Page 40 of It’s Always Been You (Always #1)

She retrieved her laptop from the closet and sat on the bed.

She had not worked on the files for a while.

The ones she was most curious about were the ones tagged Hephaestus and Carpathian.

Her gut told her these files stored high-value data.

She had searched the web for their meanings, hoping they’d jolt her memory, but she knew it was futile.

Her memory was never coming back. All she had left of the past was a sense of déja vu, an emotion, a feeling.

Never a clear memory or thought. She had stopped hoping that her dreams would unlock a memory, because really it was too frustrating.

The door to the room opened and Travis walked in. He scowled at the open laptop. “I’ve a feeling they’ve installed a Trojan software from the flash drives.”

“That would mean Porter is involved.”

Travis nodded grimly.

“I think we need to play along for a while,” Caitlin said.

“Sunshine, just admit you’re curious about what they want.”

“Well, there’s that—”

Travis moved to the bed and hauled her to her feet and was about to kiss her when she shoved him off.

“What the fuck?” Travis muttered.

“You smell like her,” Caitlin snapped. A guilty look flashed across his face. A licking finger of jealousy fueled the words tumbling out of her mouth, “And you have a streak of lipstick on your neck.”

“It’s not what you think,” Travis said evenly.

“Oh, are you going to say she jumped your bones, wiggled her ass on your lap, and kissed you against your will?”

“As a matter of fact—”

Caitlin snorted and threw up her hands.

“You unleashed that she-wolf on me. I told you what she did. What did you expect?”

“Did you kiss her back?”

“No!”

“Did you get an erection?” Someone shut her up. When had she become so hateful?

“Damn it, Caitlin. No!”

“You didn’t?” she asked skeptically. “Sometimes it’s an unintentional response.”

“If I didn’t just blister your ass a couple of days ago, I’d be tempted to do the same thing now.”

“What? Why?” Caitlin asked indignantly, though she shivered at the memory of that passionate coupling.

He gripped her chin, which she had jutted out ever since she rebuffed his attempt to kiss her.

“You have no idea how deep you’ve gotten under my skin.

I’ve managed to keep my dick in my pants all these years .

. . well, except those three months when I tried to exorcise you from my heart, and we know how well that fucking turned out.

” His nostrils flared. “So it pisses me off right now that you would think that I’d willingly have that woman put her mouth on me. ”

“Can you blame me? You smell like her, and you’ve got her lipstick on you,” Caitlin repeated, but the fight had left her. Then she admitted what was really bothering her. “I hated putting you in such a position, but I didn’t want to come across as petty to her either. And now I’m feeling guilty.”

Travis rolled his eyes. “So you’re trying to lay the guilt on me? ”

“Yes.” Caitlin stared at her feet, embarrassment making her feel warm all over.

“Crazy woman,” Travis muttered as he stepped closer and tried to kiss her again.

She scrunched her nose and pulled away. “I’m serious, Travis, go shower.”

Travis shot her an annoyed look. He swatted her ass before disappearing into the bathroom.

Dmitry watched his boss, Grigori Zorin, entertain his business associates in an intimate dinner designed to reinforce his rank within Russia’s upper echelon of organized crime.

Dmitry used to be an enforcer. The former head of security had been exposed as a double agent for the Komarov Bratva, so he had recently ascended to the position.

Zorin was a major arms dealer in South America, and business had been increasingly lucrative, given the continent’s unending conflicts.

His only competitor was Komarov. Zorin had set his sights on another opportunity, one that could net him billions of dollars, and the key was locked away in the mind of Caitlin Kincaid.

Dmitry’s phone buzzed and he frowned when he saw its caller ID. He walked over to the balcony attached to the dining room and answered his phone.

“This is not a scheduled call, Belov.”

“Things got a little out of hand, but I’ve rectified the situation.”

Dmitry felt tension coil through his spine. “What happened?”

“Our man got greedy, and Blake had apparently pissed him off in an earlier encounter.”

“Explain.”

“Instead of harmless mischief, he took it too far. He had a temper, and I think he wanted to strike back against Blake. I did more digging into Marko’s file because something about him didn’t sound right. Turns out the man’s a megalomaniac, but I’ve already set him loose.”

“Tell me Ms. Kincaid is unharmed.”

“She’s fine. But there was a shootout.”

It took all of Dmitry’s willpower not to burst into a string of expletives.

“I took him out,” Belov continued. “He was threatening Ms. Kincaid, thinking because we’re concerned about protecting her that he could get more money out of us.”

“The fool. So Blake knows something is up?”

“That is correct. The man’s not stupid. He’ll be leaving town soon.”

“You know this for a fact?”

“No, but I’m keeping an eye on the place.”

“Good. I despise messy, but if the end result is the same, then I’m good with that. Keep me apprised, Belov.”

Dmitry ended the call and rubbed the phone on his chin contemplatively.

His eyes drifted to Zorin. His Pakhan was a patient man.

That was how he’d become one of the most notorious Russian arms dealers in the business.

Zorin weighed his options, preferring to let his competitors make the mistakes, and then he would swoop in for the kill.

Dmitry must tread carefully. One misstep could find him in the company of the former security chief—cold in the ground, buried in some field off the beaten path.