Way of the Warrior (Troubleshooters #17.5)(65)

“Did you bring me the disk?” she asked as she sipped her own coffee.

Rook wanted to wipe the frown from between her brows. “No. You’re not touching that disk.”

“So what you’re saying is that when you leave here, you’ll not be back?” Her voice was mild—the energy drifting from her was anything but.

He blew out a rough breath. “Yeah, that’s what I’m saying.”

“No.”

A simple refusal full of her intent.

“You weren’t cut out for this, Vivi—”

She held up a hand and cut him off. The woman was a constant surprise and obviously had no fear of Rook. His cock went brick hard. She was perfect for him.

“You didn’t call me for two weeks, and you think I wasn’t busy researching my cyber-spy ass off? Oh, Rook, for such a smart man, you’re incredibly stupid.”

Rook smiled. Vivi frowned.

She set her cup down hard. “I know who you’ve aligned with. I wish there were another way, but there isn’t. And now I, too, have cast my lot with your new boss. I believe he likes to be called The Piper. You see, he’s been my contact since the beginning.”

Rage made his gut roil. “You cannot do this,” he said in a hard voice. “No goddamn way am I letting you into this, Vivi, you’re too… Wait. Since the beginning?”

She raised a brow. “Too what?”

Rook wasn’t taking her bait. He was a man, built for war. She was a woman, built for loving. “It’s not happening,” he damn near yelled.

“You’re a sexist pig, Rook Granger. I’m good enough to f*ck but not to stand beside you in this fight? Have you forgotten what they cost me? My brother died because of their damn war games!”

He reached for her, but she hopped off the stool and sidestepped him, moving around to the other side of the counter.

“And then you’re forgetting the most important thing,” she muttered.

“Yeah? What’s that, Vivi?”

She narrowed her gaze on him. “They also brought me to you. I want to find them and thank them properly.”

He snorted. “You’re a vicious one, aren’t you?”

She cocked her head. “You have no idea. Besides, your new uber-secret black-ops group needs a cyber spy with CIA contacts and mad computer programming and hacking skills. Knight vouched for me.”

He was going to run right through Knight when he saw him next time. The fear he thought he’d shed was back in full force. It wasn’t as comforting as it normally was because now he had his woman to worry about. His brain halted. His. Woman.

His woman.

Holy…his woman.

“I meant what I said on that plane in Warrenton, Vivi.”

She nodded. “I know you never say anything you don’t mean, Rook.”

“You’re mine.”

“And you’re mine, Rook Granger. I won’t let you go without a huge fight. You became mine when Michael brought your story to me two years ago. Then I saw you chained in prison, and you made me realize what honor was. So you remain mine.”

“The men perpetrating these war games are powerful. We still don’t know how high this reaches. And there are other governments involved. We’re talking world order kind of shit, Vivi. You’ll have no choice but to come to Port Royal. If you signed on with Endgame Ops, then you know that.”

“Yes. We sharing quarters there?” she asked.

“If I can’t talk you out of this then goddamn straight. What about ‘you’re mine’ didn’t you understand?”

“Just making sure.”

He rubbed his chest.

“Why do you do that?” she queried.

He ground his back teeth. All in, Granger. “You make my heart hurt. You have from the moment I saw you in that goddamn prison.”

“It’s only fair,” she responded.

“Why’s that?”

“Because you do the same to me.”

He calmly got up and walked to her, pulling her against him and holding her close. “I don’t want you there, but I can’t let you be anywhere else. Endgame Ops was formed specifically to fight these guys. That we’re using their code name for their war games is thumbing our noses at them, but they’ll find out eventually. We have no idea who this is, who’s pulling these strings, setting the moves into play, killing our men and putting our country in jeopardy by selling secrets and weapons. Are you sure you want in on this? I can talk to—”

She looked up at him, and he knew. She was all in.

It made his heart beat fast and hard, the drum echoing in his cock. Her eyes widened, and he lifted her up. She wrapped her legs around his waist, and he pressed into her.

She hissed in a breath. He lowered his mouth and suckled her breast through his T-shirt. She moaned and he gloried in the sound.

He pulled away and lifted his head, gazing deep into her eyes, willing her to understand.

“I know,” she said. “I feel it too.”

“He knows you’re coming back with me?” Rook referred to the head of Endgame Ops. The man sitting in a cushy office up on Capitol Hill, controlling things for this entire operation. The Piper. The man Vivi had been corresponding with from the very beginning. They’d have to talk about that soon—all three of them, together.