“Mr. and Mrs. Bouchard.” He glanced at their IDs and invitation once more, then gave a curt nod and handed Aric the documents. “You’re all set. Enjoy the event.”
“Thanks. I’m sure we will.”
Kaya didn’t let out her breath until they had rolled away from the gate. “Thank God, we got in.”
Aric chuckled. “I had no doubt. Gideon’s a magician when it comes to hacking and covert ops tech. William and Elizabeth Bouchard may not have existed before last night, but anyone digging into our identities today is going to find them fully sourced and ironclad. The last thing we need to worry about is our cover. Getting inside was the easy part.” He swiveled a wry look at her. “The rest is going to be up to you.”
She exhaled a humorless laugh. “No pressure at all, right?”
They had gone over their strategy for the operation several times on the drive from base command to the Rousseau estate. There were multiple paths they could take in order to get Kaya close to Stephan Mercier, ideally without raising anyone’s suspicion. Once she had the groom in reach, all she needed to do was lay her hands on him.
For at least sixty-six seconds’ time.
That was how long it would take for her extrasensory ability to establish connection and begin siphoning a person’s thoughts.
Once she had the floodgates open, his mind would give up any secret she asked it to betray.
Up ahead of them now, a security guard was directing traffic to a large lot already filled with luxury vehicles and insanely expensive sports cars. Aric followed the hand signal that sent them toward an available parking space toward the back of the crowded area.
Kaya frowned as they took their spot amid row upon row of tightly packed automobiles. “I hope we won’t have to get out of here fast when this is over.”
Aric killed the engine, then pivoted to face her. “You nervous?”
She scoffed at his concerned look. As if she would admit anything of the sort, especially to him. Her partner in this mission didn’t need to know that beneath her forced calm she was wound as tightly as a spring. The Breed male causing a deeper sense of unsettlement in her didn’t need to know it, either.
She shrugged. “Of course I’m not nervous.”
“Good.”
His hand shot out, cupping the back of her neck and pulling her close. Before she had any idea what he was doing, Aric’s mouth crushed against hers. The kiss was shocking, searing. Intensely sensual. As his lips moved over hers, a lick of fire spread quickly through her body.
Kaya moaned before she could stop the sound from forming. As soon as she realized the pleasured noise came from herself, she jolted. Her eyes flew open and she let out a startled cry.
Aric’s lush mouth muffled the feeble protest. His kiss was full of confidence, as if he already knew her lips and understood just how to seduce her. The fact that her body seemed eager to allow him to only made her outrage more explosive.
Kaya brought her hands up to his chest in flustered reflex, ready to shove him away.
But Aric was already backing off. He released her just as abruptly as he’d taken hold of her, a knowing gleam in his eyes.
“What the fuck?” Kaya sputtered the indignant curse, even while heat ignited inside her, powerful and uninvited. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, asshole?”
“Getting that out of the way in case we need to do it once we’re inside. We can’t have you reacting like that in front of our target.” He smoothed the pad of his thumb over his lower lip, wiping away the trace of her pink gloss that lingered there. “Ready, Mrs. Bouchard?”
He didn’t wait for her reply. While Kaya struggled to find her breath again, Aric pivoted away and climbed out of the vehicle. She reached for the door handle on her side, but before she could take hold of it he was already there. Smoothly, he opened her door and reached in to offer his hand.
“My lady,” he said, those mesmerizing green eyes lit with an arrogant gleam.
Rather than answer with the reply burning the tip of her tongue, Kaya clamped her molars together and pasted a pleasant smile on her lips as she accepted his assistance. What she wanted to do was slap his hand aside and drop him on his smug ass in the parking area. But she’d need an arsenal of weapons and more than a couple weeks of training to pose much of a threat to a Breed male, particularly one built as solidly as Aric Chase.
She might have been tempted to try anyway, had it not been for the possible notice of more arriving guests in the parking area nearby.
Instead she returned the smiles of the other attendees alighting from their vehicles, then linked her arm through Aric’s as he walked her across the brick-paved drive toward the entrance of the grand estate.
CHAPTER 5
Another round of security checks waited for them inside, although the guards posted in the opulent foyer were garbed more discreetly than their counterparts manning the main gate. Aric nodded to the men in black suits and wireless earpieces, noting without reaction that each carried a sidearm holstered beneath the smoothly pressed fall of his jacket.
Kaya’s steps slowed as they entered, her gaze drawn to the urns overflowing with fragrant ivory flowers and lush greenery. Garlands festooned with champagne-colored ribbons and delicate lace dripped like gilded froth from the curving bannisters of the foyer’s twin stairwells.
