Black Ice (Hunters Inc Book 2) Page 5

  “Not happy man, this wasn’t part of the contingency”

  “I don’t like it either, but we don’t exactly blend in, our body count is rising by the minute so we need to split, I need to draw them away, now stop your pussy ass whining and move, NOW”

  Connor knew there had to be a logic to the plan, but so far, it hadn’t presented itself, and he wasn’t about to start second guessing his team mate, he trusted Harry, knew the big man would have something in mind, he wouldn’t leave either Connor, Sarah or himself vulnerable, that was for sure. Harry was efficient in his thinking, it was impressive to see.

  “You ready?” it was a pointless question, she didn’t really have a choice.

  He had to move her.

  “Do I have a choice?” that made him smile, he liked her, a little more than he should.

  “Nope… see that door, it’s the back entrance of a restaurant, just keep moving, don’t look back. There’s a car waiting on the other side.” He didn’t give it time for the words to register with her before he pulled and they were on the move again.

  He wasn’t worried about Harry, he could more than handle himself, hell, they had been in stickier situations that this before and they always came out on top.

  If anything, it was the goons who were about to get an ass kicking that he almost felt sorry for, almost, but not quite.

  Sarah on the other hand was starting to worry him, she hadn’t let him down so far, but he was sure she was running on pure adrenaline and that wasn’t going to last much longer.

  It was gonna be one hell of a crash when it hit.

  The restaurant was packed, great, could this day actually get any worse?

  Shocked diners who had been enjoying a quite meal suddenly stopped eating to watch the big man dragging the small woman behind him.

  Probably not what they expect to see when they sat down. One or two even started to stand as though to challenge him, but once they saw his size, thought better of it and quickly sat back down, ‘wise move dicks’ thought Connor, he wasn’t in the mood for a dining room punch up right now.

  They ran out into the street, no sign of Harry.

  Connor knew that would mean one of two things.

  Either the Goons had been led away from the Ally giving Connor maximum chance of getting Sarah to safety or Harry had done what he did best and kicked some mother fucking ass.

  Connor would bet his new 50” flat screen that it was the latter.

  A tired Sarah was starting to lag, no matter, they would be at the car soon and she would be able to rest on the ride back to the plane.

  They rounded the corner just in time to see the car, a silver Volvo, being towed…seriously…?

  “You have got to be fucking kidding me…” he dropped her hand and pulled out his phone.

  What had he thought about this day getting any worse?

  “Em… I need a ride, we got towed…” this really was the last thing he needed.

  “Hold up, did you just say towed?” he could hear the snigger in her voice. He wasn’t in the mood.

  “Yes, I said towed.”

  “Oh, this is brilliant, just wait till…”

  “Don’t you fucking dare…” Connor wasn’t about to have this little fuck up be top of the agenda at the weekly team debrief.

  “But I have to tell the boss” Em was trying to hold back, trying her hardest not to throw out some piss take line, she was top brass at finding humor in a situation that was wholly inappropriate, it was a gift she said.

  “No, don’t” he knew she would, it was her job.

  He could deal with Jenson when they were stateside. Right now, he had bigger problems than explaining how Harry had illegally parked and had their ride dragged away.

  “Ok, fine… spoil sport. Harry just checked in, he is headed to the plane. He said and I quote… ‘tell Doc to stop fucking around and get his girl home’”

  Connor had to smirk as he listened to the team’s resident tech head Emma working her computer keyboard.

  She had proved invaluable since she had joined and was certainly living up to her nickname of Super girl, although ‘Baby girl’ was the name Harry and only Harry used for her, everyone knew where that was headed, even if those two wouldn’t admit to themselves.

  “That guy could land in a pile of shit and still come up smelling of roses, I swear to god.” he heard Em laugh the other end of the phone, but it was Sarah that more than held his attention.

  Something wasn’t right, if she had been pale before, she was verging on transparent now. Her legs were starting to give way and she stumbled back.

  Instinctively, Connor caught her before she could hit the ground, in one swift move had lifted her into his arms, cradling her close against his chest. Sarah was going into shock, no question and every instinct within him reinforced his need to protect her.

  There was no way she was gonna make it to the plane.

  Connor was pissed that he had missed the signs, that he had failed to act on his gut when he knew she wasn’t right, he had pushed her, maybe too hard, and now he had another inconvenient mess to deal with.

  “Em, change of plan. Find me a hotel room make it close, and make it quick. And tell Harry to go. We’re gonna need to stay a few hours, day at the most, she can’t fly, not yet any way. Send details to my phone asap.” He hung up, and cradled Sarah to him, she was out cold, fuck, that didn’t do the muscle in his chest much good, it was now beating at a rate that would bring any average man to his knees.

  It was cold, she was cold and all she had on was a thin jacket that wouldn’t keep anything warm, why hadn’t he noticed this before? he was slipping.

  He hadn’t noticed because she had distracted him that’s why.

  He was making some seriously rookie mistakes, Connor needed to pull himself together before he got them both in trouble.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Em came through, like there had ever been any doubt.

  Less than two minutes later and he had the name of a hotel with a reservation for a suit and directions that made things a hell of a lot easier when he was trying to find his way around a strange city with an unconscious woman in his arms.

  He liked how Em had gone for five star, probably because it was what she would have wanted, that and he knew this was going on the company credit card.

  If he was gonna be stuck in Fucking Freezing Helsinki, they might as well be comfortable. Good girl.

  He checked his phone again.

  She had booked them under the name Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Of course!

  But it was the Mr. and Mrs. that made him raise his eyebrow the way he did when he was curious. Some inside joke between her and Harry no doubt.

  Mother fuckers.

  The suit was a million miles away from the shit hole he had found Sarah in a few hours earlier.

  That place had been one step up from a rent by the hour kind of dive, and one she would never stay in again, he would make sure of that.

  Connor had ignored the strange looks and stares as he had given his name, the unconscious woman in his arms, raising more than one or two eyebrows.

  He really wasn’t in the mood. The look on his face projecting how pissed off he was, the odd looks had soon changed to stares at the floor, or in any direction but his. This day was going from fucked up, to a god damn nuclear meltdown. Could it actually get any worse?

  They had been escorted to their room by the hotel duty manager, who just happened to be an acquaintance of one Mr. Raymond Hunter, times like this, it certainly paid to have rich friends in high places.

  The room was large, ultramodern, sleek hard lines, and filled with glossy white furniture, a little too clinical for his liking.

  But it was nice.

  There was the mandatory dresser and chair, wardrobe and bathroom, but it was the bed that he focused on.

  It was double the size of the one at her hotel, the comforter, thick and welcoming.

  Sarah was still spark out, and she was shiv
ering.

  Connor laid her gentle on the bed, this was a man who didn’t do gentle, but had proved himself wrong twice within the last 30 minutes.

  He pulled off her boots, toed off his own, before pulling her under the heavy feather comforter and climbing in behind her, holding her close to him, her back tight against his chest.

  He reached around and loosened the belt on her jeans, undoing her buttons, he needed her clothes loose, and he needed to warm her up as fast as he could, all his training had told him body heat transfer was one of the quickest ways to do that, she could freak out on him later. Right now, all he was interested in was making sure she was well enough to make the flight home and the sooner he had her back on US soil, the sooner his job was done and he could walk away, onto the next assignment. But something told him he wouldn’t be walking away, not without at least taking a glance back anyway.

  He had a problem, a big fucking problem, and it had nothing to do with the four fucktards that had just chased them out of the hotel.

  Right now, they were the least of his worries.

  No, Connors problem was the now raging fucking hard on that was screaming for release inside his pants, as Sarah snuggled her ass against his groin, she was totally oblivious to what she was doing to him. Hell, this could get him arrested in all fifty-two states, but there wasn’t a fucking thing he could do about it right now, he just hoped to god he could get himself under control before she came too and scream the whole freaking place down.

  He needed to stop thinking about her, needed to stop thinking how his forearms had wrapped neatly around her rib cage, her breasts resting against his arm as he pulled her in closer to his body.

  He needed to stop inhaling the scent of her shampoo as her soft hair tickled under his chin. He needed to stop thinking about Sarah Williams as anything more than just a job, but he knew there was about as much chance of hell freezing over as that happening anytime soon.

  There was something about the woman sleeping against him, it was as though she had drop kicked her way into his head, had planted herself in his every thought, man… this really wasn’t like him, not like him at all.

  Connor closed his eyes and took a in a long deep breath, trying to regain control of his body was proving harder than it should have been.

  He was finding himself drawn to her more and more and not just in the physical sense. Perhaps he should have tried to sleep on the flight over after all.

  Sarah stared, but didn’t open her eyes. She felt strange, something wasn’t right.

  The now familiar damp odor from her budget hotel room had been replaced with what could only be described as ‘clean’.

  No, something definitely wasn’t right, and why couldn’t she move?

  She kept her eyes closed tight as her mind tried desperately to replay what had happened in the last few hours…bomb plot, calling her dad, the bathroom…Connor, oh god.

  She knew immediately that she was trapped in his arms, or was that wrapped… right now she didn’t know which.

  What she did know, was that his breathing was deep, the feel of a gentle rhythm against her back as his chest rose and fell. Was he asleep? And she was safe. Couldn’t explain it, just knew it. Primal instinct.

  “You’re awake?” damn that voice. It was as smooth and comforting as it had been on the phone when she had first heard it.

  It made her feel…alive, in more ways than one and Sarah didn’t quite know how to handle that right now, these weren’t exactly the best times to be having book boyfriend type fantasies about a guy who she had only just met, even if he had gone all Jason Bourne and saved her ass.

  “Yeah, I’m awake” she needed to move, cramp creeping in, and she knew to prevent her thigh going into full blown spasm, she really needed to move soon.

  But she didn’t want to.

  Her eyes were still closed, she didn’t know where she was right now, and she didn’t want to open them to let reality in, she wasn’t ready for that.

  “How are you feeling?” his voice sent shivers down her spine, and her nipples tingled as they pebbled beneath her clothes.

  Two options, lie and say she was ok, or truth, say she was scared shitless, but felt safe at the same time, if that was even possible, and turned on… god help her, she was as horny as a teenage boy with his first copy of Playboy when she had absolutely no right to be... Yep… she definitely needed to move.

  “Well, I’m alive, so that’s a bonus. But I have a cramp that is threatening to hit and if it does, my leg is gonna go all Jackie Chan on your ass with absolutely no ability for me to control it, so I need to move.” Sarah slowly opened her eye. Her sight slowly coming into focus. Where in the name of fuck was she?

  “I got us a room” yeah, no shit.

  “I can see that. Why aren’t we on a plane? What happened?” were they still in Helsinki?

  She pulled back the comforter, the cold hitting her skin.

  The room wasn’t cold, but the warmth from beneath the covers was lost and she regretted it instantly.

  His arms loosened and she pulled away, immediately feeling the loose of him against her.

  Sarah swung her legs out of the bed and looked around. The room was amazing, and she would have been able to appreciate her surroundings if these had been different circumstances.

  Right now, she needed to think, she needed food, something to drink, preferably a shower, (but wasn’t counting on it) and she needed to know what their next move was. How did he plan on getting her home?

  “Oh, my god, my pants…did you, did we…?” she jumped from the bed, attempting to fasten her clothes, trying not to too fall over in the process.

  Connor propped himself up on one elbow taking in the performance as she flapped around trying not to lose her balance.

  Not very graceful for a skater he thought as he tried to stifle a laugh. Now probably wasn’t the best time to be thinking it, but damn, if she didn’t look cute when she had dropped her guard and was losing her shit.

  He wasn’t really in a hurry to leave the bed anytime soon, enjoying the show just a little too much, besides, he needed to make sure his dick was back under control before he could go anywhere.

  She was gonna fucking freak if she saw what was going to between his legs right now.

  “No…we didn’t …” put her out of her misery? “You passed out in the street, I needed to get you somewhere safe, you went into mild shock, nothing major, but I needed to get you warm and I had to loosen your clothes, nothing more. Besides, necrophilia not my thing sweetheart”

  “Oh… sorry, I…” as much fun as this was, he needed to get her to eat something, get her blood sugars back up, then they could figure out their next move.

  “How long was I out?” she had started to calm down, almost as quickly as she had freaked out. He was surprised. Not the panicked stressed out reaction he had been expecting, damn, she was good. He would have to stop underestimating her.

  “Few hours, we both were. Long enough that we missed our ride home, so we are gonna have to stay holed up here a while longer, until I can get us a flight.” Could have been worse, could have been her hotel room from hell with its bathroom for one.

  “I’m sorry Connor, this is all my fault…”

  For the first time since he had met her, Sarah looked vulnerable. But he knew her, knew she wasn’t.

  This was just everything being dumped on her at once, that was all it was. She wasn’t vulnerable in any shape or form.

  Sarah had impressed him at every turn, she was bright, beautiful, resourceful and above all, she had stayed calm and cooperated with him every step of the way, never once wavering in her belief that he would do right by her, and he would…no doubting that.

  Connor found himself crossing the room, and wrapping her in his arms, without any logical explanation as to why, except that she needed him there. That, and because he wanted her in his arms again. He missed her being there. It was simple.

  “You don’t have anything
to be sorry for, if anything, it proves you were right. If you had heard nothing, then the four dumb fucks of the apocalypse wouldn’t have come after us.” She didn’t need to be sorry, at all!

  Sarah had instinctively wrapped her arms around him when he had taken her in his. Her face leaning into his chest. She breathed him in.

  Did he have any idea how he affected women? Probably not, at least no idea how he affected her.

  Sarah was fighting the urge to slide her hand beneath his shirt, to run her fingers over the curves of his muscles, to… she had to stop.

  He smelt of Man…no other word to describe it, and she inhaled him like it was the last thing she was ever gonna do. Shit, he smelt good.

  She closed her eyes, just letting herself feel safe in his arms for a little while longer before she had to run a gauntlet to try and get home. This was one place Sarah knew she would always feel safe.

  “Sarah, I need to get something inside you.” He what? She swallowed, hard.

  “I beg your…”

  “Food Sarah, I need you to eat. There is a room service menu over on the dresser, chose something.” Connor gave a low throaty chuckle, had he even realized his innuendo? and well, hell, if that didn’t send a bolt of lightning, straight between her legs. ‘Enough now for god’s sake’ she screamed inside her head.

  She needed to get away from him, needed distance before she fell into the hero worship mode like one of the damsels from the steamy romance novels she like to read. It certainly wouldn’t do to fall head over lust for the guy who had come to rescue her and who would be dropping her off like a neat little package, once they had landed back in the states.

  “I’m not fussy, as long as it’s edible, I’m good. But I do need a shower… shit, my case” she looked around the room, nothing, the memory of having left it learning against the wall as she had been told to run for her life suddenly came flooding back.

  “I can have some clothes sent up to, nothing fancy, sweats, that sort of thing, but they will be clean, I just don’t know what size. So, let me order food and then I can pass you the phone ok” how was this man so fucking calm? She was a raving lunatic on the inside and it was just membrane thin from bursting through, he was acting like this was an everyday occurrence.