Iris Johansen - Quinn

And she could feel the beginning of her response to that sexuality. The heat that was moving through her veins, that tautness of her breasts, the pounding of her heart.

“Close your eyes.” His voice was suddenly hoarse. “Don’t look at me.”

Her lids snapped shut. He had noticed, dammit. He was aware of her vulnerability and his effect on her. How could he help it? The emotion was vibrating like raw electricity between them. She had to confront it and bring it down. “It doesn’t mean anything, Gallo. I won’t let it mean anything.”

“Then keep your eyes closed.” She heard him moving. “And I believe I’ll forgo my pleasure in looking at you for a while. I live in the moment, but you don’t. I may not be around to experience regrets, but I hope you will.”

“All this sob-story stuff you’re putting out is getting redundant.” She opened her eyes to see him lying with his back to her. “I don’t know if I should believe you.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t. Call Eve and tell her to get Quinn out here. Then you can bow out.”

“Shut up. I’ll do what I please.”

But what would please her right now had nothing to do with her mission. What was happening between them? A good deal of it had to be because of the weeks they’d spent in these woods on the hunt, getting to know each other in the most intimate and dramatic way possible. Life and death and the hunt. It had dominated both of their minds and bodies. Even after the scenario had changed, it was still present, charging every word, ever look with urgency.

But there was suddenly more, and the hunt had taken on the most basic and earthy of meanings.

Eve had said Gallo had killed her child. How could Catherine feel anything for him but horror? Yes, he had been suffering from a mental breakdown. Yes, he was suffering enough now to want to end his life. But that did not stop the horror. All Catherine’s life, she had relied upon her instincts. How could they have failed her in this crucial moment? She could not respect herself if her mind and emotions were being subjugated by Gallo. She was either completely overwhelmed by Gallo and her own desires and unable to separate those instincts from the truth, or there was something terribly wrong.

And at the moment she couldn’t sort anything out. Too much had happened. Too much was hovering on the horizon. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back on the makeshift pillow. She would sleep, and tomorrow she would start to deal with it.

Even though her eyes were closed, she still felt as if she could see Gallo, feel him, sense his every movement.

Spellbinder…

“I’LL LET YOU GO INTO THE lake without the rope, but I’ll be here with the dart gun. Start to swim away, and you’ll take another nap,” Gallo said. “And I haven’t figured any way to save your modesty. I accept suggestions.”

“Don’t be absurd.” She started to take off her shirt. “Do you think I haven’t bathed naked with men before? I’m CIA. I spent years in the jungles of South America.”

“Pardon me.” He settled himself on the bank. “And it never presented problems?”

“I didn’t say that.” She took off her boots. “But the problems never occurred more than once.” She shed the rest of her clothes and waded into the water. “Pitch me that green bottle in my knapsack.”

“What is it?” He picked up the small bottle and lifted it to his nose. “It smells like rotten leaves.”

“Soap.” She looked at him as she reached water deep enough to cover her breasts. In spite of her words, she had to block the tension that was a product of her awareness of him. “It was created for me by Hu Chang. You know the scent of products is a dead giveaway when you’re on the hunt or being hunted.” She caught the bottle as he tossed it to her. “You must have something like it. No matter how close I got to you, I couldn’t detect your scent.”

He nodded. “But yours is very good. I’d like to meet your Hu Chang.”

“He’d be interested to meet you. He appreciates competence.” She soaped her hair, then dipped her head to rinse it. “You’re very good, Gallo.”

“How long have you known this Hu Chang?”

“Since I was fourteen.”

“Not a CIA man?”

She chuckled. “No, he was very upset when I decided to join them. He was sure they’d corrupt my free will.”

“A valid concern.”

She shrugged. “I had to make a decision I could live with. I grew up on the streets of Hong Kong, and I survived by dealing information to whoever would pay the highest fee for it. But I could see where I was going. Then a CIA agent, Venable, offered me a job with the CIA, and I took it. The Agency wasn’t always clean, but they were trying to protect something besides themselves. That was unique in my world.”

“All of this at seventeen.”

“I told you, age doesn’t mean anything.”

“Hu Chang,” he prompted.

“He had a shop that sold unique poisons and drugs. It’s very profitable on the street, and he was targeted by a couple thieves on his way home. I helped him discourage them. But he was hurt, and I took him home and took care of him until he was well enough to take care of himself. We became… close.”

“I suppose I don’t have to ask how you discouraged them.”

“If I hadn’t killed them, they would have come back and targeted me, too,” she said simply. “In Hong Kong, you don’t take chances like that.”

“And Hu Chang was grateful.” He smiled. “And made you soap that smells like rotten leaves.”

“Among other things.” She started to wade back to shore. “I’m done. Give me that shirt on top of my knapsack. I managed to wash that one two days ago.”

“Use my sweatshirt to dry off.” He handed her a dark green shirt. “It’s not that clean, but it will absorb the water.”

She dabbed her body quickly and reached for her shirt. She had felt more comfortable in the water. She was too close to him. “I feel better now.” She swiftly buttoned up the shirt. “In spite of the rotten leaves.”

“I never said I didn’t like the smell of rotten leaves.” He slipped the looped rope around her waist, then took a step back and gazed at her in the shirt, which hit the top of her thighs. “Pity. But I think you’d better put on something else as soon as possible. I’m feeling a problem coming on. I don’t want a demonstration on how you deal with this one.”

She stared him in the eye. “You have me on a rope. I’m helpless.”

“You’re never helpless.”

“You don’t know me well enough to say that.” She started to dress. “I was helpless when you shot that dart into me. Everyone has moments when they’re not totally in control.”

“You’re right. I don’t know you. Why do I feel as if I do?”

Because these last weeks had taught them as much about each other as if they had known each other for years. “I have no idea.”

“Yes, you do. We may have some gigantic holes in the structure, but the foundation is there.”

“Your foundation is with Eve. That’s why I’m here.”

“Eve…” He was tying her to the tree. “Yes, it all goes back to Eve, doesn’t it? She holds all of us. You’ve gone the limit for her in the name of friendship.”

“I’ve gone after a man who has torn her life in pieces.”

“I never meant to do it. We came together like a summer storm. We never realized that it would last for the rest of our lives. I tried to stay away.”

“But you didn’t do it, did you. Why?”

“Bonnie. I would never have interfered with Eve’s life. She was right to put even the thought of me out of her mind. We’d both changed out of all recognition, and she had Quinn.” His lips twisted. “And I was a man who couldn’t even offer her a sound mind.”