Federal agent? Captive? What. The. Fuck?
“Hey guys,” said a familiar voice as Nicki emerged from the bedroom fully dressed. She didn’t seem at all surprised to see them.
“Nix,” nodded the tall one with a genuine – and far too affectionate – smile. Fisher, his badge had proclaimed. Sean turned around to face her, his eyes glowing like lasers. “You’re a Fed?”
Nicki had the good sense to blush a little. “Sort of.” As she dropped all pretense, Sean got his first good look at the real Nicolette Milligan. Strong. Quiet. And impossibly alone. “I’m sorry, Sean. I couldn’t tell you.”
Son of a fucking bitch. He’d suspected something, but not this. It didn’t make sense. Ian had back doors into every Federal database there was, and he’d turned up nothing.
“Does Nick know?”
“No. No one does. Except them.” She flicked her eyes at the two men waiting patiently, then looked at him. “And now you.”
Sean felt something rip through his chest. It was at once sad and proud, tentative and hopeful. “But then you understand all about secrets, don’t you?”
In that moment he knew that she had just given him a rare gift. She trusted him. Maybe not completely – he doubted anyone was granted that much of a boon – but it was enough. One of the men shifted his weight impatiently at the door, clearly anxious to be on his way.
“You can’t just leave, Nicki,” Sean said. Nicki was the woman meant for him. She couldn’t simply leave.
She looked at him again, a sad smile ghosting her lips as she laid her hand on his arm. “You have no idea how much you’ve done for me,” she said softly, and Sean couldn’t help but notice how her eyes were like fluid quicksilver. How could he ever have thought them hard and cold?
“I have to,” she said simply.
There was an awkward silence as they all stood there in Sean’s living room. The two agents exchanged looks of veiled disbelief with each other. There was no question what he and Nicki had been doing. He looked exactly like a man who had spent the last twelve hours fucking hard, and Nicki – despite the fact that she had cleaned herself up and gotten dressed – did as well. There was no denying the glow on her face or the sexual tension between them.
Sean analyzed both men carefully – their body language, their facial expressions - assessing their relationships with Nicki. They both liked her and respected her. The taller guy had a thing for her, but as far as Sean could discern, it was purely one-sided and he hid it well. Nicki probably didn’t even know. But Sean did. He caught the taller one’s eye and made sure that guy got a very clear message. Nicki was his, and he did not share.
Sean flicked a glance back at Nicki; her actions were just as telling. She avoided looking any of them in the eye. Instead she looked at their shoulders, smoothed her hoodie, checked out her laces.
Despite the lack of verbal exchange, there was an awful lot being said in that room.
“I can’t let you do this,” Sean said, wrapping his hand around Nicki’s wrist. He didn’t know what she was planning to do, but there was no mistaking the anticipation surrounding them, like a team preparing for a mission.
He expected her to resist; she didn’t.
If he hadn’t been so blinded by the need to keep her close and here with him, he might have listened to the warning bells going off in his head.
*
Nicki let him draw her into his arms, curling against him one last time, hoping the feel of his hard body, his warmth and his scent would be enough to carry her through for a little while.
“I know,” she said quietly, tilting her head up to his. She allowed his lips to brush hers for a moment before reaching up to cup his head. His eyes widened a split-second later when she pressed the tiny needle into his neck.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, her eyes filled with unshed tears as her two partners stepped up to ease Sean to the ground.
“Jesus, he’s a big one, Nix,” grunted Fisher beneath Sean’s dead weight.
“Be careful with him,” she said. “He’s one of the good guys.”
Brookes snorted. “He’s a fucking Mack truck, Nix. I don’t think a little tumble’s going to do him much damage. Nice use of stinger, by the way.”
Nicki put a blanket over Sean, then knelt beside him on the floor. His eyes were still open, and she knew he could see and hear everything. Her heart nearly broke with the shock and betrayal she saw in those beautifully expressive eyes.
“It won’t last long,” she said, tucking a pillow beneath his head. “It’s a paralytic, but a mild one. You might feel a bit stiff for a couple of hours. Drink lots of non-alcoholic fluids and you’ll get through it faster.”