Heated Pursuit (Alpha Security #1)(8)
The layers of clothes between them may as well have disintegrated, and probably would if they stayed in this position much longer. Rafe groaned, the blood flow to his brain instantly diverted southbound. The more she squirmed, the harder his growing cock pushed against her mound. He knew the exact moment she registered his erection for the monster it was, because her eyes widened and her mouth slackened a fraction of an inch.
Taking her in a kiss would’ve been all too easy. One taste. One taste was all he needed to get her out of his head.
“Christ, I think I need a smoke.” Logan’s mutter reminded him they were far from alone.
Rafe pushed to his feet with a mumbled curse. He needed to bury this attraction in the f*cking sand because despite her sly smirks and truckload of stubbornness, he’d bet his Civil War Smith & Wesson that Penny Kline wasn’t the type of woman for a no-strings romp—and that was all he was good for.
He didn’t do relationships. Weekends of sexy fun—sure. One-night stands—hell yeah. Marriage and picket fences and two-point-five children—no f*cking way. A second reason why maintaining distance was best was boring a hole into the back of his head with the tenacity of a heat-seeking missile.
Trey. Best friend. Delta brother. There was an unwritten rule about f*cking your best friend’s almost little sister.
Rafe ignored Trey’s displeased glower and paused at the training gym door.
Stone’s gaze caught his and his boss asked simply, “Verdict?”
“I’m not signing off on her until I know without a doubt that she can keep her shit together out in the field. It’s one thing to defend yourself with comfy mats cushioning your fall. It’s an entirely different scenario out there in the real world.”
“What are you suggesting?”
“A field demo where anything and everything can happen. We toss shit at her and see how she reacts. Dropping two of us to the floor in a gym doesn’t prove she’s going to be able to do it when Fuentes or one of his goons comes at her with a knife—or worse.” He threw an unapologetic glance over his shoulder. “Wish I could say that I was sorry for being so blunt, sweetheart, but I’m not.”
Penny glared at him from the middle of the room. “No need to apologize to me, sweetheart. Let me know when and where and I’ll somehow manage not to crawl into a corner and hide.”
*
With Rafe and Sean making their cover appearances at the local bar and the others scouring the city looking for leads, Penny sat alone on the enclosed back porch of Alpha’s safe house. Sirens whirred far off in the distance and from a few blocks over, someone triggered a car alarm. She ignored it all, trying to make sense of the last few months.
When Rachel had come to her with the idea of the two of them volunteering with Youth Worldwide, Penny had thought it was a good idea with the promise of once-in-a-lifetime excitement. They’d made plans, shopped until they were nearly dead on their feet, and then because of her big job switcheroo, Penny hadn’t been able to get the time off for a trip of that magnitude. Still, she’d encouraged Rachel to go, never for once thinking that she was sending her straight into danger.
Guilt and fear crushed Penny’s chest like an anvil, and the more she willed the forming ache away, the heavier it became. Rachel’s abduction was her fault, and if anything happened to Rachel while in the hands of Fuentes, Penny had no one to blame but herself.
She definitely couldn’t blame Rafe and the others, and she couldn’t condemn them for being wary of her abilities. Heck, she was wary of them.
Even though she’d turned in her social worker’s briefcase for a pair of handcuffs and she had a bail enforcement license in her wallet, it hadn’t been without a whole lot of I-must-be-losing-my-mind freak-outs. And technically, she hadn’t finished her mentorship requirements with Vince. But wrapping things up had been the last thing on her mind when Rachel hinted that she thought she was in trouble.
Penny hadn’t hesitated to drop everything. Yeah, Rachel was her niece despite their three-year age difference, but she was also her best friend—her sister. There was absolutely nothing she wouldn’t do for her, but she couldn’t do any of it if Rafe and the guys sent her home.
Reservations over Rafe’s real-world demonstration weighed heavily on her mind. No doubt it would be brutal. The look he’d sent her way before leaving the training room that morning sure hadn’t given her the warm fuzzies…or the impression that it would be a cakewalk. Her imagination had run the gamut from chin-ups off the side of a building to stopping a bullet with her teeth. Part of her hoped to have another chance to flip him to the ground—without the mat—but she didn’t think she’d be that lucky a second time.
As the bug zapper on her left went crazy, twin male voices drifted over the backyard’s ten-foot security wall. In a city where buildings were practically built on top of each other, overheard conversations weren’t abnormal. But at the mention of Freedom, Penny found herself tiptoeing toward the cement barrier that separated the yard from the alley.
“What’s that stuff called again?” a man asked another in Spanish.
“Freedom,” answered the second. “I’m telling you, Fuentes scored the big one with this shit. A few tastes and you have an instant following. They’ll come back for more and will do anything to get it.”