She smiled coolly. “Yes, gentlemen. Thank you for your concern, but I have the matter completely in hand.”
Davy’s eyes flicked to her wrists, still clamped in Janos’s unwavering grip, and cleared his throat. He was trying not to grin without much success. “Yeah. We’ll just disappear. Right? Bye.”
He slunk out the door, but Nick lingered, a huge, shit-eating grin on his face. “Man, I take my hat off to you,” he said to Janos. “You must have monster cojones to tangle with this hellcat. I suggest you watch out for ’em.”
“Oh, but I will,” Janos said.
“Piss off, Nick,” Tam snapped.
Nick ducked out the door, still chortling. The door swung shut.
Tam forced herself to meet Janos’s gaze, and realized, with intense discomfort, that she could think of nothing to say. That earthshaking orgasm had wiped her brain clean.
“A panic button?” He smiled. “No microphones? I’m glad to know that our conversation was private, at least.”
“You can let go of my hands.” She felt, oh God, almost shy.
“You’re wearing sixteen different kinds of death draped over your body,” he pointed out.
“I won’t cut, spray, scratch, or stick you with any of them,” she said. “At least, not without fresh provocation.”
He gave her a cautious smile. “How do I know you’ll keep your word?”
“You don’t,” she said. “You have to risk it. Didn’t you just strip me bare, read my mind, make me come? Don’t you trust your instincts?”
He grunted. “No. I do not trust anything. But I will trust you, Tamara…this once. Just because I want to. No other reason.”
Tears stung her. Ridiculous. She was going soft. This was probably just a deeper level of his clever games, but if so, it was subtler than she was. “That’s dangerous,” she whispered.
“I know.” His words sounded heartfelt. He let go the steely grip he had on her wrists and rolled off her body.
Tam rubbed her sore wrists as she sat up. Heat lingered in her face and glowed in her body. She felt so light, without him on top of her. Like she might float away. A silly, frivolous girl. Insubstantial.
And vulnerable. She hated feeling vulnerable.
He got to his feet. She hastened to follow. No way was she staying crumpled on the floor, huddled in his shadow.
She stumbled, and Janos caught her instantly. His move was so slick, so graceful, it felt inevitable that she should end up in his arms, kissing him again. His lips were so pleading and soft and hot, his body throbbing magnetic male energy at her, through her.
Panic cramped the sweet swell of longing, and she fought free of the kiss. “No,” she said breathlessly. “Don’t push your luck.”
“My luck?” He grinned, and she was dazzled by the devastating white teeth, the deep dimples. “The luck was yours, bella. I want to push your luck. As far as it will go, and I think it can go very far.”
She pushed at his chest. “No. Stop,” she said shakily. “Enough.”
“Let me.” He sank to his knees, sliding his hands under the loose black silk of her blouse. “Let me please you. For hours.”
She shuddered as the warm, rough rasp of his calluses scraped over the sensitive skin of her belly, and pushed at his face, feeling the strong bones, the hot velvety skin of him. “You are not going to get lucky tonight, you oversexed son of a bitch, so back off!”
He rose gracefully to his feet, looking resigned.
“Tell me your real name, who sent you, and what the hell you want from me,” she demanded. “That’s all I ever wanted from this meeting. I’m not leaving until I get it. And neither are you.”
All the playfulness went out in his face. The energy of the room changed. It felt colder. Darker.
Oh, no. Oh, shit. Whatever it was that he had to tell her, it was something she would not enjoy hearing, she realized with a sickening flash of insight. Her belly began to hurt.
He tried to smile, but the effort was hollow. “Promise me you won’t kill me,” he said.
She did not smile back. “I make no promises.”
He stared down at the remainder of their meal. “I don’t have any name other than Val Janos to give you,” he said. “The name I was born with means nothing to anyone, so you might as well stick with Janos. It’s one of several identities that I use. In my work.”
She swallowed and braced herself. “Fine, then,” she said tightly. We’ll stick with Janos. What work? Who sent you, Janos?”
His Adam’s apple moved, as if he were trying to speak, but couldn’t bring himself to get the words out. Her neck prickled, her skin crept. Suspicion hardened into cold, blunt certainty. She knew.
The two people who had most cause to actively search for her were Daddy Novak and Georg Luksch. Novak wanted her dead. Georg wanted her, period. This man was not here to assassinate her, of that much she was sure. Which meant…
“Georg,” she whispered.
His face did not change, his eyes did not drop. And he did not contradict her. The stony coldness spread.
“I am an operative for PSS,” he said. “Prime Security Solutions. It is a—”
“A private army for hire. Yes, I am familiar with PSS,” she said, tonelessly. “So Georg hired you? How did you find me?”
It took him a long time to reply. “The McClouds,” he finally said. “I planted cameras outside their homes weeks ago. One day you showed up at Connor McCloud’s house. I got there in time to put a GPS locator on your SUV. It was a stroke of luck.”
She put her hand over her eyes. “I can’t believe this.” She wanted to shoot herself for being so sloppy. Putting everyone in danger, especially Rachel. She’d just wanted so badly for Rachel to have a semi-normal life. She might have known that it wouldn’t be possible. Not with Tam Steele and her reality-warping force field anywhere nearby. Forget normality. Forget anything clean or healthy. Just give up the effort.
“It took a while,” he offered, almost if he were trying to console her for fucking up. “If it weren’t for the McClouds—”
“Shut up. Just shut up,” she said through clenched teeth, and another unpleasant thought jolted her. “Hey. What about Erin?” she demanded. “You involved Erin. Stay away from my friends, understand? If you mess with my friends, I will cut you into bloody little pieces.”
“I will not bother Erin, or any of your other friends,” he soothed.
A worse thought occurred to her, with a wrench of stomach-turning fear. “Rachel,” she whispered. “Oh, no. I’ll kill you. I’ll gut you, put out your eyes, break every bone if you’ve done anything to my—”
“No, no,” he said hastily. “I have not touched her. And I will not. Though those were my original orders. To use her as a bargaining chip.”
“Oh yes? We’re not bargaining, Janos. Whatever Georg wants from me, the answer is fuck you very much, but no. I don’t want to see you ever again, you scumbag pimp. Get lost.”
She slapped the door open and confronted a stupefied Davy and Nick. “Escort this lying piece of walking shit off the premises,” she ordered them, her voice shaking. “If you ever see him again, kill him.”
She stormed out of the room, eyes full of furious tears. She despised herself for wanting him. When all he intended was to pass her over