Free Midnight Pursuits by Elle Kennedy Page B

it’s your prerogative,” she said nonchalantly. “Warn them. Take them all to Morgan’s awesome new bachelor pad if you want. Just don’t expect me to tag along.”
    Of all the reactions she could have received, the disappointment in Ethan’s hazel eyes was not one she’d anticipated. No anger, no annoyance, not even disapproval.
    Nope, he looked
disappointed
, as if he’d expected more from her and she’d truly let him down.
    This time, the twinge she experienced was most definitely guilt.
    â€œYou really don’t care if three innocent people die?” Ethan asked quietly.
    Juliet swallowed, then donned a careless face. “Nope.”
    â€œFine.” His tone became businesslike. “Get your girl Paige on the phone and have her check out every person on that list. As soon as we get the intel, we’ll go our separate ways.” An edge crept into his voice. “I’ll be heading off to save lives, and you’ll be going to take one. I guess that’s what we call irony, huh?”

Chapter 5
    It was past one a.m. and Ethan was stretched out on the floor, feeling wide-awake and restless. It had been a ridiculously lazy day that involved too much sitting around as they’d waited for Paige to get back to them. Although he and Juliet had done some research of their own, gathering basic intelligence about the individuals on Grechko’s list, Juliet’s tech-savvy colleague was capable of conducting the kind of deep background searches they required.
    Unfortunately, Paige still hadn’t gotten in touch, and Ethan was now lying here after a long day of doing nothing, while Juliet slept on the bed. She’d been sleeping on and off during the day, which had surprised him. He’d figured he’d have to force her to rest the way he usually did with his teammates. Whenever they got injured, the men on Morgan’s team griped and complained about being bed bound, demanding to return to action even if they weren’t fully capable of it yet.
    But Juliet was smarter when it came to her recovery. She knew that she needed to regain her strength if she wanted to go forward with her plan.
    Her plan to kill the minister of defense.
    Jesus. Talk about ambitious.
    Not that he was worried or anything. Truth was, he had no doubt that Juliet could achieve her crazy goal. When you worked for Noelle you picked up a few tricks, and though he didn’t know much about Juliet’s previous assignments, he was confident that getting to Orlov would be an easy feat for the woman.
    As for him, he couldn’t in good conscience leave the country until he tracked down the three people Victor Grechko hadn’t gotten around to killing. He didn’t know who they were, but clearly they were important if Dmitry Orlov wanted them dead.
    Too many questions ran through his mind, but Ethan tried not to get hung up on them. Like Juliet, he had to pick one objective, and the three innocent people with targets on their backs were the priority he’d chosen to focus on.
    Apparently he wasn’t destined to have a vacation. All he’d wanted was two weeks of peaceful, relaxing me-time, and somehow he’d wound up in Eastern Europe, about to play bodyguard to three strangers.
    Life was weird sometimes.
    â€œGoddamn you!”
    Juliet’s angry outburst penetrated the silence.
    The sheets rustled, the mattress squeaking as she moved around on the bed. Fortunately, the room was dark, which meant he couldn’t see her booty shorts and black sports bra—the indecent outfit she’d been wearing when she’d waltzed out of the bathroom earlier without a shred of modesty. His body, of course, had instantly reacted, but if she’d noticed the bulge in his pants, she hadn’t commented on it.
    â€œWhat did I do?” Ethan asked in amusement. “I’ve just been lying here quietly.”
    Rather than explain the abrupt indictment, she let