Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 69511 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69511 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
He still couldn’t shake her off, and it’d been eighteen months.
She’d followed him down here from Great Falls to Dallas.
Grinding my teeth, I walked right up to Athena and grabbed her arm.
“No, thank you,” she pulled her arm away.
I caught her hip, twisted her to me, and smiled when she snarled.
“I said no, thank…” she trailed off when our eyes met.
My hair was longer.
I’d also dyed the white patch in my hair—a byproduct of a swimming accident when I was younger. I’d grown out my beard, too—it was so fucking long that I almost felt homeless.
I hadn’t had a beard like this since I was deployed to Iraq and even then I’d been able to keep it at manageable levels.
In the Aided Aimers, you didn’t shave.
At least, as a prospect I wasn’t allowed to, anyway.
“What the fuck are you doing here right now?” I snarled.
Her eyes went wide with astonishment, then she leaned in, whispering, “Gable? What are you doing here?”
I gritted my teeth, then said, “I’m here because I’m undercover. You’re about to blow that cover out of the water if you don’t get the fuck out of here.”
“I can’t,” she breathed. “I have a lead.”
I ground my molars together before saying, “If you don’t get out of here, you and I are both fucked.”
Literally, and figuratively.
If I could get her to leave, they’d let her go. They’d give me so much fucking shit that I’d never hear the end of it, but eventually their arrest would be the end result, and I could live with the ribbing.
“I’m not leaving,” she hissed.
“I’m not joking, Athena. This one time, please, can you just listen to me?” I asked. “I just need you to go.”
“Why?” she asked. “They don’t know that we know each other.”
I narrowed my eyes, hating that she could never take anything at face value. She always had to have her questions.
And, because I was pissed that she wasn’t automatically trusting me, I said, “Because they tasked me with fucking you in the middle of the bar, in front of everyone, to get my patch.”
She blinked.
“I…” she trailed off. “What?”
Before I could answer, Madman was there, leering at my side.
“It’s either him or me, sweet tits,” Madman said. “Which one is it going to be?”
And because I damn well knew that Madman would take Athena, whether she wanted him or not, I made a decision.
I would be going through with this.
I would be fucking Athena in the middle of a bar.
I would be taking advantage of her.
At least, if she was okay with it.
I’d blow my cover trying to get her out if she didn’t want this—want me.
I squeezed her hip, hoping she’d get the meaning, and was relieved to see her turn to Madman and say, “I think I’ll keep this one, thanks.”
She caught my beard in her hand and twisted, placing her lips on mine.
I wasn’t proud when the feeling of intense need started to rocket through me.
And, because I couldn’t stop myself, I deepened the kiss, pushing my tongue between her lips and ravaging her mouth.
By the time I pulled away, both of us were breathing hard and Madman was gone with an annoyed huff.
“What’s going on, Gable?” she whispered hoarsely.
I was proud of the way I’d made her lose control.
There were people all around us, some dancing. Some making out. Others doing… other things.
Things that I didn’t think Athena realized they were doing, or she’d have probably left the dance floor.
I caught her hip in my hand and pulled her closer to me, bending down so that I could speak right into her ear, hopefully keeping most of our conversation private.
In quiet tones, I laid out what I was tasked to do.
She pulled back with huge eyes and said, “Absolutely not.”
Stomach twisting at her automatic refusal, I said, “We don’t really have a choice. You have three options. One, you let me fuck you, right here and right now. Two, you leave and let Madman fuck you outside, and his way is going to be a whole lot less careful and consenting. Or three, we both leave, and I have to blow my cover.” I once again cupped her chin. “I’ve been on this job for six months, honey. We’re close.”
Her eyes closed. “Will you tell me why you’re here?”
I tucked a stray lock of her deep brown hair behind her ear before saying, “I’m betting the same reason you’re here right now.”
She sucked in a breath. “Shasha said that I might find a missing girl—now likely a woman—here.”
I gritted my teeth, pissed as hell that Shasha would give Athena that kind of information and not expect her to act on it.
He probably expected her to obey him, since that was the kind of behavior he expected from people. But he’d never met Athena before.