There was nothing like a big man with speed.Big men who lumbered around were not sexy.Conor was big, fast, and sexy.This would take her A game.
“You caught me,” he observed with surprise.
“Only because you’re not fighting back.What’s the matter, Conor?Are you frightened I’ll outmaneuver you?”
“I’m concerned that I’ll hurt you.”
“Don’t be.”Raising her fists, she circled with intent.Her next roundhouse kick landed squarely in his solar plexus.He didn’t flinch.What he did do was hold on to her leg and tumble her to the floor.“Now what?”he growled, looming over her.
There were several options.They could repeat the incredible experience of the previous night.She could suggest a shower: ditto.Or, she could stop avoiding the niggling questions at the back of her mind.
“I felt that we’re closer after last night,” she began.
“Yes?”Conor queried.
Her resolve to get answers to those questions faded.Maybe he felt differently about last night.Maybe sex with her was nothing special for him.Still, she had to try.“Can we talk?”
“This sounds serious.”His keen gaze sharpened with interest.
“It is serious.There’s still so much I don’t know about you.”
“That might keep you safe.”
“I don’t want to be safe if you’re in danger.I want to share everything with you.”
There.It was out.She’d said what she truly felt.Now he could reject her, or he could talk, share, reassure, even add to her concerns about him.The one thing she didn’t want to happen was for Conor to close up.
Straightening, he snatched a towel from the stack and tossed it to her.“Ask away.”
“Okay.”This wasn’t going to be as easy as she’d thought.After last night’s physical closeness, there shouldn’t be any questions left.They were doing everything topsy-turvy.
So?Get over it!Wiping her face on the towel, she asked, “Do you mind if we sit on the bench to chat?”
She waited until they were settled, and then raised her gaze to his.“I’m sorry I ever doubted you.”
“I could say the same,” he confessed.“You thought me in the same trade as your father, while I did think at first that you had to be involved.”
“Like you, we’re both on the other side of the fence.Can you tell me more about Blood and Thunder?How did the team get its name, for example?”
“By trampling the opposition—polo, I mean.Our reputation speaks for itself.We adopted it officially as the name for a group of top-class polo players, but it’s also a cover for the other work we do.Rooting out criminals who’ve managed to evade justice,” he explained.“Sometimes we work independently and sometimes as a team for governments who ask for our help.”
“How did you get into this work?”
“The usual way—usual for me, that is.My youth was shambolic until I was saved by a good-hearted Samaritan who took me to work on her farm.That’s where I first rode a horse.I seemed to have a way with horses, and eventually, I moved on to work for a polo player at a professional stable.”
“Was that where you met the rest of the team?”
He nodded.“Some of them.I met up with the rest in the army.A group of us joined the forces and moved on to Special Forces together.The rest is history.”
“I appreciate you filling in the gaps.”
“You don’t have to thank me.”He looked at her in a way that made Karolina’s heart pound uncontrollably.“We inhabit a dangerous world, which is why it took me a while to understand that you were another of your father’s victims.”
“A while?How long?”
“The tango gave me a glimpse of the real you.”
“And caused my father to up my price.”
“You’re worth it.”
“Really?”She grinned.She couldn’t help herself.
“Yes.”Conor’s stare was level and long, and it filled her with more certainty than any words could have done.
“I’m glad the ambassador’s been locked up,” she admitted.“The world’s safer without him.But I’m not a victim, I’m a survivor, and I’m going to use my experience to help others who haven’t enjoyed my good fortune.”
He winced at her words.“Good fortune?I’m surprised you can see it that way.”
“Are you?”Reaching for him, she smiled into his eyes.
