Hard As Ice (Fortis Series 1) (17 page)

“Hailey,” Nia stated flatly.

“Oh my God, Nia! What are you doing here, in Alexandria of all places! I can’t believe it’s you!”

Nia allowed a hug, only because she wasn’t sure how to avoid it.

“How are you, Nia? Last I heard, you had moved to Boston,” stated Hailey.

“I did. I’m just staying with a friend here for a few days. How about you? Do you live around here?” she replied.

“Yeah for about six years now. Daddy transferred to one of the military bases nearby.”

Nia nodded. While the two women had been close friends at one point as teenagers, they had little in common now. And even less that Nia wanted to get caught up on.

“Well . . .” started Nia, intending to politely end the conversation, but the other woman cut her off.

“You look so good, Nia. You always did, but I’m so glad you’re doing well,” Hailey added, her smile fading a little. “I know it wasn’t possible after what had happened, but I wish we could have stayed in touch. I really missed you when you left school.”

Nia didn’t know what to say.

“To this day, I still wish I had known enough to say something sooner. You were my best friend and . . .” Her eyes got misty forcing Nia to look down. “Anyway, it’s old history now. But I want you to know that I never once believed the accusations. I just didn’t know what to do about it.”

Nia shrugged.

“We were young, Hailey. You weren’t responsible—”

“Sweetheart, is everything okay?” interrupted Evan as he approached the two women and slid a protective arm across Nia’s lower back.

“It’s fine, Evan. This is Hailey Stamford. We went to school together back in Michigan,” Nia introduced. “Hailey, this is Evan DaCosta.”

The two shook hands.

“It was good to see you, Hailey,” Nia finally stated, turning way.

“You too, Nia.”

She and Evan walked back to the table where his friends were getting their things ready to leave.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to keep you all waiting,” Nia explained.

“No worries, you didn’t. Is everything okay?” Evan replied.

She nodded and gave him a reassuring smile. When it came to her life in Bloomfield, Michigan, it was all years behind her, and better left in the past.

Evan looked over at Nia. They were driving back to his apartment, and she was laughing about something Lucas had said over dinner. Smiling back, he was listening to her comments, but his mind was elsewhere.

It was humbling to admit to Nia that his thinking and decisions about women had been so misguided and juvenile. After the breakup with Mikayla over three years ago, he had continued that pattern. He’d date women whom he liked, respected, and had fun with, but could easily walk away from for the next assignment. Now, after some soul searching, Evan realized that he had been looking for the same arrangement his parents had; what he had seen as a reliable union that would allow him to do his job without distraction. Unfortunately, it was also devoid of true passion.

Up until very recently, he hadn’t even understood what was missing. He was very familiar with lust and sexual attraction. The cure was usually sex. But this obsessive, clawing hunger he felt for Nia just keep building, only enhanced by their intimacy. She filled his thoughts during the day and occupied his dreams at night. It was out of control and it seemed to be getting worse.

Maybe his decisions about women weren’t so crazy after all, he mused. If he had felt this way about any woman while still in the CIA, Evan would have been incapable of doing his job.

“How are things at work? Are they surviving without you for a few days?” he asked as they walked into his apartment.

She shrugged, biting the side of her cheek.

“I’m not sure, to be honest.”

He walked into the kitchen and grabbed two bottles of water out of the fridge.

“Why, what’s going on?” he asked casually, handing her one.

“Thanks,” she mumbled. “It’s nothing. We have something under review in the office, and it hasn’t been finalized yet.”

Evan remained silent, sensing she was on the verge of opening up.

“It’s complicated,” she finally said. “And you’re a client, so it’s not really appropriate for me to say too much.”

He nodded, moving to the couch. Nia followed and he helped her to sit down.

“Does it have anything to do with my collection?” he asked.

“No! Not at all.”

“Okay, so then there’s no conflict of interest. If you want to talk about it, I promise I won’t hold anything against your firm.”

She let out a deep breath, toying with the lid of the plastic bottle.

“Something happened recently and we’re going through an investigation,” Nia revealed.

“Like an audit?” he asked casually.

“Yeah, I guess. They think I might be involved.”

She stopped there.

“Are you?”

Nia looked up at him in surprise.

“No! Of course not!”

“It’s okay if you are. Everyone makes mistakes, Nia.”

“This wasn’t a mistake, Evan. It’s way beyond a mistake and I had nothing to do with it,” she vehemently stated.

He shrugged.

“Then I’m sure the auditors will figure it out.”

“Maybe. But I think I know who did it,” she quietly added. “I’m just not sure what to do about it.”

Evan’s heart started pounding with anticipation, but he maintained his casual posture.

“Why don’t you just tell the auditors? Or your boss?” he suggested.

“I will, once I’m sure. I don’t want it to look like I’m pointing fingers, you know?”

“Nia, the truth will come out eventually. It always does. If you think you know something, you should put it out there. It will just help them discover the truth faster.”

“Maybe,” she whispered.

Finally, he had the confirmation he needed. She did know something incriminating, something that made her a target. With the team closing in on finding the broker, Walsh, it was only a matter of time before the dots connected. Or until Nia was ready to tell them what she knew.

They were silent for a few moments, and it became obvious that Nia wasn’t going to say anything more about the robbery investigation. Evan changed the subject to another that seemed odd to him.

“Your friend from high school. It must have been a nice surprise to run into her. Do you guys keep in touch?”

“Hailey? No. I haven’t seen her since tenth grade.”

“Why? Did she move away?” he probed.

“No, I did. It was a private school in the suburbs, but I went back to live with my mom in the city.”

“Private school? You? Miss
‘I’m going out with you in spite of your money’
James? How can that be?”

Nia pursed her lips and slapped his leg in protest.

“It was a scholarship, okay?” she shot back. “Remember I said I lived with my aunt for a while? Well, it was during the academic year. Her house was close enough for me to take the bus to the school campus.”

“Interesting,” he noted. “I didn’t think that was something you and I would have in common.”

“Don’t forget being an only child.”

“Yeah, there is that,” agreed Evan, brushing her hair off her shoulders. She had it down tonight, flowing in thick waves, the way he liked it most.

“What sort of scholarship?”

“Academic and music,” Nia replied with a sigh, her eyelids drooping slightly.

He could tell she was running out of steam.

“Come, let’s get you into the bath so you can take a relaxing soak.”

“I don’t need a soak, I’m fine,” she protested.

“Yes, you do. I know you think you’re almost recovered, but it’s going to take more time,” Evan insisted. “I have some Epsom salts. It will help with the swelling.”

Nia allowed him to lead her to the en suite bath in his bedroom. He pulled out his cell phone and used it to turn on some music through the built-in sound system.

“Hmm, that’s nice. Joshua Redman?”

“Yeah,” he confirmed, a little surprised at her quick knowledge of contemporary jazz.

“He’s one of my favorites. I didn’t peg you as being into this kind of music,” she added in a sleepy voice.

Evan turned on the tap in the bath, adjusting the temperature so it was warm and soothing.

“What kind did you think?” he asked, sitting on a stool beside the tub and pulling her to him.

“I don’t know.”

She gave him a speculative once-over while he remained focused on removing her long, flowing dress. Once the spaghetti straps were slipped off her shoulders, the whole thing slithered to the floor.

“Classic hip-hop. Like Tupac, Biggie Smalls, or A Tribe Called Quest. Maybe Method Man?”

He tried not to notice how exquisite her silky body looked in only lingerie. Instead, he focused on the scrapes along her hip, or the dark bruise on her bum. Seeing her injuries for the first time brought back all those feelings of rage and helplessness he had felt while standing in the emergency room. He took a deep breath, then gently caressed one of the abrasions, hating the feel of rough scabbing on her honey skin.

“Well? Am I right?”

He looked up at her eager expression. She was easily the most beautiful woman he’d ever known. Whether in her tailored suits and killer heels, or wearing next to nothing. Blood-red lipstick or bare pink lips, Nia stirred him on every level.

“I listen to lots of different stuff, but who doesn’t like classic hip-hop.”

“I’m partial to Eminem myself,” she confessed with a grin.

“Well, I guess you have to be,” teased Evan.

She shrugged.

“It’s a Detroit thing.”

He left her briefly to add the bath salts to the water.

“Okay, you’re all set.”

Nia was putting her hair into a loose bun with a hair elastic. Then she undid her bra, revealing those incredible breasts. Round and generous, their chocolaty tips beckoned him. He clenched his jaw, holding on to his resolve. She was still injured. It was way too soon to touch her. He was still undercover, on a mission.

“Aren’t you going to join me?” she asked, slipping off the thong panties.

Evan went from semi-aroused to rock hard in a snap.
Jesus Christ,
she was sexy. He watched as she walked slowly to the tub and eased in. Steaming water sloshed over her body, caressing her skin as she lay back against the rim. She moaned with pleasure.

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” he announced, shoving his hands into the front pockets of his slacks. “You soak, then we’ll get you into bed early.”

“Evan, I’m fine. Really. Please join me?”

It was a big tub, plenty of room for them both. Maybe he could just hold her, relax with her. Nothing more.

“Okay. Just for a bit.”

Nia grinned, and he knew he was in trouble. It didn’t help that she watched him undress with her feline brown eyes twinkling with unabashed appreciation. Or that his jutting erection was impossible to hide or ignore. But Evan did his best to maintain his willpower and stick to the plan. They’d relax together for a few minutes. Anything more was out of the question.

She moved over a bit so that he could sit down in the water, then she cuddled to his side with her head on his chest and one of her legs draped over his. Evan sighed, content.

They lay like that for long minutes. Bass and saxophone notes surrounded them.

“A music scholarship, huh,” he finally commented in a lazy voice. “Do you play an instrument?”

Nia ran her hand down the center of his chest and over his stomach. It was both tingling and arousing.

“The piano mostly. The guitar, too.”

“Is that when you decided you wanted to be a songwriter?”

He remembered the comment from one of their early conversations.

“It seemed like a great choice at the time. But what do I know at eleven or twelve years old?”

He smiled, eyes still closed.

“I wanted to be fighter pilot. I even got my pilot’s license.”

“Really? Do you actually fly a plane?”

“Helicopters mostly. It comes in handy with business travel.”

“Fighter pilot, huh? That’s pretty sexy,” she mumbled.

“Well, I was nine, so that wasn’t my objective. But now I realize it would have been an added perk.”

“I don’t know. You’re pretty sexy as it is. A career like that would just be too much.”

“You think I’m sexy, huh.”

“Maybe. A little. Not as pretty as Lucas, but you can’t have everything.”

Evan felt ridiculously pleased with her words. God, civilian life had turned him into a complete wimp.

Nia’s fingers continued exploring, roving slowly over his torso, lulling him into deeper relaxation. Until they dipped lower, below his belly button and into dangerous territory. She kissed his neck, stroking the skin with the tip of her tongue.

“Nia, sweetheart,” he protested.

“I’m fine, I promise,” she whispered seductively.

He swallowed, struggling to resist what she was offering. If she was feeling better, then slow, gentle sex might be okay. The problem was, Evan couldn’t trust himself to stick to that plan either. When it came to Nia, he seemed incapable of maintaining his control. Touching her, tasting her, being inside her turned him into something wild and primitive, too lost in her to keep his cool.

But he looked down at her soft body, sweet and sexy through the water, and thought of what she needed. Evan was going to give her slow and gentle, even if it killed him.

He trailed his hand along her shoulder and down her arm, threading his fingers through hers.

“Promise me you’ll tell me if you feel any discomfort, okay?”

She looked up at him.

“I promise.”

He brushed his hand under her chin, lifting her face higher so he could kiss her. She tasted hot and sweet. Nia’s tongue entwined with his. Sharp bolts of electricity speared down his spine, right down to his balls.
Wow,
she did things to him! He pulled her closer until she was lying on top of him, her legs spread to straddle him around the hips.

Evan trailed his lips down her neck, pulling her body higher by the arms until her breast was aligned with his mouth. He blew on the sensitive globe as rivulets of water tricked from the soft flesh. Her puckered nipples tightened further. Nia moaned. He feasted on the image and slid his hands down her back to cup the plump curves of her rear.
Perfection,
he thought.

“Comfortable?” he asked.

“Very,” Nia answered, now resting her hands on the edge of the tub behind his shoulders.

“Good.”

He took one of her nipples into his mouth, swirling his tongue around it in tiny circles. Her hips bucked, brushing sensually against his lower stomach. He continued the teasing attention for long moments before moving to the other breast. Nia was panting with the kittenish moans that he loved so much. It made his cock throb hard with need.

Wanting more, Evan brushed his fingers down the valley between her cheeks then up between her thighs. He lightly toyed with the entrance to her tight passage, stroking over the swollen feminine flesh. Even in the cooling water, Nia was slick and creamy for him. Her cries become deeper, more urgent, her body quivered and tightened. Evan grimaced, holding back his own deep groan in an attempt to dampen his escalating excitement. It wasn’t working. He was going to die slowly from wanting her.

Finally, he slid his middle finger into her sheath, curving the tip to touch that magically erogenous zone within her silken walls.

“Evan, yes!”

He stroked into her again and again, focused completely on her pleasure spot, loving the feel of her taut body climbing, building toward the peak of climax. As Nia reached the apex and quivered in orgasm, Evan savored the intense experience. She pulsed hard around his finger and sobbed into his neck. His heart galloped. His mind filled with fantasies of how she would feel throbbing around him while he plunged himself into her deep and bareback. Taking her, owning her until he shot his seed deep into her core. Embedding himself so completely, it would grow life.