eyes dipping to her empty travel bag that she needed to fill so she wasn’t “naked” on the trip. “Are you sure we have a safe place to go if I still agree to let you risk your life by going with me?”
“Why yes, my lady,” he teased. “My buddy lives in Alabama just over ninety minutes give or take from Atlanta. He’s on an assignment overseas, and his place is empty. Very secluded, too.” And ten minutes from my parents’ house. Ana didn’t need to know that, though. “But we can only go there if you promise not to take advantage of me. You know, no panic-sex. And also, there is no if I am going.”
“Fine,” Ana responded. She may have been working awfully hard to sound businesslike, but her eyes sparkled with humor. She shooed him with her hand, nearly flicking him. “Let me hurry and pack. You’re slowing me down.”
“Whatever you say,” he answered, catching a smile she’d been too slow to hide with the back of her hand.
A.J. turned to leave but then slapped a palm to the interior frame of the closet door. “By the way, my buddy has an arsenal at our disposal and a helo if we need one while we’re there. He’s in the Air Force.” He wasn’t quite sure what kind of trip this would turn out to be, but just in case . . .
“And you can’t fly, so trying to woo me over with a helo is a waste of your efforts unless you’ve taken up flying lessons I don’t know about.”
He was loving every verbal jab from this woman, and he’d happily take them all day long. “Now you got me curious just how much you know about me.”
She opened her mouth, probably to protest something, but her eyes fell to the black silk robe now suspended from the hanger in her hand.
He couldn’t unsee it. Couldn’t unimagine what it’d be like to have her wearing it for him. Pull at the sash and reveal her pale, creamy skin. Naked body. Perky breasts.
“You won’t be seeing me in this,” she quickly informed him. “Don’t get any ideas.”
He lifted his palms in surrender. “I wouldn’t dream of it, sugar.” He worked his eyes back up to her green ones, full of fire right now.
“I guess ‘girl’ and ‘sugar’ aren’t any worse than Ginger or Red.” Her response was almost disappointing because he enjoyed a good back-and-forth with her.
She turned on her heel and went back to the business of packing, most likely checking off a to-do list of Things To Wear On The Run in her head.
A.J. finally left the closet, not before grabbing her weapons bag first, because it really was too damn hot in there, and he was from Alabama, so that was saying a lot.
He set the bag down by the door, then turned to look at her bedroom, which had yet to be decorated. A simplistic plain brown headboard with a gray-ish-hued bedspread. Clean lines. She wasn’t a frills or fuss kind of woman from what he could tell. The lockbox peeked out from under her bed—her secondary weapon she probably had on hand nearby for nighttime. Good.
“My people will figure this whole mess out, by the way,” he said when she exited the closet a quick sixty seconds later, her bag packed. Clearly, he had been slowing her down.
“I don’t need their help,” she answered with her typical stubborn sass. “But could you ask someone on your team to reach out to Adriana for me? I don’t want her to worry, but I can’t make contact with anyone once I leave.”
God, there was so much more he needed to know before he drove off into the proverbial sunset with Ana, but this woman was going to take some time to unravel.
“Sure.” He nodded. Doing his best to get mission-focused once again and stop fantasizing about her wearing the silk robe. “You all set?”
“Just about.”
“I’ll check in with my team while I wait for you.” He dialed up Wyatt when she disappeared into the bathroom.
“Hey,” Wyatt answered on the fourth ring, his voice ragged, or maybe out of breath.
“I bet you and Natasha are in that basement safe house having a quickie.” And if it were true, he wouldn’t blame him. Wyatt had finally found love, and the man was in deep. “You need to finish first and call me back?”
“Shut the bloody hell up.” Standard answer from Echo One. “Where are you?”