CHAPTER 4
Kaya smoothed her palms over the skirt of her dusty-rose silk dress, trying not to notice the slight tremble in her fingers. Damn her nerves. It took a lot to rattle her, but as she waited in the car beside Aric at the tall iron gate outside the Rousseau estate, her heart seemed determined to climb into her throat.
They had been held up for several minutes and counting while a guard posted at the entrance went back into his shack to verify the invitation and IDs Aric had given him. Behind the brand-new Mercedes sedan the Order had procured especially for this mission, a line of waiting vehicles had grown to nearly a dozen deep.
“What’s taking so long?” Kaya dipped her head down as she spoke, barely moving her lips in case either of the armed security attendants flanking their car might be watching for signs of suspicion.
“Relax,” Aric murmured. “Everything’s fine. We’re going to a wedding reception, not a funeral.”
She hoped he was right. How the Breed male could grin and make jokes when her stomach was twisting into a knot over the importance of their assignment, she had no idea. For Kaya, everything she attempted was undertaken with a sense of gravity and an intense need to get the job done right. To get it perfect.
Today she felt that need more than ever.
All her hopes hinged on this mission. Years of dreaming for a better life, for some sense of purpose. Weeks of hard training and determination. It all boiled down to this one final test. There was no room for nerves or doubts. Failure was simply not an option.
It didn’t help her unease at all that she was draped in yards of silk and chiffon instead of the combat gear she preferred. The sumptuous fabric felt as alien against her skin as it could be to a woman who’d spent a good part of her young life in thrift store rags and ill-fitting hand-me-downs. Instead of a weapons belt bristling with the blades and guns she’d learned to wield, today she wore only diamond bracelets and jeweled rings.
As for Aric, he was maddeningly cool in the driver’s seat. With his wrist draped casually over the steering wheel, the other arm resting on his muscled thigh, he looked as if he could sit there all day waiting for one guard to run their fake credentials while another searched their open trunk. A third man prowled the perimeter of the car with a leashed Rottweiler actively sniffing for explosives or other security risks, and still another pair of guards watched the gate armed with automatic rifles clutched in their hands.
Unfazed by any of it, Aric glanced over at her. “You look incredible, by the way.”
The compliment took her aback. They hadn’t talked about anything besides strategy and mission objectives since they left the command center, so she wasn’t quite sure what to do with his praise.
“I’m not used to wearing this kind of thing,” she whispered, self-consciousness deepening as he stared at her. “The bodice is so tight it’s cutting off the air to my lungs and this flowy silk skirt keeps snagging on my finger calluses.”
He gave her a slow appraisal. “Well, if the idea was to make you blend in with the other women attending this party, we’re off to a bad start. You’re a knockout.”
He looked more than passingly good himself, despite Kaya’s unwillingness to admit she’d noticed.
In his graphite-gray suit and tie, Aric could have just stepped out of a men’s fashion photo shoot. Broad, straight shoulders and thick biceps filled the jacket, hinting at the immense strength that no amount of fine tailored clothing could hide. He was the kind of male who would draw gazes no matter what he was wearing, and not even Kaya was immune.
As hard as she tried to act otherwise.
The sudden knock on Aric’s window didn’t even make him blink. He pushed the button and as the glass slid down, the guard who’d returned with their IDs bent to peer into the car. Kaya fixed a bland smile on her lips when his gaze flicked to her.
“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.