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“Petit Fours,” Harley supplied. “Is everything all right?”
“Everything?” he said. “We both live a life of intrigue and danger. Whenever is anything at all right?” He made an impatient sound in his throat. “Meet me on the sixth floor near the elevator. It’s imperative I talk to you without an audience and free of suspicion.”
Before she could say anything, he rose abruptly. His two bodyguards who had been keeping their distance started toward him. He made his quick departure across the floor, waving after him. He talked to them briefly, and their eyes darted to her. Then they all left the ballroom.
She turned her head looking for Isabelle. The ambassador was talking to Niger’s President Umar and his wife Mojisola.” Of course, Isabelle and Gator had noticed Aleksei’s departure. She frowned and Harley shook her head. She’d barely made any inroads. It wasn’t prudent to ignore Aleksei’s request. Something was definitely up and the Russian ambassador to DC was agitated. She’d never seen him like that, not since the night she’d saved his life.
She wolfed down several chunks of chicken and quickly washed it down with her glass of water, ignoring her drink. She really needed to be sharp here.
Rising from the table, she watched as Gator took over the conversation, freeing Isabelle. Harley made her way over to her.
“What?”
“Something’s up. Aleksei wants me to meet him upstairs.”
Isabelle frowned. “Okay but put in your earpiece and keep Gator and me updated. If you need back up, there’s a room full of Navy SEALs.”
Harley nodded. “I can handle Aleksei,” she murmured as she turned away, walking slowly and leisurely toward the lobby and the hotel elevators. Most of the conference attendees had already checked in and the lobby was almost empty. When she reached the elevators, she pushed the button and got inside when the doors opened. She pushed his floor button, taking her earpiece from her bag and tucking it clandestinely into her ear.
When the bell dinged and the doors opened, she stepped out. Someone came up behind her and crowded her toward a shadowed alcove. “Keep moving,” Aleksei said. “Act like you’re into me.”
Harley didn’t think that was going to be a problem.
As soon as they were tucked inside, she turned, and he pressed his lean, heavily muscled body against hers from chest to thighs. He smelled so damn delicious, a heady scent of some kind of exotic spice. He grinned wickedly, eyes dancing.But was that part of the show? He leaned his face close to hers, one hand sliding around to the back of her neck, the heat of his hand a shock to her senses, the other slipping around her waist to hold her in place.
That strange sense of desire and anticipation crept along her nerves. If she leaned forward, he would kiss her. She could see the promise in his eyes and felt something wild and reckless and completely foreign rise up in answer, pushing her to close the distance, to take the chance. His eyes challenged her, his mouth lured—masculine, sexy lips slightly parted in invitation. What fear she felt was of herself, of this forbidden attraction.
He moved closer, his mouth an aching temptation and her breath got trapped. Her gaze was locked on his face. Her body was very aware of his nearness, melting in response to him in ways that were innate and essentially female. He backed her up against the wall, caught between an stubborn object and an powerful force. He lowered his mouth toward hers, inch by inch.
She should have moved. She should have stopped him. She couldn’t compromise her mission, her duty, her principles. He was a foreign agent, and she was succumbing to him with her thoughts and with her body.
He was a man with a reputation for seduction, a string of women as part of his glittering life. He had no business touching her, and she had no business wanting him to. She should have stopped him, but she had to play along.
She shivered at the first touch of his lips, blinking as if the contact had shocked her. He held her gaze, his eyes dark and intense, mesmerizing. Then he settled his mouth over hers and thought ceased. Her eyes drifted shut. Her hands wound into the fabric of his shirt. Aleksei pulled her close, slanting his mouth across hers, taking possession of it. At the first intrusion of his tongue, she gasped a little, and he took full advantage, thrusting slowly, deeply into the honeyed warmth of her mouth.
Her hands explored him without her permission, and unable to stop herself, she found his shoulders, sinking into the hard muscle she discovered there, before sliding along the back of his neck and displacing the band that held his hair as it tumbled around his shoulders. She burrowed into all those thick, dark curls. He pressed his hips to hers, growling just a little, as she scraped her nails against his nape. He murmured something so guttural and thick in Russian, she couldn’t make it out or it could be because she was drowning. He fit perfectly between her legs, and she pushed back, cradling the hard bulge pressing there as she clutched at his head to keep his mouth on hers.
She told herself this was just a show for whoever was watching him. Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, SVR most likely.
He broke the kiss and ended it. But rather than having an awkward moment when he lifted his head and looked into her eyes again, he smiled. And she smiled back. And it was somehow normal, and natural, with a little hint of co-conspirator twinkling in his eyes, as if they had these little assignations all the time. And she couldn’t help but think how wonderful that would be.
He grabbed a lock of her hair and toyed with it, glancing up through those impossibly thick lashes, then whispered, “This is a matter of intense urgency, Harley. We need to play this out for my countrymen watching. If they suspect you’re CIA…we’re both dead.”
“I work for Isabelle—”
“Isabelle is CIA. She always has been and you’re my little mouse. Topo.” He chuckled softly.
Her heart suddenly hammering, Harley gazed back at him, the clamor in her chest making it hard for her to think. He knew? How? Unsettled by those thoughts and his knowledge, she dragged her gaze away from his.This would be a good time to remove her earpiece which she did, tucking it into her bag.
“Harley?”
She didn’t know what the urgency was, but Isabelle trusted Aleksei. She’d alluded to that several times, and Harley trusted Isabelle completely. They had been partners for a long time. If Aleksei said it was urgent and Harley had to compromise herself for the good of her country and to protect Aleksei as their source, so be it. “Yes, okay, yes.” He released her and took her hand, leading her down the hall to his hotel room.
He opened the door and dragged her inside, then pushed it closed. For a moment he stood there like he was fighting an internal battle he was losing. “This isn’t how I treat women,” he said. She wasn’t sure what to think about that. His tone gave away nothing she could use to determine how he felt about it.
She nodded. She warred with herself, knew that she wanted him, had since the night she’d supported him, touched his skin, protected him. Was she strong enough to be with him and not engage her heart? She wasn’t sure. The cold-blooded Shadowguard just wasn’t sure. Her body was fairly humming in anticipation, and it was all she could do to refrain from grabbing his head and hurrying him the hell up.
Like he said. It was urgent.
