The Colonel's Man (7 page)

“We’ll be going in for the annual Helinian systems fundraiser. We’re not interested in anyone at the do. Instead, we’ll be hitting up the organizer’s office. Serena Julian is a player we’ve been tracking for a while and recent intel indicates that she’s recently come into possession of a list of Section operatives in the Delian Sector.”

She tucked a wayward strand of hair behind her hair, already irritated by the complex up-do and looked at them.

“I don’t need to tell you what a total fuckup that would be.”

The two were immersed with reading the dossiers and while Drew seemed more accepting of his ID, Jason’s face started to sour the more he read the file.

“How come I get to be the bodyguard?” He tapped the datapad in frustration with his hand. “No one’s gonna believe I’m just the hired help in a tux this good.”

Spirits save her from male egos. Arita sighed and resisted the urge to slap him upside the head.

“That’s because Kurt and James are best buds. Plus, Serena has a thing for heavy-worlders, which means she is going to make a beeline for tall, blonde and handsome here…which leaves Kurt to wander off in search of a little action with his friend’s wife.”

That seemed to have caught his interest as pretty soon the familiar cocky grin appeared on his face. He leaned back against his seat and gave her an assessing once-over as he straightened his bowtie with one hand for good measure.

“Oh yeah?”

She sighed as she sat down and clipped in. The safety harness was a little incongruous with the fitted cocktail dress she’d chosen but this wasn’t a pleasure trip. “Down boy. We’ll be breaking into the office. What are your safe-cracking skills like?”

“Decent enough to go pop a standard commercial grade Harriman 2000 in ten seconds.”

He reviewed the mission file again, flipping through the data-pad. “What do we know about the security? Any alarms that we can trip in there?”

“Oh yeah, they’re fully tricked out in there. Motion sensors and cameras, the lot. We’re gonna have Ko’than working remote software for us.” She nodded towards the front of the drop-shuttle to their pilot. He waved back over his shoulder, skillfully piloting them out of the shuttle bay doors and gunning the engines.

“Which means we get to put on a bit of a show for him to loop before we get down to business. All male security team. My guess is they watch for a while before coming to kick us out.”

“Sounds like a great plan.” Jason smiled appreciatively as Drew shook his head in resignation behind him. “Seeing as we’d have an audience I feel the need to really give it my best and while I’m looking good and feeling even better, it’d be a great scene with a co-star like you.”

She lifted an eyebrow. “Strictly professional, tiger. Get too frisky and I’ll snap bits off you, understand?”

He had the gall to look offended.

“Would I try and take advantage of you?” Drew was about to open his mouth but Jason quickly headed it off. “Don’t answer that.”

As they settled in for the flight, she watched him surreptitiously from under lowered lashes. The goofball exterior evaporated as he made notations and read over details in the two data-pads he balanced on his lap, focused and looking rather determined. In unguarded moments like this, Arita caught a glimpse of the serious, no-games operator that had managed to get her out of harm’s way and had stayed by her side when she needed him.

She read through her own pad again, even though she’d already committed the contents to memory, but she couldn’t stop her gaze straying back to Jason. He was stretched out in the seat opposite her, his pant clad legs sprawling into the space between the seats. Long legs, with strong thighs. Heat flushed her cheeks as she recalled what those legs had felt like wrapped around hers.

He rolled his shoulders and looked up, catching her gaze with his. This time instead of the cocky grin, he smiled at her. Drew seemed to have picked a few chairs away to get busy with his research and the two of them were once again privately isolated at the back of the drop-shuttle.

“Feeling better?”

She flashed him a small smile, absurdly feeling self-conscious. He’d seen her out of it, and bleeding. That bothered her more than being mostly undressed in front of him.

“Yes, thank you. I…appreciate you staying with me last night. No one’s ever done that before.”

His eyes didn’t waver from hers. “You’re welcome. I was relieved that you came out of it just fine. I wasn’t happy that you didn’t tell me when you were hurt.”

She shrugged as Drew levered himself out of his seat and made his way up to the cockpit, a frown on his face as he read something from the pad. She watched him go, pleased that the pair were working autonomously. “Didn’t think much of it to be honest. Michaels was hurt as well, and I’m a tough old thing to kill.”

“Oh you’re a tough cookie alright but old?” His eyebrow went up at her statement as he gave her a quick once over. His eyes toured her body for a second time, slow and leisurely.

She recrossed her legs, automatically smoothing her skirt over her thigh. “I’m older than you are.”

He chuckled softly. “Well I won’t insult you by asking by just how much. But let me just say that whatever you’re doing, you should keep it up.”

“Charmer, flattery will get you nowhere.” Color swarmed over her cheeks before she could do anything to stop it. It wasn’t the compliment but more the genuine look in his eyes and the warmth in his voice as he gave it. “I’m forty-seven.”

Crap. Why had she just told him that? It wasn’t anything he couldn’t pick up from her service jacket now she’d had his access raised, but she didn’t usually feel the need to tell people, particularly sexy, slick tongued operatives like Scott. He was the sort she usually avoided like the plague, except when her heat phase - the lone legacy of her Fenarian heritage - reared its ugly head. Then, for four days straight, she needed a meaningless encounter with someone who wouldn’t ask questions. Someone just like Scott…

Shock and disbelief never appeared on his face but the awe and appreciation did and his smile went wider. “Wow, really? You’re not pulling my leg, are you? I mean you look incredibly hot for forty seven.”

She lifted a brow, the wayward strand of hair falling forward again. “Yeah, right. You’re just trying to get into my pants. I’m onto you, Scott.” She wagged her finger at him sternly, trying to ignore the smile pulling at the corner of her lips.

Drew chose that moment to return to his seat, and Ko’than called out from the front. “Five minute warning guys.”

Pulling herself together, Arita put her data pad down on the seat next to her and picked up the small clutch. “Game faces on boys and remember, we get caught and the Alliance have never heard of us. There is no backup. There is no cavalry. There is just us.”

“Then we have everything we need.” Jason grinned as he turned to Drew. “Right buddy?”

She watched the two exchange fist bumps in a manner that said they had been doing this as a ritual for years.

“Rock and roll.” Drew smiled in agreement.

* * *

Being the bodyguard tonight actually meant Jason had better flexibility when it came to scoping out the scene. A bodyguard’s attention was supposed to be everywhere else except on the principal, and he took full advantage of that occupational expectation to the limit. Being a bodyguard also gave a good excuse to why he was packing heat if it ever came down to someone questioning him. A bodyguard without a weapon was pretty much just cannon fodder.

However it also had its disadvantages and while he knew there were better choices for the top five in his head, the one main reason he didn’t enjoy his cover right now was that he didn’t get to have the beautiful woman on his arm tonight, acting like the dutiful wife.

Forty-seven?

God, he almost didn’t believe it but he noticed the fluster when she mentioned her age and something told him she was telling the truth. But no matter how old she was, age was just a number to him. It meant nothing as he watched in appreciation of just how beautiful she was.

The black halter neck sheath fitted her to perfection as the fabric hugged every curve of her delicious body. The high side slit gave teasing glimpses of a long flawless leg and a silky thigh which he could imagine wrapped around his waist. As she turned he was treated to the alluring display of a creamy expanse of skin. He noted the delicate bumps of her spine that curved enticingly down her back and tempted him to trace that trail with his fingers…or his mouth all the way down… He groaned as he watched her laugh at a joke a pompous looking diplomat had said to her. Hell even her laugh was sexy and his cock stirred in his pants.
Shit.
She had undergone the cosmetic procedure once again to make her look more human but he kind of missed her ridges.

He saw Drew’s hand slip to her lower back and he tried not to grit his teeth when he saw the loving looks exchanged between the two. A possessive streak had washed over him and as Drew gave her a quick kiss on the lips, he suddenly had the irrational urge to go over there and punch his partner in the face then turn Arita around and kiss her till she was breathless.

As if on cue, she turned into Drew’s hold, the bigger man’s arm curled around her waist protectively, and shot him a sexy look over her shoulder. It was the sort of look that smoldered and promised all at the same time.

His breath caught in his throat. His heart stuttered, then picked up the pace like a runaway drop-shuttle. In his pants, he was hot and hard in an instant, aching for her. He knew she was playing a role, but
Jesus Christ
he wanted her to look at him like that for real.

Out of the corner of his eye he spotted their principal approaching but damned if he could look away from Arita. He clamped his jaw tight as she turned to Drew, her lips practically brushing his ear as she whispered something. That should be him, those soft words whispered in his ear… But no way would he let her slip out of his hold like Drew was doing, turning to the woman who approached with appreciation in her eyes and a smile on her lips.

Serena Julian was quite the looker and the way the tight strapless dress she wore showed off her large albeit artificial charms, most men in the room wouldn’t be able to keep their eyes off her. Long flaming red hair, supermodel body and a sex kitten’s pout, most men would have agreed that she was the most attractive woman in the room. Not Jason. For him, Arita was more beautiful than she was. Serena Julian, with all the charms she had, did not capture his interest in the slightest.

Arita sidled away from Drew and his new conversation partner, wandering over to the buffet table. She didn’t eat, instead she took a glass of champagne and sipped at it as she turned. Her gaze swept the room, as though idly. Like a woman pretending not to be looking for someone in case her husband looked over. Smiling, he leaned against a pillar and waited.

Like the mouse that played when the cat was not looking, Jason absorbed the persona of his role like a method actor only better. He had to be since playing his cover perfectly meant life and death in his world.

He snatched a champagne glass from a passing tray and ambled towards Arita with one hand in his pocket and charmer’s smile on his face. “You look bored.”

“I don’t like these things at all.” She pouted and looked over at Drew. He was deep in conversation with Selena, the woman hanging off his arm. “He’s always too busy for me. Always the same…work, work, work.”

She took a sip from her glass and subjected him to the full force of those ocean-blue eyes over the rim. “You wouldn’t neglect your wife like that, would you Kurt?”

Jason felt his pulse jump a couple of beats when she blessed him with that infinitely sexy gaze.

“Oh hell no.” He closed in, close enough to smell her perfume and count the freckles on her neck. “If you were my wife I’d be the one keeping you too busy to get bored.”

He took out his hand from his pocket and slid a caress down her neck with the back of his fingers. He smiled his pleasure as he felt a slight shiver ripple across her skin. “Your husband’s a fool. Taking a goddess like you for granted should be a crime.”

She flicked a glance in Drew’s direction but Jason’s shoulders blocked her view of the rest of the room as he backed her up behind a pillar. A flush highlighted her cheekbones as she wet those perfect lips with the tip of her tongue. He bit back a groan as she looked up at him through her lashes.

Because of her personality, larger than life and harder than nails, he forgot how petite she was but up close like this, he couldn’t help but notice. She was tiny and delicate, curved in all the right places to bring out the protective and possessive feelings he’d been trying like hell to quash. She wasn’t his, not even in the fantasy created by their cover ID’s…but he wanted her to be.

“How would you keep me busy then?” She framed the question shyly, her hand spreading out over his chest to hold him in place and stop him crowding her any more. He knew he was stronger and could brush aside the flimsy defense easily, but it wasn’t about that. It was about getting her to drop her guard and let him in.

“Well…” He slipped her hand in his and impressed hypnotic circles into her palm with his thumb: slow, light strokes. As her arm lost its will to remain rigid, he stepped in closer until he could feel the heat from her body. “I can think of a few things, but most involve you writhing around my cock.”