Tempted & Taken (Men of Haven #4)(97)

His phone vibrated and chirped.

Darya dug the heel of one palm against his shoulder and pushed away. She licked her lower lip, and her eyelids hung weighted over her beautiful blue eyes. Beautiful. Even with the rest of the world ready and waiting for them to get their asses in gear.

Knox snagged his phone and thumbed the answer button. “Yeah.”

Beckett’s voice came sharp through the earpiece. “Know you don’t want to do this, brother, but you’ve got an audience. I suggest you pry your ass out of that car and get on with the show.”

Fuck.

He raked his hands through his hair. “Right. We’re getting out.” He killed the connection without waiting for a response and looked to Darya. “You ready?”

She nodded.

“All right. Let’s do this.” He popped his door and unwound himself from the low-slung seats. Summer was giving Texas all it had for the last few days of August. At just after ten in the morning, the temps were already nearing ninety, which wouldn’t have been so bad if the humidity wasn’t pushing ninety, too.

He snagged Darya’s nearly empty suitcase from the trunk, rounded to her door and helped her out. Unlike Beckett, he didn’t relish packing a firearm all the damned time, but guiding her up to her apartment door and knowing Ruslan’s men were somewhere out there, he’d have felt a hell of a lot better with its weight holstered close to his side.

Once inside, he got to work with a physical inspection of every room, then hauled his scanners out of her suitcase and started in with an electronic sweep. Through it all they bantered back and forth about movies and music while Darya tricked herself out for her trumped-up afternoon out on the town with Gia.

He was wrapping up his scan of the bathroom and double-checking the mirror for any signs of hidden cameras when his phone buzzed in his back pocket.

Beckett: Gia’s moving in. Men in position. Find anything?

He could do this. For Darya he could knuckle down and ignore the need to haul her back to his place. Every one of his brothers were in position and ready to protect his woman with their life if needed. He just needed to focus and do what he was good at until this was over.

Knox: All clear.

Less than five minutes later, Gia was in place and Knox was out of excuses to linger. He snagged Darya’s hand in his and led her to the door. When he not only opened it, but steered her onto the landing with him, she dug in her heels and glanced back at Gia.

“Relax,” he said as he pulled her into his arms. From where they stood, the men watching would have a flawless view of them both. “Just give your man a goodbye kiss to tide him over while we run this drill.”

“But they’ll see you,” she whispered as though anyone but Gia could hear and tried to push out of his hold. “I told you what would happen if they find out we’re intimate.”

He banded his arm tighter around her waist and palmed the back of her head, holding her right where he wanted her. Running his nose alongside hers, he breathed her in and teased her lips with his. “You did. That’s why I’m rubbing their nose in it. The odds of them taking the bait and going for me today instead of you are slim and none, but if it means I’m the one in the hot seat and not you, then I’m gonna take it.” He licked her lower lip and growled, “Now give me your mouth.”

She hesitated only a second, bathing him in so much goodness with one simple look it rocked him to his core. Then she kissed him.

Everything was in that kiss. Love. Need. Fear and hope. All of it woven together so thick the whole damned world could have imploded in a second and not a single thing would have touched them.

Behind them, Gia cleared her throat.

Knox forced himself to break the kiss and scowled at Gia over Darya’s shoulder.

She waggled her phone. “Sorry. Beck says the plan was to establish a relationship. Not insight a bloodbath in the parking lot because the two of you had sex.”

Fucking Beckett. For a guy who’d gone all fairy godmother getting him and Darya together, he’d turned into one hell of a cock blocker the last twenty-four hours with all of his planning sessions. “Fine.” Knox pressed his lips to Darya’s forehead and let her go. “Headset on. Mics and trackers checked before you take a step out of this apartment.”

“We’ve got this,” Gia said before Darya could answer.

Hands down, walking away from Darya and not looking back was the hardest thing he’d ever done in his life. Hell, the only thing helping him get in his car and pull out of the parking lot was the frail hope Ruslan’s goons would take the bait and follow him instead of Darya.

He’d barely made the on-ramp to I-75, his foot uncomfortable with the slow and easy routine on the accelerator, when his phone rang through the Audi’s Bluetooth. Beckett’s name flashed across the dash’s center display. “Tell me they fell for it.”

The line crackled with way too much emptiness. “Sorry, brother. You knew it was a long shot.”

Yeah, he had. Rule number one when tailing anyone was never to leave your primary target. Not unless you had enough backup. The good news? If they only had two men watching Darya, that could mean the crew covering Ruslan was also limited. According to Sergei, only four men had followed him off his private jet. That meant six known triggers to contend with when push came to shove versus five from the brotherhood and Sergei’s six. Eleven to six were damned good odds. He’d have preferred to have all his brothers for the job, but Trevor had to make sure Ruslan’s plane stayed out of commission and Jace was the only one with a prayer of keeping Ninette, Sylvie and the rest of the women safe at Haven. Zeke would hang with Knox in the surveillance room they’d set up at the hotel for medical emergencies.