Say It Again (First Wives, #5)(46)

“What if he didn’t always recruit hired guns? What if he started out in areas of special agents for the various governments? Would she have been a recruit then?” Strain started to show on AJ’s face.

“Why are you going down this road, AJ? Do you think your sister was part of something more than what she told you?”

He glanced at the door. “Neil suggested I wasn’t objective enough to see what’s right in front of me. You’ve known me a little longer, and I want to know your opinion.”

The fact her opinion mattered to him was as foreign as her desire to put him at ease but not bullshit the man. “I think people are capable of doing just about anything to get what they want. Parents are capable of killing to keep their children safe. Men and women alike are willing to lie, cheat, and steal to put food on the table and a roof over their heads. Those examples are the easy ones. Things you and I can nod and agree with. Then there’s the other kind of thieves or murderers. The kind that has no regard for life, their own or anyone else’s. Add drugs to this person, take away anyone who cares about them, and they become desperate.” She placed a hand on AJ’s knee. “My point is, do I think your sister was capable of working for someone like Pohl? The answer is yes. Is it likely . . . no.”

AJ stared absently across the room. She could tell by his expression he was contemplating that reality for the first time.

“AJ?”

He glanced at her.

“I’m seldom wrong about these things.”

He shook his head, as if removing a thought from his brain. “We need to come up with a plan.”

“We will.”

“No, you and I. Neil seemed to think I had some kind of influence over you, so he sent me in here to convince you to keep me with you while you went after Pohl. Obviously he’s mistaken. You’re going to run off as soon as you get information, and I’m heading back to DC to dig into my sister’s life more than I have. We convince Neil that we’re taking off together, and he doesn’t sic his men on you.”

Sasha saw a flash inside her head in the form of an image of AJ rifling through his sister’s home, maybe an office. What if he stumbled on a truth she didn’t foresee? What if his trip to Germany led Amelia’s killer back to him?

That thought didn’t sit well in her gut. Outside of taking orders, she hadn’t seen any evidence that AJ could identify a threat, let alone remove it. If he went off on his own, he could easily become a target if Pohl was connected. It was getting harder to see an endgame where Pohl wasn’t connected.

“Don’t tell me you’re against the idea,” AJ said.

Completely.

“I’m circling back to why Neil thinks you have some kind of pull with me.”

AJ flashed his teeth again. “I know . . . crazy. I guess he sees the spark.”

“The what?” Her thoughts shifted to AJ’s words.

“Spark. That thing you feel when I walk in the room that you’re refusing to acknowledge.”

Her nipples—little shits—perked to attention. “That’s ridiculous.”

He chuckled.

“What?”

“It’s okay. I get it. If you don’t admit it, you can pretend it isn’t there.” AJ took that moment to look at his leg. The leg her hand was resting on.

She rolled her eyes and removed it. “I don’t have to pretend anything. Does my body respond to yours? Yes. It’s chemical. You undress me with your eyes and say things to purposely make me sexually aware you’re here.”

Amusement danced on his face.

“I never play where I eat,” she told him.

He bent his leg, rested one of his arms on his knee. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means if you had picked me up in the bar in Germany, we would have fucked and I wouldn’t have seen you again. Instead, you asked for my help and took sex off the table.” Once the words left her lips, she took note of where they were both sitting, in a closed bedroom at thirty-some thousand feet.

Sasha wiggled to the edge of the bed and bent to retrieve her shoes.

“If I knew those were the rules, I would have changed my strategy.”

She hoped he couldn’t see her smile. She pushed her foot into one boot, zipped it up before turning to the next.

“You can’t change what is,” she said, her voice even.

Second boot zipped and she sat up, looked at AJ.

Poor guy looked like he’d just lost his puppy.

“Trust me, AJ. You don’t want this.”

She stood and took one step to the door.

AJ moved faster than she thought anyone could.

He blocked the door with his body and reached for her face with his hands. “Don’t tell me what I don’t want.” And then to prove himself, he kissed her.

Stunned and silent. Two words Sasha never used to define herself when a man was taking what she didn’t approve of first.

Yet there she stood, AJ’s lips moving over hers, coaxing them open while her body tossed imaginary pom-poms in the air.

Push him away.

Yeah, her nipples were like beacons of come and get me. Pushing away wasn’t going to happen.

Just a little friction. A small touch that wasn’t her own.

She opened her mouth and kissed him back. The slide of his tongue along hers was like warm silk on cool skin.