Traitorous Attraction (5 page)

Kate sat next to Connor and ignored the stickiness of the seat. She’d probably have to burn these clothes after this trip and she wouldn’t worry about cleanliness now.

They ordered from a whiteboard posted behind the bar where two options were scrawled: enchiladas spicy and enchiladas fire. Kate chose the first and Connor the latter. With a side of beer, Connor seemed as though he was perfectly relaxed on the hard stool, his back propped against a wall that Kate wouldn’t have touched. Everything in the bar looked smeared with grease, booze or sweat.

“Enjoying your food?” Connor asked.

Though it was greasier than she would have preferred, she was hungry. “It’s good.” Her voice carried and she had no intention of insulting the owner. She reached to her side to check the time on her phone and frowned when she remembered Connor had made her throw away everything.

“Missing it?” Connor asked.

Not as much as she would have expected. It provided security in knowing help was a phone call away. Now help was next to her in the form of a good-looking, but slightly crabby, operative. “Habit. It’s useful.”

“I don’t know how you can stand to be plugged in all day. I see people staring at those things like it’s their whole world. What about interacting with the people around you?”

He was one to talk. “The man who lives like a hermit has a criticism about socializing electronically?” Kate asked.

He shrugged. “Carrying those things around and staring at them will get you killed. You’ve got to be aware of what’s happening around you.”

No sympathy, then, from him. Her email and text messages would have to wait until they found Aiden. Would her boss have tried to contact her to let her know she was fired? She pressed away the anxiety that threatened to wrap around her. What difference did it make to read an email or listen to a voice mail? Her career with Sphere was over. Period.

The door to the bar opened and a man strolled in. He wore a black bandanna around his heavily tattooed neck. Her instincts told her he was dangerous and Kate watched him from the corner of her eye. After looking around the room, the man strutted to the bar and leaned over it. “How much?” he asked in a low voice, his mouth close to her ear.

Kate turned to him in surprise. He had a snake tattoo that ran from his neck, disappeared under his black sleeveless T-shirt and reappeared on both arms. “The lunch? It was six—”

“No,” the man said, a faint hint of indignation crossing his face. “How much for an hour with you?”

Kate stared for a long moment before she processed his question. She waited for Connor to say something and glanced at him. He had an amused look on his face, but he hadn’t moved to interfere.

“I am not for sale,” she said, the words coming out in a stutter. Did she look like a prostitute? The clothes she had purchased in town and had changed into weren’t anything close to advertising sex. They were men’s clothes.

“I’ll make it worth your while,” the Snake Man said. He ran his finger along her hand.

Kate snatched her hand away. Worth her while? There wasn’t enough money in the world to make her sell herself to someone. She narrowed her gaze and lifted her chin. “I am not for sale,” she repeated. She had never encountered anything as overtly insulting as this man’s suggestion.

The Snake Man looked at Connor. “Tell your woman to watch her mouth.”

As though Connor was her pimp? The idea of it disgusted her.

Connor took a long pull of his beer. “She’s not interested. Move on.”

The Snake Man grabbed a chunk of Kate’s hair, and Connor was on his feet in a split second. Kate cringed, and Snake Man released her and retreated a step. “You don’t want to fight here. My crew runs this town.”

Connor’s nostrils flared. His posture had shifted from calm to aggressive. “You might run the town, but you don’t run me or her. I’m protecting what’s mine. Walk away and we’ll keep this from turning into a very ugly incident.”

The other patrons in the tavern were suddenly focused on their food and drinks, though Kate pictured their ears pricked up, listening to every word. No one wanted to get involved in a brawl, but everyone wanted to eavesdrop.

The Snake Man glared at Connor. “Don’t start something with me.”

“I don’t want to have to hurt you. But I will.”

Cold and unyielding. The man narrowed his gaze and took a swing at Connor. Connor caught the flying fist and squeezed, twisting the man’s arm behind his back. Connor kicked his legs out from under him and the man slammed to the ground. A sickening crack made Kate wince.

The man groaned. “You broke my arm! My shoulder!”

Connor released him and stood over him until the man rose to his feet and limped to the door, rubbing his arm. He stopped at the door and looked back. “You’ll regret this.”

“No. I won’t,” Connor said.

“Did you break his arm?” Kate asked.

“Probably fractured it. Some people don’t listen and have to be shown what is and isn’t acceptable,” Connor said, returning to his seat. “Sorry about that chauvinist, possessive act.”

Kate wasn’t upset by Connor’s macho overture toward the Snake Man. Connor had said and done what was needed to protect her. The quick switch from calm to violent had surprised her. “Thank you for stepping in. I can’t believe he thought I was a prostitute.”

“Don’t take it personally. I assume a fair number of women in this town work as drug runners or prostitutes.”

“Do I look like a prostitute?” she asked, her discomfort taking on an edge of irritation.

He didn’t answer right away. His gaze traveled down her body.

“Connor!”

His eyes met hers. “What? You asked a question and I was trying to imagine you as one just to see if he somehow misunderstood. Attacking me certainly didn’t give him points for intelligence.”

“And?” she asked. He had better give an answer firmly in the negative.

“Nope, I can’t see it. You’re too classy.”

She took pleasure in his response. Too much pleasure. It shouldn’t matter what Connor thought of her, and thinking she didn’t look like a prostitute was a far cry from saying he found her appealing. “Most men find me attractive.” She was fishing for a compliment and it pained her to admit it, even to herself.

“I know. It’s why I thought Sphere sent you to draw me out. I have a thing for beautiful, smart blondes with killer smiles.”

A thing for her? “You couldn’t have been less friendly when we met. If that’s your technique when you’re flirting, it needs tuning.”

“I wasn’t flirting with you.”

Her heart fell a little. “What were you doing?”

“Chasing you away. Hoping you would change your mind about coming on this trip. Hoping you would admit you were lying.”

“I didn’t run away, I won’t change my mind and I wasn’t lying,” she said.

“We’ll see if that holds.”

Kate had the feeling his statement was about more than this mission. How would Connor react when he learned the role she’d played in his brother’s disappearance?

Chapter 4

C
onnor would have rather made camp in the jungle than sleep in the fleabag room he had rented. He didn’t think Kate would feel the same. It would be her last night with a solid roof and indoor plumbing for some time. Connor wasn’t planning to return to the city until he found Aiden. If that meant hiking through every inch of the jungle, then fine. His life had slid into a lull anyway. He could use the challenge, and with the stakes high, it was worth every moment spent.

They went to bed early. Kate appeared tired and he wanted them at the top of their game before venturing into the jungle. As uncomfortable as sleep might be in this room, it might be more challenging in the jungle. When he’d trained to be a Sphere agent, he’d often slept in temperature extremes on hard surfaces, hungry and thirsty. Only physical exhaustion had dropped him to sleep. He expected rough conditions in the jungle. Would Kate handle it? She’d have taken the mandatory Sphere training, but the real experience was more intense.

From the moment she’d shown up at his door, he’d been sizing her up—smart and capable. Connor had never met a woman with a smoking-hot body who didn’t use it to her benefit. Kate was the first. He was almost anticipating the day that she would.

“I don’t know if I can sleep here. I hear things scurrying on the floor,” Kate said.

They had both dismissed the idea of sleeping on the stained mattress. Connor adjusted his posture, looking for a comfortable sleeping position. “Try not to think about that. Think about the roof over your head, the non-muddy floor beneath you and that we don’t have to worry about nocturnal predators hunting us. At least, none of the four-legged variety.” The sound of people entering and leaving the twenty-four-hour liquor store echoed through the room. Every time the door slammed shut, it rattled the window in their room. Those things didn’t bother him. What did bother him was the hot blonde sleeping close enough to touch and knowing he couldn’t and shouldn’t touch her.

Kate was lying on the plastic tarp he’d given her. “Are you sure your legs have enough room?”

They’d arranged themselves on the floor, head to head, forming an L shape around the bed. They couldn’t shut out the light from the single window in the room. Kate had one of his shirts rolled under her head. Her eyes were closed and Connor watched her.

She was a gorgeous woman. Intelligent, too. Why would she want to work for a place like Sphere? The pay was great, but plenty of private contractors would love to have a woman like Kate on their team and pay well for the privilege. Sphere had too many hidden agendas and made too many politically motivated decisions. He had wanted to work for them before he’d known they were always working an angle, and that angle was always to their benefit. Their employees were expendable, as was evidenced by his brother.

Connor’s legs were only slightly bent. “It’s best to sleep with my legs braced against the door. If anyone tries to open it, they’ll wake me.” Connor intended the display in the bar to set the tone for their stay in Rosario and leave no question as to Connor’s commitment to protect Kate. Anyone who entered this room was making a grave error and would be treated as roughly as the gang member had, possibly more so since Connor hated to be woken.

“Too bad about the mattress,” she said, sleep heavy in her words. When she was tired, her voice took on a throatier quality he found sexy.

“I prefer the ground. If I never get too comfortable, I start to forget what a warm, soft bed feels like.” Luxuries spoiled him. He roughed it when possible. Sleeping next to a woman was a luxury he hadn’t indulged in in years. A warm, soft bed with silky sheets and inviting blankets sprang to mind. Kate appeared in his imaginary bed wearing one of his blue T-shirts and beckoning to him, her long legs curled under her and the scent of vanilla invading his senses. Connor stamped out the image.

“I prefer to sleep where things aren’t crawling on me,” Kate said.

In the jungle, it would be near impossible to keep her creature-free. Would she rise to the challenge or have a total meltdown? She had shown courage so far, but he didn’t know her well enough to guess. Exhaustion, uncertainty and fear could break a person.

“Why are you staring at me?” Kate asked, opening one eye.

She had sensed him watching. “I can’t figure you out.”

She smiled. “Then we’re on equal footing because you’re a mystery to me.”

He wasn’t a mystery. Everything he did was for his survival and to protect himself and the people he cared about. Nothing about him was contradictory. “I saw you at Aiden’s memorial service.”

“You did? You didn’t speak to me. I didn’t think you knew who I was,” she said.

“I didn’t realize who you were at the time. I didn’t speak to anyone at the service. I was too angry. My brother was dead.” He had told Aiden to leave Sphere when he’d quit. He had given Aiden a list of reasons to walk away. Connor had begged him to see Sphere for what they were: an agency that did whatever was necessary to accomplish their goals. They worked without a moral code, hidden from the public and without consequences for their actions.

Sphere operated in a legal gray area and, over the years, they had let their motivations and actions slip firmly into a dark, unscrupulous area. They unquestioningly took the assignments that most government agencies wouldn’t—or couldn’t—go near. Too many scandals in the government had led to their very existence.

“I’m sorry you were lied to about your brother. If you were so angry, why did you come to the service? There wasn’t a body,” Kate said.

Connor almost hadn’t attended the service. He’d been aware that their father had been in attendance, but Connor hadn’t spoken to him. If he’d spoken to anyone, he would have lost it. “I thought it would give me closure.” He had thought it would allow him to move on and let go of his hurt and anger. God knew he didn’t need to harbor more rage at life’s inequities than he already did.

“Did you feel better until I showed up on your doorstep?” Kate asked carefully.

He hadn’t felt better. He had only his guilt over his relationship with Aiden and anger for Sphere that had sharpened to a fine point. “No. The grief was almost intolerable.” He blamed Sphere for his brother’s death. They’d put their plan before the lives of their agents. Unforgivable. “Aiden is everything to me.” It had never been clearer until he’d thought he’d lost him. To have another chance to make things right between them was priceless.

“I’m s-s-sorry.”

She sounded genuinely shaken. Why? She had done what no one else in Sphere had. She had cared enough to look for Aiden. Was he giving her too much credit? Connor wanted to believe Kate was looking out for Aiden, that perhaps his brother meant enough to her to put her life on the line. The idea that Sphere was pulling the strings tugged at him and cast distrust over her intentions. What if Sphere was using her to manipulate him? Had they known all along Aiden was alive? Whose side was she on? Anger lit in his blood, hot and fierce. “Kate.” Kate rolled onto her stomach to look at him.

“If you’re lying to me, if you’re using me, if my brother is dead and this is a game, then you will regret the day you met me. You’ll wish you had never heard of Sphere. Do you understand?”

Kate’s mouth fell open and shame immediately swarmed over him. Connor wasn’t accustomed to threatening people. Especially not attractive females who had bright, innocent eyes and tempting, full mouths begging to be kissed. He’d felt he needed to say something to drive home the seriousness of his feelings about a betrayal. He couldn’t openly accept that Aiden was alive based on her words and a picture and let the hope that his brother was alive spring too high. If Kate was wrong, if she was misleading him, he couldn’t go through the process of coming to terms with his brother’s death again.

Aiden was his younger brother. Connor should have been looking out for him. He should have steered him to another profession before he’d gotten tangled up with Sphere. He should never have been proud that his brother had been recruited as a Sphere agent. He should have been the one who’d died, not Aiden. The list of what he should have done was endless. How much of his anger over losing Aiden was directed at Sphere and how much at himself?

“I believe Aiden is alive,” Kate said, her voice soft with hurt underlining every syllable. “I want to find him and bring him home. It wouldn’t kill you to be nicer and have a good attitude.”

Shame assailed him. She was right and her simple words struck him, made him recheck his words and thoughts. “I’m sorry. I have trust issues.”

“I know you do,” Kate said.

Connor waited for sleep as his fitful thoughts drifted between Aiden, Kate and Sphere.

Connor awoke to a knock at the door and his hand went to his knife. The sky was dark, the lights from the liquor store below shining through the uncovered window into their room. The whirl of the fan was the only sound.

“Who is it?” Kate asked him in a faint whisper.

Connor pressed a finger over his lips and motioned for her to move across the room. If this got ugly, he wanted her tucked out of reach. Perhaps her rejection of the snake-tattooed man at the bar had invited trouble. Gangs were territorial and perhaps they had underestimated who they were up against. Maybe someone had the wrong room.

Or maybe Sphere had found them. The same information Kate would have learned about Aiden would be available to Sphere. Had they tracked him and Kate to this jungle border town?

“What do you want?” Connor asked through the thin plywood door. The door would pop open with a strong shove, but the confidence and strength in his voice might intimidate a visitor and cause them to think twice about forcing their way inside.

“Let me in and I’ll tell you.”

A female voice, heavy accented and one he didn’t recognize. He glanced at Kate, who was shaking her head. She didn’t know the voice either.

A Sphere agent was his first guess. Bush league for them to approach in the middle of the night.

Connor swung open the door and came face-to-face with a stranger. A stranger who, if she wasn’t a Sphere agent, was clearly offering sex. Her bright purple dress was similar to one Kate had dismissed in the store as too short, too tight and too low-cut.

When he’d pictured it on Kate, he had visions of her dancing sensuously against him, her body moving to a slow, melodious song.

Seeing the same dress on this woman, he was repulsed. “I don’t want whatever you’re selling.” Drugs. Sex. Booze. He wasn’t interested.

The woman leaned against the doorjamb, thrusting out her hip to the right and her breasts toward him. “Give me a chance to show you a good time. Americans love to taste what I have to offer.”

The slur of her words indicated she was drunk or high. Pointing out that she slept with whoever paid for it was no lure. Before he could tell her he wasn’t interested, Kate’s hand slipped around his stomach and she tucked herself under his arm. He hadn’t heard her move and he stilled his startled reaction.

“He isn’t interested,” Kate said.

Annoyance registered on the woman’s face. She shrugged and walked to the next room. Connor shut the door. Kate fit easily against his side, her head reaching to his collarbone, his arm around her resting on her shoulder. They fit together well. Too well. Thinking about Kate as if she were his lover made him uncomfortable, especially considering he didn’t know much about her relationship with his brother. She had denied they were a couple, and if she was telling the truth, he didn’t understand why she had been insistent on coming to Tumara to find him.

Kate dropped her arm, pressing it over her chest and drawing his attention to that spot. “My heart is racing. I thought Sphere had found us.” She retreated to her sleeping area on the floor.

Kate’s touch had riled his heart rate more than the unexpected and unknown visitor had. He dragged in air and diverted his thoughts to something other than Kate’s smell, her soft skin and her bedroom voice. “You didn’t need to get involved,” Connor said. The feel of Kate’s hand on his stomach echoed through his senses.

“I owed you after the incident in the bar with the Snake Man. I figured it would be faster to get rid of her this way instead of arguing. Who knows what else she would have shown you or said to convince you to pay her.”

“I might have paid her to go away,” Connor said.

Kate let out a small laugh. “Then I saved you some cash.”

Connor lay on the floor, staring at the ceiling. He took several more slow, deep breaths to calm his body to return to sleep. Connor thought again of the dress and pictured it on Kate. “Have you ever shown up at a man’s door looking for sex?” The question was out of line, but his thoughts had obsessed over it, he’d asked it and it was too late to take it back. Maybe Kate would admit more about her relationship with his brother. That would deep-freeze his body’s excited reaction for sure.

“At a stranger’s house? No. A man I was dating? Sure.”

Her admission heated his body and blood rushed between his legs. She was involved with Aiden in some manner and that alone should put the chill on his libido. It didn’t. He wanted her and very little would change that.

Aiden and Connor had never been competitive with each other. The world they’d grown up in was brutal enough without adding brotherly conflicts to it. Knowing it wasn’t right to think about her in a sexual way, knowing she was off-limits, made Connor desire Kate more. How juvenile could he be?

Being alone with Kate was a test of his loyalty to his brother. Kate deserved his respect in deference to Aiden. Thinking of her in an inappropriate manner would only make it awkward when Aiden and Kate were reunited.

If they were reunited. Connor hadn’t given up on finding his brother, but he wouldn’t pin his hopes on it either. Too easy to destroy them. That was a lesson he had learned at a young age from his father.

“What about you? I don’t see you as the long-term, monogamous relationship type. Do you like to have a woman in every port?” Kate asked.

Connor had never gotten involved with a local woman while he was overseas on a mission, even if that woman had nothing to do with his tasks. When he had been home, he had attempted to have relationships with women, but they’d ended because he was away for too long. Working for Sphere meant he couldn’t talk about his work, which created difficulties. How could he tell a woman he was dating that even though he had been gone for the past three months, he couldn’t talk about what he had been doing or tell her anything about his work? When he returned from a mission, he was out of the loop on what was happening in her life. It had become more and more challenging to find conversation to fill the silences. “I rarely returned to the same region after I completed my missions, and I avoid getting involved with a woman while I’m working even if she’s only peripherally involved in my missions.”