Chapter 2

“I’m always up for a fight,” she said, keeping her tone light. “But I think right now I’m more interested in that something you say you’re spoiling for. Shame you don’t know what it is, though.”

He looked her over from top to bottom, his eyes lingering on her breasts before moving lower. She had tried to be subtle about her investigation, but he did nothing to hide the fact that he was studying every inch of her. “I know what I’m looking for. I’m just not sure if you’re up to it.”

The more he challenged her, the more she liked this man. Something about the timbre of his voice sank through her skin and melted parts of her she thought dead half the time. Then there were those eyes that looked at her and dared her to try even harder. Nobody else in the bar seemed to even notice him, which she just didn’t understand. He was the only interesting thing in the entire place.

“You might be the first person to ever tell me that.” She tilted her head closer. “But I don’t mind proving myself. In fact, sometimes that’s my favorite part.”

“What’s your name, sweetheart?”

“For you? Nicki.” She didn’t want to give him the alias she’d had during this assignment, and Mariel would kill her if she gave her real one. This was a good enough compromise. “And what do I get to call you?”

“You want to get out of here with me? You can call me Sir.”

She wanted to laugh. He had balls. But he hadn’t even blinked with his request, and all it took was a single glance downward at the promise of that amazing body for her to make up her mind.

“Works for me.” She smiled. “Sir.”

He returned her smile. At least he seemed to return her smile. The very corner of his mouth lifted, and his eyes lightened. “I’ve got a room a block away. We can get out of here.”

“Now, that”—closing the distance, Anicka skimmed her mouth just over his jaw until she reached his ear—”is the nicest thing anyone’s said to me today, Sir.”

His arm went around her waist, and he pulled her closer in a solid embrace. She imagined it didn’t feel unlike being held by a tree. He turned his head and pressed a hard kiss to her mouth. It almost felt like an attack. When he lifted his head again, her ears were ringing.

“Let’s go, before I’m tempted to throw you over my shoulder and carry you out.”

“Yeah.” She was breathless. She couldn’t remember the last time anybody had kissed her like that. “We should probably go before I let you.”

He didn’t quite carry her out of the bar, but it was close. He wrapped one huge hand around hers, imprisoning her as sure as if he had closed a cuff around her wrist. He pulled her to her feet and dragged her through the throng. They fell away from him as if they didn’t dare make physical contact. She nearly had to jog just to keep up with his long strides, and if he noticed that fact, he didn’t care.

He slammed the door open and allowed cold night air to rush over her. She gasped for breath, surprised by the relief she felt. Surprised even more by the fact that her face still felt hot and flushed.

Not a word was spoken as he tugged her around the corner. The temptation to pull him into one of the alleys and get a taste of what was to come nearly choked her. Just the curl of his fingers doubled her heart rate, and already a trickle of sweat dripped between her breasts. This man would take no prisoners. But it was exactly that reason why she followed him without hesitation. She had three days to forget about STRIKE, about what she’d seen Omer do, about who she was. She had never met a man who made her want that more. She would do whatever he said as long as it got both of them off.

His room was in a low, square building with the sounds of animals scurrying in the walls. They walked down a narrow hall that led to the rear, and when they stopped before a stained door, she molded her lithe, long body to his back.

“You were wrong about the Hole,” she murmured. “I think I found exactly what I was looking for.”

He opened the door with a small, rusty key, his fingers surprisingly nimble for handling such a delicate object. The room he revealed wasn’t much of an improvement over the corridor. A bare, flickering bulb illuminated a narrow bed and a single chair. He turned and caught her chin. She expected another hard kiss, but his mouth stopped an inch from hers.