Seduction in Session

  “I don’t think Connor even has a veneer. He’s kind of all caveman.”

  A bright smile broke over Everly’s face. “And you’re in love with him.”

  “I wouldn’t say . . . What I mean is . . . yeah. Yeah, I am and I don’t know that he wants anything that serious. I’m fairly certain if he finds out what I’m planning tonight, he’ll dump me.” The thought brought tears to her eyes.

  “All right, then we have to find a way to keep him out of it. If we’re partners in this, you have to be able to count on me to back you.”

  “I already have a way. I’ve sent Connor on something of an errand to pick up an item I left in the apartment of a friend who’s now out of town. His unit is in the building. It’ll be tight, but I think I can get to the Mall, have my meeting, and get back before Connor finds out. He’s going to want to search the whole place despite the fact that I only need one thing. I know that look in his eyes. Ever since he met my friend Freddy, Connor has been suspicious. He’ll take the time to search every inch, trying to find anything on him as long as he thinks I’m safely locked away.”

  “Why is he suspicious of this Freddy person?”

  Maybe she shouldn’t have opened this up, but if she was looking for a partner in crime, Everly should know what she was getting herself into. “I’ve had someone watching me for a couple of weeks. He’s been a little threatening. Connor is sure it’s Freddy so he’ll take this chance to try to get the goods on him. I figure I’ll have roughly an hour.”

  “Someone’s stalking you?”

  “I don’t know that I would put it that way.” She didn’t want to scare Everly off.

  “What way would you put it?”

  She liked to put a positive spin on things. “This man simply takes a possibly unhealthy interest in my life.”

  “So he’s stalking you.” Everly’s gaze trailed to the balcony. “All right. Gabriel’s meeting with some friends tonight. I can bow out. I’ll say I’ve got a headache. They won’t mind. They’ll love having a boys’ night. When should I meet you here?”

  “I have to go alone.”

  “You have to meet him alone, but you’re not walking the streets of D.C. alone. I’ll make myself scarce when Deep Throat shows. I’m not without talents of my own. Besides, I’d love to get a better look at the man. I can watch out for you.”

  “I don’t want to drag you into this and I don’t want to get you in trouble with your fiancé. Unless you think he won’t mind.”

  “Oh, he’ll mind if he finds out. You have no idea the shit storm that will come for us if he learns about this. So we have to be careful. You don’t think your boyfriend has a clue?”

  She thought about the way he’d looked at her this morning. Wary, as though studying her for some reason. He’d been upset about the story she was working on. That had to be it. There was no way he could know what she was plotting. He wasn’t a mind reader. He was an ex-soldier. “No. He was upset with me about something else, but we worked that out. He’s a good man. I know he seems gruff, but he has a soft side.”

  “That man has a soft side?”

  Lara nodded. “He does. He’s good with my dog. He’s sweet with me. He tolerates my friends. He’s a really good guy. I’m lucky to have met him. I just hope I get to keep him in my life for a long time.”

  “Do you think a man like that can be domesticated?”

  She knew the answer to that. “I think a man like Connor has likely seen a lot of things go wrong in his life. He used to be a soldier. He’s seen the rough side of the world. Now he needs to see the soft side. I think a man like him needs love and caring and a happy home more than anyone else.”

  Everly leaned over and took Lara’s hand, and just for a second she could have sworn there were tears in her eyes. “I’m very happy for you. I don’t know that many women who look closely enough at a man like him to see what they need. He’s lucky and he better not forget it. I’m going to help you. I will be there tonight to watch your back.”

  “I don’t want you to get hurt. There really is someone after me, but I have to take this chance to find out the truth.”

  Everly grinned and opened her Prada bag, pulling out a nice-sized revolver. “Don’t worry about me. I can take care of both of us.”

  “That is a really big gun.” Lara leaned away.

  “Good thing I know how to use it,” Everly said, sliding it back into her bag. “Are those more cucumber sandwiches? Plotting always makes me hungry.”

  She passed her the plate. “Help yourself.”

  “Thanks. We’re going to need our strength, sister.”

  Lara watched as Everly selected a sandwich. A weird warm feeling began in her chest like something important had just happened and she’d found a place she belonged that hadn’t existed before. Somehow she knew that despite their rough beginning, she and Everly were going to be friends.

  She leaned forward. “So we meet him at midnight. Here’s my plan.”

  She and Everly enjoyed tea and plotting.

  * * *

  Connor looked back into the condo where Everly and Lara sat, a delicate tea set between them. Lara had jumped through hoops to get the tray ready. She’d been specific about the type of bread she needed and how it had to be cut. Connor knew that Everly would be happy with coffee and store-bought cookies. She’d been raised as a cop’s daughter. There wasn’t a pretentious bone in her body.

  Of course he couldn’t say that. He had to pretend like he’d just met a man he’d known for most of his life, a man he considered a brother.

  Unfortunately, Gabe Bond was also a man who’d seen him work, and that had changed things between them.

  “She’s pretty,” Gabe said. “She’s also going to wonder why you’re spying on her when we’re supposed to be doing manly things like drinking Scotch. Is this the best you have?”

  When he glanced over, Gabe was staring at the label on the bottle. Everly might not be pretentious, but Gabe had grown up surrounded by cash and tended to expect the best. “I couldn’t exactly buy fifty-year, Gabe. I’m supposed to be poor.”

  “Yes, I got the whole rundown on your cover from Roman. You’re supposed to be some down-on-his-luck ex-soldier looking for a job. You’re not supposed to own million-dollar homes around the country. What are you up to? Three now?”

  He turned away from the window and wished Everly had come alone. “Yes. I have the place in New York, the home here, and a flat I keep in London. What’s your point, Gabe?”

  Gabe frowned. “I didn’t really have one. I’ve always been curious. You can’t make that much from the Agency. When we were kids, your mom was broke all the time. You were on scholarship. I have to wonder where the fortune came from.”

  It shouldn’t have surprised him that Gabe wanted to poke and prod into his past. He likely thought there was plenty of nastiness buried there, and he was right. “It’s really none of your business.”

  “No, I guess it’s not, but I’m curious. We’ve been friends all these years, but you’ve never really talked about it. Does Dax know?”

  “Yes.” Dax pretty much knew everything. He’d needled Connor until he’d finally told the bastard. Dax was seemingly happy-go-lucky, but when he zeroed in on something, he could be like a pit bull.

  “Good. Someone should know all your secrets.” Gabe poured a few fingers into Lara’s crystal tumbler. “You want one?”

  Now he’d likely go to Dax and try to turn Dax against him. It was probably no less than he deserved. “Sure. They’re plotting.”

  A grimace crossed Gabe’s face. “I don’t know about that. Everly isn’t going into this meeting with a lot of love for the girl.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Gabe handed him the glass. “She runs a tabloid. Everly’s had about enough of tabloids to last a lifetime. We’re currently trying to keep them off Sara. Some asshole tipped off the rags that she set up a registry for the baby. Her best friend wants to throw her a baby shower i
n a few months, and Sara wanted to set everything up before she starts showing. Apparently one of the clerks called it in and now they’re all speculating that Maddox Crawford has an heir.”

  “He does. I don’t see why that would make Everly dislike Lara in the beginning. She runs a site that specifically deals with political scandals, and she only runs a story when it can shine a light on one of her causes.”

  Gabe’s brows rose. “You sound like you like this girl.”

  He wasn’t ready to talk to Gabe about Lara. He didn’t want to talk to Gabe at all. He took a slow sip of Scotch. “I simply don’t think Everly starting off hostile to her is going to help anything. Everly will come around, and then she’ll feel guilty and they will plot.”

  “Everly doesn’t plot. And I don’t know that she’ll come around. She’s become pretty protective of Sara. She’s actually pretty protective of you guys, too. She was talking just this morning about how she needed to meet this woman to make sure she wasn’t getting her hooks into you.”

  He laughed, well aware it was a bitter sound. “Why would she be protective of me? She knows damn well I can look after myself.”

  “She doesn’t see it that way. She thinks you could use a good woman. Does Lara Armstrong fit the bill?”

  He looked out over the balcony. In the distance, he could see the Mall and all the tourists milling about. Families. Couples. They were out enjoying the day. He never did that shit. Once or twice he’d gone places with Dax and his family. He could remember a couple of sweet summer days between his sophomore and junior years when he’d been invited to accompany Dax, his parents, and flirty sister, Augustine, to San Francisco. Connor remembered that trip so vividly. It was one of the times in his life he’d been able to forget that his father hadn’t bothered to stick around for his birth and his mother had quickly found the bottom of a bottle and barely ever climbed out of it. She’d been a functional alcoholic and skank.

  His time with Lara had made him feel like he could have something normal, something wonderful. Even if it was part-time, he might be able to have a family. He’d never thought he would have kids, but Lara would be a wonderful mother. Maybe children would ground her and keep her out of trouble, but the truth was getting Lara pregnant would tie her to him. She couldn’t turn him away if they had a child together. She would always be in his life.

  “She’s a good woman.” Who might be lying to him.

  Gabe stared at him for a moment. “You’re into this woman. Holy shit. You love her.”

  The word kind of made his stomach turn. “Don’t be ridiculous. She’s attractive and smart and I find her interesting.”

  “Yes, that’s what I said. You freaking love her.”

  He turned and faced Gabe. “That is not what I meant.”

  “In Connor speak, attractive and interesting is the same thing as love. Most of the women you’ve slept with you described as brutal or vicious. When you kind of liked one, you would say she was tolerable. This is hearts-and-roses time for Connor Sparks.” Gabe had the dippiest damn grin on his face. “You love her. You want to marry her. Hey, do you want to double wedding this shit?”

  He shot Gabe the finger. “You suck, Bond.”

  Gabe leaned against the balcony. “Yeah, probably, but after all these years, you really can’t get rid of me. Can we talk about it now?”

  Fuck. This was what he’d wanted to avoid. “There’s nothing to talk about.”

  “Of course there is. We went through something traumatic and I had a very bad reaction to it. I cut you off when I should have sat down and talked to you. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I’m older than I used to be. I needed time to process some things.”

  Connor wasn’t stupid. Gabe hadn’t wanted to have anything to do with him after what happened in the Crawford building that night. “Like I said. There’s nothing to talk about.”

  “You aren’t an analyst, Connor.”

  That ship of lies had sailed a long time ago. “No, I’m an operative.”

  “What happened that night?”

  “You made a choice that left me scrambling, and I had to figure out a way to save your ass.” His heart still raced when he thought about that night. He’d known what he should have done—allowed the Russians to take Everly and then followed them, finding where they were staying and gathering as much intel as he could.

  He’d known the minute Gabe went after Everly that he wouldn’t do what the Agency would consider to be the right thing. He would do whatever it took to protect his friends. Gabe loved Everly. He would be a hollow man if anything had happened to her. He couldn’t let that happen no matter what the consequences were.

  “Is that night why you’ve been suspended?”

  He was sure he had Roman to thank for that. His employment was supposed to be top secret but Roman chatted about it around the dinner table. “Yes. I’m not supposed to operate on American soil. I killed several members of the Bratva that night and I had to call in a group that helps clean up messes.”

  Golchenko alone would have been a goldmine of information, but he’d threatened Everly and Gabe, and someone from his organization had shot Dax, and that was unacceptable. Golchenko could have led them to higher-ups in the Krylov syndicate, a network of Russian mobsters the Agency believed was responsible for arming many of the jihadists in the Middle East. Getting intelligence on that group was one of their prime concerns, and Connor had very calmly killed everyone who could have helped them because in this case, doing the Agency’s bidding meant losing his friends.

  “I was upset that night, Connor. I nearly watched the woman I love be murdered.”

  He’d seen the look in Gabe’s eyes. He knew Gabe had thought he was a vicious animal in that moment. “I know you were upset. What do you want me to say, Gabe? I’m sorry you had to see that part of me. I try to keep it away from you guys. I understand if I’m not welcome at the next family picnic. Hell, it’s kind of a relief. I’m not that guy anyway.”

  Gabe shook his head and sighed. “Will you shut the fuck up and listen for once, man?”

  “Sure. I don’t have anything better to do.” The last thing he wanted was to hear all the reasons Gabe didn’t want to be around him anymore, but it seemed like he couldn’t avoid it. This was exactly why he needed to put distance between him and Lara and fucking everyone in his life. He wasn’t the kind of man who got to have a family. Hell, he was the kind of man who made his fortune blackmailing his own biological father.

  Yeah, he didn’t want Gabe to know that, either.

  Gabe stood right in front of him, putting his hands on his shoulders as if he needed to let Connor know how what he was about to say was important. “You’re an idiot. I can say that because you’re my brother. I’m an idiot, too. I’m a complete moron because it took me so much time to figure out what really happened that night, what’s been happening with you for most of our adult lives.”

  Killing people who needed killing. Living in the world’s underbelly. Doing the country’s dirty work. It was a hell of a life. “And what’s that, Gabe?”

  “Protecting us. Sacrificing for us. What I want to say to you is this: Thank you, brother. Thank you for saving me and Everly and Dax that night. Thank you for doing all the things you do to protect everyone in this country. They might not know what a sacrifice you make, but I understand and I’m so damn proud to know you.”

  Connor went still because he felt something weird happen to his face. He flushed and just for the tiniest of moments he felt his eyes tear up, as if he was about to fucking cry like a girl. “You’re an asshole, Bond.”

  Gabe grinned like he knew what had happened. “Sorry about that. Some things have to be said. So stop ducking my damn calls, man. And if you don’t tell me the next time you’re in New York, I’ll beat you up myself. I’m not going to let you brood in your bat cave.”

  Connor had seen operatives who went truly dark, who believed only in their jobs and struggled to function if they weren’t on a mission. He
would never be that man because his friends wouldn’t let him. If he tried to hide, Zack would set the National Guard on him. Roman would hound him. And Gabe and Dax would hunt him down with a bottle of Scotch in hand.

  And Mad would have hauled him off to some crazy strip club to show him life wasn’t all darkness. He could hear Mad’s gravelly voice. It’s boobs and body glitter, too, brother.

  Those stupid tears threatened again. “Fuck, I miss Mad sometimes.”

  Gabe put a hand on his back as they stared out over the city. “I’ll miss him every day for the rest of my life. He was my closest friend in the world.”

  Even in their group, they’d had duos. Roman and Zack. He and Dax. Gabe and Mad. “I know.”

  “He would have thrown me a hell of a bachelor party.”

  “I don’t even want to think about it. Mad would have made The Hangover look like a kiddie film.”