Jared
She was shivering. Despite clinging to him as he had raced through the sewers, the cold clothing and lack of light were getting to her. His legs continued to move beneath him, and he looked for the marker once more. At one point they had been forced to take a detour as their pursuers tried to corner them. Jared’s mental map of the tunnel had come through at last, allowing him to double back behind them, and head in a different direction. But he’d gotten lost at one point as he found that construction had been occurring underground, and one tunnel was blocked off.
There!
It almost went by. It wasn’t a painted symbol, but instead a random-looking pattern chipped out of the concrete that would hopefully look like normal wear to anyone pursuing him.
He slowed to a halt and waited until Nadia slid off him, her feet splashing him slightly with water, but he barely noticed.
“Wait here,” he said softly and moved up the rungs quickly until he reached the top. The particular grate on this storm drain was located in the backyard of a residential house, and was actually of a domed construction to ensure it didn’t get blocked by leaves. This had the added benefit of allowing him to look around to ensure the coast was clear.
It was.
He put his shoulder into it and pushed. The metal protested loudly, but it eventually did as he ordered, rising up and onto a ninety degree angle before coming to a halt. Jared climbed out and then hissed at Nadia to join him. She took longer to make it to the top, and she blinked heavily against the late-afternoon light. After spending so much time in the near pitch-black tunnels, it had to be a hard transition for her.
“Where are we going now?” she asked, keeping her voice pitched low.
He nodded at the house.
Nadia’s eyebrows rose in surprise, but to her credit, she didn’t protest. Yet. Not that he could entirely blame her if she chose to. The house was…less than reputable-looking. Nor was the neighborhood within which it was located either, but that was exactly the point.
Jared smiled and made a dash across the overgrown lawn to the back of the house, the mystery woman hot on his heels. He glanced back at her, amazed at how she still looked like a million bucks despite what they’d been through over the past few hours. There was a depth of strength to her that would keep him guessing for some time he was sure.
He took a key from a hidden spot and thrust it into the lock of the derelict-looking little shed attached to the back of the house. The door slid open smoothly and quietly on well-oiled hinges that were at complete odds with the exterior.
Nadia picked up on that with a curious look, and then moved inside at his gesture. Jared followed and closed the door behind them, locking it from the inside. The locking mechanism was much more advanced than a shed would normally have as well.
“So we just hang out in here?” she asked, unimpressed.
Jared laughed silently. “No,” he said, deciding not to push her. She had already been through a lot and emerged unscathed. There was no need to test her any more. “Over here,” he said, and pulled aside a cleverly concealed door in the floor. A set of steps into the ground was revealed.
Nadia descended first, and he pulled the trap door shut behind them.
“Wow,” she said as he hit the light switch, illuminating the medium-sized room they stood in.
“What?” he asked, removing his boots and moving past her.
“This is, like, some straight-up spy shit,” she said.
The lights had illuminated a rectangular room. The stairs were on the short end, so the room stretched out before them. To the left were two doors, one leading to a fully functional bathroom and shower, while the other was a storage room, containing spare supplies, among which was a change of clothes that he was positive they both would want.
“It’s a standard safe house,” he explained, though he could see where she was coming from. The dilapidated exterior was at complete odds with the interior, minus the fine layer of dust that had accumulated in a few areas. Jared had not been back here since he had set it up several months ago. It was one of his own personal safe houses that no one else knew of except for his team.
“I’m not sure I have any clothes your size,” he rumbled, moving through the room. The near end was occupied by a couch and two chairs, while there was a bed against the far wall, and a desk pressed up against the wall along the right.
“I’m actually mostly dry now after the ride,” she said, pulling her boots from her feet. “Okay, my socks are still a little wet, but otherwise I should be okay,” she said with a shrug. “Is that a shower?” she asked excitedly, peering into the washroom. “I might need that though.”
He reached out to halt her as she moved to go inside.
“What?” she asked with a frown.
“I can’t let you go in there alone,” he said.
Nadia’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “Listen, mister, I’ve been showering on my own since the ripe old age of nine. Maybe even eight, but the memories get a little hazy. So thanks, but I think I’ll be okay.”
She started to close the door, but his hand stopped it cold.
Jared grimaced, knowing that if his cheeks were accurately reflecting how he felt, they were as red as a firetruck. “That’s not what I meant,” he told her.
Nadia just stood still, looking at him levelly as she waited for him to elaborate.
“You’re in shock,” he said. “You might not feel it, but you are. You’re jittery, very jumpy and excited, and basically running on an adrenaline high after everything that has happened to you this morning. I’ve seen it before. It’s natural. With me so far?”
She nodded slowly. “I don’t feel like it though.”
“That’s the adrenaline,” he said. “But when it wears off, you’re going to feel very dizzy and faint, with an instant urge to need to sit or lie down.”
“And if I’m in hot water, there’s a good chance I could slip and fall,” she finished.
“Or faint,” he added. “That happens a lot.”
“So you’re saying that you don’t want me to shower yet, not that you need to come in the shower with me.”
Jared smiled and nodded with relief. “Yes. That’s exactly what I was saying.”
Nadia made a small sound, almost as if she were disappointed.
Now what the hell does that mean? Did she want me to join her in the shower after all? He wasn’t necessarily against such a course, though he knew he would have to wait until she came down from her adrenaline spike. Otherwise there was a good chance she would agree then, even if she might not normally.
It was then that Jared noticed her lips were still moving.
“I’m still going to use the washroom though.”
“Yes, yes of course,” he said. “No problem there.”
The woman continued to stare at him with her green eyes. “Do you mind letting go of the door then?”
He yanked his hand back like he’d been stung, having totally forgotten he was still holding the door open.
“Of course,” he repeated once more. “Sorry.”
With one last nod of his head he turned and made his escape as the door closed behind him.
Idiot. Getting lost in her eyes like that. What if we’d been in a combat situation?
His mind raced back to their escape that morning. He’d been mesmerized by her eyes even then, the first time he had seen them, but he’d not fallen victim to them then. So perhaps it was only now that they were safe for a while that he was allowing himself to become aware of how entranced he was by everything about her.
He was standing in the storage area, where there was a microwave, sink, and miniature fridge, when Nadia emerged from the washroom.
“Would you like some tea?” he asked, already pouring himself a cup, having heated the water in the microwave.
“Oh, please,” she said.
Jared’s spine straightened at her voice, and he put the mug of hot water down as he dashed from the room.
“Jared?” Nadia asked weakly, looking over at him, pale as a ghost before her knees began to wobble, and she toppled over.
“Got ya,” he said, his arms catching her at the last second, easing her down onto the floor where she then lay on his lap, held tight to him.
That was when the tears came. Her shoulders bounced slightly in his arms once, and he thought she might have sneezed or tried to hide a cough. But then it happened again, and several moments later he felt the drip of her tear as it slid off her cheek and onto his bicep.
“It’s okay,” he whispered gently into her ear, bringing his free hand up to softly caress her head.
The drops became a torrent at that point and she began to heave in his arms. This was what he had been afraid might happen if she were left alone in shower.
Nadia mumbled something he couldn’t quite make out, so he told her to hush and continued stroking her hair, hoping he was coming off as comforting and not going too far. Frankly, he’d trained for this type of situation in terms of knowing what to look for, and what would happen next, but nobody had told him how to behave if it was a female in his arms. There was no guidebook for this scenario.
So when she pushed away slightly, he hesitated, unsure if she was calm and ready, or trying to escape to do something else as the adrenaline left her body. She tried again, gently, and this time he relinquished his grip a bit, but not enough to let her go. Something told him she still wanted to stay in his arms.
“You were right,” she managed to get out through a haze of tears and wet hair that was now stuck to her face.
“I was?” he asked, confused. “About what?”
“About me, and the shower. If I’d been in there, I would have fainted and hurt myself badly.”
Her voice was small, but there was a strength in it that surprised and impressed him. There was a core to this woman, something beyond her exterior that had an impressive resolve. He had expected her to need to sleep it off, but as she spoke, he got the understanding that she had just needed to sit down and cry, take a few deep breaths, and regroup. That was what he expected from a combat veteran. Jared wanted his tea. That was his way to calm down.
Speaking of which…
“Come on,” he said, gathering her into his arms and easily standing up with her snug to his body.
“Okay,” she said, though she had no choice.
He put her down on the small counter in the storage room, keeping her close to his eye height.
He studiously ignored her plumped lips, and how much he wanted to touch his own to them, to feel her skin under his kiss. Now was not the time. He would definitely not be taking advantage of her. Despite whatever inner strength she had, Nadia was in a vulnerable state right now, and Jared wasn’t going to use that against her. It wasn’t right, and it wasn’t who he was.
But that didn’t stop him from wanting it. Badly. His bear growled and his nerve endings sang with a desire to touch her, to feel her, to taste her.
No.
He reined it all in, grabbing his desires mentally and yanking them out of the driver’s seat, which included removing his hand from her thigh, where it had somehow found its way. Nadia thankfully didn’t seem to notice, or if she did, she didn’t acknowledge it, much to his relief.
“Here,” he said, handing her the now-drinkable tea, the heat having cooled to an acceptable level while he had held her.
“Thank you,” she said, taking it in both hands.
He noted the way she held it, as if trying to steal the warmth from it.
“Are you going to be okay on your own for a moment?” he asked.
She nodded hesitantly.
“I’m not leaving the safe house, just the room,” he reassured her, bringing a relieved smile to her face.
He ducked back into the main room and grabbed a little box-like object from its spot near the bed. Placing it on the floor in the storage room he plugged it in, turned it on, and angled it up at Nadia. A few seconds later she smiled.
“Oh, that’s nice and warm,” she told him as the space heater began to do its job.
He finished making the second cup, and the pair of them sipped in silence, letting the warmth wash over them and reinvigorate their minds. Jared used the time to begin planning the next stages of their escape.
“I’m going to have a shower now, I think,” Nadia said as she put the empty cup down. “I could use the clean feeling. Did you find any clothes that will fit me?”
Jared nodded. “Yes, I forgot I had added some when Madison became the leader of our group. She’s a little taller than you, but I’m not sure it will make that much of a difference in the long run.”
“Amazing. These are towels?” she asked, pointing at some fabric on a shelf behind him.
He glanced over his shoulder and nodded. “Yep. Keep your underwear though. There aren’t spares of those, sorry to say.”
She giggled. “I think those came through mostly unscathed,” she told him with a wink, then flung the towel over her shoulder and walked from the room.
“Now what the hell did that mean?” he asked himself out loud, blinking in confusion. It certainly seemed like she was giving him signals, but Jared’s mind was already being pulled in several different directions. He couldn’t be sure.
Plus there was the fact to consider that she was hiding something. He was fairly positive she hadn’t lied about anything. She was just not telling him something, something that she seemed to think would make him treat her differently. He wasn’t sure how that could be, but for now she was an enemy of the Agency, and that made her an ally of his, if not quite a friend. A gorgeous, lust-inducing ally, who also happened to have an inner strength that would make many jealous, but an ally nonetheless.
“I wonder if things were just as confusing for everyone else?” he muttered aloud to himself, thinking back to the other members of his team as they paired off with their mates.
He regretted poking fun at his friends now. It was all coming back to haunt him, even if it was in a positive way.
“They’re never going to let this rest,” he sighed, then gathered himself.
It was time to get back to work.