all, Cal. You know Delgado and you owe Jason. That makes you the logical choice.”
“I owe Jason, not you.”
She had a debt to pay herself. “Jason told me to call in the favor if I needed to.”
“It would be suicide to take you with me.”
“If I die, I won’t hold you responsible.” Anger flushed her face, made her eyes sharp, her jaw stubborn. “You’re not the only one who owes Jason, Cal.”
Frustration settled in Cal’s gut, a ball of fire that fed on his jealousy. He didn’t want to know why she owed Jason. Didn’t want to acknowledge Jason knew Julia on a more intimate level.
“So? Are we doing this together?” She stood, bracing her hands on the counter and leaned in. “Or do I go with someone else?”
His body tightened, aware. Her scent pulsed between them. A seductive balance of lavender and the moist winter air, warmed now by the heat of her body.
Tempting fate, he breathed her in until the scent took on a power of its own. It sizzled and snapped, hunting until it found a conduit in the thick of his blood. Setting it pulsating.
Cal shifted, bucking for control. Allowing some of the frustration to break through. “All right. Just for the sake of argument, we consider the possibility of you joining me.
“If we’re going to work together, we’re going to have to come to an agreement.” His eyes skimmed her face, rested briefly on her mouth, before trailing back to her eyes.
“What agreement?” she asked, her eyes narrowed, suspicious.
Cal let himself react, let his voice drop to a husky murmur, and let the desire burn through the twist of knots in his gut. Deftly, he stepped around the corner of the counter. Satisfied when he saw her big brown eyes widen in surprise.
“What are you doing?” She backed up until she hit the stool behind her.
It was a risk. He was moving fast.
His hand went to her hair, brushed the wisps of silk away from her cheek. Her skin warmed beneath his knuckles. Need blurred into necessity.
“I’ve missed you, Julia.” His fingers stroked a thick lock against her neck. He felt her shudder slide over him, her silent groan slip through him.
Julia twisted her head away. “If you’re trying to intimidate me—”
“A day hasn’t gone by that I haven’t thought about you.” That, at least, was true.
“Don’t you dare try to con me, West,” she snapped back. But her breath caught, made her words just this side of breathless. She tried to move past him, only to have his arm block her way. “That line worked … once. A long time ago. It won’t again.”
“This is no line. It’s a preview.” He shifted forward, leaving mere inches between them. “Of what working together might mean.”
He could take her mouth with his. Lord knows he’d wanted to, many times, since they’d slept together the year before. He’d spent hours during the longer, drawn-out meetings in the Oval Office, remembering, fantasizing. “We’re going to be in tighter spaces than this if we hike through the jungle.”
“What do you mean, tighter spaces?”
His hands cupped each hip, then exerted enough pressure to close the distance between them until her body fit his. “Much tighter than this.”
“You can’t scare me, Cal,” she whispered, but her gaze dropped to his mouth. Her heart beat wildly against his chest.
“Don’t bet on it. Most times I scare myself.”
He heard her slight intake, saw the flutter of her lashes. Something moved in him. Something dormant that he’d thought long dead. Had wanted long dead.
He jerked away. Unable to take the last step. “Go home, Julia.”
She grabbed the counter, to steady herself. Or stop yourself from stepping toward him, her heart mocked. “I told you—”
Her gaze dropped to his hand, saw the recorder clenched in his fist. Rage boiled, and with it the humiliation of what almost happened, what she’d almost allowed.
She clamped her emotions down between tight jaws and ignored the tears that pricked at the back of her eyes. “Of all the low, despicable—”
“It was either that or beat it out of you.” He waved the recorder in her face.
“You have no right—”
“This isn’t about rights. It’s about survival, damn it.” Cal rewound the tape for a few seconds, then hit play. “A hotel room will be waiting for you in …”
When the recorder went silent, Cal’s eyes snapped to hers. “What happened to the rest of the message?”
“I erased it.” The satisfaction was there, taking the edge off the humiliation. But not the anger.
“Of all the stupid things to do,” he bit out. “How in the hell am I supposed to help you if you aren’t straight with me?”
“Do we have an agreement?”
“You have no idea what you are asking.”
“I’m asking you to do the decent thing,” she shot back. “For once.”
He let out a hiss between his teeth.
“Someone broke into my apartment. Do you think I’m safe here? Next time they might be waiting for me,” she continued, making her play.
“All I have to do is tell Cain MacAlister about the ten million. He’ll lock you up.”
“Go ahead.” She brushed the threat aside, buried the fear deep. More than her pride was at risk. So much depended on this. “Whoever gave me Jason’s file is high up in the government. Only personnel with top clearance have access to that file.”
“You had access to mine.”
She ignored him. “That same person could be driving this deal. They’ll find out if you have me arrested. And I’ll give you good odds I’ll be dead within a few days. Cell or not.”
The tightening of his jaw told her she’d won. Still, she pushed a little more. “I have to be in Venezuela in less than forty-eight hours. We’re wasting time bickering over this, when you have no choice but to come with me.”
“This is turning out to be one hell of a payback.” Cal yanked a hand through his hair. “The promise I made to Jason didn’t include getting you killed.”
“Then don’t get me killed,” Julia reasoned, crossing her arms to mask her shaking limbs.
“Bloody hell.”
CAL SETTLED BACK INTO HIS SEAT,
