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And then he was gone. For a man of his size and weight, even Lauren was impressed with his stealth. The door shut silently behind him.
She locked it.
Her heart started to pound with fear for Alex. Lauren grumbled to herself as she zipped up his gear bag and dragged it into the bedroom, where it was unseen and out of the way. She felt her heart respond to the endearment he’d whispered to her:Malen ‘kaya.Little One.She swallowed nervously, feeling as if being with Alex was like living in another time and place. He was all business, and then that game face dropped away and she saw the real man beneath it. Whenever that happened, she felt as if she were the most important person in his life as he devoted his full attention to her.
Shaking her head, Lauren hauled her own gear bag to the bedroom as well. She had to put her feelings aside and get down to business. First, a call to Gage Hunter to give him a ‘sitrep’ situation report, an update… This mission now had legs, and Lauren sensed that things were going to start moving fast from here on out.
Alex quietly enteredthe apartment, slipping inside, closing the door behind him. It was 0400. There were no lights on, but he could see well enough from the glow of the streetlights below shining upwards against the drawn blinds. He saw a soft light peeking through the gap of Lauren’s partly-opened bedroom door and continued silently down the hall. As Alex slowly pushed the door open, he saw that Lauren had a night-light on. She lay across the bed, on her belly, facing away from him. There was her Glock 19 on the bedstand within easy reach if she needed it. He saw the sat phone and the radio on the mattress, near her hand. His heart went out to her. She was curvy and all-woman despite the masculine clothes she wore. He saw she was prepared to spring into action, her combat boots still on as well. That red hair of hers was tamed into a long ponytail, laying across one shoulder as she slept.
Alex gently closed the door, not having the heart to awaken her. He knew she was sleep deprived. He needed to grab a shower and wash off all the paint and sweat.
Later, as the light of dawn was crawling across the massive edifice of Machu Picchu, Alex was in the kitchen, making breakfast. He heard Lauren’s bedroom door open. He saw her shuffle around the corner, rubbing her drowsy eyes, her hair tousled.
“You made it back okay?” she asked, her voice thick with sleep. Alex was dressed in a pair of Levi’s, a dark-blue t-shirt and his hiking boots. She could smell the fresh shower he’d taken. His face paint was gone, and he was clean-shaven.
“Yes. Are you hungry?” and he smiled over at her as she leaned against the door, watching him. He felt himself stirring. Lauren looked soft and approachable. She was struggling to wake up. “Maybe some coffee first?” he suggested, giving her a wry grin. He saw her wrinkle her nose and push off from the doorway with her shoulder.
“Yeah, for sure. What did you find out?” she muttered as she walked barefoot into the kitchen.
“A lot,” he murmured. “How many eggs?”
“Two, please.” Lauren yawned and shook her head. She never woke up very fast; it was just her nature.
“Go sit at the table and drink your coffee.”
“Good idea,” Lauren mumbled, shuffling over to the small round table at one end of the kitchen. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep on you. I never heard you come in.”
“It is a sign you have confidence in me and my abilities,” he told her, cracking six eggs into the black iron skillet.
Raising an eyebrow, Lauren said nothing. She was glad Alex was all right. “Normally, I don’t sleep like the dead,” she offered, sipping the hot coffee. It tasted good and would help her wake up. “That was a terrible black joke,” she muttered, brows bunching. “Especially on an op,” and she gave him an apologetic look. All he did was shrug, unfazed.
“Do you not think you slept well because you trust me just a little?”
“I do trust you,” Lauren murmured, seeing him give her a quick glance. His mouth entranced her, and she hotly remembered it covering hers last night. She couldn’t get that moment out of her mind. It kept replaying the kiss. How Alex had monitored his strength against her mouth, how he’d coaxed her lips open, and the response he’d drawn from her. Clearly, he knew how to kiss. She didn’t. But now that she’d tasted Alex, and had liked the pleasure he’d brought her, Lauren found herself curious, and eager to explore him even more. Yet, fear and memories kept her curiosity in tight check. Still… the man was sexy as hell, animal sensuality oozing out of his pores. She’d have to be dead not to respond to it, she reluctantly admitted to herself. Another black joke of ill-fortune. She needed another cup of coffee.
“Really? You do trust me, Lauren?” Alex slid two eggs onto her plate and four others onto his own. He set the skillet back on the stove, and added the potatoes he’d fried earlier, along with a large, ten-ounce beef steak.
“Why wouldn’t I trust you?” Lauren demanded, watching him as he brought their plates over. His shoulders were so broad. He made the kitchen appear smaller. She thanked him and realized he’d already set the table earlier, as if expecting her to have breakfast with him.
“This is our first op together,” Alex said, adding toast and some strawberry jam that he’d brought down with them on this op in his suitcase. He sat down opposite Lauren, absorbing her sleepy features. Did she realize how innocent she looked to him? Alex thought this is how she might have looked as a young girl growing up; carefree, not worried what her hair looked like. He imagined her as a barefoot youth, soft and trusting. He was relieved to see her walls weren’t coming up this morning. Something had obviously shifted between them. As he cut into his thick, medium rare steak, he wondered if the kiss between them had unlocked her trust toward him. He thought it had, but couldn’t be sure.
“Yeah, it takes time to get in sync with a new operator partner,” Lauren admitted. The eggs were perfectly cooked for her as she liked them: medium well. How did he know that? Her stomach grumbled. “What did you find out on your recon?”
“This is Vlad Alexandrov’s original, old team. The men who were with him are now the core of group two. Group one was destroyed by the Special Forces teams in the area, and only two got away: Lev and my friend Nik. I took photos and we need to download them into your computer. You can send them by satellite link to Gage Hunter.”
“Did you know these men?”
Alex nodded and gave her a grim look. “Yes.”
“Who’s leading the group now?”
He snorted as he slathered strawberry jam across two pieces of toast. “An ex-Spetsnaz officer: a Captain Anton Petrov. He was Vlad Alexandrov’s second-in-command and he is an enforcer.”
Lauren saw and felt Alex’s response. His voice was low, almost a growl. She saw worry in his eyes. She said, “A bad dude?”
“He is a monster, just like Vlad was,” Alex said with distaste. “If Vlad wanted information from a chief of a Quechua village, Petrov was the one who would find one of his daughters. And he was the one who would tear her clothes off, throw her on the ground, and rape her in front of everyone.” He didn’t want to tell Lauren all that, but she had to know the type of men they were dealing with. The look on her face was a mixture of disgust and terror. Most likely, for herself. He’d learned quickly from Kira’s experience that just mentioning the word ‘rape’ would send her into a terrible emotional state. Now, Lauren was reacting similarly. He was sorry he’d had to tell her about Petrov.
“I read Cal’s report on Vlad,” she said, her voice tight. “I couldn’t believe it…”
