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He's been taking you off guard since you first saw him. Go with it.

Nia went with her gut and nodded once.

Darius smiled. The colour of his eyes deepened. He made a graceful go - ahead motion with one hand. Unconsciously, her gaze was drawn to his slender fingers. Her nipples hardened, imagining them on her. Nia pushed the thought away. It was just dinner. No matter how much she wanted him, she wasn't prone to jumping into bed with any man she barely knew.

She walked in the direction he had bidden her. When they reached the restaurant, she turned in at the door. It took her a few steps before she realised he was not with her. She glanced back at him in question.

"Dinner in my apartment. It's here at the hotel," he said.

Nia watched him, then returned to his side. They went the rest of the way to the receptionist desk together. Darius punched a code into a panel next to a door that wasn't noticeable unless you were close to it. It slid open, and they entered a long hall. The door closed behind them. She walked beside him, hands shoved into the pockets of her jacket. They passed, from her count of the doors on either side, eight offices. At the end of the hall, he stopped before an elevator and entered a code on the pad next to it. It opened soundlessly, and they entered. Nia stood on the far side of the elevator. Darius leaned against the other, watching her. His scent surrounded her. The elevator started its ascent.

Nia worried the inside of her cheek. Thoughts of having him filled her. She couldn't, but that didn't stop the thoughts. Darius' look got hungrier. She recognised it - it was the one a man had when he desperately wanted a woman.

You want him the same way. Look at him, looking so sexy. Lickable.

I can't. I don't even know him, Nia argued with herself.

Darius didn't say a word. His look said it all. Nia's mouth watered, her palms damp and her pussy clenching.

"Fuck it." She closed the distance between them.

Darius met her in the middle of the elevator. He covered her mouth with his. His kiss was possessive and thorough. Moaning, Nia opened her mouth.

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"Ian!" she screamed.

"No need to shout. I'm in here." Ian's voice came from her living room.

"What is Einstein doing with McGee and Reid? Heck, what is your whole animal farm doing with them? You-”" Sinai stepped into the living room, then stopped.

She walked over and examined the big screen TV that took up the whole wall between her two bay windows. There was a lot of space between them, meaning that was a whole lot of TV. She had heard tales of Ian's TV from her various family members and friends who went to his house to watch games or a movie. Sinai took a breath, trying to be calm.

"What's going on?" she asked slowly as she turned to Ian.

He was leaning back on her couch, his arms behind his head and his crossed legs extended before him. Her gaze dropped, taking in how his jeans cupped his cock and encased his legs. Heat flooded her. She shifted.

"Since I'm moving in until after your birthday, I'll need my things."

Sinai blinked, sure she had heard him wrong. She shook her head. Ian nodded, a smug smile on his face.

"Hell, no!" Sinai roared.

She smacked away the soap. Ian's hand flashed up, and he caught it. He stood in a lazy motion then walked in a loose-”legged gait. Sinai's heart started to race. She felt as if she was being stalked. She stood her ground as Ian walked right up to her.

He leant down and said softly, "Don't test me, Nai."

"You're not moving in here. It's not necessary," she insisted.

Ian's eyes dilated, then he said in a low tone, "Are you challenging me?"

Sinai raised her head. "On this I am."

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Somalia

"Look here, damn it, I don't need any fucking geo - freak coming in here and telling me what I can and can't do!" Kenric Annson shouted into the phone. "I'm here doing my goddamn job. It's not like it's a picnic out here where you can walk up the street to Starbucks for a venti mocha. There's wars going on around here, and sending some pencil pusher down isn't going to do a damn thing, except complicate things. My men and I are busy enough without the added job of babysitting."

The response he received only infuriated him further. After cursing a streak at the dial tone in his ear he slammed the phone down.

"You okay, Boss?"

The question came from Shade, one of the workers on this crew. Actually, Shade was his next in command. Kenric only knew him as Shade and that was fine. He trusted him with his life - hell, Shade could call himself Tinkerbell if he wanted to. Shade was a huge, muscular man with braided hair, which he kept confined to a ponytail most of the time. A goatee and dark brown skin completed the package. The man looked downright lethal standing there with his personal arsenal strapped to him. Everyone respected him.

"Hell, no." He popped his neck and sat on the edge of his desk, arms crossed.

"What's up?"

"That was Frank."

Shade groaned and rolled his eyes as he snipped the end off a cigar. Frank Grimmel was technically the boss down here. Frank was only here since his brother owned the company. However, as far as Kenric and the others were concerned, he was a waste of sperm. It was part of the reason everyone called Kenric 'Boss', to add another dig into Frank's authority. "What'd the dumbass want?"

"He's sending us a civilian."

"What!" Shade looked over the top of his mirrored sunglasses and stared while he lit his cigar, the smoke curling up and around his face like a snake.

"Yes, something about this doctor being able to help us find the natural gas pockets faster, and dig for them safer."

A snort of derision. "Does he not get this isn't your America? That, while we're digging, we have men standing guard? Hell, even when we're not." Shade shook his head. "I mean, even Frank has two men guard him the rare occasions he's here."

Kenric shrugged and got up to lean against the wall near the window. He stared outside at the steppe, only to turn fully and brace a hand against the pane of glass, warmed from the summer sun.

"I have a bad feeling about this," he muttered. "A fuckin' rock doc."

Shade cleared his throat. "Boss."

"Yeah?" He continued to stare out over the brush and scrub.

"We have company."