Fire and Ice (Ice 5)

Besides, even worse than Taka, he didn’t want to upset Su-chan. Women were like that—able to make you feel like a total shit with just a look, and he’d made a promise. He’d prefer it if Taka took a swing at him.

No, things would be much better all around if he just left her alone. Taka and Su-chan would be happier, Grandfather would be happier, he and Jilly would be happier. If she’d just stop looking at him when she thought he didn’t notice.

If he could just stop thinking about the erotic possibilities of her mouth and her long, curved body.

He needed to concentrate on the business at hand. Who had told the Russians where to find them? Someone close to his grandfather, someone the old man trusted, and the old man didn’t trust many people.

At least the Russians were taken care of, in a twisted heap of metal at the bottom of a cliff, and instinct told him that was the last of them.

Unless someone decided to take the two of them out for the fun of it, and mercenaries kept business and pleasure far apart. If they kept coming it meant that someone else was paying the bills.

He glanced over at her. No one was getting to her, no one was going to hurt her. He wasn’t sure why he felt so strongly about an irritating stranger, but he did. No one was going to hurt her.

Not even him.

6

Takashi O’Brien stood on the narrow porch of the old inn, staring out at the Pacific Ocean. It was off-season on the island of Hokkaido, and most of the places were closed for the winter. No one knew that he and Su-chan were hidden up here in a place that had once belonged to his grandfather. They’d arrived at the small inlet by boat, with enough food to keep them going until they heard it was safe to come back. But Taka was getting edgy.

“Is something wrong?” He heard his wife’s sleepy voice behind him. He turned to look at her—she was wrapped in a duvet, her long hair in her eyes, her mouth as delicious as always.

He went to her, pulling her into his arms, keeping the duvet wrapped tight around her naked body so the cold winter wind wouldn’t bite into her. “I should have heard something by now.”

“But we don’t get cell-phone service out here. At least, my phone didn’t work.”

“Cell phones don’t work. My PDA works on a different frequency. Peter won’t use it until he knows it’s safe, and there’s no word.”

She leaned back against him, and he could feel her warmth sink into his bones. It was easy enough to stop thinking and lose himself in her, but he’d let things go on for long enough. “You think they haven’t been able to stop the Russians?” she asked.

“It should have been an easy job. My great-uncle’s organization is very efficient—there was no need for anyone else to be involved. But it should have been dealt with days ago. Something’s wrong. They shouldn’t keep on coming.”

“Are we going back, then?”

“I’m going back. You’re staying here where it’s safe. There’s more than enough firewood, and the food will last long enough if you ration your Diet Coke habit.” He could feel her stiffen in his arms, and he kissed the top of her head. “Trust me.”

“Like hell,” she said sweetly, pulling away from him. “You know you can’t make me stay here.”

“You know I can.”

She just looked at him. He’d seen that look before, and it always meant trouble. It was a good thing he was going to be out of reach for the next few days. She’d build up a good head of steam, probably come at him with a knife, and then there’d be mind-fucking sex.

“Let’s get our things,” he said in his most resigned voice.

“I’m glad you’re learning,” she shot back, turning and heading into the empty inn. Dropping the duvet on the floor as she headed to the bedroom.

He picked it up, following her, wondering if there was enough time for sex to lull her into a false state of security. Probably not. Once on alert, he didn’t dare waste time.

She went into the bedroom, he tossed the duvet after her, then slammed and locked the door. If he moved fast, she wouldn’t realize there was a way out the back of the room, smashing through the paper screens.

He could still hear her yelling as he ran out of the building, down onto the beach and the boat they’d hidden. He was well out into the water when she finally appeared on the beach, stark naked, screaming at him. For a moment he was afraid she’d try to swim after him, but even in her fury she had enough sense not to jump into a winter ocean.

“I’ll be back as soon as it’s safe,” he shouted to her, but she was too busy screaming curses at him to hear. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was making sure no one could get to her. He’d been counting on his great-uncle to take care of things. Clearly he was going to have to do it himself.

And then he was going to have to spend a lot of time making it up to Summer.

“You sadistic son-of-a-bitch asshole!” she shrieked. “Get your scrawny butt back here!”

But he simply gunned the motor, loud enough to drown her out, looked forward and sped away, as her cries of anger disappeared into the foggy morning.