He ducked behind the strung-up sheet and clasped her arms gently, made her look at him. Her eyes were huge in the semi-darkness, bright with emotion he couldn’t label. “I have never doubted your intelligence, Ava. I know you’re a smart, hard-working and dedicated agent who’s honest and has integrity. But if people find out we’re sleeping together they’ll separate us, and while under normal circumstances I’d agree with that policy for your benefit, right now I want you close to watch my back and help track down this killer.” His grip tightened, and he said fiercely, “Also, because having sex with you once was not enough.”
She opened her mouth to reply, but someone rapped on the door again.
He gave her a quick kiss on the lips. “Gotta go. We’ll talk later.”
Chapter Twenty
Ava had known Dominic Sheridan would be good at sex. Passionate. Ardent. Unabashed. Focused. With a keen eye for detail, amazing tactile skills, the stamina to gift her multiple orgasms and still finish with a bang. She felt boneless and energized. Fired up and relaxed. Her whole body trembled with aftershocks of pleasure and that was even as she followed his rapidly moving frame through the sea of muscle-bound HRT personnel.
She hadn’t expected to enjoy it quite so much. Not only the orgasms, but the entire episode had been something she’d be happy to repeat anytime.
Best. Sex. Ever.
Which was exactly why poor, besotted Suzanna had ended up on the doorstep in the rain holding a freaking casserole dish full of beef stew.
Not gonna happen. Sure, repeat sex like that would be fantastic, but she wasn’t going to invest emotionally in this guy. He wasn’t going to fall in love with her. He’d told her that. She wasn’t stupid. They came from completely different backgrounds and the only thing they had in common was Van. Plus, Dominic was gonna freak if he discovered she hadn’t told him the truth about her past.
She waited outside the command center leaning against the wall as Dominic went inside the room to talk to the IC.
She squeezed her hands into fists, aware that her hair was a mess and she hadn’t looked in the mirror recently. God knew what was stamped on her features. Sated lust? She touched her neck where he’d nipped her and prayed she didn’t have a hickey. She dropped her hand and straightened her shoulders. It wasn’t anyone else’s business anyway.
She pursed her lips. She kept trying to tell him about her association with Gino Gerbachi, but whenever she started talking about it, he was busy and didn’t have time to talk.
Except she could have told him the truth rather than tell him she was desperate for his cock. She closed her eyes briefly at the realization of all that she’d said to him tonight. She could have mentioned her WitSec background before he’d put his tongue inside her and made her come so hard stars were still imprinted on the back of her eyelids.
Ava inhaled deeply. She’d messed up.
Her connection to Gino might mean nothing, but she had no idea how Sheridan would react to the information or how it might affect his job—or even the perception of how he did his job, which seemed vitally important to him.
She winced.
They’d spent a lot of time together over the last week and had just indulged in mind-blowing carnal adventures, but she didn’t really know Dominic very well. Sure, Van had said he was a great guy, but add sex to a “relationship” that wasn’t a “relationship” and people started treating you differently. Ava wasn’t about to let that happen. She loved her job. She needed her job. More than she needed a man.
It took a moment for her to notice that the tension in the prison, usually ratcheted tight, seemed stretched to breaking point right now. What was going on?
She heard raised voices inside the Command Center, Dominic’s included. Her eyes widened. She met the gaze of a serious-looking operator type leaning against the opposite wall. He pulled a face indicating he’d also heard the exchange, and it couldn’t be good.
Dominic was suddenly striding out of the room, and she launched herself off the doorjamb to catch up with him. Fury radiated off him in palpable waves. So much for that post-coital glow.
She stuck close, clutching her laptop case to her chest, ignoring the curious looks HRT was throwing them.
Dominic headed inside the first door to the negotiation room. Then knocked on the door of the inner sanctum to get the attention of the negotiators working there before he burst inside. Ava followed close enough to be his shadow. She had the feeling he’d completely forgotten she was there.
Her eyes shot to the screen. Frank was holding the warden down on the steel countertop with a knife to her neck, and Gino was between her legs, dragging her pants down.
The moisture in Ava’s mouth evaporated.
Eban Winters was talking to the hostage-takers with his gaze averted from the screen, still pretending he couldn’t see what they were doing. He muted the mic.
Dominic leaned over the table and asked, “What happened?”
“They somehow found some liquor. Got drunk then decided they wanted a little fun. Gino smashed Milo on the back of the head when Frank distracted him. He’s lying on the floor unconscious or dead.”
“They rape her already?” Dominic’s voice was cold, but Ava recognized the emotion in it.
Eban’s skin was pale, and Charlotte reached out and squeezed his hand.
“Not yet. We need to get their attention off of the warden and back onto us, but they aren’t listening to me anymore,” Eban stated in frustration.
“The IC is arranging a helicopter to arrive in twenty minutes. We’re bringing up the timetable, but if they continue what they’re doing, HRT will stage an immediate assault,” Dominic said grimly.
Ava didn’t need to be a negotiator to know if that happened, they probably all died, including the warden.
Eban relayed the message about the helicopter.
Frank yelled toward the speakerphone. “That’s good news.” But he continued to hold the knife to the warden’s throat as Gino pulled the woman’s underwear from her body. Eban kept talking in calm tones reminding them not to harm the hostages, but from the almost feral look of concentration on Frank’s face, and the fact Gino was undoing the front of his prison jumpsuit, they’d both stopped listening to Eban. That they both intended to rape the warden before they made their escape was obvious.
Ava looked through the glass window. The tactical commander of the HRT was watching, obviously about to give the order to stage the assault.
“Let me talk to him,” Ava burst out.