Carol Ericson - Navy Seal Spy

A scream roared from her lungs and then ended in a squeak on her lips as she looked up into the bluest eyes she’d ever seen—or at least the bluest eyes she’d ever seen since the last time she’d locked lips with the man who broke her heart.

Chapter Two

Adrenaline pumped through Liam’s body as he reached out to grab the woman barreling into him. She tipped back her head, her perfect lips forming a perfect O, and his adrenaline kicked up another notch.

He whispered the name of the woman who’d been haunting his dreams for two years. “Katie-O.”

“You!” Her dark eyebrows collided over her nose. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Me?” He didn’t know whether to give her a shake or a kiss, so he settled for smoothing the pads of his thumbs along her collarbone as he still held her by the shoulders. “What are you doing here?”

“Always answering a question with a question.” She shrugged him off. “I work here.”

His eyes narrowed, and his senses kicked into high alert. “You work for Tempest?”

“Shh. Don’t tell anyone. It’s top secret.” She held her finger to her lips, and her eyes sparkled in the dimness of the stairwell.

He’d never known when to take Katie seriously—that had been one of their many problems during their brief acquaintance. Her dramatic words and gestures were over the top, but they held an ultimate truth. If she did, indeed, work for Tempest, then her work was top secret.

“In what capacity, the recreation adviser?” Last he’d heard, Katie was designing video games.

She removed her finger from her lips and shook it under his nose. “Not so fast. I asked you what you were doing here first.”

He studied her face in the low light. She was angry with him about the way they’d ended things. He couldn’t trust her. Hell, he couldn’t trust anyone.

He lowered his voice and put his lips close to her ear. “What do you think I’m doing here?”

She twitched back from him. “The last time I saw you in San Diego, you had one more tour of duty as a navy SEAL. So, you’re either here as a consultant or you’re training to be an...agent.”

“Brilliant deduction.”

“Which is it?” She wedged her hands on her hips, as feisty as ever.

“It’s top secret.” He winked at her.

The door above them scraped open, and Liam pulled Katie into his arms, lunging for the recessed area between the two sets of stairs. A shaft of light from the hallway crept across the landing above them as the door widened.

A footstep landed on the cement floor, and heavy breathing echoed through the stairwell.

Liam held Katie tighter.

The silky strands of her black hair got caught on the scruff of his beard as he held her head against his chest with one hand. If she wondered why someone’s presence in the stairwell had sent him scrambling for cover, her curiosity didn’t lead her to break away from him or call out to the stranger.

The intruder shuffled onto the landing as if he was peering down the stairs. Then he backtracked and let the fire door slam shut.

Liam remained still for several more seconds, holding Katie, inhaling the sweet fragrance emanating from her skin.

Still in his arms, she tilted her head back, and he could see the pulse in her throat beating wildly. Had his actions frightened her? Aroused her?

Her voice was a low whisper. “Wh-why did you do that?”

“I’m not sure I’m allowed in this building, and I’m bucking for a perfect training score.”

“If you’re not supposed to be here, what are you doing in this stairwell?”

“Are you allowed in this building?”

“I work on the first floor.”

“What are you doing on the fourth floor?”

She pushed away from him and crossed her arms. “Uh, ladies’ room—they’re on the even-numbered floors only, and the one on the second floor is out of order.”

His gaze dropped to her arms crossed over her chest, her fingers biting into her upper arms. She was lying.

“Then maybe we didn’t have to hide. I could’ve said I was visiting you.”

“No!”

The word was out of her mouth before he finished his sentence.

He could almost feel the waves of heat coming from her cheeks as she twirled a lock of hair around her finger. “I—I just think it’s better if Tempest doesn’t know that we were...acquaintances. Don’t you?”

The minute Katie-O had plowed into him, he’d had no intention of revealing his relationship with her to Tempest, and he never would’ve allowed her to do it, either. The fact that she’d come up with the deception first made his life a lot easier...and made him a lot more suspicious.

He raised his eyes to the ceiling and tapped his chin. “I suppose that’s probably for the best. Tempest is a covert agency that forbids you to tell anyone where you work. Is it that way for you, too?”

“Absolutely.” She puffed out a breath. “I had to sign all sorts of forms and agreements to keep my employment here under wraps—even from my closest family members.”

“Even from Sebastian? He’s like a brother to you. I can’t imagine you’d keep anything from him.”

Her pale skin blanched even more and her huge, dark eyes sparkled with tears. “Sebastian’s dead.”

Without thinking of anything but taking her hurt away, he gathered her in his arms again. “I’m so sorry, Katie. I hadn’t heard.”

He hadn’t heard much of anything in the past two years since he’d seen her. He’d been deployed for another year in Afghanistan and then immediately plucked from the navy for...another assignment.

She sniffled against his chest but didn’t offer up any details. If she didn’t want to talk about Sebastian, he didn’t want to ask her to elaborate on the death of the man who’d been the only person she’d called family.

“Is that why you took a job with Tempest in the middle of Idaho, to get away from everything?”

Stepping back, she grabbed both of his hands, her nails digging into his flesh. “Don’t tell anyone here that you know me.”

He’d be more than happy to keep her secret, since that meant she’d be keeping his. “You have my word, Katie.”

“And don’t—” she flung his hands away from her “—call me Katie.”

He opened his mouth to find out what she wanted him to call her, but she spun around and disappeared down the stairwell.

* * *

KATIE RAN HER TONGUE along the inside of her dry mouth as the announcement from the Giant Voice system blared from the speaker in the corner of the office where she shared cubicle space with other employees from various departments.

“All-hands meeting in the building S cafeteria. Report immediately to the building S cafeteria.”

Katie removed her access card from her computer and grabbed her purse from the desk drawer. Hooking it over her shoulder, she joined her coworker Samantha in the line of people heading for the office door.

Samantha cupped her hand over her mouth and dipped her head toward Katie. “What do you think this is all about?”

“I have no idea.” Katie’s gaze ping-ponged among the faces of her other coworkers filing out of the office into the hallway. Their expressions registered everything from boredom to curiosity to fear. The fearful ones, she’d come to realize, were either total newbies like her or long-termers, but she hadn’t yet figured out what they had to fear.

“Hey.” Samantha tugged on Katie’s purse strap. “Do you think all hands include all the hot guys who are over at the gym training every day?”

“I thought we weren’t allowed over at the gym.”

“Don’t be such a Goody Two-shoes, KC. I told you I’d heard there was hot man meat over there, and I was going to check it out.” Samantha smacked her lips. “And I’m here to tell you the reports didn’t lie.”