TrackingDesire by Elizabeth Lapthorne Page B

pushed opened the door but froze on
the threshold, throwing a hot, amused look at her with his warm silver-gray
eyes as he did so.
    “Oh, you will pay for that later.” He spoke to her in a low
voice so the others wouldn’t be able to hear him. “I’m already as hard as a
fucking rock, and now I’m leaking pre-cum. If that’s the sort of game you’d
like to play, babe, prepare to be defeated. I’m going to get you back for that,
I promise.”
    Liv tried to look innocent, but she knew her smirk and the
hot, laughing glint in her eyes would totally give her away. Julian licked his
lips and let his gaze sear through her body as it swept her up and down. Liv
could have sworn he was actually contemplating picking her up, throwing her
over his shoulder and carrying her to his bed, and to hell with Will, Matt and
Kelly and the team’s debriefing of the debacle that their mission had turned
into.
    “Oh, thank Circe you’re both back safely,” Kelly said, breaking
the tense, erotically charged moment between Liv and Julian.
    Julian grinned at Liv, but turned around and walked into his
apartment in a casual manner.
    Liv could see that Kelly had been pacing up and down, but
now she quickly crossed the living area and enveloped Liv in a giant hug.
    Eagerly, Liv hugged her friend back, pleased to see that she
and Matt had indeed arrived back perfectly safely, as she had assumed.
    “Will let us all in,” Matt explained as he came over to
shake Julian’s hand. “It’s good to see you both here in one piece. When we told
Flame we were leaving, she said she hadn’t heard from you, and as the time drew
on Kelly grew a little concerned.”
    When Liv pulled back, she unzipped the side pocket of her
jacket and removed the pound or so of ochre powder. Checking the seal still
remained tightly closed, she walked over to where Will stood by the window,
chewing compulsively on the end of his cigar.
    With a smile, Liv handed the package over to Will.
    “I hope this is what we’re after,” she began. “We were only
going to take a sample, and although we didn’t study the fume hood in detail
while we were there, neither of us noticed wires or sensors or anything of the
kind. It was almost certainly something integral to the fume hoods that was
hooked up to the silent alarm. I’m sorry we tripped it.”
    “Can’t be helped, Liv,” Will replied as he hefted the
plastic bag in his large hand and studied it with avid interest. “These things
happen sometimes. Neither of you made a stupid error—it could have happened to
any of us. And with luck, this will pay off for the hassle we’ve all had to
endure tonight. I can’t imagine the Tiens would have placed something that
wasn’t valuable in such an obscure and well-hidden area. Not to mention the
strange intricacies of the fume hood’s silent alarm. Even if it’s not the
antidote we’re looking for, the likelihood of it being something of value to us
knowledge-wise is very good.”
    Liv nodded her agreement and some of the tension crept out
of her shoulders at Will’s words. They were kind, she knew, but they appeared
genuine and well thought out. Part of Will might be saying them to make her
feel better, but Liv honestly didn’t think he was outright lying or simply
attempting to soothe her ego or placate her with rubbish.
    “Let me go and wake up the laboratory analysts,” he said
with a smirk. “Get them all in on triple-time. If this is anything like Jolt,
the longer we delay, the more degraded it will become and the less useful we’ll
find the results.”
    Will turned away and pulled out his cell phone, punching in
a series of numbers without even checking the keypad. After a moment his voice
boomed around the room. He seemed almost pleased to be waking some poor analyst
and ruining what remained of his night.
    “Slayter, Captain Will here. You awake, man?” A slight pause
followed, but cut off whatever objection the man had begun to make.
    “Don’t give me