Fire and Ice (Guardians) (21 page)

"Stay. I need to make a call to Richard Grayson anyway," Maia said.

"So, he's officially Grayson now?" Jack asked.

"Yes, he's making the transition tomorrow. I was thinking of just catching a ride with him."

"No."

"Jack ..."

"I said no. When do you need to get to Baltimore?"

"Friday. Look, you're not the boss of me. If I want to leave, I will. You get me?" Maia retorted forcefully.

Derek really didn't want to be around for this conversation.
Irresistable force meet immovable object.

"You can try to leave." Jack's voice was dangerously soft.

"You think you can restrain me? Tranq me again?"

"If I have to."

Maia threw up her hands. "There's no reasoning with you. You always want it your way. I don't know how I even got entangled with you in the first place. I'm leaving tomorrow and moving my things out of your room right now."

She stormed out of the study.

Jack got up and went after her, muttering to Derek, "Stay here and don't get in the way."

Derek leaned back in his chair. "Not moving."

***

Jack caught up with Maia at the bottom of the staircase. She was calling Richard Grayson. He grabbed her phone and threw it across the floor and then tossed her over his shoulder and went up the steps two at a time, ignoring Maia's screech of outrage.

"Jack, you fucking arrogant bastard. Put me down!"
 

"We're having this out now!"

"My ribs hurt."

Jack swore under his breath. In his anger he had forgotten about her bruised ribs. He lowered her at the top of the stairs but clamped down immediately on her right arm, giving her a look of warning not to try to get away. He dragged her into his room and slammed the door behind them.

"You are not leaving tomorrow and you are not moving your things out of my room."

"Oh, yeah? How are you going to stop me?"

As if to prove a point, Maia strode to the dresser and started picking out her things.

Jack walked over to her, pulled her away, shuffled her back against the wall and pressed his body down the length of hers.

He lowered his lips near hers. As usual, his anger quickly morphed into lust, but Jack squashed it down. They were going to goddamn talk and not just fuck their way out of this.

"Why do you constantly challenge me?"

"I do not. You keep bossing me around!"
 

"I'm just trying to do what's good for you."

"I can take care of myself, how many times do I need to tell you that?"
 

Jack noted the hitch in Maia's breath. Good. He was glad to know that he was not the only one affected by their closeness.

He leaned his forehead against hers.

"You drive me crazy," he whispered thickly. "I don't know what end is up any more. I don't want to let you go, Maia. You belong to me, can't you see that?"

Jack saw the panic in Maia's eyes. Fuck. He had said it, he was damn well not taking it back.

"Maia ..."

"Jack. Stop," Maia said, her eyes turning icy. Jack's chest constricted. He was losing her. He had come on too strong and now he was losing her. "We've been through very intense situations. It's natural to feel heightened emotions from this, but this will not last."

"Don't hand me that bullshit," Jack muttered through his teeth. "I've been through intense situations before. Navy SEAL here, remember?"

He brushed her lips lightly with his. "Maia, you undo me." He guided her hand to his growing arousal. "Feel what you do to me."

This time her eyes glazed with desire. From ice to fire. God, he can't get enough of her. He continued teasing her lips. "Tell me I'm not the only one. That you want me as much."

"Stop this," Maia breathed.

"Tell me, you're not leaving tomorrow."

"Jack, I know the sex is good," Maia admitted. "But in the grand scheme of things, my job is important to me and I need to get to Baltimore as soon as possible."

Jack sighed as he pulled back a little. "It's not just about sex and you know it. Stop lying to yourself, Maia. You know there is something special happening between us and you're scared to admit it. You're scared and you're running away from it."

Maia avoided his eyes and stared at the base of his throat, not responding.
 

He threaded his fingers through her hair a few times before cupping her chin, tilting it up to look down into her eyes. "It's not just sex," Jack repeated softly. "I wouldn't even try making love to you in your condition. You're injured." He brushed her lips gently with his before continuing, "I just want to spend more time with you."
 

"I thought you didn't do relationships. This is beginning to sound like one."

"I do when it comes to you."

"You can't keep changing the rules, Jack."

"I know. So let's just throw out the rules and see where this goes," Jack suggested while making sure to flash Maia his most charming smile.

Her eyebrow shot up, her expression wary. "This wasn't supposed to happen."

Jack was at loss for words and he was also starting to lose his patience. Though he always made the first move with women (women who made the first move turned him off and he just stayed away from the type), they always threw themselves at him in the end. He had no experience whatsoever in trying to talk them into staying with him. Jack felt his smile quickly devolve into a frown.
Why was this woman being so damned difficult
?

"You are so damned infuriating," Jack murmured finally.

The corners of Maia's lips tipped up. "I must say Mr. McCord, you need to work on your relationship lingo. That's no way to charm a lady into staying with you."

"You'll drive a saint into chaining you to the bed," Jack muttered, and then trying not to let his annoyance show, he continued, "The sex
is
good. No, wait. Sex with you blows my fucking mind. You're smart, sexy and sassy—you don't take shit from me— and I crave to be with you even when all my survival instincts tell me to run the other way. You're the most beautiful woman I've ever fucking laid eyes on." He grasped both her hands and brought them together over his chest. "Now, Miss Pierce, will you stay until Friday?"

Maia burst into laughter. "Okay, that will do. I'll stay until Friday."

Jack exhaled a breath of relief. "Thank God, I thought I'd have to start quoting fucking Byron. What time do you want me to take you to Baltimore?"

"You don't have to take me all the way to Baltimore."

He looked at her sharply. "This," gesturing between them, "is happening."

"There are many things I may have to do that might piss you off."

Jack knew exactly what would piss him off. "Does that involve sleeping with anyone else?"

Maia's gaze sharpened as she retorted, "I've told you before, I don't let stuff get that far, remember?"

"Does this have anything to do with Lee in Baltimore?"

Maia nodded.

"We'll deal. Maia, you are not fucking sleeping with anyone else. But we'll deal with all the other stuff."

"I'm not good at this, Jack," she said softly. "I can't bring myself to belong to anybody."

"Sweetheart, it's too late," Jack said with a trace of bitterness. He did not like feeling this way, that another person had this much power over him, but he was tired of fighting it. It was only fair that she shared this unsettling feeling with him. "You're mine. And I take care of what is mine."

Maia sighed in resignation. Jack smiled inwardly; he had finally gotten through to her.

***

Maia was furious. She had just gotten off the phone with Viktor. Sometime between her last videoconference with him and her confrontation with Jack, the Baltimore plans had changed. Apparently, Jack was now part of the team—surveillance, of all things. So now she had to brief him and Derek on the Baltimore playbook.

The three of them were huddled around the conference table near the main control room. Maia printed a summary of the playbook and emailed the rest of details.

"I don't know how you wormed your way into this Jack, but I have a feeling Derek had something to do with it," she looked at her friend accusingly.

"Didn't I tell you we'll deal?" Jack smirked.

Maia fumed.
 

She told them of the International Medical Conference that was going to be held at the Bradley Convention Center located near the Inner Harbor. "It's believed some henchman of Reznikov will be meeting some buyers there for the Rave-IX. There is no data on who the buyers are. Other Guardians will be there including DEA agents like Richard Grayson. The convention center has surveillance cameras, so AGS would be tapping into that signal."

"The most popular public venue for the Rave-IX target demographic is the Addison Music Hall. The gala for the conference will be held at the hotel I am staying at. The entertainment will be provided by a popular local rock band called Ezra Crows." Maia noted Jack turning solid beside her. Time to pay him back for his earlier arrogance. "As you both know, their lead singer Lee Isaac and I were former lovers." Derek flinched at her choice of words. She didn't want to look at Jack, but she could already feel anger emanating from his direction. "The idea is to rekindle our acquaintance and ..."

Jack yanked her towards him to face his glittering eyes. He was barely controlling his fury. "No fucking way! You think I'm going to stand by and watch you flirt with that pansy?"

"Jack..." Derek warned.

"You have no choice," Maia said calmly as she extricated her arm from his grasp. "We'll deal, remember? Ezra Crows is the top draw at Addison. Lee pays attention to me, whoever is taking care of Addison Music Hall's clients will be paying attention to me."

"Baiting Reznikov," Derek murmured. "Brilliant idea."

Jack glared at Derek. "We're throwing Maia to the sharks."

"But she's a harpoon, she'll get them."

"Am I the only one who thinks this is a stupid idea?"

"Yes," Maia and Derek said in unison.

"You can always back out, Jack," Maia purred. "I told you it was going to piss you off."

"As long as you don't have sex with him, and that includes oral."

"There may be some kissing."

"I'll deal..."

"And some fondling..."

"What kind of fondling?"

"Oh for the love of God," Derek muttered. "Can you two define the limits between yourselves. Can you continue with the briefing, Maia?"

Maia ignored Jack's daggered looks and continued to run down some areas that needed a complete surveillance package, such as Addison Music Hall. They couldn't tap into their security feed because the owners were under suspicion of assisting Sergei Reznikov. The cameras would have to be planted covertly by Guardians posing as patrons.

"Any questions so far?"

"Do you have your hotel details yet?" Jack asked casually.

"Yes."
 

"We'll need to set up surveillance there just in case Reznikov makes a move."

"Not in my room."

Jack quirked a brow. "Yes, in your room. Don't worry, babe, it'll be for my eyes only."

Derek rolled his eyes. "We'll monitor the hallway and add some alarms on the outside windows."

"It's the Grand Harbor, room 707."

Jack wrote down the information on the hotel and looked at Derek. "Have you informed Wilson of this?"

"Yes, he's on it. Viktor is also aware of his involvement."

"Good."

"You two have been busy behind my back," Maia observed. "Would you mind telling me who this guy is?"

"Scott Wilson developed our surveillance line at MDI," Jack said. "He's also wired all my properties."

"I would appreciate it if you let me know who all are involved from your side so I can keep a master list," Maia said as she wrote down the name. "This is a multi-agency dragnet and that can get complicated. We do not want to step on anyone's toes. DEA calls the shots—remember that."

CHAPTER ELEVEN

The Grand Harbor Hotel was located at the heart of the Inner Harbor in Baltimore. It was a Four Diamond hotel with 450 spacious rooms, most of them boasting a harbor or city view, and it was located near the Bradley Convention Center that hosted the International Medical Conference.

Maia Pierce walked into the beautifully appointed lobby rolling her signature LV luggage behind her. She looked every inch the high-powered business executive dressed in her light wool Chanel suit and killer black Manolo Blahnik stilettos. Almost every pair of male eyes followed her with admiration, while almost every woman observed her furtively with envy.

Maia fell in line at the front desk. Conference attendees were arriving in droves and she had already recognized two Guardians. They did not acknowledge each other, merely exchanged meaningful eye contact. Maia was checking her messages on her phone when she was jostled from behind. She looked back in annoyance and noticed a pleasant-looking, bespectacled dark-haired man smiling sheepishly after muttering an apology. She gave him a vague smile and turned her attention back to her smartphone. After a minute, she looked back and realized that the guy was gone. Suddenly suspicious, she wondered if she had been made.

"It's her," Peter Coltrane told Sergei Reznikov. The Russian's car was parked behind the Grand Harbor Hotel. Maia Pierce's name showed up as a late registrant on their list of conference attendees. It wasn't too hard to track down the hotel she had checked into.

"They're trying to draw us out," Reznikov sneered. "They're luring us into a trap."

"You don't want me to send someone after her?"

"That's exactly what they're expecting us to do, but we won't move against her just yet. I wanna see what their game is. Keep alternate watchers on her, but I don't want to deviate from our original plan of moving the Rave-IX. I want you to concentrate on your meeting with our buyers."

"Agreed," Peter replied. "I've booked a private room at the convention center where I'll be meeting our clients to check out their credentials and to accept the initial deposit. They'll receive further instructions on how to pick-up the product at our depot."