How did she even have cell service out here?
Why hadn't she thought of this before? Being lost in the woods in southern Mississippi offered one and only one perk. “Mom. There. Can't. No. Service.”
“Katherine, please be careful. Please, call to let me know you’re safe.”
“Love you, Mom.” Kate disconnected the call. Her mom should get national recognition as the Grand Master of Guilt.
She'd broken off an engagement to a good boy back home, breaking her mom's expectation to marry and stay home to pop out a herd of children like her sister. And then she'd gone and committed the ultimate of all betrayals: she tried to join the military.
A man's profession.
Then came the revelation of her ineligibility and her successive move into the CIA, a place of inherit evil according to the good folks of her hometown in Greenville, South Carolina.
Well, she didn’t have time to worry about that now. She had to find her training camp and pray they had a washing machine-otherwise she’d be stuck wearing coffee the rest of the week. Keeping a watchful eye for deer, Kate eased off the brakes. After another twenty-minutes of driving she started to worry.
How long was this road? If she didn’t find her way out of the woods in the next ten minutes, she’d have to break down and call Grey for directions, even if it made her appear totally incompetent for her new job. If she couldn't follow the simple map he’d laid out for her to the training grounds, how would he ever have confidence in her abilities to run or participate in an operation?
Short answer: he wouldn't and Kate would find herself back in her apartment hugging a gallon of Ben & Jerry's snuggled up in a faded robe re-reading her favorite Tom Clancy novel.
Alone.
About the time her shirt started to dry, the road widened, and she drove out of the boxed-in path of dense forest and into a clearing filled with large pine trees. Further up the road, she spied a two-story white house with a huge wraparound porch. The kind of setup where people married and raised families.
The kind Kate would never have.
And didn't want.At least that's what she told herself.
The last thing she wanted was to be tied down to some man and a brood of children. Her career would be over and so would her whole purpose. Being single had never bothered her before, not with her career to live for.
As she neared the house, she saw two sedans, a jacked up truck, and a motorcycle parked in front. A wide staircase led up to the front porch, flanked by rows and rows of hydrangeas. The porch itself hosted potted ferns and hanging baskets overflowing with bright yellow and purple flowers. Kate rolled down her window, inhaling the sweet scent only gardens in the south could create.
Somehow this wasn't quite how she'd pictured theheadquarters.
Senses on high alert, Kate stuffed her Baretta into her compact purse and got out, slamming the door with enough force to warn any unsuspecting citizen of incoming traffic. The last thing she wanted was to stumble into some backwoods supremacist following armed to the teeth with illegal AR's. As a CIA analyst, she researched enough of them to know they didn't hide in shacks surrounded by metal-paneled fences lined with barbed wire. Dissidents usually did their best to blend in.
The front door opened and Ethan stepped out. Her mouth went dry and white-hot bolts of awareness shot through her followed immediately by rolling waves of chill bumps.
Kate was honest enough to admit to herself it wasn’t really the near wreck that had set her teeth on edge- it was the upcoming training withhim.
He looked like a biker and a sex god rolled into one. He shoved a hand through his long black hair, pushing it back off his forehead.
She took a slow perusal down the black leather vest, the flat stomach and lean hips, before her gaze bounced back up to his face to soak up his slightly parted lips. Images of hot sweaty bodies rolling in the sheets overtook her mind. Kate shook herself and forced her mind from the sensual haze he'd invoked.
Instantly Kate was drawn to him. Something was just a little bit off about him. He wasn't perfect; he didn't have a classically handsome face, his features were too harsh for that. He'd had a rough life, that much was obvious, but the barely suppressed intensity in his eyes called out to her.
Although his too-long black hair and thick beard made her fingers itch for a pair of scissors and a comb.
She approached him cautiously, like she would a wild wolf caught in a bear trap. All too aware of how horrible she must look and smell, she tugged her jacket tight around her stainedwhite shirt as she neared him.
She tried to find something about him that she didn’t like. But even the black leather chaps and matching vest wasn’t enough to blind her to his devastating good looks.
They just made him appear more dangerous…and sexy.
Dear lord, this was going to be a very long two weeks.
Chapter 7
Ethan foundit hard to breathe, to think, to do anything but stare at the woman glaring up at him. If it weren’t for the severe bun and boxy pants suit, she’d be drop dead gorgeous. As it was, she looked like a school marm trying to hide her exotic features beneath a fem-dom shield of armor.
