Two Evils (13 page)

John grinned wickedly, and the next thing she knew he was shoving her pants and underwear down her hips. Her jeans fell easily to the floor but her panties caught around her knees, and in a mildly savage manner he grabbed a hold of the sides and yanked hard, tearing the cotton irreparably and allowing the cloth to join her jeans down at her feet. He then grabbed her waist and lifted her free of the denim, spinning around and knocking her back into the door, his mouth fusing with hers again as he pulled his hardened length free of the confines of his boxers. Billie shoved his pants past his hips as he grabbed her by the ass and lifted her again, then with one hard thrust he was inside her.

She cried out loudly into his mouth, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck and hooking her legs around his waist. The door to his apartment and the wall on which it was hung shook with each deep thrust, his hips pistoning hard and fast against her. Billie dug the nails of one hand into his back
, and with the other grabbed hold of as much of his short hair as she could. John released her mouth and turned his head, lowering it to the soft curve where her neck met her shoulder. His lips touched down and he sucked her skin between his teeth.

T
ightness she hadn’t known she could still feel began to coil in her belly, her breathing becoming little more than sharp panting. Each time he pulled out and slammed back into her, Billie could feel it growing, getting stronger. She pulled on his hair, dug her nails in deeper, and John growled in response. The pace of his thrusts increased, becoming more frenzied, and she knew his climax wouldn’t be long in coming.

“Harder, John,” she begged breathlessly into his ear, and he readily complied, lifting his head to lock lips with her once more. He thrust his tongue as deep into her mouth as he could get it, and as though it were a trigger, Billie found she could no longer hold herself together. The first wave of her orgasm slammed into her like an ocean tide crashing against a cliff, and she banged her head back against the door as she screamed her pleasure.

The grinding of her hips against his as she rode him finally sent John over the edge as well, and he groaned through gritted teeth as he emptied into her. She felt herself tightening around him, pulling him deeper, and amazingly she came again.

A
ndre picked up the ringing cell phone with dread. He knew who it was. He knew that the caller would be angry, knew that he had failed—again—and that his days were likely numbered in the single digits.

Swallowing heavily, he clicked the Answer key. “
Da
?”

“Do you have a brain
? If so, do you know how to use it?” Grigori asked.

“I do,
Dedushka
,” he replied carefully.

His grandfather laughed harshly. “Well, I have seen no evidence of this. Are you even aware that the woman has left the island? That she is in Virginia at this very moment?”

Anger at having been none the wiser rushed through his veins, and Andre turned and kicked the tire of the SUV. “No, I did not,” he said. “I am sorry to have failed you,
Dedushka
—”

“You should be, you ignorant bastard!” Grigori screamed. “Can nothing be accomplished without me? Must I do everything myself? Apparently there is no one else to carry out a simple task of killing someone.”

“I
will
kill her for you, I swear it!” Andre said, feeling suddenly desperate. Whenever his grandfather spoke of having to do things himself, very bad things happened and people died.

He didn’t want to be one of those people.

“You had better,” Grigori said darkly. “I will not tolerate continued incompetence, Andre. Fail me again, and you will join your uncle in the afterlife.”

Next thing he knew, he was hearing nothing. Disgusted, Andre shoved his cell phone into his pocket, then he turned and kicked the tire again. The pain in his foot was a welcome diversion from the fear that his life might soon be forfeit.

“What did the boss say, Andre?” Mikhail asked around the cigarette in his mouth.

Andre snatched it from his lips as he grabbed the other man’s chin in his hand. He turned the cigarette around and held the burning end to Mikhail’s cheek, pressing until the fire had been ground out. His subordinate growled in pain and tried to move away.

The others, wisely, stood back and did not interfere.

“What do you think he said, hmm?” Andre asked, his voice cold as he continued to hold Mikhail’s jaw in a vise grip. “My grandfather is displeased with our lack of success. He has informed me that the
suka
has already left St. Thomas and is in the United States as we speak. He has said that we will join my late uncle in hell if we continue to fail him.”

Technically, he’d only made that reference about Andre. But the others didn’t need to know that.

“Where is she?” asked Anton. “I’ll make the arrangements right away, Boss.”

Andre looked at his friend. He liked that Anton called him Boss, because it was recognition of his authority. Now if the
rest of his team would stop making him look like an inept moron… One day, he would take over the family. Then all the power would be his.

“Virginia,” he said to Anton, pushing Mikhail away from him in disgust and ignoring the man’s w
himper of pain at the burn on his cheek. “She’s in Virginia.”



After taking her against the front door (of all places for their first time!), John carried Billie into the bedroom. There he laid her on his bed, taking his time removing her shoes and socks, and then doing a lazy removal of his pants and underwear while she watched. After removing his own footwear, he joined her on the bed, kissing his way up her navel to the valley between her breasts. He massaged them both gently in his hands before meeting her lips with his.

A sight out of the corner of his eye gave him paus
e, and he broke the kiss as a frown fell over his face.

“What is it?” Billie asked, a note of concern and hesitancy creeping into her voice.

John lifted a hand to gently caress a spot on her left shoulder, at the curve where it merged smoothly with her neck. While all her skin was flushed from their lovemaking, this one small area was a darker shade of pink than the rest. Suddenly he smiled, then leaned down to kiss it softly.

“I’m afraid I’ve left a mark on you,” he said.

Her features relaxed and Billie smiled. “Then allow me to return the favor.”

She took his head in her hands as she had done before, bringing their mouths together. This time when they made love, he took her slow and easy, giving the passion more time to build. His touch, his tongue
, and his lips were tender on her skin, drawing more sighs than screams.

After they were both sated again, mutual exhaustion claimed them and they fell asleep wrapped in each other’s arms. When he woke sometime later, John glanced at the clock and saw that he’d slept for three hours—a solid three hours he hadn’t had since before the trip to St. Thomas.

In the instant he realized he was alone in the bed, he also heard the shower running. Wouldn’t it be nice to join her there for a little more of the fun they’d had this morning? With a grin on his face, he rolled over and dropped his legs off the side of the bed, disappointment shooting through him as right then the shower shut off. He sat still and waited for Billie to return to the bedroom but she didn’t, even though he had heard the bathroom door open. He reached for the pants he’d discarded earlier and pulled them on, then padded out of the bedroom to see what she was doing.

He found her in the living room, her wet hair falling over her shoulders as she pulled on her socks and shoes.

“If you want a shower before we go, hurry up,” she said, the business-like tone of her voice surprising him. “We’ve wasted enough time as it is.”

John frowned. “What is that supposed to mean?” he asked.

“It means exactly what I said, Agent Courtney. All the time we spent here would have been better served starting the search for my team,” she replied without looking at him.

No
, he thought.
This can’t be happening
. John felt pressure settle in his chest and he forced himself to breathe past it. What had he done to upset her? He thought she’d enjoyed herself—Christ, she’d had three orgasms! Was that not enough? Had she expected something more?

“Billie, what’s going on?” he asked. “Just a few hours ago you were all for coming here, for me to make love to you—”

She stood sharply, gathering up her weapon harness and shrugging it on. “We fucked, Agent Courtney. A sadly necessary action required to clear the air of undesirable sexual tension.”

Finally she looked at him, and his heart squeezed with the cold, blank look in her eyes.

“Don’t make it more than it was,” she said, her voice equally as cold.

The pain of her words burned hot for a long moment as they stared at one another. He’d thought this might be the beginning of something great, but he’d been
way
off the mark. More than that, he’d been a damn fool for thinking it was even remotely possible for the iciest bitch in the world to have feelings for anyone.

John ignored the tiny voice in his head trying to tell him she had loved once—loved and lost. That she might possibly be developing feelings for him that scared the hell out of her and was pulling back out of fear. He didn’t care. She’d just demeaned what they had shared like it was dirty and shameful.

He felt a hard mask fall over his face as the fire in his chest was drowned and turned to ice. “Very well, Miss Ryan… It’s good to know where we stand. I think maybe I will grab a shower—washing away the last few hours sounds like a damn good idea all of a sudden. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be back shortly.”

Turning on his heel, John marched stiffly back to the bathroom, where he slammed the door shut on both Billie and his emotions. Jerking his pants off and throwing them into a rumpled pile by the door, he reached behind the shower curtain and turned the faucet on, setting the water on hot. When he stepped under the spray it turned out to be several degrees hotter than he liked, but he didn’t turn it down. Better to be distracted by scalding hot water than to let his mind wander where he no longer wished it to go.

When he got out ten minutes later, he crossed from the bathroom to the bedroom without looking. His movements as he pulled on clean clothes were stilted and jerky, and he realized he was still feeling the burn of anger.

Suck it up, John
, he told himself sharply.
She’s not worth it
.

Dressed and ready to go not quite twenty minutes after he’d woken, John walked out into the living room to retrieve his gun and holster, which had been removed in the initial frenzy. The memory of that heated insanity clawed through his indifference to torture him, but he quickly slammed the door on it. He was no longer interested in it. Or her. Now, he just wanted to put a lid on this and move on.

The fact that Billie was already gone came as little surprise. He merely shook his head, retrieved his gun, and secured it to his belt. Then he grabbed his suit jacket and headed out to find her.



Billie instructed the taxi to take her to Claude Moore Colonial Farm, a park she and the guys on the team had visited during leave on many occasions. Stepping back into history, into times so much more peaceful and simple, had helped each of them decompress, especially after a difficult mission.

Here, she had little doubt, she would find Gabe. Wayne and Darren would be gone to another of their retreats, but Gabe, as he had said, had stayed behind to watch in case she returned. He would not be able to go home
, as Wainright no doubt had his house under surveillance. But here… here he could easily disguise himself and blend in among the tourists.

She had hoped that walking through the park and seeing all the homesteads that had been built in 1771 style would serve as a distraction. That the smells and sounds of a time long gone would keep the memory of the pain she’d inflicted so unnecessarily on John from returning to her mind’s eye. That she would not be forced to remember the hurt that had filled his eyes.

Billie’s hope was in vain. She remembered all too well the harsh words and callous attitude designed to inflict maximum damage. John wouldn’t think so, but it was for the best. She was hurting him now in order not to hurt him later. Because sometime in the last two days—she didn’t know why or when—he’d begun to care about her. She’d seen the truth of it in his eyes. He might not even have realized it or admitted it to himself yet, but she’d become important to him, in spite of her having threatened to kill him on more than one occasion. It could happen that fast—or so she’d heard. It hadn’t happened that quickly with Travis, but then Travis had recognized he needed to become her friend first, to earn her trust, before he had even a remote chance at winning her heart.

Something told her John was different. He would want it all, and want it all
now
. But she just couldn’t give it to him. Her heart wasn’t ready. It might never be ready to take that big a risk ever again.

So, yeah… Better to push him away now rather than have him resent her down the road for not being able to give as much as she took.

“Something tells me your mind’s not on the history.”

Billie only shook her head as Gabe fell into step beside her smoothly, as if he had been walking with her all along. She pulled her hand from her pocket when he crooked his elbow in her direction and slid her arm through, leaning her head down on his shoulder as she had done countless times before.

“Care to share?” he asked softly.

A sniffle escaped her and tears stung the back of her eyes.
No, damn it!
she chastised herself. She would not be weak. She would not cry for what simply couldn’t be. It was pointless.

Her friend seemed to sense that she was on the verge of a breakdown, for he said then, “Nevermind, She-Devil. I don’t want to hear about your girlie shit anyway.”

Looking up, she saw him smiling down at her. She saw sympathy in his eyes, but not pity. He knew of her loss, and perhaps he thought her simply overwhelmed with memories of Travis because she’d not been home in so long. Billie figured it was best to let him, if that was the case. No need to burden him with her problems when he had so many of his own to deal with.

Drawing a breath, she forced herself to put her guilt and thoughts of John aside. She stood straight but kept her arm looped through Gabe’s as she said, “I met the general this morning.”

“Is that so?” Gabe asked curiously.

Billie nodded. “Yeah. You said he talked a good game, but you didn’t tell me what a dick he was.”

Her companion snorted derisively, then said, “Sorry, but I figured it best you learn that particularly disheartening bit of information for yourself.”

“Speaking of di
sheartening…” Billie said, turning and leading Gabe over to an empty bench along the path. “Did you know that Eddie’s kid sister is working at the Pentagon?”

The expression on his face was one of genuine surprise. “Becky’s working there? Doing what?”

She shrugged. “Some sort of clerical work. I didn’t stick around to ask because I was within moments of going back to Wainright’s office to wring his fucking neck.”