Assassin's Promise, The Red Team Series, Book 5 (5 page)

“One of them has a broken leg. See if he shows up at a hospital. Don’t think he can make it all the way back to the WKB compound without medical attention.”

“Roger that.”

“I’m taking the professor home. I’ll stop by Blade’s on my way back up the mountain. I’m out.”
 

Greer followed the professor into a newer townhouse subdivision. Each unit had a garage in the back next to a small yard. He followed Dr. Chase down the alley to her unit. She parked in the garage. He pulled up behind her.
 

Leaving his engine running, he got out to say good night. She locked her car and faced him, carrying her laptop and purse. The bright glare of his headlights made her eyes huge and her face pale. The night had been a drain.

“Good night, doc.”

She didn’t answer. He wondered what she wasn’t saying.
 

“You gonna be okay?”

Her “yeah” sounded like a “no.”
 

He looked beyond her to the door into the house. “Want me to clear your house?”

“Yes.”

He shut his SUV down, then moved in front of her. “Stay behind me, but keep up with me.” Inside, the professor flipped the light switch. The basement was unfinished. The stairwell was the only area dry-walled. He checked under the stairs, then they went up them, the doc flipping on lights as they went.
 

Once he’d cleared the main floor’s kitchen, dining room, living room, and powder room, he walked her back to the kitchen and ordered her to stay put while he checked out the upstairs. There were two bedrooms and two baths, all of them free of crazed WKBers.

He came back downstairs. The professor was standing exactly where he’d put her, still clutching her purse and laptop bag. He eased them from her hands and set them on the counter. Taking hold of her hands, he rubbed the tension from them.

“Talk to me. What’s in your laptop that the WKB wants?”

“Nothing.”
 

If he hadn’t been holding her hands, he wouldn’t have felt the flash of tension that passed through her.
 

“Maybe they just thought I was an easy target.”

“Uh-huh. Why didn’t you want the cops to know the bikers were WKBers?”

She sighed and pulled away from him as she walked into her living room. Greer followed her and perched himself on the oversized arm of her sofa.
 

“I took the position with UW two years ago so it would be convenient to research the Friendship Community. I have a grant to support my research and my department has encouraged this line of research. Now, for some reason that I don’t understand, things are getting a little tense between me and the department. Honestly, I feel as if my annual review may not go well. First the spray painting on the building, now the run-in with the WKB.” She folded her arms. “I’m afraid the provost is going to ask me to shut my research down.”

“How can he do that? You aren’t using university funds. What about academic freedom? Aren’t you supposed to pursue your own research interests?”

“He’s afraid of the WKB, thinks they’ll endanger the university and its students.”

“Why?”

The professor sat on the coffee table. Her knees were pressed together, her palms on her knees. “The WKB shares a border with the Friendship Community. They have, it seems, some kind of a relationship. They help one another. I don’t yet understand the particulars.”

“Have other things happened involving the WKB?”

Her eyes slowly rose to meet his. “Maybe.” Her lips pressed together, then a long breath slowly left her. “I didn’t connect the dots at first. Outlaw biker gangs aren’t always rational organisms. I’ve had them swarm my car twice, when no one was around. I almost crashed the second time. After that, I saw them everywhere I went. Once, they even followed me into a grocery store.”

“Did they ever say anything to you?”

“No. Things got quiet for a while, then the graffiti happened. My department chair said this was why the provost wanted me to stop my research into the Friendship Community. So I’m already on thin ice with him.”

“Seems the WKB thinks you have your research on your laptop. Do you?”

“Some of it.”

Greer lowered his head and rubbed his forehead as he considered the implications. What had she stumbled upon? Would it help their mission?

“I think your department chair is right. I think you should put a hold on things. For a little while.”

She huffed a sharp breath as she gave him a weak smile. “I don’t intimidate easily. If I’ve stirred up a bees’ nest, then I’m close to the honey.”

“Oh, you’re close, all right. Close to being taken out.” He caught her gaze and held it.

“The very fact that my life is even in the equation means something’s going on there that shouldn’t be.”
 

“You keep saying they are pacifists, but it seems you have your doubts.”

She sent him a measuring look, then began pacing. “There’s an undercurrent in their community that I can’t quite identify. It could simply be reticence on the part of their council to have me there. I don’t know. Whatever it is, it’s discordant with the way they present themselves.”

“What’s so important about the Friends that it’s worth your life?”

“Studying the social behavior of isolationist societies is what I do. I’ve documented fourteen other groups. I have over four hundred federally recognized societies to go. I want to know everything there is to know about all of them.”

“Why?” He stood and moved into her path, blocking her pacing.

She looked up at him. “If we can’t study our social behaviors, how can we really understand anything about each other? How do we know what our societal weaknesses and strengths are? Social science helps us see the structures that shape our lives—many of which we’re not even aware of, yet they inform our behavior and dictate our choices. Studying them may help us understand how to improve society. What’s more important than that?”

Greer reached out and caught a slim stream of her hair. He ran his fingers down its red-brown length. “Your life?”

She shut her eyes and lowered her head, leaning her cheek against his hand. An electric current jumped between them at the contact, one that made his skin tingle and set his nerves on edge.
 

“Thank you for being here tonight, making sure I’m safe.”

Greer sighed. He drew her into his arms. Pulling her close seemed the right thing to do. She was so little, so slight against his body. She was taking on the world, standing alone against the Friends, the WKB, and the university. Hell, the whole damned world was weighing down her shoulders.

“Doc—”

“Call me Remi.”

“Remi. Do you have friends or family you can stay with? A boyfriend? Maybe put this project on hold for a little while so things can cool down?”

“No.”

Her hands on his hips distracted him. “No to pausing the project or no to the other stuff?”

“All of it.” She looked up at him with her dark forest-green eyes.
 

“Look, I could crash on your couch for a few hours…”

She shrugged. “I have a perfectly comfortable bed upstairs.”

He stared at her, wondering if he was mistaking what he saw there. It had been a long fucking time since a woman gave him such an invitation. He touched her face with the tips of his fingers, then bent forward to kiss her. Her mouth was soft against his.
 

Aw, hell. Maybe she meant her guest room. “Doc—” He hesitated, despite his own throbbing desire.
 

“Remi,” she corrected.

“You’re just scared. You don’t want this.” He held her face in his hands as he offered her a last out and silently begged her to take it.

“You’re right. And you’re wrong. I am scared.” She looked up at him, her palms flat against his ribs, under his shirt. “And I do want this.”

He stroked her face, along the edge of her hair. Her skin was warm. Gone was the pallor that had claimed her since the incident at the university. Color now flushed her cheeks.
 

He smoothed his thumb over her lips, then kissed her in a closed-mouth touch of lips. Hers were soft and full. Still holding her face, he deepened the kiss, waiting for her to shut him down each step of the way, as if she were patched in to his ex’s hate and fear.

She didn’t pull away.

Her arms circled his neck, and her body pressed against his. When she leaned her head to the side and opened her mouth, he took what she offered.

When the kiss ended, she smiled and said, “You smell like—” her brow furrowed as she sought to name the scents “—cinnamon and vanilla. I like it.”

“A gift from a friend.”

She drew back and looked at him. “A girlfriend?”

“No. A guy friend. He felt bad about my empty social calendar and thought a new scent might help.” Greer grinned, thinking maybe Val had been right after all. “How about you? You with anyone?” She’d said she wasn’t a second ago, but he had to be sure.

“No. I don’t tend to do relationships.”

“Why?”

“They become cumbersome after a while. I’m a workaholic. Not much for partner material.”

“Makes two of us.”

“So we doing this?” she asked, her voice warm and husky.

Fuck, yeah. This was how he liked it. Sex, clean and simple. Nothing more. Just mutually satisfying sex. She wasn’t going to be around him long enough to regret it. She began lifting the hem of his black T-shirt. His heart beat a little faster.
 

Her hands palmed his pecs.

“I’ve never been with a guy as big as you.” She smiled. “Nor one as fit. I feel like a gym poser next to you.”
 

“You’re perfect. I like the differences between us.” He drew back to look her in the eyes.

She lowered her head, then began unbuttoning her blouse. Her hair fell forward. He brushed it back behind her shoulder so he wouldn’t miss a second of the skin she was exposing. She pulled her shirt free and dropped it, leaving only her bra and a fine gold chain with an enameled yin-yang emblem.

He ran his hands down her neck, over her collarbone, over her chain, down to the edge of her bra. “Tell me you have condoms.”

She nodded. “In my purse.”

He followed her into the kitchen. She retrieved a packet from her purse. He looked down at the small package she handed him. “One?”

“I have more upstairs.”

“I’m gonna need three before we even hit your bedroom.”

“You’ll have to make it last. It’s all I have down here.”

“Then we’ll do you first.”

Chapter Five

Greer leaned forward and kissed her. Remi felt the smile on his lips and couldn’t help smiling back. She wasn’t a stranger to casual hookups, but none had felt like this. Maybe Greer was right; this was all about the adrenaline release from what had happened earlier. But maybe it was all about Greer…a terrifying thought she didn’t want to entertain.
 

She wasn’t looking for anything permanent, had in fact promised herself she’d never settle down, settle for someone. She was good on her own. Safer. This was just sex. No strings. No commitments. Satisfying and brief.

He pulled his shirt off and dropped it on the kitchen floor. No ink colored his skin. He was ridiculously buff. Remi reached for the light furring on his chest. A dark line led from just above his navel down below the waist of his cargo pants. She traced the path it made down his belly. His muscles tightened.

“You must be a body builder in your off-hours.”

He shrugged. “I work out.”

“I like it.” She smiled up at him.

“Take your jeans off,” he said. Judging by the tension in his face, it wasn’t a suggestion. She was used to setting the pace in her encounters, taking what she needed.
 

“I’ll do it when I’m ready.” She was out of her element here, standing half-naked in front of a man as powerful as he.
 

He shook his head. “You’ll do it now.”

She looked up into his intense eyes. There was no give in his expression. Only hunger. He wanted her. Took a second to absorb the heat of his desire. She’d never been desired like this. As if hypnotized, she surrendered. Her heart beat too fast. Her stomach clenched at the touch of her own thumbs going to the closure of her jeans. His eyes never left hers. Her body began an unusual buzzing.

She had the sense she’d never been with a guy like Greer. May never again. She wanted him to kiss her, wanted his hands around her, wanted to slow down what she feared would be intense and fast and too soon over. Why couldn’t a night last a thousand years?
 

She felt safe with Greer, safe as she’d never been since she was twelve. No. Safe as she’d never been—period. And that scared the living bejesus out of her.

Sex. This was only sex. Not forever. Not anything more.

Her eyes watered. God, she wanted so much more. More than she would ever allow herself.

Greer blinked as if speared by her thoughts. A muscle knotted the square corners of his jaw. He reached a hand up to her face. His nostrils flared. His eyes darkened. His gaze dropped to her mouth as his lips took hers. His mouth opened. She pushed up, against him, into the kiss. Her arms went around his bare chest, wide, strong. Her fingers spread over his shoulder blades. His body was layered with muscle upon muscle. Incredibly male.
 

Her breasts were pressed between their bodies. Something about him made something in her feel feminine. Whole. That she excited him as much as he excited her was powerful. She tilted her head so that they could deepen their kiss. She liked the way his tongue moved in her mouth, stroking hers, tempting hers into his mouth. He gave and he took and he gave. She never wanted it to end.

His other hand came up to grip the side of her face. He broke the kiss and started it again, kissing her upper lip. The corner of her mouth. Remi’s breath was coming in fast puffs.
 
He leaned his forehead against hers.

“I should go, really. But, Christ, if I do, I think I’ll fucking die. Remi, please, let me see your body.” He looked down into her eyes, checking her response. Words had left her. She wanted him around her, in her. He reached for her jean’s zipper. His big fingers dropped that short fastener. She noticed the vein on his thumb and ran her thumb over it.