Chapter Six
“Talk to you a sec?” Ben closed the door of the office where Dylan had set up to monitor all the activity of Athena’s Creations.
He gave a nod and looked away from the monitors. For the moment, Athena was alone in the boutique, busy steaming the wrinkles out of a gown.
Ben didn’t immediately speak but stared at him.
“What?” Dylan asked.
“Fuck. I don’t know why I didn’t see it before.”
“See what?”
“You’re into that woman.”
Dylan shook his head. “I’m in charge of her.”
“But you get the same look Sean does when he looks at Elise.”
Dylan shot his brother and commander a flat look. “This one?”
“No, dumb ass. But never mind—I’m here for another reason.”
He sat up straighter, his brother’s observations put on the backburner.
“You were right about there being more gems than the ones in those shoes. Roades tracked down the supplier and was told that twelve in total were sold to the buyer.”
“Roades tracked him down? Since when is he taking on such sensitive work?”
“Our youngest brother’s grown up a lot since joining Knight Ops, bro. He isn’t all about shooting ’em up and reloading as fast as he can.”
“He’s still all about the fucking every pretty girl on his down time that he can, though, right?”
Ben chuckled. “Yeah, that’s the same.”
Dylan blew out a breath. “Whew. I was scared for a minute. Can’t have these guys growing up and settling down too much.”
Ben cocked a brow. “What about you? Experiencing any feelings of settling down?”
“Stick to the intel. Was I right about the gems? That there are microchips embedded in them? How many chips did you find?”
“Sean and Elise took out six. She’s busy decoding them now.”
“So that leaves six in the wind. Do we need to search the shop again?”
“My thought is to have her place another order with the same supplier.”
“Athena won’t be happy about that.”
His brother gazed at him. “Damn, I knew it.”
“Quit trying to read more into this than there is.” Only, Ben’s radar was never wrong, and this was no different. If his brother’s alarms were blaring that Dylan was slowly falling for Athena, then he was spot on.
Although after last night, Dylan thought falling for wasn’t exactly the right word—he’d fallen. Pure and simple, he wanted her. And as soon as he figured out how to get her out of this wreck of a situation, he was going to whisk her away to the family cabin in the bayou, away from obligations and terrorists and spend time learning everything there was to know about her.
“I’ll have her pack up all the jewelry and hand it off to Chaz when he gets back from following that banker’s wife. But I want you to tell Roades and Sean to look for more than the chips embedded in the jewels.”
“Okay?”
“I want them to consider the jewels themselves. Some might be worth more than others—some will be nothing but glass. You may need to bring in an expert on the case and see if any are real. A fat ruby or emerald would be worth enough money to grease the palm of someone influential.”
Ben nodded. “This is above our pay grade, but I think your hunch is right. I’ll inform Jackson this is our agenda and I’ll let you know what we find.”
Dylan sat back in the chair, his gaze drifting to the monitor again. His earpiece hummed with a soft tune—Athena was humming.
Ben laughed and shook his head. “Yup, smitten. You’re in deep shit, Dylan. Falling for a woman you’re either watching or protecting is never going to end well.”
“Shut the hell up, Ben. Don’t you have a job to do?” He ignored his brother, but his words lingered long after Ben left. He was probably right—about everything. Athena would never see him as a normal guy, a love interest. Not when he was keeping an eye on every move she made and ticking her off with questions about what she kept in her safe.
None of this would end well for him either. He’d already established in his mind that he wanted her.
He grunted. “Too fucking late.”
* * * * *
Athena saw the customer out the door with a wave and smile. Humming one of the jaunty Mardi Gras tunes she’d heard blasting from the street festivities, she walked into the dressing room to clean up after the customer.
Gowns were haphazardly hung on the hangers, but Athena wasn’t fussed—it was part of her job. She enjoyed helping these clients and seeing smiles on their faces when they walked out feeling so good about their appearances.
She slid the zipper up on one gown and then hooked the shoulder strap more securely on the hanger. She set the gown aside and reached for another. The red dress was exactly what everybody was looking for when it came to Mardi Gras season—there weren’t enough sequins or feathers to satisfy a woman going to a good party. In fact, if Athena had to choose, she’d probably select this gown.
She held it up to her curves, imagining the fit on her body. Hugging her breasts and hips and dipping in all the right places.
She pictured how Dylan’s eyes would widen when he saw her and how he’d look himself. She’d only ever seen him… Well, in and out of cargo pants. She had no idea if he liked dressing up, but she’d overheard him and one of his brothers talking about catfishing at a cabin in the bayou, and she could easily envision him in that setting. Kicked back in a lawn chair, a beer at his elbow and a rod in hand. His well-worn shorts and T-shirt would fit his muscular body to perfection.
She shivered at the warmth that brought to the surface of her skin. Their night together was something out of a book or movie. He was so attentive and thorough…
She hugged the gown to herself and glanced up and down her reflection.
A breath trickled from her, strangled. The small black speck clinging to the corner of the mirror was unmistakably out of place.
The dress fell from her grasp to puddle on the carpet and she bent to pluck the device off the mirror. Disgust and fury rose up, her chest burning with it. A scream built in her lungs, but she couldn’t release it just yet—Dylan deserved every curse that would come from her mouth for what he’d done.
Dress forgotten, she stormed out of the dressing room and crossed the showroom. When she burst into the office, he was typing something into a laptop. He glanced up, and she reeled.
“Since when do you have glasses?” The horn-rimmed frames shouldn’t have such effect on her ability to think or the rapid flutter of her heart. But he looked like the sexiest man alive.
A crooked grin tilted the corner of his lips and he eased the glasses off. “They’re not for reading.”
“Oh.” She stared blankly at him, wondering if they were just for making her lose her mind with lust. Then she remembered what she held clutched tightly in her fist and how duplicitous and sneaky this man was.
Her brows lowered, and she strode to his side, thrusting out her open palm. She let him see the device for a moment and then rifled it at his chest.
“You’re bugging my dressing rooms now? Is that a camera? You’re violating my customers!”
He clapped a hand over the bug before it could fall to his lap. Good thing, because if she looked down and thought about what was behind that zipper of his cargos, all her anger would lose its effect.
He held the device between his long fingers, eyes narrowed.
“I can’t tell you how creeped out I am that you’d sink so low, Dylan. I don’t care if you’re doing it for the government—in fact, that’s even worse! Do we have no rights anymore? How about the right to take off our clothes without somebody looking at us on a… a monitor!” She waved at the screens that showed her shop along with a bunch of website tabs on the laptop—apparently he was doing some research on gems.
She opened her mouth to continue telling him off, but his quiet tone stopped her.
“Where did you get this?” He picked at one corner of the device with a thumbnail.
“Haven’t you been listening to me? In the dressing room! You put it there or ordered it to be placed there. I still can’t bel—”
“This isn’t ours.”
His words sliced through her like a cold blade of a knife. Her heart tripped, and she slapped a hand to her chest to force it to beat again. All the blood felt like it had run out of her body, leaving her icy.
“What do you mean it isn’t yours?” Her words came out reedy because she couldn’t find enough oxygen in the same room with Dylan on a good day, and now this?
He leaned over the device, inspecting it closely. Then he snapped to his feet so fast that she stumbled back a step. He put out a hand to catch her, but her back met the wall instead. Thank God, because she needed something solid to hold her up.
If that bug wasn’t from Knight Ops, then who?
“When did you notice this?” The urgency in his tone ripped through her.
“I— Just a minute ago when I went into the dressing room to clear it out.”
“It wasn’t there for the three customers before her?” Of course he had eyes on the last customer and all of those from earlier.
She shook her head, feeling her hair breaking free of the confines of the leather hair band holding it at her nape. Curls swirled around her face. “I don’t know. I didn’t look that closely before.”
“And this time you did?” His arched brows seemed to throw accusations at her. And to think she’d been fantasizing about playing dress-up with him or imagining how he looked in his down time.
“I didn’t look at that corner of the mirror before. I’m busy. Dylan, if that isn’t yours, whose is it?” Hysteria rang in her voice, and she fought it down. Going off the rails over this wasn’t going to help the situation. But she was stressed to the point of meltdown and the only time she hadn’t felt attacked by this man was when she was in bed with him. That had been a different kind of attack—one on her senses.
She brushed the curl off her cheekbone, staring at his expression. His emotions were masked, his face far from the animated, gorgeous man she was used to. This guy was a killer, and she remembered thinking how cold and cruel his eyes really were. Fact was, he had multiple sides, and she was just seeing a few of them.
He suddenly hunched over the desk, one thumb rapidly moving over his cell phone while he one-handedly entered some numbers in the keyboard, causing the security footage to flip backward. The hours of the day registered rapidly at the top until he reached the time when the first customer had entered that morning.
Meanwhile, his phone rang faintly. A deep voice answered.
He snatched up the phone and slammed it to his ear. “We’ve got trouble.”
So it was Knight Ops.
She wrapped her arms around herself, feeling all that cold settle into her bones. She couldn’t hear the other side of the conversation, only Dylan’s words.
“Don’t give me any of that Alpha Charlie, Ben. I’m far from distracted from this mission.”
Alpha Charlie? She stared at his blank face, seeing none of that warmth she had when rolling around her bed with him.
He sliced a look her way and then returned it to the monitor immediately. “9:43.” He flipped forward in the footage. “10:07. And 11:01. Got it? Good—find them and question them.”
Athena moved forward and grabbed his arm. “You can’t have my clients questioned like common criminals!”
He shook her off, and she stepped back, more stunned by his reaction to her touch than she cared to admit. A pang of hurt stabbed her chest as she realized she was nothing to him but a warm body to get off on. But to her, the previous night had been so much more.
Stupid, she was so stupid.
She started for the door, but Dylan’s arm shot out and he snagged her around the chest, the warm steel wrapping her up tight as he drew her back to his chest. With his mouth next to her ear, he spoke to Ben once more.
“See that it’s done. You know where to reach me.”
She felt him flex when he pocketed his phone. Then he turned her in his hold to look down into her eyes.
“Tell me everything.”
“You can see it all—hear it too. What do you think I can possibly tell you that’s new?”
His jaw worked as if he was grinding his teeth. She didn’t like this cold, hard Dylan. She’d totally let herself fall into the trap of thinking something else might be behind their attraction—that this screwed up relationship could be something more after this nightmare ended.
She’d been a fool.
She pushed away from him and put air between them. Folding her arms, she glared at him. “Stop looking at me like I’m being accused of something. The only thing I’m guilty of is serving my customers and making a sale.”
His eyelid twitched and then his mask broke away, leaving the man she recognized standing in front of her. “Athena, someone planted this. It wasn’t Knight Ops or any other OFFSUS unit.”
He waved a hand sharply through the air. “Look, that device? It can see and hear everything that takes place in that dressing room. It’s possible that one woman planted it to pick up intel on the next client or the third. We need to find out—now. And you’re in danger. As soon as I get the clear from Chaz, I’m taking you out of here.”
“What? I can’t leave in the middle of the day. I have appointments, people coming in for wedding tuxes and—”
“Your day is finished.”
Her throat closed on whatever she’d been about to say. Besides the cold terror gripping her, was it horrible to think of how damn hot Dylan was when making these decisions about her life?
She must be bonkers, because she liked being in control.
Except when he was stroking her skin, his cock moving inside her…
His phone blipped.
“That’s Chaz,” he said without looking. “Let’s go.”
“But the money in the register. I take it out every time.”
“It’s only three hundred dollars. If it’s stolen, I’ll replace it. We don’t have time.” He caught her by the hand and dragged her out the office door. He strode too fast for her shorter legs to keep up with and she had to double her pace across the showroom to the back door.
Chaz slipped in, gave his brother a chin nod and then walked to the front door. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him lock up as Dylan towed her out the back. The vehicle was parked so close to the door that she only had to take one step before she was lifted inside. Dylan’s bulk followed her in and then he slammed the door. A second later, Chaz hopped behind the wheel.
The car took off, and she couldn’t even focus on the blurs of color flying past the windows. She didn’t need to ask to know Dylan was taking her to the safe house. Once again, she felt like someone far more important—a political figure or celebrity facing a threat. But she was just Athena, daughter of hardworking parents, granddaughter of an immigrant who wanted more for his family in America.
She glanced at Dylan from the corner of her eye to see him looking at her feet. She looked down too, wondering what could hold his attention.
He met her gaze. “At least you’re wearing shoes this time.”
* * * * *
When Athena emerged from the safe house’s bedroom, she stopped dead, probably because the whole Knight Ops team was crowded in the living room. They all swung their attention to her, and Dylan pushed down a territorial growl.
Her gaze shifted past each guy as if seeking him. As her eyes met his, a shiver of relief washed over her beautiful features, and dammit, what magic did she have over him?
He stepped forward and took her hand. “Athena, you haven’t formally met the guys, but they’re setting up here for the time being. That’s Ben, Sean, Rocko…” The latter gave her a salute accompanied by a broad smile. “My youngest brother Roades, and you know Chaz.”
She nodded to each, but her fingers tightened around Dylan’s. The action punched a hole right through him. God, the thought that she’d lean on him… He couldn’t imagine how or why he’d been awarded her trust, but it seemed he had it.
“We’ve brought some pizzas, and we were about to go into the kitchen and eat. Are you hungry?” Dylan asked her.
She shrugged. After the upset back in her store with finding somebody had planted a device in her dressing room, she was shaken.
“C’mon. You guys go ahead but leave me six pieces with sausage and peppers.” He led her back into her room and closed the door.
“Six pieces?” she asked.
Okay, maybe she wasn’t as stunned as he’d first thought. He grinned. “One thing you learn in my line of work is when there’s food, you eat. Maybe you should take my advice.” He studied her eyes. “Athena, we’re going to find out what happened. I promise you.”
“And you’re finished thinking I’m the terrorist who planted a device in my own dressing room?”
“I haven’t thought that for a while.” Actually, today pounded home the belief that she’d become a target. While the thought made him want to grab his rifle and hunt down the bastards responsible, he kept a neutral expression.
“Is this ever going to end?” she asked.
He pushed out a sigh and stepped closer to cup her delicate jaw. “Abso-fucking-lutely. And then—” He cut off, about to say he’d take her home to meet his family. And then on a week-long vacation to Manchu Piccu. He wondered if she’d ever visited the Mayan site, but he’d like to buy her a bunch of textiles for souvenirs.
She lifted a hand to cover his, the slender digits so small in comparison. “Then what?”
He shook his head. He couldn’t tell her those things and risk her tucking tail and running. The last thing he wanted was for Athena to feel he was heaping more pressure on her.
“Then you can return to your normal life.”
Was that a flicker of disappointment in her eyes? He must be imagining it.
“Are you okay to sit with the guys and eat? If you’re uncomfortable—”
“It’s okay. I’ve seen them all before, even if I’ve only just now formally met them.”
“Sorry, you can imagine we have a bad habit of invading a place and not introducing ourselves.” He grinned, and she gave a soft chuckle that went straight to his heart. Unable to help himself, he drew her near and brushed his lips across hers. Once, twice. The growl of need was rising inside him, and he had to step back before he threw her on the very close bed and changed the sadness in her eyes to a look of pure bliss.
Stepping back, he slid his hand from her cheek to her shoulder and all the way to her wrist. She turned her hand into his grasp and threaded their fingers. Warmth spread through him.
“Let’s see if they saved me that pizza.”
In the kitchen, Rocko and Roades had taken over the stools. Ben and Sean leaned against the countertop, boots crossed, stuffing slices of pepperoni pizza with extra cheese into their mouths. And Chaz was seated on the bar top, heavy boots dangling. Pizza boxes lay open, and by the looks of it, they’d already been feasting.
“Do you want a plate?” Dylan asked Athena. “You don’t have to eat like a caveman like my team.”
“I’m good without one.” She walked into the middle of the group and pulled out a slice of sausage and peppers. When she raised her gaze to his, her eyes twinkled. She took a bite.
After that, the ice was broken. Rocko struck up a conversation with her about Mardi Gras, which launched a conversation that had nothing to do with the mission or her boutique. Dylan was relieved by the guys’ instincts.
He found an open spot on the counter to lean on. When Athena came to stand next to him, Ben arched a brow as if to say I told you so. Dylan shot him a warning glance.
They quickly emptied the pizza boxes, and Dylan lifted the last slice of sausage and pepper. He held it up to Athena. “You want it?”
She shook her head. “Two is plenty for me.”
He skimmed his gaze over her figure. She could stand to gain a couple pounds, and if he had his way, he’d have a whopping plate of shrimp and grits in front of her along with his maman’s strawberry pie.
He looked up at a scuffling noise to see Rocko and Sean elbowing each other over the last slice.
“You had six slices, Rocko,” Sean said.
“Pretty sure you did too,” he drawled.
“I’m bigger, and I need the calories to keep going.” Sean straightened his shoulders to prove it.
Ben grinned around the bite he’d just taken. “You guys are matched in size and strength. It’s anybody’s guess who’d win a fight.”
“I’ll bet ten dollars on Rocko.” Chaz’s words were met with a glare from Sean.
Roades slapped the countertop. “I’ll float ten bucks on Sean.”
“Guys, you can’t throw down in the kitchen over a slice of pizza,” Dylan said.
“We’ll take it outside.” Sean didn’t look away from Rocko, whose grin hadn’t wavered once.
“Remember that time you and Sean wrestled for an hour over the last donut?” Chaz tossed out to Dylan.
He slanted a look at Athena, who was watching the exchange with wide eyes. He said to her, “Maman’s donuts are the best. They’d start a war, they’re so good.”
“They did start a war. Sean didn’t speak to you for what—a month?” Ben asked.
“A week.” Dylan’s voice held a note of annoyance. Each time the story was recounted, the time period that his brother didn’t talk to him bumped by a week.
“I think it was longer than that,” Chaz said.
“Then there was that fight over that girl in Dylan’s class. What was her name?” Ben looked around for someone to answer him.
“Haley,” Rocko said.
Dylan gaped at him. “How the hell would you know? You didn’t even grow up with us.”
Rocko waved a hand. “I’ve heard it all.”
“From who?” Dylan asked.
Blotches of red climbed his throat and spread over the stubble on his jaw until it reached his cheeks.
“Oh fuck.” Dylan had that oh-shit feeling he always got when a guy was fucking with one of his sisters. He took a step toward Rocko. “Which sister is it?”
“What the hell? Sister?” Chaz hopped off the counter and faced Rocko. “You fucking with one of our sisters?”
“Can’t be Tyler—she’s safe in basic training,” Sean interjected.
A groan sounded from Ben. “It better not be Lexi or you’re gonna see the bad side of the Knights, buddy.”
His warning hit Rocko, who threw up his hands. “Okay, guys, calm down. I only talk to your sisters at your family’s gatherings. All innocent.”
“Then why are you blushing?” Dylan demanded.
Rocko ran a hand over his face as if to erase the color. “Dude, nothing’s going on. I swear. You know how both sisters get to talking and don’t quit until you’ve heard every story in history.”
Dylan looked to Ben, and they shared a nod. Yeah, the twins were definitely talkers. Even from the time they were little kids, they’d tell all the neighbors who visited their lemonade stand every word that had been exchanged in their house the previous day. That fact had even gotten their parents some phone calls from teachers at school.
“Okay, we’ll buy that,” Dylan said. He pointed at Rocko’s chest. “But if we hear one word that you’ve been fucking around with either Tyler or Lexi, we’ll each take a limb to break.”
“I’m good at snapping femurs,” Chaz added with a cheery tone that had Athena’s head snapping to look at him.
“Chaz already claimed one of your femurs. Don’t make us act on this threat, Rocko.”
“Hell, you guys know how to ruin a man’s appetite.” Rocko pointed to the lone pizza slice. “It’s yours, Sean.”
Suddenly, Athena stepped up, grabbed the pizza and bit the point off it.
Everybody stared at her, jaws dropped. She smiled as she chewed. “There—I’ve ended the argument. Go back to being friends.”
The chuckle started from Dylan and soon the guys were all laughing over the argument that had escalated to threats of bodily harm, even though the Knights were dead serious about Rocko staying away from their sisters. They’d had enough problems over the years that each brother took that shit seriously.
He wrapped an arm around Athena and drew her back to stand next to him. She continued to polish off the last piece of pizza, and Dylan noticed the room had grown quiet.
All the guys stared at them.
Damn, had he shown his feelings for Athena? Fact was, he wasn’t sure he cared. Hell, he might already be too deep in her to climb out. If he had his way, he wasn’t letting her go at all but in the event she decided otherwise, it would take him a long time to get over her.
She stood close, her shoulder against his arm for everybody to see.
Ben caught his eye. “Can I speak to the guys alone, Athena? Would you mind going into the other room?”
Dylan stiffened, and she stood straight. “Oh… sure.” She glanced up at Dylan before heading into the living room.
Dylan leveled his stare at his oldest brother. “What crawled up your ass?”
Ben raised a brow, giving him a look he could only take seriously from a commander. Coming from a brother, Dylan would ignore anything he had to say.
“You can’t fuck around with her, man,” Ben said.
There was no point in denying he had taken her to bed and given her many delicious, screaming orgasms. “Whatever happens between Athena and me is none of your business.”
Ben waved a hand. “It is my business—all of our business. Don’t you see that if a threat walked into this room right now, you wouldn’t stand here and fight with your team—you’d be running into the other room to protect your woman.”
His woman. He liked the sound of that.
But Ben was wrong.
“You know Knight Ops comes first to me—always. Guts and glory, man.”
“Guts and glory,” Rocko echoed.
Dylan and Ben stared at each other a long minute. Finally, Dylan glanced at the rest of the group. “Anybody else feel the same way, speak up now.”
Sean looked away and Chaz picked up an abandoned crust and stuffed it in his mouth. Roades and Rocko gave no indication of whose side they were on.
“If you’re done accusing me of being a weak link in this team, then I’m going to check on Athena. I’m sure she overheard every word.”
* * * * *
She had, and the pizza in her hand felt too heavy and cold. She set it on the end table, for lack of a better place to put it. She turned for her room, but Dylan stalked in, his gaze pinning her in place.
He moved to her, his jaw set. “It’s none of their business.”
“Dylan—”
He slammed his mouth over hers, shutting off any response. She gasped at the feel of his hard lips, and he slid his tongue into her mouth. Bending her over his arm, he kissed her like a man on a mission. Was he trying to prove something to her or to his team?
She pressed on his chest and he lifted his head. Eyes glazed, expression intense. “Dylan, your brother’s right. We shouldn’t—”
He kissed her again, drawing her onto tiptoe, swirling his tongue across hers until heat seeped low between her thighs and dampened her thong. She had no control over her arms when they wrapped around his neck and clung.
After several dizzying seconds, Dylan tore away from the kiss. “This isn’t their business, Athena. It would be the same between us if we’d met at a dinner party or in line for a ride on the Ferris wheel in Cajun Field.” He flattened his palm to her spine and dragged her an inch closer until she knew nothing but his extreme body heat. “I want you, Athena, and that doesn’t change a thing about this mission, and therefore is none of Knight Ops’ business.”
She didn’t know how to respond to that, because her head and heart were racing. What was he telling her? She dared not let herself think too long about his words, yet…
“Speaking of the Ferris wheel. Do you have a coat? It’s not storming right now, but it’s good to be prepared.”
“I— Where are we going?” She stared up at him, trying not to let her emotions get the best of her. Whatever was happening between her and Dylan might be real—or it might not. She needed to stay indifferent, and she was in limbo no matter what she did.
His eyes softened as he gazed down at her. “Get your coat, cher. We’re going out.”