Undercover with the SEAL (Norse Security 2)

“Yeah, we need the nearest safe house in town,” Hunter said, staring out the window beside him and ignoring Alex completely. She couldn’t help giving him a slow once-over through the shadows. He did look fine in his tight black T-shirt and soft faded jeans, those powerful thighs and broad shoulders sparking a river of molten heat through her bloodstream. If things had been different and Bea wasn’t missing, Hunter was exactly the type of man she’d go for—tall, dark, dangerously sexy and smart. Infinitely mysterious and powerful. And surprisingly, he’d gone along with her act in the club with hardly a protest. Could it be that he secretly craved a woman to take charge in the bedroom? Through Club Xcite, she’d met a lot of men who ran multi-billion dollar companies during the day, and wanted nothing more than to remain on their knees at night. Was Hunter one of them?

He ended his call then set his phone aside. “We’ve got our safe house set up. My buddy Camden’s going to text me with the location soon.”

His assumption that she didn’t already have a plan rubbed her the wrong way. “Maybe I had one set up too.”

“Yeah?” Hunter gave her a dubious stare. “Where’d you find it? Safe Houses R Us? It’s not like there’s a listing site on the Internet, you know.”

“I know that. I’m not the ditzy blonde I play on screen.”

“No, you’re not.” His gaze turned inquiring. “Where’d you learn to use a whip like that?”

Alex crossed her arms and looked away, feeling far too exposed under his scrutiny. “Italy. I learned from a dungeon master in Florence. She was amazing. And you’ve obviously never seen my movie, Bad Cops 3: Alarmingly Armed. The production company execs were the ones who paid for all my training. My role in that film was as a dominatrix wrongly accused of murdering her sub—a famous politician.”

“Huh.” Hunter shook his head. “Guess I should pay more attention.”

“Guess you should.” She watched the passing lights for a while before asking, “So, where’s this safe house your friend has?”

He squinted down at his screen then smiled. “We can check it out now, if you want. Cam just unlocked it.”

“Is he in town?”

“Nah. He’s a computer whiz, so he can do pretty much anything with technology.” Hunter leaned forward to give the address to the driver then slumped back in his seat. “We’ll need to make a few modifications to fit our needs, but it looks like it’ll work out good. And it’s fairly close to the club, which will make transport easier.”

The thought of Bea being shuttled around to God knew where—alone, scared, quite possibly hurt or abused—made Alex’s stomach churn. “And this place is secure?”

“As secure as we can make it. I’ll add some booby traps too, to give us an extra jump if someone tries to break in.”

“Booby traps?” Alex scrunched her nose, tired and cranky now. “Sounds silly, like a bunch of high school pranks or something.”

Hunter’s expression hardened as he turned his full attention to her. “First, the traps I’ll set are nothing like childish pranks. And second, do you have any idea how demeaning you are when you say shit like that? I’m a fucking ex-Navy SEAL. I’ve lived through horrors you can’t even imagine. I’ve survived because of my skills on the battlefield. If anyone can stop a bunch of ill-trained guards and a fat-ass sex club boss, it’s me.”

Alex crossed her arms and stared out the window, feeling both ashamed over what she’d said to Hunter and admiration for his response.

They pulled up outside a non-descript white ranch-style home on a quiet suburban street a few minutes later. Alex got out without waiting for Hunter and walked around the limo to stand on the sidewalk in front of the house. It looked like something straight out of a fifties TV sitcom.

“Let’s get inside before the neighbors notice us snooping.” Hunter walked up to the door and punched a code into the tiny keypad on the wall. Soon the lock snicked open

and they walked inside. The lights must’ve been on some kind of motion detector because they came on automatically as Alex passed through the living room into the open kitchen then into a small laundry room and down the hall to the three bedrooms. He followed at a more leisurely pace, texting on his phone the whole time, messaging his buddy back in Virginia, Alex assumed.

“Cam says there’s a safe room in here too.” Hunter led her into the master bedroom with an unimpressive but clean attached bath. He pulled open the walk in closet and shoved aside the few garments hanging in there to reveal a steel door with another keypad in the back wall. “Hold this.”

Alex took the phone he handed her and watched as Hunter punched in another code. The steel door slid aside to reveal a small fully stocked studio apartment, complete with flat screen monitors on the walls, a mini-fridge, toilet, sink, cot, and cases of bottled water. It was enough for at least a month’s stay, if not longer. “Wow. Good thing I’m not scared of enclosed spaces.”

If she stretched out her arms, her fingers nearly touched the walls. Then again, a safe room wasn’t made for comfort, but for security. The shiny metal walls were bulletproof, she assumed.

“It’s bombproof too,” Hunter said, as if reading her thoughts. “Still want to go searching for something better on the Internet?”

She ignored his jab and shook her head. “No, I guess this is adequate.”

“So glad it meets with her highness’s approval.” Hunter snorted and rubbed the reddened skin on his neck again. “Excuse me if I don’t kneel.”

“You’re not going to let me forget that, are you?” Hands on hips, she stared him down across the small space. “It’s called acting. Method acting, in case you forgot. I’m good at what I do, what can I say?”

“Oh, you’re good all right.” He took a step closer as the overhead fluorescent lights flickered. “Just keep your whips and collars to yourself from now on.”

“I didn’t hear you complaining about it when you had it on.”

“Lady, I—” Hunter stepped closer, only inches away now as his heat and citrus-spicy scent surrounded her. Whatever he’d been about to say was cut off by the sound of the steel door swishing closed. Seconds later an ominous beep sounded and the lights dimmed. “What the fuck?” He texted furiously on his phone. “Thank God we’ve got service in here.”