Mission: Marriage: Bulletproof Marriage

“Play lookout, of course. Stop the bad guys before they get to me. Once I get inside the system, I can’t be interrupted.”

He spoke like it was a done deal. “Pretty confident, aren’t you?”

“I told you, I’m pretty good.” He lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “Let’s just say I’ve perfected my computer skills over the last two years.”

Like an arrow straight to her heart. Another reminder that he’d lived an entire life without her, while she’d dedicated herself to her job and had barely lived at all.

Correction, she thought grimly. She’d learned to live for her work and nothing else.

A honking horn brought her out of her reverie.

“Do you think there’s been an accident?”

He checked his watch. “No. Just normal rush-hour traffic. Help me look for a hot spot or a place that advertises an Internet connection.”

“There.” She pointed. Someone had converted an old church into a trendy coffee shop. Sean swung out of the traffic and into a small lot across the street from the stone building. He found a spot and parked, leaving the engine idling while he leaned over the seat and rummaged in the duffel bag.

“Here we go.” He pulled out a smallish laptop. “State-of-the-art. That’s good.”

Her fingers itched to examine the machine, but she wisely held her tongue. “Good luck. What kind of time are you going to get once you’re in?”

“Pretty confident of my abilities, aren’t you?”

Throwing her own words right back at her. She couldn’t help but smile. “Maybe your self-assurance is contagious. How about an answer? Once you get into the SIS system, what then? What kind of a trap?”

“I’ll figure that out once I’m in the system. Until I see what’s involved, I have no idea.” He got out of the car. “Wait here.”

As he’d no doubt known she would, she bristled. “I’d rather go in.”

“You’d be a better lookout in the car.”

“And you’d be trapped inside, alone. A sitting duck.”

“Better one than both of us.”

She pushed open her door. “Don’t start that.”

“Start what?”

“Trying to protect me.”

He glared at her as she brushed past him. “I don’t like this,” he growled, catching up and taking her arm.

Shaking free, she gave him her sweetest, most fake, smile. “Then why don’t we both just sit in the car? You’d have more privacy.”

“And we’d also be a helluva lot more noticeable.” He held open the café’s door for her to pass through. “Plus, I happen to have a craving for a strong cup of coffee.”

The robust aroma inside tickled her nose. She licked her lips. She’d always loved the scent of fresh coffee. “I could go for a café mocha.”

He flashed her the grin that had always made her knees go weak. “I’ll buy you one when I’ve finished.”

“I’ll buy my own, thank you.”

He shot her a look full of amusement. “Then buy me one, too, sweetheart.”

She bit her tongue to keep from telling him not to call her sweetheart. No doubt he knew and was doing it deliberately to bait her. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of rising to the bait.

Stalking to the counter, she ordered two large mochas. Sean claimed a table near the front, taking a seat with his back to the wall, protecting his computer screen from curious eyes as well as enabling him to watch the door. Exactly where she would have sat, had she been the one working on the laptop.

Once the drinks were ready, she carried them to the table and read the newspaper while he worked. She pretended to be intent on the articles, but continually scanned the door and watched out the window for anything out of the ordinary.

“Bingo,” he said softly. Barely twenty minutes had passed. “I’m in.”

“No way.”

With a quick glance at her over the top of the screen, he grinned. “I told you I was good.”

Pretending to scan her newspaper, pretending her heart hadn’t skipped a beat at the pure masculinity of his grin, she lazily turned a page before peering at him. “Now you set a trap. In code?”

“In code,” he confirmed. “Once it’s set, all we can do is wait.”

“Good.” Folding the paper neatly, she placed it on the table and took a long drink of her coffee. “I can’t wait to get started on my work.”

“Not here.”

“Of course not.” But his words made her want to snatch the computer away from him and start working immediately.

Natalie sighed. She had to do something about this crazy urge to do the exact opposite of everything Sean said. Not only was it childish, it wasn’t safe for either of them.

She drew a deep breath. She also needed to do something about this sexual tension. Constant arousal and unrequited need didn’t do much for a girl’s mood.

If only she could stop wanting him.

She almost laughed. Almost. She knew all she had to do was initiate lovemaking and Sean would do the rest. Such a solution might help one problem, but would only exacerbate another.

Making love would only pretend to strengthen ties that had become nearly nonexistent. And her feelings for her husband were about much more than lust and desire.

If only she could stop loving him.

Grabbing her half-finished coffee, she followed him out the door.

They found a quiet inn a few miles from downtown, in a nontourist part of town.

Sean called Corbett while Natalie was in the bathroom. Quickly, he brought the older man up to speed. “I’ll check the system frequently to see if he takes my bait.”

“Excellent.” Corbett sounded stressed—unusual for him. “How is everything else going with you two?”

Though he knew the other man meant relationship-wise, Sean pretended not to understand. “Never a dull moment, that’s for sure. This is getting ridiculous, since we can’t even seem to get a handle on who the Hungarian is using to take us out. I almost feel like he put up reward money and every Tom, Dick and Harry is taking potshots at us.”