Protection Read online

  Even though she was small in stature, thin, and healthy-looking, Nicole was enjoying her drink. No girly fruit drink or designer cocktail for her. Straight liquor. Fifteen-year-old scotch. Hell, he respected any woman who could drink with the best of them. It was quite apparent that she was relaxing into her seat as the tension surrounding her was beginning to lift even as their aircraft climbed higher and higher into the clouds.

  Now, his body tensed. Perhaps a shift from her or simply because he didn’t know what the hell was going on. What was he going to do about this situation? There were so many what-ifs floating about in his brain, fighting each other to be heard over the other thought. All he could think about was the feel of her hand against his and the spark it caused deep within his gut as their fingers intertwined on takeoff.

  The plane wasn’t the only thing lifting off.

  His dick had a mind of its own, wanting to come out and play with the sassy chick in the seat beside him.

  It had been a while for him—longer than usual—and his urges were starting to take over his common sense. This shouldn’t ever happen, not with his Army Ranger training. He was supposed to be more disciplined than that. The guy who had a mission, a purpose, orders, and directions.

  But that was right up until he got a delicious view of her tight ass in those jeans. Having her slide up against him like that certainly didn’t help to quench the fire within him. No, it made him want to peel the denim off her and maybe get a peek at that crescent moon birthmark she’d mentioned after he got to take her hard.

  He squeezed his eyes tightly and groaned at the arousal he’d managed to stir up in his own mind. How was he going to get through this flight?

  “Hey there…” Nicole’s sweet voice interrupted his mental musings. “Where did you go just now?”

  Nick scanned her face with his eyes. He didn’t really want to lie to her too much. It would only come back to bite him in his ass in the end. No pun intended. “Oh, sorry. I was scrolling through my mental ‘to-do’ list,” he said. Sure, that sounded good, he thought. Everyone traveling on a plane was either going somewhere for business or for pleasure, so playing along with the whole busy entrepreneur song and dance made sense.

  She dragged her finger along the rim of her empty glass. “What is it you do, Nick?”

  “I don’t want to bore you with that.”

  Figuring she wanted something else to drink, Nick flagged down their flight attendant and signaled for another round for the two of them.

  “I don’t think you could ever bore me,” she said, peering up through her long lashes.

  Chuckling, he said, “You’re sweet. Maybe you do need another drink if you ask me things like that.”

  Nicole let out a half sigh, half giggle, and continued toying with her drained beverage. “I haven't had much to drink lately,” she admitted. “I've been working so many late nights and extra hours that I barely had a social life.” She thought for a moment and then added, “Strike that. I don’t have a social life. Period.”

  “Come on. You have men lined up at your door, I’m sure.”

  It was her turn to chuckle. “I wished. Nope. The only men I see regularly are on my Instagram.”

  Nick leered at her. “I hate them already.”

  The sound of their laughter blending together was strangely soothing, almost imprinting on his somewhere long locked away in his chest.

  “I totally get where you’re coming from,” he said. “People like us tend to marry the job, at the expense of everything and everyone else.”

  “So true.”

  That wasn't a total lie. In the past month, he had been to China, Saudi Arabia, the countryside of France, and had slipped in and out of Russia unnoticed, undetected, and unsatisfied, since the mission he’d been sent to deal ended up being a non-issue as soon as he got there. He hated wasting time, but he managed to take in some of the beauty and history of Moscow before heading off to China for the assignment he just finished. His sleep schedule consisted mainly of snoozing between flights in rental cars or in the airport or getting to stretch out and get a few hours of deep REM those times The Company paid for his upgrade to first class.

  He wished this flight had convenient sleep pods like the one he’d taken from China. His imagination ran into all sorts of wild directions as he considered the possibilities of getting tangled up with Nicole Hunt in one of the high-tech sleeping units.

  But, he really needed to stop looking at her as an available female and remember he had been sent to do a job. This wasn’t simply intel. She was in danger. Grave danger. Seriously deep, fucked up trouble if the wrong people got their hands on her and whatever it was she carried with her.

  Instead of focusing on her full, pink lips, he needed to devise a plan for getting that USB drive out of her purse or pocket or computer bag.

  Before she boarded the plane, he’d considered dropping something into her drink to help her sleep, but that was too much of a dick move and not something he wanted to do to her, especially after all she’d been through. Besides, he would have been denying himself the pleasure of her company, witty banter, and sexy come-ons.

  Then again, Nicole was doing well enough anesthetizing herself with the Chivas. Nick had a feeling a nap was in her very near future without any assistance from him.

  The flight attendant returned and sat there refreshed drinks on the console between them. “Do either of you know what you’d like to have for lunch?”

  Nick and Nicole exchanged glances with each other. He hadn’t even realized it was lunchtime. Now, his stomach growled out.

  “I need to look over the menu,” Nicole said, and Nick nodded in agreement.

  The perky flight attendant smiled and handed them each a laminated card with food choices. “I’ll come back in a minute after you've had a chance to decide.”

  Nick watched as Nicole's eyes brightened perusing the menu choices that wouldn't generally impress anyone else. Nicole Hunt, on the other hand, was in hog heaven in her first-class princess’s chair and he felt like the king of the world having provided it to her.

  “Holy shit, is this really the food they serve in first-class?” she asked. “All you get back in coach and economy are salads with wilted toppings, sandwiches with no condiments, or a half-can of Pringles that costs eight dollars.”

  “What looks good to you?” Nick asked. He looked at the choices of duck confit pot pie, slow braised lamb, and grilled chicken with green beans and grain risotto. Nicole didn’t strike him as the “froufrou” food type and figured she'd much prefer a thick cheeseburger and steak fries.

  Come to think of it, so would he.

  “I'm going for the lasagna with red pepper crema.” Nicole screwed up her nose in a very childlike manner. “I don't really even know what a crema is, but I'm willing to give it a shot.”

  He was mesmerized by every word that formed on her lips. He studied the way her mouth moved, how she spoke, smiled, emphasized what she said, and questioned almost everything. He was fascinated not only by her intelligence, but by her street smarts too, along with all the knowledge and experiences she’d racked up in her young age. He was also completely intrigued by her innocence, that smart mouth she had on her, and a more subtle thirst for life and adventure.

  “So, have you decided?” Nicole asked him.

  Hell yeah, I’ve decided.

  Except Nicole wasn’t a menu option.

  There was always dessert…

  “Umm, yeah. I'm going with the duck confit pot pie. It sounds too decadent to pass up.”

  “Speaking of decadent, I hope they have some killer desserts, too,” she wondered out loud.

  Nick speculated about what her skin tasted like the base of her neck, what her skin felt like at the back of her thighs…

  It was a good thing no one could read his mind or see his thoughts because the direction his fantasies were pointing would definitely get him in trouble right now. His cock strained against the fabric of his jeans, adding t
o his urge to do something about it. That need was unlike anything he’d experienced that he could remember.

  She’s my mark…

  He was at a crossroad and didn’t know which way to turn. His head said one thing, but his body did another.

  17

  Nick

  Nick was starting to reconsider whether it was smart to get this close to her. Maybe he should have let her ride in coach and simply monitored her from afar.

  “Here you go,” the flight attendant said, refilling their drinks.

  Nick took the cold beer and gripped it hard in his hand, hoping the temperature of it would chill off his erection.

  Nicole held up her amber-colored drink in a mock toast toward Nick. “You know, I'm pretty good after one or two drinks, but you get that third one in me, and I'm a different person,” she admitted.

  Fighting everything inside of him telling him not to look at her, not to smile, charm, or encourage, he couldn’t help tossing a smirk her way and saying, “Then I'll be sure to order you that fourth one.”

  Nicole laughed hard at his banter and reached over to place her hand on his arm. What he figured started as a friendly gesture quickly morphed into her stroking his forearm and admiring the strength and muscle beneath her fingertips. At least that was the message he got as she overtly caressed him.

  Son of a bitch! They’d only been airborne for about half an hour, yet he was ready to parachute deep within her. He was not going to make it much longer… let alone another five-plus hours.

  “Where’d these come from?” she asked squeakily.

  “What?”

  She pressed his bicep again. “These. Muscles.”

  He laughed softly. “I was born with them.”

  “Not these bad boys,” she said, circling her hand over his flesh.

  “Nicole…” he managed to hiss out through his teeth.

  Her eyes widened, she sobered up a bit from the intensity in his voice. Locked together at that time, she gazed unblinking, unyielding as her hand persisted in its stroke. God, he liked everything about her though and what she was stirring up within him. He wanted to tell her so.

  Swallowing the knot in his throat, he said, “Nicole, I—”

  “Okay now,” the flight attendant interrupted. Nick pulled away, and Nicole’s hand slid back to her side. “What can I get you for lunch?”

  They both relayed their choice of lunch and then sat in silence, almost afraid of each other and their feelings.

  Nick was about to speak when Nicole stated, “You never did tell me what it is you do now, Nick.”

  “Didn't I?”

  “I would've remembered… I have a pretty good memory. It’s a thing, just so you know. If you had told me, I would remember. Trust me, it’s one reason I enjoy coding. This noggin can pull thousands of lines of code from my head long after I’ve seen it, and it’ll know where something went wrong.” She sipped the whiskey again, and he could tell the alcohol was starting to relax her again. The problem was it only made her sexier and cuter which spelled trouble for him.

  Stay as close to the truth as possible. “I told you, I was an Army Ranger.”

  “I know that. Obviously, you're not still working for that company,” she said. “If you were, you would have some sort of military duffel with you even if you were in civilian clothes. So what is it you do now, Soldier Boy?”

  Nick scratched his chin with his hand and had to laugh at her forwardness. “Well, to tell you the truth, I recently separated with an honorable discharge. I'm figuring out what I want to do next with my life.”

  That wasn't total bullshit at all. He hadn’t been out of the service very long before being recruited into the job with The Company, although it wasn't exactly something he could chat about in mixed company or at cocktail parties. And, certainly not with the mark he was being paid to tail.

  His response calmed her down somewhat. She pushed back in her seat and pressed her head into the cushion, enjoying the feel of the leather. “I envy you,” she said. “I mean, don't get me wrong, I haven't been out of school long, and I did get to travel and do a pretty cool job in China before I settled in my position in San Francisco. It’s contract work, though. Not full time forever. I’m not sure I can make the full commitment to one thing to do forever and ever, you know? I'd love to see the world. Not the places you’re supposed to go to like Disney and London and things like that. I want adventure. I want to climb Machu Picchu and dive with the manta rays in Bali.” She gazed out the window looking out into the horizon.

  He wanted to give her all those things. And, he wanted to do them with her.

  Nick wondered how much of that big blue sky before her she’d actually experienced. He was four years older than her, and on top of that, had his years of experience in the military on her. He’d been to so many places in the name of the American government that he almost didn't even remember where he'd gone. Deserts. Mountains. Small towns. Industrial cities. Deep waters, shallow rivers, dusty caves, and hidden hideaways. Never once had he described any of his travels with the wonderment she showed in her eyes.

  He soaked up every detail of her face while imagining her doing the things she dreamed of, memorizing the creaminess of her skin, the way her hair fell around her face, and the long black lashes that framed her large, alluring eyes.

  “So, that's why you're on your way to New York? Beginning those adventures? Climb to the top of Lady Liberty or feel the mist of Niagara Falls?”

  “No, not really.” Nicole hesitated and continued to stare out the window. He could barely hear her when she told him, “It’s sort of a family emergency.”

  It was his turn to seem sympathetic although he knew she was lying through her teeth. But, in a way, wasn’t it? She’d felt threatened, in danger, and in need of help, so she contacted her dad and fled. Nick would have done the same thing had he been in her shoes.

  “I'm really sorry to hear that. Is there anything I can help with?”

  Nicole shook her head and took another short sip from her whiskey. “It's something that just… sort of… came up. I didn’t have any control over it and have to manage the best I can.”

  She was doing that.

  “I understand. I know how things like that are.”

  She asked, “Yeah? What sends you all the way across the country to the East Coast and the Big Apple?”

  Nick leaned against the console, closer to Nicole, and lowered his voice to what he hoped was a husky whisper. “You see, what I really like to do is hang out at the airport, crashing into gorgeous women, stalking them through the airport until I see what flight they're getting on. Then I buy two first-class tickets and arrange for said gorgeous woman of the hour to sit next to me.”

  For the moment, he thought Nicole might reach for the ceiling mask to jumpstart her breathing. Maybe he shouldn't have chosen those exact words, but he did want to see her reaction. He wanted to know if she had seen him in the airport besides when they bumped into each other. Did she know he was on to her? Was she aware of being watched? Had she made him? He’d admit it, she was pretty slick, and he didn't want to fuck anything up.

  She finally dropped her mouth open. “What?”

  He winked at her. “I'm totally kidding.”

  Nicole laughed nervously, but she quickly started to unwind again. Her original genuine reaction told him that she did believe he was simply a random stranger, and it was just coincidence that they were sitting together. Because she barely batted an eyelash on the upgrade to first class.

  Seeing how she wanted an actual answer, he finally said, “Actually, my foster parents have some property north of the city, so I'm going to check on it for them and make sure everything is okay.”

  That wasn't exactly the full truth, but it sounded good. There was enough accuracy in it that he didn’t feel bad saying it to her. There was a small, remote property where he kept provisions, ammunition, phones, money, and any sort of identification he might need, all stashed in the privac
y of this residence his foster parents gave him. It was a safe haven base for him in that if he ever found himself in trouble or in need, he could go there and hunker down a couple of days while he regrouped and restocked.

  “That sounds lovely,” Nicole said with a dreamy look on her face.

  Nick studied her again. This time, he saw a weary, nervous young woman who was on the run and unsure what would happen to her next. A sudden, unfamiliar urge rose up in his chest. To pull her close and protect her.

  “This’ll be a long flight,” he said. “You should really relax. Try to get some sleep. I'll let you know when lunch arrives.”

  Through her heavy lids, she let out a contented moan. “Heavenly,” she said. “I can't tell you when I had my last good sleep.”

  “It sounds like you definitely need it.”

  She pulled her legs up into the large cushiony chair and tucked her feet underneath her. Nick tugged out the complimentary blanket and spread it over her the best he could. He also took the pillow in his seat and fluffed it up for her to use. Once she settled in, it wasn’t long before an aura of true peace overcame her and soon her breathing was deep and shallow. Then a light snore came from her.

  After waiting five minutes, Nick stretched his leg and hooked it on the handle of her bag. He pulled it toward, him, leaned down and grabbed it off the floor. He prayed like hell she wouldn’t wake up. If she did, he had absolutely no way to explain this.

  18

  Nicole

  She was floating. Somewhere warm and safe.

  Sunshine filled her senses, and she breathed the salt air into her lungs.

  Off in the distance, the whistle and chirp of a bird blended in with the whispering sea breeze. She didn’t feel the sand between her toes because she was drifting above it, over the churning tide, and over into a private bungalow with white, billowy curtains, thick pillows, and … him.