Page 49 of Killer Secrets (Tempting SEALs 5)

Desoto was one of Missern's personal soldiers within his main security force. Tall, suave, a Latin charmer with all the sophistication of an alligator on the prowl.

"And you were there?" Something angry flashed in his eyes as he tugged her close, his other hand gripping her neck and holding her in place, her breasts pressing into the tense, muscled forearm.

"She was there, Ian." The Chameleon.

Kira let her lashes drift partially closed, her voice lower sensually. "I poured his rum, smiled nice and sweet, and ran my nails down his arm as he told me everything he knew. Everything. Even Martin and Josef Missern's propensity to take Sorrell's rejects as lovers before disposing of them very quietly." Her teeth clenched as she drew in an angry breath. "And Sorrell's suggestion to them that Diego Fuentes would be much easier to handle if you were no longer a part of his little world."

Ian's lips tightened, though he released her, slowly, before rolling to the edge of the bed and sitting up. Her hands gripped his forearm, frustration eating at her that he could contain her so easily. They both knew he could shake her off like an irritating gnat if he chose.

He didn't. He stilled, his back tightening, as she inched closer, pressing her nipples against the smooth flesh and laying her lips at his ear. She could feel the sexual tension rising inside him then, as it always did when they touched, when they challenged each other.

"You want answers, Ian? You want to know why I'm here? Tell me, why did you slip into my bedroom in Atlanta? Why did you hold me down in my bed and let me glimpse heaven without the satisfaction of touching it? Did the big bad SEAL get scared of the little woman?"

She slid her arms over his shoulders and he reached up to grip her wrists.

"You want me," she reminded him. "And you hate it. Don't you, Ian?"

She knew he did. She had glimpsed that in Atlanta. His anger, the irritation and frustration in his expression each time they were around each other. The knowledge of it still held the power to hurt her. It twisted inside her and tugged stingingly at her emotions. Which she thought was totally not fair. After all, if he had to affect her so severely, why couldn't she affect him in the same way?

"You're a complication." He unwrapped her arms and rose to his feet, naked, aroused. "Nothing more."

She sat on her knees on the bed, watching him in the dim light of the rising sun as he turned and glanced at her over his shoulder.

"I'm heading to the shower," he said. "I'll meet with Deke in the sitting room while you get dressed. We need to talk before heading down to breakfast."

"About what?" Rising to her feet, Kira paced over to the robe that a helpful maid must have left lying over the cushioned chair at the bottom of the bed. Shrugging it on, she belted it before glaring back at him.

"Your role in this little debacle of an operation," he grunted in disgust. "I still can't believe I was stupid enough to be played so easily by Missern." His narrow-eyed glance of irritation wasn't lost on her.

"Oh yes, this is going to be such a hardship for you." Her smile was all teeth. He better watch out, because she knew how to bite too. "Why didn't you just ignore him, Ian? Martin may have almost gotten the first hit in, but I promise you, I would have gotten in the last."

She knew how to deal with bastards like Missern. It was men like Ian she had always had problems with.

"I should have ignored it." He shrugged, turning from her again. "As you stated, you know how to take care of yourself. But the damage has already been done."

He gave her his back and strode off, naked and buff and so male she would have creamed her nonexistent panties if she weren't so damned pissed off.

"The damage has already been done?" She rushed for the bathroom door, then turned, mortification flaming across her face as she saw him poised at the toilet. "Jeez, Ian."

She heard his smug chuckle a second before the door slammed at her back. Then the snick of the lock. The son of a bitch.

"You are so wrong!" she gritted out after the sound of the toilet flushing.

Not that he paid any attention to her. The sound of the shower finally came through the doors, causing her to pace away from the bathroom door to the closed balcony doors. She pulled them open, stepped out to the balcony, and proceeded to the doors that led to the room Daniel was staying in.

She paused outside the glass doors, peeked in, and caught Daniel's eye where he was sitting in a chair lacing his boots. Glancing to the door of the bedroom, he rose quickly, jerked his shirt from the back of the chair, and shrugged it over his shoulders before opening the door and going out to the balcony.

As the door closed behind him, Kira was in his face, hissing. "Is Durango team on the island?"

Daniel's eyes narrowed, his hand moving to button his shirt lazily as he stared down at her.

"How would I know?" he aske

d coolly.

Oh hell yes, he knew. She recognized that look on his face and that tone of voice.

"How long have they been here? And before you step over the line and lie to me, I'd remember who signs your paycheck, Mr. Calloway."

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