Page 35 of My Super Sexy Spy
I bit my bottom lip. “I’ll hire a security team. I’ll tell the media. Let them set up camp outside my door and see if Ivan—”
“Dmitri,” he corrected me.
“The Douchebag,” I finished, “if he can get through them. But I’m not staying here on this Joan Wilder, freaking, spy adventure. I’ve already lived through all the fear and uncertainty I need to. Thanks.”
He sighed. “You could help us, Beth. I need to find your father. I need to get to that work before it’s lost. If I could set you up someplace where I knew you would be safe, then he would have no choice but to come find you there. It’s important to him to give this to you in person. I think he wants you to know him before he dies.”
That was the wrong thing to say. My blood pressure spiked, and I had to take a few deep breaths before I could answer.
“I am twenty-three years old. He’s had my whole life to get to know me,” I gritted out. “Now, you’re either a good guy or a bad guy. So you can either hold me here, or you can get me on a train safely to Rome where I will fly home immediately.”
* * *
Liam
My nice-guy, Ted persona was gone. Lost in the ditch the minute Dmitri had abducted my subject. Now I was staring down at one very pissed-off woman, who, every time she bit her bottom lip, was making my dick twitch.
Like, actually twitch.
I wasn’t sitting here thinking about how I could seduce her into staying and using her as bait to lure her father to me. Instead, I seriously was considering seducing her then helping her get to the airport so she could go home.
She’d be watched around the clock, some of the most intense government surveillance—legal and illegal—imagined, but she would be safe from the other actors out in the field. I hadn’t seen the Chinese yet, but no doubt they were here, too. And, as long as the national security apparatus knew where she was at all times, it was unlikely they would interfere with her life directly.
The intelligence community hadn’t known if she was a threat or not. The woman I spent the day with in Venice, and again today in Florence, was not here for any other reason than to break out of her comfort zone and take a bunch of selfies.
Making an effort to trust in people again.
I sort of blew that for her.
So I could help her out, let her go home. Report to my superiors she was not a security threat or involved in any way in her father’s actions, and they would watch over her and keep her safe, while she was content in her condo.
Or, I could seduce her for my nefarious purposes.
Tempting…
“Well? Are you a good guy or not?” she asked.
Good question.
“I’m working on it,” I snapped. “You have to understand, Beth. I make life-and-death choices that impact the balance of power in the world every day. Every instinct I have says I need to use you to get to your father.”
“Yes, but you also like me. Remember? I heard you say it to Dmitri.”
I glanced at her sitting on the bed again, hands in her lap, ankles crossed at her big, clunky shoes. Looking up at me with her bangs and her nose ring like she thought she was so badass…when she was really just a kitten.
“Yeah. I like you. To be honest—I can’t believe I’m being honest—I kind of liked you before I met you. Obviously, once we knew you were a target and I had to learn everything I could about you. So I read all your blogs and I thought…”
“What?”
I shrugged. What was I supposed to say? That she had this badass attitude with this super soft heart? That she was all prickly scratches and hisses like a kitten? But I knew if I could win her over, she’d purr for me. Her blogs were sweet and fun, but sometimes a little snarky with a sharp edge to them.
And sometimes they felt a little lonely.
There was no way I was telling her who my online profile name was.
“I thought you were cool.” There. That was easy enough.
“Take me home, Ted. Please.”
