He had a couple of days. The head of the CIA team wouldn’t be in Australia until then, so he was on his own. What would it matter if he chased after her a few days more? He might actually catch her.
“I’m hoping she can see on his face if he honestly wants her or not,” Kara admitted. Her tongue moved briefly over that plump bottom lip of hers, and he felt it in his cock.
More than that, he felt a tug. Like a string connected them and wanted them closer.
He hadn’t felt it the other night. This was deeper. This was dangerous.
It took a lot to stay on his side of the table. “I’ll tell him I ran into you and ask if it’s okay to give you his number. I know he’ll want her, but I’m not sure it’s a good idea for him to take her.”
A brow rose over her eyes. “Why not? Are you worried she’s a gold digger?”
There she was. She’d been so sweet, slightly shy, but there was her edge. It was almost as though the woman he’d met the other night and the one who asked him to join her for coffee were two completely different women, but now he wondered if they weren’t both personas she presented to the world. The angry goddess and the sweet professional. He wished it turned him off, didn’t make him want to figure out who the real Kara Trent was.
What he had to remember was no matter her real personality, she could never know him, could never have a place in his life because his life was dangerous and filled with secrets.
“Not at all. I’m just worried she’s a nice lady, and Dare has a life back in Toronto. Honestly, I’m worried about Dare, too. He’s not the kind of guy who goes through women like candy.”
“He didn’t seem to be,” she replied, that brow arching in a deeply judgmental way. “Unlike you.”
Oh, she wanted to play? “What makes you think that?”
Her eyes rolled slightly, and she gestured his way. “All of you, mate. Every inch of you screams lothario.”
He laughed at the thought. It was good to know she liked how he looked, but she was wrong about a couple of things. “No. I haven’t had some string of random women sharing my bed.” He winced as he realized the truth. “I think it’s been over six months since I had sex. Iprobably shouldn’t have admitted that.”
His last encounter had been with another CSIS operative. They’d been on a weekend op, and she’d asked if he didn’t mind helping her with stress relief. He hadn’t. The sex had been good, but there hadn’t been this wild desire like he felt for the woman in front of him.
He hadn’t been tempted to tie her up and keep her that way until he knew every inch of her body, until he had the taste of her on his tongue, her scent surrounding him. Dare had accused him of acting like a caveman and he hadn’t been wrong, but his friend didn’t understand how odd it was. He was a good-time guy.
Because he had a mission and he couldn’t get too close. After all, look what happened to the last woman who got in Manny Huisman’s way.
She shrugged and took a sip of coffee. “It’s been a while for me, too. Life gets in the way. I broke it off with my last boyfriend eight months ago and have been in a bit of a hole since. Tash went through a bad breakup last year. Do you think Dare’s capable of being kind to her?”
So she was finding her groove again. He could understand that. And it would give Dare someone to go to the party with. It wasn’t like Ben could go. That was the one thing that blew all to hell when he realized Manny was actually attending. Ben was supposed to be Dare’s friend who tagged along to the billionaire’s party cabin in the mountains where he would find a way to get on Auggie Oakley’s private system to prove the man was colluding with Huisman in a secret organization to disrupt the world’s systems. Except now he suspected Manny would be there, and there was zero chance he didn’t recognize Ben.
So he had to find another way, but now that he thought about it, Tash going with Dare meant he didn’t need an excuse and he could confer with Whittington—the American operative backing him up—about how to get someone on the inside.
Then maybe he could invite Kara to the mountains with him, and she didn’t have to know she was cover.
Damn, but he was excellent at bargaining with himself when he wanted something. And he wanted her. He’d fooled himself.
She’d asked him a question. Could Dare be kind to her cousin?
Could she be kind to him? Could she see through all his walls tothe man he wanted to be?
“Dare wouldn’t know how to be unkind,” he admitted quietly, and every word made him feel his guilt. “He’s been through a lot but he’s solid. The trouble Dare will have is letting her go.”
“Well, she has to return home eventually,” Kara conceded. “We all do at some point. It’s still nice to get to know someone. Does every relationship have to last forever?”
Oh, she was saying all the right things, and it kind of annoyed him. It was perverse but he wanted her to challenge him, to talk about true freaking love.
Which was weird, and maybe he was coming down with something. He didn’t actually believe in love.
“What’s Dare been through?” She sat back, considering him. “Was he married? I didn’t get much of a chance to talk to the bloke. Tash had him cornered most of the night.”
She was polite enough to lie. Dare had been the one to corner Tasha at the bar. Ben had taken Dare out that night specifically to see if he could get the guy laid. He was being a good wingman and then Ms. Pink Hair had walked in and he’d felt the damn earth shake and lost all sight of what he was trying to do.
“He’s divorced. It was an ugly breakup,” he admitted because he would do almost anything to keep her talking.
