ArousingMemories (9 page)

His voice had softened as he finished, sounding hurt and
almost catching on his words. As they stood staring each other down, Haley had
trouble taking in air. Her heart pounded, and her chest strained with quick
breaths. It wasn’t anger, though, that had worked her into such a state. It was
Sev’s words and the look in his eyes. The image he painted was not of her with
Noah, or any other man. It was of him, Severin Blake, playing her body to
perfection, making her wet and wild and relaxed. She had lied. He’d never left
her wanting.

She wanted him now, then and there, and the wanting would
make her weep if she didn’t get herself under control. If she was going to do
that, she needed to stop peering into this man’s eyes because all she saw there
was wanting, too. He looked at her with such need, such longing, her resistance
to him cracked. At the moment, she couldn’t recall for the life of her why she
had ever left this man. Without conscious thought, she leaned closer to him,
her eyes shifting to his lips. Full, strong, inviting, she wanted a taste. Just
a taste. Closing her eyes, she drifted to him and let her mouth touch his.

A spark, a small one, pricked her flesh where it met his. It
spread from there throughout her body. It warmed her, it relaxed her. And
wanting a little bit more, she probed his lips with her tongue and pushed past
them. He welcomed her into his moist warmth that tasted of coffee and Sev. She
hadn’t tasted the combination in so many months. It was delicious. His tongue
swirled with hers in greeting and chased it out of his mouth so that he could
enter hers. Before she realized it, they clung to each other, kissing deeply
and moaning. But his fingers tugged at her hair, and she came to her senses.

What were they doing?

Haley broke contact abruptly and stumbled as she righted
herself. Hands flat on the table, Sev stared back at her wide-eyed. “Holy
shit!”

Good old Sev, always ready with an appropriate quip. Holy
shit, indeed. “That was a mistake,” she lectured and felt instantly stupid,
given how she had initiated the kiss.

Sev stood upright and ran his hands through his hair.
“Mistake, right,” he echoed in an irritated tone. “Well, if it’s any
consolation, you’ve managed to get rid of my BJ happy.”

“It’s not,” she retorted. They were both silent for a few
seconds, not looking at each other. She needed to get things back under
control. They had a job to do, and grating on each other’s nerves and longing
for what was gone and wasn’t coming back was not only stupid, it was
insupportable under the circumstances. “I apologize,” she bit out. “I was out
of line.”

“No, I was.” His voice was firmer, yet calmer. “I wasn’t
spying on you and Noah. It was pure supposition on my part.”

“You were right, though.” She admitted it because there was
no reason to hide it. They weren’t a couple anymore. They weren’t in love
anymore.
Don’t say it
, she warned herself.
Liar
, the tiny voice
said anyway. She took a deep breath for courage. “It’s not working. What I’m
doing with Noah,” she clarified when Sev looked at her sharply. “My having sex
with him has gone nowhere. Maybe, ah, maybe you’ll have better luck.” Wow, that
was tough to get out. Still, it was the right thing to do as team leader. The
mission was all that mattered.

Sev shrugged. “I haven’t so far.” He continued quickly when
she opened her mouth to speak. “I’ll keep trying in any event. And I’m assuming
you will, too.” She nodded because she was going to keep trying. It still might
work. “Fair enough. Look, why don’t you go take some downtime with him. I can
look at these videos by myself.”

Haley was torn. She didn’t like shirking duties, yet being
with Noah could be the key to success. Sev was right, too. It didn’t take them
both to watch videos and, what she really itched to do was go out into the
field. Her people were all good, and yet she wanted a close look with her own
eyes. Noah would have to wait.

“Okay. Call me if you see anything interesting or need
something. I’m going out for a while before checking in on Noah.”

Sev’s eyes narrowed. “Not exactly what I suggested.”

Arrogant man. “No,” she replied with deliberate patience.
“However, as team leader, I’ve decided Lexington deserves a more personal
look.”

“Why Lexington?”

She rubbed the back of her neck. “My gut tells to me to go
there. These guys are pretty elemental in their thinking. Every schoolkid
learns about the Battle of Lexington and Concord. Lexington always gets top
billing and it’s where the first American men fell. I think they’d appreciate
the martyr symbolism.”

Sev nodded. “They do think of themselves as martyrs, the
little creeps. Okay, let’s go.”

Oh, crap. “No, no, Sev, I said I was going. You volunteered
to watch the videos.”

“I can do it when we get back. They’re not going anywhere,
and you’ve given strict orders for operatives to go out in pairs, remember?”

Oh, crap, again. He had her on a technicality. “Fine, but
I’m driving.” With a toss of her head, Haley left the room with Sev a weighty
presence at her back.

* * * * *

Sev probably needed his head examined. If he weren’t some
kind of mental case, why would he torture himself by tagging along after Haley
like a devoted puppy? Noah with his amnesia was perfectly normal in comparison.
Still, Haley being out alone where there could be danger would certainly cause
him to lose his mind, so on balance coming with her was the saner choice. Damn,
though, he could still feel her lips, still taste the sweetness of her tongue
and smell the clean fragrance of her skin. Why had she kissed him? Good
question. A better one was, why had he let her stop? Because getting involved
with her again would only lead to trouble. Neither of them had changed, which
meant their problems hadn’t changed either.

As he crossed Massachusetts Avenue, he kept a steady eye on
her. She stood in front of the monument dedicated to the eight men killed
initially by the British. Other people, families mostly, milled about, too.
Nothing and no one looked suspicious. Nevertheless, his tension eased once he
reached her side. She didn’t look at him, pretending to be absorbed by the
names of the fallen. He wasn’t fooled, though. He knew she was as acutely aware
of their surroundings as he was.

“Here you go, sugar. One small strawberry cone.”

Haley looked at him with raised eyebrows. “It’s not even
lunchtime yet.”

“So? It’s summer, this is ice cream. It’s never wrong to eat
ice cream in the summer. It’s never wrong to eat ice cream period.” He gave her
his most ingratiating grin.

“Says the man who never has to worry about his weight.”

He waggled the cone in front of her. “It’s your favorite
flavor.”

She hesitated one more second and her eyes narrowed before
she took the ice cream. “You needn’t have gone to such trouble, dear,” she said
with false sweetness. “Really.” Her voice hardened, as did her stare. But her
tongue slipped out to lick slowly around the ice cream. Her eyelids dropped to
half-mast with the first taste. Low blow, but he ignored the heat that flared
in his belly.

Instead, he chuckled. “It was no problem. We’re on vacation,
after all.” He dared to slip his arm around her waist, hugging her close. If
they were going to pretend to be tourists, they may as well act like it. Her
warm body against his own sent his temperature up. He took a big bite of his
ice cream and welcomed the pain of the inevitable brain freeze.

Happily, Haley gave only a token effort to escape his grasp
before relaxing into him. “You’ll spoil me, darling,” she cooed. Her eyes,
though, were darting about. “I don’t know, Sev,” she said in a low voice.
“Taking out this iconic monument would certainly make a statement, and if it’s
a big enough explosion, it could take out a few dozen people, maybe more.”

He agreed. The statue was in a grassy triangle where a few
roads came together. If you were there to look at it, a few head nods would
suffice. The grassy common area adjacent to it, however, might have many people
milling about. The Sons were into body counts as well as symbolism. This was a
viable spot. “I can see it happening, although there’s not a good place to hide
a bomb.”

“You’re right. It was only a hunch, of course. There are
other places just as or more likely.” She sighed, her chest rose and fell hard.

Standing there, eating ice cream, holding her was so
perfect. He wished he had the right to do it all the time, and he hated the
frustration in her voice. He hated her worry. “Your hunches are good, as I
recall, and as we don’t have anything better to go on, you may as well listen
to your gut. Put a couple of people here for a round-the-clock detail.”

She took a delicate bite out of her cone. “Yeah,” she said
around the mouthful. “I guess it makes as much sense as anything else we’re
doing. The ice cream is good,” she added, sticking the tip of her pink tongue
inside the cone.

“Handmade,” he confirmed and with a hard swallow, looked
away. God, he wished he could suck the ice cream off her tongue. But they had
tried kissing not an hour ago, and Haley had regretted it. A mistake, or so she
said. He didn’t know if she truly meant it. He only knew he didn’t regret it.

They stood together a few minutes more, neither speaking
again until Haley popped the last of her cone in her mouth. She pulled away
from him and he reluctantly let her go, watching her lick her fingers clean in
yet another provocative move. Damn, the woman made his blood sing.

“We should get back,” she said. “I need to check in on Noah
and you need to watch the rest of the videos.”

“Right.” The plan was sound and he had made the suggestion
about seeing Noah. So why did the thought her being with the other man poke at
his gut? She watched him as if expecting him to say something more. There was
nothing more for him to say, though. He turned and headed for their car without
a backward glance.

* * * * *

“Haley!”

She grimaced briefly in frustration before turning around to
face Sev. Damnation, she had almost made it out without him noticing. “What?”
She tried to sound bored, as if he had caught her making a run for takeout.

He stopped a few feet away and eyed her up and down. “Where
are you going?”

Crossing her arms, she stared him down. “Nowhere you need to
know about.”

“Bullshit! You’re packing.”

“I’m always packing. So are you and everyone else in this
organization. No one steps a foot outside without being armed. Hell, we stay
armed even inside this place.”

With a flick of his wrist, he flipped open her windbreaker
to reveal her shoulder holster carrying her semiautomatic, and the sidearm at
her waist. He tapped her left ankle with his right foot and hit the knife
sheathed there. He repeated the exercise with her right ankle to confirm her
clutch piece was in place.

“You don’t normally pack that much heat, sugar,” he drawled.

“Pack heat? What is this, a James Cagney movie?”

“I calls ‘em like I sees ‘em. You’re not going out for more
ice cream, are you, Haley?” He crossed his arms and narrowed his gaze.

For about two seconds, she considered bluffing her way
through. But this was Sev. He wouldn’t believe anything other than the truth.
“I’m going to take another look at the warehouse.”

Sev smacked his palm against his forehead and blew out a
short breath. “The one where you found Noah and Markowitz?”

“Yes.”

Several seconds ticked by as they stood staring at each
other. Finally, he responded and the strain in his voice demonstrated how hard
he was fighting the urge to blow his stack. “You have never been stupid,
Haley.”

She reined in her indignation. Bickering with this man as if
they were in high school was the reaction he wanted. With a cool voice, she
said, “By which I assume you mean because I didn’t ask you to come with me, I
must be stupid.”

“It didn’t have to be me,” he practically shouted. “You
should take someone, anyone, with you.”

“What makes you think I’m not?” She recognized the foolishness
of her response, yet couldn’t keep it back.

“I know all the schedules of the operatives on this mission.
Everyone is occupied elsewhere for the night.”

“Which is exactly why I don’t have anyone coming with me.”

“You could have asked me.” There was a look in his eyes that
was more than anger. He was upset and even hurt.

She let a sigh slip out. “I don’t think we should be
together very much. We seem to have trouble keeping it strictly professional
between us. I simply want to review what’s left at that place in case we missed
something. It’s a long shot, but I can’t stand not doing anything while the
clock keeps ticking away.”

It was Sev’s turn to sigh. “Yeah, I hear you about how it is
between us. I tell myself I’m not going to touch you, and yet I still do. I
promise, though, I won’t tonight. Jesus, we’re going to the location where one
of our own was tortured to death. That thought alone will keep me focused.
Besides, I’ll be there to watch your back. Nothing is more important to me than
keeping you safe.”

The words, so sweetly and simply stated, made her heart do a
slow roll in her chest. He was right, too, damn it all. As unlikely as it was
for any of the Sons to being hanging around their old meeting place, doing
recon in pairs was always the sensible thing.

“Okay,” she agreed, the reluctance there in her tone despite
her best intentions.

Sev hesitated a second as if unable to believe she’d given
in so easily. “Okay?” When she nodded, he said, “Give me a few minutes to arm
up.”

An hour later, Haley and Sev sat in the car she had parked
on a quiet side street. They peered at the burnt-out remains of the warehouse,
now roped off with hazard tape. Night had fallen and the area was deserted. She
had waited for this time deliberately in order to have as few prying eyes as
possible. Of course, the darkness made looking around harder, too. The idea was
as long a shot as they came. Their CSI people had poured over the site for
hours after the explosion occurred. The chance they had missed something she would
spot in the dark was negligible. Still, it was better than twiddling her thumbs
back at headquarters waiting for Noah’s memories to come back or for someone to
find something.