headed to the driver's side of the car as she got in.
"We're going to need to ditch the car," she said as he joined her inside.
"I know, but we should be safe for a short while in it. Our friends don't strike me as the kind to call the cops to report it stolen."
"It's not their car," she said. "It was my rental. But if they found our safe house, they probably know about this car too."
"Oh." He headed back toward Wedding. "Good point."
All of a sudden, and for no apparent reason, Sam started laughing.
"What?" Jason asked, completely confused by what she found humorous in their current situation.
Had the woman snapped a wheel?
"Nothing," she said, trying to sober. "It's really stupid."
"Most things in life are, but if it's worth laughing at, I'd like to hear it. God knows I could use a laugh after the night I've had."
She drew a deep breath. "Yeah, I guess you could. It's not often you get shot, drugged, photographed, skinned of your clothing, and then chased, is it?"
"Well, now that you put it that way . . ." He winked at her.
She rolled her eyes before she answered his earlier questions. "I was just thinking of this stupid thing my mother used to say whenever things went wrong."
"And that is?"
"Where are we going and tell why am I in this handbasket again?"
Jason laughed at the polite twist on the old saying. "I think I like your mom."
"Yeah, and she would love you. My mom has a thing for good-looking guys."
His heart skipped a beat at her disclosure. Could it be that she might actually find him attractive? "You think I'm good-looking?"
Her face turned to stone. "Only when I see you in pictures . . ." But she couldn't hold that look. It melted under a devilish smile that melted him. "And naked, humiliated, and handcuffed to my bed."
Jason cringed at the reminder, even though a part of him liked this teasing side of her. Around the office she was always so stern and serious. He'd never guessed that she had a fun side to her. "You know, they say turnabout is fair play."
She gave him a daring stare. "And I say try it and die."
He gave her a hot once-over before he wagged his eyebrows at her. "I think you'd be worth a little death and dismemberment."
Sam had to force herself not to react to that deliberate baiting—at least not outwardly. Inwardly she was a lot more affected than she liked.
If only she could take him seriously—but Jason wasn't the type of guy to have a monogamous relationship. In fact, she hadn't even known him to date. He was the classic guy who didn't want anyone or anything to tie him down. And she wasn't the kind of woman who dated casually. Too many years watching her mother flit from man to man had left her jaded. She wanted more from a relationship than naked, sweaty sex.
Not that anything was particularly wrong with naked, sweaty sex, but unlike her mother, she wanted a guy who would be there for the long haul. One who wouldn't head for the door at the first sign of daylight or trouble.
"Those are famous last words, Agent Banks. Shall I pull out the knife and test the theory of whether you're willing to die or not?"
He shook his head at her. "You don't let any guy next to you, do you?"
"Sure I do. I keep my gun under my pillow and cuddle him every night."
"Wouldn't you rather cuddle something that could hold you back?"
Jason waited for a smart-ass comeback, but for once he didn't get one. He glanced to the left to see Sam staring out at the road as if she were lost in thought.
There was a sad air around her that let him know he'd gone too far again. Damn. Why was it he kept putting his foot in his mouth where she was concerned?
"I'm sorry, Sam," he said quickly. "I didn't mean to strike another nerve."
She gave him a sideways look. "I didn't think men could be so perceptive."
"Considering I live and die by subtle signs, I learned to read body language a long time ago." Jason reached over and squeezed her hand. "Thanks, by the way."
"For what?"
"Saving my ass. I'm really attached to it."
The timid smile she gave him made his groin jerk. "No problem." She pulled her hand out from under his and folded her arms across her chest, letting him know that she wanted some time to herself.
He could respect that.
They didn't speak much as they rode through the dark German streets until they reached the cottage. It looked like one of those places out of some Grimm Brothers story. It was so picture-perfect that it had to have evil buried deep within it.
He frowned as he parked the car out of sight of the road. "Is it just me, or is this, like, Stepford perfect?"
Sam gave him a droll stare. "I love this place. It's very peaceful."
He disagreed. "So was Motel Hell. Remember that movie? 'It takes all kinds of critters to make Farmer Vincent's fritters.'  They had people buried in the backyard like vegetables in a garden. You snatched the bag off the ground expecting to find a cabbage, and instead it was someone's head. And Norman, he appeared normal too, didn't he? Right up until the point he stabbed poor Janet in the shower."
She gave him a droll stare. "How can someone this suspicious have been on his way to get killed earlier?"
Jason paused before he answered. " 'Cause they lured me into thinking they were stupid bimbos. They used my own trick against me. See what happens when you trust people? You end up planted in their backyard with a bag over your head."
Sam decided to ignore his paranoia as she led the way to the door and knocked on it.
The door opened a few minutes later to show her a tall, willowy blond woman. In her mid-fifties, she was plain in the face, but her rosy cheeks made her pale blue eyes shine with warmth and friendship.
"Samantha!" she exclaimed in a heavy German accent as she pushed open the screen door. "It's been too long since last you came. Willkommen. Come in, come in. You brought a friend this time. Das ist gut,
"Some days it is," Sam said with a smile. "This is Jason. Jason, Renate Fiebig."
She held a hand out to him. "Good to meet you, Jason."
"You, too," Jason said as he shook her hand.
Renate stepped back to let them pass, then scanned the street behind them before she shut and locked the door.
Renate bent her head close to Sam's and whispered loudly. "Are we hiding again, meine schatzi?"
Sam nodded.
Renate's blue eyes literally glistened with excitement. "Das gut. I love the intrigue. Rupert, he tells me nothing. 'You don't need to know about it, 'Nate. Is for your own good that you know nothing.' But I want to know. Is thrilling, ja?"
"Rupert?" Jason asked.
"Retter," Sam explained. She'd learned the first time Retter had introduced her to his cousin that most of his family called him Rupert or, to his complete and utter horror, Ruppie. Neither of which were suited to the take-no-crap agent who could kill in cold blood without flinching.
Jason laughed. "Oh, jeez, don't tell me his real name is Rupert Retter? No wonder he never tells anyone his given name. And I thought Tee's name sucked..."
Renate stiffened as if his words greatly offended her. "That is not his name. It is Theobald Walter Rupert George Mark Retter Brahmar-Winsley. His maternal grandfather was Theobald, Walter is his father, George is our grandfather, and Mark was his uncle who died, therefore we call him Rupert so as to not confuse each other when we speak of him."
By his face, she could tell Jason was already confused.
"I'm impressed," he said with a light laugh, "and I want to know how he fits all that on his driver's license. Not to mention, how do you remember the correct order of all those names?"
Renate shrugged. "He could not remember it as a child, so we all learned it to help him until he learned the proper order."
Sam smacked him playfully on the stomach. "If you want to live through this, I would suggest you not tease Retter about it. He doesn't have much in the way of a sense of humor when it comes to his moniker."
"Who could blame him for that? But does Hunter know we have an agent with more names than he has? He's going to be dreadfully unhappy when he finds out. Next thing you know, he'll go add one just for spite."
Sam actually groaned at that. The sad thing was, he was probably right.
She looked back at the German woman. "We're sorry to impose, Renate. Do you have a vacancy where you can put us up for a couple of nights?"
"Of course, schatzi. But I only have the one room right now. The other is being repaired from a leak from the last storm that came through."
Jason inclined his head before she could protest. "That'll work. Thank you."
Renate nodded. "Have you need of food?"
Sam shook her head. "I'm fine. Jason?"
"I'm all right, but is there any chance you might have a change of clothes?"
"Ja. I always keep some things, just in case. You never know what can happen. Rupert came in two years ago completely naked." She frowned at the memory. "He never did tell me what happened. But with Rupert... one never knows."
That was certainly true enough.
"Do you need anything else?" she asked.
"Ammo," Sam added. "A couple of clips if you have them for my gun."
She nodded. Renate always tried to keep extra ammo for all the agents she knew. "Do you need some as well?"
"You got a forty-five mag clip?"
"Same as Rupert's?"
"Yes."
"Ja. Just a moment while I gather it."
Sam and Jason waited in the small, ornate living room, with hundreds of Hummel figurines tucked into every corner and shelf, while Renate left them alone. They could hear the wind whistling through the eaves of the house.
Sam kept her head cocked, listening for the sound of car engines, but so far everything was quiet. Peaceful. It appeared they had given the bad guys the slip.
"No one knows about this place," she told Jason. "We should be completely safe."
"Good. I could use a nice, non-drug-induced sleep," he teased her.
Sam grimaced at the reminder of what she'd done to him. "I knew I should have shot you for real."
It didn't take long for Renate to rejoin them. She led them up the stairs in the back to her loft, where she kept the two rooms she rented out. She opened the door on the left, revealing a small Hansel and Gretel-type room. Little German dolls in authentic clothing filled all the shelves.
Renate pulled down the window shades before they entered. "There are spare pillows in the chest, as well as more blankets."
She put three boxes of ammo down on a heavily carved cherry-wood dresser before she tucked the clothing in a top drawer. "The bathroom is downstairs," she told Jason. "Samantha can show you where. I shall turn in shortly, but the kitchen is well stocked. Please make yourselves at home."
"Thanks, Renate," Sam said, grateful for the woman's kindness. "As usual, I owe you."
"You can make it up to me tomorrow by telling me great stories of adventure. I shall make you blood sausage and potatoes for breakfast, and we will talk long, ja?"
"You got it."
Beaming at them, Renate left the room and closed the door.
Jason's gaze darted around the tiny area. "Not much space, is there?"
Sam glanced wistfully at the small bed. "Why don't we flip for it?"
"Ah, c'mon, Sam. We're both grown-ups. We can share. I won't grope you if you don't grope me."
A nervous jitter went through her, along with an unfounded wave of excitement. "I don't know. It's mighty tight quarters."
"Why are you hesitating? It's not like we haven't seen each other naked already."
She cringed at the reminder. Two could play his game. "Fine. You don't scare me."
And he didn't. It was the untoward hunger she felt for him that terrified her. Maybe there was more of her mother in her than she knew. For the first time in her life, the thought of a one-night stand didn't completely repulse her.
It would actually be kind of nice ...
Trying to distract herself from that thought, Sam headed for the ammo and reloaded her gun. The last thing she needed was to hook up with a man like Jason. He was the epitome of why she'd sworn off men.
"Why are you an agent, anyway?" she asked him.
He shrugged nonchalantly as he pulled out an extra pillow from the chest by the bed. "I live for danger, and I wanted to do something with my life other than just pull a paycheck, you know? What about you?"
"I fell in love with the TV movie Johnnie Mae Gibson: FBI when I was in high school. I was absolutely fascinated by the Bureau. My mother thought I was nuts, but the more I looked into it, the more I wanted to be an agent. I thought it was the best way to make the world a better place for people."
"Then why did you leave?"
She laughed wistfully at the memory of how many times she'd gotten into trouble for not following policy. "I got fed up with the protocols. Every time I turned around, they were writing me up. Sometimes it seemed like there was no justice for the victim. Like our laws were only designed to protect the guilty. So when Joe came to me and told me about BAD, I jumped at the chance to be able to use my training the way it was meant to be used."
He drew close to her as she spoke. "Heroes to the end."
She nodded as she looked up at the light playing across his sinfully handsome face. His lips were so inviting. His eyes dark and warming.
He lifted his hand up to cup her face.
Pull back...
But she couldn't. She was paralyzed by those green eyes that beckoned her toward him.
Her heart pounding, she knew he was going to kiss her.
Sure enough, he dipped his head down and parted her lips with his own.
Chapter 4
At first Sam tensed and started to pull back, but as she tasted the decadence that was Jason, her resistance faltered. It'd been way too long since she'd kissed any man. Way too long since she'd had sex. She'd almost forgotten what it felt like to have a man touch her.
And those lips of his ... they were both firm and soft. Demanding and scorching.
As much as she hated to admit it, he was a choice piece of cheese. She ran her hand over the T-shirt and felt the rippling of hard, developed muscles of a man in the prime of his life. At the height of his prowess.
Her body thrummed with unexpected need as his tongue swept against hers with masterful strokes that left her breathless and hungry for more.
Much more.
The man seriously knew how to give a kiss.
And it made her wonder if he was as competent in other areas as well...
Jason growled as he finally got to taste that saucy little mouth that lived to taunt him. The sweetness of her breath on his face, of her soft curves pressed up against his body ... It was enough to drive a man wild. His fantasies of her naked and in his bed played through his mind, driving his lust to a furious level.
He wanted this woman with a desperation that made no sense whatsoever.
His cock throbbed as he cupped her bottom in his hands and pressed her hips closer to his. But it wasn't enough to even begin to sate the hunger inside him.
He lifted her up and rested her on the dresser. Deepening his kiss, he used his hips to separate her thighs so that she had her legs wrapped around his waist. He ran his hands over her back as he slowly slid his hard erection against the center of her body, needing to feel closer to her.
He wanted inside her so badly that he could taste it, feel it. The need was born of desperate longing and one too many wet dreams of her underneath him.
Sam couldn't think straight as she felt Jason's erection through their clothes as he pressed it against the part of her that was craving him with an unreasoning madness.
This is insane ...
But she didn't listen to the voice in her head. All she could think of was Jason lying naked on the bed.
He'll never have a relationship with you.
And that was probably a good thing. She didn't have time for a boyfriend anyway. She didn't need the distraction of a significant other any more than Jason did. Two drastically different people, they would never be right for each other.
Still, her body craved him, and she didn't even understand why.
You don't have a condom.
That finally succeeded in calming her down. She pulled back from his lips and pushed him away. "We don't have protection, Jason."
His lips were swollen from her kisses, his green eyes smoldering as he looked at her like a starving man glimpsing the last steak on the planet. "Then let me taste you, Sam," he breathed raggedly. "I want to hear you scream out my name as I make you come for me."
Part of her was offended, and another part was thrilled. No man had ever been so selfless with her.
He returned to her lips. She had to admit he knew how to lick and tease. That mouth of his was golden.
Should she?
You'll be just like your mother...
No, she was still an entirely different person. Jason wasn't the out-of-work lampreys her mother dragged home. She wasn't expecting him to save her from anything or to move in. They were just two grown adults wanting a few hours of physical connection. No promises. No broken hearts.
Jason nipped the corner of her mouth as he struggled for control. Half afraid she'd turn him away, he reached for the hem of her dark brown turtleneck. He moved it up her body slowly, giving her time to stop him if she changed her mind.
To his relief, she didn't. He pulled the shirt off, leaving her bare except for the tan bra.
She whisked his T-shirt over his head, then drew him back to her so that she could tease his neck with her tongue while her hands explored his back. Jason smiled at her as he reached around her back to unhook her bra. He ground his teeth in pleasure as her breasts sprang free into his waiting palm. It felt so good just to touch her. He ran his palm gently over the creamy mounds, delighting in the way her nipples hardened against his callused fingers.
He dipped his head down so that he could draw that puckered tip into his mouth.
Sam moaned as pleasure tore through her. Her stomach jerked with every lush stroke of Jason's tongue on her nipple. His touch made her so wet, so hot for a man who shouldn't even be on her menu.
Yet here she was, virtually naked with him, and she wasn't even sure why.
He left her breast, then picked her up from the dresser to carry her to the bed. He laid her back against the lumpy mattress and stared down at her with an unwarranted tenderness as he removed her holster and weapon. He dropped it on the nightstand.
"I hope this thing doesn't squeak," he said teasingly as he bounced against the mattress to test it.
"That makes two of us." She scooted up on the bed as he reached for her shoes.
Sam watched as he slowly removed her shoes and socks, then massaged her feet. His touch was strong and sure, yet gentle and soothing. She trembled as he reached for her fly. His eyes were locked on hers as he slowly undid the button, then slid the zipper down.
The expectation of his touching her was excruciating.
He dipped his head down to lightly lave her navel before he lifted her hips and slid her jeans and panties off in one fall swoop.
Absolutely on fire, she licked her lips before she grabbed him and pulled him close for a hot kiss.
Jason was thrilled by her eagerness as he slowly explored her mouth. She had the sweetest little tongue he'd ever known. As they kissed, she wrapped her body completely around his, and he had to admit there was nothing better than the sensation of her small breasts pressed up against his chest. His swollen cock burning, he reached between their bodies to trail his hand down her stomach to the short, crisp hairs.
He moved his hand lower, wanting to touch the part of her that was still alien to him. The part of her that he craved most to touch and stroke.
He separated the tender folds so that he could feel just how wet she already was. He smiled in satisfaction as he ran his hand over her, letting her wetness coat his fingers before he slid one deep inside her.
Sam shivered at the sensation of his long, rough finger stroking her, and when he slid in two, she gave a cry of satisfied pleasure.
"That's it, baby," he said against her cheek as she moved her hips against those wonderfully pleasing fingers. "Show me what you like."
Arching her back, she cupped his head to her as he trailed a path of scorching kisses over her. It was so strange to be so open with him, so bare.
She didn't really understand why she was doing this, and yet she felt no shame or regret.
She wanted him to touch her like this.
Jason paused to thoroughly explore her breasts. He rubbed his cheek against the right one, savoring the softness of her flesh on his roughened skin. Her fingers lightly stroked his scalp before she scraped her long, manicured nails over the skin of his back, raising chills the whole way.
Her skin tasted like heaven, but it still didn't sate him. He wanted something more from her than this ...
He moved farther down her body, over her stomach, to her silky thighs. Jason couldn't remember the last time he'd been with a woman like her. One who wasn't on the make or out to land a guy with a steady paycheck.
Like him, Sam was addicted to her job. She understood the necessity for what they did. The necessity that they stay unfettered.
Even so, she wasn't a cheap lay he'd picked up in a bar. She was a decent woman. The kind of woman he could leave alone with a friend and not have to worry about finding them in bed together when he returned.
She was the kind of woman a guy took home to meet his family. The kind of woman a guy proposed to ...
Sam bit her lip as Jason spread her thighs. He paused to look at her as he gently blew a hot breath over her cleft. She shivered in pleasure.
Smiling at her, he dipped his head and took her into his mouth. She threw her head back as exquisite pleasure tore through her. The sensation of his tongue on her body ... It was unbelievable.
It'd been so long since she last slept with a man that she had all but forgotten what this felt like.
His tongue swirled and teased her as he sank his fingers back inside her body.
Sam was breathless as she buried her hand in his hair and held him to her. It was as if he were living just for the ability to taste her. As if he enjoyed giving her this pleasure even more than she enjoyed receiving it.
She lost all track of time and reason as she felt wave after wave of ecstasy course through her, and when she came, she did cry out his name.
Jason smiled wickedly as he felt her climax. But it wasn't enough for him. He refused to leave her until he had wrung every last shiver from her body.
"Please!" she gasped as he continued to tease her. "I can't take it anymore."
Jason laughed as he wiped his face against her silken thigh, then gently nipped the tender skin with his teeth. Still he kept one finger inside her, wishing it was his cock buried there instead.
He brushed his fingers over her as he kissed her hip, her stomach. Stretching out beside her, he gathered her into his arms to hold her close.
Sam lay quietly as her body slowly drifted back from heaven. She drew a ragged breath as she felt completely cocooned by his strength and tenderness.
"That was incredible," she breathed as she snuggled against him. It couldn't have been more intimate had he been inside her.
She frowned as she realized just how much pain he must be in. He'd given her release, but there had been none for him. None.
Jason lay there quietly as his body burned. He hissed when he felt Sam's hand cupping him through his sweatpants. The sensation of her hand against him set fire to his very soul. He'd dreamed about having her for so long . . . he'd never thought the reality would be this hot.
Pulling back, he looked down to find her staring up at him.
"I think turnabout is fair play, don't you?"
At first he didn't trust his hearing. Could she really be serious?
But as she slowly slid the sweatpants down his legs, he realized that she was.
Jason was speechless as she bared him to her hot, hungry gaze. In all honesty, he hadn't expected this. He'd hoped, but he hadn't really allowed himself to think that she would ...
He growled as she nipped his thigh with her teeth.
"Tell me what you like, Jason," she drawled as she wrapped her hand around his cock and gently ran her fingertip over the tip of him.
"Slow and easy," he said, amazed that she'd asked. He'd never thought a woman like her would be like this in bed.
It was incredible.
He watched her with half-hooded eyes as she cupped his sac carefully in her hand before she lowered her head to him.
He ground his teeth in pure bliss the instant her tongue swept against his cock. She circled him slowly, carefully, before she took him all the way into her mouth. Jason shook at the sensation of her caressing him.
Good girls weren't supposed to know how to do this ...
But he was damned glad that she did.
Sam closed her eyes and savored the scent and taste of Jason. She could feel his body jerk with every flick of her tongue, and she enjoyed the sensation of it. She felt powerful and uninhibited. In the past, she'd always been slightly embarrassed with such intimacy, but there was none of that now, and she didn't understand why.
She wanted to please him in a way she'd never wanted to please any guy.
She looked up to see him watching her with an open smile that warmed her even more than his touch. He cupped her cheek in his palm and stroked it with his fingers.
It was such a tender gesture that it tore through her. He was surprisingly gentle and tender. She'd never suspected that Mr. Cocky could be so giving.
She felt his body tense an instant before he came.
Jason swore he saw stars as his orgasm claimed him. To his delight, she didn't pull away. She continued to stroke and caress him until he was completely weak and spent.
This was without a doubt the sweetest moment of his life. He opened his eyes to find her crawling up his naked body to lay herself down over him.
And for the first time, he wondered what it would be like to have a steady girlfriend. What it would be like to come home every day and experience something like this.
Someone like her.
"Thanks, Sam," he whispered. "I really needed that."
She nipped his chin with her teeth. "My pleasure." She brushed her hand over a vicious scar only a few millimeters away from his heart. "Oh, this looks like it must have really hurt."
"Yeah, when I was younger, I was in this really—"
"It's me, Jason," she said, interrupting him. "I know you got it two years ago when you and Kyle were in the Middle East, and you got impaled by a piece of shrapnel that barely missed your heart."
He lay there for several seconds, unable to speak. God, he'd told that lie about being in a car wreck so much that even he had started to believe it. For years now, he'd been living undercover. Hiding who and what he was from everyone. Even something as simple as a scar had to be explained with lies.
But with Sam, he didn't have to lie. That felt even better than the sex had—well, not really, but it was a damn good second.
For the first time in years, he was with a woman he could be honest with. One who knew him. One who understood the world he lived in. She wouldn't think twice about seeing his weapon on the counter. His need to keep it close by at all times wouldn't even cause her to blink. She'd told him that she slept with her gun too.
She was just like him in so many ways.
Not even his family knew what his real job was, or even where he lived. They sent stuff to him in Nashville and called him on a 615 area code, never knowing it was all being forwarded to another country. Likewise, he'd have to send stuff to the BAD offices to have their director forward it on to his sister and mother.
But this . . . this was wonderful, and it brought a wave of relief to him. It'd been too long since he'd just been himself with someone. He liked not having the stress of guarding every word out of his mouth. Of being able to go to sleep without the fear that she might slide a knife through his ribs. He hadn't spent a night with a woman since the minute he'd become an agent for that very reason.
A lax undercover agent was a dead one. He'd taken those words to heart a long time ago.
Sam was different. He was just another man to her, doing the same job and taking the same risks that she herself faced.
He cradled Sam with his body and held her close, savoring her soft curves pressed against the length of him. He buried his face against her hair and inhaled the sweet fragrance that was uniquely Sam.
"I don't usually do this," she whispered.
He smiled at her hesitant words. "I know, and that's why it means so much to me."
She tucked her head beneath his chin while he kept his hand buried in her hair, playing with it. It was so strange. Something inside him seemed to shatter. He felt for her in a way he'd never felt for another woman. It was so sudden. He didn't even know how to explain it.
It was a warm tenderness that seemed to seep into every molecule of his body. It wasn't the kind of emotion, he'd ever felt before. It was more like a girly emotion, and yet he had to admit that it made his heart sing, and it made him want to hold on to her for a long time to come.
Closing his eyes, he held her close and savored the feel of her breath on his skin.
"Do you ever date, Sam?"
She stiffened as if the question offended her. "Like that's any of your business. My personal life is just that... personal." She pulled back to look at him.
Smiling at her prickliness, he tapped her playfully on the end of her nose. "You know, I think I'd like to take you out when we get back. If you don't mind."
She scoffed. "Yeah, right. Me and you, couple of the year ... puh-lease."
He rolled his eyes at her. "C'mon, Sam, don't blow me off. At least think about it. One date. That's it. It won't kill you, will it?"
Sam cocked her head as she studied the sincerity in his green eyes. There was something odd in his gaze, and she wasn't sure what it was.
It'd been a long time since she'd lain in bed naked with a guy. In truth, she missed having moments like this. She missed having someone to care about. Someone who cared about her.
It was against her code to date someone in the office. And since those were the only guys she was ever around, that had seriously curtailed her social life.
"C'mon," he said, wrinkling his nose into an adorable expression. "One movie. If I piss you off, you can shoot me afterward."
She smiled in spite of herself. "Okay," she said. "One movie, and I will shoot you if you piss me off. For real."
His eyes warmed her. He'd started to pull her lips to his when they both heard a car door slam outside.
They both went ramrod stiff.
Sam pulled back from him, then followed him to the window so that they could look out to the driveway below. There was a black Mercedes parked there, not unlike the one they had trapped in the tunnel.
There was total silence in the darkness that was only illuminated by the full moon overhead.
Through the large, overgrown trees, they watched the black car carefully, waiting for the doors to open. When they did, four men dressed in black, looking mean, were getting out and heading very purposefully toward the front porch.
By the way those guys surveyed the yard and surroundings, it was obvious they were professionals, not tourists looking for a place to stay.
Completely naked, Jason pulled back from the window. "I think we better get dressed. Fast."
Sam was already reaching for her clothes. She tossed Jason the black pants, which he caught in one fist.
She fastened her pants and strapped her holster to her waist, then glanced back out the window to see the men coming closer.
All of a sudden, she saw the glint of moonlight on a weapon as one of the men drew it out from under his coat.
"We need to warn Renate," Sam said. She'd barely taken a step forward when the door to their room swung open to show her the older German lady.
Gone was the friendly, sweet face that Sam knew so well, and in its place was an expression of grim determination. It was the game face of a seasoned agent who knew what was going on. More than that, Renate's blond hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and she was armed to the teeth.
Good grief, the woman looked like Rambo! Complete with ammo belts and a long black coat.
"Get dressed, meine liebs." She tossed a wad of black clothes in their direction. "It appears playtime is over, and now is time to riddle them with holes."
Jason pulled a black turtleneck over his head fast as he saw Renate move to the window with a grenade in hand.
"Careful," he warned her. "They might shoot you through the window."
"Bah," Renate scoffed as she slid the sash up just a bit. "That would be possible if not for the bullet-proofing of my glass. Only a missile or rocket could penetrate this window."
He cast a knowing look at Sam. "See, I told you this place was too picture-perfect, huh? Believe me now?"
Before she could respond, Renate tossed the grenade and slammed the window shut. A few heartbeats later, it exploded, flashing light and resounding thunder through the room.
Renate urged them into her closet, where she showed them a trapdoor that opened onto a narrow ladder that led straight down into total darkness. She started down first to lead the way.
Sam went next, followed by Jason.
"Afraid of nuclear invasion?" Jason asked Renate as they descended in the pitch blackness.
"Nein, the nuclear shelter is out back with a full stock of supplies. This is just the escape tunnel so we can get away from them. But have no fear. They will not find the tunnels. Come. Follow. I will lead you out of here to safety in town."
"The shelter is out back," he repeated sarcastically to Sam over his shoulder. "Along with Mother, no doubt. Want to shower at Bates Motel now?"
Sam bit back her laughter lest she offend Renate. "Shut up, Jason, and be grateful we have her."
"Believe me, I am," he said sincerely. "But could someone please tell me how these assholes found us?"
Sam had wondered about that too. "That's a really good question."
"Bugs," Renate said as they reached the bottom rung. The older woman stood back as they joined her in the subterranean dampness.
It was obvious they were underneath the house now, in a narrow tunnel that appeared to lead in only one direction, north. Renate moved to a wall on their right and flipped a switch. The ladder drew back up and sealed itself shut, pinning them in total nothingness.
It was almost scary. They could hear Renate, but they couldn't see her.
Instinctively, Sam reached for Jason's hand, needing something solid to ground herself with.
"We're not bugged," Sam said quietly. "I made sure of it."
It sounded like Renate was opening a box of some sort. "Then your car is."
Two seconds later, something snapped, then their tunnel was illuminated by eerie green light as Renate shook her glow stick.
Jason ground his teeth as he looked at Sam. "I knew we should have ditched it."
"Well, what is done is done," Renate said charitably. "Come, Kinder. I will see you out of here."
"Yeah, but where will that leave you?" Jason asked.
She smiled wickedly. "Trust me. They will not harm me, and if they do ... I will show them what it is I did before I retired."
Sam exchanged a curious look with Jason before she asked, "And what exactly was that?"
Renate had that look on her face of a trained agent reciting her latest spiel on who and what she was. It was the overly practiced vacant and "honest" look only another agent would be able to pick up on. "This and that. Now, follow."
Jason cast a cocky smile at Sam. "I think Renate has a past."
Renate harrumphed, but didn't speak as they went farther into the dingy, damp tunnel. Single-file, they moved silently and quickly through the winding passageway, which was wide enough for two of them to walk side by side.
Sam hesitated as she heard something faint behind them ...
Two seconds later, Renate froze, then tossed the glow stick back the way they had come.
There was no mistaking the sound of people moving out of the way. Renate threw back the side of her coat to reveal an XM8 lightweight assault rifle. "How did they find us?" she asked.
"Yeah," Sam breathed as Renate seized the weapon like a pro and readied it. "She definitely has a past."
"Run, Kinder." Renate said, indicating the passageway ahead of them. "You get to safety. I shall take care of these pigs. Follow the tunnel, and I will join you shortly."
Jason hesitated. "I don't know ..."
Sam grabbed his arm and pulled at him. "My mission is to get you back to Nashville, Jason. Your cover is blown, but you still have a lot of inside information about Ariston and his friends that we need."
Renate opened fire. The sound of the spray of bullets was deafening.
"Go!" Renate snapped. "Schnell!"
Jason didn't argue further. He personally didn't care what happened to him, but he didn't want Sam to be hurt. Taking Sam's hand, he ran with her for what seemed like miles into the darkness.
The sound of gunfire and German curses echoed around them. It sounded like a war zone behind them as Renate whooped and goaded as if she were enjoying every minute of it.
"Come to Mama, you swine-dogs!" Renate shouted in German before she shot again.
Reminding himself not to make that woman mad in the future, Jason kept his grip on Sam.
They continued to run blindly ahead.
After a few minutes, and two loud, echoing screams, everything turned quiet.
The silence was even more deafening than the noise had been, and it made Jason's ears ring.
It wasn't until he could hear their breaths echoing in front of them that he realized they were drawing near the end of the tunnel. Slowing down, he held his hand out in front of them until he felt the end.
He let go of Sam to search the wall with both hands.
Damn. Where was the ladder out of this place?
In the darkness behind him, he could hear someone running after them.
Both he and Sam angled their weapons on the sound.
"Don't shoot!"
They relaxed as they recognized Renate's voice.
"Are you alone?" Jason asked.
"Ja." Renate drew up beside them.
Jason could hear her moving, but he couldn't see her. After a few heartbeats, he heard the sound of a motor whirring.
"Step back," Renate warned as a trapdoor opened above them and a steel ladder extended from the top down to where they waited.
With the exception of Sam lying naked at his feet as she tasted him earlier, that had to be the best damned sight Jason had ever seen.
Jason let the women climb up first before he joined them. They were in the woods just outside a small German town. Renate moved to a switch that was hidden in an ancient tree, then pressed it to cover their tracks.
She cast a harsh look at them. "You are the extractor in this,  ja?" she asked Sam.
Sam nodded.
Renate's gaze hardened. "Then they must have been suspicious and bugged him."
Jason snorted at the mere idea.
"It's not possible," Sam said. Her defense warmed him. At least she knew better than to think for one minute that he'd be so stupid as to get bugged. "They must have found the tunnel from the house."
"Nein. Believe me, I know what it is I do. They must have bugged him sometime earlier. Whatever device he has transmitted out tunnel location to him. It is the only way they could follow."
Sam shook her head. "I destroyed all of his clothes. Nothing, and I mean nothing, was left on him."
That didn't daunt the German lady in the least. "Then it must be subdermal."
Jason scoffed. "Yeah, right. No one's injected anything into this body—" He froze an instant before he cursed.
"What?" Sam asked.
"That fucking flu shot."
She was completely baffled by his anger. "What flu shot?"
"The one Ariston demanded I have if I were to meet with him months ago. He requires it of every associate. He gives you the name of his doctor, you go in, get the shot, and once the doctor calls him, he sets up a meeting. That lousy bastard."
Renate gave him an I-told-you-so look. "It is always so. Never let anyone inject you."
"It was supposed to be a flu shot," Jason snapped.
Sam shook her head. It had been a good ruse. She wasn't even sure if she wouldn't have fallen for it. "So what do we do now? Obviously, they're going to be after us." She looked at Renate. "You wouldn't happen to know of someplace that has the equipment we need to dig it out?"
"And a doctor to do it," Jason said defensively. "I don't want just anyone poking around my body for a subdermal transmitter."
"Have no fear," Renate said. She led them from the woods toward a small cottage in the town. A sign outside proclaimed it a veterinary clinic.
There were no lights on, but a small dark blue car was parked in the driveway beside it.
Renate led them onto a small porch behind the house.
"What are we doing here?" Sam asked in a low tone as Renate let herself in by way of the backdoor.
"We're helping Jason," she whispered as she pulled them into the clinic, then closed the door.
"By breaking and entering?" Jason asked.
She waved his words away. "Geller and I go way back. Trust me, he won't think anything of our being in here."
Jason exchanged a puzzled look with Sam as Renate went to a cabinet and pulled out an RFID reader pen. RFIDs, microchips implanted under the skin, were currently used to tag pets so that they could be returned to their owners should they run away from home.
"I'm not a lost dog, Renate."
"Nein, you are a man with a subdermal tracer bug. Trust me. I know all about these things." She ran the pen over him.
Jason cursed again as he saw the pen blink green when she passed it over his right butt cheek. "Yep, that's where the bastard injected me."
"Ja," Renate said. "They have you tagged, schatz."
Sam felt for him as Renate went to the office phone and called the good doctor who owned the clinic, asking him to come and extract it.
Sam almost felt sorry for poor Jason. She couldn't imagine having something like that injected into her body and not knowing it.
"I'm not letting a vet cut into my butt," Jason said as soon as Renate hung up.
"Either him or me," Renate said in a tough tone that brooked no argument. "I figure Geller is less likely to leave a scar on that beautiful gluteus maximus. But if you'd rather I handle it ..." She picked up a scalpel from a tray on the counter.
Jason visibly cringed. "It's all right. I'll wait for the doctor and the local."
Sam laughed as she heard the doctor climbing down the stairs outside the clinic.
A few seconds later, the clinic door opened. Since Renate didn't spear the newcomer to the wall, Sam took that to mean he was the doctor she'd called.
Geller turned on the lights and frowned at the three of them standing in his clinic, dressed like armed burglars. If he thought it particularly odd that two strangers had broken into his office and home in the middle of the night along with a woman armed to her teeth and carrying an assault rifle, he kept it to himself.
He was dressed in a wrinkled sweatshirt and jeans that looked like he must have had them wadded up by his bed. His short white hair was tousled as if he'd been sleeping. Yawning, he pushed his thick glasses back up on his patrician nose and moved stiffly toward them.
"Is he the patient?" he asked Renate, indicating Jason.
"Ja."
Sam looked at Jason, whose face told her that this moment was just as surreal to him as it was to her.
Renate crossed the room and handed the reader to the doctor. "Sam and I shall wait outside in case more of our friends should come by while you extract it from him."
"Danke."
Jason passed an almost fearful look at Sam, who felt guilty for leaving him there.
"It'll be okay," she assured him. "Can I get you anything?"
"Ice cream ... I'm going to want to sit in at least a gallon of it when this is over."
She forced herself not to laugh at his request. "I'll see what I can do."
Renate led her to the small porch out front. Exhausted by all that had happened in such a short period of time, Sam looked up at the bright full moon. How could the weather and town be so peaceful after such an eventful night?
She'd shot Jason, handcuffed him naked to a bed. Photographed him. Had mind-blowing sex without actual intercourse, and twice narrowly escaped gun-wielding loons.
Yeah, just another day in the life ...
"What time is it?" she asked Renate.
"Almost four A.M."
Sam sighed. "Man, it's been a long night."
"Ja," Renate agreed. "I remember nights like this when I was your age, and I worked for the Stasi. Everything seemed so important. Every mission vital for the well-being of others and for my country. I lived my life solely for my work, but after time my body slowed down against my will. My eyesight wasn't so good ... I couldn't shoot quite so far. My reflexes slowed year by year, and then finally the Wall came down, and there was no need for us anymore. It's why I retired." She sighed wearily. "But you know, I learned something too late."
"And that is?"
"That the world had gotten along long before I had come into it, and it will continue on long after I am dead." Renate's blue eyes pierced her with sincerity. "Take my word for this, Schatzi. Retirement is miserable when you spend it alone. All the years I spent trying to protect the futures of others, I forgot to plan for my own."
Renate sighed heavily. "If I could have one wish, it would be to have had a child of my own. But what is done is done. It is too late for me to go back and change the decisions I so foolishly made, thinking my work was more important than my life." She glanced back toward the door to the clinic where they had left the men. "You have a nice-looking man there, schatzi. Do you love him?"
Sam hesitated. Did she? "I don't know. I'm just getting to know him, really."
"Well, take it from one old retired agent to another. The years, they pass by way too fast. Take a few minutes and get to know your man a little better. Don't send him off because work is more important than living. Trust me, they are both equally vital to the heart. Maybe what the two of you have will work, maybe it won't. But at least you'll have something to look back on and say 'I at least tried,' ja?"
Sam nodded. She'd never really thought about it that way before. Always focused on the job and her missions, she really hadn't given any thought to what would happen the day she left the agency.
It was a sobering thought.
"I hear you, Renate."
The door opened to show Geller leaving the clinic to join them on the narrow porch. He spoke to Renate in a thick German dialect that Sam couldn't quite translate. It sounded like he was saying the bug was state-of-the-art.
"What is all that?" she asked Renate.
"He says the bug is a work of art. Pure genius. It has a small digital broadcaster that he burned out after he removed it. So you will be safe now. No more unexpected visitors. But Geller would like to keep the bug and dissect it, if that's all right with you and Jason. He has friends in Europol who will be very interested in this latest technology."
"Sure. Any chance we could get a copy of that report?"
Renate nodded. "I always make sure that Rupert knows about such things."
No wonder Retter stayed on top of so much.
Glancing at her, Geller said something in German that made Renate burst out laughing.
Sam didn't understand it. "Friihspritzer?" she asked Renate, wondering what that one word meant. She'd never heard it before. "What is he saying?"
Renate sobered before she answered. "Whoever designed the bug, they had it labeled. It appears they must have many of them that they are using, and so it was coded with an individual signal to help identify it. It had one word that it kept transmitting ... Fruhspritzer."
"And that is?"
Renate laughed again before she explained. "It means premature ejaculator."
Horrified and yet strangely amused, Sam laughed. She looked at Geller. "Did you happen to tell this to Jason?" she asked in English.
The doctor shook his head. "There are some things a man doesn't need to hear about himself."
No doubt. That would most likely disturb poor Jason, and he had been through enough for one night.
"Do you need a ride back to your house?" Geller asked Renate.
"Nein, but if you will loan me your auto, I shall take the two of them back to Berlin."
The doctor looked skeptically at her. "Do you feel up to the drive? You look tired. Not that you look bad, you never look bad, but I can tell you haven't slept much."
Renate actually blushed. "Ja, I am tired."
"Then I shall be honored to drive you," Geller offered. "After all, I wouldn't want you to fall asleep driving."
Sam pressed her lips to keep from smiling at the look that passed between them. Maybe Renate wouldn't be alone for very much longer.
"I'll go get Jason." She took a step, then paused. "Danke, Geller. I really appreciate your help."
"My pleasure."
Sam left them to return to the clinic, where she found Jason looking less than pleased. But even so, she was struck by the image of him there. He was all man, and yet there was something incredibly endearing about him as he stood with the right side of his pants pulled down, holding an ice pack to his bared cheek.
He gave her a sullen look as she neared him. "I swear I'm going to find the doctor who did this and kill him."
She really felt for him. "You can't do that, Jason."
"Bet me money."
Sam smiled as she closed the distance between them. She reached out and touched the hand that held the ice pack. "Ahh, poor baby. Want someone to kiss it and make it better?"
Jason arched a brow at her offer and at the heat that seeped through him at the mere thought of it. "Yes."
To his amazement, she actually bent over, pulled his hand and the pack away, and placed her lips to the swollen area. He had to admit the feeling of her lips on his skin went a long way in soothing the ache there, though it caused a whole new one somewhere else.
She smoothed the single stitch with her finger as she looked up at him. "Should I inspect your entire body, just in case there might be more hidden bugs?"
He grinned at her teasing tone. "Geller already double-checked, but if you feel the need to do some independent hands-on inspection later, that could be arranged."
Sam walked into his arms. "Promise?"
"Hell, yeah," he breathed before he lowered his lips to hers, kissed her, and dropped the ice pack as he pulled her closer for some serious necking.
He was really getting into it when he heard someone clear their throat.
"Should we come back later?" Renate asked.
He broke away from Sam's lips to find Geller and Renate standing in the doorway. He cast a wistful look at Sam. What he wanted to say was yes, but that wasn't the correct answer, and he knew it. "Nope. We're good."
He felt Sam pull up the right side of his pants in a gesture that was sweet and endearing. It was something a girlfriend might do to look after her boyfriend.
The thought made his heart beat faster with a hope the likes of which he hadn't felt in a really long time.
He draped his arm over Sam's shoulders as they headed for the doctor. "So what's the game plan?" he asked Sam.
"Renate and Geller are taking us back to Berlin. I vote we find us a nice, quiet hotel somewhere on the outskirts and spend the rest of the day in bed."
Jason laughed. "I like the sound of that."
"Sleeping, Jason," Sam said hurriedly as her cheeks pinkened. "Unlike you, I need to rest."
"Good," he whispered in her ear so that the other two couldn't hear him. "I want you to rest. You're going to need all your stamina later."
Sam sighed at his incorrigibility. But in truth, she was starting to find even that charming.
Renate led them out of the clinic, toward Geller's car, while the doctor locked up. Sam got into the back seat first, then slid over to make room for Jason.
As soon as he was in, he pulled her head to rest in his lap.
Sam smiled at his consideration as she felt his hand toying with her hair. "How's your butt doing?" she asked.
He groaned at her question. "Let's just say I'm not looking forward to this trip."
Sam yawned as Geller got in and started the engine. Truthfully, she was exhausted. By the time they pulled out of the driveway, she was sound asleep.
Jason smiled to himself as he listened to Geller and Renate make chitchat in the front seat while Sam slept in his lap. How had he ever thought that she wasn't the most beautiful woman in the world?
Looking at her now, he couldn't imagine why he hadn't asked her out long before this.
He lightly stroked her cheek, marveling at the incredible softness of it. He'd known Sam for years, but until tonight he'd had no idea of how much strength and courage she possessed.
Glancing up, he caught Renate staring at him.
"She is beautiful,./*?"
"Like Aphrodite."
Renate smiled approvingly. "You should probably get some rest too. I am sure this night has been just as long for you."
Jason couldn't agree more. Leaning his head back, he closed his eyes and let images of Sam play through his mind. He fell asleep with the sound of her musical laughter teasing him.
Jason jerked awake at the sensation of someone gently shaking his shoulder. Blinking open his eyes, he found Renate, sans her ammo and weapon, standing at the open car door.
"Forgive me, Jason," she said in a low tone. "We are at the hotel in Berlin."
He rubbed his eyes and yawned as he tried to clear his head. Dawn was already breaking over the city. "We don't have passports for check-in."
"Don't worry. The owner and I go way back. I have explained things to him, and he will make sure that no one knows who or where you are."
He was truly grateful to her. "Thanks, Renate."
"No problem."
He didn't want to wake Sam, but the minute he tried to pick her up, she bolted upright.
"It's okay," he said quickly. "We re at the hotel."
Nodding, she yawned and followed them inside. Without a word, they crossed the lobby and got into the elevator.
Renate led the way to their room and opened the door for them. Once they were inside, she handed him the key to the room while Sam headed straight for the bed.
"I can't thank you enough for all you've done for us," Jason said.
"It's all right, schatz. Friends of Rupert's are family to me. You go on now and sleep."
He didn't need to be told that twice. After showing her out and bolting the door, he headed for bed himself.
Jason pulled his weapon out from its hidden holster at his back and tucked it under his pillow. A slow smile spread across his face as he realized Sam had done the same.
Completely exhausted, he joined her on the bed and pulled her into his arms. She felt so good there ... too good.
Snuggling close, he closed his eyes and returned to sleep.
Sam came awake with a start as she felt something heavy draped over her. She was so used to sleeping alone, it took her a full ten seconds to realize that it was Jason's arm.
And as she lay there, trying to remember where they were, she realized that he did, in fact, snore.
She laughed in spite of herself.
Still, he slept.
Smiling, she stretched in the bed until her hand made contact with something solid under her pillow. She pulled it out to find Jason's gun there.
Tickled by him, she left the bed quietly and sneaked off to shower and take care of a few very necessary things.
Chapter 5
Jason woke up to the sensation of someone gently stroking his hard cock underneath the blanket. Soft, gentle fingers brushed down the length of him, toying with the tip. He thought he was still dreaming until he opened his eyes to find Sam stretched out beside him.
"You snore," she said accusingly.
"No, I don't."
"Yes, you do. Like a buzz saw."
In spite of her dire tone, he smiled. "Do I really?"
"Yes."
"Then I guess you're just going to have to shoot me, huh?"
"Guess so," she said as she cupped him under the covers. Her warm hand felt like heaven as her fingers massaged his sac, making him even harder. "But what a shame to see something so fine terminated, huh?"
He closed his eyes as she continued stroking him. He'd never had a woman wake him up like this before. A man could definitely get used to it.
Sam nipped his hip with her teeth before she pulled away. Jason whimpered at her action. "Don't leave."
"I'll be right back."
Disappointment filled him—at least, until she returned to the room wearing absolutely nothing but a smile.
She rejoined him on the bed and rolled him flat on his back. Jason frowned until he saw her lift the small foil package up to her lips.
"Where'd you get that?"
"I went shopping this morning. There's a drugstore just around the corner."
He grinned at her. "A woman after my own heart."
Jason cupped her breast in his hand as she unrolled the condom down the length of his cock. Not even the cold lubricant could dampen the heat he felt at her touch.
Sam nipped the salty flesh of Jason's knee. She'd been dreaming about this all morning. For the first time, she understood her mother's obsession with the male species. They did have their moments of worthiness. Jason was not only the hottest things on two legs, but he'd been extremely considerate to her. Even thoughtful.
Most of all, though, she liked the feeling of waking up in his arms. And all she wanted was to feel Jason deep inside her.
Unable to stand it anymore, she climbed up his body to straddle him. A shiver swept through her at the sensation of his hard muscled body nestled between her spread thighs.
"Hi, beautiful," he said as he guided her hips back with his hands so that he could impale her.
She hissed as he filled her to capacity. Surely there was nothing better than his thick fullness deep inside her body.
Jason raised his hips to drive himself in even deeper as she rode him. He cupped her breast in his hands as he watched her taking her pleasure from his body.
He loved the feeling of her body wrapped around his, of her milking him ever so sweetly. Unable to stand her slow rhythm, he rolled with her until he had her pinned below him. He captured her lips as he sank himself back inside her warm heat.
Sam groaned at the taste of Jason as his tongue matched the thrusts of his hips against hen.
There was nothing slow or easy about the way they made love now. It was fast and frenzied as they each sought their own piece of heaven.
For some reason she didn't understand, Jason pulled out of her.
"I want to go deep inside you, Sam," he said raggedly in her ear. He propped the pillows up and draped her facedown over them.
Sam spread her legs wide, waiting impatiently for him to return to her.
Jason sucked his breath in at the sight of her spread out for him. Grinding his teeth, he separated the folds of her body until he could see the most private part of her. She shivered as he gently fingered her.
Growling deep in his throat, he ran his tongue along the edge so that he could taste her before he rose up and entered her body again.
They cried out in unison.
Sam reached out and clutched the headboard as Jason returned to thrusting against her. Each stroke seemed to go even deeper than the last. And when he moved his hand to stroke her while he thrust, she moaned so deeply that it left her hoarse.
The pleasure of him behind and inside her was more than she could stand. Her body burst apart into ribbons of ecstasy.
Jason smiled as he felt her come for him. He moved faster until as his own climax built, and when he exploded, he could swear he saw stars.
Sated to an unbelievable level, he kissed her gently on the shoulder before he collapsed by her side.
Sam snuggled up so that she could rest her head against his chest. "That was nice."
"Nice?" he asked with a laugh. "I personally don't think it gets much better."
Honestly, neither did she.
But before she could pursue that, the phone started ringing. She frowned at Jason.
"You expecting anyone?" he asked.
"Maybe it's the hotel staff." She reached for the phone and answered it.
"What the hell happened last night?"
Her scowl deepened at Retter's angry tone. "What are you talking about?"
"What am I talking about? Renate called me a few minutes ago to say that you two were no longer staying with her and that she laid waste to four men early this morning who had entered her home with murder on their minds."
Sam detected a note of amusement under his anger. No doubt Renate had told him exactly how much she'd enjoyed their little midnight adventure. "Oh, yeah, you missed the fireworks. But we're all okay, including Renate. She's something else, by the way."
"You have no idea. Are the two of you still breathing?"
"Since I'm talking, I would have to say yes. Hard to talk without it."
"Good. I have a chartered car headed your way with all the paperwork you two need to jump the country. I want you both on a plane out of here within the hour. You got it?"
"Aye, aye, Captain."
He hung up.
"What was all that?" Jason asked as she set her phone back on the hook.
"We're heading home."
His frown matched her earlier one. "When?"
"Now. Retter has a car on the way."
She saw the deep reluctance in his green eyes. "What about Ariston?"
"I'm going to assume that Retter has it covered. Besides, that's not my mission. Getting you home is."
Jason looked like he wanted to argue.
Sam brushed the hair back from his face. "I know it sucks to have to leave an assignment unfinished, But there's nothing we can do. Sometimes it just happens."
"Yeah, but it's never happened to me before."
She kissed his forehead. "C'mon, baby. We need to shower and get dressed."
Jason nodded, but as he got out of bed and he felt the tug of the stitch on his ass, a thought occurred to him.
"Holy shit," he breathed as his mind whirled with a whole new thought.
"What?"
"Ariston . . . How many other people has he tagged besides me?"
She shrugged. "No telling. Why?"
Jason darted past her to the bathroom. "C'mon. We have something to do before we leave."
Sam and Jason showered, then dressed quickly. By the time they reached the lobby, their car was already there, waiting on them.
She frowned as Jason refused to leave. Instead, he headed to the front desk, where a large black-haired woman stood wearing a black suit. "Is there a computer here for guest use?"
"Ja, there is a business office just over there." She pointed to a small room next to the door.
Jason headed for it.
Sam followed after him, confused by his odd actions. "What are you doing, Jason?"
"I'm finishing business," he said in a low tone. "Didn't you use to do a lot of hacking in the FBI?"
"It wasn't hacking," she said defensively. "It was all done with court orders. Why?"
"Because I want you to hack into Dr. Berg's files and get a list of everyone he's given flu shots to in the last year."
A slow smile spread across her face as she suddenly understood what he wanted done. "You want to see who else he tagged, huh?"
He nodded.
Her blood rushed through her veins as she followed him into the office. If he was right, this would be a great way to find out who Ariston dealt with ... and where they were.
Luckily, there was no one else using the room; there wasn't even a staff member present. Sam grabbed the closest computer and started searching for the doctor's office.
Jason tapped his thumb against his thigh as he watched Sam navigate through the German medical files. Luckily they had a unified system that allowed her access to all of Berg's clients, along with their addresses and names.
"There are several Bergs listed here."
"Franz-Josef Berg, with a hyphen."
"Got him."
Jason leaned over her shoulder as she pulled up the records. He pointed to a line in their billing system that didn't make sense to him. "What's that?"
"Gold," she breathed as she matched the strange billing code against the key in Berg's system. She pulled up Jason's chart under his alias to show him. "Here," she said, pointing to the line. "See where your account was charged. There's another code that you didn't see that was billed to Herr Ariston."
"Yeah. For what?"
"A colonoscopy."
Jason gaped. "I beg your pardon? No one stuck nothing near my rear entry. That is sacred."
She shook her head at him. "Since he's a general practitioner, I figured as much. Apparently our doctor has a sense of humor. My guess is he's disguising the implant charge as that one."
" 'Cause he was shafting me."
"Yup."
Jason gave a short laugh. "Who else did he shaft?"
She pulled up a quick list of names. "A short enough list that it shouldn't take us too long to run them all down."
Jason kissed her. "I knew you were brilliant."
"Not me, baby. You're the one who thought of it."
"Yeah, but I couldn't have hacked the system without you."
Sam loved the fact that he wasn't trying to take all the credit. She printed out the list and quickly backed out of the system. Once they had it, she took a few minutes to call Retter with the news.
"I'll meet you guys at the airport. You can hand it to me then, and I'll get started on the colonoscopy retrievals."
"You got it."
She hung up the pay phone, then made her way out to the car with Jason.
Jason kept his attention solely focused on Sam as they rode to the airport. He was still amazed at how everything had turned out—at least, until he remembered something.
"Ah, no."
"What?" Sam asked.
"I just remembered that everything I own is in London."
"Don't worry. We'll get someone to pack it up for you. I'm sure Hunter would be glad to personally take charge of seeing it all packed up and returned to the U.S."
He snorted at that. "Why don't I find that knowledge comforting?"
She laughed. "Probably because he wants you dead for scaring him."
Jason shook his head. Unlike her, he didn't find that amusing, but he had other things to think about than Hunter and his vendetta. "So what happens to me now? I've been in Europe so long, it'll be hard getting used to a new place ... a new person."
Sam felt for him. That was the hardest part about being an undercover agent. You were constantly responsible for reinventing yourself. She reached over and squeezed his hand.
They remained silent until they reached the airport, where their chartered flight was waiting. They found Retter in one of the seats on board the plane.
Tall and well muscled, he had long black hair and was dressed in a tan sweater, black coat, and jeans. He had at least three days' growth of whiskers, and his piercing eyes were covered by a pair of dark sunglasses.
"Bonnie and Clyde," he drawled. "Nice of you to make it."
"Shut up, Rupert," Jason said.
Retter went completely still before he spoke. "The only people who call me that are all female. Now unless you want me to make you one of them, I suggest you revert to my more tolerated name."
Jason held his hands up in mock surrender. "Fine."
"Here's the list," Sam said as she handed it to Retter, then took a seat beside Jason.
Retter's face was grim as he skimmed the names. "This is a nice tidbit. Thanks." He got up and headed for the exit. But before he left the plane, he turned around to look at them. "You two do know that Joe will shit when you get back to Nashville, right?"
Sam frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Well, he sent Dagmar and Dieter out together and they got married. Then there was Rhea and Ace. If one more set of agents hooks up, I'm sure we'll all get a memo about it."
"Who said we were hooking up?" Sam asked.
Retter's gaze dropped to where her hand was resting on Jason's knee.
Sam immediately pulled it away.
Jason put it back.
"Yeah," Retter said. "Thanks for clogging my inbox with more Joe hysteria." He ducked out to the plane and left them alone.
Sam gave Jason a withering stare. "What was that about?"
"I was just claiming my woman."
"Claiming your woman? What century is this?"
"The twenty-first."
"Then why—"
He broke her words off with a kiss. Sam sighed at the taste of him. When he pulled back, his eyes warmed her. "I'm not asking you to marry me . . . yet. I'm just asking you for a chance to see where this relationship might take us. So what do you say, Sam?"
She smiled at him. "I say, let's see about making Joe a little bit crazier."
Epilogue
Jason sat in Joe's office while his boss debriefed him. It'd been a long flight in, and frankly, he was looking forward to just sleeping for about ten to twelve hours. "Jason?"
He blinked at Joe's sharp tone. "Yeah?" Joe rolled his eyes. "Go on, get the hell out of here before I shoot you."
Stifling a yawn, Jason got up and passed Tee in the doorway. He paused as she entered the office with Joe. "Tee?" he asked, holding the door open. "Where did you make my reservations?"
The   tiny  Vietnamese-American   agent   stared blankly at him. "What reservations?" His stomach sank. "For me to crash?" She snorted at him. "You don't need reservations." Jason gaped at her. Granted, Tee could be unforgiving and downright cruel at times, but damn, he hadn't done anything to his knowledge to piss her off. "Where am I supposed to sleep?"
Someone cleared their throat.
Jason turned to find Sam standing a few feet away, looking about as tired as he felt—though it looked a lot better on her than him. He was stunned that she'd hung around while Joe gave him the third degree and threatened sanctions against him for blowing up Hunter's car.
She unfolded her arms to show him a pair of handcuffs. "I'm taking you into custody," she said with a playful wink.
Jason smiled as his heart pounded. He definitely liked the sound of that. "I thought you went home."
"I was waiting for you."
Crossing the distance between them, he draped his arm over her shoulders and kissed her lightly on the head.
Joe stood in the doorway beside Tee as he watched the two of them leaving with their arms wrapped around each other. He made a disgusted sound in the back of his throat.
"Oh, knock it off, Joe,"Tee said as she pushed him back into the office.
"Knock it off? C'mon,Tee.You and I both know that love and work never cohabitate well."
She said something to him in Vietnamese.
He grimaced at her as she put a folder on her desk. "I hate it when you do that. What did you just call me?"
"Fuddy-duddy."
It sounded better in Vietnamese. "Fuddy-duddy I may be, but how the hell are we supposed to guard national security when I can't even keep my agents' pants on?"
Tee glared at him. "Relax, Joe. It's nine o'clock at night. Go home."
He was tired, but she didn't look like she was anywhere near leaving. "What about you?"
Tee sat at her desk. "The bad guys never sleep—"
"So why should I," he said, finishing her favorite line. He knew Tee was more than capable of handling herself in any given situation, but he wasn't about to leave her up here alone. Anything could happen. Not to mention, the office was really lonely when you were by yourself.
"It's okay. I've got some work I need to do too."
Joe returned to his desk and sat down to review the list that Jason had given to Retter. He'd assigned a new agent the job of surveying two men on the list they knew were aligned with extremist groups. If they were lucky, the RFID chips could be used for the good side as well.
But as he started to pull up the files on the computer for the men, his gaze caught a glimpse of Tee as she bent over to retrieve a fallen pen from the floor. Her butt came off her chair, gifting him with a perfect view of her attributes. He hardened instantly.
Grinding his teeth, he looked away before she caught him ogling her. There were things in the world that were a lot more important than his rampant lust for his co-director. Although at that moment he was having a difficult time remembering what they were exactly.
"You hungry?" Tee asked as she straightened up.
"Always."
She shook her head. "I knew you'd say that. Want to eat Off the Grill tonight?"
"Sure."
"Your usual?"
"Yeah."
Tee looked up the number on her PDA, then dialed it. "Hi Dave, this is Tee again. I'd like to get the rib eye steak medium rare with a baked potato and cheese, no butter or sour cream ..."
Joe forced himself not to smile as Tee ordered his food to perfection. She really did know him.
Except she didn't know the most important thing where he was concerned, and that was just how much she meant to him.
It was the one thing he could never let her know.
"So did Joe chew your entire butt off?" Sam asked as she drove him from their office in the Bell South tower from downtown Nashville toward her apartment in Franklin.
"I don't know—I think someone needs to check and see."
Sam slid a sideways look at him. She had to admit that even exhausted, he was acute and able with a comeback. "You do know that I'm not used to having a boyfriend, right?"
"It's okay, I'm not either."
Sam groaned at his joke. "I'm trying to be serious here, Jason."
"I know, Sam. It's, uh ... it's going to be interesting. Most agents who try to have a relationship end up hating each other."
"True."
"But since you started out hating me, hopefully we've put that behind us." He winked at her.
Sam smiled at him. He was right. When she'd headed off to Germany, her intent had been to kill him, not bring him home to her apartment. Her mother always said that life was big on surprises.
Nothing had surprised her more than finding Jason so delightful or enticing.
"Don't look so fretful, Sam. I can find my own place to live tomorrow, and I won't impose myself on your life until you're ready for it."
And that was what she liked most about him. He really was perceptive. As she drove down 1-65, she felt something she'd never felt before ... a sense of excitement about having someone to come home to.
"You know, if it takes you a little while to find that place to live, I'm okay with it."
He reached over to brush her hair back from her cheek. "Good. But if I start to wear out my welcome—"
"I'll shoot you."