Page 45 of Killer Secrets (Tempting SEALs 5)

He wanted Kira out of here. He wanted her safe. And now, it was too fucking late for safe. Whether he wanted her here or not, here she was, and he'd be damned if he would fight to keep his hands off her.

Looking around the silent room, darkened and empty, his gaze was drawn to the open balcony doors. Ian moved to them and stepped out into the darkness that filled the night.

Dark, but never alone. The hairs on the back of his neck lifted in primal warning. Hell, he'd been a SEAL long enough to know what it meant. He'd felt it for more than a week now, known he was being watched, and he knew who was watching him.

He let his gaze travel along the hills across from the balcony, mockery twisting his expression.

Where are you, Macey? He could feel Durango team's tech wizard watching him. One of the few friends Ian had ever allowed himself, a man who now considered Ian a betrayer and the enemy.

He was out there, but so were the others. His former commander, Reno Chavez. His lieutenant commander, Clint McIntyre. The Cajun, Kell Krieger. He and Ian had made lieutenant at the same time. And Lieutenant Junior Grade Mason "Macey" March. He couldn't keep a rank above junior for the life of him. Macey had problems with authority figures and never failed to lose rank by arguing with superior officers other than his commanders. That and hacking their computers.

They were all out there, and they were all watching him. He could feel the bull's-eye painted on his chest and at times he wished they would go ahead and take the shot. He would never be the same after this mission. Once trust was destroyed within a team, it wasn't regained with an apology once the truth was found out.

"Ian?" Kira spoke from the thickly padded chair she sat in against the outside wall.

He had known she was there. He could feel her. Smell her. Just as he could feel his former team members watching from a distance.

At that thought, a frown pulled at his brow as he braced his hands on the balcony railing.

"Who's your backup team, Kira?" he asked, his voice so soft he knew it went no farther than her ears.

"Daniel." Her answer was quick, questioning.

The shadowed darkness of the land that rose around them held his gaze. Friends that had faced death with him countless times now watched him as the enemy. Was that why the Chameleon was here as well? He hadn't confirmed her suspicions that he was there to take Sorrell or Diego down, but somehow she had known.

He turned back to Kira, feeling the tension rise inside him as she watched him silently. She sat, her legs folded beneath her, his shirt wrapped around her as black, silky hair flowed around her like a short cape.

He felt the anger burning in his gut, and the suspicion rising in his mind. Pacing to her, he gripped her arm and pulled her from the chair.

"No one watches you?" he asked as he jerked her close to his chest, feeling her gasp then soften in his arms as he laid his lips at her ear. "I feel them out there, Kira. Who else did you take your suspicions to? Did you pull the team out here with you?"

"No." She shook her head desperately, but believing her didn't come as easy as her answer had.

"Don't lie to me." He backed her against the wall, feeling the hunger inside him, the arousal and need that clawed at his balls like a trapped animal.

Hunger and anger. Helplessness and rage. Once again he couldn't protect someone he loved. She refused to let him protect her. Refused to hide and let him face the danger and he couldn't bear it.

"Ian." She arched against him. "Would I lie to you?"

"In a fucking heartbeat if you thought you needed to," he snarled, knowing it, feeling it. "I don't need you to protect me."

He clasped her head in his hands, tilted it back and found his gaze focused on her lips. Lips that had been red and swollen in the limo, moist with the essence of his cum and slack with the lust beating inside her.

He dropped his hands to her shoulders and dragged the shirt from her, dropping it to the floor of the balcony.

"I wouldn't dare try to protect you." Her head dropped back as his lips pressed to her neck and then opened, his teeth raking, his tongue licking as he grew intoxicated with the taste of her.

"You're a liar." He nipped her neck in punishment. "Tell me what you've done, Kira. Don't make me force it out of you. Don't betray me. Not like this."

He felt her still in his arms.

"Poor little sailor boy," she whispered mockingly, her fingers working the buttons of his shirt slowly. "God forbid that anyone should care what happens to you. Should we take out an ad? To whom it may concern? Ian Richards Fuentes is an island unto himself?"

He jerked her hips forward, burying the hard ridge of his shaft against the giving mound of soft flesh between her thighs.

"Don't push me!" She was up to something, he knew she was. She and that damned team he once fought with. Nosy bastards. They shouldn't be here. Sorrell had taken out more Special Forces teams than he wanted to think about. They had wives, families. They had no business here.

"I wouldn't dare push the big bad cartel lord," she drawled, that soft Georgia accent stroking over his senses and tightening his balls as the last button gave way beneath her fingers. "Why, Ian, what would make you think I'm that brave?"

---