The Chance (Thunder Point #4)(32)

“You’re a spook!” he said.

She gave a twist of the mouth that said, oh, well. And shrugged.

“But why, Laine? Why do you do that stuff? I have to understand.”

“Because it needs to be done! And I’m good at it! If we hadn’t investigated, gone inside, gotten people out, there would still be eight to ten women and as many children in there and he planned to fight to keep his property and his farm and as a last resort, burn the place to the ground and run, leaving the women and children inside!”

“And why didn’t you leave when you found out what you needed to find out?”

“Because I was in!” She took a breath. “Getting inside wasn’t easy.”

“Are you undercover now? Here?”

She gritted her teeth. “I’m on leave. Why are you so upset?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know,” he said, shaking his head. “I knew you worked for the FBI. I didn’t think you were that...that... Thinking of you doing something that dangerous, I guess it just...” He put a hand on her shoulder and ran it down her arm. “When I hold you, you seem small against me. You’re soft and pliant and I feel protective and it’s hard for me to imagine...”

“Eric, I’m soft in your arms because I want to be. Not because I’m helpless. Because I like feeling that way with you. Now get a grip. I’m a professional.”

“It’s a big thing for me, getting a picture of you in my head taking on some terrorist. Alone.”

“Yeah? Well, the DEA was a little pissy, too.”

“Huh?”

She gave a shrug and a little snort. “We’re all a little possessive with cases. Once I found the pot, we could’ve called in DEA but it was our case and we worked it to the end. DEA wasn’t happy about that. Federal agencies are territorial. Everyone wants jurisdiction. In the end a DEA interdiction unit picked up two of our four escaped guys, so they got a piece of it.”

“I’m going to need a dictionary....”

“Interdiction unit. They interrupt the trafficking of drugs, humans, weapons, cash—all fuel for more crimes.”

“Can you show me?”

“Show you what?”

“How you were trained to defend yourself? Just for my peace of mind? Because I don’t want to have thoughts in my head of anything bad happening to you. And because you’ll go back to that life and I— Just show me, okay?”

“Eric, nothing bad is going to happen to me. Not here, for God’s sake. I’m on leave....”

“You won’t be on leave forever. I don’t know what I thought you did in the FBI but it wasn’t going undercover against terrorists.”

“If it’s too much for you, what I do for a living, you can opt out. I told you, I’m not holding you hostage.”

He shook his head. “Too late for that,” he said. “I’m in. So, can you show me something?”

She took a deep breath. “All right, listen. I learned some defensive moves for competition when I was a kid in karate, which is the same as a fair fight and there’s a referee present. But what I learned in training is how to do whatever it takes. If you’re my brother or my boyfriend and you just want to test me, it’s hard to pull off. If you’re a bad guy and you get the jump on me, I’m going to kick you in the balls and rip your ears off and gouge your eyes out. Do you hear me? Do you? Because it’s better if you just take my word for it.”

He grabbed her wrists. Tightly. “Just get out of this for me.”

She deftly twisted her hands toward his thumbs and pinned his thumbs back, making him yelp. “Jesus.”

“A preschooler could have done that.”

“Try not to totally emasculate me,” he said, rubbing his thumbs and wrists.

“I’m going to need a dictionary,” she said, grinning.

“Okay, I’m six-two and one-eighty. If I somehow got the slip on you, got you down, covered your little body with mine...”

“Wanna go for it, champ?” she asked, lifting a brow.

“You’re a little cocky,” he said.

She lay down on the floor. “Take your time,” she said.

He studied her position. He really didn’t want to get kicked in the nuts. On the other hand, he wanted assurance that she was capable. Safe. That she could, as she insisted, take care of herself.

He approached her from the side. Slowly. He covered her small body with his much larger body.

“Well?” she said. “What’s your plan? You going to suffocate me? Rape me? Beat me?”

He laced his fingers through hers, hoping to avoid that uncomfortable preschool move. He stretched her arms out, pinning them.

“Very good, Eric. How are you going to get my pants down?”

He thought about this for a second, then grasped both of her hands in one of his and lifted himself just slightly. He thought he’d snake one hand down between their bodies just to illustrate that he could, but it never got beyond a thought. She freed her hands, socked him in the jaw and from nowhere her legs came up from beneath them, wrapped around his torso and, with amazing strength, she flipped him off her. He landed with an oomph, flat on his back. Then, as fast as greased lightning, she crawled right over his body and kneeled on his arms, pinning him. He could probably get out of this hold, but until he did, her hands were free. And he had grown so attached to his eyeballs.