No Control

Caleb’s voice shook when he asked, “Is it a deal?”



“Room service and champagne?” she asked, trying to sound petulant, and failing. There was too much need in her voice, and she couldn’t do anything about it.



“You bet, baby. Anything you want.”



“Including you?”



“Especialy me.”



Moving his body away from Lana’s had been one of the hardest things Caleb had ever done. He backed away slowly, feeling the caress of her tight little nipples over his skin.



He couldn’t stop himself from letting out a nearly silent hiss of pleasure.



He was shaking with unsatisfied lust. It pumped hot and hard through his veins, luring him to finish what his ingenious lie had started. The plan had seemed simple enough



—get Lana to pretend to have sex with him in the shower while he used the water to cover their conversation, as wel as possibly shorting out any bugs that might be on her clothing.



Not that she was wearing much. Just a tiny little shirt and matching shorts that showed off legs so shapely he barely even noticed the surgical scars. She wore no bra or panties underneath, just smooth, hot skin that shivered under his touch.



That part hadn’t been acting. In fact, he didn’t think that anything she’d done had been an act until the very last. Lana wanted him, and the knowledge was enough to bring Caleb to his knees. If the history between them hadn’t been so ful of land mines, he would have taken her without hesitation. He would have pinned her against the tile and filed her up until they were both too wild to care that the water had run cold. He would have tried to give her the kind of pleasure that erased past pain, or at least duled the memory of it. When she stripped her shirt off and bared her sweet, pink-tipped breasts, Caleb nearly lost his resolve not to do just that. It had been a close thing, and he knew that if he watched her getting out of the shower, he’d be a goner.



Caleb dunked his head under the spray, making sure enough water went into his eyes to keep him blind. A moment later he heard her say, “Here’s a towel.”



Caleb shut off the water. She was wrapped in a thick towel, her dark hair dripping water onto her slender shoulders. Her lips were a bit puffy and her eyes a bit wide, but her chin was high and she showed no sign of fear. Caleb admired the hel out of her for that courage. Not just any woman could stand there calmly after just finding out that her house was bugged.



“I’l throw some clothes on and be out in a sec,” she told him.



Caleb did the best he could to dry off his soaked jeans and puled his shirt back on. He gathered up her toothbrush, her hairbrush, and a few toiletries he thought she’d need, and by the time he had, she was dressed and waiting for him.



She gave him an impatient wave of her hand, and he hoped that anyone watching wouldn’t be able to see the way it shook. “Let’s go.”



CHAPTER ELEVEN



Lana sat in the car unable to speak. She’d made such a complete fool of herself coming on to Caleb like that. How could she have been so stupid not to see that he was just playing a role? He played Caleb the seducer as easily and convincingly as he’d played Miles Gentry, amoral mercenary.



How could she not have thought about the possibility that her house was bugged?



Lana wondered how long she’d been without privacy. Had Kara heard her screams at night? Seen her writhing on the bed? Did her screams stil make her smile?



Lana shoved the questions away before they made her sick. She could never go back there now. She had no home.



Caleb scribbled something on a notepad and handed it to her as he drove out of the parking lot.



Don’t say anything. Your clothes may be bugged.



Lana felt her neck tighten another notch, making her head throb. Was this nightmare ever going to end? Did she have to give up her life and disappear before she’d be free?



And if that was the cost of freedom, did she even want it?



She’d spent enough hours thinking about that very thing to know that she didn’t. She would never again be caged, trapped like she had been in that cave. She was going to live free, or die trying. Period.



Caleb puled into the nearest drugstore and parked away from the clump of cars nestled near the door. He reached into the backseat, fumbled in a bag, and puled out something about the size and shape of a cel phone. He pushed a couple buttons and a line of three LEDs lit up. He reached over and ran the device over her backpack turned purse. The little lights flickered, and Caleb puled a complicated knife out of his damp jeans. He slit open the lining in one of the pockets and pried out a listening device no larger than a button on her shirt.



Lana’s stomach cramped, and it was al she could do not to let out a hoarse cry of frustration. She carried that backpack with her everywhere, which meant they’d listened to every word she’d said—at work, at home, even in the hospital with Stacie. She felt betrayed. Violated.



Thank God she’d never told anyone what she’d seen in Armenia. Anyone who shared her secret would be dead right now, and it would have been her fault.



Caleb continued running the device over her purse, then her shoes. He found two more bugs. When he motioned for her to lift her arms, Lana thought he’d lost his mind. At least until the little lights went off when he ran the thing along the underwire of her bra.



Lana choked down her rage, unfastened the bra, and slipped it out through her sleeve.



Caleb gave her that look al men have when they see a woman remove her bra without taking off her shirt—the one that kids get when they see a new magic trick. She handed him the lacy bit of fabric, and he used his knife to cut open the casing that held the underwire. Another tiny listening device slid into his wide palm. He offered her the bra, but she refused. There was no way that was going back on her body.



He took al the little bits of plastic and metal and folded them into a makeshift envelope he made out of a piece of paper.



“I’l be right back with those condoms,” he said and got out of the car, locking the doors behind him.



Lana sat there in the dark parking lot, feeling trapped. What else didn’t she know about besides the bugs? Had her food been tampered with? What about her office? Was it bugged, too? Could Kara just hear her, or had she also been watching her? Was it just Kara or had the others found her, too? She hadn’t seen them, but that didn’t mean anything.



Lana felt her stomach tighten painfuly, and she took slow, deep breaths in an effort to keep her dinner down.



What was she going to do? She couldn’t go back to her apartment, and she sure wasn’t going to go live with her parents again. As much as her folks would love having her there to fuss over, Lana couldn’t stand the thought of bringing any possible harm to them, even if she could tolerate the fussing.



If her apartment had been bugged, maybe her parents’ house was, too. Not that it would do any good. Her parents knew nothing. And she’d stopped drawing altogether now. Her hand would only sketch those faces, and if anyone saw, that could get her and anyone else around her kiled.



Even Caleb.



Lana buried her face in her hands, riding the wave of humiliation and regret his name caused to swel inside her. She had to find some way to make him leave. Kara would never believe Lana knew nothing if he continued to stay. Her only hope was to continue to pretend she knew nothing until Caleb believed her and left. Until she’d lied to herself so long she started to believe it, too.



He came out of the drugstore, walking toward her in a long, easy stride. Lana couldn’t help but stare and admire his strength as he moved. The tight denim of his stil-damp jeans did nothing to hide the flexing bulges of his thighs, nor did the thin knit of his black T-shirt disguise the thick layers of muscles over his chest and ribs. He was built along a grand scale that would make it impossible to hide his bulk under regular clothing. Not that she’d ever want him to hide from her. She liked looking too much. He radiated strength and power with every breath, and Lana felt herself wondering if he was completely invincible. He certainly looked like it.



He got in the car and just watched her with those dark, solemn eyes. He didn’t seem in a hurry to speak or do anything until she acted first. Maybe he was just trying to be polite, since she’d humiliated herself so thoroughly.



“We’re clear,” he told her.



“What?”



“I got rid of the bugs. Hopefuly it wil take whoever’s listening a while to realize that no one spends that much time on the makeup aisle of a drugstore.”



“And then what?”



“And then whoever is listening wil know that we know. They’l either plant more or rely on whatever bugs they have planted elsewhere.”



“Like in my office?”



“Probably. And your car. I’l cal in a team to sweep for them, but in the meantime, be careful of what you say.”



She gave him a shaky nod.



He started the car, and a few minutes later they were gliding along the buzz of traffic on I-70. “Where are we going?”



“A hotel.” He glanced over for a second, and in the flash of oncoming headlights, she could see the grim set of his jaw.



Lana felt her body tighten at the memory of what he’d said about room service and a big tub. Too bad it had al been a lie.



“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked her.



She didn’t need to ask him what it was. It was the giant pink elephant in the car with them, weighing her down with embarrassment. It was the way she’d melted in his arms and acted like the biggest hussy ever. It was the fact that she’d do just about anything to get back to the point where he was kissing her and she’d thought it was real.



Where she wasn’t thinking about danger for the first time in more than a year.



“No,” she told him in a firm, unyielding tone.



Caleb nodded and drove in silence for a couple minutes. “Then I guess we’re up to the topic of the bugs. I don’t suppose you know who planted them.”



“I have no clue.”



He sighed as if he didn’t quite believe her. “Is there any chance that you accidentaly left your backpack at home one day, giving them a chance to sew a bug in the lining?”



“No. I keep my life in there. Copies of my work files, photos of my family, my sketch pad. I never go anywhere without it.”



“That’s what I was afraid of. You know what that means, don’t you?”



Lana’s stomach gave a sickening twist. “It means that the bug was planted by someone I know.”



Caleb looked over at her with narrowed eyes. “I suppose that could be true, but I was actualy thinking that it meant that whoever planted the bugs did it while you were asleep.”



Cold little legs of fear scampered down her back. She hadn’t thought about that, though it made perfect sense.



“Why would you think that someone you know did this?” he asked quietly.



Oh, crap. She hadn’t realized at the time she said it how strange it would sound to him. Of course he wouldn’t expect her to think the bugs had been planted by someone she knew, unless she knew more than she was letting on. Damn, this lying stuff was hard. She couldn’t keep up with al the little strands of truth that dangled around, just waiting to be puled on so her lie would unravel.