protective stance. His determination and loyalty after what she’d done to him.
Instead of kissing him, you should knee him in the balls and rip the necklace from his neck. Make him hate her and get the hell out of his life. It was the only way to save him.
She was about to raise her knee and hate herself even more than she already did, when he leaned down and kissed her.
Chapter Four
_____________________
______________________________________________________
H E’D W ANTED T O kiss her from the moment she walked out of the bathroom. He had to know if it would be the same. If it would feel the same.
It didn’t.
Oh, no. It didn’t feel the same at all.
It was a hundred times better.
So fucked.
Her lips were as soft as he remembered, still as full and responsive. He ran the tip of his tongue along her bottom lip, tasting her, then deepening the kiss when she moaned into his mouth.
Once upon a time, she’d tasted like comfort and salvation. Now, she tasted like danger.
Deception.
Risk.
God help him, if that didn’t make her kiss better. Sexier.
He wanted her even more.
Not here. Too vulnerable.
He broke the kiss. Released her wrist. Stepped back. “We need to move.”
Her eyes were half-lidded. She licked her bottom lip. “ I need to move. You need to go back to your life and forget you ever saw me.”
“Enough with the ‘I’m a danger to you’ shit.” He opened the truck door and boosted her into the seat against her protests. “Every job I’ve had, outside of dog sitting in middle school, has involved danger. Danger is my middle name.”
He belted her in, shut the door and hit the lock button on his key fob. She grabbed the door handle and tried to get back out, but the child safety locks were on. She went nowhere.
Keeping a close eye on the surrounding area, he took off his flak vest, adjusted his weapons.
“You can’t hold me against my will,” she said once he’d climbed in the truck and started the engine.
He did a U-turn in the street and took off north. “Watch me.”
She bit her lip and stared out the window. Thinking about the kiss? At least she hadn’t hauled off and smacked him, which he totally deserved.
The scars on her body were testimony to the fact someone else had held her against her will, and after a minute of her silence, a twinge of guilt gnawed at him. “I simply want to keep you safe, Charlotte.”
“You can’t. The only way for me to ever be safe again is to put Nico away for good and clear my name.”
“That’s exactly what we’re going to do.”
Nothing about her body language changed, but he sensed a change in her mental outlook. That’s right, sweetheart. Resistance is futile.
When they’d been stuck in that cabin in the mountains, he’d become so in tune with her mentally, emotionally, and physically, he could often tell what she was thinking without even looking at her.
Had that all been conjecture on his part? Had he simply wanted her so bad, he’d imagined he knew her? He never suspected she was an operative, and he had plenty of experience working with undercover agents from the CIA to Special Ops. He should have known.
He took the highway out of San Diego, heading for a private residence up the coast. A place with top-notch security where he could catch his breath a minute and think.
Charlotte continued her silence for a long while, not even asking where they were headed.
The night closed in around them. Miles kept an eye on his rearview, traffic thinning in the hour after midnight.
When she finally did speak, her voice was low and quiet, like the night. “Thank you for pulling me out of that motel room. Otherwise, I might be dead at this moment.”
“How do you think Bourean tracked you?”
“Wondering the same thing and I’m quite clueless. I escaped three weeks ago and I’ve stayed off the grid, used false identities, moved around constantly. Tonight was the first night I checked into a motel. I’ve been sleeping in
Instead of kissing him, you should knee him in the balls and rip the necklace from his neck. Make him hate her and get the hell out of his life. It was the only way to save him.
She was about to raise her knee and hate herself even more than she already did, when he leaned down and kissed her.
Chapter Four
_____________________
______________________________________________________
H E’D W ANTED T O kiss her from the moment she walked out of the bathroom. He had to know if it would be the same. If it would feel the same.
It didn’t.
Oh, no. It didn’t feel the same at all.
It was a hundred times better.
So fucked.
Her lips were as soft as he remembered, still as full and responsive. He ran the tip of his tongue along her bottom lip, tasting her, then deepening the kiss when she moaned into his mouth.
Once upon a time, she’d tasted like comfort and salvation. Now, she tasted like danger.
Deception.
Risk.
God help him, if that didn’t make her kiss better. Sexier.
He wanted her even more.
Not here. Too vulnerable.
He broke the kiss. Released her wrist. Stepped back. “We need to move.”
Her eyes were half-lidded. She licked her bottom lip. “ I need to move. You need to go back to your life and forget you ever saw me.”
“Enough with the ‘I’m a danger to you’ shit.” He opened the truck door and boosted her into the seat against her protests. “Every job I’ve had, outside of dog sitting in middle school, has involved danger. Danger is my middle name.”
He belted her in, shut the door and hit the lock button on his key fob. She grabbed the door handle and tried to get back out, but the child safety locks were on. She went nowhere.
Keeping a close eye on the surrounding area, he took off his flak vest, adjusted his weapons.
“You can’t hold me against my will,” she said once he’d climbed in the truck and started the engine.
He did a U-turn in the street and took off north. “Watch me.”
She bit her lip and stared out the window. Thinking about the kiss? At least she hadn’t hauled off and smacked him, which he totally deserved.
The scars on her body were testimony to the fact someone else had held her against her will, and after a minute of her silence, a twinge of guilt gnawed at him. “I simply want to keep you safe, Charlotte.”
“You can’t. The only way for me to ever be safe again is to put Nico away for good and clear my name.”
“That’s exactly what we’re going to do.”
Nothing about her body language changed, but he sensed a change in her mental outlook. That’s right, sweetheart. Resistance is futile.
When they’d been stuck in that cabin in the mountains, he’d become so in tune with her mentally, emotionally, and physically, he could often tell what she was thinking without even looking at her.
Had that all been conjecture on his part? Had he simply wanted her so bad, he’d imagined he knew her? He never suspected she was an operative, and he had plenty of experience working with undercover agents from the CIA to Special Ops. He should have known.
He took the highway out of San Diego, heading for a private residence up the coast. A place with top-notch security where he could catch his breath a minute and think.
Charlotte continued her silence for a long while, not even asking where they were headed.
The night closed in around them. Miles kept an eye on his rearview, traffic thinning in the hour after midnight.
When she finally did speak, her voice was low and quiet, like the night. “Thank you for pulling me out of that motel room. Otherwise, I might be dead at this moment.”
“How do you think Bourean tracked you?”
“Wondering the same thing and I’m quite clueless. I escaped three weeks ago and I’ve stayed off the grid, used false identities, moved around constantly. Tonight was the first night I checked into a motel. I’ve been sleeping in
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