Page 2 of Brooks

“Anytime. I’ll have something for you by morning.”

“Night.”

I disconnected and continued to stare out the floor-to-ceiling windows, overlooking the marina down below. My gut told me this wasn’t going to end well.

I actually felt sorry for Declan Crenshaw. It wasn’t too long ago I’d given him the Gold Team. He’d been restless since he’d quit the CIA and came to work for me. I thought giving him his own team to lead would help him work out some of his issues before he burrowed in any deeper. Years of deep undercover work could fuck with a man. He hadn’t shared what he’d seen or done, and I didn’t push.

Tatiana wouldn’t be an issue for Declan. He’d made it clear he didn’t want to settle down and find a woman. Though, neither did I, until Ivy. One look at her and all bets were off. No, Declan wouldn’t have any interest in the woman. Dec had also revealed when he was ready to find a woman, he wanted a delicate wallflower. There was nothing delicate about Tatiana.

“Whatcha doing?” Ivy asked.

I heard her the minute her feet hit the top of the stairs. Even if I hadn’t been trained to detect the quietest of sounds, I would’ve known she was in the room. Every part of me was aware of my wife.

“Thinking,” I told her when her arms wrapped around me from behind.

“About?”

“How good it’s going to feel when I press you against this window and slide inside of you.”

“Really? That’s what had you so deep in thought?”

“Yep.”

I had Ivy in my arms, legs around my waist, and her body balanced against the window before she could ask anymore questions.

“I love you, Zane.”

“I love you, Ivy.”

With my wife’s heat surrounding me, all thoughts of the Gold Team and Tatiana Jones flew out the window. They’d figure it out. Surely, the group of five former special operations soldiers could handle one tiny woman. Even if that woman had the reputation of being one of the best spies the CIA had ever trained before she went rogue.

Chapter 1

I knew three things as absolute fact: the woman sitting across the table from me was a liar, her need for a bullshit cover story was not my business, and she had the best pair of legs I’d ever seen. The shiny black fuck-me-heels drew attention from her calves all the way up to her toned thighs. Hot damn. Yep, I had no business checking the woman out, yet there I was analyzing her, and completely distracted by a great set of calves and sexy heels.

The dossier my boss, Zane Lewis, had sent to the team said her name was Tatiana Jones. Declan, Max, Thad, Kyle, and myself had combed through the sparse documents. Supposedly she worked for the UN as a Political Affairs Officer. The job title fell under the office of counter-terrorism. The department was legit, she may have even been on their payroll, but her body language and knowing gaze screamed ‘operative.’

We’d barely entered her office when she’d made it clear she wasn’t pleased we were in the Kingdom of Bahrain. She knew why we were in the country. We had a singular objective, follow the money trail and click another piece of the puzzle together. A simple recon expedition that should’ve in no way hindered the UN task force’s counterterrorism strategy. Unless she was bullshitting. Which she was.

“I’ve been in contact with Mr. Lewis. He briefed me on the Militrix transoceanic cabling contract in the Gulf of Bahrain. My divers inspected the area around the King Fahd Causeway. There’s no cabling.” It sounded as if she’d practiced her speech, wanting us out of her office as quickly as possible.

“Your divers?” I interrupted.

Why would a Political Affairs Officer have divers on hand and at her disposal? She wouldn’t.

“Yes. Mine. The area is clear.”

Interesting. In her desperation to keep us away from what she was working on, she’d slipped up. Rookie mistake. Maybe she wasn’t as well-trained as I’d originally thought. Maybe she was a junior agent.

“If you don’t mind, I’d like to take a look myself,” I pushed.

I didn’t need her permission, nor did I really care to get it. I simply wanted to keep her talking. Tatiana Jones and whatever she was doing in the region had zero impact on my mission, yet I wanted to know. Actually, I wanted to know more about her in general, which was crazy.

“There’s no need. I have the utmost trust in—”

“Right. You may, but I don’t. And all due respect, I trust but verify.”

Tatiana leaned back and eyed me with a critical stare. Yep. I’d been correct and she was getting ready to show her hand. I doubted many people cut her off mid-sentence. I’d also bet she gave the orders, and wasn’t pleased when she had to follow them herself. There was a glint in her dark eyes that was sexy as hell. A flash of fire and icy annoyance. Yeah, she could order me around anytime. The look made me want to piss her off some more just so I could see it again.