Code of Control (7 page)

Chapter Seven

“Wake up, sleepyhead,”
he said, pushing hair off her face.

Charlotte lay
face down on the bed, fully clothed, and he’d never seen anything more
beautiful in his life, or inside his home in quite a while.

“Charlotte,
honey, time for chores.” He pushed on her shoulder. She groaned, mumbling
something into the quilt while trying to shove his hand away from her. “Time to
get up.” This time, he pushed harder.

Very slowly, she
rolled over, her eyelids cautiously opening. “What time is it?” she mumbled.

“Four.”

“Um…four what.”

“Four a.m.—time
to get your ass out of bed.”

She turned,
looking for a clock that was not there. “Four…a.m.?” she grumbled “Are you
nuts?”

“Nope. Now get
up and let’s get a move on it. Daylight’s a wasting.”

“A move to
where?” she sputtered, throwing her arm over her face and refusing to rise.

He grabbed her
by the ankles, tugging. “I mean it, Charlotte. Get up. This is not an option…or
spa day.”

“I don’t do four
a.m.. Come back when it’s six.” She tried to get her legs out of his grasp and
roll over, so he tugged harder.

“Cows don’t wait
until six,” he said firmly. “PETA’s not too crazy about it, either.”

“Cows?” Her
coherency at the barest minimum, the words sent into the quilt.

“Yes, cows, as
in bovine…”

“I know what
cows are,” she muttered, most of her words jumbled.

“Good. Then
you’ll know what they need right now.”

“Sleep?”

“Milking.”

“I don’t do
milking. Already told you this. Go away.”

He grabbed her
ankles again, pulled hard, and removed her from the bed the hard way—flipped
her over, ass to floor in one fell swoop.

“What the fuck
is wrong with you?” she yelped.

Nolan smiled at
her. “Not a damn thing. Get up.”

“I’m up,
asshole.” She worked her way to standing. “You’re seriously demented. Do you
know that?”

“Asshole and
demented? My repertoire is growing by leaps and bounds this morning. Care to
add more? There’s still time.”

She ignored this
threat, saying, “It’s not morning. It’s still night. And you’re not very nice.”
Glaring at him, fists balled, she added, “A guy doesn’t yank someone off a bed
to get them up unless expecting castration.”

“He does if
she’s refusing to cooperate with plans.”

“I was refusing
because I was sleeping!”

“Well, from now
on, you’re up at four, in the barn by four-thirty, and knee deep in cow shit by
quarter to five.”

She ran a hand
through her tangled hair, down her face, and then gave him another glacial glare.
“Asshole,” she mumbled under her breath.

Nolan stood,
took the glare and explicative with a grain and salt, and then made his way to
the door. “Don’t forget demented? And for your sake, don’t you dare make me
come back in here again.” She’d fallen backwards onto the bed, tossing her arm
over her face, groaning loudly.

Twenty minutes
later, he had to start the process all over again.

An hour late to
the barn, all he heard out of her was “I hate you,” over and over, until his
ears rang.

He spent the
next hour getting ice daggers into his back while milking the cows. Ice daggers
into his chest when he told her she had to muck out the horse stalls. Damn. He
could not even begin to describe how she’d looked at him when he told her she
had to collect the eggs and make certain there was fresh bedding on the floor
in the chicken coop. He’d never met a woman who was so deathly afraid of
chickens.

At first, his laughter
abounded until the fear in her eyes had the pity growing in him and he’d done
the job himself, sending her back into the farmhouse to start on breakfast. She’d
pointedly told him to go to Hell on any breakfast making endeavors, she was not
his personal chef, and he’d said he would like that hell with a side of bacon
near two eggs, sunny side up. She was now sitting at his kitchen table, glaring
at him again. She made him scrambled eggs and told him to deal with it.

His eyes trapped
her glare. “Stop doing that. It might turn into a permanent affliction.”

“I don’t care,”
she argued. “I don’t like you today.”

“You liked me
well enough two days ago. I clearly remember
how
you liked me. And I
quote from the wisdom of Charlotte Raven,
‘ Deeper Nolan…don’t stop, please…’
”

She sat back in
her chair, arms crossed, refusing to eat. “That was before I got to know the
real you.”

He set his fork
down, slowly. “The real me?”

“Yes. The
kidnapping asshole who would force a woman to enter a chicken coop, told she is
deathly afraid of them.”

“I did not force
you to do anything, and how the hell can you be afraid of a chicken and not
afraid of bad guys toting guns?”

“Bad guys don’t
have beaks.”

His chuckle grew
into almost unbearable. “You’re afraid of beaks? That’s hilarious.”

“No, it’s not.”

“God, Charlotte.
It’s just a chicken. Take off its head and it’s dinner.”’

“Chickens are
not funny to me, so stop laughing at me.” She got so pissed at him she tossed
her fork at his head, Nolan catching it in mid-flight.

“What the
hell...?”

“I said it
wasn’t funny, and I would appreciate it if you could control yourself. Your
lack thereof is starting to wear thin.”

“Another layer
to your code of control?” he quickly asked.

Her head bobbed.
“In a way, yes.”

Nolan set down her
launched missile near his plate, rising from his chair. “Trying to control a
man is a wasted effort, Ms. Raven.”

“How so?”

“Some of us
can’t be controlled. Or should I say won’t be?”

“I haven’t met
any man who could not.” Her eyes turned away from his. “In my experience, men
are quite predictable. It’s why I’m so good at what I do.”

“Then you
haven’t met the right man,” he warned, stalking toward her. “And you’re only good
at your job because a man trained you at it to begin with.”

Charlotte’s eyes
rose, her fingers clamped to the wood while he towered over her, breathing
rapidly.

“Wow! Arrogant
and chauvinistic,” she sputtered. “This day just keeps getting better and
better with you.”

Nolan was
pissed, but there was nothing he could do about it now. In five minutes, there
should be a knock at his front door, he’d have to answer it, and he was not
looking forward to it. He’d rather be taking this fire-breathing vixen into the
bedroom to teach her a valuable lesson. Controlling a man was a wasted effort.

For the two
weeks stuck with her, he was going to prove this to her in spades, whether she
liked it or not, and whether it did both irreparable harm.

Chapter Eight

“Okay, where is
she?” came booming through the doorway.

Charlotte
glanced at the man who dared interrupt a possible clash of the Titans. So
engrossed with battling wills with Nolan, she never heard a car pull up
outside, nor consequent footsteps over the threshold. Some field agent she
would make. A handsome smile, the threat of punishment, and she forgets her
training? That could not happen again.

It won’t happen
again,
she mused, staring at Nolan’s angry profile.

“Come on in, Dev.”
He’d turned, moving toward the intruder hidden by shadows, cutting their
conversation in two.

Charlotte
cautiously stepped toward the man, as well, her gaze absorbing every nuance
about him in record speed.

Oh, dear Lord!
Two of them?

Nolan’s duplicate
stood in the doorway. He turned, gave her a sheepish grin, introducing the man.
“Charlotte, this is Devon. As you can see, my twin brother.”

Understatement
of the year, Charlotte stepped forward, her hand out. They were carbon copies
of each other. “Nice to meet you, Devon.”

He glanced at her
extended appendage, gave her a dimpled grin, then shrugged, ignoring the
gesture.

“Don’t shake,”
he said, dumping his large duffel onto the kitchen floor. “But I do give out
satisfying kisses to any and all newbies.” He quickly scooped her into his
arms, bent her backward, and planted a wet kiss right on her mouth.

Charlotte was
too startled to respond. Nolan did it for her.

“You want
control, Charlotte?” he asked from behind her back, the moment Devon righted
her to her feet.

She licked her
lips, staring at his twin, dumbfounded he’d be so bold as to kiss her in front
of Nolan. She didn’t know this man from Adam, but certainly knew how soft his
lips were.

“My brother
doesn’t know the meaning of the word,” Nolan added, his tone a tight rasp.

Devon pretended
hurt. “I do too. I just don’t like being controlled.”

“Well, you’re in
for a world of hurt these next two weeks. Charlotte has this grand plan to
control any man who walks upright. Says there aren’t any she can’t control.”

Devon chuckled
loudly, staring at her face. “Is this so? No man she can’t control?”

“She hates chickens,
too.”

Charlotte gave
Devon a pained stare. He seemed fascinated by this news; although, it was a bit
humiliating that the man behind her back would just blurt it out. It would seem
Nolan had no scruples.

“Terrified of
beaks,” he continued, undaunted.

She whipped
around, facing her accuser. “Would you please shut the hell up before I beat
you to death?”

Devon ignored
their tiny spat, moving into the kitchen, his aim Nolan’s refrigerator. He
yanked open the door without permission. “How can a woman who is as pretty as
you are hate chickens?” He removed a can of beer, popped the tab, and downed
the contents without breathing. He tossed the empty into a recycling box,
popping the tab on another.

“I don’t hate
them…” she started.

Nolan, of
course, interrupted this lie. “Then why did you inform me I had to collect the
eggs this morning? She won’t even fry up a decent egg for a man.”

She turned and
gave Devon a weary smile. “I did not tell him to do anything…and I don’t like
to make eggs.” Her mutiny then reached Nolan.

He snorted,
moving toward the refrigerator to close a door Devon hadn’t. “A lie, if ever
heard. Don’t believe anything she tells you,” he warned his brother.

“Ass,” she
muttered under her breath, glaring at the man now glaring at her. He glanced at
his brother, barely gave Devon the time of day, and then returned his gaze to
her. His smile huge as he asked his twin, while his eyes literally glued on
her, “Did you bring what I asked?”

“Yep,” Devon
said.

“And?”

“It’s still in the
car.”

Nolan whipped
around, facing his twin. “Why the fuck did you not bring it inside the house?”

“I wanted to
meet the new recruit first. Priorities first, bro.”

“
She
has
a name,” Charlotte smarted, angry with men leaving her out of the conversation
and thinking this was okay.

Devon turned, gave
her a toothy grin; an almost exact match to what Nolan gave her in the hotel
room after calling her a hooker—devilish and charming, the arrogance reaching
high plateaus.

She shook her
head to ward off the memory, her lower half tightening, spiting her guilty conscience.
Heat pooled in her face.

“I’m exhausted.
Long drive, long night…” Devon said, winking at her. “I’m going to crash for a
few, then we’ll talk.”

“Fine, use the
bedroom on the…” Nolan started, his twin ignoring him and entering Charlotte’s
room.

“What the hell?”
came loudly from the shadows. “Why isn’t she in your room?”

Nolan faced his
twin’s quick return. “We’re not sleeping together. She’s my new partner.”

“The fuck you
say!” Devon blurted, grinning from ear to ear. “Her face is as red as a ripe
tomato.” He even pointed it out. “If not sleeping together, you and she at
least fucked each other. In my book, that means I get my old room and she
shares yours. End of story.”

“It’s not your
room anymore,” Nolan answered.

Devon stood his
ground. “It is when I come home.”

“Not this time, bro.
Deal with it.”

Devon did not
adhere to this and clearly did not value the sound of objection. He walked
away, stepped inside Charlotte’s appointed room, two seconds later tossing her
clothing into Nolan’s room, helter-skelter without suitcase. “There. Now her
clothes are in your room, so you’ll be sleeping in the same room and not giving
me a pile of bullshit you did not screw each other at some point since hiring
her.”

“Dev?” Nolan’s
tone of voice should have cowered any who dared contradict him. It didn’t.

“Yeah?”

“How late of a
night did you have this time?”

“Late. Why?”

“No reason.” He
turned to Charlotte. “Sorry about this. I’ll drive some sense into his head the
moment he comes back from his road trip.”

“His road trip?”

He looked toward
the now closed bedroom door. “My brother, shall we say, likes late nights. He’s
a bit of an adrenaline junkie. He’ll crash and burn, wake up a new man, and
hopefully you will meet the real Devon Morgan when the sun rises. Not this
crass monster who barges in, takes over, and destroys everything in his path.”

Charlotte
smiled, hoping to lessen the frown on his face. She did not want an ongoing
battle with him. “He’s quite the interesting man, for being your twin.”

“He’s not the
man for you, Charlotte.”

Put off by the
accusation, she demanded, “Oh?” How dare he think she was interested in his
brother. Hadn’t she given him the benefit of a truce?

“He likes the
ladies,” he added, “a lot.”

“And you don’t?”
she scoffed, lowering her gaze to his crotch.

Nolan cleared
his throat, averting her attention to a bit higher on his physique. His
shoulders massive, toned chest a body-builder would be envious of—hell, all of
this did not help her guilt from building out of control.

“I like some of
them, not all of them. If it has a skirt, a pulse, and no penis, my brother is
into her like a fox down a rabbit hole.”

“That’s a bit insensitive,
don’t you think? I’m sure your brother would not like you talking about him in such
a way.”

“No, I don’t
think it crass at all. Devon has a way about him. You’d be smart to stay clear
of him. In fact, that’s an order.”

“Another part of
your misguided control?” she probed, as her eyes drifted toward the closed
bedroom door. The room she was now denied thanks to Devon suddenly showing up
and occupying her space. No way in Hell was she sleeping on a couch for two
weeks.

While thinking
this, Nolan stepped forward, reaching for her elbow. “Don’t test me on this,
Charlotte.”

“Don’t test—” She
was flabbergasted he would even think she was testing him. Five minutes of a
twin tornado entering the house and he’s blaming her for any misconstrued interest?

“My brother and
I are nothing alike. I’m telling you this for your own good.”

She stood tall. “My
good
was just fine without the warning, Mr. Morgan.”

Nolan shook his
head, closing his eyes. Two seconds later, darkening orbs stared at her. “That
wasn’t a warning. It was open truthfulness. We are not alike. Best you heed to sound
advice while you’re here.”

She shook off
his grip. “Fine, warning heard,
Boss
.”

He was not done
with her, however. He reached for her again, drew her into his arms, and
lowered his mouth, forcing a hurtful kiss against her lips. When she refused to
part them, and he said, “Don’t push your luck, Charlotte. You won’t like the
outcome,” tears sprang to her eyes.

It was all she
could do to hold down her knee from groining him.

“Don’t kiss me
like it should be a punishment,” she tossed back at his face, arching her body to
ward off another possible attack, when the first one was more than successful.

“It wasn’t a…” He
paused. Releasing her, he shoved his hand through his hair, changing gears.
“Dammit. He does this to me every time.”

“Does what?” Her
eyes trapped his; she could not back down now. “Turns you into a fool?”

“No. Makes me do
things I would never do, just to prove who the better man is around here.”

“Do you two live
together?”

He shook his
head.

“Then why is he
here?”

She watched the
anguish fill his gaze, the frustration he could not hide, tensing his muscular
frame. This was a side of him where her comprehension was low.

“I did not
invite him. Believe me, if I had, I would have given you ample warning to guard
your virtue.”

“Who invited him
then?”

“
OSHIT
.
Dev is the best operative we’ve had since its start. The team felt it necessary
he join the training as soon as possible.”

Charlotte gave
him a soft smile, even though her lips still hurt from his kiss. “He’s to train
me?”

“No, I am.
Devon’s here to observe, step in when necessary.”

“Why?”

“He is the
best.”

“You’re not the
best? Here I thought…” She trailed off, expecting he’d fill in the blanks.

Nolan did not
disappoint. A smile slow in coming, he said, “I would be, if my twin did not find
great pleasure in reminding me every day of my life that he is two minutes
older, two seconds faster, and leaps above my abilities when it comes to
cracking codes. I’m tactical, he’s technical. Brains against braun.”

Charlotte could
not wrap her head around anyone besting Nolan Morgan, even if the one besting
him was his twin, and that besting on different planes in the Universe. They
may be identical, but they seemed night and day, personality-wise.

He turned from
her, grabbed the back of the kitchen chair, then mumbled, “I’ll move into the
office. You can have my room for the remainder of your training.”

“I’m fine
sharing a room with you,” she said, “if you are.”

His head lifted,
his eyes drilling into hers. “Doe eyes won’t get you what you want, Charlotte. I’m
not fine with it. I thought I was, but I’m not.”

“We did have sex
with each other…”

“Dammit,
Charlotte! I’m trying my best to forget that mistake and behave when around
you. Sleeping in the same bed won’t accomplish any respectable behavior out of
me. It’s why I did not answer the door last night when you knocked on it, twice.
I knew what you wanted from me. It was a judgment call.”

Her eyes
widened. “You purposely ignored me?”

Nolan’s head
bobbed.

“What if your
house caught fire?” She wasn’t going to dare mention she’d been so horny, it
was all she could do to keep her hands balled into tight fists until sleep
consumed her frustrations.

“You would have
put it out,” he said.

“That’s a bit
too trusting. I could have robbed you blind. I could have run for the hills…”

His smile grew.
“But you didn’t.”

This checked her,
tenfold. “No. I did not, and not because this very thing hadn’t crossed my
mind. I did not run because I need this job, no matter what it entails or who I
have to deal with, and I was not going to tuck my tail between my legs due to a
very frustrating man not answering a lousy door.”

“What about the
chickens?” he suddenly asked.