“But I thought you were going to the airplane.”
“I thought so, too. Change of plan. Besides, it’s still too foggy to take pictures.”
“What are we doing here?”
He set his flight bag on the seat of a chair, then removed his bomber jacket and tossed it onto the bed. It landed with the lining side up. Brynn frowned with distaste.
“Don’t be so hard on her,” he said. “She’s kept me warm many a night.” He waited a beat, then added, “But since you’re here…” He left the suggestion hanging.
“Dream on. I’m not a pinup girl.”
His gaze lowered to her mouth, and then to her breasts, and when it reconnected with hers, he said, “You’d do.”
Suddenly they were no longer sparring. Those two words, and the raspiness with which he’d spoken them, had caused a seismic mood shift. Worse, both of them were aware of it.
To set things right again, he turned away from her and forced a light laugh. “Relax, Dr. O’Neal. I don’t have designs like that on you.”
“Answer my question.”
“I forgot what it was.” He sat down on the bed, pulled off one boot and let it drop, then the other.
“What are we doing here?”
“Oh, that. I’m waiting you out.”
“Waiting me out?”
“Until you give me the last number of the combination.”
“You don’t need it. You’ve seen inside.” She hefted the box by the handle.
He got up, wrested it from her, and set it on top of the dresser. “When I asked the first time what was in it, why didn’t you just say, ‘It’s four vitally important and time-sensitive blood samples that must be kept airtight’?”
He shook his head. “Instead, you acted squirrely. That’s Rawlins’s word, and, as bad as I hate to agree with him, it’s a perfect description. From the time you came sneaking out of the woods toward the plane, you’ve been disingenuous.”
“That’s a step up from dodgy and squirrely.”
He fixed a stare on her. “I’m not playing, Brynn. My reputation is on the line and so is Dash’s. Trust me on this, I’m not screwing around.”
“Neither am I.”
“Fair enough.” He pointed to the box. “Something’s inside the lining. Just like there’s a world map on the other side of that beauty.” He nodded down at his jacket. “If there’s nothing else in there, why didn’t you scream bloody murder when I hustled you out of that café?”
She opened her mouth, but nothing came out before she quickly closed it.
“See, that’s what I thought,” he said. “You wanted to avoid those two guys because they worry you. You’re up to something, and I want to know what it is. I wish you’d tell me now and save us both time and hassle. And money. I’m out forty-five bucks for these charming accommodations. I don’t want to be here any more than you do.”
“Nobody asked you to poke your nose in.”
“No, I wasn’t asked. I was obligated.”
“How so?”
“Whatever is in your precious box cost Dash an airplane and could have cost Brady White his life. So you had just as well take off your coat and get comfortable, because you’re not leaving this room until I know what’s so goddamn valuable.”
“My coat stays on.”
He made a suit-yourself gesture, then looked down at the box. “Who’d you steal it from?”
“I didn’t.”
“Says the career thief’s daughter. Is your old man in on it?”
“I haven’t seen him in years.”
“Marlene White heard he’d made parole.”
“I heard that, too.”
“You haven’t seen him since his release?”
“No.” He looked at her with skepticism. She repeated her no with emphasis and added, “He’s got nothing to do with this.”
“What is this? What’s the contraband? An explosive devise of some kind? It’s set to blow at a given time, and you don’t want to be around when it does. Is that why you’re in such a big hairy hurry to hand it off?”
“Are you insane?”
“Are you?”
“No.”
“What about your cohort Dr. Lambert?”
“He’s a genius.”
“A genius who adheres to some radical credo—”
“No!”
“You’re right. A bomb doesn’t sound like him. Too militant. Too ballsy. Not scientific enough.” He stroked his chin as though considering. “You two are going to poison Atlanta’s water supply? Contaminate the CDC with a smart virus? Inject one into the hot dogs at Turner Field?”
She bent her head down and rubbed the space between her eyebrows.
“Am I warm?” he asked.
“Nowhere near.”
“Then open the box and show me what’s under the foam lining.”
“There’s nothing under there.”
“Then prove it. Let me see.”
“No.”
“Brynn—”
“No!”
He held her stare while seconds ticked off, then he squared up the box with the edge of the dresser and dialed in the four numbers he knew. She placed her hand on his wrist. “Wait. Don’t. Please. The contents could be compromised. I swear that’s the truth.”
“Okay. I’ll believe that much. But we’re not talking about blood samples, are we?”
“They did come from possible donors.”
“I’ll even buy that. Keep going.”
She looked at him with appeal. “Can’t you be satisfied with knowing that it’s vital I get this to Atlanta with all due haste?”
“Tell me why it’s vital.”
“I can’t.”
“Because you’re involved in something illegal.”
She didn’t say anything.
“Silence means yes.”
She came back with asperity. “Silence means it’s impossible to give you a simple yes or no. But I swear that it’s not illegal in the sense you mean.”
“Then tell me in what sense it’s illegal.”
“I can’t!”
“Why?”
“Because it’s delicate and complicated, and I don’t trust you.”
She could have answered him in any number of ways that wouldn’t have surprised him, but this did, probably because it sounded truthful and unmitigated. “How come?”
“I don’t even know you.”
That sparked a reaction from him as automatic as an alarm from a cockpit instrument. “Well, we can fix that.”
He cupped the back of her head in his palm and drew her up to meet his mouth.
Chapter 11
8:44 a.m.
The instant Rye slid his tongue between her lips, he acknowledged that he’d been waiting for any excuse to kiss her.
He heard a little catch in her breath, felt a small puff of it against his lips. Both were sexy as hell and encouraging. He angled his head. The deeper he explored, the better she tasted, the more carnally his intent was channeled. Somehow he’d known her mouth was made for this.
Reaching inside her coat, he curved his arm around her waist and pulled her to him. He felt the giving fullness of her breasts when matched to his chest. A slight shift of his left thigh, and the alignment of their bodies below their waists improved. God, did it ever.
Every sexual impulse he had kicked into overdrive, making him so damn hard, and, for a few mind-blowing seconds, he felt a corresponding softening, an invitational tilt, a momentary fitting of hardness into hollow.
Then she tensed up and broke the kiss, lowering her head, catching a few strands of her hair in his scruff.
He released her gradually. When his arms fell away, she stepped around him, careful not to touch him, careful not even to brush against his clothing. As she moved past, he pivoted in order to keep his eyes on her.
She stopped a short distance away and raised her hand to her mouth. Her back was to him, so he had no way of knowing if she was covering her mouth in mortification, testing her lips for moisture, dabbing at a whisker burn, or wiping away the taste of him.
“You can’t seduce the combination out of me.”
That remark pissed him off. But when she turned around to face him, he had a smirk already in place. “Wasn’t trying to. It’s just that you know me now. Better, at least. Pretty damn good, in fact.”
She gave him a murderous look, which only caused him to grin.
“Surely you can trust me enough to tell me about the two guys trailing you.”
“I don’t know anything about them.” She began to roam the room, seemingly without any purpose except to evade his questions.
“No idea who sent them?”