Complicate (Deliver 9)

His kind of perfect.

It had been seven years since he’d seen or talked to his dancer. Of course, he noticed beautiful women since then. He craved sex, obsessed over it, and fucked his hand on the regular. He still had a pulse, for Christ’s sake. But no one had come close to tempting him.

Not even Rylee.

In seven years, he hadn’t felt the luscious curves of a female body. Hadn’t tasted soft, warm lips or smelled the sweetness of a soaked pussy. He hadn’t encountered anyone who compared to the woman he let go.

But he enjoyed Rylee’s company. Perhaps because she looked past his coarse exterior and understood him in a way very few people did. She recognized his pain and seemed to admire him for it.

Her education lent her the ability to see through the bullshit. But he guessed it was her own loss, her ex-husband’s betrayal, that helped her relate to him so easily.

“You’re staring.” She narrowed her eyes. Eyes that made him long for a life he would never have.

“You’re beautiful,” he said.

“Mm-hmm.” She pursed her lips, her expression skeptical. “What’s going on, Cole?”

“Just an observation.”

“Why that observation? Why now?”

“Because Tomas isn’t here to take a swing at me.”

“Fair enough. Thank you for the compliment.” Her cheeks rose. “I’m ready to do this. Are you?”

“Yep.” A rush of energy buzzed through him as he grabbed the high-tech bug from the table. “Going live in three, two, one…”

He activated the device and gave her a nod.

Nothing indicated the bug was on, but the moment it detected noise, it would begin recording. Sound clips would be sent to an untraceable phone, and whoever monitored that phone would be alerted of the incoming recording within seconds.

Basic spy technology, but so much more. This bug had been customized with high-speed transmissions, long-reach WIFI, and battery life that exceeded months—all built into a chip the size of a coin.

That level of cutting-edge tech wasn’t obtainable outside clandestine groups like NSA and black ops. He’d been retired from the activity for so long he wasn’t up to speed on the latest tech. Hell, he didn’t even know how the bug functioned until he’d taken it apart.

What he did know was that this tiny piece of tech was the key that would lead him to the threat.

Or rather, it would lead the threat to him.

“Where are you going?” he asked Rylee, following the script he’d rehearsed with her.

“I’m sick of hiding, Cole.” She stared at the listening device, answering exactly as he’d coached her. “We’ve been moving around, running for months, and you still don’t know who planted those bugs in my house. Now you expect me to sit here in the damn desert and wait for something to happen? You don’t even know if they’re listening to us now.”

While holed up in Missouri for the past four months, he and his team spent that time investigating and planning. Now they were back in Texas, ready to finish this, and she’d just given the enemy their location. On purpose.

“This house is the safest place for us,” he said.

“This house holds too many haunting memories for Tommy. We’re leaving.”

“Where the hell are you going to go?”

“Out of the country. Doesn’t matter.” She moved toward the door, deliberately distancing her voice from the listening device. “I came here for Tommy. I didn’t sign up for this, whatever this is.”

“Rylee, wait.” He followed her out of the house and shut the door behind him, loud enough to be detected by the bug.

The plan was set.

Outside, Tomas sat in a doorless, topless Jeep Wrangler, his arm draped over the steering wheel and his golden stare locked on Rylee. “How did it go?”

“Noticeably contrived.” She climbed into the passenger seat and kissed his rigid jaw. “I should’ve studied acting instead of psychology.”

“You did fine.” Cole stopped beside the Jeep, sweating in the evening heat. “Doesn’t matter if it sounded hokey. They now know where I am, and when they arrive, they’ll believe you’re gone.”

The last part was paramount. Someone tried to kill her once. He couldn’t risk her or anyone else getting captured and used as a hostage to control him.

A glance at the Jeep’s cargo confirmed Tomas had packed everything they needed to camp in the desert for a few nights. He also had enough artillery to take out an army. Van, Liv, Luke, and Tiago were already in position, far enough away to not be seen, yet close enough to be here at a moment’s notice with guns blazing.

Cole turned toward the house and spotted Tate and Lucia sitting in the dark on the flat roof. The instant they heard an approaching car, they would alert the team, aim their rifles, and lie low enough to be undetected from the ground.

If the threat arrived by helicopter, they were all fucked. A view from the sky would mark the positions of his entire team in the desert.