License to Love (An Agent Ex Novel) (25 page)

“The paparazzi slowed us down,” Rock said.

Even Tal was there, popping in from out of nowhere after days of absence. “Welcome home.”

“Where the hell have you been?” Rock asked him.

“Handling my other charges.” Tal laughed. “You think you’re my only one?”

Lani leaned her head into Rock’s chest. “That’s the way handlers operate. They pop in and out at will.” She spoke softly and yawned.

“We need to talk,” Tal said.

“After I put Lani to bed.”

“Rock saved my life,” she said and looked up and winked at him intimately. “With a shot of naloxone.”

“I’m relieved to hear it,” Tate said. “Good job.”

Rock nodded. “I told you he’d try something.”

“How are you feeling now?” Ty asked Lani. “Do you want us to send for a doctor?”

“I feel…” She looked at Rock again. “Fine. Tired. I’ve lived through worse. No need for a doc. I just need some rest.”

Rock walked past them and carried her up the curved staircase to the master bedroom. No one made a move to stop him. Good thing, too, because he was pretty sure they could all outshoot him and his thumb gun.

As he carried Lani across the room, she slipped off her shoes. He managed to pull the covers back with one hand, barely disturbing the pillows on top. Those tablecloth-removing skills came in handy now and again.

As he slid her onto the sheets and pulled the covers up, she sighed and snuggled in. She looked young and relaxed, with none of the tough edges she had when she was awake and in secret agent mode.

He supposed he should have undressed her. But she looked so comfortable and happy, he simply pulled the covers up. He smoothed her hair back from her face, kissed her lightly on the cheek, and walked across the room preparing to face the secret agent inquisition from the guys in the room below. Rock paused at the door to look back at Lani.
If she can love me in a moment, she can love me forever.

He knew he’d been right to search for her all this time. He hadn’t been mistaken. She may have been on a mission then, as now, but she loved him despite orders not to. Now he just had to figure out a way to convince her she was better off with him than without him.

He stepped out of the room and closed the door softly behind him.

Downstairs the three agents were exactly where he’d left them. They all looked up and gave him matching looks to those he’d received upon his first arrival. These guys needed to add some variety to their act. Maybe he’d suggest it.

“How’d you know to bring naloxone?” Ty asked.

Rock shrugged. “Elementary. Sol’s rumored to give painkillers to his assistants before his act. It calms them and allows them to get into painful positions for his acts.

“I told you, Sol uses dangerous practices. Codeine has always been his drug of choice. It wouldn’t be too hard for him to claim Lani took too many because of nerves or guilt and accidentally overdosed.”

“But killing Lani like that?” Tate said. “I wonder if that went against RIOT orders. Lani is the only leverage they have against you. Why eliminate her?”

“So that when I commit suicide in a few days, despondent over her death, no one will suspect I’ve been murdered.” Rock paused for dramatic effect. “For spies, you really don’t watch enough cop shows.

“But I will have to say you were right about one thing.” Rock held up his thumb. “I should have brought the wand gun. I had two thugs on my tail. One shot was not enough.”

Tate grinned. “More firepower is always better.”

“Yeah, I realized that too late.” Rock walked to the bar and poured himself a drink. He pulled his cell phone from his pocket. “I should check in on my team and congratulate them on a job well done.”

“Don’t bother,” Ty said. “We already have.”

Rock grinned. “I did a damn fine job with those kids. This was a dress rehearsal for the bigger show and they pulled it off without a hitch. Or a leak. Key for both magicians and secret agents.”

Tate walked behind the bar as if he was going to mix himself another drink. Instead, he stooped, picked something up, and held it up for Rock to inspect. “Does this look familiar?”

Rock examined it. “One of the knives I use in my act.” Rock frowned. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“It’s distinctive and it shouts Rock Powers. And we pulled it off one of Sol’s goons. You were wrong about the overdose,” Tate said, drily. “After Lani’s death, they were going to slit your wrists and make it look like suicide.”

As Rock stared at them, he felt his jaw tic. “That’s bloody.”

“And painful,” Tal added.

“I’m going to kill Sol when I get the chance,” Rock said.

“I wouldn’t go spouting that around in public,” Tate said.

Ty, Tate, and Tal exchanged looks with each other. For a trio of spies, they looked decidedly uncomfortable and as if they were keeping something from Rock. He thought these guys were supposed to be kings of the poker face. Which made him just the tiniest bit suspicious—what garden path were they planning to walk him down now?

Tate looked at Ty. Ty shrugged. Tal was evidently no help.

“Ah, hell.” Tate sighed. “You’re probably going to hear this from Sol himself sooner or later, but he was bragging to his crew about sleeping with Lani.”

Rock clenched his jaw so tightly he felt like he was about to break a tooth or pop a blood vessel or maybe both. “Sol’s a liar! Lani would never—”

He cut himself off and looked at the three other men.

Tal cleared his throat. “She’s a spy. She does what she has to do.”

Ty nodded. “Yeah, we all did. In the pre–ball and chain days. Now Tate’s the only one who gets to sleep around for the job. Treflee would kill me if I did.”

“If she found out about it,” Tal said.

“She’d know. Believe me, she’d find out about it. She has spies everywhere. Sometimes I think the Agency should hire her and her network,” Ty said.

“Don’t listen to them.” Tate slapped Rock on the back. “It’s not all that much fun sleeping with enemy agents. After the sex, when all you’d really rather do is sleep, they try to kill you. Nearly every time. And if not then, later. And don’t even get me started about an enemy agent scorned…”

“Yeah, it’s really tough duty,” Tal said. He shut up when Tate shot him a look that said he wasn’t helping matters.

Rock took a deep breath. “Why would you take Sol’s word for it?”

“Lani was right there and didn’t deny it,” Tate said.

*   *   *

The master bedroom in Rock’s mansion had blackout curtains on its 180-degree panoramic-view windows. The room was round, like a turret on a castle, a knight’s abode. But the curtains were cracked open and the sunlight was streaming through when Lani was awakened from sleep by the gentle swoosh of the door skimming deep, plush carpet, and the smell of bacon and coffee.

She sat up, reached for her gun, which was missing, and swung her gaze toward the door, assessing her options. She realized then that she was still dressed in the red outfit Rock had had her change into last night when he stole her from Sol’s show.

Rock stood in the doorway, carrying a breakfast tray complete with a red rose in a vase. “Morning, beautiful. No need to bring out the big weapons. It’s just your adoring husband come to pamper you before a hard day of spying.” He wore the trace of a smile, just a trace, and his voice was low and sexy, mesmerizing.

Lani glanced at the clock. “What time is it?”

“Nine.” Rock walked over and set the tray over her legs.

Nine!
Lani couldn’t remember the last time she’d slept so late.

Rock sat down next to her on the bed. He smiled and swept the hair out of her eyes. “You were drugged, remember?” He laughed softly. “Maybe not.” He laughed again. “I rescued you from Sol’s clutches and certain death.”

Rock looked perfectly delectable when he was bragging about his heroics. “Certain death? I thought you stole me away in the middle of his act. Just to foil him and steal his thunder. You always have liked to one-up him.” She mocked a frown. “There goes my paycheck and my shot at black magic stardom.”

Rock held a cup of coffee out to her. “The asshole deserves it. And you’ll have your shot at stardom. With me.
If
you want it.”

His words made her breath catch as she took the cup from him. She didn’t know what to say. Oh, she knew what she should say. She knew she should stomp on his little old aorta and dash any hopes of an
until death do us part
little wife-and-husband duo. The odds didn’t favor a family magic act for them and the son Rock didn’t know he had.

Rock mistook her hesitation. His grin faded, replaced by a look of concern and consternation. “You don’t remember the drugging?” He cocked a brow. “And what followed?”

Oh, she remembered that well enough. She was just pulling his chain.

She nodded and took a sip of coffee before speaking. “That bottle of water the stagehand gave me just before I went on. Never trust a sealed bottle of water, not from a magician, anyway. Or one of his crew.”

“You can trust
this
magician.” Rock pulled the linen napkin from the tray. “Nothing up my sleeve.”

Nothing but rock-hard biceps. He was wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt that showed them off very nicely, thank you.

“No, I can see that.” She set the coffee down on the tray. Knowing what was coming, she watched him closely.

“Empty napkin to begin with.” He showed her and then grabbed the napkin and began rolling it from the center. When it was in a nice roll, with only a triangle of tail hanging out, he grabbed the tail and pulled. The napkin unrolled, revealing a table knife with a flourish.

Back in their happy good old days, Rock used to bring her breakfast in bed just like this. He’d set the tray down and make all kinds of things appear in the center of the napkin. Usually flatware. Sometimes a piece of jewelry or other small gift.

She knew how the trick was done, but as many times as Lani had watched him perform it, it still seemed like magic. He was that good. She never saw him working the reality behind it. It was a lot like being in love with Rock—somehow he worked his magic on her, even though she shouldn’t have loved him.

“Dull cutlery, how lovely. I hear you pulled diamond jewelry out of thin air for Tate’s latest bimbo, that awful blonde, Gillian.” She winked.

“But, baby, you are Gillian.” His voice was calm, deep, sexy. Almost mesmerizing. He stared at her with a look she couldn’t quite pin down.

He was masking what he felt from her. He was good at masking, nearly as good as she was. It was disconcerting. She liked to be the one in control and able to read the other person with her considerable skill in reading microexpressions. Rock stymied her. But that was part of the attraction.

“You were there when I had to give it back.” She pulled the knife from the napkin and used it to spread jam on her toast. Rock had brought her a nice pot of seedless raspberry jam, her favorite.

“Unborrowed jewelry. I’ll keep that in mind for next time. Hard to spread jam with, though.” Rock continued staring at her with his deep, penetrating gaze, his voice modulated and under control.

“Something the matter?” she asked him.

“No. Should there be?”

Last night had been fantastic, hot, exciting between them. But now there was a subtle distance between them. For whatever reason, Rock was trying to hide it. But it was still there. She couldn’t think what she possibly could have done in the hours she’d been asleep. Best to ignore it. “Why did Sol want me dead? He doesn’t suspect I’m an agent, does he?”

“No. It was his ultimate revenge against me.” Then he went on to explain about the knife and the theory that Sol was trying to kill Rock and make it look like suicide because he was despondent over Lani’s death.

“Not good about him wanting to kill us. But good news my cover isn’t blown.” She frowned. “For a minute there I thought he’d realized I’d hypnotized him. My hypnotic suggestions not to hurt you or me sure didn’t stick.

“I should have known not to mess with a messed-up mind. I should have figured his sense of revenge would overcome my hypnotic suggestion to protect me. He is a sociopath, after all.” She cursed beneath her breath, mumbling about a lapse in her spycraft.

“Don’t tell me you tried to hypnotize him?” Rock’s calm expression momentarily cracked again. A quick look of fear crossed his face before he regained control. When he spoke, it was in that same soothing voice. “You
really
think you hypnotized Sol? Sol isn’t hypnotizable. He knows all the tricks and he’s one hundred percent resistant.

“But it explains why he tried to kill you. Now he
knows
you’re not loyal. And if there’s one thing Sol can’t stand, it’s unfaithfulness.” A microexpression of anger crossed Rock’s face at the word
unfaithfulness
. It, too, passed quickly.

Lani stared at Rock with the table knife in one hand and a piece of toast in the other. “You do realize I have a knife in my hand and I know a thousand lethal ways to use it, even though it barely slices through jam?” She pointed the knife at him as she spoke. “FYI, I’m a highly trained, certified, licensed master hypnotist—”

Rock shook his head, still totally tranquil and reassuring when he should have been at least at touch angry at her for trying something so risky. “I know, we’ve been over that. Sol was faking it, baby. Faking. Don’t take it too hard. He can fake out the best of them.”

“No one fakes it with me.” She paused. “As a secret agent for the U.S. government I also have several powerful hypnosis-aiding drugs at my disposal. I hypnotized you once, too, magic man.”

He arched a brow. “Oh, really? When?” He was almost too calm.

She set the knife down. It was no good pointing it at him, anyway. He didn’t seem the slightest bit intimidated. “Just after we met. At the beginning of the Hoover Dam mission.”

She paused for effect. “I hypnotized
you
to speed you along in the falling in love with me process.” She set the toast down, too, next to the bacon and eggs that were growing cold. She’d lost her appetite.

Rock gave her a deadpan look. “Not this again. Not the Aphrodite complex. We’ve been over this before. You can’t make men fall in love with you left and right by looking deeply into your eyes. Can you make your eyes spin, too? Is that part of the trick?”