Dana had spent the afternoon tangled in the disaster Wolfe was planning, trying to figure a way out. When Mal had offered her a ride home, she’d jumped at the chance, wanting some time to think. Instead, she’d been stewing. Finally, around midnight, she’d gone to bed with anger instead of concern heating her.
A while later, the front door opened, and Wolfe’s heavy footsteps echoed through the living room to the bedroom.
She sat up and turned on the lamp. “Do you make that noise on purpose?”
He lounged in the doorway, his broad shoulders taking up all the available space, his expression unreadable. “Huh?”
“The stomping.” She hugged her knees to her chest. “I know you can move silently, so do you make noise on purpose?”
“Yes.”
That made sense. She was trying to find the right words to persuade him to avoid the suicide mission, so it took her a heartbeat to realize he was staring at her without smiling. Her head tilted before her thoughts caught up. Oh. Was it time to fight? “What’s your problem?”
“My problem?” he repeated, his tone silky.
She blinked, her central nervous system reacting to him automatically. “Yes.”
“My problem is that I gave you explicit instructions to keep Roscoe with you at all times, especially if I am not around.” The corded muscles in his neck actually bulged beneath the bruises. “You failed to keep Roscoe with you and came home alone.”
“Oh please,” she muttered.
He drew himself up as if she’d punched him. “You purposely ignored the rules.”
Rules? Had he just said rules? “Yes, I did.” Her chin lifted and she met his gaze without flinching. “Roscoe was having a good time playing in Nari’s office, and I let him be.”
Wolfe tucked his thumbs in his jeans pockets in an inexplicably threatening move. “That’s not it, and you know it.”
Sayingnuh-uhwould just sound juvenile. She took a deep breath, wishing she was wearing jeans instead of a pale yellow baby-doll teddy. “You do not know what was in my mind at the time.”
“I know exactly what was in your mind.” He remained patiently in place, watching her. “You’re ticked I’m going on that mission, and you decided to play by your own rules. Teach me a lesson.”
“No,” she denied. Okay, maybe. Roscoe was having a good time with the bone in Nari’s office, and Dana might’ve had aso theremoment. “I don’t see how you can be irritated when you won’t listen to me.”
“You’re digging a hole, baby.”
Her lungs felt like she’d swallowed a space heater. She tried to swallow over the lump in her throat, acutely aware she was out of her depth. “Fine, but that was only part of it. Roscoe really was having fun.” She scrambled out of the bed and stood to face him, no longer hiding. “I don’t want you to parachute drop into some hills crawling with armed criminals all alone.”
“Okay.”
“Wait—what?”
His gaze wandered over her baby doll to her bare feet and up her long legs, pausing at her breasts, then returning to her face. “Jethro is going with me.”
Her entire body heated at his look. “Wait. The British professor?” she shrieked.
He winced. “Lower the decibels, would you?”
“Oh, you’re gonna get kicked.” It was too bad she didn’t have on boots.
Wolfe’s gaze heated. “First, if Force trusts him, then I trust him. He’s former MI6, and apparently he knows his stuff.” He held up a hand when she started to argue. “Second, this is what I do. I’m good at it, and I will come back.”
“And third?” she snapped, her ears turning hot. Very.
“Third? This isnotwhat you do, so you will follow all directions until I take out the guy who wants to take us out. It’s simple. Yes, you’re a good journalist. Yes, I understand that your job entails some danger, which I will try to lessen. But this maniac after us, after you, is coming because of me. That makes this my op.”
God, he was sexy when he got all bossy while trying to sound reasonable. “When does it get to be my op?” she asked.
“Next time. Maybe.” He didn’t sound convincing.
