C.J. Miller - Traitorous Attraction

Kate shouldn’t have feelings for a man she’d seen only twice, including today, and hadn’t spoken to the first time. Connor had slipped into the somber room and had blended with the other mourners. His dark suit had fit him well, the jacket sitting across his broad shoulders and the tailored pants showing off his athletic build. His short hair was neat and trim, giving him an almost schoolboy appearance. A slight arch in his nose indicated it had been broken in the past, marring what would otherwise be considered model good looks. Kate had fought the attraction that sprang up. She’d learned her lesson about getting involved with special-operations men. That he was Aiden’s brother made her attraction even more unfortunate.

Kate wouldn’t have seen him at all, except she’d been waiting for him at the service. She’d owed him an explanation, something to help give him closure. To her dismay, she hadn’t gotten the opportunity to speak to him. Connor had stridden directly to the front of the room where a portrait of Aiden in a golden frame sat on an easel among the floral arrangements. He’d looked at the picture and bowed his head, bringing his hand across his face.

She’d averted her eyes, feeling she was intruding on a deeply private moment. When she’d finally looked back, Connor was gone. She’d searched the crowd for him but she’d had no luck locating him. Kate wasn’t entirely sure why he’d come. Perhaps he’d felt a sense of obligation to make an appearance.

Outside his home, even when he’d had his hand poised near his gun, Kate wasn’t afraid of him. She knew too much from Aiden about his older brother. Connor might be abrasive on the outside, but he was a good man who wouldn’t hurt anyone without a compelling reason. Male special-operations agents were a different breed of man. They could be chillingly cold and insensitively direct. Kate had learned not to let their words and tone intimidate her when she worked with them.

Kate reached into her handbag and withdrew two plane tickets. “I’ll tell you more when we arrive. You ready?”

“Are we traveling as ourselves or have you made other arrangements?” Connor asked.

Other arrangements, of course. Members of Sphere never traveled under their real names for business or pleasure. It was easier to cover tracks when using pseudonyms and fake documents. “We’ll be traveling undercover.”

Connor shook his head. “If you’re using an identity Sphere provided you, they’ll know exactly where you are and what you’re doing.”

Kate knew how the system worked. The tickets she had purchased and the identifications she carried had been generated using her personal resources. “Give me a little credit. No one knows I came here to talk to you and no one knows what I’m planning.”

Connor folded his arms. It was an improvement on his waiting-to-pounce stance. “Don’t underestimate Sphere. They know everything. It’s their business to keep everyone on their payroll under their control.”

Kate shivered. She didn’t like to think about the privacy she’d given up when she went to work for Sphere. Her financials, her personal life and her business life were open and available to Sphere for review at their discretion. But she had been careful about approaching Connor and creating their covers. She hadn’t made her plans at work or on any Sphere network or device. “They don’t know about this.”

Connor shot her a look of disbelief. “I’ll provide our travel documents.”

Kate suppressed an eye roll. That was another trait of special-ops men. They always thought they were right. “If you think it’s safer, then fine.” He was willing to come to Tumara. She was willing to make compromises to get what she wanted.

She had to make amends for what she had done and for the mistake she had made. Her guilt was severe and she was willing to risk her life to see Aiden safe.

Part II: Tumara, South America

Chapter 2

“When we land, are you planning to tell me more or do you need to keep me in the dark?”

Kate looked up from her ebook reader. It was the first time Connor had spoken to her on the long flight. His silence had stopped bothering her hours ago. He’d asked her not to make idle chatter and she’d respected the request. If he was angry at how she’d gone about convincing him to help her, she could accept that. “I’ll tell you what you need to know as you need to know it.” If she told him everything, he would ditch her. Maybe ditch her with enough resources to get home, but maybe not.

Her answer came out sharper than she’d intended. To her surprise, Connor appeared amused. “That’s the unofficial motto of the company where you work. Don’t believe it. It’s always better to know more.”

Was it? Kate had been happier before she’d uncovered one of Sphere’s secrets: they’d knowingly left a man behind enemy lines with no intention of rescuing him. If her contact in the Tumaran government hadn’t secretly passed on a rumor he’d heard and a picture of what looked like Aiden, she would have believed Aiden was dead. If she wasn’t successful in finding and liberating him, Aiden would die alone in a dirty cage. Now that she knew what Sphere had done, she couldn’t forget it and she couldn’t walk away from the situation. “Knowledge is power, but knowledge can also destroy someone.”

Connor’s smile faded and his eyes turned darker. “The job you’ve chosen isn’t an easy one.”

“I never expected it to be.” Although when she had been recruited by Sphere, she had been an idealist, expecting the agency to have pure and noble intentions. She had never heard of Sphere prior to them approaching her. Most people outside the organization had never heard of them. It was how they preferred it. When she accepted the job, she had viewed the agency as a superheroes-slash-secret-spies organization. Their resources had seemed infinite and their power unending. When they talked about the conflicts they had resolved and the potential disasters they had avoided, she had thought of them as the good guys.

Since then, she had developed a different view of her job and a much different view of the organization.

Connor studied her face, and his gaze dropped down for a second and then back up to meet her eyes. “I wouldn’t have pegged you as working there,” Connor said.

A mixture of insult and annoyance streamed through her. Kate had worked against the assumptions people drew about her from the time she was a teenager. Her blond hair, slim—which she used to think of as scrawny—figure and long legs brought to mind a woman with little brain activity who was overly preoccupied with her looks. It wasn’t the case. Her intelligence was her greatest strength. Either that, or the way people underestimated her. Pride lifted her chin. “I am good at my job.”

“No doubt. You wouldn’t have been hired if you were anything less than exceptional.”

No trace of sarcasm touched his words and they stunned her. He thought more highly of her than she’d first believed. Whenever she made an assumption about him, she was wrong. He hadn’t been happy to hear about his brother; he had been on edge and anxious. He hadn’t believed her proof that Aiden was alive; he’d questioned her extensively. He hadn’t wanted her help in locating Aiden; he’d wanted to work alone.

She’d be smart to remember not to rush to judgment about Connor. He kept his thoughts private and concealed, and might have been trained on intentionally misleading people. “If you know I’m competent, then have a little faith in me and trust that I’m doing the right thing.”

“We both know it’s unlikely I’ll trust you. When it comes to my brother’s safety and well-being, I’d rather not put a stranger in charge.”