Chapter Three

T rying not to breathe Lucas’ cologne in too deeply, Inda drew in air through her mouth. He was practically leaning over her, far too close, as they looked at her computer screen together. Don’t let him affect you like this, she warned herself. Somehow his intoxicatingly spicy scent found a way in and she stifled a sigh, crossing her legs and squeezing her thighs together.

“It looks like they shorted us an entire box,” Lucas murmured, his lips near her ear. A tingle traveled down her spine and zapped the spot between her legs. Bullseye. She nearly moaned but caught herself.

She did her best to focus on the screen, but being so near Lucas was making her body go haywire. Maybe she just needed to get laid. Her vibrator certainly wasn’t cutting it any longer. But the idea of having sex with some random guy wasn’t appealing. No, there was only one man who could scratch that itch, and he was looking right at her.

“What do you think?” Lucas asked, and Inda forced herself to meet his incredible light blue eyes. God, she wanted to drown in them.

Clearing her throat, she nodded. “Yep. Looks that way. I can give them a call and see what happened.”

“Thanks.” He straightened back up, taking all the warmth with him. Even though she missed his nearness, at least now she could breathe. She also had a perfect view and couldn’t help the way her hungry gaze roamed down his gray jacket, white shirt and charcoal tie. Don’t look down any further, she warned herself. She’d never seen anyone wear a suit like Lucas Sheridan. Each line, each pleat…it all fit him to perfection. And even though he was completely covered, it managed to show off his incredible physique. The man was drool-worthy.

Forcing her attention away, she glanced down at the slim watch on her wrist. “Do you mind if I call after lunch?”

“Sure, no problem.”

Good. She honestly didn’t care one whit about a lost box of notepads, and she was antsy to search Carlisle’s office and didn’t want to waste a single minute. Besides, she had to clear her head and there was nothing like a good op to get your mind out of the gutter. Inda stood up, grabbing her purse and swinging it over her shoulder.

“Going out for lunch?” Lucas asked.

Oh, damn. Normally, she’d offer to grab him something next door, but time was of the essence today. “Actually, I have some errands to run.”

He studied her a little too intently, but Inda held his inquisitive gaze. Let herself momentarily swim in those twin glacial pools.

Before he could say anything, she gave him a perky smile with what she hoped was an upbeat, “See you in an hour,” then turned on her heel and strode out the door. Sorry, Lucas. You can get your own lunch today.

Hurrying down to the elevator, Inda dug into her purse and removed the badge that would allow her access to Carlisle’s floor, courtesy of a little Banshee magic. When the door opened, she stepped into the empty cab, waved her All Access pass in front of the scanner and zoomed up another few floors. After a couple weeks of recon, Inda had discovered Carlisle’s executive assistant, Angelica, normally took her lunch with Jen, her office buddy, at this time. The two gossips were like clockwork, so Inda wasn’t surprised when she stepped off the elevator and the desk in front of Carlisle’s office was empty.

Looking natural, like she had every right to be there, she walked forward casting a surreptitious sweep over the office. It was quiet as she made her way to Angelica’s desk, slid the side drawer open and removed a set of keys. Making friends with the executive assistant definitely had its perks.

Keys in hand, she headed over to Carlisle’s office, unlocked the door and slipped inside. The lights were off, the blinds drawn on the glass partition between Carlisle’s office and Angelica’s desk, but the curtains on the windows that overlooked downtown San Francisco were wide open and provided plenty of light.

Inda stalked straight over to his desk and wasn’t surprised to see his laptop was gone. Well, there’d be no downloading any files today. So, instead, she focused her attention on his desk drawers. Setting the ring of keys down, she pulled the top one open and began to comb through the contents, searching for anything suspicious. Being methodical and thorough, yet moving fast, she worked her way through all the drawers then stood up straight and placed her hands on her hips, letting her gaze wander over the office.

Where should she look next? The built-in bookshelves snagged her attention and she zeroed in on a few framed pictures. One of them was the exact photo River had found in Benedict Salinger’s home office in New York.

Hmm. Inda walked over, picked it up and flipped it over. Then she popped the frame’s latches and opened it. Four names were neatly written on the back of the photograph—Benedict and Elizabeth Salinger and Chadwick and Mia Carlisle.

Mia. Well, now they knew who the mysterious fourth person was, and she appeared to be a relative. According to their research, Chadwick was divorced, but his ex’s name wasn’t Mia. There was a slight resemblance between Chadwick and Mia, and she looked to be in her early twenties, so Inda made the reasonable assumption that Mia was his daughter. She stayed extremely low-key, though, because this was the first time Inda heard anything about Carlisle having a kid.

Filing that intel away to share with her team later, Inda closed the frame and was just setting it back on the shelf when a deep voice made her freeze.

“What’re you doing in here? I thought you went to lunch?”

Shit. Spinning around, Inda met Lucas’ far too inquisitive look. Time to flip the conversation and neutralize the suspicion written all over his handsome face. And she needed to do it fast.

“I did,” she said easily. “I just wanted to thank Mr. Carlisle for helping me get the job here. But it looks like he’s out of town or something.”

The urge to escape filled her, but Lucas was blocking the doorway. God, she could barely see past his broad shoulders.

“I didn’t realize you knew Mr. Carlisle. Or that he’d helped you.”

His piercing gaze held her hostage, but she forced herself to breathe evenly and shrug a nonchalant shoulder. “That’s because I asked him not to tell anyone. We’re old family friends, but I didn’t want it getting around the office that the only reason I was hired was due to favoritism.”

Shit. She needed to change the subject quickly. He was asking far too many questions and she was going to run out of reasonable answers far too soon.

“Anyway, I was heading down to the Honeycomb Café. I can grab your usual, if you want.”

Instead of answering, he moved closer, and she automatically took a step back, her ass hitting the bookshelf. Normally if a man cornered her, she didn’t worry too much because she had the skills to defend herself. With Lucas, however, her mind wasn’t on fighting back, more like giving in. Suddenly, he was all up in her space and she did the only thing a red-blooded woman who hadn’t had sex in far too long could do. Swooned.

Her head tilted back and she briefly met his icy eyes. But the ice had all melted away and now an intense blue fire burned there instead. Attention dropping to his mouth, she swallowed hard. Damn, those lips of his looked divine, and she hadn’t been kissed in so…very…long.

“I think we should go out,” he murmured, voice low, silkier than his fancy tie her fingers were currently touching.

For a moment, she’d thought she was busted when he caught her in Carlisle’s office. But this was much more dangerous. Words eluded her, but her traitorous body responded in every way—her breath hitched, her pulse raced and her panties flooded.

“I didn’t think a boss and his assistant were allowed to date. Isn’t that breaking some sort of policy or something?” Her voice came out so breathy it was almost embarrassing.

“Every rule has an exception.” He lowered his head and she felt his warm breath fan across her skin. “Wouldn’t you agree?”

Their lips were mere inches apart and, at that moment, if it guaranteed a kiss from Lucas, Inda would have agreed that the sky was purple. Instead of answering, she pushed up onto the balls of her feet, tugging on his tie, and met his descending lips halfway.

Heat engulfed her the moment their lips touched. In a rare moment of weakness, she surrendered to him, opening her mouth and allowing his tongue to sweep inside. Holy hell. Her knees wobbled, forcing her to wrap her arms around his neck and lean into his firm body. His hands encircled her waist and a passion like she’d never experienced before—at least not during a first kiss—fogged up her brain and nearly made her forget her own name.

After far too long, she finally broke the kiss. Her chest was rising and falling with rapid breaths, and Inda couldn’t deny the thrill thrumming through her veins. She’d always been a bit of an adrenaline junkie, but this was so much more than jumping out of a plane. Every nerve ending sizzled and her body pulsed with need. She wanted more.

“Is that a yes?” he asked huskily, searching her face. For the second time that day, words escaped her. “Because it damn sure felt like it.”

“I don’t know,” she whispered. “Dating the boss is kind of in poor taste. Don’t you think?”

His large hands gripped her waist, fingers lightly digging into her skin. “You make me want to smash the rules, Leoa.”

Leoa. The name hit her like a smack upside the head. He had no idea who she was, and that’s how it had to stay. Still though, she was allowed to have a little fun every once in a while, right? She and her team had been working so hard to defeat The Agency. Hell, she deserved a quickie. And if this gorgeous man was interested, how could she say no?

“Well?” His fingers moved to her back, lightly skating up and down, causing shivers to erupt all over. “Just a date. If you want to keep things under the radar, it’ll be our little secret.”

“When?”

So much for ignoring her hormones.

◆◆◆

Was taking Inda out on a date dangerous? Very. Especially considering the growing attraction between them. But Lucas had a plan. Or, at least that’s what he kept telling himself as he drove home after work that evening.

They’d agreed to go out to dinner Saturday night which worked well since he visited his mom during the afternoon. Pushing those thoughts aside, he decided he was ready to pull out all the stops in order to glean more information from his sly minx of an assistant. His plan was simple—to find out as much as he could about her by getting to know her on a more personal level. It was important to keep your enemies close, right?

And Inda Diaz, despite being incredibly intelligent and tantalizingly beautiful, was his enemy.

Once Lucas was home and comfortably on his couch, sans that zoot suit he had to wear every day, he leaned back and fired up his laptop. A pepperoni pizza was on the way because he didn’t cook. Of course, his mother had been the best cook in the world. When her health began failing and he’d moved in with her to help take care of things, he hadn’t needed to survive on carryout. At least not until cooking became too much for her.

Giving his head a shake, he told himself, once again, that he wasn’t the one doing anything wrong. Carlisle might be a little shady, but the man paid well. Ridiculously well. And Lucas wasn’t in a position to turn down the money the billionaire had offered in return for Lucas’ computer skills.

So, yeah, hacking into Zane Hawkins’ computer and handing over any intel he could find to Carlisle was worth every penny. Plus, Lucas had no loyalty to Inda or her crew of terrorists. Knowing he could help put an end to their nefarious plans felt good. Maybe not quite as good as her lips on his, but he had a job to do. A job that didn’t include getting emotionally involved.

Unfortunately, he really liked her, and that’s where things were starting to get sticky. But he couldn’t let a good-looking woman cloud his mind and judgment. He could, however, lure her further into the honey trap with a few more stolen kisses. Taking things further was a definite temptation, but he didn’t sleep with assassins. At least, not yet.

You’re not sleeping with her. She gets paid to murder people, he reminded himself.

Why was the situation becoming so much more difficult than it should have been? Dammit, he shouldn’t have kissed her up in Carlisle’s office earlier that afternoon. But, fuck if those full lips hadn’t beckoned to him like some kind of siren song, luring him into dangerous territory. He’d allowed the heat of the moment to overcome him, and she’d pulled him in under her spell.

Yeah, blame it all on her, Sheridan. Because it had nothing to do with the hard-on in your pants.

“Fuck me,” Lucas hissed, raking a hand through his hair. Just picturing those caramel-colored eyes and remembering the way her small body had melted against his as their tongues tangled made his dick turn to steel.

Inda Diaz was a big fucking problem. A problem, he reminded himself, he’d been hired to help expose and eliminate. Whatever chemistry was happening between them would have to be carefully controlled and kept in check.

After a few more kisses, he told himself. Because they had a date tomorrow night and he had to play the part. He was going to use that time to dig, probe and ferret out as much intel as possible. Then when the time came, he would embrace his Cipher persona and do what he had to do.

Even if that meant cutting the head off the most beautiful Medusa he’d ever seen in his life.