“Why? We hardly know each other, Hawk.” She wanted to know whether he was feeling as close to her as she did to him. “I mean, was it all just hot sex for you this afternoon?”
He put down the glass. The lighting was just dim enough to add a golden glow to his eyes. “No, it wasn’t just hot sex,” he said, lowering his voice. “Hot sex is for tonight.”
“So this is all just sex to you, then,” Amber insisted. She really wanted the hot sex, too, but she pressed on anyhow.
He studied her for a second, then, flinging an arm around her shoulder, pulled her close to him. He crossed outstretched legs on her coffee table. “Tell you what. To show you that it isn’t really just all sex, we’ll watch TV for a while.”
Amber looked at the screen, finally paying attention to what was on. “Sumo wrestling?” she asked in a faint voice.
Hawk looked down, a grin on his face. “Damn European TV doesn’t have anything on. What’s more entertaining than men in diapers groping each other, hmm?”
“Umm…hot sex?” she ventured hopefully.
He shook his head. “You wanted me to prove it’s more than that, honey. You’ll just have to enjoy some sumo wrestling.”
She laid a suggestive hand on his crotch. “Can I dissuade you?”
He burped rudely. “You can try.” It didn’t take that long to make her point, but his eyes remained fixed on the screen. “My, what big diapers this dude is wearing.”
Amber curled up next to him. Her hand teased him for a while, then her mouth. She was going to make Hawk McMillan always associate sumo wrestling with hot sex.
Brad got into his car. If he smoked, this would be a good time to light up a cigarette and go into deep thought. He wondered whether that was why people did it in their vehicles so much. Twisting a cup of hot coffee in contemplation about life needed two hands. And the image was certainly not quite so world-weary.
He undid the top few buttons of his jacket, then put on his seat belt. He wasn’t lying to Amber when he told her he felt envious while watching Hawk and her together. He wished he had the opportunity to have such a relationship with Lily. Hell, he had to start one first.
He had hoped to talk to Lily privately tonight. No touching. No arguing. Just talk. Why was it so difficult to do that with this particular woman? Her no-show tonight was a message, that she was unwilling to give him a chance.
Brad started his car. He should just back off. He had kept telling himself to give her time, but maybe this thing was just not to be.
Damn it. How could he just let it go when all he could think about was the way those dark eyes had looked up at him?
He checked the rearview mirror as he made the turn. A car had pulled out from the curb, going the other way. It looked like Lily’s car, but he couldn’t be sure in the evening light. Probably just fanciful imagination. Why would she be sitting outside just to avoid dinner with him? That was too melodramatic, even for Lily.
15
“My end’s secure. Twice in one week. Mustbe urgent, Hawk.” Jed McNeil’s husky voice came over the headphones suddenly. Hawk had been waiting for a few minutes as his call was redirected through several channels. “What’s all the noise in the background?”
“I’m supposed to be working out,” Hawk explained as he landed a blow to the made-up punching bag in his room. “I need to work up a sweat because Dilaver wants to do a slow jog around his compound later to see how his leg’s healing.”
“Good. Updated Madison about your plans with Ambrosia and he agreed it was a good risk. Checked up on Sun. He’s ninety percent. He’d be a good cover for Ambrosia and you.”
Madison was Admiral Madison, Hawk’s SEAL commander. It was good to know that his leader and McNeil were in direct contact. All this skulking around within organizations had made Hawk wary about third-party communications more than ever.
“What’s the missing ten percent?” He was curious about Bradford Sun, not just because of his special friendship with Amber, but he wanted to make sure the CIVPOL chief posed no danger to Amber and her friend.
“He has an interest in Llallana Noretski. Her credibility is at twenty-five percent.” All these numbers didn’t mean a thing to Hawk. He preferred concrete evidence, but GEM and COS operatives had been trained that way, memorizing codes and percentage factors to save time as well as preserve secrecy. At twenty-five percent, the file on Llallana Noretski would be thick with evidence of criminal background activity. Hawk had known about Brad’s interest, but this evidence about Lily was a new surprise. As if he read his mind, McNeil continued, “The CIA has had dealings with her before, so that upped her percentages. But we don’t know exactly what Sun’s and her relationship is, since they keep it tightly under wraps. We aren’t worried about her yet, but she’s an unknown factor.”
“So Llallana is with the CIA? Does Ambrosia know?” Hawk and Jed always used Amber’s code name.
“Negative to both. Noretski was picked up by the Agency before. The information we have pointed to perhaps an interrogation, so her experience with them might not have been a happy one. You’ll have to find out yourself.”
“Okay.”
“Ambrosia doesn’t appear to know much more. What we know of Llallana also comes partly from her when they first met. She’d checked her out then.”
“They are best friends now,” Hawk told Jed as he dodged the swinging bag and turned to execute a flurry of punches.
“What does she think of you?”
