“I know your name is Kevin Low. I know that you’re an orphan and were raised in foster care. I know you’re an ex-Navy SEAL and that you run a security firm with other ex-military guys that you take in like stray dogs.” M stared at him, eyes narrowed. “What I don’t know is why you think I’m a mole.”
Her abrupt tone seemed to jar him from whatever stupor he’d been in. He looked up at her, his dark brows knitting as he frowned. “Bro?”
“Huh?”
“You called Marcus bro. Do you know him?”
“Of course I know him. He’s my frigging brother.” She tapped her sneakered toes on the carpet. “How do you know him, Mr. Low?”
“Navy.” His frown deepened as he gave her a slow once-over. She felt that look in her core, tingles racing outward through her bloodstream whether she liked it or not. “And call me Loki.”
Now it was her turn to frown. “Low key? As in relaxed?”
“No.” His frown shifted to a grin and damn if the beauty of it didn’t nearly steal her breath away. “Loki as in the Norse god. Trickery and deception and all that jazz.”
All that jazz was right. M shifted her weight and crossed her arms tighter, hoping to hide the appearance of her suddenly hard nipples.
Before she could say anything more, he recited off his own list of facts about her. “I’ve been testing you, you know. To see if what you’re telling me is the truth or not. So far, you’ve stuck to script. But let me tell you what else I know. I know you were adopted after Hannah Walker and Peter Walker discovered they couldn’t have a second biological child. The pilot of this plane, Marcus Walker, is really your brother. You have degrees in both history and cosmetology, which accounts for the appalling color of your hair. And you work for a private security company that conducts special operations under the radar for any client who’s rich enough to pay you.”
“What’s wrong with the color of my hair?” M asked, scowling. She loved changing her appearance and did it as often as possible. The wilder the better, in her opinion. “How the hell did you find all that out about me?”
“Same way you did.” Loki grinned. “I’m good.”
“I’ll make my own decision on that,”
she said, pushing past him to head for the cockpit of the plane, where her brother was running through his checklist for takeoff. The guy looked more like a surfer than a professional pilot, with his shaggy blond hair and crooked smile, but M loved him more than her own life and would do just about anything to keep him and the rest of her family safe. She took a seat in the copilot’s chair and buckled herself in, perusing the controls while her brother studied his clipboard.
“We’re heading to Virginia?” she asked, noting the coordinates programmed into the navigation system.
“Virginia’s good for me,” Loki said, leaning against the cockpit door. He seemed to take up all the space in the tiny cockpit and M’s breath caught. Damn the man and his gorgeous face. Why couldn’t he have stayed at the airshow like a good boy and let her get on with her work? Instead, he had to stand there all muscled and sleek and way too sexy for his own good, tempting her to do things to him and with him that she had no business wanting.
“So, Marcus,” Loki continued, keeping his gaze locked on M as he talked. “How come you never mentioned your spy kid sister here when we were in the SEALs?”
Marcus shrugged and kept his attention focused on his clipboard.
“This is quite a cushy set-up you’ve got here.” Loki stepped farther into the cockpit to look around, his arm brushing against M’s and sending shockwaves of awareness through her. This was stupid. This was ridiculous. This was so on, if they ever ended up locked in a room together. Loki winked at her, as if he knew exactly the sort of erotic chaos he caused inside her.
Bastard.
“I respect your discretion, Marcus,” Loki continued, a hint of amusement in his tone now that only served to stoke the flames inside M higher. Just wait until they were alone. He wouldn’t feel so amused then. She’d make sure of it. He’d be too busy pleasuring her to care about anything but the electric chemistry between them. The air smelled of his citrusy cologne and warm clean male and if she didn’t get out of that confined space soon, M was liable to do something crazy like pull Loki against her and have her wicked way with him right there in the copilot seat, her brother and this mission be damned. To distract herself, she scanned outside the windows again to make sure the bad guys weren’t getting too close.
“Yeah,” Marcus said at last, setting his pre-flight checklist aside and pulling out a business card, which he handed to Loki. “I shuttle the rich and famous around for a living. It doesn’t suck. If you ever need quick travel arrangements for your business, let me know.”
“Or don’t.” M growled. “Don’t offer him any help, bro. He won’t be around long enough to accept it.”
“Harsh,” Loki said, looking down at her.
“True.” She reached down and grabbed the duffle bag she’d stowed there earlier, just in case. With these undercover jobs, one never knew when a quick change would be necessary, so she kept emergency bags everywhere. After unzipping it, she pulled out a fresh set of clothes and a wig—this one dark brown pigtails to go with the military grade tactical gear. Because nothing said ass-whooping like pigtails. She unbuckled her seatbelt and attempted to get up and head for the en suite bedroom area in the back of the plane before Marcus took off. “Excuse me.”
“Don’t change on my account, darling,” Loki said, his voice nothing but a purr. And fuck if those words didn’t curl her toes a little inside her sneakers. Seemed she had it bad for this guy and needed to get over it right quick.
“Don’t worry. I won’t.” She slumped back in her seat when Loki refused to move. “You gonna move or am I going to move you?”
Marcus snorted. “Gotta love that about my sister, man. She isn’t shy about being honest. If I were you, I’d get out of her way.”
Loki seemed to consider this a moment before stepping aside to allow her to pass. She’d almost made it out of the cockpit before she felt his hand on her arm, stopping her.
M took a deep breath before turning back to find him way closer than she expected, close enough to see the shadow of dark stubble just beneath the skin of his chiseled jaw, close enough to hear the slight hitch in his breath at their contact. She looked up into his deep blue eyes and swallowed hard.