Maya Banks - Shades of Gray

Not like her last one had. It was left unspoken but she knew Cole got the meaning. She trusted her teammates. They weren’t Derek, Jimmy and Mike.

“No, we won’t,” Baker said, his voice strained with utter seriousness.

Renshaw nodded his agreement.

“She has to go in wired,” Dolphin said. “We have to know what’s going on every step of the way so if things get out of hand, we can pull the plug damn fast.”

Donovan made a sound of exasperation. “We aren’t hanging her out to dry. This is a mission just like any other mission. We work as a team. We plan for any eventuality.”

Then he turned to P.J.

“This mission isn’t mandatory. It’s completely your choice and it won’t be held against you if you opt out. I’ll understand entirely if you don’t want to assume this kind of risk.”

“Don’t do it, P.J.,” Cole bit out. “We’ll find another way to save those girls.”

But they wouldn’t. Not these girls. It would be too late for them. Just babies. Taken from their mothers and their homes. Forced to endure nightmares no child should ever experience.

How could she say no when she had a chance to help them?

Her gaze swept the room. Her teammates were quiet, their expressions pensive. They all stared back at her, unwavering support reflected in their eyes.

Cole was furious. And worried. She could see the concern in those blue eyes a mile away and it pissed her off that he didn’t have more confidence in her abilities. They had sex one time and he was already acting like an overprotective ninny. The next thing he’d want would be for her to stand behind him on their missions so she never got caught in the cross fire.

Then she glanced back at Steele and Donovan. She searched Steele’s expression for some sign of what he was thinking. Finally she gave up and voiced her question aloud.

“Steele? Do you think this is what we need to do?”

“I can’t make this decision for you, P.J. I’m not going to bring my opinions to the table on this. It’s a righteous cause or I wouldn’t have bothered to call you guys up when you just came off a mission where you got no sleep and you’re badly in need of some downtime. But all I can do is call you up.”

Steele surveyed the others and then looked back at P.J.

“Let’s put it to a vote.”

P.J. took a deep breath and swallowed some of the anxiety building in her chest. Give her a sniper rifle and tell her what target to take out and she could do it in her sleep. But this . . . This was so far outside her comfort zone that her mind was screaming what the fuck at her.

“I’m in,” she said in a firm voice.

Steele looked to the others.

Dolphin blew out his breath. “Hell, I’m in. She’s not going without her team.”

“Ditto,” Baker muttered.

“I’m there,” Renshaw spoke up.

Which left Cole, who was still looking pissed. He glanced at P.J. then looked around at all the others.

“Goddamn it. I’m in but I don’t like it and I’m going on record as saying so.”

“Okay then, we’re a go,” Donovan said softly.

COLE sat with the others while they waited for P.J. to make her appearance. She and Donovan and the woman he’d hired to make her over had been holed up in that damn hotel room for two hours and he was growing more irritable by the minute.

Every one of his gut instincts told him this was all wrong. He couldn’t believe that Donovan and Steele had signed on to put P.J. in such a vulnerable position and he couldn’t believe P.J. had agreed.

Well, maybe he wouldn’t go that far. P.J. was hard-core. It was one of the things he admired about her. She did her job and she never complained. She kept up with the guys on their team, and if he were honest, he’d admit oftentimes she went above and beyond.

She was a damn good shot, and as much as it bruised his ego, he’d never engage her in an outright shoot-off. She’d probably smoke his ass and he’d never live it down.

He rubbed his hands down his jeans and drummed his thumb over his knee.

“How the fuck long does this take anyway?” he grumbled.

The door to the adjoining room opened, and Donovan stepped out adorned in a swanky tux and shiny, expensive-ass shoes, and his hair looked like it had some sort of gel in it.

Whistles went up and Donovan rolled his eyes.

“Damn man, you look good,” Dolphin crowed.

“Where’s P.J.?” Steele asked. “We need to move out in a few minutes if we’re going to stay on schedule.”

Donovan turned and reached behind him. A moment later, he pulled P.J. out to stand beside him. The entire room went dead silent.

Cole damn near swallowed his tongue. Ho-ly fuck.

P.J. looked like a goddamn million dollars. She was wearing a dress that gave a whole new definition to little black dress. And hell but it was little. Tiny!

It fit snugly at her hips and clung to her thighs, stopping several inches above her knees. The top had a scooped neck that gave an impressive glimpse of her cleavage. The soft mounds rose temptingly just at the neckline but gave enough mystery to make a man really want to tug just a little at that top.

Her hair was upswept and tendrils escaped down her cheeks and at her nape, giving her a soft, feminine look that had Cole groaning. Diamonds hung from her ears. Hell, he hadn’t even known her ears were pierced. Around her neck was a simple diamond pendant that said expensive but elegant and not overstated.

Around her wrist she wore a dazzling bracelet that grabbed the light and bounced it back. Her nails. She even had fingernails for the occasion. Perfectly manicured and painted shiny red to match the splash of color on her lips.

Her eyelashes were long, accentuating startling green eyes, and he was gratified to see that other than lipstick and mascara, they hadn’t done much else. She didn’t need a lot of makeup. She was just fine the way she was.

But the pièce de résistance was her . . . legs.

Holy hell in a bucket. Donovan had said this Nelson guy went for killer legs, and Cole knew from personal experience that P.J. had a very nice set, but seeing her in heels and that short dress?

He wiped at his mouth to make sure there was no drool or that he wasn’t gaping.

She was stacked. Toned from a strict exercise regimen. Her legs were a thing of beauty, and he didn’t have to think hard to remember how they’d felt wrapped around him while he was sliding into her over and over.

Sweat beaded his brow just as the room erupted in reaction to seeing P.J.

“Dayum!” Baker exclaimed. “Holy shit, P.J., you’re hot!”

She grimaced and Cole could see the nervousness in her eyes. Her discomfort was obvious. She didn’t like being in the limelight.

Dolphin whistled and grinned. “Van was totally right. You clean up good, girl!”

Renshaw added a catcall of his own.

“You look beautiful, P.J.,” Steele said in his calm, unruffled tone.

Beautiful? Hell, she was fucking gorgeous. But Cole liked her just fine in camo with face paint on. He’d fantasized more than a few times about taking her to bed, stripping off her fatigues and getting her face paint all over both of them.

“You got nothing to say, Cole?” Dolphin asked incredulously. “She looks sa-weet!”

Cole cleared his throat and then saw the desperate look in P.J.’s eyes. It annoyed him. She should know him better than to think he’d let on what had happened between them. Not that he gave a damn. Right about now, he’d like to have a stamp that said “Mine, stay the hell away” to put right on her forehead.

“You look killer, P.J.”

“Thanks, guys,” she said in a low voice.

“Okay, here’s how it goes down,” Steele said, snapping everyone’s attention back to him. “Donovan and P.J. will arrive together. We’ll be monitoring P.J.’s every move as soon as she breaks away.”

Cole’s eyes narrowed. “Where the hell is her wire and how on earth is it going to hide in that getup? It doesn’t even cover her, much less anything else.”

P.J. scowled at him.

“Don’t mess up that lipstick, darlin’,” he drawled. “It looks too pretty on you.”

She rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“Cut it out you two,” Steele barked.

“P.J. is wearing the latest of my tech toys,” Donovan said with a grin he reserved for any time he was talking about his high-tech playthings.

He lifted her arm and turned it slightly so the inside of her upper arm was visible.

“What you can’t see is the flesh-colored patch. It’s actually made from human skin and blends seamlessly with her own skin. Underneath is the chip that enables us to hear everything she hears.”

“For real?” Dolphin asked.

He got up and moved closer. He reached out to touch her arm, running his finger up and down from her elbow to underneath her armpit. Cole wanted to tell him to keep his hands to himself, but that wouldn’t go over well with P.J.

“I’ll be damned,” Dolphin said. “I can’t tell it’s there.”

“That’s the point,” Steele said dryly.

Donovan continued. “I have flesh patches with GPS locators as well, but her bracelet has a minicam that displays images in real time in high definition. With a simple touch of her cheek or a casual brushing of a piece of her hair behind her ear, she can give us a good view of everything around her. And it has a GPS locator in case we need to find her fast, so it kills two birds with one stone.”

Cole’s gut tightened. He didn’t want to think of worst-case scenarios.

“So let me get this straight,” Cole cut in. “You and P.J. go to this highbrow party. She splits off from you, hones in on this Nelson guy and comes on to him, tells him where she’s staying and then leaves and waits for him to come to her?”