Secret Obsession (Carder Texas Connections #6)(39)
Satisfaction gave way to power. His grin widened. “I see you know me. You should.”
He leaned forward, his hands moving closer. Her gaze followed them. He toyed with the buttons on her manly shirt. She shrank back, but she couldn’t escape. He liked playing with her. The woman who pretended she was so capable, so strong.
She was nothing.
He unbuttoned the top button, staring at the smooth, unblemished skin, then pulled out a knife. “Don’t worry. This won’t take long.”
Suddenly the woman kicked out at him, her heel hitting just above his knee. He fell to the side, then sprang toward her, sitting on her legs.
He pressed the knife against her throat. “Do that again, you’re dead.”
Enough playing around. With a few quick slices, he cut through her shirt and bra, baring her chest.
He dug the knife into her smooth skin, carving his symbol at the top of her breast.
She winced, but didn’t cry out. Damn her.
“Are you afraid?” He dragged the blade to her rib. “One shove in right here and you’d bleed to death on the inside.” He moved the blade to her abdomen. “Or here, it would take longer.”
He gloried at the shiver that raced through her before finishing the design. “Or not.”
Blood dripped down to her nipple. He gazed at his handiwork.
Infinity. Forever.
How long he’d loved Alessandra. How long they would be together.
How much longer before she would be his?
It had to be soon.
He tapped his temple. “I should kill you, but I need you alive. For a while.” He rose, wiping his blade clean. “In thirty-six hours this building will be demolished. If your brother does what he’s told, I might let him know where you are before the explosions commence. Otherwise...”
Archimedes exited the closet and fortified the door. She would die soon. And Noah Bradford would learn once and for all what it meant to challenge Archimedes.
They all would learn.
Chapter Nine
Noah took the night watch from a spot on the wall with a view of both the suite door and the outside window. Rafe and Zane had done their share of staking out already in freezing temperatures. Archimedes hadn’t shown and they deserved the rest.
Besides, Noah knew he wouldn’t sleep. Whenever he closed his eyes, Lyssa’s sweet voice seduced him. In the dreams, she started out wanting him, begging for his touch, and then ended by presenting him a bloody knife—to kill for her.
He didn’t need a psychology degree to comprehend the meaning.
Did she want him...or did she want the Falcon? Killing the ones who believed they could get away with it.
Archimedes fit the category.
So did most of the terrorist leaders he’d tracked down and eliminated.
The soft swish of Lyssa’s bedroom door took Noah out of his thoughts. He glanced at the red numbers of the radio clock on the end table in the sitting area. Four in the morning.
Lyssa padded across the room and sank down beside him, tucking her knees and wrapping her arms around her legs.
“You’re up early,” he said, his voice husky from a night without speaking to anyone, except in his mind.
“I never went to sleep,” she said softly. “Still snowing?”
“Light. We’ll be able to leave as soon as they clear the runways. I would think midmorning.”
She rested her chin on her knees and looked over at him. “I’ve been thinking about you. About us.”
Oh, boy. Noah wasn’t sure he wanted to hear this. “Your conclusion?” Did he even want to know?
“You confuse me,” she said, chewing on her lip. “Jack couldn’t quite figure you out. He told me...”
Noah waited for the teasing, the mocking. Jack had respected Noah’s ability, he knew that, but Jack hadn’t been able to resist a jibe or two about the human calculator.
“Your smarts blew him away. He didn’t talk about work a lot, but he couldn’t help but mention a few crazy MacGyver stunts you’d pulled off. One with toothpicks, duct tape and some blasting caps.”
“That mission was classified,” Noah said. He leaned back against the wall. “Jack was convinced I’d gone nuts for coming to boot camp, especially when he found out about Dreamcatcher.”
She smiled, her expression bittersweet, and Noah couldn’t stop himself from being caught in the sad depths of her green eyes.
“He couldn’t understand why someone with your brains and your money would be willing to fight so hard to be a marine. Mostly because Jack’s father had told him it was either the military or working in his dad’s auto-body shop.”
“I’d forgotten that story,” Noah said with a slight grin. “The truth is, Jack was made for Intelligence. His charm got him information I could never have gathered. Plus he had guts. He was loyal, and he could sniff out the bad guys like he was a bloodhound. Great instincts.”
“He said the same about you, but he said you did it with your brain and techie toys.” She tilted her head to the side. “Why did you join up? Why not just run your companies?”
He shrugged, bending his leg at the knee, studying the light dusting of snow still falling. “I was good at school. I tinkered a lot with computers and stuff. Not much of an athlete.”