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Kat released a shaky breath.
It was done.
She hurried away through the crowd, taking care not to run. Up the escalator. Deep breath, she told herself. Almost there. No one paid any special note to her. No one shouted for her to stop.
She moved back through the lobby as swiftly as she dared. She couldn’t risk calling attention to herself even now. Her target would attempt to open his briefcase the moment he took his seat onboard the train and had a chance to think about the encounter. He wouldn’t rest until he’d assuaged the concerns that took root too late in his distracted thoughts.
The lock had been jammed so it would take some doing to open the case. By the time he realized what had happened, the train would be on its way. He would call Union Station security immediately and the whole place would be locked down tighter than a drum. Her description would be passed to all Metro Security personnel.
She had to get out before that happened.
Her heart hammering, her palms sweating, her fingers tight around the handle of the briefcase, she hurried toward the main entrance. When she pushed through the wood-and-glass front doors and out into the bright noonday sun, relief flooded her, made her weak-kneed, despite the gut instinct that she’d done this hundreds of times.
She zigzagged through the taxis and other cars parked along the train terminal’s busy driveway and headed toward the far end of the main parking area where the car she’d arrived in waited. Her step was a little faster now, not quite running.
Two more minutes and she’d be in the clear. A kind of calmness slid through her veins. Her heart rate slowed to a more reasonable level. She could—
A strong arm abruptly cut across her path, stopping her dead in her tracks. Her pulse leaped into warp speed again. Her somewhat sluggish reactions went automatically into offense mode.
Fully expecting to see a blue security uniform, she instinctively, stealthily, slid her hand toward the edge of her jacket lapel as she peered upward into smoky-gray eyes that were at once completely alien to her and alarmingly familiar.
“Well, well, if it isn’t the love of my life.”
Her fingers wrapped around the butt of the small .38.
“I’ve missed you, and then some.”
For three gut-wrenching seconds Vince was certain the code phrase wasn’t going to work. Kat stared up at him as if she’d never laid eyes on him in her entire life.
Then she whispered, “Vince?”
He relaxed a fraction and smiled. “Long time no see, Kitty Kat. Have you missed me, too?” Maybe the implant hadn’t gone too haywire. He’d been watching her all morning. Had followed her all the way from Port Charlotte just to catch her alone. It shifted something deep inside him when he considered that she’d remembered that little thing he always said to her all those years ago. I’ve missed you, and then some.
“Don’t move.”
The voice was male and right behind Vince. The nudge of a pistol barrel in his spleen told him it was Kat’s partner in crime, Philip Yu. The driver of the getaway car. Thankfully he’d stayed in the car and this opportunity had been the closest to catching Kat alone the morning had offered. Interrupting her assignment would have put them both at risk. Vince had tried to wait it out, but he’d had to act before she got back in the car with Yu. Now he’d learn the price of his impatience.
“You know this dude, Kat?”
She looked from Vince to the man behind him and back. The confusion on her face was clear to see. Tension rocketed to a new level. Maybe things weren’t in working order, after all. He’d soon know.
“Phil, this is Vince.” She searched Vince’s eyes, looking for answers he hoped she’d see. “He’s the guy I’ve been telling you about.”
The pressure in Vince’s side eased. He resisted the urge to exhale his relief.
“The case,” Yu demanded as he reached around Vince.
Kat relinquished her bounty. “We should get out of here,” she suggested. She glanced behind her, then scanned the parking area. “They’ll be looking for me any second now.”
Yu backed away. “Let’s go.”
Vince turned in the other man’s direction. “She goes with me.”
Something changed in Yu’s eyes. “I don’t think so.”
Lucas’s intel was correct. Philip Yu had a thing for Kat. Too bad for him. Something that felt entirely too much like jealousy burned through Vince as he snaked an arm around her waist and pulled her close before she could react.
“Maybe you didn’t hear me.” Vince met the steel in Yu’s dark gaze with lead in his own. This part was nonnegotiable. “I said she goes with me.”
“We’ll be right behind you,” Kat assured her partner. She glanced up at Vince. “Right?”
She was nervous. He could see it in her eyes. “That’s right.” He settled his gaze back on Yu’s. “Are we going to stand around here and argue about it?”
Yu glared at Vince then shifted his gaze to Kat. “We’ll talk about this later.”
In typical Kat fashion, she ignored Yu’s comment, pulled out of Vince’s domineering hold and hooked her arm through his. “See you at the house,” she said to Yu without even looking his way. She hated the macho male types. Vince would never understand what had drawn them together in the first place.
Yu hustled across the lot, tossed the briefcase into the passenger seat and dropped behind the wheel of the car he’d abandoned when he thought Kat was in trouble.
Vince looked down at the woman at his side. His gut clenched. God, she was gorgeous. She hadn’t changed a bit. Not quite as lean maybe, but otherwise just as he remembered. That alone was far more dangerous than any other aspect of this mission.
“You ready?”
She nodded, her smile a little thin.
He led her to where he’d parked his Harley. After straddling the wide leather seat, he waited for her to join him. Without hesitation she scooted her skirt high on her thighs—high enough for him to see the sexy garters that held up her stockings—and slung one long, toned leg across the seat. She settled in behind him, then scooted even closer, her thighs clenching firmly around his hips as her arms curled tightly around his waist. As an afterthought she reached up and discarded her fake eyeglasses. She laughed. The sound was contagious and as sexy as hell.
Vince tried not to confuse the past with the present. He really did. Whatever memories her implant had transposed over her real memory, were only make-believe. No matter how real this felt, it wasn’t. When she realized the truth she would hate him just as much, maybe more, than she had four years ago. That kind of emotion didn’t sweeten with age, it grew bitter. Kat would be bitter, as she had every right to be.
He’d let her down—betrayed her.
But now he had one chance to make it up to her. A chance she would never give him under normal circumstances. He gritted his teeth against his own churning emotions. Changing her mind about him would be impossible, but he could keep her safe until this was over. No matter how little she thought of him, she would appreciate walking away from this assignment with her life. And that he could do for her.
She pressed her cheek against his back, an act of trust.
A new kind of emotion surged through him. A mixture of relief and anticipation. She trusted him, temporarily anyway.
This time he would not let her down.
At the moment he couldn’t be sure what had made her use him as her Romeo. It didn’t matter. Revenge, probably. A mistake maybe? He might never know the reason and it really didn’t matter anyway.
In minutes they were on the interstate headed back to Port Charlotte. As if sensing that he was thinking of her, she hugged him more tightly. Unable to help himself, he laid his left hand over hers and squeezed. God, he hadn’t known until now how much he’d missed this incredible woman. No one else had ever made him want to change his singular lifestyle. White picket fences and the pitter-patter of little feet had flashed, however briefly, through his mind during their days of stolen moments and hidden passion four years ago.
No other woman had made him want to see her face every morning for the rest of his life…made him ache to simply touch her the way Kat had. Had made him willingly turn his back on all that he’d considered top priority.
But that was then and this is now.
The object of his reverie suddenly tapped him on the shoulder, jerking him to attention. Vince leaned his head back to hear what she had to say. Instead of speaking, she pointed to an upcoming gas station. He nodded his understanding. She either wanted a drink or needed to use the facilities.
He desperately needed to walk off the tension she’d incited below his belt. Clearing his head with even a few seconds apart would help, as well.
The one bathroom offered by the old-fashioned, full-service gas station was on the right side of the building and all the way at the back. Vince checked out the four-by-four room before allowing Kat inside. It was cleaner than he’d expected. Apparently the old geezer who ran the fifties-style joint was a neatnik.
“Is the coast clear?” Kat teased. She leaned back against the wall next to the bathroom door. “I do have a gun, you know.” She cocked one finely arched auburn eyebrow. “And I haven’t forgotten how to use it.”
Vince resisted the impulse to tell her everything. To ask her what she really remembered, but it would be a mistake. The implant was in control, that was obvious. She would have taken his head off by now otherwise. His mission was to play this out to see if he could finger the guy in charge of WSA. As long as continuing didn’t endanger Kat’s life, completing the mission was essential.
“Just making sure the facilities were fit for a princess,” he returned just as playfully. They’d sparred like this all those years ago.
She pushed off the wall and sashayed into the bathroom. “I’ll only be a minute,” she said over her shoulder, her tone flirtatious, inviting.
Vince looked away as the door closed behind her. He had to regain his perspective here. It would be too easy to fall into the old routine of taking what she had to offer. What he desperately wanted.
Except it wouldn’t be fair to Kat. She was not herself. Had no control over the situation. He’d been a jerk with her once. He wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.
The door abruptly opened halfway. “I’ve got a little problem in here, Vince.” She reached out and grabbed his sleeve. “You don’t mind helping a girl out, now do you?” She tugged, pulling him to the door.
“What kind of problem?”
She had him in the room and the door closed behind him before the hesitant words were fully out of his mouth. Anticipation spiked, as did his male equipment. This was not a good thing.
Kat shoved him against the closed door and immediately started unbuttoning his shirt. “Why do you do this to me, Vinny?” she demanded petulantly.
No one had ever called him Vinny, except Kat. It touched him…but now wasn’t the time. He manacled her hands and held them still. “We don’t have time for this right now,” he urged, his whole body hardening at the prospect she presented.
“You disappear for weeks, leaving me to my own devices.” She looked up at him, those green eyes hooded, that luscious mouth puckered in a little pout. “Could get a girl in all kinds of trouble.”
“Kat, you—”
“Shh,” she purred, then tugged loose from his grasp and whispered, “I just can’t be expected to wait a minute longer.” She stood on tiptoes and brushed her lips against his.
All thought processes ceased. He couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t move. Damn sure couldn’t speak with her looking at him that way…touching him that way.
Her fingers tangled with his buttons once more. “All you have to do is let me have my way.” Her hungry mouth captured his in a demanding kiss.
He should have resisted. Should have pushed her away. But he simply didn’t possess the strength to do it. His fingers found their way into her hair. He jerked the pins away until those silky auburn tresses fell around his hands. Her cool fingers moved over his chest sending a fire raging through him. She teased his nipples, making them bud and burn. Traced the ridges of his abdomen. Then tugged at the closure to his jeans.
Her wicked tongue thrust in and out of his mouth in time with the undulating of her hips against his rigid pelvis. He was coming unglued one piece at a time. He was hard as a rock. His mind was reeling and he couldn’t touch her all the places he wanted to at once. Her hair…the curve of her spine…the swell of her bottom. He lifted her more firmly against him. She moaned, the sound fueling the desire already out of control inside him.
She kissed him harder, then pulled free, her lips following the new path of her hands. Along his throat, over one aching nipple and downward. She teased him, dipping her tongue beneath his waistband, all the while squeezing his buttocks. Vince closed his eyes and told himself he could be stronger than this. Commanded himself to pull it together.
He couldn’t do it.
He pulled her back into his arms, did a one-eighty turn and pressed her against the closed door. He kissed her the way he wanted to…the way he’d dreamed of kissing her for four long, lonely years. He hiked her skirt up to her waist and pushed hard between her welcoming thighs. Another throaty groan echoed in the room, whether from him or her, he couldn’t say.
He found the spot that was hot and wet for him. Touched her there. He trembled. She did the same. She pulled free of the kiss and cried out his name, her fingers fisting in his shirt, tugging it from his jeans. He trembled again at the needy sound of her voice. He dragged a finger along that ultrasensitive place and reveled in her response. She arched her spine, offering that slick warmth for his taking.
“Please don’t make me wait any longer,” she murmured. Her eyes opened and she looked directly at him. “Please,” she whimpered.
In those shimmering jade pools he saw his reflection. Saw the man who was prepared to hurt the only woman he’d ever cared about all over again.
He couldn’t do it.
Not even to maintain his cover.
Chapter Three
There was definitely something very wrong with her. Even Vince rejected her. He’d never done that before. They had always taken any opportunity available to make love. Hadn’t they? Uncertainty pulled in her stomach.
Kat went cold despite still being held firmly in his strong, warm embrace, her legs coiled around his lean waist.
“We should get going,” Vince said in that husky baritone that always affected her far more deeply than she wanted to admit.
As she dropped her feet to the floor and pushed him away, she held that smoky gaze, searched for any little flicker that might reveal what was going through that handsome head of his. Before he’d said a single word, she had felt his emotional withdrawal. Felt it and denied it, until he’d articulated with actual words. Her chest tightened, sending a flood of too familiar emptiness through her.
He didn’t want her.
Had he met someone else while he was away this time?
Or was it simply something he found lacking in her?
Maybe both.
Either way, it was a low blow.
Anger ignited inside her. “What’s wrong? Having a slow week, Vinny?” She shoved her fingers through her hair, shaking loose the rest of the pins, then glared up at him. “Or maybe you’re not yourself.”
His pupils flared ever so slightly, as if she’d hit the nail on the head. His beard-shadowed jaw hardened like granite right in front of her eyes. “I don’t want your new friend going ballistic because we’re not right behind him.”
She didn’t miss the hint of jealousy in his tone. Good. It was only fair that they were both miserable. “You’re right. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
Kat spun around and reached for the doorknob. She wanted to scream. She trusted Vince. Cared deeply for him. Why would he reject her? Something long buried stirred inside her, filled her with dread. The sensation startled her…scared her a little. She tightened her fingers on the knob, gave it a ruthless twist and jerked the door open.
She was out of here.
At first, recognition of the face staring down at her from the other side of the threshold didn’t register. Kat instinctively reached for her weapon, but realization, a little slow in coming, stopped her.
Phil.
It was only Phil.
She swore. “You scared the hell out of me.” She spat the words, her glower every bit as fierce as the dark one focused her way.
Phil looked from Kat to Vince. “We don’t have time for this.” He said the last with vehemence. “No more stops.” He glared down at Kat once more. “Let’s go.”
She pushed past him. “Men,” she muttered. “Can’t live with ’em, can’t shoot ’em.”
Not waiting for Vince, she slid her skirt up to the tops of her thighs and straddled the Harley. She could drive just as well as he could. If he didn’t like it, he could just ride to Port Charlotte with Phil. That brought a smile to her lips. The time together would do them good.
