Page 6 of Escape You

Our shoes scraped the worn wooden floors as we swayed to the slow beat. She pressed her body to mine, and I made a silent vow to come back to this bar in six months. A dance would not be enough for me. As if she’d guessed my thoughts, she lifted her head and her green gaze hypnotized me.

“When I walk out that door, I can’t see you again. Do you understand?”

“No.”

Her amused laugh sparked something inside me. I wanted to know everything about her. She fit and didn’t fit in this smoky, old dive. Did she grow up here? Was she hiding here? She shoved my arms down and away from her.

“Then I have to go. My life is complicated as it is. I can’t expect you to understand that. Mainly because I don’t think you would.” She fisted her hands and headed for the door.

I chased after her and made it to the entrance before she did. “Fine. I won’t try to find you after tonight.”

She sucked her bottom lip. The many decisions she had to make were written all over her face. Stay or leave? One night or all the nights? One kiss or….

Her eyes watered as she ran the pads of her fingers down my face, neck, and all the way down to my hip. My skin caught fire. Every inch she touched burned with a need I hadn’t felt in a long while.

“You’re so beautiful,” she whispered.

“Are you even real?” I gripped her waist and shuffled my legs between hers until her back was flat on the wooden door, with both my hands braced on either side of her. She was caged in, and not leaving. At least not for a few more hours. “What are we doing?”

She unbuttoned my shirt with a greedy look in those big eyes that seemed to see right into my soul. “One night.”

It seemed so unfair to have exactly what I wanted but not really. I didn’t want what she offered. I wanted so much more. “I understand. Is this you asking me to touch you?”

She flashed me an inviting smile that made me forget my own name and all the questions I had for her. It made me not care that I was accepting scraps from her.

“Yes, I am.”

So this was what true surrender felt like? I cradled her neck and covered her mouth with mine.

* * *

I never should have agreed not to look for her. Twelve hours had gone by since I left her at the bar in Rogue River, New Jersey. Every time a woman with dark hair turned a corner, my heartbeat would spike. I kept waiting to see her. Screw the promise I made her. As soon as I was finished with my new assignment, I would camp out at the dive where I met her. I didn’t care if it took me years to find her again.

“Special Agent Cole, thank you for waiting.” My boss’s assistant met me in the lobby of the ATF field office in New Jersey and gestured for me to follow him. “This way, please.”

We took the elevator to the tenth floor, and he left me in a small conference room with a round table full of manila folders. I sat, not bothering to browse through the papers that possibly contained the information for my next assignment. I didn’t want it. I wanted the human trafficking case I presented to the FBI. How could they turn it down so easily? People’s lives were at stake.

Director Mavell barged in and shook my hand. “How was your time off?” He shuffled a few folders out of the way. “I hope you got some R&R.”

I hadn’t asked for time off to go on an island vacation. I’d spent the last month in Venezuela, bailing my two brothers out of a deadly situation. Mavell didn’t need to know that. What I did with my personal time was none of his business.

“I’m ready to get back to work.”

“Then you came to the right place.” He chortled at his own joke and threw a manila folder in front of me. “We have a gang-related situation developing here.”

For no real reason, images of the mystery woman I met last night flooded my mind, her hands on me, her mouth, and those eyes. When we’d said goodbye, I swore she acted as if she wanted me to stay with her. I even tried one more time, casually asking her name. She responded with one last round of sex instead. No regrets.

“As I said, you’ll need to act swiftly before we have a gang war on our hands. A lot of innocent people could get caught in the crossfire.” Mavell stopped to glare at me.

I shook my head to focus and try to catch up with what he’d already said. “Gang related? What are they dealing?”

“We’re ATF. Illegal arms, of course. It’s all in there. There’s a new boss rising to power, and that’s got all the other crews nervous, according to our sources.”

“Why?” I opened the folder. Adrenaline shot through me so fast I saw stars. Blinking to gain focus, I picked up the person-of-interest photo. I swallowed before I met Mavell’s gaze. “Is this the new boss?”

“Yes. Not new to the scene, though. She showed up on our radar maybe three years ago. She’s running the show now.”

I glared at the green eyes that’d tortured me since I left her. I read her bio. Mia Torrelli, twenty-five years old, criminal justice degree, Rogue River Crew new boss. Person of interest, no convictions. “She’s a fucking arms dealer?”

---