in the transportation business. He was proud of the new life he’d built, but it hadn’t come cheap. Unless he paid his debt to Tony Monaco, he could lose it all.
The reminder focused his thoughts better than the ride could. He took the exit for O’HareAirport, switched off his headlight and headed for the back route he liked to use. Seven minutes later, they arrived at the sprawling complex of warehouses and hangars that bore the gray-and-white baying-wolf logo of Pack Leader Express.
It’s your turn to show me yours.
Showing Kelly what he had to offer was exactly what he intended to do. That was why he was about to go through the charade of breaking into the head office of his own company.
Nathan coasted to a stop in the shadows outside the chain-link fence that ran behind the Pack Leader main warehouse. Security was tight in the freight-handling areas, so he planned to stick to the administrative building. He pulled back his cuff to check his watch, then shut off the engine.
Kelly unclasped her hands from his waist. “Why are we stopping here?” she asked.
He set the kickstand, slipped off his helmet and twisted on the seat to look at her. “I know the security guards’ schedule. They pass through the main parking lot a few times a night, but there’s no entrance back here for them to check so they won’t notice my bike.”
She lifted off her helmet and fluffed her hair with her fingers. A whiff of floral-scented shampoo mingled with the exhaust from the bike. “What about surveillance cameras?”
“They’re focused on the entrances and on the loading bays. This is a dead spot.”
She surveyed the area. “I’m impressed by how you’ve studied the security, Nathan, but it still doesn’t show me how you propose to move our merchandise.”
He swung his leg over the gas tank, got to his feet and held out his hand. “Come with me.”
She slid off the bike, hesitating for a telling moment before she slipped her hand into his.
Nathan knew it was crazy to feel a shock from the contact, since he’d felt her body rubbing and jiggling against him for the past half hour, yet the sensation of her skin pressed to his made his mouth go dry.
She didn’t need stage makeup or a sequined dress to get to him. Although the shadows were deep here, he could feel the impact of her gaze. Her eyes were the vibrant green of springtime, fresh with life and hinting at earthy passion that was still tightly coiled.
Did she save her passion only for her singing? What would she do if he took her in his arms and eased her further into the shadows, pressed his mouth to her lips and her back to the wall and…
Damn, he had to keep his mind on business. He was taking a hell of a risk by bringing Kelly here, but it was the quickest way to cement this deal. Everything she saw and did was going to get straight back to Volski, so he had to put on the show of his life.
He tightened his grip on her hand and guided her across the tarmac to the small square building at the hub of the complex. The wolf logo was done in lights here, unlike the painted signs on the other buildings. He gave the glow from the sign a wide berth as he bypassed the main entrance and led Kelly to a door that was set in the middle of the side wall. Angling his body so that she wouldn’t be able to see what he did, he went through the motions of jimmying the lock, then punched in the combination on the keypad, opened the door and tugged her inside.
As he’d anticipated, the corridor was empty. Most of the people who worked the midnight shift would be monitoring activity from the communication center at the front of the building. If someone did happen to see him using his private entrance, they wouldn’t find his presence here unusual—Nathan didn’t sleep much, and he preferred a hands-on style of management, so he often wandered the complex at night.
But if Kelly heard someone address him by the name he used now, the game with Volski would be over almost before it had begun.
She opened her mouth as if she were about to ask another question, but he silenced her by shaking his head and holding his finger to her lips. He leaned down to put his mouth close to her ear. “We’ll go upstairs,” he whispered. “You can see the entire layout from there. It’s safer than going around to the warehouse.”
She nodded and one of her curls tickled his nose.
His eyes half closed as he inhaled. There was the floral shampoo, feminine and sensuous, but beneath it there was a hint of something sweet. A mild, powdery aroma that was oddly…innocent.
Longing, pain…rage.
The memory of her voice rose with her scent. The calculating woman who belonged to Stephan Volski wouldn’t smell like this any more than she would be able to sing with so much emotion. Again, Nathan found himself thinking there had to be more to Kelly than what showed on the surface.
But that wasn’t his concern, was it? He wasn’t looking for a complication any more than he was looking for a woman. Kelly’s only reason for being here with him was to negotiate a way to move her boyfriend’s heroin.
As for Nathan’s reason for being here with Kelly…well, they were standing in the middle of it.
He straightened up and led her to the stairs.
Nathan’s nerves had to be made of steel, Kelly thought, crouching behind the low ridge of concrete that ran along the edge of the roof. And as for that other part of the male anatomy that supposedly went along with courage, he must have a pair of the largest, firmest—
She gritted her teeth, refusing to consider anything else about his body. She’d already felt plenty of it on the motorcycle trip here. Yes, thanks to that ride, she’d been treated to hands-on knowledge of his wide shoulders, his slim hips, his hard thighs and his broad chest. And she’d learned his scent was from more than leather and aftershave. He had the compelling, musky tang of a dangerously virile man.
“The shipment will get stored in that warehouse after it comes in,” Nathan said. He squatted beside her and pointed toward a building to their right.
The airport spread out before them in a giant tapestry threaded with rows of lights. The terminal buildings were far enough away to look small, yet the well-lit complex of warehouses that surrounded them made Kelly feel uncomfortable. There was no cover here on the roof. If anyone decided to look in this direction, they would be spotted for sure.
But compared to the crimes Stephan had drawn her into, a little breaking, entering and trespassing were insignificant. Most of her anxiety arose from the fear that if they were caught here, the distribution deal would be blown and so would her and Jamie’s escape plan.
She wiped her damp palms against her pants and turned her head to follow Nathan’s gesture. She didn’t want him to see her nervousness. It might give him an advantage.
“I didn’t think to ask before,” Nathan said. “Are you bothered by heights?”
His question sounded sincere, as did the note of concern in his voice, but Kelly couldn’t be sure. Bringing her here might be a ploy to rattle her, the same way she’d been trying to rattle him before. “Not at all,” she replied. “Besides, this building is hardly the Sears Tower.”
“It’s too close to a flight path to be any higher.”
As if to prove his statement, his words were drowned out by the roar of a jet taking off. Kelly pressed her palms over her ears and instinctively ducked her head.
Nathan dropped to one knee and slipped his arm around her shoulders to steady her as the noise washed over them. Once it subsided, he didn’t pull away immediately. He moved his fingers, toying briefly with the ends of her hair.
She told herself that she shouldn’t feel anything from the caress. After all, it was only her hair that he touched. So why did she have this strange impulse to lean toward him for more?
Her jaw was starting to ache from clenching her teeth. It was a good thing that this was almost