Everything inside him went still. “Are you willing?”

“Yes.” But her voice was quiet and he couldn’t see her face. He didn’t know how she felt about that.

He crossed the room and took her shoulders, turning her to face him. She met his gaze, her own unflinching, but still giving nothing away.

“We need to talk,” he said.

She licked her lips and nodded. “Later.”

“After we take down Prescott.”

“Yes.”

“If I kiss you, I’m going to want to make love to you.”

“But you’ll wait for that, too. Your self-discipline is legendary.”

“It goes right out the window when I touch you.”

Her smile was soft and wholly feminine. “I like knowing that.”

“I thought you might.”

“Are you going to kiss me anyway?”

“You know me…I live for risk.”

She was still smiling when his mouth claimed hers and he molded the curve of her lips, taking that smile inside him like a talisman. He didn’t risk using his tongue, but he did pull her against his body. The Kevlar vests kept them apart, but it still felt good to wrap his arms around her.

He broke off the kiss, but not the hug. “This is a good way to get ready for a mission.”

She laughed. “If you say so, but I can’t imagine doing it with a different partner.”

“Me either.”

“Really?”

He pulled back so he could look into her face. “I told you at the beginning of this assignment I don’t want anyone else. And I can guarantee you, I’ve never gotten ready for a mission like this before.”

“I’m glad.”

He broke the hug and moved away. “Now, it’s time to get a move on.”

She saluted him. “Yes, sir.”

She was adorable when she was being sassy and it took that famed self-discipline of his not to pull her back into his arms and kiss her until they were both writhing, naked on the floor.

The jump from the gliders went like clockwork. Using their heat-sensor goggles, Alpha team was able to identify and neutralize all outside guards before opening the gate and letting Beta team inside.

Ethan sent three agents to the back of the house in case anyone tried to run and took control of the premises by kicking in the front door and identifying his team as federal agents.

It was almost too easy. A guard opened fire, but one of Ethan’s agents took him out with a stun gun. Using his knowledge of the house plans, Ethan led the way to the underground movie theater where Prescott and his clients were watching a video of the UGCV. They moved fast in case the guard upstairs had been able to alert the others.

But the single guard outside the door to the underground theater looked stunned to see them. He lifted his weapon, but was taken out with the same efficiency as the guard upstairs.

Ethan didn’t bother with subtlety when blasting through the door to the room since it was locked via a biometric alarm. He simply blew it with C-4 and infiltrated the room before the dust cloud had finished forming.

There were six clients in the room and the DEA agent. She dove for Prescott when he jumped and ran for the back of the room. She caught him behind the movie screen.

He fought, but she had a snub-nosed revolver pressed against his skull when Ethan caught up with them. “Give me an excuse to use it, you bastard. Please.”

Prescott went utterly motionless, his hand still against something on the wall. And darned if Beth hadn’t been right. A secret door in the wall was cracked and if it didn’t lead to an escape tunnel, Ethan would hang up his Lone Ranger star.

The others in the room weren’t as quick as Prescott to realize the futility of attempted escape and more than one had to be brought down with the stun guns. Ethan’s agent upstairs commed-in to say that he’d secured the premises, having found one more guard in the house.

Beth cuffed the Ukrainian and read him his rights like she’d done it a hundred times before.

Pride swelled up in Ethan, almost choking him. “All right, people, move the prisoners upstairs one at a time.”

The Arab was making noises about diplomatic immunity, as were a couple of others.

“We’ll let the lawyers work that out,” Ethan said. “If you can prove your status, and it can be established that you are not working in the capacity as espionage agents for your respective governments, you will be deported without incarceration, but all rights of return to this country will be revoked.”

No one looked all that smug after his announcement. In essence, the men and women in this room were spies and they knew it. Some might get off without doing time, but none would be allowed to return and all would be stripped of diplomatic status for perpetuity by the U.S. government.

Something happened on the way up the stairs and Beth tripped with her prisoner. She ended up racking him with her knee before dragging his limping form up the remaining steps.

The prisoners had all been put in secure transports to a federal facility in Portland and he and Beth were following in his car when he asked her about it.

“I told him he should be ashamed of himself for not only abusing the hospitality of our nation but also betraying his own people by being willing to provide a sex slave for a man as depraved as Prescott. He said that one woman’s plight was nothing compared to the power of a nation.”

“So you tripped him and racked him?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t admit that to anyone else.”

“As if I would.”

“You shouldn’t have told me.”

“But you’re more than my superior on the case, aren’t you? You won’t put it in your report.”

“You’re right, I won’t-except the part where he confirmed his intention to you.”

“That was pretty dumb on his part, wasn’t it?”

“In more ways than one. I’ve been racked once or twice in my life and it’s not an experience I ever want to repeat.”

“Well, you don’t have to worry about it coming from this quarter. I’m far too fond of your equipment to allow it to be in anything but full working order.”

He laughed out loud. “You’re pretty darn bold for a shy woman.”

“I’m not shy around you, or hadn’t you noticed?”

“Are you saying I bring out the best in you?”

“You know, Ethan, I think you do.”

“You were right about the tunnel, too.”

“I was?”

“Yep.” He told her about the secret door Prescott had attempted to escape through.

“But you were right, he didn’t get to use it.”

“It could have happened. If DEA Agent Gannon hadn’t been so quick, I would have had to chase him down the tunnel.” And chasing suspects in enclosed spaces was dangerous.

“She’s good. Are you going to tell Dad about her?”

“You mean recommend her for acquisition by TGP?”

“Yes.”

“Yes. Not only is she a good agent, but as much personal baggage as she had on this assignment, she didn’t use it as an excuse to do anything stupid.”

“That shows a lot of integrity.”

“Yes, it does.”

“I hope Dad acquires her.”

“Me, too.” But his thoughts were not on the other woman.

He’d never wanted to be done with an assignment so badly. There was so much unresolved between him and Beth and he wanted it taken care of now.

Twelve hours later, Ethan had finished interrogating suspects and filling out paperwork. He was exhausted and wired at the same time. There was nothing new in that, but what was different was the need to get away from all of it with someone else. With Beth.

He insisted on driving back to their cabin and she fell asleep about ten minutes into the drive. By the time they got there, he was ready to go to bed, too. He’d gone more than twenty-four hours without sleep and he could think of nothing more appealing than twining his naked body with hers and rectifying that problem.

Beth woke up to autumn sunshine streaming in through the bedroom window and wrapped in Ethan’s strong arms. It felt right-being there, with him-everything about the night before and waking up next to him this morning.