Fucking hell, they weren’t even a real couple and they were already fighting. Logically, he knew Miranda was tough and capable of taking care of herself. But he didn’t have to like it, and he damned sure didn’t have to like the idea of her offering herself as bait to get to Victor Conti. He stood there with her in his arms, asking himself just exactly what he thought he was doing. She pushed away first. He wanted to reach for her and drag her back, but he didn’t.

“It’s getting late,” she said.

“Yeah.”

“Did you get all the equipment you need?”

“Black is remarkably well equipped. Yeah, we’ll be fine.”

“I guess I should get a weapon or two. Maybe some body armor.”

She said it lightly, but he could tell she was just talking for the hell of it. Stalling. Was she telling him without saying it that sex wasn’t happening again? He didn’t really know because he’d never actually cared before. If a woman he was sleeping with decided to withhold sex for some reason, that was his cue to move on. He didn’t have time for that shit—and it wasn’t going to get him to commit to a relationship, which was usually the intent of such things.

He didn’t know what she was saying, but if that’s where she was going with it then he’d adapt. He wouldn’t like it, but he’d adapt.

“You aren’t required to sleep with me, Miranda. One and done is fine if that’s what you want.”

“I wasn’t… Where did you… Is that what you want?”

He processed that confusing garble of words and picked out the important bit to him. “No, it’s not what I want.”

“It’s not what I want either. I thought I made that clear.”

“You could’ve changed your mind.”

“Because you don’t want me to act as bait to Conti?” She shook her head, her hair sliding like silk against her shoulders. “I’d like to think I’m smart enough to separate the job from the personal side. Though I guess if I was really smart, I’d save the personal side for when the job is done and Conti’s in custody.”

He lifted an eyebrow. “Are you feeling smart tonight?”

She grinned and it hit him in the chest like the recoil from a grenade launcher. God, she was pretty. And she touched something inside him that he didn’t think had ever been touched before.

“I’m feeling exceedingly stupid. Reckless even. I don’t want to save a thing for later. I want it all right now.”

That was all he needed to hear. He took her hand and led her inside. The halls were mostly empty, but no one stopped them as they passed. Money stepped out of the bunk room he was sharing with the guys and then leaned back against the door as they passed, smirking knowingly.

Cody refrained from wiping the smirk off his face, but only barely.

“Lucky bastard,” Money said after Cody ushered Miranda into the room they shared and turned to shut the door. He didn’t think she heard it because she’d gone over to where she’d put her bag and started rifling through it. But he did. He gave Money what he hoped was a quelling look. Yeah, they often trash-talked about sleeping with women, but the last thing he wanted was any trash talk about Miranda.

Money held up both hands. “Copy that loud and clear, Cowboy.” Then he headed down the hall toward the bathroom, whistling a tune Cody didn’t bother to figure out before he shut the door and faced Miranda.

“Strip,” she said.

“You first.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Same time.”

“Copy.” He reached for the bottom of his T-shirt and yanked it up and over his head. By the time he got out of everything, she was just shimmying out of her panties. She dropped them to the floor, and he thought he’d never seen anything more perfect in his life.

He reached for her, but she stepped away. “No. I know what happens when you get your hands on me—and I want my chance to taste you first. Promise you’ll let me.”

He could tell her no way in hell was he standing still for what she wanted to do, but he lied instead. He’d let her taste, but that was it. “All right.”

She glided toward him, hips swaying, breasts bouncing with each step, and he thought he might die right there from how the sight of her affected him. His cock was harder than steel. Anticipation rushed through his veins. His brain was rapidly losing its ability to think complicated thoughts.

There was one thought: this, now.

When she reached out and took his cock in her hand, he thought he would never feel such perfection as her hand on him again.

“Oh, Cody—the things you do to me. The way you make me feel,” she whispered before putting her soft lips on his chest, gliding her tongue over his pecs and then taking a nipple in her mouth.

He let his head fall back, forced himself to endure while she licked her way down his torso. And then she was kneeling before him, holding him in both hands, and he looked down into those eyes that were hers but not hers—and something rocked him hard, squeezing the breath from his lungs as he met her gaze for long moments. He had the craziest idea in that moment that he would do anything—anything—to keep her.

“You are so gorgeous,” she said before sliding her tongue along the underside of his cock, her eyes still locked on his.

Mad need rolled through him. Just as she made the trip back up to the tip and closed her lips on him, he reached down and pulled her up.

“What are you doing?”

“This,” he told her, tugging her over to the bed and lying back on it. She started to climb onto the bed with him, but he stopped her. “The other way,” he urged. “Knees up here.”

It took her a second but she figured out what he wanted, putting her knees on either side of his head and bending over to take his cock in her mouth again. Within seconds, she shuddered as he touched his tongue to her clit, the moan in her throat vibrating against his dick.

He licked her mercilessly until she couldn’t suck him anymore, until she had to wrench her mouth free so she could breathe as she came hard against his tongue, her hips jerking in little circles as she panted and moaned his name.

“I hate you,” she said when she was spent, collapsing against his torso, still breathing hard. “You never let me do what I want to you.”

“Mmm, and I love this view,” he told her. “I could look at your pussy all day. You’re so wet for me, Miranda.”

“I wanted to make you feel good.”

“You definitely do, honey. I feel real good.”

She sighed. “You can’t help but take control, can you?”

“Nope. Now do you wanna keep talking or do you want to fuck?”

“What do you think?” She pushed herself up and would have turned around except that he gripped her thighs and wouldn’t let her move. Then he spread her open and licked her clit and she trembled, another moan rising in her throat as he speared his tongue into her. “Cody!”

His name on her lips drove him. He licked and sucked her until she came again, and then he bent her over with her hands grasping the footboard and fucked her from behind until they were both mindless from the pleasure. When it was over, they collapsed together and fell asleep entwined in each other’s arms like two people who couldn’t bear to be parted.

* * *

Two days passed in a haze of work and mind-blowing sex. Miranda got up each morning ready to do the duties of moving supplies and handing them out to the Jorwanis, who lined up each day looking for rice and milk and clean water. It was hard work, but gratifying. At night, when she was certain she couldn’t move another muscle, she lay entwined with Cody, his cock buried deep inside her, their bodies moving in rhythm together, their tongues tangling with a desperation born of seeing so much suffering and agony.

Sometimes the sex was slow and thoroughly devastating to her senses, and other times it was hard and fast and raw. She rode him hard, demanding all he had to give, and then he’d flip her onto her back and show her exactly who was in control.

She was in love with his mouth. His beautiful, clever mouth that did things to her body she had never dared to dream could be so good. He seemed to have an obsession with licking her, and she didn’t really mind. Because when Cody got his tongue on her, it was always earth-shattering. She got to lick him too, but not quite as often.

The first time she forced him to come while she gave him a blow job would be imprinted on her memory forever. He’d tried to stop her, but she’d refused to be moved. And then he’d stiffened and suddenly her throat was filled with him. It was almost too much, but she’d taken him completely. He’d collapsed afterward and hadn’t moved for a long while. When he did, he’d kissed her soft and slow and told her that what she’d just done was amazing.

She figured he was just being nice, because Cody was the kind of guy who’d no doubt had a thousand blow jobs from willing women, and many of them more skilled than she—but she’d preened anyway. And then he’d pushed her onto her back and got his revenge by taking her to the edge again and again before he let her plunge over the side.

It sounded like a lot of sex, but it wasn’t. Two hours a day, tops. Four hours in two days. Such a brief, intense affair—and quite possibly it would all end tomorrow when they went after Conti. Cody had said nothing about after, nothing about when they returned to DC.

And what could he say? She didn’t even know where she’d be. If she’d have her life back and Sam would have found the mole, or if she’d still be on the run and looking for whoever had betrayed her. It was depressing to think about her life continuing the way it always had. She’d been driven, yes, and she worked hard at her job—but she’d been so lonely. She hadn’t realized precisely how lonely until she’d met Cody.

From the first moment she’d known him, he’d been bigger than life. He commanded attention and he filled all the empty corners of her existence in ways she couldn’t have predicted. She didn’t want to need him in her life—but dammit, she liked having him there.

She looked up from where she was stacking boxes of supplies and caught his gaze across the courtyard. She felt those blue eyes like a flame burning into her. He jerked his head slightly and she took his meaning.

“I need a quick break,” she said to Lucky. “Be back in a few.”

“Yep,” the other woman replied, not missing a beat.

Miranda headed into the building and made her way to the room she shared with Cody. He hadn’t said where to go, but she knew. She was there first, and when the door opened and he walked in, her breath caught at the sight of him. He was tanned and sweaty, muscles glistening and teeth flashing white as he shut the door behind him.

He didn’t have to say a word to her, and she was on him, throwing her arms around his neck, her mouth fusing with his, tongues tangling as he lifted her up and held her hard against him. She always felt like a delicate and precious thing when he wrapped his arms around her. Her heart beat fast, and she fancied that she could feel his beating equally fast against her.

“In you. Now,” he said against her mouth, and she began ripping at his shorts while he shoved up the skirt of the cotton dress she wore and yanked her panties down. Another few moments and he was inside her, her legs wrapped around his waist, his hands supporting her ass, their bodies frantically straining toward the peak.

It didn’t take long, and then he was setting her down on shaky legs, zipping his shorts and buttoning them again. Miranda cleaned up as best she could and slipped her panties on again. When she finished, Cody was watching her. He slid his fingers over her cheek, and her skin tingled along the path he took. The look in his eyes made her throat tighten.

She wanted to ask him what this was, what happened after the mission was over, but her tongue wouldn’t form the words. She’d built her life on not needing anyone. Admitting that she wanted more was tantamount to confessing a weakness. And if he rejected her? God, she didn’t think she could take it.

“We better get back,” he said, his eyes still fastened on hers.

She put her hand on his wrist, held it loosely. “Do you think they know?”

He snorted softly. “Probably. Do you mind?”

“No… but if I did?” Because she was curious what he would say then.

He put his other hand on her jaw, cupped her gently, thumbs sweeping along her cheekbones. “I’d hate that I put you in that position.”

“I’m not delicate, Cody. I think you know that.”

“The toughest woman I’ve ever run across. No lie.”

It was her turn to snort. “Tougher than Lucky or Victoria? I doubt that.”

“Tougher,” he said, and she started to scoff but he put a thumb over her lips and stopped her. “Yeah, they’re hard-assed and they get the job done. But I’m partial to you. You got the jump on me in Vegas, and trust me when I say that never happens.”

Her breath hitched. Ridiculously, she wanted to cry. But only a little bit. The rest of her was standing strong against the emotion beating at the door. “I didn’t get the jump on you. You could have disarmed me the instant you felt the gun—but you didn’t because you were curious.”

His brows drew down. And then he laughed. “How did you know?”

“I didn’t at the time. I figured it out when you disarmed me after we got to the Rio. You could have taken me down in the Venetian, but you didn’t.”

He shrugged. “You looked like you needed a way out. And you were hot.”

“Do you often let strange women hold you at gunpoint just because they’re hot?”

“Only once, baby. Only you.”

She shivered at the way he said only you. “Maybe I should cuff you sometime. Tie you to the bed.”

As soon as she said it, she wished she could call the words back. They implied a future—and he could shoot them down in a heartbeat.

His lids lowered, making him look hot and lazily sensual. “Maybe so. Or maybe I’ll tie you up instead.”

“I thought of it first.”

“We’ll just have to see who gets the jump on who, I guess.”

His words gave her the confidence to say what she was thinking. “Does this mean we might see each other after we return to the States? Or do I need to find some handcuffs in Ian’s storeroom and tie you up tonight?”

He let his hands slip to her shoulders. “Let’s see what happens when we get back home.”

It wasn’t a promise, wasn’t even an answer really, but she forced herself to smile anyway. “Sounds good.”

“We better get back to work.” He dropped his hands and turned to the door. When he opened it, Cash stood there, fist poised as if he was about to knock.

“Oh good, you’re both here.” He said it mildly, as if it was merely a statement of fact, but Miranda heard the hint of sarcasm beneath. He knew what was going on. They all did.

“What’s up?” Cody asked as if this was the most normal circumstance in the world.

Cash’s eyes flicked to her and then back. “Viking and Richie called a meeting. Conti’s moving to the ship.”