The Soldier (Men Who Thrill Book 3) (3 page)

I heard the now-familiar
click
of the door unlocking and waited, watching as the door slowly opened.

She stepped into the stairwell quickly, quietly, and closed the door behind her softly.

“That was a very foolish thing to do, Ms. Casey,” I said.

She jumped and then turned wild eyes to me, her entire body quaking.

“I didn’t see you there, sir,” she said. “You frightened me.”

The first honest thing she’d probably ever said to me.

“Why would you be frightened if you weren’t doing something you weren’t supposed to do, Jordan?” I asked, stepping closer and closer until she stood in the corner of the stairwell.

“Of course not! I just…”

“Wasn’t expecting me here?”

“Yes, exactly. It’s after hours, and I didn’t think many people used the stairs.”

“So why are you using them?” I asked, stepping even closer, my blood surging at the prospect of finally having gotten the upper hand back from her.

She looked at up me, the small space between us and my foot height advantage leaving her no choice but than to crane her head. This close, I could feel the heat from her body, see the pulse at the base of her throat, something that I knew she couldn’t control and that confirmed her nervousness. It might be my size and proximity that was causing her unease, but I didn’t think so.

She’d been caught red-handed and was frantically searching for an escape, something that would not be forthcoming. One corner of her mouth lifted, the expression transforming her plain features into something that was almost…pretty. I blinked and then refocused on the matter at hand.

“As I understand it, Ms. Casey, you don’t have clearance to the stairwell, anyway. So how did you get in here?”

“Ah…?” she said, stammering again for the second time.

“Did you really think I wouldn’t notice?” I asked, finally dropping the charade.

“I’m sorry, sir,” she said quietly, looking down, guilt on her face. “I set my badge on the desk and by mistake I grabbed yours when I left. I was hoping to return it before you discovered my stupid mistake.”

After she turned her eyes back up at me, she blinked twice, long lashes almost fluttering, the dimness of the stairwell making her honey eyes dark, her irises and pupils almost bleeding together in an indecipherable near black. They were quite striking.

That thought brought me up short, refocused me. I was digging for information, not getting caught in the eyes of a woman who was stupid at best, a criminal and traitor at worst, and not my type. In the slightest.

“You expect me to buy that?” I asked skeptically, bringing my attention back to the topic.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what you mean, sir. Buy what?”

Those long lashes fluttered again.

“Don’t play games with me, Ms. Casey,” I said, my voice firm.

“I wouldn’t dream of it, sir. It was just a mistake. I’ve never been up to the fifth floor before, and with you being the new director of security and all the hubbub downstairs, I was just flustered, nervous.” Another flutter. “And I just grabbed the wrong badge. It was all an accident.”

She looked down when she’d finished, and her posture and expression would have tugged at most people’s heartstrings.

Too bad for her I wasn’t most people.

“And why didn’t you return it immediately?” I asked, focused on keeping up the pressure. I suspected Jordan Casey hadn’t ever been flustered a day in her life, and I was intent on changing that right now.

I was close enough that I could hear her exhaled breaths. She was hiding something; I could see that, but when she turned her eyes up at me again, my mind emptied, the inky blackness of the orbs sucking me in.

“I’m sorry. I was embarrassed. I mean, I know how important security is here at Titan, and imagine that, telling the man in charge of protecting all this that I’d made such a foolish mistake.”

She laughed, the rich, husky sound lit with the faintest hints of embarrassment wrapping around my gut, lower, but the sound cut off short and her gaze moved to the stairwell door when it clicked. I paid the sound no heed, unwilling to pull back, not when I felt like I was so close to a breakthrough.

“Ms. Casey—”

My words were cut short by her lips closing over mine, and even more than before, my mind was blank save for the feeling of Jordan Casey’s soft, plush mouth over my firm one. The touch was faint, barely even there, but it was still encompassing, and when she shifted, brushing her bottom lip across mine, that slight movement sent a riot of sensation through me, that simple brush more shocking, and more arousing, than a much more forceful and intimate one would have been.

“Pardon me!”

I didn’t break the kiss but recognized the voice as Susan’s and then recognized the sound of her hastily leaving the stairwell. When the door clicked closed again, Jordan pulled away, and just for an instant, I thought of how I wanted her back. She stared up at me, eyes still unreadable even with the small distance that separated us.

I glanced down between us, realizing that she had her hands against my chest, her fingers slightly curled around my jacket.

“Explain yourself,” I said, and despite my best efforts at remaining unreactive, I could hear the growl in my voice and feel the sneer that twisted my features.

“I’m sorry, sir,” she said, looking away and dropping her hands. “That was unfair, petty. But Susan, she’s not…nice. And I just had a crazy thought. I mean, someone like you would never kiss someone like
me
. So I just wanted to shock her. If you want to fire me…”

I opened and closed my mouth, but no sound emerged. I exhaled hard and pressed my lips into a firm line.

“Go home, Ms. Casey,” I said.

“Yes, sir,” she whispered.

Without looking up, she slipped around me, scanned her access badge, and exited the stairwell.

I stayed, shaken and way off my game. I breathed deep, even breaths until I was under control and then, more slowly than I usually moved, made my way back to the office. By the time I stood in front of the large window—which was a total waste because it overlooked the parking lot—I was back to myself.

Or I was until I spotted Jordan Casey walking across the almost empty lot, the evening light shading her. My gaze was riveted to her, and I was unable to look away. I couldn’t explain it, but she’d unnerved me, shaken me up.

I did not like to be shaken.

And then, as I watched her fold her curvaceous body into her car and then drive off, I clenched my fists as realization stole over me. One of the few things I liked less than be shaken was being played. And Jordan Casey had just played me like a pro. Again.

Chapter Six

All that night and the next day, I kept replaying my interactions with her. First in my office, and then in the stairwell. And to my surprise, and extreme displeasure, that kiss was most prominent among my thoughts. Which made no sense. I suppose the shocking nature of it was of note, but, as much as I wished it different, that was not the source of my preoccupation.

No, the brush of her lips against mine, the dark depths of her eyes, the unexplainable urge to pull her closer, those were the things that stood out. The stupidity of my thoughts only emphasized the fact that she had so thoroughly outwitted me.

I’d watched the access log all day, certain that she would attempt to use my card—which she still had—to enter the fifth floor. And I had been there first thing this morning, had watched her walk through the parking lot, looking every bit the docile sheep she sometimes pretended to be.

But I wasn’t fooled, not anymore.

In the wake of Prescott Tillman’s not so unfortunate demise, the General had been on high alert and instituted tracking protocols above and beyond Titan’s already stout measures. He’d also decided not to mention that fact to anyone at Titan unsure of who he could trust, something that was currently inuring to my benefit.

I’d spent all night poring over the few breadcrumbs that had been left behind. The person who’d been infiltrating the system was good, used techniques that far surpassed my own skill. In fact, if Tillman hadn’t gotten himself killed, no one would have been the wiser.

Ironically, while Jordan had been so very careful, her pilfering of the access card had been the thing that clued me in to what she was doing. Titan was maniacal about tracking, maniacal about other things, too, but tracking in particular. Access was limited based on a need-to-access status and employee movements were tracked down to the step. Bathroom breaks included.

But the little variances I’d found were subtle, so subtle that a person who wasn’t looking wouldn’t have noticed. But I was looking, and I did notice. She’d arrive five minutes early on some days, stay ten minutes later on others, a long lunch on Tuesday, a notably shorter lunch the following Thursday. And those little changes to her schedule perfectly overlapped with tiny, almost imperceptible breaches of Titan’s system.

Oh, she’d taken great care to enter and leave the system in less than sixty seconds, but the pattern was there all the same, each separate intrusion creating a time stamp, one that coincided with a change in Jordan’s schedule. The trail was thin, wouldn’t have held up in a court of law, but I, and the General, didn’t have such rigorous standards.

I reached over to grab the phone that would connect me directly with the General, but before I lifted the receiver, I reconsidered. He’d want more information, I reasoned, including a complete explanation of her motives, who she was working with, what she’d discovered, and what she’d done with whatever she’d found. Yes, it was too early to bring him in on this. There was still work to be done yet.

That thought in mind, I waited and planned my next step. I’d considered charging at her immediately, but, while I may have been overthinking it, I suspected she was expecting me, had prepared herself for me to confront her immediately. So I waited.

The day was interminable, filled with the corporate crap that I couldn’t care less about. But I kept that knowledge to myself. The General had been clear that I was supposed to treat this job with the same care and eagerness as I would if I actually was the new director of security, that I should make an impression, be involved, give at shit.

I did as I’d been ordered, but it was hard to pretend, especially when I had a puzzle like Jordan Casey just waiting to be solved.

I knew all too well that people weren’t always what they appeared to be. But she’d caught me by surprise, and I intended to return the favor.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

By the time I arrived at my destination, night had fallen.

Silent, swift steps carried me toward the apartment door, and I noted how quiet and peaceful it seemed, and idly wondered why Jordan had chosen a terrace-level unit when her building had multiple stories.

My first inclination had been to meet her at her car, but I decided against it, wanting to let her get comfortable, let her think that everything was okay, get the upper hand more firmly. I knocked at the metal door twice and waited.

I’d heard the TV, or what I assumed was the TV, during my approach, and after the two short knocks, the sound was muted and then followed by soft footsteps approaching the door.

I could see from the shadow underneath the door that she stood behind it, but she didn’t open immediately, so I knocked again.

“Open the door, Miss Casey.”

A few seconds later she pulled the door open, had her hand gripping the knob, her face that mask of wide-eyed innocence that did not sway me in the least. I stepped across the threshold, and she moved automatically, allowing me entry. I turned to her, but she didn’t appear to be in any hurry to close the door. So I glanced down at the knob, and she closed it, though I noticed she didn’t lock it.

She’d ditched the business attire and now wore a huge T-shirt from the local state university and a pair of matching shorts. Her feet were bare, which gave a full view of her surprisingly tapered ankles. Her legs were bare as well, and I followed the path from her ankles up sturdy-looking calves, to her rounded knees, and across thick, solid thighs until my gaze stopped midway when it collided with the maroon cotton of the shorts.

Jordan shifted under my scrutiny, and the movement drew my gaze to her extremely full breasts. I quickly turned my gaze up and was again struck by the plainness of her round face. Almost unconsciously, I found myself comparing her to the women I usually preferred. And found her severely lacking. She was too round, too curvy for my tastes, and beyond her body, her features, while not repulsive, did nothing to enhance her appeal.

But as I stared into her eyes, which were again wide, lashes fluttering with that faux innocence, I was taken by the depths I saw in them, the intelligence and sharpness that I believed most people missed. And now, in addition to that intelligence, I could see a hardness and annoyance and maybe, deep down, the faintest worry.

“Sir, is everything okay?” she asked.

The question was innocuous enough, but it was threaded with a sternness that was belied by the innocent act, and I couldn’t miss the disapproval in her voice.

I stepped closer to her, and she stepped back, a little dance that continued until she was flush against the door. I moved even closer, close enough that our bodies touched, the tips of her breasts grazing my chest. She’d started to breathe heavily but went completely still when I reached up and then jumped, ever so slightly, when I turned the lock closed.

I didn’t lower my hand, instead resting it on the door next to her head.

She glanced over at it and then back at me, and when our eyes met, I could see the understanding dawn. I wasn’t one of the blind fools she dealt with at Titan, and she knew it. She was also completely trapped, at my mercy, which she knew as well. Unmoving, I held her gaze, wanting her to see the powerlessness of her position and interested to see how she’d react.

There was little at first, just that hint of resignation and understanding. But then I saw a faint glimmer of something in her gaze, and before I could interpret it, she again stood on tiptoe and covered my lips with her own. When her lips touched mine, I acknowledged that despite my professed lack of attraction, some distant part of me had been expecting this. And looking forward to it.