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She turned, smiled at him. “I said, would you like something to drink before we go? And for the record, this evening is on me.”
That wiped his smile out completely. “Absolutely not.”
That smiling beautiful face turned instantly outraged. She opened her mouth and he held his hand up.
“Whoa. Before you get all riled up, this isn’t about me being macho, it’s about karma.” Her mouth closed but she was still frowning. “And survival. We’re talking my physical safety here.”
She did a double take, narrowing her eyes. “You’re going to have to explain that.”
Raul sighed. “If anyone back at ASI discovered that I let you pay for anything, anything at all, I’d have about twenty-four really angry operators plus two very angry bosses who’d want to punch out my lights. I’m good but I’m not that good. They outnumber me and outgun me.”
Emma walked toward him, frowning. “What on earth are you talking about?”
“I wouldn’t survive. Not to mention the fact thatI’dpunch out my own lights if I let you pay.”
Emma crossed her arms over those delectable breasts. He kept his eyes heroically glued to her face. Her head tilted,this better be goodall over her face.
“Ok. Here’s how it is. I think I can safely say that Hope and Felicity are the stars of ASI, the heart of it. It’s a company of operators, mostly former SEALs, one Army Ranger puke, Luke. But all former SpecOps soldiers. That’s—”
“Special operations,” she said evenly. “Yes. I worked for the NSA.”
She had. And he knew it. And had forgotten it. He had to up his game here.
“Yeah. So SpecOps guys are pretty … effective. But we’re like cavemen with computers when compared to Hope and Felicity, who are not only better, they are also nicer. Prettier, too. Both of them bust the balls they don’t have to provide the best possible ground support to our guys in the field. A year ago, Felicity stayed up for forty-eight hours straight when five of our guys were in Nigeria, surrounded by Chinese commandos. If they’d been caught, it meant death or an international incident. They avoided death and dishonor because Felicity gave them constant intel of the enemy’s movements. She didn’t sleep and she barely ate for those forty-eight hours and her husband, Metal, nearly went insane. Everyone offered to spell her, but she refused because she knew how to read the data best. And she was right. Our five guys came home and walked off the plane, but they’d have been flown home in caskets if not for Felicity. That’s one story. We all have a thousand. Hope has just refined an IR signal that can be read through concrete. That’s going to save lives too. When you sent up the bat signal, I got lucky because I was right there but there isn’t one ASI operator who wouldn’t give his left nu—left, uh, pinky to help you.”
Emma looked stunned.
“So, I think you need to understand that this is an immense privilege for me to be here, for me to be able to help a friend of Felicity and Hope. I have debts to those two women I can’t ever repay. Dinner out and a club fee are nothing. And believe me when I say that if it ever got out that I let youpay…” Raul gave an exaggerated shiver and she rolled her eyes. “They’d find my body in the Willamette.”
“Well,” she said, taking a deep breath, smiling. “I want you to know I booked one of the most expensive restaurants in town. And Heaven costs a hundred dollars. Per head.”
He smiled. “Great. I’ve got simple tastes, a nice salary and I don’t spend much. I’ve got savings. Gotta spend my money on something. This is a really good cause.”
She gave a half smile. “I’m not too sure Peking Duck and house music are good causes.”
He didn’t smile back. “Discovering what happened to your friend? Figuring out what’s going on? Making sure there’s no danger to you? Priceless.”
That wiped the smile off her lovely face. Because she saw that he meant every single word. When listening to her story at the café, alarm bells had rung and the back of his neck crackled like crazy. Something was going on and he would not allow it to harm this beautiful young woman, who was super bright and the friend of two women he was proud to call friends.
Not only that. A woman who powerfully attracted him.
She stared at him for a moment, her mouth slightly open. A little disconcerted by his sudden seriousness. Raul knew he could come across as a lightweight and he played that up, often. He didn’t mind being underestimated, it came in useful many times. He liked to flirt, he liked to joke, unlike Pierce who was always sober as a judge and always looked like his dog had just died in a war. But under the sunny face he showed the world, Raul knew what the world was. Full of darkness and terror, some parts of it. Parts he’d walked for almost ten years. He knew precisely how bad people could be to each other, the dangers that lay in wait for the innocent.
Especially women. Raul was very fond of Hope and Felicity and he felt a powerful attraction to Emma. They were women. They were smart as hell, helped whenever they could, were good friends. But they were women and not as strong as men. In some parts of the world, that meant they were prey for fuckheads. It was as if war had been declared on them. Raul hated that, hated what he’d seen.
Absolutely nothing was going to happen to this beautiful woman, not as long as he was there. If she’d tipped over a rock and there were scorpions underneath, they would not sting her. She wasnotgoing to be punished for being bright.
Raul allowed what he was thinking to be seen on his face. He was good at hiding his feelings, but he also knew how to project what was inside him.
This was one of those times.
“Ok.” She looked a little shocked. “Um, ok. Um, thank you.”
He slipped his easy-going face back on. “No problem.”
Emma looked around a little blankly, her gaze landing on a clock on a sideboard. It was like a mini grandfather clock and looked like a genuine antique. The entire place was filled with antiques, looked like family heirlooms. The place had a nice feel to it. Like a sanctuary.
After a long moment of silence, she looked up at him. “Maybe we should be going. I booked for seven.”
