“Being raked over the coals by the embassy staff, I heard,” Molly said. “Anyway, before I make up my mind to stay or go…what kind of debriefing did you have in mind? Because, I should tell you now. I’m not wearing any.”
“I’m planning on debriefing you for a long, long time. Just…as soon as I can move without morphine.”
Joy flooded her veins with such power that tears started falling. “I’m sorry, it’s not you, it’s the drug.” She swiped at her tears and held tissues to her nose. She wasn’t really sure that was true.
“It had better be me.” He pressed the button on his remote control, and slowly, very, very slowly, the bed slid upright, so his lips were inches away from hers.
“I guess…it was always you,” she breathed, as she leaned forward to claim her future.
EPILOGUE
David checked into the hotel again, this time under a fake name, getting an uncomfortable feeling of déjà vu. The receptionist handed him a key and a letter, sealed in an envelope. He extended the handle of his suitcase and headed toward the elevator. Once away from the desk, he opened the letter.
A grin spread across his face, and a tiny sliver of unease. He hoped she wasn’t going to do to him what he’d done to her the year before. He looked around the lobby and spotted her, ostensibly reading an Athens newspaper upside-down while waiting in line for the receptionist. He tried not to laugh. He leaned against the pillar where he had checked his email on his phone that morning after the cocktail party. Whatever happened to Mal? He couldn’t wait to find out what mess he’d gotten himself into. Bound to be a good story. All he knew was that Baston was furious with him. So that warmed the cockles.
“I simply must have the same room I was in before. I loved it so much. You understand. A girl wants what a girl wants. Can you see if it’s available? It was number 1214? I’m only staying for the one night.” He could hear Molly chatting up the receptionist from where he was. She played the demanding guest to a T.
She was also quite demanding with him too. Thinking about the unique physical therapy she’d been threatening him with had sped up his healing to no end. And today was the first day they’d been able to finish the mission. The leadership conference started in ten days, and the hotel was emptying out in preparation. They already knew that room 1214 was empty now.
“Thank you so much,” Molly said, as she pulled her suitcase toward the elevators. He joined her, and they stared at the elevator doors pretending not to know each other. They stepped back as other guests got off the elevator, and then got on. Just as the doors were about to close, a hand snaked around them, making them open again.
Sadie. “If you think I trust you two alone in a hotel room while I’m waiting patiently downstairs, you’re very mistaken.
David didn’t reply, but Molly giggled. He still couldn’t believe she’d kept this secret from him, and from Victoria. But he would exact his punishment. Again, and again.
They all got off on the twelfth floor, and Molly led the way to the room. She opened the door, and David and Sadie followed.
“Okay. Wait here,” Molly said. She went into the bathroom and stood on the side of the bath. David shook his head in disbelief as they both watched her through the doorway. How would an archaeologist come up with this shit?
She popped a ceiling tile and felt around. An expression of victory lit up her lovely face. “Got it!”
She handed it over with a solemn, “Use this only for good,” and Sadie took it, rolling her eyes. They all looked at it in her palm. It was a key with a website address scratched on its leather fob.
“Doubrov slipped it to me as soon as he saw me. I don’t think he had any idea that I was also trying to slip him something, which is why he froze. I guess we both did. I didn’t know what it was, so I hid it in the bathroom. I didn’t mention it, because I didn’t know who I could trust.” Molly looked at David. “I do now.”
“I’ll give it to the station director and see if he can figure out what it is.” Sadie said, tucking it into her pocket. “It was nice meeting you both, but remember what you signed. You can’t talk about what happened here to anyone. Not about Doubrov, the key, the note…and especially about me. Clear?”
“Absolutely,” Molly said.
“Crystal.” David replied. He’d signed so many of those documents during his time in the military that he barely even thought about it.
“Good luck to you,” Sadie said to David, as she opened the door. “You might need to handcuff her to something to keep her out of trouble. You know what to do now.” The door slammed and she was gone.
“She has good ideas, that woman,” David said taking out a cotton handkerchief.
“What? What do you know what to do?” Molly said, hand on hips.
“You in handcuffs.” He started to wipe down every surface they had touched. The bathroom door, the wall that Molly had braced herself against to climb up to the ceiling, and the ceiling tile itself, not that it held fingerprints well, but you couldn’t be too careful. “Now let’s go, and we can talk about how Doubrov gave you something that you failed to tell me about.” He basically knew what had happened, but he wanted her to admit that she’d done it to keep him safe. Crazy, stupid, amazing woman.
He nodded her toward the door, wiping down everything she touched, until they were outside the door. He grabbed her hand and led her down the corridor and around the corner to room 1256, which he’d been given.
The door had barely closed before he told her to strip.
“What? No foreplay?” She quirked a coquettish eyebrow at him before kicking off one shoe and then the other.
“I just need to know that the archaeologist-spy isn’t hiding anything else from me.” He pulled out the desk chair and sat, unwilling to admit that he was tired. “Everything. Maybe you’re wearing a wire?”
She started to unbutton her blouse, unable to hide a grin. “I’ve given all that up. I’m never accepting a meeting from a government official ever again. It’s hazardous to my health.”
“Good. I’m happy to hear you’ve learned your lesson.
She dropped her blouse, revealing a lilac bra, the lace of which only barely covered her nipples, and her skirt, which she was already unzipping. His dick hardened at the sight of her, as it did annoyingly often. The skirt also fell to the floor.
She was wearing matching tiny, lilac lace shorts and hold-up stockings. Holding her arms up and slowly turning, she said, “See? No wires. Is there anything else you’d like to check me for?”
“Take the rest of it off.” He tried to keep his face stern, and it wasn’t too much of a challenge, because the box in his pocket was poking at his stitches. “Come on, quickly. I have something I want you to wear for me.”
“Oh, exciting,” she said, eyeing his suitcase. “What did you bring?”
He looked meaningfully at her and folded his arms across his chest.
She moved closer to him so that their knees touched. She unhooked her bra at the front, and let her lush breasts go free. She bent over slightly, and he couldn’t stop himself from stroking her soft skin. She let him touch her for a couple of seconds, and then shimmied away a few inches. She turned around, bending at the waist as she took her panties off. As she did, his eyes didn’t leave her lush ass. As she swept down her stockings, he could see all of her. He stroked her ass and felt her pussy. She shivered and moved back closer to him. This had gotten totally off topic, but he couldn’t resist her wetness and the whimper that came from her throat as he touched her clit.
His dick strained against his pants, and reminded him of his own mission. Pulling her onto his lap, he brought her head down so that he could kiss her.