sunglasses and captured Captain Davis’s troubled gaze within her own. “I’ll allow him to slap me around and then take off my makeup, so he’ll think he’s responsible for the bruises from the fight that you and I had. I’ll weep and cower and make the man feel as badly as I can … and claim an inability to function. But with a stressful deal going down, his lack of time and patience, and my little tantrum for attention—which is how I’m sure he’ll view my running away in a speedboat—I may be able to avoid being with him again. Understood?”
“And if not?”
Again, silence slipped into the spaces between them.
“I’ll handle it.”
Sage grabbed her large, gold-tone designer purse and slung it over her shoulder. She had no other answer for Captain Davis, beyond the one he didn’t want to hear for some odd reason, and the one she didn’t feel like saying out loud. His eyes seemed to beg for answers to questions she couldn’t let herself think about right now.
There was pain and outrage in his gaze, but oddly no judgment as she placed her hand on the door and he popped the lock for her. He wore the expression of someone trapped within a reality he hated, unable to change what was, wishing with all his might that he could. The reality of her undercover assignment clearly violated everything the man before her believed in, yet for the sake of the mission, there was nothing either of them could do about it. The fact that he cared while not even knowing her was troubling on a level that was hard to sort out.
Sage lifted her chin and took in a deep, steadying breath. Captain Anthony Davis’s gaze never wavered. She understood feeling powerless and knew that look in a person’s eyes all too well. It was the same one that had once haunted hers. But until now, she’d never had a champion. Although he hadn’t said that he was or wanted to be that for her, there was something unmistakable in the depth of the captain’s angry eyes that let her know that he’d kill Salazar twice if he could.
She had to get away from that look before it crumbled her resolve. No man had ever seen through every layer and barrier she owned to peer directly at her soul and then ask it questions without uttering a word. And it had been so long since anything deep within her had stirred that the strange sensation of being secretly alive was unnerving.
Quickly opening the van door, she refused to theorize about the hundred things that could possibly go wrong. Captain Davis didn’t need to know that; it would only add to his obvious worry. All he had to do was get the information he needed and then help her hunt the bastards they were after. That was all.
“Just don’t die on me, Captain. You seem like a pretty decent guy, even if you did try to kill me.”
Before he could respond, she was out of the vehicle and had slammed the van door behind her.
CHAPTER 4
He watched her walk away and not look back, the globes of her lovely rump a mesmerizing vision undulating beneath the tight white fabric. Her head held high and shoulders back, she strode forward like a Nubian queen. Each loud click of her gold stilettos against the concrete sent a stab into his nervous system. That jarring female-created sound then sent his gaze down the length of her long, shapely legs. His reaction was one born of pure male reflex, something he couldn’t have stopped if his life had depended on it.
Everything professional within him said that he shouldn’t have noticed these things about her. But everything male within him was on the verge of insubordination to his own direct order to stand down.
Sage Wagner was a problem. She wasn’t just talented, capable, sexy, and smart—the woman had integrity. That was a rare quality these days. Plus, wrapped inside all that professional armor was a woman with an injured heart and a deeply wounded soul.
It would have been easier to deal with her if she was just some ice princess with a gun in her
“And if not?”
Again, silence slipped into the spaces between them.
“I’ll handle it.”
Sage grabbed her large, gold-tone designer purse and slung it over her shoulder. She had no other answer for Captain Davis, beyond the one he didn’t want to hear for some odd reason, and the one she didn’t feel like saying out loud. His eyes seemed to beg for answers to questions she couldn’t let herself think about right now.
There was pain and outrage in his gaze, but oddly no judgment as she placed her hand on the door and he popped the lock for her. He wore the expression of someone trapped within a reality he hated, unable to change what was, wishing with all his might that he could. The reality of her undercover assignment clearly violated everything the man before her believed in, yet for the sake of the mission, there was nothing either of them could do about it. The fact that he cared while not even knowing her was troubling on a level that was hard to sort out.
Sage lifted her chin and took in a deep, steadying breath. Captain Anthony Davis’s gaze never wavered. She understood feeling powerless and knew that look in a person’s eyes all too well. It was the same one that had once haunted hers. But until now, she’d never had a champion. Although he hadn’t said that he was or wanted to be that for her, there was something unmistakable in the depth of the captain’s angry eyes that let her know that he’d kill Salazar twice if he could.
She had to get away from that look before it crumbled her resolve. No man had ever seen through every layer and barrier she owned to peer directly at her soul and then ask it questions without uttering a word. And it had been so long since anything deep within her had stirred that the strange sensation of being secretly alive was unnerving.
Quickly opening the van door, she refused to theorize about the hundred things that could possibly go wrong. Captain Davis didn’t need to know that; it would only add to his obvious worry. All he had to do was get the information he needed and then help her hunt the bastards they were after. That was all.
“Just don’t die on me, Captain. You seem like a pretty decent guy, even if you did try to kill me.”
Before he could respond, she was out of the vehicle and had slammed the van door behind her.
CHAPTER 4
He watched her walk away and not look back, the globes of her lovely rump a mesmerizing vision undulating beneath the tight white fabric. Her head held high and shoulders back, she strode forward like a Nubian queen. Each loud click of her gold stilettos against the concrete sent a stab into his nervous system. That jarring female-created sound then sent his gaze down the length of her long, shapely legs. His reaction was one born of pure male reflex, something he couldn’t have stopped if his life had depended on it.
Everything professional within him said that he shouldn’t have noticed these things about her. But everything male within him was on the verge of insubordination to his own direct order to stand down.
Sage Wagner was a problem. She wasn’t just talented, capable, sexy, and smart—the woman had integrity. That was a rare quality these days. Plus, wrapped inside all that professional armor was a woman with an injured heart and a deeply wounded soul.
It would have been easier to deal with her if she was just some ice princess with a gun in her
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