Smoke & Gun (+18) (COMPLETE)

|9| Caged Lion |

He was like a caged lion.

Except he didn't do the pacing thing.

Not physically any way. Anabella could tell he was pacing back and forth in his head waiting impatiently for her to get the hell out his way.

She leaned on the wall near the door to their hotel which was strategically placed right across the street from Sophia's condo in Paris. He'd been at the window with binoculars waiting for the woman to get home, and now that she was there, he was ready to pounce.

She hated thinking about the fact that ever since they set foot on solid land he hadn't touched her not one time. In fact, he avoided eye contact or being within a foot of her for the past three days.

She should have been grateful. Let the heated moment of idiotic weakness be a one time thing. That was the smartest thing, but she couldn't help how she felt.

She was a trained CIA agent she knew how to conceal her feelings, be numb, focus on the goal, the target, the chase, but she'd never been in the place she was now with a man like Piero. He was trouble on a good day and one the bad ones--

"Where are you going?" She took a strong stance in front of the door when he grabbed a sweater and headed toward it.

"She's right there. We'll find my son faster if we get her to tell us."

Anabella raised an eyebrow. "You honestly think she went through all this trouble to just tell you for the asking?"

"I didn't say I'd ask nicely. Now move out of my way because I'm not going to ask you nicely a second time."

She stood her ground. "My people are getting back to me within the hour. Strategy is the only option. We can't risk he getting away again."

"Bella," It was a warning. She knew that, but the little pet name he made for her still made the heat move in her insides. He'd whispered that so many times in her ear followed by mumbling in his mother tongue and--

"You're being irrational, stupid even. You've been patient this long--" She stopped and moved in front of the knob when he reached for it.

"I don't want to hurt you, but I will go through you if you force my hand."

She took a deep breath and raised her chin. "I'm not afraid of you Piero."

The corner of his even lips lifted. "What, you think because we fucked that you've got some privileges that others don't?"

She flinched at his word choice, but stood her ground. "I'm many things, naive and overly emotional is not one of them. I think that we're working together to find your son and the best weapon we have is intelligence. Sophia is resilient, clever, and crafty. She won't break and even if she does, who knows what kind of landmines she's got in place. We need to be smart and strategic that's what you're good at seeing another door, another exit, another entrance. Don't let your anger cloud your judgement."

He growled. "Move out my way--" She grabbed the hand reaching for the handle and twisted him planning to pin him against the wall except somehow he maneuvered so she was face smashed into the painted drywall with her arm twisted behind her back. "The adrenaline dulled the pain in her shoulder. "I told you to--" He broke off when her head made contact with his face. He stumbled backward grabbing his bleeding lip. She faced him again and took a fighting stance. He touched the broken skin with a fingertip and pulled it away to look at the red liquid there. "You headbutted me."

"You sound surprised."

"Is this how it's going to be, Bella?"

"It's not how I want it." She adjusted her footing when he started to approach her. She knocked his hand away when he reached for her face. When she found those lazy brown eyes singing a completely different song, she hesitantly swallowed him to cup her face when he reached for her again. She shouldn't have, considering the circumstances, but to resist him meant she actually had some sort of alert going off in her head which she didn't. She should have, but she didn't.