But then there was David. David, who set her body on fire, whose intensity made her heart pump pure emotion through her veins. David, who was killing her by asking for details that she couldn’t give him. She couldn’t tell him what she’d agreed to do for the State Department, because she’d been told not to. She didn’t know if she could totally trust him anyway. Sure, the sex was great, and he seemed caring, but she didn’t really know where his head was.

“Damn,” she said under her breath, finally putting her phone on the table.

David paused, and then leaned forward, elbows on the table. He opened his mouth to speak, but someone walked by speaking on a cell phone. He waited for them to pass. “I’m not sure how to tell you this, but you are in danger. The Russian government wants to question you about whatever you were slipping into his hand when he was killed. They are telling everyone that the United States is trying to pick them off one-by-one, and the Greek authorities won’t protect you from them. I’m waiting for a call from my boss to reassign me, so it could be just you and a KGB officer in a few hours.” He shrugged and leaned back.

She did not want to be alone with the Russians. Just the idea made her start breathing faster. A part of her wanted to tell him everything. Leave every part of her open to him as she had done this morning. It might be her only option. She just needed time. Time for Brandon to get there, time to think.

Was it really fair for the State Department to have put her into this position?

David realized that she’d clammed up good and proper about Doubrov, which confirmed that there was more going on than he knew. She was up to her sweet neck in something, and if she didn’t tell him about it, he couldn’t help her. The only thing he could do was to keep her safe.

David knew that he was going to have to come up with an exit strategy sooner or later. Sooner, since his objective was to get Molly out of Greece immediately after she finished her speech. He basically had just under twenty-four hours to keep her safe and away from prying eyes. He hated himself for wishing Mal were still here to help out.

After they got back to the hotel and unpacked the few belongings they had, David excused himself to get supplies for their stay. He wanted to keep her in the room until five minutes before her speech, hunkered down and out of sight. And he needed some things for that. Food, drink, and more condoms. He planned on enjoying every moment he had left with her, whether he got to the bottom of her involvement or not. He could see in her eyes that she didn’t really trust him, and maybe she was right not to. But the truth was that very few people trusted him, and he’d spent the past year trying to prove to the people around him that he could be relied on. He didn’t want to leave Molly with the impression he couldn’t be counted on. And to do that he had to be counted on.

His whole job with Barracks Security was to protect people. He never asked what their motives were, or what they were hiding from him. So why should he worry about that with Molly? He was beginning to think that maybe she was right not to tell him what was going on. If he didn’t know all her secrets, it would make it easier to leave her as she seemed to want. “No tomorrows,” she’d said.

It made for a cleaner getaway.

He hoped.

When he got back to the room, music was playing, faint strains penetrating the closed door. He double checked the door number, and inserted his key card. The lights were dim and the music, some kind of lazy jazz, swelled as the door opened.

Molly stood in front of the window. Dusk was falling, and he blinked a couple of times to make sure he was seeing what he was seeing. She had swept her short wavy hair up into some kind of updo, and was wearing a black, sparkling, floor-length dress and what must be high heels. Rimmed with smoky-gray makeup, her light eyes shone.

“I feel a little underdressed,” he said softly, so as not to disrupt the mood.

“Then we’re even. I was underdressed at the party, where I should have been wearing this.” She smiled and twirled.

The skirt of the dress peeled back into small panels of separate material, all the way up to her thighs and beyond, showing her impossibly high, and impossibly sexy sandals. Jesus. If he’d seen her in that at the cocktail party when he was so sure he’d been hallucinating he probably would have passed out.

She came to a halt, and the dress swung around her just a little, teasing with what he knew was under it. He shut the door and locked it, then swung the metal security bar over its hook.

As he got closer, he realized that the top of the dress was not much more than some kind of see-through black chiffon. He swallowed hard. Her breasts were clearly visible through it.

“It comes with special underwear to preserve one’s modesty. But I figured that since we weren’t going out…” She shrugged.

He tried to speak but couldn’t. He had to clear his throat before he could agree. “You are beautiful.”

She swung around in a little half circle as if she were embarrassed. “Why, thank you, kind sir.”

He smiled. “I brought food.”

Her eyes lit up. “What did you bring?”

He mentally winced as he realized how inappropriate the meal was. “Meat wrapped in pita bread.”

She closed her eyes and inhaled. “My favorite. Let’s eat.”

“How hungry are you, exactly?” he asked, putting the bags down on the desk.

She paused. “I can wait.”

“Good answer.” He shrugged off his jacket and walked over to where she was still standing, in front of the large French window. “I meant it. You really are beautiful.” He reached out and cupped her face in his hands, gently stroking down her neck to her collarbone. It was naked, and he suddenly had a vision of himself buying a diamond necklace to adorn it.

The see-through material was soft and silky, and his hands continued slowly exploring. Her shoulders, down to her breasts, her nipples already straining against the thin material. He rubbed his palms gently over them with open hands. “When you imagined going to the cocktail party, did it ever cross your mind to go like this? To not wear the underwear designed for it? To let the other guests see you like this?”

Her eyes fluttered closed for a second. “No. Well, it crossed my mind, but only as a fantasy. I had no intention of actually doing it.”

“Because it’s only a turn-on if people think they’re seeing something private, more like a wardrobe malfunction than a deliberate flash?” His voice slowed down, and he stroked a different part of her with virtually each word he said.

“Yes. Yes. How did you know?” she moaned, as he nipped at her nipples through her dress.

He raised his head and whispered hot into her ear, “Because I know you. I see what turns you on as easily as I see what turns me on.” David slowly walked around her and found the dress’s zip. He peeled it down, slowly, so very slowly, kissing her skin as he descended with the fastener. As he reached the small of her back, the dress fully dropped to the floor, leaving Molly naked except for her impossibly high heels.

Unadulterated desire spread through him, heating his very core so much that he wanted to tear off his clothes just to be able to devour her. He pulled off his shirt in one movement, and opened the French doors in the other. A warm breeze flickered across his chest.

Molly turned slowly to look out of the window. They were so high up the people below looked tiny. For sure, no one could see them unless they had binoculars. She inhaled a shuddering breath.

“Do you like being outside?” he asked, taking her hand and urging her closer to the threshold of the door.

She took another shaky breath, and closed her eyes to the view. His hand stroked along her spine, up and down, up and down, so gently, that goosebumps erupted along her arms. When she opened her eyes, they were glassy. “Do you think anyone can see us?”