Battle with the SEAL (Norse Security 3)

“More?” Loki asked, his pulse thundering loud in his ears at the double entendre. He’d love nothing more than to give her everything right about now. “How much more?”

She spun in his arms and rose on tiptoes until their lips were only millimeters apart. “Everything. I want it all,” she said before capturing his lips with hers. By the time she pulled back they were both panting. “I want you.”

Loki held her to him as the world slipped away until all that was left was this woman, this night, this moment. Martin’s song drifted around them as he lowered his head to hers once more. “I want you too, M. So badly I ache.”

He took control of the kiss this time, tasting her, teasing her, needing to make her as crazy with lust as he was. She moaned low and slid her fingers into the hair at the nape of his neck, making him shiver against her.

Lost. He felt lost and adrift and yet never more at home than he was right here in M’s arms. If only they were alone and could consummate this bond between them right here, right now.

But they weren’t alone. They were in a crowded ballroom, surrounded by other couples and one guilty as fuck ex-Russian bastard who was selling secrets to the highest bidder.

Martin’s song ended and the crowd went wild. The couple on-stage kissed and Martin headed over to shake hands with the band.

M lifted her head from Loki’s chest and peeked past his shoulder, her grin widening. “Told you so.”

Loki frowned, watching as Martin shook hands with each of the musicians. “My guy’s there too. The stagehand. See him? Lurking there in the shadows. He hasn’t passed any intel yet that I can see.”

“There!” M said. “See that? He lingered with the drummer. Longer than with the others. I’d say he palmed him a USB drive. I’m going after him.” She pulled free from Loki’s embrace before he could stop her and headed off the dance floor.

“Shit.” Loki glanced around to see the shifty stagehand back over with the rest of the crew again with no contact from Martin at all. Looked like M was right, dammit. No time for bad feelings though, not when Martin was on the move again. If he’d passed the intel to the drummer, he wasn’t going to stick around to party afterward. He was headed straight for the entrance again. After a quick look to make sure M had the situation with the drummer under control, Loki took off for the entrance, hoping to cut Martin off at the pass. He charged out into the relatively empty lobby and spotted Martin near the doors. If the guy got outside, there were multiple routes of escape. They needed to keep him contained. What better way to do that than with the element of surprise? “Tardova! Wait!”

At the sound of his real name, Todd Martin stopped and whirled around to face Loki. His tanned face went deathly pale, nearly as white as the tux shirt he was wearing. It was the break Loki needed.

Gotcha, bastard!

Sprinting forward, Loki had a hand out to grasp Martin, but just before he made contact, the guy turned and grabbed Loki around the neck with both hands and shoved his shoulder into Loki’s chest, attempting to use his body weight to flip Loki over onto the floor. Luckily, Loki was prepared and able to wrench free at the last second by twisting around and using his forearms to break Martin’s hold on his neck. The move cost Loki though, allowing Todd Martin to burst through the doors and narrowly escape.

Loki followed close on his heels, but Martin was smaller and faster and reached the curb where his limo was idling before Loki could catch him.

Martin wrenched the back door of the town car open and yelled for the driver to go as he dove into the backseat. Loki rushed after him, but it was too late. The limo peeled away in a squeal of tires and a haze of burning rubber. Well, fuck. Loki turned to head back inside to help M deal with the drummer when two beefy bodyguards stationed outside the convention center converged on him and took him to the ground despite his efforts to stop them.

M came running out moments later, out of breath and—given her dark expression—out of patience too. “Where the hell’s Martin? Don’t tell me you let him get away,” she said while the bodyguards kept Loki’s face pressed into the cold pavement beneath him.

“Shsdlhkjf;woeiurweh,” he said, his words slurred by a mouth full of carpet and concrete.

“I’m so sorry, guys,” she said, her tone now full of flirt. “You’ll have to excuse my brother. He’s just gaga for guys like Todd Martin. But he’s harmless, I swear. His boyfriend’s gonna be pissed though about dirt on the rental tux.”

One of the bodyguards snorted and eased up the pressure he’d been applying to Loki’s back while the other hauled Loki up by one arm and set him on his feet. They patted him down for weapons, finding none. He didn’t bring his gun tonight and knives weren’t really his thing. Besides, he could kill a man with his bare hands if needed. Too bad he hadn’t gotten the chance with Martin tonight. He went along with the rabid fan schtick long enough to get the guards to back off then walked back inside with M.

“Thanks for that,” he said, adjusting his bow tie as they moved to a quiet corner of the lobby. “Martin was a loss, though I did confirm his former identity. What did you get on the drummer?”

“Nothing really,” she said, smoothing a hand down her dress and drawing his attention to her fantastic body once more. Then M looked up at him and grinned, a small black flash drive in her hand. “Nothing except this.”

6

“C’mon. Hit me

. I dare you,” M taunted from across the mat. She and Loki were sparring in the apartment building’s gym in the basement, the place deserted except for the two of them. Then again it was three-thirty in the morning. Not exactly the time most people worked out.

They circled each other warily, both barefoot and sweaty.

M wasn’t surprised that Loki was an excellent fighter. Hell, a guy didn’t make it into the SEALs without being able to take care of himself. She was, however, intrigued to discover that he knew almost as many martial arts as she did. Karate, MMA, Taekwondo, Muay Thai, Kickboxing, even Krav Maga.

“I’m telling you, the guy tried to Kubi Kudaki me.” Loki looked at her. “You know what that is, right?”

“Of course.” She scoffed. Actually she didn’t, but she wasn’t about to tell him that. “Whatever.”

“Whatever?” Loki gave her an annoyed stare. “Breaking my neck is just whatever?”