Page 15 of Delta: Retribution

CHAPTER SEVEN

After a boat, helicopter, and airplane ride, Marlena was tucked safely in an underground compound. Jared Westin and Brock Gamble had introduced themselves and then walked out, leaving her with the national-defense stiffs who’d been overseeing her project. Not once had they asked if she was okay or if anything had happened to them. They’d been caught up in the details of their classified project and whether any of it had been leaked. She told them the truth: that she’d given her captors enough busy work—making it as complicated as possible—that they may’ve thought they’d received covert intelligence, but it was nothing more than graduate-level engineering homework.

Their secret was still safe, but it wouldn’t take a genius to connect the dots to technology that already existed and be on an equal weapons-making playing field. She sighed, stood up, and saw that Jared’s dog had stayed in the room. For some reason that made her a little less empty inside.

She had seen less and less of her friends since starting her super top-secret, giant pain-in-the ass job, and when she was most alone, she heard her dad’s—no, Brian’s—voice in her head, telling her that her intelligence was the only thing that made her worthwhile and that she’d be exploited. Well, Brian had been right on that account. Wow, she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Mentally and physically.

But at least she’d gotten away from Romatar.

Still… Abandoned friends and a self-esteem problem weren’t the greatest combination, and then she had those crazy couple of days and no one she could talk to. But she did have a one-night stand who she couldn’t help but feel drawn to.

Too bad that once Delta had deposited her at the Titan Group’s home office outside DC, he’d walked away with his team. Not that she could blame him. Though there was a part of her that thought he’d snatch her away from everyone and have her make good on that promise of a shower.

Marlena bent down to pet the drooling bulldog that guarded the door. The dog’s tag read THELMA, and she rolled over, begging for belly rubs.

A door opened behind Marlena, and she jumped, her heart racing. Panic seized her throat. She spun to see Trace leaning against the doorjamb. His muscles popped in the cotton shirt, the colors tattooed on his arms making her want to inch closer just to touch them.

“Hey, you.” His eyes danced, alert to the fact that she’d been staring and having a heart attack at the same time.

“Sorry.” The more time that passed, the jumpier she became, especially after the interrogation she had just suffered through. That stupid reaction had been happening ever since she had woken up in Mr. Romatar’s compound and continued after her rescue. It had to be an after-effect of the abduction, but still, it was embarrassing.

“Don’t apologize. I didn’t mean to scare you.” His quiet smile didn’t do much to still her spastic thoughts. “Little bit edgy, huh?”

“No. I don’t. Yeah, I guess so.”

His smile morphed into something more confident, and he strolled to the table and grabbed a chair, pushing it to her. It rolled over, and he sat in another. Thelma ran to him, jumping into his lap.

Trace grunted as the dog landed. “Good Lord, Thelma. You’ve been eating rocks lately?”

He grabbed a handful of furry wrinkles and rubbed while the dog stretched in his lap. Marlena took a seat in the chair and pivoted back and forth. Alone under fluorescent lights, her ballsy let’s-jump-in-the-shower promise seemed insane. She wanted it so badly and couldn’t match the level of hotness this guy had. She was so out of his league. He even liked dogs. Hugging a wrinkly bulldog was pretty much the only thing that could make this guy any better looking.

“So, Marlena.”

He made her name sound like sex. She’d heard her name a million times, during twenty-one years walking the earth, and never once had it made her want to get naked. When Trace said her name, she prayed the fabric would just melt away. Looking down just to double-check, a smidge of disappointment teased her when she saw herself fully clothed.

She bit her lip then forced a smile. “So, Trace.”

“I get the feeling you’ve been thrown to the wolves recently. Sergeant Dick and Captain Shithead looked about as nice as fucking on sandpaper.”

Her brows furrowed. “Guess that wouldn’t be too nice.”

“You’re not military, are you?”

“No.” She tilted her head, toying with a stray strand of hair. “You really don’t know anything about me? They just sent you to find me and bring me home?”

“Yup.”

“Well, it wasn’t because they were concerned about me, that was for sure,” she scoffed.

“You’re in intelligence?”

“Not exactly.”

“Then what?” he asked.

“I’m a biological engineering student. Getting my bachelor’s and master’s in a combined accelerated program, and Iluckedinto this program.” She used air quotes onlucked. “My freshmen year, I wrote an article that was picked up by a scientific journal. Guess I piqued the government’s interest. They came calling. The rest is history.”

“Oh.” He winked. “So, you’re smart.”

---