Defenseless (Salvation, #5)(32)

I exit the bathroom to find him sitting on the edge of the bed. “Thought you might spend the rest of the flight in there.”

“Funny.” I walk over, throw my clothes, and sit next to him. “I thought about it.”

“What changed your mind?”

I shrug. “I figured you’d eventually break the door down.”

Mark laughs and grips my thigh. “Look,” he says, but I lift my hand.

“Let me go first.” He stops talking for the first time—ever. “I need to be clear. That was just what it was.”

“And what do you think that was?”

“Sex. That’s it.”

That’s all it can be. I need to focus. I’m going to betray him when I get home. There will be no more partnership. I’m doing this on my own. Working together was a mistake. There’s no way I can remain objective. I have to distance myself from this mess, and Mark needs to get a handle on what is going on with him.

He stands and pushes his blonde hair back. “You really know how to kill a mood.”

“I’m just being honest.”

“I didn’t ask you for anything,” he counters. “But you’re lying to yourself if you think I didn’t see through the bullshit you spit out. It wasn’t just sex. You felt everything that happened between us. You f*cking enjoyed every second I was inside you.”

“Yeah, I did! The sex part only!” I yell.

He laughs and mumbles under his breath, “You’re so stubborn.”

He’s right. “And you’re being targeted!” I can’t talk about us when there’s all this between us. “I’m being targeted! I mean, shit! Do you really think this is the best time for us to start something? Because I sure as hell don’t.”

“I can handle myself,” he states with no room for discussion.

Frustratingly stubborn male. I’ve never doubted he can handle it, but I don’t think he really grasps the full picture. “And what about the people around you? Are you handling them?” I stand and move around the room.

“I fully intend to.” Mark stands and begins to walk toward me, but I put my hands up to stop him.

The questions assault me as I allow my mind to work. He has to wonder the same things. It’s time to lay it all out on the table. “There are a lot of things that don’t add up. How did the villagers know about the Humvee that was carrying Aaron? How did they know you and Jackson were in the country? How did anyone know about your mission with the ambassador? What the hell did Jackson do to get anyone associated with his company on their radar?” I fire off my thoughts without pause.

Mark grips my shoulders and turns me to him. He then takes my face in his hands and kisses me. I grip his arms while he clutches me against him. I lose myself so quickly that it terrifies me. He shouldn’t be able to unbalance me, yet that’s exactly what happens when he touches me. Mark elicits the vulnerable side of me, and I hate him for it.

I pull back and run my fingers through my hair, gripping the sides in frustration. “Stop doing that!”

“Doing what?”

“Kissing me like that!” I shout. “Stop making this harder than it has to be.”

“Wanna tell me again it’s just sex?”

I glare at him. “That’s exactly what that was. It won’t happen again. You need to wake up and see what’s happening.”

He takes a step closer. “Don’t worry about me, babe. I plan to handle it, and then we’ll see what you say when this happens again.”

“It won’t.”

“Oh, it will.” His voice is ice cold. “You’ll be on your knees begging for my dick.” He presses his body against mine with his arm hooked around my back. “Only next time I won’t be surprised when you slap me. I’ll be ready for you. I’ll hold back until tears fall from your eyes and you want nothing but me. Then . . .” He pauses when my breath hitches. “I’ll f*ck you until you’re begging me to stop.”

I want to deny that his words turn me on, but the moisture between my legs proves otherwise. I want to throw him on the bed and screw his brains out. However, I do have some sense of control. There will be none of that. This ends now. “We’re done here. There will be no more of us until you handle your friends and everything that’s going on.”

I push away from him and walk out into the main cabin of the plane. Mark Dixon is playing a game that could kill us both. I can’t be around him until we know what we’re dealing with. I need to learn who’s following me and hunting us both. We have too much at stake to let this happen.



“What? Where are we?” I ask as the plane lands, and not in the Washington DC area.

“California,” he responds, as if this is to be expected. “We need to talk to someone.”

“We? How about you should’ve asked me!”

Mark smirks and then leans back in his seat. “Listen, I need answers and you’re a human lie detector. If Jackson knows anything, you’re the best chance at finding out.”

I inwardly groan. I see his point, but this means I need to spend more time around him. “Fine. You have two days.”

We arrive at Jackson’s office outside San Diego. Mark and I discuss his plan, but he doesn’t have one. He just wants to wing it, which scares me.