“Playing this ridiculous game you’re playing. We both know why you’re here, and it’s not to cozy up to me. So unless someone else is in the room with us, I expect you to keep your mouth shut.”
“First off,” I said after swallowing down a delicious mouthful of vegetables, potatoes, and pasta, “I was told to gather intel with you, not sleep with you. I didthatbecause I wanted to. Despite what you might think, no amount of money could get me on my back. I have money, lots of it. But apparently, a hot body, prickly demeanor, and dangerous asshole personality seem to be what’s making my cock hard these days. So I slept with you because, quite honestly, I couldn’t say no. And second”—I jabbed my spoon at him—“it’s kind of hard to eat with my mouth shut. So if you don’t mind, I’m going to just keep on opening it for life’s little pleasures.”
My eyes wandered down his body, and I smirked. “Should you want to give me one of life’sbiggerpleasures again, I’d also be willing to open it for that.”
Dimitri said nothing to that, just went back to eating his meal, so I did the same.
Let him digest what I’d just told him—let it sink in that I’d slept with him for me, not the mission. Then maybe we could find some kind of common ground for these last two weeks.
When he was finally finished, Dimitri picked up his napkin and cleaned off his mouth. Seconds later he was walking past me, toward the door.
Okay, so much for finding a truce.
“Darling Dimitri, you’ve forgotten to uncuff me,” I sing-songed, trying to lift my arm and getting caught by the chain.
He paused with his hand on the doorknob and looked at me over his shoulder. “No. I haven’t.”
Then he walked out, leaving me alone in the room with what was left of my minestrone.
My mouth fell open at the audacity.
“Hello?” I called out, and pounded my fist on the table. “I’m still tied to a chair in here. Hellooooo?”
26
DIMITRI
Location: Dimitri’s Hidden Compound, Arabian Desert
OUR STOPS THROUGHOUT the rest of Europe were successful, if still a bit precarious in these early stages of a new working relationship…and so was trying to keep Benoit on his leash.
Even now, sitting beside me in the helicopter taking us to my desert compound, he snuggled in close, his hand inching toward my thigh as he did everything in his power to get under my skin. It was infuriating. I was the one who’d told him to act natural and not let on that we were at odds. But damn, did he have to be so fucking good at it?
I knocked away his hand, keeping my focus on the never-ending dunes awash in orange, red, and purple as the sun set behind us.
“You’re missing out on what could be an incredibly romantic moment, you know,” Benoit said loudly into his headset.
“I didn’t bring you here for romance.”
“No, you brought me here to fuck, and you won’t even do that anymore.”
I glanced at the pilot and then shot a warning look at Benoit. This wasn’t a private conversation; the line of communication was open between everyone on this chopper.
But Benoit already knew that, judging by the amused tilt to his lips. I should’ve known better than to think my glare would stop his mouth.
“All that sand…” he mused, leaning over me even though he had a perfectly good window on his side to stare out of. “I have a feeling I’ll need some help getting it out of places it shouldn’t be. Think you could give me a hand? Maybe even two?”
“No.”
“Not even if I beg? It’s been a while, but I remember how much you like me to do that with my mouth.”
The fucked-up part of all this was I remembered that too, but the hot rage inside me still simmered, threatening to boil over. Maybe it’d been a mistake not to cut ties completely.
“Approaching the landing pad,” the pilot said just as the testing field came into view. That was where all of our newly acquired weapons went through rigorous checks before they were posted for sale. Beside that was the hangar that housed everything from our helicopters and plane to the all-terrain vehicles that could navigate the desert. Beyond that, our weapons lab and operation headquarters, and on the far end of the compound, my private residence.
“Is all of this yours,mon monstre, or is this yet another stop on our trek?”
Considering I’d brought him here, there was no point in lying now. The compound was hidden in a desert no-man’s land, where not even his high-tech bullshit could easily track movement. Only a select few knew about it. It was isolated,guarded, a veritable fortress for testing all the weapons for the governments, rogue agents, and private organizations I sold to.
