Fire and Ice (Guardians Book 1)

Lee pushed Maia gently into the door frame of her hotel room, his lips descending purposefully, lightly brushing against hers before pulling back.

“Sorry, I can’t help it,” Lee said, a corner of his mouth tilting up in a half-grin.

They had had a heart-to-heart talk over a few drinks at the hotel bistro. Lee admitted to being a mess during the first few months after Maia had left him but he had channeled all his anger and heartbreak into his music and his band had actually become very successful after that. He had tried to get into a committed relationship three years before but that had fizzled out in nine months.

“See, you probably would have gotten tired of me the same way,” Maia said.

Lee reached his hand up and stroke her face with the back of his fingers. “Princess, somehow I doubt that. What I felt for Yvonne was nothing compared to what I felt for you. I wanted to marry you to keep you.”

Maia felt her face flush uncomfortably before lowering her eyes. “I’m not the marrying kind, Lee.”

He sighed. “I should hate you. You give me pieces of you when I want it all. All I’ve ever wanted to do was take care of you, be with you, but I feel like you’re holding on to a part of you that you wouldn’t let anyone see. Has someone hurt you, Maia?”

She did not answer him, instead keeping the topic on his band and their rise to fame and how they became popular in Baltimore. She decided not to encourage interest from Lee. Reznikov obviously knew she was in town; besides Lee and she had made a spectacular scene at the gala before spending time together at the lounge. There was no question she was on radar now. There was no further reason for her to play with his feelings.

“I’m really glad that we were able to clear the air. You were kinda unfinished business for me,” Maia told him.

Lee winced and said, “Are we, Princess? Are we really finished?”

Maia immediately thought of Jack. How he had, in a week, managed to infiltrate her defenses more than any other man had ever done.

“Nothing’s gonna come out of this. I don’t want to hurt you.”

Lee nodded, his shoulders slumped in defeat. Maia’s heart ached for him and she reached out to take his hands in hers. “We had so many good times. Let’s just remember that.”

His smile was bittersweet. “Making love to you on the beach was an incredible experience, Maia. One of the best.”

Okaaaay, no more trips down memory lane, Maia thought as she started feeling an inkling of guilt.

He had insisted on escorting her back to her room. Maia had hesitated, worried how Jack would react, but as soon as the thought came up she quickly quelled it and berated herself for letting her feelings for him make her second-guess her actions. Jack could just suck it up.

After that gentle kiss, Lee groaned, burying his face in her hair and pulling her close. “Damn it, I don’t want to let you go.”

“Lee …”

“Let’s spend the weekend together.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Lee pulled back and leaned his forehead against hers. “Would you at least see me tomorrow at Addison Hall? We’re playing a set at 9:00 p.m.”

“I had planned to go anyway.”

Lee smiled down at her. “See you tomorrow night then, Princess.”

“Princess?” Jack scoffed on the phone. He called Maia the minute she stepped into her room.

“I’m in no mood, Jack,” Maia retorted.

Good, Jack fumed. Because he was in a terrible mood. He had observed them in the lounge, but since there was no audio he could only imagine what they were talking about. The fact that rocker boy had escorted Maia back to her hotel room had him all wound up in anticipatory dread. If Lee Isaac thought, for one minute, that he would be able to cross that threshold into Maia’s hotel room, he was in for a rude awakening, because Jack had every intention of crashing in and throwing him out.

“He’s lucky he didn’t try anything else. What were you two chatting about for almost two hours?”

“What, you didn’t have the lounge bugged?”

“There were cameras, no audio. So?”

Maia sighed irritably. “I don’t have time to soothe your ego.”

Jack was thankful Derek couldn’t hear Maia’s side of the conversation. He was behaving like an insecure pimply-faced high school boy who had been lucky enough to date the prom queen. But again he’d never had any real competition when it came to women. He was rich and attractive, and he’d never had to feel insecure until now. Rock stars have the reputation of attracting hordes of groupies and judging from the crowds of screaming women almost prostrate at his feet, Lee was no exception. Even if it was an expected play, watching Lee kissing his woman was enough to make him want to jump out of his skin.

Jack tried a different tactic. “Sorry, babe. I just missed you today.”

“Your surveillance cameras were on my ass all day.”

Jack chuckled. “Not the same. Maybe I can come by tonight for a nightcap.”

Derek interjected, “Hey, I thought we were doing that together.”

“Your shift is over?” Maia asked absently.

“Yes, Scott’s turning controls over to our replacements. We’ll resume tomorrow afternoon.”

“I can’t believe you’ve sat all day watching the cameras,” Maia said. “Don’t you have a company to run?”

“I have to go to New Park on Tuesday. But I can do the rest remotely. With Thanksgiving around the corner, not a lot of people have their mind set on work. So how about me coming to your room?”

Derek gave a snort while Jack shot him a “shut up” look.

“Can’t tonight.”

Jack frowned. That was Maia’s evasive tone. He could always call her on her bullshit. He heard clothes rustling and drawers slamming like she was rushing to go somewhere, not winding down for the night.

“Why?”

“Jack, not now. I have to be somewhere.”

There it was.

“Where are you going?” Jack asked, his voice rising with each word. Derek sat on alert beside him.

“I’m going to be late. Follow me on surveillance if you have to, but do not delay me any further.”

The line went dead.

“Damn you, Maia,” Jack cursed as he shoved the phone into his back pocket.

“She just left her room,” Derek said. The surveillance van was very crowded with five people crammed in it. Two guys from AGS were taking over duties for the night and through the morning. They all watched Maia get into an elevator and punch the button for the basement garage.

“Where the hell is she going?” Jack asked no one in particular. He whipped out his phone and hit the button to call her. It went directly to voicemail.

One of the guys had already brought up the cameras to the basement and the area directly in front of the elevator. A black van similar to their surveillance one was parked waiting for her.

“It’s one of our comm vans, she’s fine,” their AGS replacement said.

“The fuck she’s fine. Why would she get into one?”

The two new guys looked at each other knowingly and said nothing. Jack wanted to knock their heads together. He knew exactly what they were thinking. The black van carrying Maia started to drive out of the garage.

“Jack,” Derek’s voice was amused and grave at the same time. “Obviously, our girl didn’t want you nosing into this particular phone conversation. My bet is, it’s a different mission and a very delicate one. Leave it be for now. Maia will share if there’s no danger to the client.”

Jack was beginning to get an idea of what Mike Callahan had gone through. He needed to remind himself that this was Maia’s job and stop behaving like an overprotective lunatic every time she decided to do something off the playbook. He could get her hurt or even worse killed.

“I need a drink,” Jack muttered. Derek clapped him on the back. “Let’s go buddy. You’ll feel better after some whiskey.”

“It’s good to hear from you again, Agent Pierce,” Alexsey Volynksy said through the secure line. As Maia guessed, the number in Germany was simply a relay, and Volynksy was still in Russian territory.

“I was pleased you contacted me,” Maia replied. “Everyone was wondering where you were after I freed you from Reznikov’s dungeons.”

Alexsey went on to describe how he had found out that his cousin, Mikhail Gavlik, had planned to free him from Reznikov only to force him to sign over his family’s controlling shares in their pharmaceutical company so Gavlik could have complete dominion. Volynksy had been able to get most of his family and relatives out of Russia.

“Your cousin is manufacturing illegal drugs.”

“The Rave-IX. I know. I am embarrassed that it has come to this.”

“Why contact me?”

“There is a faction sympathetic to my cause and the Volynsky family. They want to restore me to control but the journey to their stronghold is a perilous one. They will have a team of private soldiers to protect me, but I am very uneasy. I need someone I can trust, and that someone is you.”

Maia turned wary. “What are you saying?”

“The pieces are falling into place. We should be ready by early January. Would that be enough time to clear your schedule and come get me?”

Maia shook her head. She did not want to step foot in Russia again. She’d nearly been whacked the last time she had been there and here was Volynsky asking her to come get him as though she was simply picking up a relative from the airport.

“Alex, wouldn’t your supporters feel undermined if you bring in an outsider?”

“I’ve made it clear to them I am not moving unless you are part of the extraction team.”

“I’ll have to clear this with Viktor.”

“No problem. But I’ll have to know by the first week of December.”

“Do I contact you at this number again?”

“For now, yes. If things change, I will let you know.”

Maia’s mind was whirling with snippets of her conversation with Volynsky and its implications, and she failed to notice the tall black form hidden in the dark side of the elevator bank until it moved.

Cursing at her carelessness, she withdrew the firearm that was tucked behind her waistband.

“Maia, it’s me,” a familiar voice said.

“Jack, goddamnit, you startled me!” Maia said in exasperation as she put her gun away. Her heart skipped when the florescent lights illuminated his handsome face.

“I missed you, sweetheart,” he whispered as he gathered her into his arms and kissed her deeply, his whiskey-laced tongue pushing into her mouth and coaxing her to respond to his hungry searching kiss. He slowly shuffled her back into the shadowy side of the elevator away from the prying eyes of the surveillance cameras.

After a few minutes of intense lip-lock, Jack raised his head and said, “Are you sure I can’t come to your room?”

“After a kiss like that, I’m tempted,” Maia laughed softly. “But no, so put a lid on that libido, McCord.”

“Can’t blame a guy for trying,” Jack responded roguishly.

The buzz of a phone cut through their passion-filled fog. It was Jack’s and judging from his reaction he did not recognize the number, but he answered it anyway.

“McCord … hold on.” Jack handed Maia his phone, frowning.

“Your phone was turned off,” Viktor’s voice was curt.

“Sorry, just got off the comm van.”

“We have a problem.”

“What?”

“DEA has reported Rick Grayson missing. The two agents that were tailing him were found dead in their car. GSW to the head.”

“Damn it!” Maia exclaimed and started pacing, oblivious of Jack tensing beside her. “What do we do now? Do you want me to head out there?”

“No, there is no link between the DEA and AGS yet. If you show up at Grayson’s last known location, you might endanger him if he is still alive and someone is watching. I want you to keep your eyes open and alert tomorrow at the conference and at Addison Hall. I’m sending you the rendering of the man Grayson met for the exchange. We find him, we’ll find out what happened to Rick.”

“Okay.”

“How did it go with Volynsky?”

“I need to talk to you about that, but maybe after this whole mess with Reznikov is back under control.”

“He wants you to handle his extraction, doesn’t he?” Viktor said, ever the astute mastermind of AGS.

Mindful that Jack was listening to every word she was saying, Maia kept her answers short.

“Yes.”

“Can’t talk now?”

“No.”

“Okay, take care then. Keep your eyes open. This thing just escalated.”

Maia ended the call and handed the phone back to Jack.

“Rick Grayson is missing, two DEA agents that were tailing him were found dead,” she informed him flatly.

“Fuck!” Jack uttered in dismay.

“I asked him if he needed backup, but he said no. If I didn’t have this damn gala to go to, I could have covered him.”

“It’s not your fault.”

Maia didn’t reply but pulled her own phone out to switch it on. The sketches of Grayson’s Rave-IX contacts came through. Maia clicked the file open. Jack came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her as he peeked over her shoulder to look at the renderings with her.

“Holy shit, it’s the guy from the lobby,” Maia muttered.

“The guy that bumped into you?”

Maia nodded. “Put some spectacles on him and a goatee and that’s him. Rick has identified him as Colt. No returns yet on the AGS database on a facial match.”

“I’m not liking this,” Jack growled. “He got too close to you.”

A screeching of tires in the distance reminded them of their surroundings.

Jack turned her around to face him. “We’re too exposed down here. Go back to your room and get some rest. I left Derek and Scott at a bar across the street. I’ll let them know the developments.”

He kissed her forehead. “We’ll get Rick back.”

“So, you didn’t ask Maia about her midnight tryst?” Derek asked. They were walking back to the hotel. Jack had not told Maia that he was staying at the Grand Harbor as well. He had the room on the floor directly above hers. It took a very tenacious personal assistant to pull that off, especially when the hotel was booked up with conference attendees.

“No. Like you said when she’s ready to spill she will. Not that it doesn’t bug me,” Jack said. He had to remind himself repeatedly of what he had signed up for when he had decided to get involved with Maia. He blew out a frustrated breath. “Remind me again why I couldn’t just fall for a kindergarten teacher?”

Derek chuckled at his friend’s obvious agitation. “Because you have a weakness for a certain red-haired badass.”

“We’ll need to keep an eye out for this guy Colt. Maia’s pretty upset that Rick was taken. She won’t do anything rash, will she?”

Derek cleared his throat obviously trying to avoid answering, but Jack had a pretty good evasion meter. Years with the Navy SEALs had trained him to read people fairly well.

“Will she?” Jack stopped walking to force a reply from Derek.

“Not wanting to add to your worries, Jack, but Maia has been known as a wild card. She’s one of the better known rule-breakers at the AGS and doesn’t give a crap about political fallout. She lets Viktor handle that.”

“And Viktor lets her gets away with it?”

“Viktor is the type of guy for who the end justifies the means. If Maia gets the job done in the end, then yes she gets away with the proverbial slap on the wrist. Does that make other Guardians rule-breakers? No. They’re mostly by the book because they’re scared of Viktor and they can always blame the playbook when things go wrong. Maia is ballsy enough to alter the rules depending on the situation. If you ask me, Viktor lets her get away with it because she’s cut from the same cloth as he is. You forget, the AGS built its reputation among some circles as the go-to company when a situation needs handling beyond politically correct measures.”

“Fuck,” Jack muttered as he resumed walking.

“Have faith, Jack, she’s survived so far.”

“That’s not a comforting thought.”

“No, it isn’t,” Derek agreed with a wry smile.

Maia took special care with her appearance for Addison Music Hall. Lee had called and insisted on being her escort even when he had to come straight from band rehearsals. She would have turned him down except the stakes had changed. Rick Grayson was missing and Maia was putting herself out there as bait.

The entire day at the conference was a waste of time. There was no sign of Colt or any of his guards. A whole swarm of Guardians had descended at the convention center and the surveillance team had combed every floor. Nothing. Addison Music Hall was their last bet.

Maia had set her red hair in huge come-hither curls and had painted on dramatic smoky eye makeup. She finished up her lips in a red glossy lipstick which she had no doubt would need re-application once Lee arrived. Her dress was a sultry bronze number which flowed loosely in a plunging neckline that emphasized her ample breast (and necessitated foregoing a bra), before draping flatteringly around her butt, the hem ending teasingly at mid-thigh. Her ensemble straddled the fine line between elegance and sleazy. She was so sexy as to be intimidating; only men of remarkable confidence would deign to approach her.

A knock rapped on her door. If that was Lee, he was fifteen minutes early. Maia still had to pull out her shoes. The knock sounded again.

“Maia?” Lee’s voice came through the door.

“Just a minute.” Damn him. He had done it on purpose so she would have to invite him into her room. Jack was going to go ballistic.

Maia opened the door. Lee’s reaction was exactly what she was aiming for—but not in the confines of her room. His jaw dropped and his eyes heated up as they devoured her body hungrily.

“Not ready yet, you’re early. Don’t you know that’s rude?”

“Being early?” Lee drawled. “Can I come in?”

Maia acted nonchalant, turned away and left Lee at the door so he could make his own move. He did, walking through the door and closing it behind him. At least she could claim that she really hadn’t invited him in. Wait a minute: why was she so worried about what Jack might do? Hell yes, she should be worried about what Jack might do.

“I’ll just be a minute,” Maia hollered as she disappeared into her bedroom. If I can find my shoes, she thought. They were in her suitcase. Dragging them out she turned and found Lee leaning against the doorframe to her bedroom.

“Found it. Let’s go,” Maia said breathlessly as she hopped on one foot, and then the other, to slip her stilettos on.

She had to turn sideways to past Lee but he caught her arm and whispered, “What’s the rush?”

Oh hell, Maia thought, as Lee scuttled her backwards into the bedroom until the back of her legs hit the bed and she tumbled on the mattress with an obviously aroused male falling on top of her.

“Maia, god Maia,” Lee groaned as he feverishly rained open-mouth kisses down her neck and into the gentle swell of the soft mound on her chest. One hand slipped the low neckline aside to cup her breast to make it more accessible to his marauding lips. His other hand slipped inside her skirt and tugged at her miniscule underwear. “I want you. Please I need to be inside you. Let me.”

“Lee. You stop it right …” Maia hissed as she tried to stop the roaming hand under her skirt, the hand on her breast went to her jaw to hold her face steady as Lee silenced her with a bruising kiss.

Okay, maybe she had overdone the seductive outfit. Maia was starting to become alarmed as she felt her panties rip and Lee’s hand moved to unbutton his jeans and pull his zipper down. The men in her life were costing her a fortune in underwear.

She knew she would have to do defensive maneuver because Lee was determined to fuck her. She managed to cock her knees up to wedge them between their bodies and pushed off, catapulting Lee off her and having him land on his ass beside the bed.

“What the fuck?” Lee yelled.

“What the fuck is right,” Maia fired back. “If you insist on behaving this way you can leave.”

“What happened to you, Maia?” Lee sneered. “You couldn’t wait to fuck the first night we met on the beach. Don’t tell me you’ve suddenly become a prude.” His eyes raked her appearance. “Although the way you’re dressed it’s obvious you have no problem being a cock-tease.”

“That’s it!” Maia snapped angrily. “Get out.”

Before Lee could reply, a rapid knock sounded on the door. Shit.

Maia opened the door to reveal a livid Jack McCord. Her man took in her disheveled appearance and her smeared lipstick and looked ready to explode.

“Craig, what are you doing here?” Maia fibbed Jack’s name.

“I was wondering if you wanted to meet up at Addison later,” Jack’s voice sounded calm but the rapid ticking at his jaw revealed his barely controlled anger.

“She’s with me,” Lee spoke up behind her. Maia’s eyes pleaded with Jack to calm down and not blow everything out of proportion especially when his eyes narrowed as he took in Lee’s bulging erection. Not that she blamed Jack; Lee had gone little too far and there was that wee fact that she was, at that moment, commando.

“Well, gorgeous,” Jack’s voice dripped with carnal familiarity. “Maybe I’ll see you around later.” Jack looked at Lee with undisguised contempt before turning around and heading down the hallway.

Maia closed the door with a relieved sigh.

“Who the heck was that?”

“Someone I work with. He’s also in the conference.”

“Have you fucked him?”

“It’s none of your business. Look, do you still want to go to Addison together? Because I’ve about had it with this petulant rock star persona,” Maia retorted.

Lee’s lips thinned in anger. “I just want to know why you won’t sleep with me when you know how good it was between us?”

“Because,” Maia huffed in exasperation. “I don’t want a repeat of Bali! Now if sex with me is all you’re here for, you can turn around and leave.”

Lee’s expression looked stricken. “I do want to spend tonight with you.”

“As a friend.”

“I can’t promise not to kiss you or paw at you,” Lee said, devilish charm taking over the lovesick facade of a few moments before.

“That’s expected,” Maia said as she checked her face in the mirror. Her lips were so swollen from Lee’s kisses they didn’t require any lipstick.

“You might want to … er … put on some panties.”

Maia winced, hoping the bugs were turned off.

“It did sound like she kicked him off and I hear nothing in the audio that tells me she encouraged him,” Derek said as he eyed Jack stalking back and forth in his hotel room like a caged beast.

“I could throttle her for wearing that dress,” Jack growled. “What was she thinking?”

Jack had decided to hang out at his hotel room and work from there while Maia got ready for Addison Music Hall. Derek arrived at Jack’s room just as his friend went tearing down the hallway cursing about some fucker making moves on his woman.

So Jack didn’t hear the groans and moans after Lee had tackled Maia on the bed and God knows what else, but judging from the lip smacking, cloth rending, and zipper ripping it was close—really close—to a consummated encounter. Good thing Maia had knocked Lee off the bed. How Derek would have loved to have seen that footage.

Jack came back from Maia’s room relatively calm but worked himself up to a rabid state again after hearing the full recording of what had transpired in Maia’s room.

“I’ll kill him,” Jack vowed, clenching and unclenching his fists. “I’ll beat him to a pulp, I’ll strangle him until his vocal chords give out. He’s never going to sing again.”

“No you won’t,” Derek said dryly. “We have to remember that Maia is putting herself out there to get Richard Grayson back. Her being the obsession of the number one draw of Addison Music Hall should get Reznikov worried. And if Colt is running that show, we got him.”

Jack grabbed a lamp and hurled it against the wall. Derek winced, but didn’t say anything. He did not however fail to make a mental note that lampshade would be a line item at checkout.

“You’re right,” Jack sighed, looking down at his feet, one hand behind his neck and the other on his hips in a resigned stance of masculine reflection. He laughed humorlessly. “Can’t believe I’m behaving this way. What happened to all the self-control and focus that I learned as a Navy SEAL.”

Jack heaved a sigh and this time looked at Derek steadily. “I’m going to Addison Music Hall. Can you handle surveillance with Scott?”

“Do you promise to hold back your Mr. Possessive at all cost?”

“Yes. I told Maia, I would deal.”

“We do have a lot of Guardians crawling that place on the lookout for Colt.”

“Is the protocol still tranq to neutralize?”

“Yes, we want him alive. Getting Richard Grayson back is a top priority.”