Embraced by Blood. Laurie London

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СКАЧАТЬ maybe, but he was willing to take that chance. “My rig is outfitted as a pseudo Daytran vehicle. It came in handy a few times while working undercover. I’ll manage.” With his heavy weapons bag in one hand, he took the stairs two at a time.

      “I need to clear this with Santiago, since you’re not technically an Agent.”

      “You do that,” Alfonso said and slammed the phone shut.

       CHAPTER FOUR

      LILY PUSHED OPEN THE STEEL door at the far end of the parking garage with a bang, her heart thumping madly in her chest. She was angry, she told herself. Angry and pissed off, and not at all excited.

      There he was. Just where she figured he’d be.

      Alfonso leaned against the hood of her red Porsche, his long legs stretched out in front of him, one large boot crossed over the other, looking like he owned the whole damn place. The warm smell of leather and pine filled her nostrils as she marched toward him, her heels pounding on the pavement with every crushing beat of her heart.

      An hour ago, while she’d assembled her weapons bag, the little hairs on the back of her neck had begun to tingle and thoughts of Alfonso kept filling her mind, despite her attempts to shut them down. And now, of course, she knew why. Her sensory abilities had detected him, knew he was nearby, whether her conscious self was completely aware of it or not. At least her scent memory wasn’t totally fried.

      Shoving the duffel bag behind her, she stopped in front of him, feet squared, hands on her hips. “What the hell are you doing here?”

      Calm as always, he shifted his weight to the other foot and examined his fingernails for a moment before he lazily lifted his gaze to meet hers. The clear blue of his eyes used to remind her of the color of truth, but all she saw now was icy deception. What a fool she’d been to trust her heart with someone like him.

      A hint of a smile sat on his lips, his dimple appearing on one cheek. “What’s it look like I’m doing?”

      “Listen, Alfonso. Don’t play games with me. My intelligence quota has increased exponentially since you last saw me and I’m not nearly as gullible. Why are you here? And I want the truth.”

      His brow furrowed and he studied her face as if she were a science experiment that needed to be weighed, measured and cataloged. Then his gaze traveled slowly down her body, tickling every traitorous nerve ending. “You miss the latest Agency directive? Until further notice, all Trackers shall be accompanied by another Guardian while out in the field.”

      “I’d have heard if the rules had changed.” Jackson hadn’t said anything about it a few minutes ago.

      “It was just faxed to all the field offices in the region.”

      How the hell would he know? He was obviously trying to trip her up, make her think it was official so she’d agree. “And last I knew, you’re not a Guardian. How’d you even get in here? The place is cloaked. Did Mackenzie tell you what was going on? She did, didn’t she? Or wait, Jackson!”

      During the lame-ass emergency briefing that had cut into the precious time she should’ve been out searching for Kip, he hadn’t made eye contact with her. Not once. It totally was him. Next time she saw the guy, she was going to fry his ass.

      “Nope.” He looked down, flicking something off his thigh. As he picked at the frayed edges of a small hole in his jeans, his thick lashes rested against his cheeks.

      His nonchalance fanned her anger and every muscle in her body went rigid. How could he be so calm and act so totally uninterested? They hadn’t seen each other in over a year. The least he could do was shake her hand or give her a hug. Tell her she looked good or something. Like normal people would do. Normal people who’d once shared something special. God, she was so stupid for thinking he’d ever cared about her.

      A tiny voice inside told her she wasn’t exactly welcoming to him either, but she shut that down instantly. She needed to keep her exterior shell as hard and rigid as possible in order to protect her too fragile heart. Love was a candy-coated fairy tale whose sugar high didn’t last long in the real world.

      “Sorry to break it to you, but you’re not coming with me.” She poked a finger toward him and the loaded duffel bag almost slipped off her shoulder. She elbowed it behind her back again. “In fact, you’ve got a lot of nerve showing up like this. What do you mean accompanied by another Guardian, anyway? You’re not Agency.”

      “Santiago okayed me coming on board temporarily to help you track down the missing trainee.”

      It felt as if someone had slapped her. The Region Commander didn’t think she had the chops to handle this assignment on her own? Santiago must think she’d slacked off because Kip had disappeared under her watch. Despite the chill in the air, her internal temperature cranked up like a furnace and the stiff collar of her jacket suddenly became too tight.

      She clenched her jaw and pressed her lips into a hard line. “Well, news flash for you. I don’t report directly to Santiago. I don’t need your help or anyone else’s, so get away from my car. It’s new and I don’t need any scratches or fingerprints.”

      “He got the okay from Roxanne Reynolds. Does that make a difference?”

      She had started to step over his legs, but that stopped her in her tracks. Roxanne was in charge of all Tracker Agents and her word was law. If you valued your job, you didn’t cross her. Unlike Santiago, her bite was much worse than her bark.

      “Yeah, I thought it would.” He stood up, straightening to his full six-foot-four frame, taking full advantage of the fact that he was almost a full twelve inches taller than her. She had to crank her head back to keep eye contact with him and it made her feel even smaller. Damn. She should’ve worn heels.

      A piece of his tousled blond hair fell to the middle of his cheek, and when he absently pushed it off his face, it slid back down anyway. The soft color of his eyes and the tiny wrinkles around the corners belied the hard planes of his square jaw and the rough texture of his unshaven face. Those large hands, with fingertips callused from playing the guitar, were incredibly dexterous, and that powerful body could be surprisingly tender. He was a mass of contradictions, wrapped up in a package too attractive for her own good.

      She shouldered past him, the corner of her duffel smacking against his hip. Too bad it missed his balls. Yanking the car door open, she threw the bag inside, angry with herself for still being so physically attracted to him. He angled himself around to the side of the car, and leaned against the front quarter panel as if he was the one calling the shots.

      “You wasted a lot of time driving down here,” she said. “Despite what everyone must think, I am perfectly capable of tracking Kip on my own. Now, step aside.” But he didn’t budge. Fine. He’d move his ass as soon as she hit the accelerator.

      “I realize that,” he said. “You’re one of the best Trackers in the Agency. That’s not why I’m here.”

      She crossed her arms and raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Then why are you here?”

      “Despite what you must think, Lily, I worry about you. With this new Darkblood strategy, if they even so much as catch wind of you while you’re looking for your little trainee, they’ll ditch him in a heartbeat. He’s not who they wanted in the first place. I plan to be your temporary СКАЧАТЬ