Thin Ice Read online

  Logan stared wide-eyed, wondering what she was up to. She removed his second boot, dropping it on the floor next to the first one. Kicking off her shoes, she continued to grin as she grabbed the bottom of her shirt and pulled it slowly over her head. His chest felt heavy, his cock responding to her striptease. Sliding her jeans down her legs, she stood in a simple bra and panty set. Nothing too fancy. Just light pink, with a little bow between her breasts.

  He sat up quickly, reaching for her, but she skirted back. Shaking her finger, she said, “No, no. This is my time.” She climbed back up on the tall bed and straddled his thighs and he grinned, perfectly willing to let her take charge, knowing whatever she had planned it would end up with both of them satisfied.

  And he was not wrong.

  Could this possibly seem more normal?

  Vivian sat on the deep, comfortable cushion on one side of the tall, wooden booth of the lodge’s restaurant. Logan sat next to her, or rather, so close that his thigh pressed against hers from ass to knee. His arm was slung casually around the back of her shoulders, his fingers occasionally rubbing her neck.

  Across from them were Iggie and Sadie—their positions similar. The seafood and steaks were excellent and, even now, over wine and dessert, their conversations never lagged.

  After she and Logan had come up for air from their afternoon tryst, Iggie called and told them to get to the hot springs. Neither of them had bathing suits, but a quick trip to the lodge’s store took care of that issue and they soon met their friends in the hot springs. Lounging in the warm water, she had felt her tension release as all her muscles relaxed. And now, sitting in the restaurant, she felt as much of a couple as Iggie and Sadie.

  She knew it was only half pretend—after all, she and Logan had become a real couple, but pretending to be married no longer felt adventurous. It felt disingenuous. She was falling, and Logan had even said he wanted her to meet his family. And yet, there was so much more to do with the mission. And so much more she did not know about him. The sex was phenomenal and when he held her during the night, it all felt so real. But there’s a look in his eye sometimes when we’re planning our work…a look I don’t understand.

  Feeling his fingers squeeze her shoulder slightly, she jumped, cutting her eyes to him.

  “Viv? You okay, babe?”

  His voice rumbled gently next to her ear, the look in his eyes one of concern.

  Smiling, she nodded. “Yeah, I’m great.” Glancing back to the empty plates and glasses, she said, “I think I’m just full and getting sleepy.”

  His lips curved at her answer, his fingers tightening once more. “Gotta get you outta here and back to bed. You’ll have sweet dreams in that big, comfortable bed.”

  “I swear, this is our anniversary, but seeing you two so much in love, it makes my heart happy,” Sadie said, leaning against Iggie.

  Vivian’s eyes shifted quickly across the table, her smile still in place, but Logan saw a flash of uncertainty there. His hand returned to her neck, where he rubbed his thumb in long, slow movements, easing the tension.

  Looking over at the other couple, he said, “Guys, this has been a great evening and a great meal. But my girl is about to drop, so I’m going to get the check and get her tucked in for the night.” Before he could take the check, Iggie’s hand snapped out, grabbing it first.

  “No way, Preacher. You took time off from work, flew us here without even charging for fuel—this meal’s on us.”

  He opened his mouth to protest, but Iggie leaned in closer. “I know you’re the kind of man who doesn’t like others to pay, but Preacher, what you’ve gotta understand is by doing this, I’ll be doing something nice for my woman, who never asks for much, works harder than anyone I know, and loves me in spite of my craziness. This is me, expressing my gratitude that, because of you and Vivian, my woman got a weekend full of good memories, with good people, in a nice as fuck place.”

  Logan moved his hand back and nodded, understanding exactly what Iggie was saying. He looked over at Sadie who was staring at Iggie like he hung the moon. And to her, he did.

  Feeling the pressure of Vivian’s fingers on his leg, he turned his head to see her smiling up at him, the expression on her face, so similar to Sadie’s, it almost hurt.

  “Come on, babe.” He slid out of the booth, his hand holding tightly to hers as he assisted her up. “See you tomorrow,” he called, as he tucked her underneath his shoulder and they walked out of the restaurant side by side.

  Once back in their room, Vivian plopped down in one of the heavy chairs padded with a deep green cushion that, like the bed, was crafted from logs. Pulling off her shoes, she wiggled her toes as she leaned back and groaned. “I ate so much…drank so much. I can’t move.”

  Chuckling, Logan disappeared into the bathroom and she heard water running. He was gone for several minutes before, finally, curiosity got the best of her. Walking into the bathroom on bare feet, she smiled as she regarded the deep tub almost full of steamy water. He flipped the switch, turning off all the lights except for the candle sconces on the walls that circled the tub. Looking at the scene, she smiled, her hand going to the belt on her dress.

  Stepping directly in front of her, he shook his head as his hands moved hers away. “Uh uh,” he said, untying her belt before moving to the zipper at the back of her dress. “You stripped for me earlier...now it’s my turn.”

  Slowly he peeled her dress, bra, and undies away, then held her hand as he assisted her into the tub. She sunk into the water, it’s warmth instantly surrounding her. As she leaned back, a smile lighting her face, he stripped quickly and said, “Slide up, just a bit, babe.”

  She obeyed and soon the water rose even higher as his body slid in behind hers, his muscular thighs on either side of her body, her back now resting against his chest. Wrapping his powerful arms around her, he held her…engulfed her.

  “I said what I meant, back there in the restaurant,” he said, his voice low, vibrating against her back. “You need a hot bath, someone to take care of you, and then a good night’s sleep, curled up next to me in a bed that doesn’t separate when you roll over.”

  The thought of their makeshift bed back in Ester caused a giggle to erupt. Settling back, she nodded. “I like sleeping next to you,” she confessed.

  “I kind of got that, Viv.”

  She twisted her head around, but he held her so tight, she only managed to view his throat, but he explained.

  “Every morning, I wake up with your leg over mine or tangled up in mine. Your hand is on my chest or my stomach. Your face is on my shoulder and your body is smooshed up next to mine. Hence, I got that you like sleeping next to me.”

  “That’s irritating, you know,” she said, turning her head back and looking at his legs surrounding hers. His chuckle, which caused her body to move with the vibrations, caused her to sigh. “And for the record, you laughing at me is irritating also.”

  “I’ve never woken up next to a woman before.”

  Those words halted her breathing and she waited to see what else he would say.

  “Never wanted to. I might have been called Preacher, but I wasn’t a monk. But either I left, or they did. Never took anyone to my apartments when I had them. Never took anyone back to my house in Montana. Sure as hell never took anyone to meet my family…not even the girl I dated in college.” Leaning down so his mouth was right next to her ear, he continued, “And I never slept all night with a woman. So, do you get why, waking up with you all tangled up with me, knowing you want that as much as I do, is so important to me? Not making fun of you, Viv. I fuckin’ love it.”

  The earlier doubts flew from her mind and she moved so quickly he barely had time to brace. Twisting her body around, she grabbed his cheeks in her hands and straddled his legs. Some water sloshed over the side, but she did not care. All that mattered was this man, this big, beautiful man. Pulling him in for a kiss that she poured everything she had into, she devoured his mouth, taking and giving all
at the same time.

  Logan felt a change in her, as though any lingering doubts about his feelings for her had melted away. Taking charge, he tilted her head so he could maximize the kiss, now being the one who gave as much as he took.

  Soon, she rooted herself on his cock, her hands on his shoulders, riding him with her breasts lightly bouncing, as the waves of surrounding water sloshed even more over the side of the tub.

  Later, they made it to the huge bed, legs tangled, her head resting on his chest where his arms pulled her in tight. And sweet dreams circled them both.

  25

  “Looks like everyone’s busy next door. Guess the weekend is over.”

  Logan followed Vivian’s gaze toward the Zaman’s house as they drove into the driveway. Sighing, he knew she was right. The weekend had been perfect, including room service breakfast in bed—along with other activities in bed—before having to leave. He knew they had turned a corner in the relationship over the weekend. Her doubts seemed to melt away, hopefully realizing that, while their marriage might be a cover, his feelings for her were not. Meeting up with Iggie and Sadie for the uneventful flight back home had been the perfect end to a perfect weekend.

  Now, parking behind Vivian’s little car, his mind jumped to the inevitable stepping up the mission and getting his hands on what was cooking in their neighbors’ makeshift lab.

  Moving inside, he walked to the bedroom and dumped their bags onto the floor. As he came back into the living room, he saw her already firing up the laptops. Her eyes met his and she nodded as she said, “I know. We’ve got to get back to work.”

  He walked over and kissed the top of her head. “I need you to give me as much as you can, Viv, ‘cause I’ve got to get inside to get what they’re working on. We have to have hard evidence that what they’re working on is illegal, dangerous, and needs to be taken out.”

  “Can’t they just be arrested on suspicion alone and then we go in and search the area?”

  Shaking his head, he said, “That’s not how it works. We need to know specifically what they’re working on. For all we know, this might not be their first batch of substances and they might have tried them out somewhere.”

  At that, Vivian gasped, her eyes widening in fear. “I never thought of that. They would have to test it out, wouldn’t they?”

  “That’s why I’m searching their correspondence, emails, monitoring their phone calls, studying their talks in the house, checking on their visitors. You name it, I’m on it. Until we know for sure what they’re working on, going in could set off a firestorm if we’re not right.”

  “Okay,” she nodded, realizing her inexperience gave her no idea what all he needed to do. So that left her with figuring out what he could take from their lab the minute they could. And then hoping she would be able to analyze it before the Zamans decided to test it on humans somewhere.

  Another week. Full of long days of sitting in the house, staring at the screen on one laptop, researching on another, and all the while agonizing over making a mistake.

  Logan walked in, that day being one where he kept up his cover by going to the airfield. But, really, he spent most of his time studying the cameras, as well as everything he could get his hands on about the Zamans. He observed Vivian, hunched over the kitchen table, her hair pulled up into a messy bun with two pencils somehow holding it in place and her fingers tapping on her keyboard. The same position she had maintained for days, so he was stunned when she twisted around, her eyes bright as they landed on his.

  Her smile illuminated her face as she pronounced, “I’ve got it.”

  Hurrying over, he gripped her shoulders as he peered over them, staring at the screen. She took a pen and pointed to Nafisa sitting at a table. “She’s the one. She’s the key. Malik and Rashad are there, but for the most part, they seem to be creating the different solutions for her to actually do the experimenting. Everything, over here,” she pointed to one area of the room, “is just what they are working on. Basic solutions, basic compounds. There is nothing of interest there. But here,” she said, pointing to where Nafisa was sitting in the back corner, “is where the real work is going on. These vials have the different solutions in them, but they also have whatever she is working on. She is now taking what they have created and is using it. When she is done, she sets everything here.”

  He watched as she pointed one last time to the area of interest. “So, when I get in, this is what I need to get.”

  She sucked in a deep breath, letting it out slowly, before she spoke. “Logan, we need to talk.”

  He looked down at her, his eyes narrowing at her tone of voice. “About what?”

  She moved her chair back slightly, indicating her intention, and he stepped back, his hands staying on her shoulders as she stood. She turned in his arms and said, “Can we sit down? Get comfortable first?”

  Allowing her what she needed, he moved to the refrigerator and grabbed two beers before following her into the kitchen. She sat on one end of the sofa but, with her legs tucked up underneath her, she was facing the side he sat on.

  “Okay, Viv, you’re making me nervous. What is this about?”

  She played with the beer bottle label for a moment before she asked, “Were you ever on missions where you had to change your perfect plans because things didn’t play out exactly the way you thought?”

  Her question caught him off guard and he stared at her for a moment, recognizing her nervous fiddling, as well as the pleading in her eyes. Nodding, he said, “Yeah. Lots of times. Sometimes, there were things we hadn’t planned on. Other people around that we hadn’t anticipated. Other times, there was incomplete, or even inaccurate, intel.”

  She seemed to take this in as she thought for a moment before asking, “What about with personnel? Did you ever have to change up duties or responsibilities in the middle of a mission?”

  Now, he was quiet. He understood what she was getting at. She was trying to tell him she was not able to handle the stress and was thinking about resigning. She wanted out. Out of the job. The only thing he wondered about was if she also wanted out of him.

  Sucking in a deep breath, he knew he owed her honesty. “Yes. Sometimes we had to change up personnel, for a lot of different reasons. If someone became incapacitated and unable to complete their part of the task, then others would step in to take over.”

  He watched as she mulled over his answer, his heart pounding in a way he had not felt in...well, he could not think of a time he felt this way. Other than his family and then, later, his team, no one had ever meant something to him, not like this. “What are you thinking, Viv? You want out?”

  He watched as she blinked twice—slowly—before scrunching her face in surprise. “Out? Out of what?”

  Now it was his turn to be surprised. Lifting his chin, he said, “I thought you were asking about new personnel because you wanted out.”

  Giving a quick shake of her head, she threw her hand up to the side as she barked, “No! Why on earth would I want out?”

  “I don’t know,” he responded in defense. “I know this isn’t exactly what you signed up for. I know Alaska’s not your favorite place to be. I know things have moved fast with us and I know for a while that flipped you out. I know this is far more dangerous than you ever expected—”

  “Good grief, Logan. Stop with all the excuses for why you think I want out,” she argued, huffing before taking a long swig of her beer. “Geez, I can’t believe you thought that.”

  Uncertain how to proceed given her obvious pique, he scrubbed his hand over his face before joining her, downing half his beer. Setting the bottle on the coffee table, he twisted his body back toward her. “Okay, babe, you’ve got to spell this out for me. Why the questions about changing missions midstream and changing personnel?”

  Her face softened as her shoulders slumped. “Oh. Wow. Hearing you put it that way, I can see why you thought I might want out. I’m sorry.” Heaving a huge sigh, she said, “Okay, here it is. Th
e reason why I wondered those things is because I want to present something to you…a change in how we make our next move. And, I’ve got compelling reasons but I’m afraid you’ll shut me down before you even hear me out. So, I wanted to know if you had past experience that you could fall back on.”

  He almost laughed, but kept his face neutral. If she only knew how SEALs were trained to change in an instant. Alter plans. Rethink missions. Step in when someone else was better suited or in proximity to do something. Clearing his throat, he said, “Okay, good. I can work with this.”

  “Promise you’ll listen to everything?”

  “Viv.”

  “I suppose that one utterance of my name is to indicate that you will,” she quipped, pursing her lips. “Okay, here it goes. In a nutshell, I need to be the one to go inside the Zaman’s house—”

  “Abso-fucking-lutely not!”

  “Logan! You promised!”

  “Viv, if you think for one minute—”

  “You promised to hear me out! You owe me that,” she pleaded, plunking her bottle on the table next to his.

  Not one to renege on a promise, he dropped his chin to his chest, silent for a moment. Lifting his gaze, he saw her staring at him, her focus not wavering. “You’re right. I promised. It won’t change my mind, but go ahead. I’m listening.”

  “Listen and absorb what I’m saying, okay?”

  “Okay,” he agreed, but already knew his answer would not change.

  “In order to create the samples I need, I have to have a certain amount of the solutions in certain combinations. I need them to be marked carefully, or I won’t be able to tell anything about what I’m looking at or, it will take a lot longer to determine what they are. By studying the cameras of them working in their lab, I understand what they’re working on and how their space is utilized. They have codes on the labels that won’t mean anything to you, but will to me.”