Barely Undercover (5 page)

“I know.” His eyes glittered and the look he settled on her—hot and hungry—seared her to the core. He knew her words for the lie they were and she sensed he understood her need to say them.

Lana closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to ground herself in the moment—a deliciously dangerous moment. “Let’s just get this over with,” she blurted out. “And then we can move on with our lives…our cases.”

James rose to his feet and lifted her, settling her bottom on the hood of her car. “Open for me.”

Her cheeks flamed and she froze. When they had been together, he had been able to bring her close to the edge with his erotic commands. But now, although her body was on board, her heart was running scared.

When she didn’t move, he slid his hands up her thighs and eased her legs apart. Her breathing increased and her pulse sped up. Did he know the effect his touch still had on her?

Of course he knew. Better than she knew herself.

James eased himself between her legs and pulled her tight against him, locking their hips together. Awareness flared through her. The press of his hands on her thighs. The heat of his body. The raw scent of leather and the clean, fresh aroma of his cologne. His presence swallowed up everything—Rex, the field, even her anxiety. Everything but him.

His eyes crinkled as he studied her face and then darkened with sensual promise. “Ready?”

She could only nod her head. His warm breath brushed over her cheek and whispered over her lips. Tears, unwanted and unexpected, prickled at the back of Lana’s eyes. Pulling away, she tried to contain the emotions skittering through her. How many nights had she spent tossing and turning, dreaming about kissing him again? He was the first man she’d ever trusted since escaping from Levi, the first man she’d believed would never hurt her.

The first man to truly break her heart.

Chapter Four

“Shhh.” James wiped a rogue tear away. “Crying won’t make for a convincing show.”

“I’m not crying,” she snapped. “There was something in my eye.” Lana took a deep breath and locked all her emotions away in an imaginary closet—a survival trick she’d learned at the age of sixteen after her life had come crashing down around her. She sniffed and forced a smile. “Maybe I should cry. He might lose interest if my face is all puffy and my eyes are red.”

James gently kissed away yet a second rogue tear. “Wouldn’t deter me.”

“I don’t know why. You could have just left me to fend for myself. I managed to escape your clutches at Carpe Noctem the first time we met and you were pretty damn fierce.”

He slid his arms around her waist and snorted a laugh. “You didn’t escape. I threw you out of the club.”

“That was my escape plan.”

“And all the swearing and threats were for effect?”

Lana looked up at him through her eyelashes and her lips quivered with a repressed smile. “That was to get your attention. You didn’t seem to be the kind of man who would be attracted to a quiet, mild-mannered woman.”

James cocked his head and gave her a quizzical look. “I was particularly harsh with you during that interrogation. Are you saying even after that…even after I confiscated your camera and kicked you out, you were trying to get my attention?”

“Not ‘even’.
Because.
” Her cheeks flamed and she looked away.

James tightened his arms, drawing her close. “Do you know why I threw you out?” he murmured. “Because if I hadn’t…”

A stick cracked behind them, cutting him off. “Show time,” he whispered. He cupped her face in his hands and tilted her face up. Lana closed her eyes. She imagined she was with the man who had made her trust again, the man she had thought was her future. She imagined she was Buttercup in
The Princess Bride
and she had just discovered Westley wasn’t dead after all.

His lips found hers and he teased her mouth open, sweeping his tongue inside. Lana fisted his shirt and pulled him close, kissing him back with a fierce, unexpected hunger. James groaned into her mouth and he deepened the kiss, his tongue tangling with hers, stroking, searching, exploring. Breathless, she opened to him, wrapping her legs around his hips, pulling him closer.

“Thought I might catch a cop out here,” Rex growled. “Maybe another one of Angel’s fucking investigators. I was damn sure we were being watched. Not often I’m wrong.”

Lana jolted. In the back of her mind, she had known that Rex was coming and this show was for his benefit, but for a moment she had lost awareness of anything but James. She dropped her forehead to his shoulder to hide her puffy eyes, and his arm circled protectively around her.

“Told the old lady it was time she met the brothers, but we got distracted, if you know what I mean.” James chuckled. Lana cringed. Although she knew it was a game, a part of her resented the harsh words and the cold, detached tone of his voice. At least he hadn’t punctuated his words with a pelvic thrust.

Rex gave an annoyed grunt. Lana didn’t need to look up to know he was studying her. She could feel his eyes drilling into her head, willing her to meet his gaze. She leaned her forehead against James’s shoulder. She had seen enough of Rex last night, and until she got her photos, she would be forced to see more. James’s shirt held more appeal than staring into Rex’s soulless eyes.

Rex exhaled and his voice turned cold. “Send her home. I’ve called a meeting of the inner circle. She can meet everyone at the barbeque on Saturday.”

Lana’s head jerked up. “Barbeque?”

James shoved her head back down to his shoulder. “She can’t make it. She’s going out of town.”

Lana’s mind whirled. She couldn’t think of a better way to get the pictures she needed. Rex on his home turf, beer in hand, his newest squeeze under his arm, Lana’s camera snapping in the background. But she would have to go into the clubhouse. Her heart protested with a violent thud and her stomach clenched. No clubhouse. Not for her. But the pictures…Angel. Her mind spun in circles. What to do?

As if sensing her indecision, James pressed his lips to her ear and whispered, “You are not going anywhere near the clubhouse. No fucking way. And that’s final.”

The hair on the back of Lana’s neck stood on end. “Don’t tell me what to do,” she growled. “We need to
discuss
it. Do you know that word? Discuss? Ever thought about using it?”

She looked up at Rex and forced her lips into a smile. “I
might
be able to change my plans. I’ll discuss it with Ice. I would love to meet everyone. I’ve heard so much about you all.”

A sound erupted from James’s chest, a cross between a snarl and a choke, and the look he shot her was nothing short of…well, icy.

“We’ve heard nothing about you.” Rex gave her a snake-oil salesman smile. “And I’d like to hear how you and Ice hooked up. You’re not his usual type.”

Lana’s face fell. “What type is that?” The question came out before she could run it through her internal censor. As usual.

Rex’s dark eyes glittered with all the warmth of an Antarctic summer. “You come to the barbeque. I’ll tell you all about Ice and you can tell me all about you.” He licked his lips and Lana shuddered. Why did she suddenly feel as if she was prey?

“Wear something very short and very tight,” Rex added in a firm voice.

“My old lady wears what
I
tell her to wear,” James said, his voice low and even. He turned to face Rex, his body in front of Lana like a shield. “She does what
I
tell her to do. She goes where
I
tell her to go. I thought we sorted this out last night.”

James played the old man pretty good, Lana thought. She hoped it wasn’t because he’d had scores of old ladies. He was still breathtakingly gorgeous…and in those leathers… Her throat tightened at the thought of James with other women. If he did have a past littered with old ladies, she didn’t want to know.

“If she’s your old lady—and I’m not convinced she is—she’s Hades.” The undertone of warning in Rex’s voice sent a shiver down Lana’s spine.

“Last I checked,” he continued, “I was in charge of Hades.”

James folded his arms and leaned against the vehicle, forcing Lana to part her legs around his hips as if he was about to give her a piggyback ride. Although his posture seemed casual, his position protected both Lana and his back.

“I think we’re done here,” James said in a completely different voice, so deep and powerful it resonated down her spine.

Undaunted, Rex’s lip curled and he stood his ground. “I believe Roxie and I were having a conversation. Seems to me she wants to come to the barbeque and you’re standin’ in her way.”

“The conversation is over,” James snapped. “She’s going home and she’s gonna stay there. She won’t be showing up on Saturday, and she won’t be showing up at Hades. Ever.”

Lana frowned and sucked in a sharp breath, drawing Rex’s attention. He studied her face and smirked. “She might have something to say about it. Look at her. She’s chomping at the bit to tear into you. I don’t think you have what it takes to deal with a fireball like her.”

“You want me to prove myself, I will. Here and now.” James’s hands curled into fists and he took a step forward.

Rex folded his arms. “Got better things to do than scratch your itch, Ice. Back down.”

To Lana’s shock, James loosened his fists and leaned back against the vehicle. Rex gave him a curt nod, turned and walked away.

“Saturday, Roxie.” Rex looked back over his shoulder and gave her a wink.

For the longest time, she and James didn’t move, didn’t speak.

“You backed down,” she whispered, unbelieving. The James she knew never backed down. Never gave up without a fight.

“Had to. Don’t want him to think I’m a threat or he’ll slit my throat while I sleep, and two years of undercover work will go down the drain.”

The loud rumble of Rex’s engine cracked the stillness and she watched it disappear across the field. James turned to face her, his eyes glittering with an intense light, wild and untamed. She could feel his anger, taste his power, and it took all her self-control not to throw herself on him in a frenzy of animal lust.

Her breath hitched. Unnerved, she slid off the vehicle and tried to sidle past a thoughtful James, but he grabbed her shoulders and pulled her close.

“I’m not done with you yet.”

Maybe not, but she was done with him. She had to be—for her own sanity. Never had she felt such an internal disconnect. The James she’d known was still there—protective, possessive, sweetly caring and utterly confident. So at odds with the man who’d walked away. How could she still want him after he’d hurt her so much?

Her rational mind cut through the fuzz of lust and the question she’d asked herself a thousand times fell from her lips. “Why?” she gritted out. “Why did you leave me?”

He drew in a ragged breath. “At the time I thought it was the right thing to do. I got a call about an undercover assignment—this assignment. Too dangerous to have any ties. I didn’t want you to get hurt.”

“And you couldn’t have told me that? I would have understood if you couldn’t share the details.”

James shrugged and she studied him closely, marking the shift in his eyes from blue to gray, solid to insubstantial.

“That wasn’t all of it,” she said on a hunch, “was it?”

“No.”

She bit her lip to stop any possibility of tears. He didn’t deserve her tears. He didn’t deserve to know how she really felt. “Are you going to tell me the rest?”

He hesitated, twisted his lips as if considering, and then finally shook his head.

Her heart shriveled, her breath leaving her in a rush. “I deserve more than that.”

“You do,” he said softly. “But I can’t give it to you.”

She seethed inside, angry at him, angry at her own weakness, angry she wanted him so desperately she ached inside. Turning her back on him, she scooped up her clothes and yanked open the door to her car. “Guess I’ll see you on Saturday.”

“Not happening.”

Oh yes it is.

She slid into the safety of her vehicle and turned the key in the ignition. The Jetta wheezed and died. She tried again. Her betraying car refused to allow her the dignity of a clean escape.

“I told you to get rid of that piece of junk two years ago,” he growled. “It’s not roadworthy and in your line of work you need a reliable vehicle. What if it had been Rex and not me who caught you out here?”

She bristled at the harsh words he threw at her beloved Jetta. “He would never have recognized me and I could have talked my way out of it. You know that. I went along with your little show because I had nothing better to do with my time. But in the end, I didn’t need you. Just like I didn’t need you two years ago. Just like I don’t need you now.”

Shocked by her own harsh words, she slammed her lips together. She had never in her life been purposely mean. Not even to her father who had all but ignored her in favor of her two older brothers after her mother died. But then she had never been as badly hurt. The pain Levi had inflicted had been skin deep—superficial wounds that had disappeared within days, sometimes weeks. But James had bruised her heart, and seeing him again only opened up a wound she had long thought healed.

James tightened his jaw. “We need to—”