The woman was obviously in denial. “I wouldn’t be too sure about it. After all, you two have the most unusual courtship going.”
Amber looked up, startled. “What the hell are you talking about now?”
Lily cracked her knuckles. “Let’s see. Playing with each other’s body parts. Tapping each other’s phones with shadow programs. Running around in the dark alleys of Velesta. And all of this without a first date. Definitely an unusual courtship.”
“We don’t even know each other!” Amber shook her head, her fingertips touching her lips as she looked away.
“Look at her, deep in thought.” Lily interrupted her reverie, studying her with knowing eyes. It appeared someone else had been kissing last night. “Poor Amber. She’s joined the Wretched Wenches.”
Amber wrinkled her nose. “I’m going to finish up here,” she said. “When we get back home, we have to make a list of girls to prep for the interview. Then you have to call Brad and make your own schedule.”
Lily felt her grin fading. Brad. Damn, damn, damn. How could she face him after last night? She was a foolish, foolish woman, to get drunk and let her heart rule over her head.
She had given in and done what she had wanted to do. Had her hands into that thick blond hair and mussed it up. Ran her tongue against his and tasted him again. And again. She could feel her foolish heart start beating faster at the memory of the way he had kissed her back. He had turned her into the curve of the sofa arm and had plundered her mouth with such silky skill, he stole all thought along with control. All she remembered was how soft his hair was as she’d pulled him closer, how wonderful he’d smelled, and how absolutely, obviously hard he had been.
Lily turned around, using the excuse of taking off and folding her jacket to hide her expression. She wondered what Brad was thinking right now, especially about her. She probably deserved to be called a bitch. Or, worse, a tease.
She closed her eyes briefly. She just couldn’t overcome her fear. She hated feeling out of control, especially during sex. Last night—she sighed—last night she had actually felt something more than lust, and she had panicked. Panicked and ran off.
“Well, nothing to say?” Amber asked from behind her.
Lily opened her eyes. She had to make the call first. It always felt better afterward, knowing she was in charge of something so much bigger than one man. Personal stuff didn’t mean a damn thing to her. “I’ll do that later,” she said casually. As soon as she figured out what to say. Maybe he wouldn’t bring up last night.
A tease. She hated that kind of stuff—playing around and then not delivering. That was a big no-no to her, one of the things she and Amber…she bit down on her lip to stop the curse threatening to spill out. Horny, unsatisfied, and a tease—who had joined the Wretched Wenches now?
The ride back to The Last Resort was a quiet one. Amber thought about what she had asked Hawk to do and how, in the middle of it all, she had still managed to flirt with the man. Like Lily had said, she and Hawk had a strange courtship.
What a strange, alien word in her world. She was attracted to Hawk—there was no denying that when she couldn’t seem to stop thinking about him—but courtship? Trust Lily to come up with a word that seemed both ludicrous and yet so right.
She barely knew the man. But she wanted to know more. He seemed different. He hadn’t shown any vanity like some good-looking men did around women. In fact, he projected a calm quiet confidence that had nothing to do with his outside at all; everything he did, he had done with an efficiency of someone who knew he was more than just a face.
Amber had always liked men who used their brains. Her father was a wonderful thinker and reader, and had impressed upon her that it was the mind that made men civilized. Men who think were often the contributors of enlightenment, he had said. And Hawk had told her he meditated. She wondered whether he liked to read.
Yet Hawk was also a man of action. He was in a battle right now, and she was worried. That particular emotion surprised her. He was a man capable of taking care of himself—a trained operative who was a natural tracker. What she saw last night told her a lot. How he reacted to her request told her even more. The man had killed before; it was in his eyes and attitude. That didn’t surprise her; she lived in a very violent world.
She had her first rude awakening about that fact at a very young age, when a neighboring tribe attacked the African village at which she and her parents stayed. While most little girls were at home watching Saturday cartoons, she had seen things done to humans that made her grow up fast. Then she had struck out on her own, first as a rebellious teenager and then as a contract agent, and without the protective shield provided by her parents she had discovered how dark the world could be.
Yet she had never felt the same helplessness as she did the other night. She had chosen her line of work to dosomething.The other night, she hadn’t lifted a finger.
A man of action. But only at the right time. She had met a man like that once. Jed McNeil. Hawk had similar qualities. Jed had helped her out of some tight corners, showing her that sometimes, one had to dirty one’s hands.
Amber looked at her own. Like Jed, Hawk was also good at hiding, appearing and disappearing at will. There was more to him than what he showed. She couldn’t quite put a finger on it yet, but that was what was intriguing. That hidden side of him. That secret ingredient to that whole recipe that every cook went after. She wanted it.
But still, how combat-ready was he? He had thought Dilaver was just showing him the weapons routes. The shot she had heard on the cell phone just now—was that he who was firing or was that a shot aimed at him? Yet he had sounded so cool and detached, even mocking her. She gave a mental shake. The man was combat-ready, all right. Few men could talk about a date with—she gave a wry smile—trimmings in the heat of battle. He was definitely a deliciously dangerous man.
Her smile disappeared. And he needed her to help him track whatever it was he was after. So was he just playing her to get what he wanted? Jed McNeil had probably given him a profile of her. She knew Jed well enough to know that he would have warned Hawk not to fully trust any contract agents. After all, Jed knew about some of her riskier dealings, although she was sure he hadn’t yet discovered that she was behind some of the highway hijacks of certain trailers.
One thing was for sure. She couldn’t risk exposing herself just because an attractive man was playing mind games with her. A covert operative was trained in many ways, and if Hawk was one of Jed’s men, he was definitely in the big leagues. She knew about some of Jed’s past adventures. He would definitely be an expert in what Amber had joked with other contract agents as “sexpionage,” those pillow companions who were deadly and so very real in international spy games. She’d had dealings with them before, too.
Amber sighed quietly. Things always got more complicated when feelings were involved. She glanced sideways at Lily, who also seemed deep in thought.
“I think we need a drink when we get back,” she said, trying to lighten their mood.
“Why’s that?”
“We’ve fallen into the dark side. We’re now Wretched Wenches.”
The corners of Lily’s eyes crinkled with amusement. “Oh, please, we can’t allow that to happen.” She smiled. “I do know how to get hold of edible underwear.”
