The Cinderella Mission (Family Secrets #1)(52)
Author: Catherine Mann

She deserved better.

Better than him, too, for that matter.

Her voice caressed his ear. His eyes slid closed. Excitement pulsed through her words, as it had the gems at the mine, later when they’d shared a simple snowball.

A kiss.

Going sentimental over a snowball?

Lack of sleep must be screwing with his self-control, but he would sleep when they caught the scum responsible for Alex Morrow’s disappearance.

When he had Kelly safely behind her desk again.

For how long, a voice taunted? How long before she landed her next field assignment and ended up with bullets tearing through her mojo and into her back like Juarez?

Kelly laughed over something. What? Damned if he hadn’t been following the conversation. Her silky tones rolled around in his head, a part of him he couldn’t escape when his emotions were too damned close to the surface.

The sound of her blended with memories of her sighs of pleasure in the mine and later in the greenhouse. He could almost feel her under him. Need pulsed through him, thick, hot and without warning. Just like Kelly in his life.

His breath huffed in and out, every drag of air heavier than the next. He wanted her. Any way he could have her and damn the consequences. He wanted her now. Just give him ten minutes alone with her in a closet where he could hike that—

A cleared throat broke into Ethan’s concentration. He bolted upright, his eyes snapping open. Davidson stared at him with an ill-disguised smirk. His soon-to-be-pounded buddy snagged a red marker and scribbled on the board. Do you need a cigarette?

Ethan growled low, “Bite me, bud.”

A gasp sounded in his head. Kelly. “What?”

“Nothing,” Ethan mumbled. “Just Davidson making a fool out of himself.”

Hatch crossed to his case sitting on the table. He snapped it open and pulled out a file. “Nice work, people. I’ll leave you to do your job.”

Walking toward the door, he placed the file on the table beside Ethan, dropping a roll of antacids on top without hesitating. The door clicked shut behind the director.

Davidson capped the marker. “What’s that?”

Ethan scooped the antacids off and flipped open the first page of the file. His parents’ names leapt out, along with his aunt’s.

Adrenaline seared him. He had it. The file on his parents’ murder. No doubt Hatch had computerized copies, but Ethan had what he needed.

Yet the thrill faded as quickly as it had surged. All he could think of was Kelly.

Mine. Again the single word pulsed through him. Became a part of him.

He was a selfish bastard who couldn’t let her go. But he also couldn’t spend his life eating rolls of antacid and wondering if she’d made it through the day alive. Even if he cut himself out of her life, she would always be there in his head, as she was now, earpiece or not. Kelly had become a part of him no amount of distance could slice free.

Which left him with only one option.

Ethan crumpled the note from Samantha in his hand. He would decide after the meeting if Kelly needed to know the results of what he learned.

For now, he would get through this assignment. Do whatever it took to keep Kelly alive.

Then come hell or high water, when the clock struck twelve on Kelly’s Cinderella mission, Hatch would have two resignations on his desk.

Chapter 14

Kelly raced up the stairs to Ethan’s apartment, too jazzed to wait until supper to meet him as they’d arranged. Every step pumped her excitement from work up another notch. She planned to entice Ethan out of whatever had brought on his bad mood and celebrate.

God, she loved her job. The whole day at ARIES trying out equipment had been a blast. She’d worked the ops-support end for two years, all but salivating when others donned the high-tech tools of their trade. ARIES had the best of the best, thanks to their unlimited black ops budget. Nowhere in the world were operatives better outfitted.

And now she was one.

What would Hatch have for her next?

Restless energy charged through her. She wanted the next days to whiz past.

Then what? Would Ethan’s walls come down or double in height?

Her feet faltered on the landing.

She wouldn’t let him.

Kelly punched in the code to Ethan’s alarm and let herself inside. “Ethan?”

He’d said he needed time to shower and change. Well, she planned to surprise him in the shower and change his attitude.

The silent apartment greeted her. Strolling through the kitchen, she trailed her fingers along the rim of his coffee cup where his mouth had rested. A poor substitute for the man’s kiss, especially when she would likely spend another lonely night in his bed while he sacked on the couch if she didn’t make some headway.

“Ethan?”

No answer, not even the sound of a shower.

A tingle started up her spine, a newly developed sixth sense she’d developed over the past two weeks.

He’d left her alone. He rarely did that anymore, always insisting they stick together.

Overprotective lout.

So what was he doing now?

Kelly bolted away from the table and up the stairs to the computer loft. Time to use some of those skills he’d taught her. Dropping into his chair, she clicked through the grounds surveillance commands until she found him.

And Delmonico’s ambassador pro-tem, Samantha Barnes. His former girlfriend. Sitting on a lounger together by the indoor pool, Ethan beside the cool beauty, his head ducked close to hers.

Those old insecurities kicked in with a vengeance. Samantha Barnes was everything Kelly had once dreamed of being. The stunning redhead was brilliant, confident and an acting ambassador of an important American ally in an unstable region.

No. Kelly halted the green-eyed monster in its tracks.

Ethan may have cut a wide swath through the female population, but always one at a time for as long as she’d known him. She trusted his innate sense of honor enough to know he would completely set her free first. And he hadn’t done that. Yet.

So what was he doing?

She clicked through computer keys to try and up the volume, but Ethan had chosen to talk by the swishing hot tub.

No doubt deliberately.

If she had higher tech skills in this arena, she could probably weed through the interference. But she didn’t. Why was he meeting with Samantha so late when she should be resting up for the major embassy function in the works?

The embassy. Samantha’s job as ambassador pro-tem to Delmonico.

Kelly straightened. While Samantha didn’t know about Ethan’s ARIES status, she did know he had intelligence connections.

The meeting was business.