“How far’s the drive,” Aaron asked, going to the passenger door.
“Hang on,” Kreed said as Aaron reached for the door handle. “Step back.”
Aaron did as he’d been instructed and watched with growing satisfaction as Kreed rounded the car slowly, examining the ground, before bending forward to look underneath the car. When he got to the tailpipe, he bent low then went for the gas tank, looking before touching the small door and gas cap. Aaron guessed he was satisfied with what he found because he moved to the hood, getting completely on the ground to inspect the undercarriage.
“Is it safe to be standing out here?” Aaron asked after what seemed like a couple of minutes. Was all this truly necessary, and if it was, why had they even stopped here?
“I checked security before we arrived. Because of the former president, the neighborhood has cameras everywhere. The bad guys won’t make that mistake again, but they do seem to have a preference for lighting up a vehicle.” Kreed walked to the other side and again dropped to his knees, looking underneath the car. After a couple of seconds, Kreed went to the passenger side and unlocked the doors using the key fob.
Kreed reached for the handle, pulled the door open, and Aaron watched him turn his face away. Okay, add another mark to the Kreed Sinacola hotness meter. He’d read enough in Kreed’s file to make the deputy marshal very intriguing, but tonight opened his eyes to a whole new side, giving him a front row ticket to some of that SEAL training he’d read about.
Maybe it was the thrill of watching Kreed go all special ops or knowing he could kill a man with his bare hands. Whatever it was, the guy was pretty damn sexy at the moment. Hell, Kreed’s hotness invaded every moment, but…this one? Aaron struggled with the need to kiss Kreed, feel the weight of Kreed’s body pressed tightly against his and those lethal hands, skillfully roaming over every inch of him. Those mental images had Aaron’s body heating in the cold night air, and the overwhelming urge to lower his pants and have Kreed do him right there shocked him. Aaron held back a groan as his jeans grew uncomfortably tight at the thought of that last prospect.
“You take risks?” Kreed asked. The question pulled Aaron from his lewd thoughts and made him laugh. If the guy only knew what he’d been thinking.
“What kind of question is that?” Aaron took another step backward. His risk-taking fell somewhere in the range of masking false IP addresses to conceal his identity and playing Russian roulette with the leftover Chinese takeout in his fridge, and generally never entered the there’s-a-bomb-on-the-bus arena.
“I don’t see anything askew. Wanna get in while I start it up?” Kreed’s smirk gave away his teasing test of Aaron’s boundaries.
“Are we gonna go through this every time we get inside the car?” Aaron chose not to answer Kreed’s question. At the moment, he truly wasn’t certain if he were getting inside.
“Pretty much. I’ll have equipment tomorrow to test this car, but we need to be cautious,” Kreed answered, making eye contact. Aaron didn’t immediately move. Kreed gave him another smirk as he rounded the hood and opened the driver’s side door, easily reading his hesitation. “I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.”
Kreed reached inside the car, and Aaron heard the hood latch release. He glanced in that direction as Kreed stepped to the front of the car and opened the hood. He used the flashlight on his cellphone to check the engine.
“Look all right?” Aaron asked, still several feet away.
“Best I can see,” Kreed mumbled from under the hood.
“What’s your gut say?” Aaron asked.
“We’re safe,” Kreed answered immediately.
“Oh, well then…” Aaron went for the car. Kreed slammed the hood shut as Aaron closed his door. Honestly, he was still a little freaked out with Kreed’s inspection. Out of all the consideration he’d given about this job, it had never occurred to him something like that was needed so early in the game. Aaron read and heard enough that, in theory, he was quite comfortable trusting Kreed’s skills as well as his instincts.
“You do know that gut thing everybody says about me is a fallacy, right?” Aaron looked up, startled, and Kreed laughed as he closed his door and stuck the key in the ignition. “You can get out now.”
“Just start the car,” Aaron said, pulling on his seat belt and buckling himself in place. Kreed didn’t hesitate; he immediately turned the key. The car started without a problem. Kreed was clearly messing with him, trying to get a rise out of him, evidently.
“You did all this on purpose,” Aaron said as they started to back out. Kreed laughed under his breath, clearly tickled with himself as he backed out onto the street then put the car in drive.
“Only a little on purpose. We need to get in the habit. Besides, with this case, we don’t know anything with certainty. They proved they don’t have a problem bringing this right to our feet,” Kreed justified.
“Okay, be honest, you aren’t questioning anyone on the inside of the justice department, are you? I mean, anyone who’s in our immediate circle,” Aaron clarified. He looked over at Kreed, who kept his eyes on the road in front of him, but tilted his head a little to the side as if truly thinking over the question.
“I don’t know. I don’t think you’re rogue. I don’t think anyone in that house we just left is, and I’m certain Skinner’s not. He wouldn’t have ever hired me or Knox or a quarter of his staff if sexual orientation mattered. Outside of that, well…I’m giving Connors and Brown a free pass. I’m not sensing it in them,” Kreed added.
“So you do go by gut?” Aaron asked. For some reason, Kreed checking their vehicle made the danger all too real for him.
“I do, but it doesn’t replace logic, and Connors doesn’t fit the type. And Brown? Well, he’s like Anne. He jumped in to help. He’s put in long hours, working right alongside everyone else. I don’t see it with him,” Kreed said, making a turn, before guiding the car onto the interstate.