She shook her head. “He gives me an injection, I go to sleep fast and wake up to him telling me we’re done.”
“That’s why the soldier kept his gun pointed to a specific part of your brain. He was going to destroy the unit if they had to kill you, rather than letting the intelligence you’d gather fall into someone else’s hands.”
“He might still kill me.”
“I’m not okay with that, so between the two of us, we’ll figure it out. I’m not turning you over to anyone. I’ll see what I can come up with. I have to remove the capsules, maybe I can remove the storage unit at the same time.”
She shook her head. “He said that was permanent and even he couldn’t remove it without damaging my brain. I believed him. I can usually tell his lies from the truth. Most of us can because we’re heard them so often.”
“So, if that’s true, then we know he has a way to download the material without removing the SSD. If he can do it, so can we.”
“What are we going to do with the information if we extract it?”
“Not if. We have to extract it. As long as you have that information in your head, Whitney will keep coming after you. If anyone else finds out, and if Whitney can’t reacquire you, he’ll tell someone higher up to get the information from you, then we’ll have another huge problem on our hands. We can run, but eventually, they’ll catch up with us. We have to remove it, sooner rather than later.”
That made sense. The idea that Zhu might find out sent a tremor running through her body. “He’s going to come after me no matter what,” she whispered.
Gino was silent but his arms tightened around her. His chin nuzzled her head. “You’re thinking about Zhu not Whitney.”
She nodded. “He won’t let me go.”
“Maybe not, maybe he’s stupid or arrogant enough to think he can come to our home turf and steal you away from me, but he can’t. It isn’t going to happen, princess. I’m not leaving your side.”
“You’ll have to eventually. They’ll send you out on another rescue and then he’ll come. I know he will.” Her voice had begun to swing out of control, just like the rapid beating of her heart. She shoved her fist in her mouth and bit down hard.
“Zara, you’re getting worked up for nothing,” he objected, his voice a soothing sound that seemed to penetrate her worst nightmare and make her believe he could stop Zhu when no one else could. “We’ll take this one step at a time. Zhu is far down the list. I’ve got eyes on him. He leaves Shanghai, we’ll know it. In the meantime, let’s worry about removing the virus capsules. We’ll do that tomorrow.”
He sounded so utterly calm, so completely in control, that Zara was able to breathe deep and feel safe again. He would take care of things. More, he could be counted on. Step one sounded good to her.
“Are you certain there are two virus capsules? No more?”
“I don’t believe he put more than two in you, but we plan to study the virus and come up with an antidote. Bellisia said each virus is specific to the person Whitney implants it in, but we’ll compare the one he put in you to the one he put in her and see if they’re the same or close. That way, if another woman comes this way, we can inject her immediately with an antidote.”
She liked that. She liked to think that they were already thinking ahead to saving more of the women Whitney held prisoner. She nodded her head. “Thank you, Gino.”
“For what, beautiful? I haven’t done much.”
“You make me feel safe.” It was so much more than that. She took a breath and tried to tell him. He deserved that much from her. “You seem to see when no one else can get past my brain. Sometimes I hate the fact that I’m supposed to be so intelligent. Whitney made certain to point out how worthless to him I was, that my brain wasn’t all that …”
“Everyone knows Whitney is a self-centered ass, Zara,” Gino said.
She couldn’t help smiling. He was a self-centered ass. “An egotistical maniac, maybe, as well, but that’s not the point. While he was telling me how stupid and worthless I was, everyone else was telling me that I owed it to the world to get my brain out there and do something enormous.” She turned her head so she could look at him over her shoulder. “I’m not just a brain to you. I’m a person. So, thank you for seeing me.”
His smile was slow in coming, but when it did, her heart gave a funny flip, her stomach somersaulted and deep inside, her womb quivered. God, he was gorgeous when he smiled. When he wasn’t smiling he was compelling, hot, and intense, but when he smiled, there was never going to be a way she could say no to him.
“You’re welcome, Zara.” His hand cupped her chin, his thumb sliding over her bare skin. All the while his eyes looked into hers. “There’s never going to be a time when I won’t be able to see you. Remember that for me, will you?”
She nodded. “Kiss me.” She blurted her request out before she could stop herself, before she knew what she was going to ask, but it seemed to be something she was asking of him on a nightly basis now.
He didn’t hesitate, but then he never did. Gino was always decisive. He leaned down and took her mouth. He didn’t seem to care that her face was swollen and bruised, he looked right past that in just the same way he looked past her intellect that was supposed to be so superior but only added to her isolation.
He didn’t seem to mind that she was inexperienced in the kissing department. He took command instantly. She was fairly certain her entire body ignited at his touch. His lips were firm and cool and warmed hers until she was nearly liquid. His mouth was paradise and she let herself get lost there. He kissed like he did everything else—with absolute confidence.
Excitement coursed through her. She tried to follow his lead and then just didn’t care, letting him take her over because whenever she gave herself to him, however she did it, she always got more from him. His kisses were no different. He led her from gentle to rough. From tender to devouring her. She wanted to be devoured. It felt like worship and desire. And then it felt like passion and sin. She wanted that as well. She wanted everything he would give her.
He was the one who stopped first. He lifted his head a scant an inch from hers, his dark eyes searching hers. “We’re getting out of hand, princess. A little more and I’m going to have you straddling me. You’re not ready for that.”
“I am.” She was certain she was.
His smile was slow in coming again, but when it did, everything in her responded. “No, baby, I wish you were, but when you come to me, it isn’t going to be because you’re grateful or afraid. You’re going to want me for me. That means you have to get to know me. I’ve told you, I’m not a good man, and you’ll have to be able to live with that because once I take you, I’m not letting you go.”
His warning should have made her leery. He was echoing the things Bellisia had said to her, but instead, Zara liked him all the more for giving her a warning. She especially liked that if she was with him, he wanted her for all time. She couldn’t imagine having Gino for her own. She wasn’t gifted in the way Bellisia or Cayenne was. She would never be a soldier, and he was a first-class warrior.
“I can’t fight.” Again, she just blurted it out without thinking. “I mean I can, but I’m not really any good, not like Bellisia or any of the other women. If I had to defend someone, I could do it, but …” Now she was just babbling.