The Boss Assignment (Rogue Protectors Book 3) by Victoria Paige (red scrolls of magic txt) 📗

“Yes.”

“Call Luis,” he instructed. “Tell him to get here as soon as possible.”

“Do I need to prepare dinner for all of you?” Ida asked.

“I could use home-cooked Brazilian food,” Bristow chuckled.

Charly laughed. “Ida is a fantastic cook!” She and the ginger-haired operative got off on the wrong foot during the rescue in Mexico when they thought she was Charles Bennett, but she could tell she and Bristow would get along. He’d certainly be more useful than Antonio in the lab.

Fingers circled her nape. Of course it was Antonio. He’d been exhibiting über-possessive behavior since they got into the SUV with the CIA team. An uncomfortable sensation settled in her chest almost as if her heart was cracking in two. What was the use, right? From what she gathered from Garrison, she would be leaving with them tomorrow anyway.

“A moment,” Antonio told everyone and dragged Charly to the sitting room.

“What?” she challenged, annoyed because she wasn’t clueless what was bothering this man. He still considered her his property and it bothered his pride that he couldn’t do anything about it.

“I would expect, gatinha,” he said softly, eyes sharp with a menace she couldn’t decipher, “that you will not flirt so quickly with another man when I was just pounding my cock into your pussy a few hours ago.”

Oh, hell no.

“Tuck your ego into your pants, Antonio. Having sex with you hardly gives you any rights over me,” she whispered harshly, moving further into the sitting room because she wanted to yell in his face.

“That’s where you’re wrong,” he said. “The second you let me inside you, you became mine.”

“Really, is that what you told all the women you’ve slept with?”

“Don’t compare yourself to others. You’re different.”

Charly puffed a short derisive laugh. “If I had a dollar for every time a man said that to a woman, I’d be as rich as you.”

“Why are you being like this?” he rasped. “I have enough problems to handle right now. In fact, let’s start with one. Why didn’t you tell me you worked for the CIA?”

“I hardly ‘work’ for them,” she retorted. “Other agents from the CIA found me in a stash house, but at that time Dr. Leigh and Carillo were in another location with the bioweapon and vaccine cache.”

His brows drew together. “You were left unguarded?”

“No. There were three cartel men guarding me. The agents communicated with me through a barred window. Carillo’s men nearly discovered them and I had to make a quick decision.”

Antonio’s mouth flattened. “You chose to stay behind.”

“They promised to extract me later. Said I could be useful to find out Carillo’s end game. I just didn’t want to get separated from my research and the virus.”

“Ah, how can I forget? That’s all you care about,” he said, eyes glittering. “Commendable of you to be so dedicated, really. Does that include sleeping with me?”

“Are you twisting this around now?” she yelled, startling herself with how loud she was, so she lowered her voice. “It wasn’t my idea to have sex. You wanted whatever this annoying sexual tension to burn itself out so we could work better together. Obviously, it had the opposite reaction. I had no idea you were going to turn into this overbearing and jealous asshole.” She pulled in a deep breath and let it out slowly, unprepared for the tumultuous emotions rioting through her system.

“I’m going home tomorrow.” There was a catch in her voice. She didn’t want them to be fighting with the hours they had left with each other. “We had a good time, Antonio. I’ll cherish those few … stolen moments. Let’s not end this on an ugly note.” Her chest was caving in with the weight of her own words.

His eyes grew stormy and he raised one hand to her cheek. “Then why are you crying?”

She blinked and indeed a tear rolled down her face. “Because I’m stupid. I knew better than to start anything with you.”

“I think …” Antonio paused. “I think I’ve grown fond of you.”

Fond? Charly thought bitterly. What she was feeling was far deeper than fondness for Antonio. It was not love, but she was infatuated with this annoying, sexy billionaire. She was like the heroine in a short-lived romance novel except it couldn’t be romance with no happily ever after?

“I’m sure you’ll find someone else to be fond about,” she said with more candor than she intended and Antonio noticed.

He glared at her. “This is no time to act jealous.”

Her mouth fell open. “Jealous? And what did you do just now when you dragged me in here?”

“Tá bom! I was jealous. So, you just want us to be over?”

“There was never an us to begin with.”

His mouth tightened and he backed away from her. “I’m done chasing after a woman.”

“Chasing? You never even started!”

“You’re right. This is useless. I have more important matters to attend to. Let’s see what these …”—his mouth twisted—“spooks want and get this over with so I can get on with my life.”

He left her in the sitting room. And the whole house probably heard him.

That annoyed her even more. She stalked after him and was surprised to see Bristow there.

“You okay, Doc?” His face was pissed, but Charly instinctively knew it wasn’t directed at her.

Oh my God, she wanted to burst into tears again. She’d been stuck with dysfunctional people for what seemed like forever, she was so happy to see a kind face and finally know which end was up.

“I will be. Now let’s get this bug.”

“So, are those XZite pills in there?” Charly asked as Bristow and Martinez hauled a bio-containment box into their bullpen. “Maybe we should move it straight to BSL-4?”

She glanced at Antonio.

He shrugged. “I’m not running the show now, apparently. You know how to operate it right, Dr. Bennett? Bristow can be your tandem. I was informed he worked BSL-4 in the States.”

Charly tried not to feel hurt with how formal he addressed her, but she couldn’t ignore that Antonio