Hard As Ice (Fortis Series 1) (22 page)

BOOK: Hard As Ice (Fortis Series 1)
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He wanted to go back to that morning, when he woke up with her tucked warm against his body. He wanted to walk along the river each night in Virginia. He wanted her to feel about him the way he felt about her. Evan wanted more than just a mission, but it was too much to ask right now.
“You,” he stated simply. “I want you.”
Nia raised her head and met his eyes. Hers were dark with anger, glittering bright. They pulled him to her, making him desperate to remove the pain and hurt from their depths. Hungry to recapture their physical connection, he brushed the back of his finger over the curve of her cheek. Electricity shot down his spine, warm and familiar. It was too soon, too much to want, but he bent his head to taste her lips.
After all the day’s events, the tenuous hold he had maintained on his control snapped. Intense need took over his body. Her life had been threatened and Evan had killed a man to protect her. And for the first time since he had met Nia James, she was looking at the real man, not the cover so carefully crafted. The look in her eyes clearly said she didn’t like what she saw. Evan couldn’t accept that. Not when he was finally ready to acknowledge that his feelings for her went deeper than he ever imagined. Too deep for him to just walk away.
This kiss should have been gently persuasive, an attempt to rekindle things between them. But as always, his need for her clouded his judgment and destroyed his resolve. He delved into the sweetness of her mouth, greedy to taste her wetness. God, she was delicious. Everything about her touched him, even her passionate anger.
“No. Evan, I can’t,” she whispered, pulling away from his lips.
But her hands gripped his arms as though she needed his strength. He slid his mouth down her neck, nipping at the pulsing vein along its length. Nia shivered, gasped. It drove him crazy. Hot, white need sizzled into his groin. He bit her neck harder relishing her groan.
The hold she had over him was frightening, uncontrollable, addictive. He now craved her like a drug, and was willing to do anything to have her. Evan hardly remembered his existence before this feeling. He struggled to contemplate life without it, without her.
Something in the back of his mind said he was pushing her. Despite the way her back curved, and her breathing hitched just so, she wasn’t ready for this. He should back away, give her time to process everything. But she felt too good and he was a selfish bastard. If this physical connection was the only way to reach her, reinforce how incredible they were together, then he’d be a fool to give it up.
Evan placed his mouth over hers again, his tongue stroking hers suggestively. Nia raked her fingers across the width of his back. He reached down, pulling up the nightshirt. Then, he slid his hands under the fabric of her underwear to cup her naked bottom. His jutting erection now pulsed between them. She swirled her hips in his grasp, teasing the base of his shaft. He was so hungry for her that his knees went weak. The last thin strings of his control dissolved with blind, urgent desire.
Evan backed up a few steps, taking her with him until the back of his legs met the bed frame and he could sit at the edge. With little effort, he pulled her up on top of him so her knees straddled his hips. His mouth never left hers, still tasting, stroking and thrusting into the recesses with his tongue. She was now fully engaged in the moment with him, mimicking his movements with teasing play. Driving him crazy, stripping away his ability to think beyond the need to be in her and consumed by her heat.
Evan fumbled with the button at his waist, shoving down his zipper. The metallic scrape was lost in the music of their impassioned cries. Released and insistent, the rigid length of his cock brushed along the damp silk of her panties, probing against the thin barrier. Nia moaned into his mouth, sucking on his tongue. He took hold of the thin strip of elastic at her hip, easily tearing the panties from her body.
Driven by pure animal craving, Evan thrust deep into her slippery sheath, burying himself to the hilt. A deep, guttural moan escaped his throat. It was magic. Pure, pristine heaven like he’d never experienced before. She gasped, running her fingers along the back of his head. He stroked into her again and she met his thrust with an enticing flex of her hips. The world dimmed around him.
“Nia,” he growled.
“Yes,” she begged.
Their rhythm increased, perfectly in sync, faster, harder. It was too good, better than anything before. Perfect. Complete. It was everything life was supposed to be.
Evan wanted to tell her all the feelings racing through his heart, confess the depths of commitment, give her his soul. But he couldn’t find the words to convey the truth. Instead, he could only chant her name over and over again, communicating to her through the power of his body.
“Come with me,” he whispered as the gripping climax surged through his body. She peaked seconds later, gripping his length in her silken depths until Evan was weak from the intensity.
They both came down slowly, falling into their familiar pattern of tender touches and lazy sighs. It all seemed so right. Until Evan pulled Nia close and he felt himself slip away from the caress of her body. He felt naked, bare. Unprotected.
Evan looked up at Nia, ready to tell her his lapse. Her face said she had already realized what he had done.
He kissed her gently, pressed his forehead to hers.
“Christ, Nia. I didn’t mean for that to happen,” he whispered urgently. “It shouldn’t have happened like that, and it’s never happened before. I should have worn a condom, but I was just so caught up in the moment.”
Nia shook her head from side to side.
“Stop, Evan. Just stop.”
She pulled away slipping out of his arms and off the bed.
“You should go,” she demanded, turning to walk to the attached bathroom.
“Nia wait, please,” he pleaded, jumping off the bed to follow her.
“Just leave,” she demanded as she swung back to face him, meeting his eyes dead on. “You can’t have me, Evan. And this is the closest you’ll ever get.”
He took her arm, gently trying to pull her back toward him, but Nia twisted out of his grip. Stubborn denial screamed in his head, pushing him to lay everything on the line.
“Baby, no. I’ve fallen in love with you, Nia.” She froze, staring back at him with wide eyes, and Evan was desperate enough to believe she was hearing him. “Please, just give me a chance.”
She slapped him, hard, straight across the face. Her expression was one of disgust and disbelief before she walked into the bathroom and slammed the door shut.
Chapter 21
Evan managed to stay away from her all day Friday. He slept on the couch in the hotel suite, and transferred his clothes and toiletries to the other hotel room.
The team put their plan in action, starting with Evan visiting the concierge at the Boston Harbor Hotel.
“Good morning, Mr. DaCosta. What can I help you with?” asked Carlos as Evan strolled up to his desk in the lobby.
“Hi, Carlos. Thanks again for the pizza last night. My friends were singing your praises for the rest of the evening.”
“My pleasure, my pleasure,” replied the older man with a pleased smile.
“Listen, maybe you can help me with something else,” Evan added, stepping closer and lowering his voice.
“Anything.”
“I need to get a gift for a very eccentric business associate. I’m hoping to get my hands on something rare and impressive.”
“Okay, okay,” Carlos replied with enthusiasm. “What were you thinking?”
“He has a weakness for scotch whiskey. But only the best will do. Something he can’t get himself, if you know what I mean.”
“Sure, of course. I have a contact who runs an exclusive liquor store in Cambridge. Perhaps he will know where you can buy a bottle. I’ll give him a call.”
“No, Carlos. I’m looking for something more . . . rare.” Evan whispered the last word right next to the man’s ear. “A specific bottle that can’t be bought in a store. There would be a fee, of course.”
Carlos stepped back, his smile a little less bright.
“Ahh, I understand you now, Mr. DaCosta,” he replied with a few nods. “Unfortunately, I don’t think I can be of assistance in that endeavor. But I’m happy to call my friend for you. Perhaps there is something else that would be suitable.”
“Come on, Carlos. You’re a well-connected man. I’m sure you can send me in the right direction,” Evan cajoled with an easy smile. He pulled a couple of folded hundred-dollar bills out of the inside pocket of his jacket. “I have my heart set on making a good impression with this particular associate.”
“Well, perhaps you can try the concierge at the Four Seasons Hotel or the Ritz-Carlton. Their contacts may be more, appropriate, than mine,” Carlos finally stated in a low tone. The bills were now resting comfortably in his pants pocket.
“Thank you, Carlos. You’re a good man,” Evan told him with a pat on the shoulder.
“Glad I could be of assistance, Mr. DaCosta. Will you need your car this morning?”
“I do, indeed.”
Evan walked casually across the lobby, then called Raymond while standing outside waiting for the leased Bentley to arrive.
“Did you get all that?” he asked.
“Yup, we have you booked in rooms at both hotels, for three-day stays,” Raymond confirmed. “The Ritz is the closest. Michael’s headed there now to scope out the place.”
“Good, tell him I’ll be there in five minutes.”
By midafternoon, Evan and Michael had visited six hotels in downtown Boston before they found Craig Kelsey, a young and eager concierge at the Opal Hotel who seemed connected to the right people, and willing to procure a rare bottle of scotch for half the retail price. Kelsey promised to let Evan know within twenty-four hours if the deal was possible, by leaving a voice-mail message in his hotel room. Evan then set up a redirect so any calls would go to his cell-phone voice-mail. Now they just had to wait.
Back at the Fortis control center, the team continued the efforts to track down Chris Morton, including keeping a close eye on the surveillance from Worthington, and Emma Sterling in particular. Edward Worthington had told all the employees that Morton would be out of the office for a few days. If Sterling were involved in any way, she had to be getting nervous.
From the surveillance feed into the living room of the adjoining hotel suite at the Harbor, Evan also kept an eye on Nia. She dressed in slacks and a cardigan then drank two cups of coffee while watching morning television. Through Michael, Evan gave her the green light to go back to work, only letting the rest of the office know she would work remotely for a few days. Sometime midmorning, Tony brought her laptop from the office, with a new, clean power cord. She worked at the dining table for several hours.
As she had requested, Michael provided an update on the investigation later in the afternoon. Chris Morton was still on the run and they were watching Matt’s girlfriend, Jennifer Coombs, in case he contacted her. They were getting closer to the broker, Walsh.
Nia looked disappointed, but she smiled at his agent. Michael must have said something clever, so she laughed, throwing back her head with genuine amusement. Evan ground his teeth and resisted the urge to punch the young agent in the nose when he returned to the control room.
But Evan still left her alone. She needed time, and he didn’t trust himself to give it to her unless there was a wall between them.
Then he got a call from Lucas later in the evening that changed everything.
“Raymond says you look like hell,” his friend stated out of the gate.
“Raymond should mind his own business,” Evan snapped back. He knew his unusually short temper had raised a few eyebrows on the team.
“I have some info for you,” continued Lucas, ignoring Evan’s tone.
“About what.”
“Nia.”
Evan stood up from the chair he was in and walked to the back of the hotel room.
“Go on,” he urged in a lower volume.
“The name you gave me, Hailey Stamford. I didn’t get much other than confirmation that she had attended the same private school as Nia. Average kid, nothing noteworthy. Her father’s a general in the Marines, and they relocated to D.C.”
“That’s what Nia told me, so what’s the news?” Evan probed.
“Well, I finally got the files from Nia’s sealed records. And a friend of mine sent some additional court records. It’s not good, Evan.”
“What are you talking about? We already know it was a robbery charge that was dropped.”
“There’s more, much more, and Hailey Stamford was at the center of it,” Lucas revealed.
“Tell me.”
His friend paused. Evan heard the ping from his cell phone notifying him of a new e-mail message.
“It’s better you read it, Evan. I just sent you everything I have.”
Evan swallowed, struggling past the now ever-present lump in his throat. With Lucas’s voice devoid of any humor, it had to be pretty bad.
“Call me if you need to,” added Lucas before they disconnected the call.
Tony was still on stakeout watching Coombs at her parents’ house. But, looking around the hotel room, it was obvious that Raymond and Michael could use some downtime. Evan had been pushing them all hard for the last eighteen hours, and there was unlikely to be any additional developments that night. He announced that they could all take a break, and suggested they go out for dinner on him. With raised eyebrows and surprised expressions, the men filed out of the room to enjoy a dinner in the hotel restaurant. Once alone, Evan checked on Nia through the surveillance feed, but she was outside of his view.
With a deep sigh, he logged into his e-mail on one of the laptops, opened the file Lucas sent, and started reading.
It was worse than anything he could have imagined.
Some of it they had already known. October of her sophmore year, Nia James was arrested and charged with burglary after a party at a classmate’s house. The stolen items, diamond earrings, were found in her purse. Four months later, the charges were dropped. What they hadn’t known was why. Now Lucas’s research filled in the blanks.
The diamond earrings belonged to Lorraine Strom. Her sixteen-year-old son, Colby, had a nasty habit of getting in trouble. Everything from drugs to alcohol, and two incidents of statutory rape. All for which he managed to escape any real punishment.
Colby had a friend, Kyle Stamford. Under the influence of drugs at a parent-free party, the boys decided that Nia James should be their entertainment. While Colby held her down, Kyle filmed the action. After the assault, Colby planted the earrings on Nia when she threatened to tell the police.
It took four months for the truth to come out. During that time, Nia spent over two weeks in a juvenile detention center before her aunt posted bail. Her scholarship was revoked and she was expelled from the private school, returning to Detroit and missing the rest of her school year. Nia was bound for a longer detention sentence until Hailey Stamford, Nia’s best friend for over three years, found the video on her brother’s computer.
Evan felt nauseous. Literally, sick to his stomach. The words on the screen blurred until he lowered his head between his knees in an effort to regain his composure. His breathing was labored as he sucked in huge gulps of air. But the anger kept building until he was ready to explode. He stood up swiftly, knocking back his chair and crashing it onto the floor.
Nia. His Nia. Only fifteen and attacked by two sick boys. Fifteen!
He wanted to destroy something, smash everything around him until the pain receded. Instead, he let out a low, wounded bellow, with his fist clenched tight. It didn’t help. Rage was consuming him, coursing through his veins with swift urgency. Evan paced, he sat down, covered his face with his hands, then paced again. Eventually, he found himself outside, on the small balcony of the room. The June night was warm, laden with moisture from the harbor. He breathed in deeply, desperate to regain his normally dependable composure.
Nia.
Suddenly, so much made sense. Everything about her demonstrated an incredible amount of strength, resilience, and self-reliance. That’s what he had seen in her that day as she walked in front of his car, bold, confident, and unabashed. Except he had been too arrogant and jaded to recognize it.
Evan saw it clearly now. He also understood what she had given to him over those days they were together. After everything she had experienced as a young girl, she’d given herself with abandon. Only to discover his duplicity. He threw his head back, hating what he’d done, resenting the decisions he had made and the impossible situation they were now in. Most of all, Evan despised that he couldn’t go to Nia, take her into his arms, and relieve her pain.
He stood outside for a long time, needed to feel well in control before facing anyone. The two agents had returned moments earlier, clearly relaxed and in high spirits. Evan left them to their fun and went into the other suite. It was dark and quiet. He assumed Nia was already in the bedroom, until something caught his eye in the moonlight. She was standing out on the large terrace, in one of the hotel robes and bare feet. Despite his better judgment, he was drawn to her like a moth to a flame.
She turned her head when he opened the door and stepped out. It wasn’t the warmest welcome, but she didn’t curse at him either, so Evan was a little encouraged. He walked across the tiled surface and joined her at the railing. They stood silent next to each other for long moments.
“Any updates?” Nia finally asked.
“No, but we’re getting closer. We’ll find the broker soon.”
She sighed.
“I guess I’m stuck here for another day.”
“It’s not so bad. Room service, fluffy bed. Nice view.”
“No, I guess not,” she agreed. “I’m going to miss my Saturday morning appointment again.”
“Your tutoring,” Evan acknowledged.
Nia gave him a quick look of surprise, then stared back out into the harbor.
“I can take you there, if you’d like,” he offered.
“Is there anything you don’t know about me?” Nia asked.
She had meant it to be rhetorical. He didn’t answer, but his body stiffened noticeably. Nia looked up at him again. Evan looked away from her glance, avoiding her eyes. Her heart started racing. There was only one thing about her that would cause someone like him to be uncomfortable with a topic.
Nia had known from the beginning that it was very likely that the investigation would search into her past, including criminal activity. Sealed records weren’t impenetrable, particularly in this day and age. The minute Nia had sat down with Michael and Raymond for that first interrogation, she had prepared herself for the inevitable discussion about robbery charges at fifteen years old. Of diamond earrings, no less.
Nia just had never anticipated this conversation going like this, or that it would be with Evan.
“You know about my sealed record,” she stated, not willing to ignore the giant pink elephant in the room. “Am I still under suspicion?”
“No, of course not!” he quickly retorted, shoving his hands into the front pockets of his pants. “We knew about the record from the beginning but it just took some time to get all of the details.”
“God. I must have been the perfect suspect, huh? Code to the safe, criminal background,” she mused with a dry laugh. “Even I was starting to think I might have done it.”
Evan turned to lean his hip against the rail so he was facing her directly.
“Yeah, you looked pretty good for it, Nia,” he confessed. “Too good. You’re too smart to leave a trail of bread crumbs right to your doorstep.”
“Or that’s what’s smart about it,” she suggested coyly.
He smiled, though it looked strained.
“For someone who’s been trying to prove her innocence from the beginning, you’re doing a piss-poor job of it now.”
Nia looked out at the harbor.
“I’ve had a lot of time to think about it, look at all angles.”
“Well, with you, we still got stuck on motive.”
“Isn’t money always a motive?”
“I thought the same thing,” he sighed, looking at her with a speculative gaze. “And then I met you, Nia James, and now I’m not so certain.”
“Don’t be mistaken, Evan. Money motivates me. Life is expensive, remember?”
“I can tell you from experience, you don’t make a very good gold digger. I’m pretty sure weekend charity and refusing expensive gifts would get you kicked out of the club.”
BOOK: Hard As Ice (Fortis Series 1)
5.26Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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