Seduction in Session (The Perfect Gentlemen 2)

“No.” At least he wouldn’t have that on his conscience. “I couldn’t find an organic, cruelty-free brand.”

“Was that a joke? What has she done to you, man?”

The last thing he wanted to do was talk about his relationship. He didn’t really want to think about the fact that she trusted him and he was betraying her. “W

hat have you found?”

“I downloaded her system. I’ll go over it at my leisure. The boys out there are tapping her landline and duping her cell. We’ve also now got a feed into this building so we’ll be able to see who comes and goes. And thanks for the heads-up about the senator firing his guards today. I was able to get some of my men on his detail. That will come in handy. They can search the senator’s place when he’s asleep. The more dirt I have on the old guy, the more leverage. Oppo research has never been more fun. You said she’s close to her dad, right?”

Connor didn’t like the turn of this conversation. He really didn’t appreciate Roman inserting his own guards into the senator’s house and life so they could spy on him for another politician. “Why do you care? And Armstrong has almost always supported Zack. How is he oppo?”

The smile faded from Roman’s face. “I care about this mission, Connor. I expect that you do, too. Armstrong might be in the party, but he knows what his daughter does and he doesn’t shut her down, so I don’t trust him. Is there something I need to know? Dax seems to think you’ve got a serious hard-on for this girl. Have you forgotten what she does for a living?”

“I know what she does and why she does it. I’m committed to figuring out where Natalia Kuilikov is, but I don’t see what that has to do with Senator Armstrong.” He kind of liked Lara’s dad. Sure he’d thought of digging up dirt on the man, but he didn’t like the idea of Roman being in control of it.

Roman turned back. “I’ll handle the political portion of this clusterfuck. By the way, you’re welcome. I got you reinstated with the Agency starting in six weeks. You’ll find yourself in the unique position of being able to choose your assignment. You can have any field job you want or you can run a team of your own.”

Where was the relief? He’d expected to feel some triumph in putting one over on his director, who had thought he could use the situation in Manhattan to get rid of Agent Sparks. The old man didn’t realize just how close he was to Zack. So why didn’t Connor want to fist pump and start figuring out what his next move should be? He could get back into the Middle East or North Korea. He could go solo or form his own team. He would likely be given enormous leeway to do what needed to be done.

All he could think about was that he only had six weeks left to ensure Lara would still be here when he returned. If he returned. Operatives who took the kind of chances he did rarely lived to a ripe old age. What would happen to her if he wasn’t around? She could get into serious trouble, and he doubted she would properly defend herself. She would try to bring out her flipping talking stick and form a trust circle around her attacker.

“You don’t seem happy.” Roman was studying him, likely using that big brain of his to reach conclusions that Connor didn’t want him drawing.

“It’s great. I’ve just got a lot to think about. Did Everly have any luck finding our guy in the park?” He needed to get Roman off the subject of his relationship with Lara.

“Yep. You can calm down. Your girl is being stalked by a pro. The good old Russian mob is back in play. He’s a man named Pavel Sopov. According to the very top secret FBI database Everly hacked into, he’s a low-level member of a syndicate.”

“Let me guess. He’s a Brighton Beach associate of the Krylov gang.”

“Absolutely.” Roman leaned against Lara’s desk. “I need to figure out what Krylov wants. He’s making some moves I don’t quite understand. And I still want to know who the hell Sergei is. Krylov’s name is Ivan, so it’s not him.”

“He runs much of Moscow. From intel the Agency’s collected, I know he’s been a big player in arming jihadists in Afghanistan and the Middle East. He plays both sides. Doesn’t care about politics. If you’ve got the money, you can buy from him. Now we know he had an arm of the syndicate that ran a human trafficking ring. But we have no idea if Sergei had anything to do with that. There’s no higher-ups in the organization by that name.”

“Why do you think Krylov would spend time and money trying to terrify Lara Armstrong?”

That was simple. “He believes the same thing we do, that she can lead him to Natalia. The question is does he want to silence Natalia? Or blackmail Zack? My money’s on blackmail.”

A long sigh came from Roman. “Mine, too. Which is why we have to find out what she knows. Can’t you just fuck the information out of her? What happened to pillow talk?”

“She fell asleep. Maybe your lovers have the capacity to talk after you do whatever you do, but mine just tend to drop off because I don’t leave them with any energy to talk.”

The truth was Connor hadn’t even thought about talking to Lara about the case. Before she’d drifted off, he’d just wanted to fuck her again and again. If she’d stayed awake, he would likely be buried inside her again, and he didn’t want those men hearing her. She wasn’t quiet. She let him and likely everyone on this floor know just what a good time she was having. He couldn’t stand the thought of these men knowing how she sounded when she came.

Roman shot him the finger. “Like I have time to fuck. I swear to god after Zack’s second term I’m going to Vegas and you won’t see me for at least three months.”

Cameras were always on Roman. He walked a fine line. He dated occasionally, always some model or actress. He stayed utterly away from anyone in politics.

“I need to get back to Lara,” Connor said. “She wakes up occasionally. I don’t want her walking out here.”

Roman held out a hand. “I’ll study the information we get, but you have to start asking her questions. I get that you like the girl, but you can’t forget who your friends are.”

“Funny, I bet you didn’t give Gabe this talk when he got together with Everly.”

“Everly’s family. She was Mad’s sister.”

And Lara wasn’t family. Lara was the enemy in Roman’s mind. Roman tended to take out the enemy without blinking. “I’m still in charge of this operation. You don’t do anything without my go-ahead.”

Roman shrugged and gave him a “who me?” expression he didn’t buy for a second. “Of course, brother. We just need to find Kuilikov and then this can all be over. We can get back to our regularly scheduled lives. We’ll be out of your hair in five minutes. She’s got a safe I want to look into.”

“A safe?” He hadn’t been able to properly search her place. He’d spent that first night sleeping, and every other night he’d been worried she would find him and kick him to the curb. He tried not to let her out of his sight during the day. So the secondary team had been a necessary evil. And an effective one, apparently.

“One of my men found it. It’s not standard in these buildings. She must have installed a custom job because it’s in the back wall of her coat closet behind about fifty sweaters. Smart. I wouldn’t have looked there but I told the boys to be thorough. Too bad for her I already found the code. She wrote it in her day planner.”

It was an amateur mistake. She went to the trouble of having a safe and then was afraid she would forget the code so she wrote it down, thereby letting any thief with half a brain take whatever was inside. “I’ll go with you and see what’s in there.”

He couldn’t give her secrets over to Roman without even seeing them. And . . . he wasn’t sure he trusted Roman to stick with the plan without someone watching over his shoulder. Roman could be ruthless when it came to protecting Zack.

“Connor?” A feminine voice cut through the quiet.

Shit. He rushed out of the office, not looking back. Everyone seemed to have melted back into the shadows. He picked out where the men were hiding, but he doubted Lara would. Still, he had no intention of letting her see a damn thing. He blocked her exit from the hall.

And the view of any fucker who might see her. She wasn’t wearing a stitch of clothing. Her body was like a beacon in the gloom.

She gasped and stepped back. “You have a gun.”

He let it dangle at his side and used his free hand to smooth back her hair. He tried to make sure he was

covering her so no one behind them could see her and every part that fucking belonged to him. He had to force a pleasant look on his face. “I thought I heard something. It was just someone walking in the hall outside. The doors are all locked. But as long as you’re awake . . .”

She laughed as he maneuvered her back to the bedroom. “You have more energy than any man I know.”

“When it comes to you, hell yes, I do. Come on, princess. I’m still hungry.” He backed her into her bedroom, shut and locked the door.

She looked up at him, her hands going to his chest. “I was worried about you.”

He shook his head. “No need. I can take care of both of us. It’s what I’m here for.”

She leaned against him, cuddling up. “I just don’t want anything bad to happen to you. I couldn’t stand it.”

He wrapped his arms around her and pondered the irony of her worry for the well-being of the big bad wolf. He’d never really had a woman worry about him. “I’m going to be fine. I’ve trained to combat danger all my life. Look at me.”

Her head tilted up and he was awed at the trust he saw there.

He kissed her forehead. “We’re going to be fine. No matter what. I need you to believe that. I’m going to take care of you. I’m going to make sure you’re safe.”