Mission Made For Two (7 page)

~***~

Sierra finished the sandwich Jake had prepared for them and wiped her fingers on a napkin.  She was still
ticked
from this morning, but sulking around the small cabin would
n’t help
.
  Nor would
yelling
and arguing with Jake
,
change his mind.
  She’d thought maybe she could, but realized now, he wasn’t going to budge.

So instead of continuing to bang her head against that particular wall
, she’
d been thinking all afternoon about exactly how to handle things. 
N
o wa
y was she
laying low.
Daniel had been too important to her. 

On top of that, Jake would never be able to get anywhere near Diaz again.
  His identity had been too deeply compromised
for sure.  There still wasn’t any evidence that hers had
.

Diaz still had no idea what she really looked like. 
Besides, men were more gullible around a woman than a man.
He needed her help, whether he admitted it or not.

She looked across the table
at Jake. 
“I don’t suppose you’d take me for a spin on your bike?”

His right eyebrow hitched up.  “Can I trust you behind me?”

She smiled. Even though she was
mad
at him, he wasn’t without his charms.  His dry sense of humor was one of those.  “I won’t carry any weapons.”

He put his napkin on the table
. 
“Why the change of heart?
  You haven’t said two words to me since this morning.”

She tilted her head and shrugged.  “I seem to be stuck here with you.  I’m willing to call a brief truce.”

His eyes narrowed, but he finally nodded.  “Okay, we can take the bike
for a quick spin down the mountain and back.”

He stood and retrieved a key from inside the cabinet closest to the sink
and a pair of dark sunglasses from the counter
.  She rose and followed him
to the barn.  She kept her gaze
on the ground just in case the snake from last night had decided to crawl back out.  Jake should have killed the beady-eyed creature. 

Of course thoughts of the snake fueled her memories of lying beneath the stubborn, infuriating man in front of her.  The reaction her body had to him pissed her
off almost as much as his overbearing
attitude.
  Riding his high-
powered bike wasn’t going to help, but
she’d needed to know where the key was and she wanted Jake to think she was willing to be more compliant.

The barn door opened with a squeak and
Jake
walked
to the Harley.  He pulled a black helmet off the back and held it out to her. 

“Where’s yours?”

“I only have one and you’re wearing it.  The mountain roads can be dangerous on a motorcycle.”

Sierra couldn’t help it. She started laughing. 
Dangerous, huh?
 
Which was exactly
why he probably loved riding the powerful bike
.
 
“Riding a motorcycle through the mountains is the least dangerous thing I’ve done t
he last eight
years.
”

The corner of Jake’s mouth hitched up.  “And I have no control over that.  This I do.”

Sierra sauntered toward him.  “Ah, so you’re confirming my suspicions from last night.”

His blue eyes darkened.  “Just take the damn helmet.
”

Sierra decided to cut him a break. 
Only because it served her purpose.
  She took the helmet and slid it on, buckling the chin strap.

Jake straddled the bike
and slid the glasses over his eyes
.  Sierra’s mouth watered, desp
ite her irritation with his attitude
.  He looked as commanding
as the expensive piece of chrome and leath
er.  A
black
te
e shirt
mold
ed his
well-built
chest
with the same precision
as his denim jeans clung to
narrow
hips and
muscular
thighs.

The powerful motor roared to life without hesita
tion when Jake started it.  Sierra moved closer and threw her leg over the seat.  She settled in behind Jake and placed
her arms around his
hard chest
.  His muscles tensed beneath her hands and she smiled into his back. 

If she were truly evil, she’d push his control as far as she could.  She’d let her hands wander down his stomach and across his thighs.  But she had the feeling su
ch a move would backfire on her
because she’d lose control too.

Jake nudged the kickstand back, revved the engine and they shot out of the barn.  A rush of a
drenaline surged through her.  S
he laughed and tightened her thighs around Jake’s hips.
  She clutched his hard abdomen, and pressed her nose to his back, inhaling his musky, slightly spicy scent.

Her breasts barely brushed his back, bringing her nipples to full alert.  She should have put on a bra, but she hated the confining contraptions.  So with only the cotton of her shirt and his separating them, sensations vibrated through her.  She clenched her legs tighter around him. 
She hoped he was as horny as she was. 

The ride down the mountain was spectacular.  Jake handled the big bike as well as he had the Cessna. 

Completely in control.
 

Wind rushed around them, even though
t
he twisty mount
ain road wouldn’t allow for them to go very fast
.  Finally,
they made it to the bottom of the mountain.  There was one stretch of road straight enough to test the engine.  Jake didn
’t disappoint her.  He opened
up
the throttle
and shot down
the road.  Sierra
hoot
ed
. 

The straight away ran out and Jake slowed the bike, turned it and stopped.

He
l
ook
ed
at her over his shoulder.  “You ready to head back?”

If she answered truthfully
,
the answer would be no.  Yet, the game she played was dangero
us and her feelings for Jake
more so. 
Hol
d
ing
onto his muscular
body
while the powerful bike vibrated beneath her
,
stirred longings she wanted to tell herself would exist with any man. 
She was smart enough to know that was a lie.
  She nodded.  “Yeah, I’m ready.”

Jake gazed a moment longer than required into her eyes. 
Even with the dark glasses concealing his blue eyes, she could feel the sparks arching between them.  She could lean in
and kiss him.  Taste him again.     

He turned back to the front and took off again. She had to grip him tighter as the bike lurched forward.  The ride up the mountain gave her time to think about her plans.

Jake was determined she wasn’t going to get involved in the hunt and eventual take down of Diaz.  She didn’t know why he had such an aversion to her assistance, but she wasn’t going to convince him otherwise
, unless of course she had a sex change between now and then
. 

Sierra knew enough about human nature to understand that. Jake had made up his mind and no amount of arg
ument from her would change his opinions
.

That was okay.
Sierra was pretty much the same.  She
h
ad taken matters into her own hands on more than one occasion.
She wasn’t averse to doing it now.

~***~

Sierra
slipped quietly into her sneakers
and checked her watch. 
Midnight
.
 
The Witching Hour
.
  The time when the spirits were the most active, if you believed in that sort of thing.

She didn’t believe in ghosts, except for the human kind like her. 
People who could move under the cover of darkness with barely a trace.
 

She’d overhea
r
d Jake this evening on the phone with someone.  He’d been talking about Diaz.  Seemed the man had a house in Santo Domingo
where he spent a lot of time
.  That’s where Jake was going, she knew it and
he wasn’t planning on letting her help.  S
ierra wasn’t playing that game.
 

Jake might think that going after Diaz alone was the best thing, but he was wrong. 
Alone had already almost killed the stubborn man.

Rummaging in her bag she retrieved her
Glock
and holster.  She wanted it handy…just in case.  Her bed was rumpled with pillows beneath the covers.  An old tri
ck, but if Jake happened to look
in at sometime
during the night, it
might be enough to satisfy him until morning.

The farther she got away before he discovered her missing the better.  She’d pilfered the motorcycle key earlier when she’d gotten a glass of water before bed
,
after Jake had headed to the bathroom to shower.  She took a calculated risk by taking it so early, hoping he wouldn’
t notice it gone.  But retrieving it now would be even more dangerous.

She threw the strap to her duffel bag over her shoulder
and
walked to the window.  She’d spent some time in here this afternoon, fixing the contacts for the alarm system so she could slip out without setting it off.

Daniel had taught her that little trick.  Holding her breath, she lifted the window.  Everything remained quiet and she slipped into the cool dark air.  A three quarter moon lit her way.

She said a silent apology to Jake for taking his bike, but he’d left h
er no choice.  After rolling
the
big machine out of the barn, she
pushed it until she was at least a half mile from the cabin.  Thank goodness it was all downhill.  The machine was heavy.

Sierra straddled the Harley, cranked and took off into the night.
 

Sierra
applied the f
inishing
touches to her
makeup
.  A bit
of green eye shadow to match her fake green eyes, a little more powder across her chin and burgundy red lipsti
ck to round out the package.

She’d called in a big favor to
find out
about Di
az’s habits while at his home in
Santo Domingo.  She learned he
visited the casino at this hotel
every Friday night
he was here
.  Word had it that he
was a player, and loved female attention.  She planned to provide it for him tonigh
t
.

Sierra
ran her hands through her newly
cut and colored hair
. 
She didn’t look bad
with the shoulder length blonde hair
.
She hadn’t gone platinum, not wanting to contrast her natural coloring too much. This darker shade
of blonde with highlights her
stylist had created for her
weren’t bad. 
She
hadn’t wanted to cut it, but a wig would have been too risky with how close she’d need to get to Diaz. 

A shudder tripped down her spine.  The thought of the sleaze ball touc
hing her made
acid
burn
her throat
.  Hopefully, her plan would work and she’d be able to keep him at bay until she could find out not only who the mole was, but also where Diaz kept the children he kidnapped.

She
padded out of the bathroom and retrieved the nude colored silk stockings she’d bought to wear.  She
slid
them on and secured them to her
black
garter belt.  Hard to believe some women dressed like this all the time. 
Way too much trouble.

Next
came
the emerald green
, long
dress that was designed to hug her every curve.
Not that she was particularly curvaceous, but with the new push up bra, she did have a nice bit of cleavage to show off.
The
coup
de grace was the
slit all the way up the side—h
igh en
ough to show off the top of on
e
long leg and the garter belt.