Burned (4 page)

She opened her mouth to protest, say something in her defense, but Alex just kept going.

“I told her as long as she took one of you guys as a precaution, she should go. You up for it?”

Sean was still staring at her, expression unreadable. “Were you going to ask me yourself?”

God, now she looked like a total moron
and
a wuss. She shifted in her chair and cleared her throat, avoiding his gaze as she glared at Alex. Her reluctance about attending wasn’t just because of the current security threat and he knew it. He knew about her past, knew exactly why she kept to herself. That single, horrific incident had shattered her life and she doubted she’d ever feel truly safe again. “I just wanted his opinion on whether I should go or not, because of everything that’s going on,” she clarified.

“She was working up the guts to ask you, but I wanted to make sure it was out there in case she wimped out,” Alex finished helpfully. “The award’s a big deal, I wouldn’t want her to miss it and with the other guys out on surveillance this was as good a time as any to bring it up.”

The glacial glare she was sending his way had absolutely no effect. His usual bluntness was way over the top this time though. She knew he was fond of her. Since he’d hired her he’d taken on the role of a kind of protective father figure in her life and she knew it was because of her background. He’d been very thorough in his research before he’d approached her for recruitment and hadn’t pulled any punches when he’d finally questioned her about her past in the initial interview.

While horrific, that same past had galvanized her to do whatever she could to help stamp out radical Islam wherever it showed its ugly face, something Alex also knew. That trait was probably a huge reason why he’d hired her, aside from her degree from MIT. Presented with a position to eradicate some of the evil in this world, she’d jumped at the chance and worked her ass off for him ever since.

Sean still hadn’t taken his eyes off her, his dark gaze intent. “Do you want me to take you, Zahra?”

Take
her. The words, spoken in that low, smoky voice, shot an image into her brain of them together. Naked. Her pinned beneath his hard weight in her queen size bed. That powerful body stretched out on top of her, her hands locked on his wide, muscular back as he devoured her mouth and pumped in and out of her in a rhythm that made her whimper and strain for more.

She swallowed, risked a glance over at him. He was watching her closely, studying her reaction in that intent way of his and she couldn’t do anything to hide the damned blush currently burning in her cheeks. “If you wouldn’t mind, I’d really appreciate it.” She’d feel a helluva lot safer with him there to keep watch, that was for sure, insane physical reaction to him notwithstanding.

Those espresso eyes filled with a lazy sensuality, the dark chocolate flecks in them visible as he smiled. “Then it’s a date. Is it black tie as in I’ll need a tux?”

She nodded, her mouth going dry. The man was ruggedly gorgeous in jeans and a T-shirt. She couldn’t even imagine what the sight of him in a tux would do to her. And she knew without a doubt that he’d spend the evening being very attentive to her. Her body went hot all over at the thought and made her question her sanity. Was this a huge mistake?

“Great,” Alex said decisively. “Glad that’s settled. Now if you don’t mind, could you guys get back to work?”

Zahra expelled a breath and shot him one last narrow-eyed look before opening the next document on her laptop, every cell in her body humming with a constant physical reminder of how close Sean was. All she had to do now was figure out a way to ignore that long enough to get her job done and not think about being alone with him two nights from now.

Chapter Three

Seated at the conference room table, Sean sent off another file to Alex. With Zahra’s help he’d just hacked into yet another terrorist forum and uncovered all kinds of chatter that needed translation. One item down, another thousand to go.

After a long day of surveillance, Hunter and Ellis had finally come back to the office an hour ago to report on their findings. So far neither of the suspects they’d tailed had done anything worrisome, but they’d remain on the watch list along with several other men Zahra’s translations had flagged from the jihadist forums she’d been looking at all day. Alex wrapped the meeting up by announcing no further progress in the FBI’s findings, but stressed the recent chatter suggested another plot was well underway. Though they couldn’t be sure of the target, due to the recent bombing at the safe house they could safely assume they were all still at the top of that hit list.

Sean stood up and stretched his arms over his head to work out the stiffness in his muscles from sitting at the computer all day. Since it was now well past dinner time everyone was starving and they’d long since run out of Ruth’s brownies, so he volunteered to run out and grab them all something to eat.

When he walked in half an hour later carrying takeout, the mood was still serious and a little tense. That was about to change, however. It’d been a while since he’d pulled a decent prank on his teammates and he was long overdue with these guys. He had a reputation to uphold, after all.

Zahra glanced up at him with a tired smile, her eyes lighting up. “You brought food! That makes you my new favorite person.”

He loved seeing that smile on her too often serious face, and knowing he was the cause of it. “Well damn, if I’d known it was that easy to charm you I’d have done this days ago.” He set the bags and drink trays down on the table. Hunter, Ellis and Alex all stopped what they were doing and started converging on it like a pack of starving wolves. “Ah ah ah.” Sean staved them off with an upraised hand. “Ladies first.”

They glanced at Zahra and eased back to wait and he saw her lips quirk. By the color rising to her cheeks he knew that the little show of courtesy had surprised and pleased her. He couldn’t remember the last time a woman had intrigued him this much. The only thing that kept him from digging into her background was knowing how much she’d resent that, and besides, he wanted her to tell him what had happened on her own. He already knew she didn’t trust easily, so snooping into her past would damage things between them before they’d even begun.

Opening the first bag, he pulled out her sandwich wrapped in white paper and offered it to her. “Chicken, grilled, and a salad instead of fries. Dressing on the side.”

She quirked one black eyebrow as he handed it all to her. “My, you really do pay attention.”

“Yes, ma’am.” More than she realized. He was determined to learn everything he could about her, discover what made her tick, what made her melt and what turned her on. Once he did, he planned to put all that information to good use. The repressed desire he sensed in her made him want to stake his claim on her in any way she’d let him.

Shoving those distracting thoughts away, he dug into the other bags. “All right, the rest of us get spicy burgers and fries.” As he passed them out he noticed Zahra reaching for one of the sodas in the cardboard tray.

“Here, take this one,” he said, brushing her hand aside and carefully selecting the one closest to him. She accepted it with a murmured thanks and a questioning look he didn’t respond to as he doled out the drinks to the others.

“You get cheese on these?” Hunter asked, already unwrapping his burger and dumping his fries onto the paper alongside it.

“Yep, and bacon too. Figured I’d go all out, you know?”

“Thanks, ‘cuz I’m starving,” Ellis muttered, dropping into a chair across from him and opening up the wrapper.

Alex reached out for a soda. “Coke?” he asked Sean.

“Pepsi.” Sean handed them some napkins before helping himself to the last burger he’d placed at the bottom of the bag. He sat, shifting so that the little bottle hidden in his pocket didn’t dig into his hip.

Alex made a face at the Pepsi announcement but didn’t say anything as he sat beside Hunter, who was in between him and Ellis.

Hiding a grin, Sean pulled his chair in and moved it close enough to Zahra’s that he could nudge her foot with his. She looked over at him questioningly with her chicken sandwich poised halfway to her delectable mouth. She had the prettiest smile, all the more gorgeous because it was rare, and he hoped this would get him another one. He gave a subtle tilt of his head toward the others and her gaze flicked to the men across the table. Picking up his own burger, Sean bit into it and chewed, prepared to enjoy the show.

“Spicy,” he said around a mouthful, then picked up his soda and took a sip, never taking his eyes off the others.

Ellis had been the first to bite into his burger. He chewed a couple of times then stopped, seemed to roll the food around in his mouth for a second before he suddenly sped up and gulped it down, looking like someone was strangling him. He glanced at the burger then cast a sidelong look at Hunter, who was frowning as he chewed his own mouthful. Alex was far less subtle. His face was screwed up in pain as he forced the bite down his throat then let out a cough.

“Hot?” Sean asked casually, taking another bite and chewing slowly before sipping more of his drink.

Alex nodded, staring at his burger in suspicion.

“Try some soda. The sugar takes the burn away.”

All three men reached for their drinks at once and took a long draw through their straws. A second later they all started choking and spluttering, spraying soda all over the table. Their faces were red, sweat beading on their brows. Beside him, Zahra had set her sandwich down, her eyes wide as she stared at them.

It was all he could do not to burst out laughing when three pairs of angry eyes locked on him from across the table. Alex snatched up a napkin and scrubbed at his mouth, nailing him with a glare so hostile it should’ve melted his face right off. “You fucker,” he breathed.

“Asshole,” spat Hunter.

Realizing what he’d done, Zahra lashed out with one hand and smacked him on the upper arm. “Sean,” she admonished, but her eyes were dancing. Her lips trembled as if she was fighting a smile, then they curved upwards and ah, yeah, there it was. Beautiful. Totally worth the effort and whatever retribution he’d face later for this little stunt.

One of the guys let out a loud curse and he couldn’t hold it in anymore. Laughing, rather pleased with himself, Sean bit into his burger and made a show of savoring the mouthful before he swallowed, keeping his expression innocent.

“Not cool, man,” Ellis wheezed, mopping at his sweaty face with a paper napkin.

Nope, not cool at all. Try flamethrower hot, Sean thought with glee.

Ellis chuckled despite himself even as he wiped at the moisture on his upper lip. “All right, you got us, douchenozzle. That was a pretty good one.”

“I enjoyed it,” he replied, taking another sip of the cool, sweet soda as he surveyed the damage he’d inflicted.

Hunter was still glaring a hole through his face. Sean met his gaze, lifted an eyebrow and kept eating, so Hunter picked up his nuclear hot burger and defiantly took another bite, managing to hide a wince as the hot sauce seared his taste buds. Pranks were common in the Spec Ops community—hell, the entire military community—so he wasn’t that surprised by Hunter’s
fuck you
response.

Ellis chuckled and shook his head at him. “That’s hardcore, man, even for an ex-SEAL. Hardcore.”

Hunter forced the bite down his throat and picked up his soda for a long pull, trying his best not to give away how much pain he was in. Sean grinned and raised his cup in acknowledgement. “Cheers, man.” The team leader was one tough sonofabitch. Sean appreciated and respected his leadership.

“How the hell can you drink that?” Alex demanded with a shake of his head, his expression one of combined awe and disgust.

“Have to,” Hunter muttered, wiping at his sweaty face with the back of one arm. “Gotta show the little bastard who’s toughest.”

“Be my guest,” Sean said and kicked back in his chair to polish off his dinner while he watched Hunter suffer in silence. “Fries are safe though, for the rest of you wusses. Had to leave you something edible.”

Taking pity on the others, Zahra handed over her drink to Ellis and left the room, reappearing a minute later with some bottled water. She unscrewed the top off one and held it out to Hunter. He was sweating profusely, his face bright red. He took it with a nod of thanks and proceeded to eat every last bite of his burger before allowing himself a single sip of water. The rest of them sat back and watched him try not to sputter as he choked the last bite down.

“What the hell was in that hot sauce, napalm?” he rasped out, tilting his head back to drain the water bottle in three gulps.

Sean drew the bottle of hot sauce out of his pocket and held it up for inspection. “Ghost peppers,” he replied with an evil grin. “Over a million Scoville Heat Units each.”

“Fuck yeah, they are,” Hunter retorted. “I’ve got third degree burns down my esophagus.”

“That’s because you just had to win the alpha male pissing contest by eating the
whole
thing
,” Zahra pointed out with a laugh.

Hunter’s harsh face cracked into a grin. “Yeah. I’m the man.”

“You’re the man,” Sean agreed with a chuckle.

Hunter’s eyes zeroed in on him once more and the evil smile that transformed his face gave Sean a moment’s unease. “Wait for it, Dunphy. Payback’s a bitch, especially the way I dish it out.”

Oh, it was so on.

Delighted, Sean grinned at the threat and got busy helping clean up. He’d lightened the mood, provided a few minutes of entertainment and made Zahra smile, so mission accomplished on all fronts. Now they could buckle down and refocus for another few hours. Hunter might want a handful of antacids first, though.

Sean went over some intel on a few possible terror cell suspects in the Baltimore/DC area with the others, Zahra clarifying any fine points in the translation between English and Urdu or Pashto. The FBI had teams out doing surveillance on some suspects already, so Sean and the other Titanium members would take up the slack on the new leads. It was almost midnight by the time they called it a night and headed home.

Hunter and Ellis took one SUV and Sean drove the other, following Zahra’s red compact car to her new place. She unlocked the front door and waved to him from the steps before disappearing inside and shutting it. Arriving at the modest suburban house he now shared with Hunter and Ellis, he parked at the curb and walked up the driveway. He was careful on his way inside, half expecting some sort of booby trap or ambush by Hunter. When he was sure it was all clear he jogged up the carpeted stairs to his room and gave it the same thorough inspection before stepping inside, even checking beneath the bed and covers before crawling in.

He was safe for the moment, but provoking an ex-SEAL like Hunter probably hadn’t been his best idea. Sean knew one thing for sure; when Hunt finally made his move, it would be epic. Sick as it sounded, he couldn’t wait to find out what it would be.

****

Zahra’s eyes snapped open in the darkness. She laid there, heart pounding, wondering if she’d had another nightmare or if something else had woken her. A thin slice of light filtered in from the master ensuite door she’d left open a crack, illuminating the foreign landscape of her new bedroom. The digital clock on her nightstand read just after two in the morning. Nothing moved in the stillness and there was no noise from downstairs.

A thump sounded outside her bedroom window.

She came up on her elbows and froze like that, willing the cold prickle of fear to recede as she tried to determine whether that thump signalled some sort of threat. There was a smaller thump, then a soft scraping sound against the side of the townhouse, below her second floor window.