“Two-fifteen.”
“Mr. Two-Fifteen, all muscle and sinew, are overpowered by the opposition.”
“Less often than you,” he said softly.
Something had shifted in the depths of his eyes, and she felt the sexual awareness all over again. He’d moved closer as they spoke. Or maybe she’d moved closer. But she could smell him now, and he smelled good. Another couple of inches, and she’d feel the heat of his body.
She told herself she wanted to fight him, not kiss him. But she knew it was a lie. She’d been trained to face the honest reality of any physical encounter. Anything less put her at an absolute disadvantage.
“You’re trying to distract me,” she said.
“You’re the one trying to distract me.” He leaned in, closing the gap between them even farther.
“It’s not on purpose.”
“Of course it is.”
“You think I can do that?” she asked, easing closer. “With you? With all that self-discipline you must have, I could distract you with sex?”
His expression faltered.
“If I can,” she continued, “you should probably hire me, because that’s something over and above what any of the muscle-bound brotherhood can accomplish.”
“That’s your strongest attribute?” he taunted. “I wouldn’t think you’d want to brag about it.” But his gaze kept hers trapped, and the air seemed to thicken around them.
She realized her mistake. “It’s not my strongest attribute.” As she spoke, she surreptitiously shifted her right hand around his side. “My strongest attribute right now is the knife pointed at your kidney.”
“You don’t have a knife.”
“It’s in its sheath. But I do have a knife.”
He moved, and she instantly jerked her fist against him to show she could have stabbed him.
He grabbed her wrist, and his other hand went to her throat.
“You’re dead,” she told him.
“I’m bleeding out,” he agreed. “But you’re dead, too.” His hand gently stroked the skin of her neck.
“Am I hired?” she asked.
“You’re insane.”
His voice was a whisper. His face hovered over hers. She smelled his skin, imagined the taste of his lips, the feel of his body enveloping hers.
He was going to kiss her. It was in the smoke of his eyes, the twitch of his fingers, the indrawn breath that tightened his chest. She shouldn’t let him. She couldn’t let him. But she knew she was going to let him. And it was going to be fantastic.
Kassidy’s excited voice sounded through the doorway. “Mila?”
Troy instantly stepped back.
Mila snapped to reality. “In here.”
“I’ve got a gig tonight,” Kassidy sang. “It’s a good one. The Ripple Branch on Georgia Avenue. They had a cancellation.”
She appeared in the doorway. “Oh, hi, Troy.” She focused her attention on Mila. “Can you come with me?”
“Love to,” Mila immediately answered.
Kassidy barely took a breath. “You okay to babysit?” she asked Troy.
“What?” The question clearly took him aback. It was probably the only thing that stopped him from ordering Mila not to go anywhere with Kassidy.
Mila knew she shouldn’t laugh at his obvious predicament, but it was tough to fight the urge.
“Drake should go to sleep by eight,” said Kassidy. “And I don’t have to leave until seven. I could have everything ready in advance. All you’d have to do is give him a quick bath, a bottle, and wind up his rainbow jungle toy. He loves watching it while he falls asleep.”
“Sounds easy enough,” said Mila.
“Go away,” Troy growled under his breath. “You don’t work here.”
“Your sister needs protection.”
“My sister needs a nanny.”
“Before you fight with me, take a look at what I’ve found,” said Mila. “I wouldn’t call your sister’s situation high risk, but it’s not zero either.”
“Nothing’s zero,” he said.
“There’s something there,” she said.
It was just out of reach, like the wisps of a dream. But Kassidy’s anxiety was real. The girl’s instincts were telling her to protect herself. Mila didn’t like to ignore instincts.
“You’re so transparent,” he drawled.
“Fine,” said Mila. “Believe whatever you want. Hire me, don’t hire me, but I’m going to the performance with Kassidy tonight.”
“It’s a free country,” said Troy, his blue eyes going icy gray. “Call a nanny service before you go,” Troy said to Kassidy. “I’m not your babysitter.”
“It’ll be easy,” said Kassidy.
“I’ve got work to do.”
Mila fought an urge to tease him, but she bit back the unwise words. She’d accompany Kassidy to the performance tonight and file a report with Troy in the morning. Maybe he’d read it. Maybe he wouldn’t. Even if her work was exceptional tonight, it might not change his mind. There might be nothing she could do to change his mind about hiring her. But she wasn’t going down without a fight.
* * *
In the ops control room, Vegas turned his head at Troy’s entrance. He did a double take of Drake sleeping on Troy’s shoulder.
“New recruit?” he asked.
“It’s the apprenticeship program,” said Troy, his hand splayed across Drake’s diaper-covered bottom, easily balancing the baby’s slight fifteen pounds.
Two dozen video screens decorated the walls, receiving feeds from fixed and mobile cameras, tracking devices and information from their international offices. This time of night, people were just arriving at work in Dubai.
“I take it this is the new nephew,” said Vegas.
“He’s not my—” Troy stopped himself. He supposed, technically, Drake was going to be his nephew. “There’s a nanny on the way. She had car trouble or kid trouble or something.”
All Troy knew for sure was that he was alone with Drake, and he didn’t like it.
“Kassidy’s out on the town?” asked Vegas, disapproval in his tone.
“She’s working.” Which he imagined was pretty much the same thing for Kassidy.
Troy had protected a lot of celebrities over the years. With a few notable exceptions, sports stars and film personalities were mostly professional. The lion’s share of what made it into the tabloids was a part of their carefully crafted public image. Musicians, however, were a breed unto themselves. They kept late hours, drank and partied, and a lot of them truly lived the rock-and-roll lifestyle.
Vegas eyed Drake up and down. “I don’t get it,” he said. “It would be one thing if she got knocked up.”
“You do remember you’re talking about my sister.” Troy wasn’t sure why he felt compelled to defend her at this late date.
Vegas’s