AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Gently, he placed his hands on her upper arms, keeping his voice low, without any anger in it. “Lauren, I know you can take care of yourself. But I am your partner. I have your back. I am angry at myself for letting you go out there without me. My gut told me it was dangerous for you, and I dismissed it because I allowed you to convince me otherwise.” He saw her blink, the fire in her eyes doused, the expression in them turning a little regretful now. Taking advantage of this, he added, with a slight smile. “I will NEVER be angry with you,Malen ‘kaya. We will talk. And we may argue, but I will never raise my voice toward you. All right?” and Alex forced himself to release her arms. If he didn’t, he was going to do something tragically stupid: kiss her senseless because he was terrified that he could have lost her to Volkov. The bastard could have just as easily snapped her neck. His close quarters combat skills were equal to Alex’s own. And few were swifter or quicker at killing than them. But Lauren didn’t know that. He then reminded himself that she was a Krav Maga instructor, and that is why she had gotten the upper hand on that bastard.
The adrenaline burning through her was starting to crash. Lauren felt suddenly shaky, and she didn’t want Alex to see her that way. He’d see it soon enough. Right now, he was upset for the right reasons. His voice had been low, fraught with emotion… care…
She grimaced. “Okay, you’re making sense. Next time you get a gut-check like that, you need to be more upfront about it with me. I’ll listen.”
He nodded. “I will make myself VERY clear next time. Volkov is dangerous, Lauren. He’s one of the best at close quarters combat techniques. If he…” and he shook his head, terrible scenarios running through his mind. “If he had decided to engage you, he would have killed you,” and he met and held her stare.
“You don’t know me,” Lauren growled. “He didn’t stand a chance! I took him down in a heartbeat. You forget, I know Krav Maga. It’s a street-fighting technique and, believe me, he collapsed to the floor like a bull that had just been castrated.”
His mouth quirked. “I wish I had seen it. That is a first. Volkov is a master of CQC.”
“Well,” Lauren muttered defiantly, “so the hell am I! I’m going to take a shower. I want the smell of Volkov off me!”
Alex watched her storm off, her mouth set, her eyes blazing with justified anger. He probably could have handled that conversation with her better. Lauren had looked hurt because he hadn’t thought she would have bested Volkov in a real fight. Running his fingers through his hair, he realized, too late, that he’d allowed his emotions to leak into the mix. Because he cared for Lauren. Because he didn’t want her hurt. He was clearly being over protective. Smothering her. Or, maybe him not putting enough trust in her abilities as an operator was the real reason?
Lauren came out of the bathroom half an hour later, wrapped in a towel, her damp hair bunched up on her head, anchored in place with a tortoise-shell comb, the steam from the door behind her escaping and surrounding her in a misty cloud. She spotted Alex at the large window that overlooked the street below. He had the blind barely cracked and was watching for Russian activity below. Angry that he didn’t think she could take care of herself, Lauren walked down the hall, leaving wet footprints in her wake.
Alex was putting the food in plastic containers on the table when she emerged later from her bedroom. Her hair was dry, twisted all up on top of her head, only this time with that beautiful silver and pearl comb she’d worn on the flight down to Peru holding it in place. She wore a black tee, olive-green cargo pants, and her feet were bare. It was such a study of contrasts, Alex thought. She looked like an elegant model from her slender neck upward, a soldier in the middle, and a child in bare feet at the bottom. His lips twitched, but he said nothing. Lauren was complex. But complex women always intrigued him, made him curious, and he enjoyed discovering the multi-faceted layers of such a woman. Lauren was his ultimate challenge and he met her cool gray stare as she stood in the doorway, her arms folded across her breasts.
“Do you feel better?” he inquired, going to the drawer and taking out flatware.
“Not really. I’m really pissed, Alex. At you.”
Alex stood and faced her, his hands at his sides. “I must apologize to you,” he admitted. “I questioned your ability as an operator. I was wrong to do that.” He managed a cutting smile, aimed at himself, not her. “The fact you are here, unhurt, tells me who the best operator was in that confrontation. Volkov is the one with either a broken thumb or busted knee cap. Not you.”
All of Lauren’s anger dissolved. Damn but the man knew how to stop an argument cold in its tracks. She saw the abject apology in his eyes, and heard it in his voice.
“I don’t meet many operators who can find it in themselves to say they’re sorry about anything,” she admitted, her voice brittle. Lauren waved her hand wearily, feeling exhausted from the adrenaline crash. “Thanks for the apology. I had it coming and I appreciate you having the balls to tell me.”
Alex gave her a wry grin. “You are a badass, Parker.”
“Damn well better know it, Kazak. Come on, let’s eat. I’m starving to death.” They ate in silence. Lauren watched Alex eat as much as two people. But he was a big man. She also ate her fair share and, between them, nothing was left but a huge pile of chicken bones on each plastic plate.
“So,” Alex said, breaking the silence, “Volkov went down like a castrated bull?”
“Yes, he did.”
A grin edged his mouth. “I would have given anything to have seen that. I am sure he is back at the flea hotel nursing his knee with ice bags. I wonder if he told his team how it happened?”
“Probably not. He didn’t look like the kind of operator that had any humble pie in him. Most likely lied and said he fell and twisted his knee or something stupid like that,” she said, grinning sourly and leaning her chair back on two legs.
He studied her. “You are a highly complex woman. Do you realize that?”
Lauren felt heat move in her. Alex was giving her that look that made her feel shaky and needy. Wanting something… not knowing what… Whatever it was, he seem to trigger her feminine side and it was all at once as exciting as it was terrifying to her. “I’ve led a complex life.” Lauren gave him a challenging look. “And you aren’t exactly simple, either.”
“Then we deserve one another. Yes? We can understand one another because we are alike in some ways?”
“Maybe,” Lauren hesitantly admitted. “I don’t spend too much time analyzing myself. I let my actions speak for me.”
“Well,” Alex chuckled, “Volkov certainly heard you loud and clear.” He saw the corners of her mouth curl upwards. She was smiling again. A sheet of scalding heat dove straight into his heart, a warmth filling his chest. That woman’s mouth was always tempting to him. Lauren’s was like no other Alex had ever encountered. Her upper lip was slightly thinner than her full lower lip. The corners of her mouth were deep and naturally curved upward. When she smiled, she had dimples. Another pleasant surprise about her. And he watched her smile go up into her gray eyes that were, once more, the color of a Mourning Dove’s breast. That told him Lauren was at peace. And he desperately wanted her to be given that kind of calm because he sensed her life had been anything but.
“I hope like hell Hunter gives me the thumbs-up to take Volkov out, too. And yes, I know that’s a pun and I did it on purpose.”
Alex gave her a feral smile. “I liked it. Someday I would like to learn puns. I talked to Gage earlier, after you left. He said he had to talk to his contact in the Defense Department and would get back to us about Volkov.”
“If I don’t take him out, Special Forces’ job is to round the rest of those sick bastards up and haul their asses to the Peruvian Police, where I hope they rot and die in that prison that is at ten thousand feet, and there’s no heat any time of the year for them.”
“We will see what Hunter’s orders are to us. If I ever run into Volkov again, there’s going to be serious trouble.” Lauren’s mouth thinned. “And next time, I’ll be packing. I’m not letting that bastard near me again.”
