“Ethan Thomas. Or Dragon, as he likes to call himself.”
Grace shook her head and said, “You’re kidding me. Isn’t Ethan Thomas that kid the agency was trying to recruit just before I left? The one who hacked into the Pentagon from his basement in Hoboken?”
“The one and only.”
“Christ, he’s an infant. What is he, fifteen?”
“He’s eighteen. And he’s still the best.”
Grace shook her head in disbelief. “That doesn’t make it any better that you have an agent who probably has to check in with his mother once a week. How’d you get him away from agency clutches?”
“I told him he could either go to prison, since he would now be tried as adult, or he could work for me as a kind of community service. The CIA didn’t know what to do with him. He has a bit of an attitude problem. All I had to do was buy his mom a new house and promise he’d get to keep hacking. The kid is fucking brilliant. You’ll like working with him. Eventually.”
Grace’s lips twitched. “Can’t wait to meet him in person.”
Gabe nodded to another guard at the front door and scanned himself in—first the thumbprint, then the retinal scan.
“Your thumb and retinal imprints are already in the system, and your new identity badge with photo ID is on your kitchen counter. Do me a favor and wear the badge whenever you leave the premises. You don’t want the security guards to get antsy.”
Grace stopped him from going inside by putting a hand on his shoulder. Gabe froze in his tracks, the heat from her fingers burning through his clothes, straight to his groin.
“You were pretty damn sure I’d come back with you. Why?”
He shifted his body so they stood facing each other. So close that he could feel her erect nipples through the thin silk of her shirt against his chest.
“Because I know the one thing that turns you on more than anything else.” He whispered the words against her ear and smiled in triumph as she shivered. Her fingers clutched the fabric of his shirt, and he could see her pulse thumping wildly at the base of her neck.
“What’s that?”
“Danger.”
Even saying the word made her pupils dilate and her breath hitch with excitement. Gabe bit back a groan as his cock grew impossibly hard and the urge to take and conquer beat at the base of his skull. She was his woman. He knew that on the most primal level.
He nipped at her ear as he tortured them both. “The more dangerous the better. Isn’t that right, Grace? The higher the stakes, the wetter you get. Remember when we were on that mission in Siberia and had to hide in that cave? Land mines and grenades were going off all around us, and you were so hot for me that I made you come with a whisper of breath and a diamond the size of my fist.”
Her eyes glazed with desire before she could get herself under control, and he knew then and there that she would give him her body again before too much longer. The pull had always been too strong between them. But she wasn’t quite ready yet. They still had things to deal with.
Her hands pushed against his chest, and Gabe backed away, giving her the space she wanted.
“Let’s just make sure that history doesn’t repeat itself,” she said shakily.
Gabe smiled tightly and motioned for her to precede him into the building. Dark hardwood floors gleamed with polish, and a Persian rug in muted colors lay in the middle of the room. Fresh flowers sat on a round table in the center of the rug. To the left of the entryway was a large, glass-enclosed conference room. A mahogany table that sat twelve dominated the room, and empty bookshelves lined one wall. There were no scattered papers. No electronics. And no people anywhere in sight.
“We’ll do most of our team briefings down here,” Gabe said, pointing to the conference room. “All of the upper floors are for personal use by whoever’s in the country at the time, or when I add new agents.”
“Are you planning on expanding?”
“I’ve got some ideas. I don’t plan on working in the field forever. I’d like to slow down a little in my old age.”
“I hope it works out for you,” she said, dismissing the thought. “What are those rooms?”
“The whole right side of this floor is offices. You’re welcome to one if you’d like.”
“No, thanks. My job’s in the field. I never sit behind a desk, and I have no plans of slowing down.”
“You can only go on so long in our line of business before you either slow down or get taken down. Is that what you’re looking for, Grace? The easy way out?”
“I died a long time ago, Gabe. Everything from here on is just paving the way to hell.”
They were stopped in front of the elevators, and he wanted nothing more than to take her by the shoulders and shake her until he rattled some sense back into her brain. But she had that stubborn look in her eye that told him the only thing he was going to get was a fight if he kept pushing.
He pulled a key card from his pocket and handed it to her, watching as some of the tension left her shoulders. He decided to lighten things up a bit for both their sakes.
“The elevator needs a key card and a palm print to open and another to take you to whatever floor you want. The fifth floor is a full gym and sauna, and there’s also a lap pool. You’re free to use it whenever you’d like. I wouldn’t want you to get slow and sloppy. You’re not getting any younger, you know.”
“Jackass. I’m in my prime, and you know it.” She smiled, and he literally felt his heart stumble in his chest. Her eyes were brilliant green, and it was the first time in twenty-four hours he’d seen a sign of life in them.
“Yeah, you are,” he said softly.
He lifted his hand to touch her—just one touch to douse the fierce need that was building inside of him—but the elevator doors opened and ruined the moment. He stepped back and put plenty of space between them so he wouldn’t be tempted to act on the lust that zinged between them like a ricocheting bullet and carry her upstairs to his bed.
“Mmm, mmm, mmm,” a deep voice said. “You told me there’d be perks with this job, Ghost, but I had no idea. I’ve always been partial to redheads.”
The sound of Jack Donovan’s southern drawl brought Grace out of the trance Gabe seemed to have her in. He’d almost touched her. And she’d almost let him. How many times could she make the same mistake in a lifetime? Apparently, every time Gabe Brennan was in the vicinity.
“You’re partial to every damned hair color on the planet,” Gabe said, rolling his eyes.
“It’s true. I’m a real cad. Want to be the one to reform me, sugar?”
“Well, well,” Grace said. “Jack Donovan, big as life.”
Last time she’d heard, Jack had been the commanding officer of a group of Navy Seals conducting Visit, Board, Search and Seizure missions in the Persian Gulf, but that had been two years ago. She remembered he’d sent pink roses to the funeral. It was weird how some memories were so clear during a time that was for the most part an absolute haze.
“Don’t tell me Gabe’s talked you out of the adrenaline rush of VBSS operations just to come twiddle your thumbs for him. Friendship should only go so far.”
“I figure he needed someone to keep him out of trouble,” Jack said, pointing to Gabe with a charming grin. “And since you’re here, I have a feeling I’m going to have my hands full with that job. You two always manage to find trouble no matter where you are.”
“What can I say? It’s a talent.”
He laughed. “Damn, it’s good to see you, Grace.” He pulled her into a tight hug, and she burrowed into the hardness of his chest. He was a large man, a couple of inches taller than Gabe, and thickly muscled. His dark brown hair was cut close to the scalp, and his angular face was freshly shaven. Misty green eyes made women think romantic thoughts of sonnets and white picket fences, but they got over that notion soon enough. Jack was a womanizer, plain and simple, and he was proud of it.
Tears stung her eyes, but she willed them away and held onto him a little more desperately than she’d intended. She hadn’t held anyone in her arms for so long. Hadn’t even touched anyone. She was a master at keeping her distance, not getting too involved or too close to anyone. It was the only way she knew how to survive. She pulled back so she wouldn’t cling too long.
