Until Death Do We Part (Sex and Vows #1)

Edited by PREMA Romance Editing.

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Prologue

Alex

“Sold!”

A smile crawled across my face as

the  tall,  silver  haired  auctioneer
slammed the gavel down on the podium.
I  stood  slowly,  biding  my  time  as  I
watched  the  most  beautiful  woman  on
the  face  of  the  planet  walk  toward  the
stage to collect the painting. She was tall
and

graceful,

her

hips

swaying

seductively  as  she  moved.  Her  profile
showed  off  her  long  lashes,  straight
nose,  full  lips,  and  an  incredible  set  of
tits.  My  mouth  watered,  but  when  she

turned  to  face  the  front,  I  surreptitiously
checked for drool at the sight of her ass.
Her  shiny,  mahogany  hair  hung  long,  the
ends  brushing  right  along  the  top  of  her
ass and I flexed my fists, trying to relax
the  muscles  twitching  in  their  need  to
wrap it around one hand while the other
left  a  pretty  pink  handprint  on  her  skin.
She glanced behind her and my eyes met
hers,  glued  to  the  sight  of  round,
chocolate  brown  eyes,  accented  by  her
tanned  complexion.  Her  full,  rosy  lips
tipped  up  and  she  raised  an  eyebrow,
clearly amused at my unabashed staring.
Fuck,  she  was  amazing.  An  absolute
goddess.  I  winked,  and  her  smile
became  a  wide  grin  before  she  took  the
wrapped  Cézanne  being  handed  to  her

and sauntered to the exit on the left side
of the room, leading to a wing of offices.

A low whistle sounded from beside

me and an unexpected growl rose to the
surface. I tamped down the desire to hit
something,  or  someone,  as  I  turned  to
look  at  my  companion.  Colin’s  eyes
were  on  the  door  where  Genevieve
Porter’s  very  fine  ass  had  been  seconds
before. “That’s the art dealer?” he asked
then  looked  at  me,  his  brow  lifting  in
surprise.

I imagined it was because of the dark

look  on  my  face.  I  couldn’t  explain  it,
but  I  was  suddenly  pissed  he’d  been
looking  at  my  woman.  That  thought  was
out  of  the  blue,  and  it  probably  should
have knocked me flat on my ass. Except,

I  recognized  the  truth  in  it.  I  would  do
whatever  it  took  to  have  her.  Luckily,  I
was  in  London  to  oversee  the  sale
contract  between  Genevieve  and  my
client,  a  museum  owned  by  a  large
corporation  in  New  York.    I’d  read  the
dossier  on  her  from  cover  to  cover,  but
there  hadn’t  been  a  photo,  for  which  I
was  eternally  grateful  because  if  my
superiors  had  seen  my  reaction  to  her,  I
would

have

been

given

another

assignment.

“You can go, Colin,” I informed him

gruffly. “You won the piece, the
paperwork is my job. No need for you to
stay. I’ll meet you back at the hotel with
the information.”

Colin opened his mouth to reply but

was  interrupted  by  the  shrill  ring  of  his
cell  phone.  He  retrieved  it  from  his
pocket and stepped back into a darkened
corner  of  the  room  to  take  the  call.  I
gathered  my  briefcase  and  coat,  then
headed  in  the  direction  I’d  last  seen  my
goddess.

“Alex.”
The tone of Colin’s voice brought me

round,  and  I  joined  him  just  behind  one
of  the  thick,  blue  velvet  curtains  draped
on  either  side  of  the  wide  double  doors
leading into the auction room.

“Pierce is dead.”
“What the fuck?” I growled. It was

the last thing I needed right then.

Colin

shrugged.

“Robbery,

apparently. Found him in a house in
Kensington. Throat slit while he slept.”

“Did the police find anything?” I

asked.

Pierce

was

the

collector

Genevieve  had  purchased  the  Cézanne
from. We were anxious to speak to him,
but  he  was  a  recluse  and  as  best  we
could  tell,  Genevieve  was  the  first
person  to  have  any  contact  with  him  in
two years. I’d really been hoping for an
introduction. Shit.

Colin was tapping away on his

phone,  and  I  cuffed  his  shoulder  to  get
his  attention.  He  frowned  at  me  and
glanced  back  down  when  his  device
buzzed  yet  again.  “Jack  says  they  found
evidence  of  mafia  ties.”  Shocking,  I

thought,  mentally  rolling  my  eyes.  He
was silent for another moment, then shut
his  cell  down  and  put  it  in  his  pocket.
“They found the ledger. I guess he kept a
paper trail after all. Turns out, there was
a kill order placed two days ago. People
are fucking pissed. Anyway, Jack says to
finish  the  transaction  and  enjoy  your
vacation.”

I scrubbed my hands down my face

and nodded. “Yeah. Okay. What about
her?”

“Doesn’t look like she knew

anything  about  his  activities.  Jack  says
the  company  did  a  full  profile,  she’s
clean.  Just  do  the  deal  and  hand  off  the
painting to the courier.”

“Fine,” I agreed, my mind already

jumping ahead to my new plan. “I’ll see
you back in Washington next week.”

He slapped me on the back and

strode  from  the  room.  I  started  toward
the  spot  where  I  was  supposed  to  meet
the goddess, Genevieve, already plotting
my  attack.  She  wouldn’t  know  what  hit
her.

***

“Stop,  Alex!”  Evie  screeched  as  she
made  a  run  for  it.  I  easily  caught  up  to
her,  my  arm  slinging  around  her  waist
and  slamming  her  body  back  against
mine. I used the momentum to propel us
both onto the large bed in our bedroom.

She started screeching with laughter as
my fingers dug into her ribs. I flipped
her onto her back and covered her body
with mine.

“I’m going to keep you right here

until  you  agree,  baby,”  I  whispered,  my
face  so  close  to  hers  our  lips  brushed
with every word. Leaning back a little, I
grinned  down  at  her.  Fuck.  She  was  so
damn gorgeous. Her eyes were sparkling
with  humor  and  happiness,  her  skin
flushed,  and  her  chest  heaving  from  the
exertion of laughing so hard. “When are
you going to marry me?”

Her face softened and her arms slid

around  my  torso  before  she  hugged  me
tight.  Her  soft  tits  pillowed  against  my
chest,  and  I  was  suddenly  very  aware

that the only barrier between her sweet
pussy and my cock was a tiny scrap of
fabric.

From the moment I officially met

Genevieve, I was addicted, and that
addiction had only gotten stronger with
every day we were together.

“Alex Shaw,” I had introduced

myself, holding my hand out.

“Genevieve, well, Evie, Porter.”

Her hand slid into mine and a sizzle
streaked through me. The look on her
face told me she’d felt it too.

We completed the sale of the

Cézanne and with very little persuasion,
she agreed to meet me for dinner. I was
loathe to leave her, but I had to pass the
painting off to the courier. I may have

been  intending  to  overwhelm  her,  but  it
was me who fell like a ton of bricks. She
showed  up  to  the  restaurant  in  a  white,
strapless,  summer  dress,  the  color  and
design showing off all of her assets. Her
skirt swished around her tanned, endless
legs  with  every  step,  and  don’t  get  me
started  on  the  sexy  heels  on  her  pink
tipped  feet.  Her  hair  hung  loose,  the
moon  causing  the  reddish  tint  to
shimmer,  and  she  wore  very  little
makeup,  she  didn’t  need  it.  I  was
mentally  and  emotionally  knocked  over.
She was my every dream come true, and
I knew there would never be anyone else
more perfect for me than my Evie.

Throughout dinner, I studied her,

hoping to see any sign she was feeling

the same way. I was so flustered by the
new sensations, I almost missed it. But,
Evie was no shy wallflower, thank fuck.

“Alex,”

Evie

leaned

forward,

placing  a  soft  palm  on  my  forearm  as  it
rested on table, searing my skin from the
contact  with  hers.  The  waiter  had
cleared  our  last  dishes  and  as  I’d  paid
the  check,  I  was  contemplating  the  odds
of how likely it was I could get her to go
back to my hotel with me.

I smiled. “What, baby?” Her cheeks

tinged a little pink at the endearment.
Damn, that flush would look so pretty on
every inch of her skin.

“If I invite you back to my apartment,

will you still respect me in the
morning?”

I burst out laughing and quickly

stood,  grabbing  her  hand  and  dragging
her  from  the  restaurant.  Once  we  hit  the
side  walk,  I  started  toward  her
apartment  then  froze,  causing  her  to
stumble into me. I spun her into my arms
and  kissed  her  nose.  “Where  to,  love?”
She chuckled and kept a tight hold on my
hand  as  she  took  the  lead,  her
determination betraying her eagerness.

We were making out like teenagers

by  the  time  we  hit  her  building,  and  we
barely made it through her door before I
had  her  up  against  the  wall,  her  skirt
bunched around her waist and my mouth
buried  between  her  legs.  I  closed  my
eyes and inhaled deeply, her sweet floral
scent  going  straight  to  my  dick.  She

whimpered when I dragged my tongue up
the  center  of  her  panties.  “Hmmmm.
Good  thing  I  saved  room  for  dessert,”  I
said,  as  I  pulled  the  fabric  aside  and
repeated  the  pattern  with  my  tongue  on
her bare pussy. Her steep inhalation and
the  shivers  racing  through  her  body
guided  me  as  I  built  her  to  a  swift
orgasm.

“Alex!” she screamed, as I worked

her clit between my teeth. Unable to wait
a  minute  longer,  I  surged  to  my  feet  and
clasped  her  face  between  my  hands  and
kissed  her  deeply,  passionately,  putting
every  new  and  overwhelming  emotion
she  made  me  feel  into  it.  Telling  her
what I wasn’t sure she was ready to hear

yet. She was mine, and I wasn’t letting
her go.

Bending slightly, I gripped her ass

and  lifted  her  up,  giving  her  no  choice
but  to  encircle  my  waist  with  her  legs.
She directed me to her bedroom, and as I
carried her, I used my teeth to lower the
top  of  her  dress  and  one  cup  of  her
strapless  bra,  until  one  voluptuous  tit
popped  out.  Her  nipple  was  dusky  from
the darker tint of her skin and the tip was
hard,  so  perfect.  I  licked  the  sensitive
little  peak  before  sucking  it  into  my
mouth and swirling my tongue around it.
We  finally  reached  the  bed  and
collapsed in a heap, my mouth unwilling
to release its treat. I scooted up the bed
on my back, settling Evie astride me, the

heat  of  her  pussy  bathing  my  cock.  I
finally  let  the  nipple  go  with  a  pop,
playing  fair  and  giving  her  other  sweet
tit equal treatment.

She was getting more worked up, her

body  writhing  on  top  of  me,  the  friction
swelling  my  cock,  proving  me  wrong
when I thought there was no fucking way
I could get any harder. I was reluctant to
stop  feasting  on  her  delicious  nipples,
but  I  needed  to  get  inside  her  or  I  was
going  to  come  in  my  pants.  Taking  her
mouth in another deep kiss, I tugged her
dress  down  to  her  waist  and  lifted  her
hips to push it past. She pulled back and
sat  up,  quickly  shoving  the  dress  down
and  completely  off.  The  front  clasp  of
her  bra  twisted  easily  open  and  her  tits

spilled out, the soft, round globes filling
my hands. Fuck. I couldn’t remember any
woman  before  my  Evie,  but  I  was
positive  I’d  never  held  such  amazing
breasts in my palms. Her nimble fingers
worked  the  buttons  on  my  dress  shirt,
even as she closed her eyes and moaned
when  I  squeezed.  When  her  lids  lifted
once again, her irises were so dark with
passion, they almost completely blended
with  her  pupils.  Despite  the  darkness,
they  were  filled  with  fire  and  I  lost  my
patience.  With  my  hands  on  her  hips,  I
helped her up to her knees and undid my
belt,  divesting  myself  of  my  slacks  and
grey boxer briefs.

I returned my gaze to hers, searching.

“Are you on birth control?”

She smiled like a Cheshire cat,

asking, “You want in me bare, stud?”

I groaned, just hearing her say it had

me  leaking  pre-come.  I  wanted  it  more
than  my  next  breath.  “I  can’t  imagine
anything  more  perfect  than  fucking  your
sweet  pussy  with  nothing  between  us,
baby,” I ground out, my control slipping
with  every  moment  she  remained
hovering  over  my  erection.  “I  haven’t
been  with  anyone  in...”  I  trailed  off  and
to my mortification, I could feel my face
heat. Holy fuck, I couldn’t believe I was
blushing. I cleared my throat and forged
ahead,  through  my  embarrassment.  “In
four  years,  I  think.  Maybe,  five.”  She
grinned,  and  I  couldn’t  help  but  return
the  expression.  “I’ve  been  busy,”  I

explained. More like I’d never been one
for casual sex and hadn’t found anyone I
wanted to be with in a long time. Until
my Evie.

She placed her palms on my chest,

caressing my pecs, and tracing all of the
grooves of my abs and hips, making me
groan from the pleasure. She leaned
forward and kissed me softly. “Me too.”

I thrust my hips up and pressed the

underside  of  my  cock  to  her  wet  pussy,
letting  her  feel  how  much  I  needed  her.
She  moaned  long  and  loud,  and  it  was
hot  as  fuck.  “You  ready,  love?”  I  asked
with  a  calm  I  wasn’t  feeling.  Her  hand
slid  down  my  stomach,  then  her  long,
elegant  fingers  wrapped  as  far  as  they
could around my large cock. Evie hadn’t

balked  at  the  size,  she’d  practically
salivated  at  the  sight,  so  I  didn’t  worry
about easing any fear I might not fit. She
guided  me  inside,  slowly  lowering  her
body, inch by inch.

“Oh fuck, Evie. You’re soaked,

coating  me  so  I  slide  right  in  and  then
strangling  the  fuck  out  of  me.  You’re  so
damn tight, baby.” She paused to adjust,
and  I  began  to  play  with  her  nipples,
building her arousal. “Keep going, baby.
Just a little farther until I’m so deep you
won’t  know  where  I  stop  and  you
begin.”  She  sank  farther,  and  I  growled
in  utter  ecstasy.  “That’s  it  baby.  Yeah,
fuck. I’m so damn deep, Evie.”

I was finally all the way in, her

pelvis flush against mine, the tip of my

cock  right  up  against  her  cervix.  I
wanted  to  flip  her  over  and  take  her
hard,  fuck  myself  into  her  so  she  would
never be able to get away. And yet, there
she  was,  sitting  atop  me  like  my  very
own queen, her gorgeous tits swaying as
she rocked into me. Her head was back,
her  hair  falling  to  tickle  the  tops  of  my
legs, but when she sank her teeth into her
luscious lower lip, I was done. I gripped
her  hips  and  encouraged  her  to  start
lifting and falling on my cock. “Ride me,
baby.”

“Oh, Alex. Oh!” She bit that damn

fucking lip again, and I fought every urge
to come. Her eyes slowly opened and
her dark eyes met mine, then she winked.
“Harder, stud.”

“Fuck!” I yelled as I lost all control.

I flipped us over and hammered into her
until we were both screaming the walls
down as the world imploded around us.

After the most mind-blowing sex I’d

ever  had,  I  spent  the  night  attempting  to
top it and convinced her to spend a week
with  me  in  Fiji,  all  the  while  knowing
one  week  would  never  be  enough.  It
turned  out  to  be  less  complicated  than  I
expected.  She’d  recently  decided  to
relocate to D.C. and was about ready to
start  house  hunting.  Fuck  that.  I  had  her
moved in two weeks later.

It had been four weeks, and I was

tired of waiting to give her the ring I’d
had burning a hole in my pocket since
the day I returned home.

“Evie,” I warned. “When? I love

you, but you better decide quickly, or
I’m dragging your ass to the courthouse
in the morning.”

She laughed, the sound full of joy

and  filling  me  with  light  and  life.  Her
hands  came  up  and  cupped  my  face.
“Okay,  stud.  How  about  you  hold  your
horses”—she  snorted  at  her  own  little
joke and just like every time she did it, I
fell  a  little  harder—“and  give  me  two
months.  Let  me  plan  a  little  wedding  to
marry the love of my life?”

I grumbled but agreed, grabbing her

wrist and sliding on the two carat,
emerald cut diamond, flanked by scarlet
red rubies. They reminded me of her
passion and zest for life, the ring had her

name all over it when I walked into the
store. She sighed and admired it, holding
her hand out to let it catch the light. “You
done good, stud.”

“Feels like this stud’s filly is in

heat.”  I  smirked,  pressing  my  rigid
length  into  her  hot  little  pussy.  “Maybe
we  should  practice  breeding.”  Her
laughter  was  short-lived,  she  was  too
busy moaning and calling out my name.

***

“Dude, are you crying?” My elbow shot
out, and I grinned in satisfaction at the
wheeze I heard when it connected with
Colin’s ribs.

“Shut the fuck up,” I grumbled, but I

blinked rapidly, trying to clear away the
moisture  at  the  sight  of  Evie  walking
down  the  aisle,  her  white  dress
reminding  me  so  much  of  the  day  we
met.  We  stared  into  each  other’s  eyes
and  held  hands  as  we  said  our  vows.
We’d  decided  to  write  our  own,  and  I
stared  into  her  loved-filled  eyes  as  I
pledged my life to her.

“Genevieve,” I grinned when she

rolled  her  eyes  at  the  use  of  her  full
name.  “You  are  everything.  There  is  no
other  way  to  describe  you,  you’re
simply,  everything.  I  feel  as  though  my
life began the moment you put your hand
in mine. I’ll always strive to be the man
you need and want. I love you more than

Chapter 1

Evie

“I have another assignment for you.” My
boss’s  words  weren’t  a  surprise.  I  used
to live for the sound of them. There was
always  another  job  needing  to  be  done,
and  I’d  risen  up  the  ranks  quickly
because I never hesitated to do whatever
it  took  to  accomplish  the  task  at  hand.
The travel was an added perk, letting me
see  the  world  on  someone  else’s  dime.
In  the  days  before  Alex  came  into  my
life, I didn’t have any roots and accepted
every  assignment  which  came  my  way.
In  the  years  since,  I  had  become  more

selective—or at least, as choosy as my
employer allowed me to be.

“I just got back two days ago. I

haven’t  even  finished  all  the  paperwork
from  the  last  job,”  I  argued.  He  was  a
stickler for proper documentation, one of
his few weaknesses. I had used it to my
advantage  in  the  past,  and  I  hoped  my
excuse  would  put  him  off  for  a  little  bit
this  time  around  too.  I  still  hadn’t  seen
my  husband  since  my  return  home
because  he  was  in  London  dealing  with
a  contract  issue  for  a  client.  His  flight
was  due  to  land  at  six  o’clock  tonight,
and  I  planned  to  welcome  him  home  in
style.

“It’s in Rome. But, you’ll have

enough time to take care of any loose

ends on your last assignment while the
team works on obtaining the research
you’ll need for this one before you have
to leave.”

“Rome?” I didn’t allow my surprise

to bleed into my tone, but I was feeling it
nonetheless.  Rome  was  the  location  of
my primary contact, sort of a home base,
where  I  reported  to  the  chief  of  station
when  I  was  in  Europe.  Then,  I  would
travel  to  my  assignments  from  there.
Also,  Alex  and  I  had  a  vacation  home
there.  Running  a  job  so  close  to  home
(so  to  speak)—in  a  place  I’d  built  part
of  my  life  with  Alex,  a  life  I  kept
separate

from

job—wasn’t

something I was the least bit interested
in doing. “Wouldn’t it be wise to use

local talent? Avoid shitting where we eat
and all that?”

His answering chuckle held no hint

of humor at my turn of phrase. “You’re
know the area, you’re available, and
have the right skill set for the job.”

“But—“
“My decision is final.” His tone

hardened,  and  I  knew  there  was  no
leeway  this  time  around.  Not  unless  I
wanted  him  to  think  I  doubted  his
judgment,  which  wouldn’t  be  wise  on
my part.

“Understood, sir.” I’d just have to

find a way to make it work, but I’d
worry about it tomorrow. Tonight I was
going to focus on my husband.

Tossing my stuff into my bag, I

followed  my  boss  out  the  door  and
locked  up  my  office  behind  me.  It  was
still  early  afternoon,  but  nobody
questioned  me  as  I  marched  through  the
building and out to my brilliant red Audi
R8.  I’d  purchased  her  a  few  months
before  meeting  Alex,  and  she  was  my
baby. I’d had to pull some strings to get
her  since  the  model  was  an  extremely
limited series. She was worth it, though.
She  went  from  zero  to  sixty  in  3.1
seconds,  handled  fast  corners  with
precision,  and  was  as  suitable  for  the
race track as it was for the streets. Alex
had given me a bit of a hard time over it,
citing  safety  issues,  but  I  hadn’t  been
willing to budge, pointing out it had been

included a full roll cage, a fire
extinguisher, and four-point seat belts.

Starting the engine, I took a moment

to enjoy the power of my little beauty for
a  moment  before  peeling  out  of  the
parking  lot.  After  a  quick  stop  at  the
store, I was home making dinner for my
man,  in  a  house  complete  with  a  white
picket  fence  and  gourmet  kitchen.  Four
years ago, I had been certain this was the
last  thing  I  wanted  for  myself.  Meeting
Alex changed everything for me. I knew
with  my  first  glance  at  him  that  I’d  end
up  in  his  bed.  He  was  ruggedly
handsome,  six  feet  and  two  inches  of
lean  muscles  wrapped  in  a  suit  which
had  to  have  been  designed  to  fit  his
body.  His  dark  hair  had  been  cropped

close to his head back then, and the dark
stubble on his face accented his chiseled
features.  It  also  made  my  inner  thighs
tingle  at  the  thought  of  that  stubble
rubbing  against  the  sensitive  skin  there.
His  charm  was  lethal,  and  it  didn’t  take
long for my heart to fall right along with
my body as I tumbled into bed with him.

I’d been wrapping up an assignment

and  hadn’t  been  looking  for  anything
serious, but he had swept me off my feet.
A  week-long  vacation  to  Fiji  with  an
itinerary full of hot and sweaty sex, with
all the orgasms a woman could hope for,
left  me  wanting  more  of  Alex.  My
employer  had  been  pushing  me  for
months  to  accept  a  transfer  to  D.C.  so
when I learned Alex lived there, I got the

ball  rolling  to  make  the  change.  Alex’s
offer  to  move  in  with  him  told  me  he
wanted  this  as  badly  as  I  did.  Three
months  later,  we  were  married.  Ours
was  the  epitome  of  a  whirlwind
courtship, and I wouldn’t have had it any
other  way.  I  was  well  aware  things
could change in the blink of an eye, and I
refused  to  waste  any  time  when  it  came
to starting my life with Alex.

Glancing down at my hand, my

engagement ring sparkled in the sunlight
streaming  through  the  windows.  The
huge  diamond  in  the  middle  was
flawless,  but  it  was  the  rubies  on  either
side  of  it  which  drew  my  eye,  as  they
always  did.  Alex  couldn’t  have  known
how  appropriate  the  ring  was  for  me

when he’d picked it out, but I’d taken the
scarlet  red  gems  as  a  sign  that  our
marriage  was  meant  to  be  and  threw
caution  to  the  wind  for  the  first  time  in
my life. It was a decision which brought
me  more  happiness  than  I  ever  thought
I’d have. I had an amazing husband who
adored  me  and  made  my  heart  race,  the
same  way  it  had  done  from  the  very
beginning.  The  only  thing  that  was
missing  from  the  perfect  image  of  the
cliché housewife was my flat stomach. I
wasn’t  barefoot  and  pregnant.  Not  yet
anyway.

My hand slid down the apron I was

wearing, over my belly, and an idea
jumped into my head. Time was short if I
was going to pull it off since Alex would

be  home  any  minute.  Racing  into  our
bedroom,  I  stripped  out  of  the  dress
slacks  and  blouse  I’d  worn  into  the
office. Striding into the walk-in closet, I
tossed  the  dirty  clothes  into  the  basket
for  dry  cleaning—a  habit  Alex  had
helped  me  develop  with  inventive
rewards involving orgasms—and pulled
a  white  teddy,  thong,  garter,  and  hose
from one of my dresser drawers.

Changing into the lingerie, I caught

my image in the floor-length mirror Alex
had  installed  and  grinned  at  the  wicked
gleam  in  my  eyes  and  the  flush  on  my
cheeks. Wrapping the apron back around
my body and tying it into place, my grin
turned  into  a  satisfied  smirk.  Alex  was

sure to take the phrase on the front of the
apron seriously. Kiss the cook indeed.

At the sound of the garage door

going  up,  I  stepped  into  a  pair  of  four-
inch sling back heels and headed for the
kitchen.  It  was  a  good  thing  I  could  run
in  heels  because  I  had  just  reached  the
counter  and  started  chopping  vegetables
for the salad when Alex walked through
the  door  connecting  the  garage  and
kitchen.

“Evie, baby, I’m—“
Thunk.
I looked over my shoulder and found

Alex  stripping  out  of  his  suit,  with  his
briefcase  on  the  floor  beside  him.  His
suit  coat  was  next  to  it,  and  his  shoes
were  kicked  to  the  side.  I  blatantly

stared  as  he  unbuttoned  his  shirt,  letting
it drop to the floor as he stalked towards
me.  He  unbuckled  his  belt,  flicked  open
the button on his pants, and lowered his
zipper  in  the  time  it  took  him  to  reach
me.  He  stopped  about  a  foot  away  from
me, his gaze raking me from head to toe.

“Welcome home, stud.”
He closed the gap between us, his

body flush against mine as he untied the
apron and let it drop to the floor. “Did I
miss a special occasion? Anniversary?
Birthday?”

Like he’d ever miss anything so

important.  My  hubby  had  a  mind  like  a
steel  trap  and  never  failed  to  spoil  me
rotten when the occasion called for it—
or  when  it  didn’t.  “Nope,”  I  answered.

“I just thought it was worth a little extra
effort to welcome you home since we
haven’t seen each other in two weeks.”

“A little extra effort?” He tilted his

body  away  from  mine  and  trailed  a
finger down a bra strap, along the top of
the  cup  hugging  my  breast,  and
underneath  the  front  clasp.  His  thumb
slid  over  it  and  with  a  flick  of  his
fingers,  it  opened.  “Cooking  me  dinner
might  qualify  as  little,  but  doing  so  in
nothing but lingerie, heels, and an apron
is  going  above  and  beyond  the  call  of
duty. And that’s before factoring in your
choice  of  color.  You  know  how  much  I
love to see you in white.”

I made a big show of glancing down

at his hands which were kneading my tits

while my bra hung open. “Almost as
much as you like to see me out of it.”

“Can you blame me? How is it that

you  look  even  more  gorgeous  now  than
the  day  I  met  you?”  His  breath  was  hot
against  my  ear,  sending  a  shiver  down
my spine. “It shouldn’t be possible when
you  were  already  the  most  beautiful
woman on the planet.”

I slid my palms up his chest,

enjoying the feel of his taut skin and firm
muscles, before wrapping my arms
around his neck. “I guess I’m one of the
world’s great mysteries.”

“You

know

solve

mysteries,” he quipped. It was true, he
was quick to find solutions—faster even
than most of the analysts I worked with.

“I better do some in depth research to
figure this one out.”

I held on tightly as he lifted me up

onto the counter. “You’re going to need
to dig deep, stud.”

“The deeper, the better, right?”
“Always,” I breathed against his

lips.

“What about dinner?”
“I made something that would keep

for later.”

“My smart woman,” he murmured

against  my  skin,  right  before  his  lips
wrapped  around  my  nipple.  His  tongue
and  teeth  worked  together  to  torture  me
as  he  toyed  with  my  breasts.  Biting,
licking, and sucking until I was writhing
in  need  and  spread  out  on  our  kitchen

counter.  When  he  trailed  his  fingers
down  my  stomach,  I  shivered  in
anticipation.  They  slid  over  my  panties,
moving lower to grip my thighs and push
them  farther  apart.  Positioning  himself
between my legs, he bent low and licked
from  one  knee,  along  the  sensitive  skin
of my inner thigh, and up to the seam of
my  panties.  When  he  moved  his  head
away to repeat the process with the other
leg, I moaned in protest.

“Don’t tease me, Alex. It’s been too

long.”

“Are you on edge, baby?”
“Yes,” I hissed as his fingers teased

along the edge of my panties.

“You want to come on my fingers or

my mouth first?”

“Fingers,” I bit out. “Then your

mouth. And your cock after that, as long
as you’re asking.”

“Greedy girl,” he chuckled, one long

finger sliding under my panties to dip
inside me.

“Only for you, stud.” There wasn’t

anything in the world I craved more than
Alex.

“Damn fucking straight it’s only me.

You’re mine, Evie.” He added a second
finger,  twisting  his  hand  so  his  thumb
rubbed  my  clit  with  each  thrust  of  his
fingers.  I  arched  my  hips  up  as  he
worked  me.  My  breath  caught  in  my
throat  when  he  bent  his  head  to  suck  a
nipple into his mouth. When he bit down
on it, the tension inside me broke.

“Alex!” I screamed. My hands

clenched against the edges of the granite
countertops so hard, I was surprised it
didn’t crumble from the pressure.

“So fucking wet for me,” he

murmured,  giving  the  spot  on  my  breast
he’d bitten a soft kiss before licking his
way down to my pussy. “It’s a good thing
you  wanted  my  mouth  on  you  next,
‘cause I can’t wait any longer to get your
taste  in  my  mouth.  I’ve  been  craving  it
the whole time I was away.”

Then, he ripped my panties from my

body,  opened  the  lips  of  my  pussy  with
his  thumbs,  and  licked  me  from  top  to
bottom.  A  growl  rumbled  up  from  his
chest  and  he  ate  me  out  like  he  was
starving  for  me.  He  held  me  in  place

with a firm grip while he nibbled and
sucked until I was begging him to let me
come again.

“Please, stud. Just a little bit harder.

I’m so damn close.”

The thrust of his tongue into my

pussy and the scrape of his teeth against
my  clit  was  exactly  what  I  needed,
sending  me  over  the  edge  again.  My
body  arched  and  I  screamed  his  name  a
second time. He didn’t give me any time
to  recover,  rising  up  and  positioning
himself with his cock pressed against the
entrance of my pussy.

“Gimme your cock now, stud.”
My head dropped to back onto the

counter when he roughly pushed into me,
going deep with one thrust. I wrapped

my legs around his waist and held on for
the  wild  ride,  panting  as  he  moved
faster.  Leveraging  myself  up  onto  my
elbows,  I  watched  the  play  of  his
muscles  as  he  hammered  into  me.  His
dark eyes locked with mine as he fucked
me hard and rough. My body jerked with
each  of  his  thrusts,  and  I  felt  a  third
orgasm building inside me.

“Come for me,” Alex rasped. “I

want to feel your pussy squeezing me
tight while you come over my cock.”

His command sent me over the edge,

making me cry out as I did exactly as
he’d ordered—my pussy clenching
around his dick.

“Yes, my Evie,” he groaned. “That’s

just what I needed. To feel your wet

pussy milk my cock. You want my come
now, don’t you?”

“Yes,” I answered, my eyes locked

with his as he continued to pound inside
me. “I want that more than anything.”

He growled low in his throat, his

eyes darkening. “I’m going to fill you up,
mark you as mine from the inside out.”

“Good,” I panted, “It’s time to kick

baby-making practice into high gear. I
expect you to get me good and pregnant
in a few months.”

He paused in his thrusts, his head

snapping  back  in  shock.  “Evie?”  he
gasped,  his  cock  growing  harder  and
longer  inside  me  as  hope  flared  in  his
eyes.

“I didn’t refill my prescription

before my trip. I’ve been off the pill for
two weeks now. The doctor says it will
be a few months before my body is
ready, though.”

With one more thrust, he planted

himself deep, his fingers digging into my
hips while he came for me. Came inside
me,

completely

unprotected

from

pregnancy  for  the  very  first  time.
Keeping  us  connected,  he  lifted  me  into
his arms and carried me to our bedroom.
After  dropping  me  onto  the  mattress,  he
strode into the bathroom to grab a warm
washcloth. He hadn’t said a single word
since my admission, and I was starting to
get  a  little  nervous.  He  gently  cleaned
between my legs, dropping a kiss on my

navel  which  settled  my  nerves  some.
When  he  was  done,  he  tossed  the  cloth
over his shoulder, something he’d never
done  before.  My  heart  raced  as  he
moved  me  to  the  center  of  the  bed,
covered  me  with  the  sheet,  and  slid  in
beside me. My head dropped against his
chest when pulled me into his arms, and
I squeezed my eyes shut.

“Say something,” I whispered,

finally breaking the silence between us.

He used one finger to tilt my head

until  my  gaze  met  his.  I  was  startled  to
find tears in his eyes. “Thank you, Evie.
I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect
homecoming.”  Suddenly,  he  grinned.  “I
don’t  care  what  the  doctor  says,  I  think
we might have made our baby today. But

just in case we didn’t, I think we need to
try some more.”

And try we did, until the wee hours

of  the  morning  when  he  dropped  down
next  to  me  and  passed  out.  If  my  co-
workers  saw  me  like  I  was  with  Alex,
vulnerable  and  open,  they  would
probably  fall  over  in  shock.  In  my
professional life, I was the furthest thing
from  welcoming.  My  work  environment
didn’t  exactly  foster  friendships,  and  I
took  those  boundaries  seriously.  Even
amongst  a  group  of  loners,  I  had  a
reputation for being even more of a lone
wolf.  Fierce  and  solitary,  but  loyal.  It
was  a  persona  I  was  comfortable  with
because it kept people at a distance.

Everyone but Alex, who I adored

beyond  reason.  Our  marriage  was
perfect...except for the whole other life I
was hiding from him. A life I needed to
rethink if we were really going to have a
baby.  I’d  have  to  take  the  next  few
months while my body adjusted to figure
things  out.  The  other  part  of  my  life
wasn’t  a  world  into  which  I  wanted  to
bring  an  innocent  life.  I’d  been  able  to
protect my husband from that side of my
life by keeping the two halves of myself
completely  separate.  But  a  pregnancy
very  well  could  result  in  those  two
worlds  colliding.  As  I  stared  down  at
my gorgeous husband, his face relaxed in
sleep, I vowed to find a way to make it
work.  Alex  wasn’t  the  most  patient  man

in  the  world.  It  had  only  taken  him  two
weeks  to  talk  me  into  moving  in  with
him.  Four  weeks  to  pop  the  question.
Two months to exchange our vows. Four
years  of  comments  about  breeding  me,
filling  my  belly  with  his  baby.  Four
years of me putting him off, knowing the
risks involved but was unable to explain
it to him. The decision had been made. I
was done making my husband wait. He’d
been patient long enough.

Chapter 2

Alex

Sometimes  I  really  hated  my  job.  I
hadn’t  seen  my  wife  in  weeks  and  after
the  perfect  night  we’d  shared,  all  I
wanted  to  do  was  stay  curled  up  in  bed
with  her  for  a  week.  At  least.  I  was
determined  to  prove  the  doctor  wrong
and  plant  my  baby  in  Evie’s  belly  right
away.  If  it  didn’t  happen  last  night,  I’d
be  pretty  shocked.  It  was  like  hearing
her say she was ready set something off
inside  of  me.  I  don’t  think  I’d  ever
orgasmed  so  hard  or  filled  her  with  so
much  come.  I  wouldn’t  be  surprised  if

my  balls  were  dry  as  the  fucking  desert
this  morning.  But  the  erection  pressing
against  my  wife’s  stellar  ass,  as  I
wrapped her up even tighter in my arms,
proved otherwise.

It didn’t matter what I wanted, the

constant  buzzing  of  my  cell  phone  was
shattering the perfection I was cocooned
in.  The  distinct  pattern  of  vibration  told
me it was my “work” cell and I stifled a
groan,  not  wanting  to  wake  Evie.  If  I
ignored  it,  there  would  be  a  team  of
agents  swarming  my  house  in  no  time.
That  wouldn’t  be  easy  to  explain  away.
“Oh,  honey,  these  are  some  guys  I  met
at  poker  night.  They  thought  we  had  a
game this morning. They didn’t mean to

break in... What? They look like spies?
Preposterous!”

The last thing I needed right now,

especially  after  she’d  finally  agreed  to
have a baby, was to break it to my sweet
wife  that  she  was  married  to  a  spy.  I
didn’t intend to hide it from her forever.
I could appeal to the higher ups to have
her read in, and I planned to do so, some
day. I wanted to wait until I was ready to
leave the field. I struggled with the guilt
of lying, but I didn’t see one good reason
for causing her to live life in fear every
time  I  left  the  house.  No,  it  was  better
for  her  to  remain  blissfully  ignorant,
believing  I’m  simply  a  contract  lawyer
with a plethora of international clients.

Lifting my hand from where it had

been  resting  against  her  flat  stomach,  I
twisted and reach out to grab my phone.
The  screen  confirmed  my  suspicions,  I
was  being  paged  into  the  office.
Resisting the temptation to throw it at the
wall,  I  set  it  back  down  on  the  bedside
table. Curling back up around my Evie, I
resolved  to  put  in  for  a  long  fucking
vacation. A babymoon. I perked up at the
thought.  It  was  just  what  we  needed.  I
could spend my days and nights putting a
baby  in  my  wife  for  a  week—no  ten
days—wait—maybe  two  weeks.  Yeah,
two weeks sounded perfect.

I lifted my head and brushed a kiss

over Evie’s temple before reluctantly
letting her go and getting out of bed. She

stirred, and I leaned down to taste her
sweet lips.

“I’m sorry, I’ve got to go into the

office,  baby.  Stay  right  here  and  get
some  rest.  I’ll  be  back  to  wear  you  out
again in a couple of hours.” I winked at
her, and she smiled sleepily. She looked
so fuckable right at that moment. I started
to  back  away,  having  a  firm  talk  with
myself about letting her sleep and getting
my ass to work.

It was hard (pun definitely intended),

but  I  managed  to  tear  myself  away  and
go take a shower before putting on a suit
and  heading  to  my  home  office.  I
realized  my  briefcase  was  still  in  the
kitchen so I quickly went to retrieve it.

With my cover job as a contracts

attorney, a big portion of my paperwork
was extremely confidential and lucky for
me,  my  wife  understood  the  sensitive
nature  of  what  was  in  my  briefcase  and
didn’t  ever  attempt  to  see  inside.  Of
course,  she  had  no  idea  how  truly
sensitive the contents were.

Evie and I each had our own home

office, designed by us personally. When
we  were  building  our  house,  I  worked
with  an  architect  on  The  Company
payroll  to  have  a  walk-in  safe  covertly
installed. In the back of my closet, there
appeared  to  be  a  small  wall  safe.
However,  when  unlocked,  the  entire
wall slid into a pocket, opening up into a

combination of a SCIF room and vault
for my personal arsenal.

Shutting my office door, I hit a button

to  turn  on  a  low  murmur,  so  from  the
hall,  it  sounded  as  though  I  was  on  a
call.  Then,  I  headed  to  the  safe  and
punched in the code, entering and setting
my  briefcase  on  a  table  in  the  center  of
the room. I hit the combination to release
the  catch  and  it  sprang  open.  The  case
held  my  Beretta  9mm  and  my  Sig  P226,
as  well  as  an  extra  clip  for  each
magazine.  It  also  had  some  other  small
gadget  weapons  and  a  compartment  for
my identity papers and cash.

The identity papers inside were still

good, so I stowed them away and
grabbed a new passport, driver’s

license,  and  a  variety  of  banknotes  for
several countries, not knowing where my
next assignment would be. I refilled both
magazines  and  clips,  grabbed  a  boot
knife,  and  a  few  other  ‘toys,’  before
locking up and heading to my car.

I slipped inside my Aston Martin and

chuckled,  shaking  my  head  like  I  did
every  time  I  got  into  my  car.  I  wasn’t
happy  with  Evie’s  choice  of  vehicle,  it
worried  me  over  her  safety.  But,  what
I’d never admit to her, is seeing her in it
was  an  incredible  turn  on.  She  had  a
wild  side  most  people  didn’t  get  to  see
and it was sexy as fuck.

I begrudgingly accepted her choice

and the matter was settled. Then, on our
first anniversary, I found James Bond’s

car sitting in my driveway. It was equal
parts  joke  and  a  thank  you  for  backing
down over the car issue. Though the real
joke  was  lost  on  her,  giving  her  spy
husband  the  same  car  driven  by  the
ultimate covert agent.

I left the house and drove to an office

building  downtown,  parking  in  the
garage  underneath.  The  structure  housed
several  law  offices,  some  legit,  and
others  a  front  for  offices  of  clandestine
operations.

On the first floor, I flashed a badge

for Webster, Shaw & Associates before
entering

the

elevator

behind

the

reception  desk.  It  only  took  a  minute
after  hitting  the  down  button  for  the  car
to  stop  and  the  doors  slid  silently  open

to reveal a large room full of desks and
computers.  As  usual,  there  was  a  low
buzz  of  noise  from  my  co-workers
chatting,  strategizing,  and  computers
humming.

“Justice.”
I turned and saw Colin walking up to

me,  his  hand  outstretched.  I  grasped  it
and  returned  the  greeting  with  his  code
name.  “Outrigger.  What  are  you  doing
here? I thought you were on a long-term,
covert assignment in India.”

Colin was an American citizen, but

he’d  been  raised  in  England  and  was
permanently  stationed  there  a  few  years
before.  I’d  still  worked  with  him  on
several missions until he went dark. All

I knew was the assignment was in India,
but the details were kept classified.

He let go of my hand and grimaced.

“My cover was blown and I lost the
target. They brought me back to brief you
on the situation before they send you on
a retrieval.”

Retrieval missions were pretty

straight  forward—capture,  interrogate,
and  pass  the  prisoner  off  to  another
agent.  Sometimes,  it  was  easy,  taking
only a day or two. Other times, it could
take  weeks  to  track  down  the  target.  If
this  guy  was  aware  he  was  being
pursued  and  had  gone  on  the  run,  it
meant  I  was  looking  down  the  barrel  of
the  latter.  Fuck.  I’d  been  home  for  less
than  twenty-four  hours  and  I  was  being

sent back into the field. How was I going
to explain this to Evie?

Colin started to relay information

about  the  op  as  we  made  our  way  to  a
conference  room  across  the  way.  When
we  passed  by  the  office  of  our  chief
analyst and resident tech genius, Martin,
I  popped  my  head  in  to  say  hello.  As  a
senior field officer, I often ran a team for
ops,  and  Martin  and  I  worked  closely
together. However, on solo ops, such as
the one I was about to embark on, Martin
was  often  my  life-line.  The  difference
between ending up back in bed with my
wife or in a box, six feet under.

He mumbled something resembling a

greeting, without looking up from
whatever he was working on. I laughed

and  continued  on  to  my  meeting.  I
followed Colin to the room and we both
took  a  seat  at  the  large,  oval  table.  Our
superior, Howard Donovan, was already
seated,  looking  through  a  file,  and  his
head lifted when he heard us enter.

“It’s about damn time, Justice.”
I held tight to my patience and

swallowed  a  sharp  retort.  “I’ve  only
been  home  for  a  few  hours,  Donovan.
Barely  enough  time  to  greet  my  wife
properly”—my

eyes

narrowed

irritation—“and  leaving  her  in  bed  this
morning  was  not  on  my  to-do  list.  The
list  was  one  fucking  word  long,
Genevieve.”

Colin snorted, trying to contain his

laughter and Donovan rolled his eyes.

“Let’s  get  on  with  this,  the  sooner  we
finish  briefing  you,  the  sooner  you  can
complete  the  mission  and  get  back  to
practicing your talents as a Raven.”

It was my turn to scoff. “My

seduction  skills  don’t  need  any  fine
tuning,  just  ask  my  wife.  She’s  the  only
one  who  will  ever  be  the  recipient
anyway. But that’s beside the point. Just
so you know, when this mission is over,
I’m taking a month off.”

“Done.” Donovan nodded then slid a

file my way. The manila folder was
stamped with CODE-WORD
CLASSIFIED, which explained why it
was only the three of us in the room.
Only a handful of agents in my office had
a code-word clearance. Inside was a

dossier on the target, Mark Sai, code
name: Heron, with a picture and as much
information as we could gather on the
man.

“You think he’s hiding out in Rome?”

I  shot  an  irritated  glance  at  my  boss.
Evie  and  I  vacationed  there  frequently,
which means I spend a great deal of time
there  as  myself,  as  the  real  me,  Alex
Shaw,  contract  attorney  and  devoted
husband.

Donovan sighed. “The higher-ups

are putting their foot down. They want
you for this assignment and they don’t
care about anything else.”

“I’m going to have to be twice as

vigilant, and it’s going to slow me
down.”

Donovan shrugged, and I knew it

was the most I was going to get out of
him on the subject. At least Evie wasn’t
going to be there with me. Every once in
a while, the jackasses I answered to
would send me on a mission while I was
in the middle of traveling with my wife.
Never in Rome, though.

There wasn’t anything I could do

about it, so I went back to skimming the
file.  One  line  in  particular  stood  out,
“What the fuck?” I growled. “He was an
agent-in-place?”  The  background  stated
he  had  tried  to  defect  half  a  decade
before  but  had  been  convinced  to
continue  working  for  the  foreign
government,  similar  to  being  a  double
agent,  but  he  was  a  civilian.  Losing  an

asset  like  him  meant  we  were  running
blind,  not  knowing  who  he  was
informing  on  or  what  they  were  being
told.

“I was his case agent,” Colin

informed  me.  “I  don’t  know  if  he
exposed  me  or  someone  in  his  chain  of
command  got  enough  information  to
piece  together  the  clues  and  blew  my
cover.  Either  way,  Mark  got  spooked
and took off.”

“We need to know what he’s shared

and how much of it is fact versus
fiction,” Donovan added.

A mess of this caliber wouldn’t be

contained to our department, and I
needed to know what else I was up
against. “Is there a kill order?”

Donovan nodded. “I heard they gave

the job to Scarlett.” Fuck.  It  wasn’t  just
a  retrieval,  it  as  a  damn  fucking  race  to
the finish line. Scarlett was practically a
myth  around  here.  Rumored  to  be  an
agent  for  dark  ops,  the  operative  was  a
fucking  ghost,  going  in  for  the  kill,
accomplishing  it,  and  disappearing
without  a  trace.  We’d  gathered  enough
intel  to  recognize  Scarlett’s  work  back
in London, four years ago. The agent had
slit  the  target’s  throat  before  we  could
get  him  in  a  room  to  interrogate  him.
“Why  can’t  you  guys  work  the  fuck
together? I shouldn’t be hampered by my
own damn agency, Donovan.”

He leaned back in his chair, crossing

his arms over his chest, his face

impassive. “That’s above my pay
grade.”

I shook my head solemnly, “You’ve

just killed my hero-worship of you,
dude. I can’t believe you’re a slave to
the man like the rest of us schmucks.”

“Get the fuck out of here and do your

job, Justice,” he said gruffly, but there
was a layer of amusement in his tone and
laughter in his eyes.

I gathered up the information folder

and  strode  to  the  door.  “A  month,
Donovan.  And  I’m  leaving  my  fucking
phone  in  my  safe.”  I  yelled  over  my
shoulder before exiting the room.

***

I slipped silently down the hallway of
the Rafaello Hotel in Rome. My
destination was room 501, the top floor,
with windows facing another building.

It took me three fucking days after

arriving in Rome, but I’d finally tracked
Heron to this hotel. I waited another two
days,  watching  his  routine  and  plotting
the best time to do a snatch and grab. At
one  point,  I  sent  a  weasel  agent  from
another department scurrying back home.
I  wasn’t  fool  enough  to  think  there
weren’t  more,  though  I’d  yet  to
encounter another.

I was getting more and more

impatient with this assignment. When I’d
left the agency after my meeting with
Donovan and Colin, I went home to face

my wife. To my surprise, Evie was up
and packing a suitcase.

“I got a call about a Rembrandt

I’ve been trying to acquire. It’s in Port
Elizabeth,” she informed me, her
expression wary and her tone thick with
apology.

I walked up to her and pulled her

into  my  arms,  kissing  her  soundly.
“One  of  my  clients  breached  a  fucking
contract  and  I’ve  got  to  go  to  Brazil
and straighten it out.”

She wrapped her arms around my

middle and hugged me tight, her cheek
resting on my chest. “Aren’t we the jet-
set couple,” she murmured sadly.

Lifting her chin with finger, I

placed a soft kiss on her nose, then

another on her sweet lips. “I’m taking
a month off after this trip. How about
we go back to Fiji?”

Evie’s face lit up like a Christmas

tree. “Really?” she asked excitedly.

“Really, baby. No phones, no

internet, only you and me—“I rubbed a
hand over her stomach—“and the kid I
put inside you.” I winked and she
laughed, hugging me close once again.

Reaching the correct room, I pushed

away  the  emotions  invoked  by  the
memory.  I  needed  to  focus.  Unlatching
my  hidden  shoulder  holster,  I  pulled  out
my M9 and put my ear to the door. It was
silent,  which  wasn’t  surprising  because
it  was  the  middle  of  the  afternoon  and
I’d  learned  it  was  when  Heron  slept,

keeping a vigil at night. I’m not sure why
the idiot thought the light of day would
make a damn bit of difference.

I tried the knob, because, well, you

never  knew  with  these  dipshits.  It  was
locked,  but  the  movement  of  the  door
indicated  he  hadn’t  dead  bolted  it.
Rather than kick the door in and make a
raucous,  I  shoved  my  gun  into  the  back
of my waist band and knelt in front of the
door  to  pick  the  lock.  The  click  of  the
tumblers  was  inordinately  loud  in  the
surrounding silence.

Retrieving my weapon, I slowly

pushed the door open, grateful for well-
oiled hinges. Gun aimed in front of me, I
stepped over the threshold, sweeping the
room with my gaze only to discover an

empty bed. I heard a rustle in the
bathroom and stepped back against the
wall, blending into the shadows as much
as possible.

Heron exited the bathroom in nothing

but a towel, and I rolled my eyes
heavenward. I really didn’t want to grab
this guy without clothes. Situations like
this

never

ended

well

for

me,

considering I usually have to wrestle the
target  to  the  floor  in  order  to  subdue
them.  Apparently,  Lady  Luck  was  with
me  because  Heron  didn’t  seem  inclined
to  walk  around  in  the  buff,  or  to  notice
my  presence,  as  he  went  about  getting
dressed.  If  all  I  had  to  deal  with  was  a
glimpse  of  his  saggy,  white  ass,  I  could
deal.

Once he had on jeans and a shirt, but

before  he  could  put  on  shoes,  I  stepped
from my hiding spot and quickly stalked
up  behind  him.  He  was  staring  out  the
window,  squinting  at  something,  and
didn’t  even  notice  my  approach  until  he
felt the cold steel of my Beretta, pressing
against his neck.

“What do you say we skip the tussle

and go right to the part where you give
up and I drag your ass out of here?”

Chapter 3

Evie

“You’re  a  go.”  I  barely  blinked  at  the
confirmation  of  the  kill  order  when  it
came  through  my  ear  piece.  It  wasn’t  a
surprise,  even  though  my  target  was
technically  a  civilian.  Leaving  Heron
alive was a risk my boss wasn’t willing
to  take,  which  I  understood,  since  he
was  privy  to  sensitive  information  after
having  worked  with  the  agency  for  five
years.  The  man  had  come  to  my  country
for  protection  and  found  himself
between a rock and a hard place because
he  had  been  in  the  unlucky  position  of

being of strategic use to our government
—but that didn’t excuse his decision for
turning traitor. He’d agreed to be pulled
into this kill or be killed world, the same
as I had.

Eight years ago, I’d never expected

to find myself where I was today, flat on
my  belly  on  the  roof  of  an  office
building,  fifteen  hundred  yards  away
from  the  Rafaello  hotel  in  Rome,  with
my  338  Lapua  Magnum  aimed  at  the
window of my target’s room. I’d resisted
the  CIA’s  attempts  to  recruit  me  out  of
college. With my hard-earned bachelor’s
degree  in  Art  History  in  hand,  I’d
planned  to  head  straight  into  graduate
school.

My goal had been to become a

curator at one of the top museums in the
world. The Louvre, the Guggenheim, the
Tate, the Met—my sights had been aimed
high,  but  I  was  convinced  I  could
accomplish  anything  if  I  worked  hard
enough.  It  was  a  mindset  my  father  had
instilled  in  me,  and  in  the  blink  of  an
eye,  the  veil  was  torn  away  from  my
innocent  eyes  when  he  never  arrived  at
my  graduation.  For  as  long  as  I  could
remember,  it  had  been  him  and  me
versus  the  world—right  up  until  an  old
enemy  from  his  days  serving  as  a  Navy
SEAL rose up from the ashes of his past
to murder him in cold blood.

When the agency recruiter came

knocking on my door the next day, with a

confidential  dossier  on  the  asshole
who’d  taken  my  dad  away  from  me,  I’d
signed  on  the  dotted  line.  No  questions
asked.  To  avenge  his  death,  I  sold  my
soul  to  the  devil  and  I’d  never  looked
back.  I  used  the  skills  my  dad  and  his
SEAL  buddies  had  taught  me  to  hunt
down the man responsible for his death.
All  those  years  of  shooting  lessons,
hunting  trips  and  obstacle  courses  were
put  to  good  use.  I’d  earned  numerous
marksmanship  awards  over  the  years,
but  I’d  never  aimed  a  gun  at  a  human
being  until  that  day.  It  was  my  first  kill,
but  nowhere  close  to  my  last.  I’d
exceeded  my  recruiter’s  abilities  and
was quickly moved to a division running
missions so dark, we didn’t even have a

name.  But  they  put  my  years  of  martial
arts  and  weapons  training  to  good  use,
honing  me  until  I  became  the  ultimate
weapon. Scarlett, the assassin with more
kills to her name than anyone else in the
agency,  although  there  was  no  official
record of my body count.

Tonight, I was going to add another

to my tally. It hadn’t taken me long to run
my  target  to  ground.  I’d  spent  the  last
three days observing him, studying all of
his  behaviors  and  looking  for  any  sign
he’d made contact with anyone else who
could  pose  a  threat  in  the  future.  I’d
caught  signs  that  other  agents  were
hiding  in  the  shadows,  the  same  as  me,
but nobody had approached him yet. The
involvement  of  others  this  early  in  the

game  meant  the  clock  was  ticking  faster
than  I’d  originally  anticipated.  I’d
always  been  good  at  reading  people,  a
skill  my  dad  had  cultivated  with  pop
quizzes  about  the  people  surrounding  us
at the oddest times growing up. With the
added behavioral training the agency had
given me, I was an expert at determining
motives  and  weaknesses.  Heron  was  a
man  running  scared,  and  he  hadn’t  yet
had  the  chance  to  head  for  the  safety  of
another  country’s  agency.  The  degree  of
his anxiety indicated it was a possibility
in  the  future,  though.  Hence,  the  kill
order.

Glancing down at the watch strapped

around my wrist, I noted the time. If he
followed the same pattern as the last

three  nights,  Sai  would  be  out  of  the
shower  and  dressed  for  his  nighttime
vigil any minute now. A quick look at my
Kestrel  1000  wind  meter  confirmed  the
conditions  hadn’t  changed  since  I  last
checked.  No  additional  adjustments
needed  to  be  made  to  the  sight  on  my
Vanquish .308 sniper rifle, so I lowered
my  head  and  peered  through  the  scope.
As expected, it didn’t take long for me to
catch  sight  of  my  target  in  the  window.
But a split-second later, I was in for the
shock  of  my  life  as  I  watched  a  man,
dressed  in  black  from  head  to  toe,
approach  him  from  behind  and  press  a
handgun into his neck. I was determined
to  follow  through  with  my  mission,
refusing to allow this shadowy figure to

swoop in and steal my target. My finger
started to press down on the trigger, but I
stopped  the  motion  when  I  recognized
the  man’s  eyes.  There  was  no  mistaking
who they belonged to, not when I’d seen
them  gaze  down  at  me  with  love,  heat,
and humor many times over the last four
years.

I lifted my finger completely away

from  the  trigger  as  the  implications  of
what  I  was  seeing  registered  in  my
brain.  Alex.  The  man  in  black,  with  the
gun in his hand, was Alex. My husband,
who was supposed to be in Brazil taking
care of boring lawyer stuff. I didn’t have
the  chance  to  wrap  my  brain  around  the
situation.  As  I  watched  Alex  move  the
man away from the window, I noticed a

flash of red light moving in a sweep
from the left side of the window towards
the two men.

Laser light.
“Shooter,” I hissed, taking aim and

firing over Alex’s head, knowing he’d
get the hint and take cover. My shot was
followed by a volley of fire from the
other shooter.

“Fucking amateur,” I muttered as I

shifted  my  gun  and  took  aim  at  him.  No
self-respecting  sniper  would  use  a
tactical  light.  The  laser  was  pointless
because  it  draws  a  straight  line  and
doesn’t account for bullet drop. Not only
did it not add any accuracy to the shot, it
increased  the  odds  of  tipping  off  your
target,  like  he’d  just  tipped  me  off.

Spotting his hidey-hole through my non-
reflective scope, protecting my position
from him as he scanned the area, I added
to my body count by taking him out.

Swinging my rifle back towards the

hotel, I swallowed the lump in my throat
at the sight of shattered glass and bullet-
ridden walls. There was no sign of Alex
or  Sai,  and  I  could  only  hope  my
husband  had  made  it  out  of  the  room
alive  and  uninjured.  Not  only  because  I
loved him, but so he could explain to me
what  the  hell  he’d  been  doing  there  in
the first place!

With swift motions, I broke my rifle

down and packed it up. As I headed for
the door, I yanked the ear piece out,
dropped it on the ground, and smashed it

with my heel. Pulling a secured satellite
phone out of my pocket, I dialed the only
number  stored  in  it  and  waited  for  my
boss  to  answer  as  I  raced  down  the
stairwell.  The  elevator  would  be  faster,
but I’d only disabled the cameras on the
stairs since it was my planned route. The
last  thing  I  needed  was  to  run  into
security when I needed to get my ass out
of this building and down the street.

“Status?”
“Mission incomplete,” I answered.
Stunned silence filled the line for a

moment. In all my years with the agency,
I’d never answered this question in the
negative before. “Explain.”

“There was another shooter. An

amateur, using a laser scope.”

“Were you able to eliminate the

competition?”

“Yes, sir. That situation has been

neutralized,” I confirmed.

“And the target?”
“Fled the scene. I’m in pursuit.” I

hesitated, unsure how I wanted to
explain that Heron hadn’t been alone
when he’d left.

“Is there anything else I need to

know, Scarlett?”

Heaving out a deep breath as I

reached the ground floor and headed for
the  exit,  I  considered  everything  I  knew
about  my  husband.  Puzzle  pieces  fell
into  place,  and  the  most  likely
explanation  came  to  mind.  “Is  the

Special Operations Group aware of the
situation with the target?”

“Yes, why?”
“I think there was an agent with the

target, attempting a retrieval, when the
shots were fired.”

“I’m sure they’d like to have a

conversation

with

him.

Did

you

recognize the agent?” he asked.

Did I recognize him as an agent?

No.

Did I recognize him as the man I

adored, and who I planned to have a
baby with in the very near future? Yes.

“I’d hate to be put in a position

where I have to disavow all knowledge
of

you

because

you’ve

withheld

information which might help me protect

you and the mission,” he prodded,
irritation clear in his tone.

“Would your access let you run

facial recognition software using a photo
in comparison to the agents in the
Special Operations Group?”

“Of course it would,” he snarled.

“Did you take the time to snap a picture
of the guy when you should have been
eliminating your target?”

“No, sir. The picture I want you to

use is one of my husband.”

“Well, shit, girl. That would be one

hell  of  a  turn  of  events.”  My  boss’s
voice  softened.  He  was  well  aware  of
Alex’s place in my life and had advised
me  to  have  the  agency  run  a  thorough
background  check  on  him  before  we

married.  Clearly,  the  report  I’d  been
provided  with  had  excluded  quite  a  bit
of  important  information  .  “I’ll  have  an
answer  for  you  within  ten  minutes.  But
regardless  of  the  answer,  I  need  you  to
do your job Scarlett.”

“Understood,

sir,”

bit

out,

disconnecting  the  call  and  hopping  into
the  car  I’d  been  using  during  this
mission. Revving the engine, I exited the
alley where I’d been parked and headed
towards the hotel, three blocks away. As
soon  as  I  rounded  the  corner,  I  caught
sight  of  a  white  van  idling  at  the  curb.
My  target  was  being  shoved  into  the
passenger  seat.  Ignoring  the  red  light  in
front  of  me,  I  blasted  the  intersection  to
the  blare  of  horns  from  angry  drivers

who  had  the  right  of  way.  The  sound
drew  the  man  in  black’s  attention  as  he
circled the van for the driver’s side. He
turned  to  look  over  his  shoulder,  and  I
was  struck  anew  by  recognition.  The
way he moved, the shape of his face, his
height. This man had to be Alex.

I raced through another intersection,

the last one separating me from the van,
while  it  peeled  away  from  the  curb.
Tires  screeching,  the  driver  made  a
quick getaway with me right on his rear
bumper.  He  tried  to  evade  me,  but  I
stayed  glued  to  him,  even  as  several
police  cars  passed  us  as  they  raced
towards the hotel.

“C’mon, c’mon, c’mon,” I chanted,

unused to waiting instead of acting. But I

wasn’t  about  to  do  anything  that  could
cause  the  driver  of  the  van  harm  if  it
might  be  Alex.  Watching  the  vehicle
weave  in  and  out  of  traffic,  I  couldn’t
help  but  be  impressed  with  the  driver’s
skills—much the same as I had been the
first  time  Alex  had  driven  the  Aston
Martin  I’d  given  him  as  a  present.
Although  only  four  and  a  half  minutes
had passed, it felt like forever when my
sat phone rang.

“Is he an agent?”
“Yes, Scarlett. It would appear like

attracts like in the case of your marriage,
because Alex is part of the Special
Operations Group, where he goes by the
code name Justice.”

“Justice,” I repeated, part of me

wanting  to  laugh  at  the  nickname  which
fit  my  husband  so  well,  while  the  other
side of me wanted to howl in frustration.
Then  it  hit  me,  “Wait,  the  Justice
everybody  is  always  talking  about?  The
one who is able to break anyone?”

“Yes.”
This was too much to comprehend

all at once. Justice was a fucking legend
in The Company. And apparently, I was
married to him. Now what did that say
about my ability to read people?

“Snap out of it, Scarlett. You still

have a mission to complete, one which
is at direct odds with the orders your
husband has most likely received. Can I

trust you to get the job done or do I need
to send someone else in?”

“You can trust me, sir.” I wasn’t sure

if my answer was truthful, but it was the
only  one  I  was  willing  to  give.  There
was  no  way  in  hell  I’d  allow  another
assassin  from  my  division  anywhere  in
the vicinity of Alex. “I’ll handle it.” One
way or another.

Disconnecting the call, I dropped the

sat phone on the passenger seat and dug
in the center console for my personal
cell. With a quick swipe across the
screen, it powered up.

“Call Alex.”
Following my voice command, the

call went through and I waited as the
line rang on the other end. Once. Twice.

At the third ring, I figured he was going
to  let  it  go  straight  to  voicemail
—understandable  since  he  was  in  the
middle  of  a  high  speed  chase  on  the
streets  of  Rome  with  an  unwilling
passenger in the van. Then on the fourth
ring, he picked up.

“Hey, baby. I’m kind of in the middle

of something. Is everything okay?”

Oh, he was in the middle of

something all right.

“Hey, stud. I was wondering if you’d

like to meet up in Rome instead of Fiji.
It’s been a little while since we’ve
visited there.”

For pleasure at least, I wasn’t about

to count any of my post-mission
debriefings there. Who knew how often

he’d been there for the same reason over
the  last  four  years?  Now  that  I  thought
about  it,  if  Rome  was  his  station  in
Europe  too,  I  was  kind  of  surprised
we’d  never  run  into  each  other
unexpectedly  during  a  mission  before
now,  since  we’d  both  been  out  of  the
country  simultaneously  a  ridiculous
number  of  times  over  the  years.  And  he
didn’t  know  I  was  in  the  car  following
him,  yet.  I  was  curious  to  see  how  he’d
try to talk his way out of this one. Yeah,
even though I’d been lying to him just as
long and in the same way, I still wanted
to  fuck  with  him  a  bit  because  I  was  a
little  hurt.  It  wasn’t  exactly  fair,  but  the
feelings  were  there  just  the  same.  Who
knew I could be such a girl?

“I don’t know, baby. I was looking

forward to seeing you in nothing but your
tiny white bikini.”

The van swerved to the right, and

there was a muffled grunt in the
background, followed by a growled
curse from Alex.

“What was that, Alex? We must have

a bad connection because I couldn’t hear
you clearly.”

“Nothing, baby. Just some asshole

who had something to say about you in a
bikini. Don’t worry, I shut him up.”

His response was so typical Alex

that  it  made  tears  well  in  my  eyes.  No
matter what we’d been hiding from each
other,  one  thing  was  undeniable—Alex
loved  me  as  much  as  I  loved  him.  Our

love  would  see  us  through  this  mess,  I
was  certain  of  it.  The  authorities  must
have  realized  the  seriousness  of  the
situation  because  ten  more  police  cars
zoomed  past  us,  sirens  blaring  wildly.
As I was preparing to blurt out the news
that I was in the car behind him, I heard
the sound echo through the line.

“Evie?” He must have heard it too.

His brain didn’t take as long as mine had
to sift through the facts and reach the
right conclusion. “I’m pulling over.”

His voice was a deep growl, the one

usually reserved for when he was about
to fuck me hard. It sent shivers down my
spine, even as butterflies took flight in
my belly. Sure enough, the brakes lights
went on in front of me as the van slowed

down and moved to the side of the road.
I followed behind him, coming to a stop
as  he  leapt  from  the  van  and  stalked
towards  me.  Dressed  in  combat  boots,
black  cargo  pants,  a  tight  black  shirt
stretched  over  his  chest,  and  with  a
black  knit  cap  over  his  dark  hair,  Alex
was  the  epitome  of  a  dangerous  man.
Hot and deadly with the Beretta gripped
in  his  right  hand.  The  situation  was
fucked  beyond  all  recognition,  but  he’d
never looked sexier to me.

Chapter 4

Alex

I  jerked  the  van  to  the  side  of  the  road,
ignoring  Heron  when  he  was  thrown  up
against the side door. His restraints kept
him  from  righting  himself,  and  I  didn’t
care.  The  asshole  shouldn’t  have  been
making comments about my wife.

Speaking of my wife... I jumped out

of  the  driver’s  seat,  out  onto  the
sidewalk  and  glared  at  the  car
screeching  to  a  stop  behind  my  vehicle.
Sure  enough,  Evie  sat  behind  the  wheel
and  I  was  caught  up  in  a  tumble  of
emotions. The most prevalent being fear

for  her  safety,  but  anger  was  a  damn
close  second.  I  heard  a  thump  and  a
grunt  of  pain  from  inside  the  van,  and
since  I  was  irrationally  blaming  Heron
for  this  whole  situation,  I  was
inordinately  pleased  at  the  thought  of
him  trying  to  shift  around  inside  and
injuring himself in the process.

While I waited for her to turn off the

engine  and  exit  the  car,  I  ripped  my  ear
bud  out  and  stuffed  it  in  a  pocket  so  I
didn’t  have  to  listen  to  Martin  ramble
on. He was trying to figure out what was
happening, and I didn’t have the slightest
fucking clue, nor did I want anyone to be
privy  to  the  situation  at  hand.  I  stood
there taking deep breaths, trying to calm

my racing heart and cool my ire before I
absolutely lost it on her.

She stepped from the car, her long,

lithe  body  encased  in  form  fitting  black
pants, a long-sleeved thermal, and boots
laced  up  to  her  knees.  Her  long
mahogany  hair  was  pulled  back  into  a
slick ponytail, the red highlights showing
up  in  the  sun.  Her  face  was  devoid  of
makeup, giving her a natural look so she
wouldn’t  stand  out.  But,  it  didn’t  matter
what  Evie  did  to  try  and  blend  in,  she
drew every eye around her. It was about
the  worst  timing  ever  to  be  sporting  a
hard  on,  but  my  wife  looked  so  fucking
sexy  I  almost  forgot  what  I  was  mad
about.  All  I  wanted  to  do  was  drag  her
to the nearest bed and fuck her hard.

Shaking my head a little, I tried to

clear  away  the  lust-filled  haze.  I  tucked
my  gun  into  the  back  waistband  of  my
pants and covered it with my shirt. I felt
like one of those idiots in movies, but at
the moment, it was the best way to keep
it  hidden.  She  stopped  near  the  rear  of
the  van  and  peeked  into  the  window,  an
irritated expression materializing on her
face  at  whatever  it  was  she  saw.  She
turned and leaned against the side of the
vehicle, crossing her arms over her chest
and stared at me.

“What the fuck are you doing here,

Evie?” I growled.

Her eyes narrowed and her chin

lifted stubbornly. “I could ask you the
same question, Justice.”

It wasn’t like I’d had much time to

process  all  of  this,  but  I  didn’t  realize
how  much  I  was  hoping  this  was  all
some  kind  of  fucked-up  coincidence
until she used my code name.

“And by the way,” she snarled, “you

need to watch your back more carefully,
Alex. Another sniper might have shot
you, and I’d rather you didn’t make me a
widow.”

I staggered back a half step, she

couldn’t  possibly  mean...  No.  Could
she?  “It  was  you  shooting  the  spray  of
bullets  through  the  window?”  As
shocked as I was that Evie was clearly a
sniper,  and  holy  fuck  was  I  shocked  to
learn  my  sweet  wife  was  a  fucking
assassin,  I  had  a  hard  time  believing  it

had been her. She was a perfectionist,
and I couldn’t see her being so careless.

“how She scowled, clearly offended.

“Of course it wasn’t me,” she snapped.
“I only fired the warning shot. I’m not an
amateur.”

Not an amateur. How long had this

been going on? “Exactly how long have
you been experienced at this, Evie?” I
asked through clenched teeth.

Her face fell and sadness crept into

her dark brown eyes. “You mean how
long have I been lying to you? Probably
as long as you’ve been doing so to me.”

Was our whole life one big charade?

A painful thought began to creep into my
head, no matter how much I tried to keep
it out. Had she married me to establish

her cover? I pushed back the insistent
doubt. No. I knew she loved me as much
as I loved her.

However, this shit ended right now. I

wasn’t  going  to  let  my  wife  constantly
put herself in danger. It would tear me up
inside,  and  I  couldn’t  live  with  the
worry  and  pain.  What  if  something  had
happened  to  her?  How  could  she
continue going on missions, knowing she
was  endangering  my  whole  reason  for
living?

I closed the distance between us and

gripped  her  biceps  firmly,  but  gentle
enough  so  I  wouldn’t  hurt  her.  “We  are
going  to  have  a  long  ass  discussion
about this, but I haven’t got the time right

now. I need to get my target to a safe
house.”

Evie

shuffled,

looking

slightly

uncomfortable.

“About

that...”

she

trailed  off,  glancing  at  the  van  before
meeting  my  eyes  again.  Her  usually
warm  brown  eyes  were  filled  with
steely determination. “I’m going to need
you to remand him into my custody. I’ve
got orders too.”

“Why don’t we take him in together?

We’ll both get our chance to interoga—”
I broke off when Evie’s face turned
wary.

Her eyes strayed to the van once

again, then she sighed as she looked
back at me. “I’m not here to talk to him,
Justice.”

I bristled at her us of my code name.

I didn’t like hearing it from her lips. But
she  was  obviously  using  it  for  a  reason
and  when  it  sunk  in,  I  wanted  to  put  my
fist  through  a  wall.  Or  through  the  face
of the motherfucker who recruited Evie.

She was sent to kill Heron, which

meant—my head was about to explode
with the amount of shit being heaped
onto me in such a short period of time.

“You’re Scarlett.” It was a statement,

not a question.

“Yes.”
Holy fuck. My wife had one of the

highest kill records at the agency. Well,
she would if they actually acknowledged
her as an operative. I had to admit, there
was some pride blooming in my chest

because my wife was the shit. Although,
no  one  would  know.  Evie  was  beyond
black  ops.  Her  division,  if  you  could
call  it  that,  wasn’t  on  any  official
records.  Not  even  top  secret,  redacted
files.  Which  meant,  if  she  was  ever
captured,  there  was  no  paper  trail  to
connect her to the CIA. She would be out
in  the  cold,  which  is  an  ironic
expression

considering

she

would

become a burned spy.

The fear previously masked under

my  anger  shot  to  the  surface.  I  didn’t
care  how  good  she  was  at  her  job,
nobody  was  perfect.  If  she  ever  made  a
mistake—I  couldn’t  even  think  about  it.
And,  I  would  never  know  what
happened  to  her.  She  would  simply

disappear.  Before  I  could  drown  in  my
terrifying  thoughts,  I  called  on  every  bit
of  my  training  and  focused  on  the
mission.

“I can’t let you have him, Scarlett.” I

saw  the  tiniest  wince  in  her  features
when  I  used  her  field  name.  She  didn’t
seem  to  like  it  either.  But,  we  were
suddenly  in  operation  mode,  and  it  was
clear  we  both  felt  the  separation  from
our home life and our job.

“I don’t think you’re grasping the

situation, Justice. I don’t have the luxury
of even one do-over. Failure is not an
option for me.”

I grunted in frustration. “You’re

asking me to voluntarily blow this op. I

can’t do it. I’m sorry, but Heron is more
valuable alive than dead.”

“Not according to my superiors.

They believe he poses too big of a threat
and needs to be eliminated.”

Before I could respond, the double

doors  at  the  back  of  the  van  flew  off
with  a  loud  bang.  One  of  them  smashed
into  the  car  Evie  had  been  driving,  one
corner  embedding  itself  in  the  driver’s
seat.  I’m  sure  that  would  haunt  me  later
but  my  training  kicked  in,  and  I
immediately started assessing everything
around  me.  I  darted  to  the  van,
wondering  how  a  bomb  got  planted  and
whether  Heron  could  have  survived  the
blast.  I  glanced  back  at  Evie,  searching
her  reaction,  wondering  if  she’d  been

able  to  complete  her  mission  after  all.
Had  I  missed  her  setting  the  charge?  I
was  trained  to  be  hyper-observant,  I
couldn’t  imagine  I  wouldn’t  have  seen
it.

A sliver of hurt slashed through my

heart at the thought of Evie choosing her
assignment  over  me,  killing  the  target
before we even had a chance to talk. Her
eyes  widened  at  my  accusatory  frown,
hurt  that  mirrored  my  own  showing
through as she shook her head. I couldn’t
consider  any  alternative,  even  knowing
she’d  been  lying  to  me  for  year,  at  that
moment; I instinctively trusted her.

Darting over to the smoldering

opening, I looked inside and didn’t see a
body. I did however, see bloody zip ties

lying  on  the  floor  near  the  sliding  panel
door  on  the  left  side  of  the  van  that
opened  out  to  the  street.  Blowing  the
back doors had been a decoy so he could
get out another way, unnoticed. I took off
down the street, running like a bat out of
hell.  I  didn’t  see  him  anywhere,  but  I
knew  the  most  likely  routes  he  would
take. After about thirty minutes, I slowed
to  a  stop  in  an  alley,  I  wasn’t  going  to
catch up with him this way. I was up shit
creek  without  a  paddle,  the  bastard  had
escaped.

The rumble of an engine drew my

attention, and I looked up to see Evie
driving the battered van in my direction.
She parked and hopped out.

“The cops were going to be there

any second, so I figured it best to move
the van.”

I nodded, walking toward the back

of the van. “Your car?”

“Rental. I didn’t pick it up and the

alias used is thorough. It can’t be traced
to me.”

I studied the blown doors, trying to

figure out how Heron had gotten out of
the restraints, and even worse, how the
fuck he got a bomb in the van.

“Your glove compartment.”
“What?” I shifted my attention to

Evie as she rounded the corner of the
van.

“He raided your glove box. Why the

hell did you leave chemicals in there?”

She held up a bottle of brake fluid
(Polyethylene glycol) and a jar of what
looked like chlorine dioxide mixed with
some other stuff.

“Shit.” I scrubbed my hands over my

face.  “I  didn’t  have  a  chance  to  sweep
the  van  before  I  took  it  out.  The  last
jackass  who  used  it  must  have  left  them
in there.”

She pointed to a melted piece of

clear  plastic.  It  looked  like  he  put  tiny
amounts  of  each  into  the  empty  water
bottles  up  front  and  tossed  them  at  the
back  door.  The  explosion  was  small
enough  to  blow  the  back  off  the  van,
covering  the  sound  of  the  opening  side
door and him running away.

Then it hit me, the thump I heard

after I got out of the car. If Heron had hit
hard enough to break a thumb, he might
have been able to work his hands out of
the binding. It looked like he’d taken a
lot of skin off with them.

The injury would hamper him a

little, but not much. A quick check of my
watch confirmed the sun was about to set
completely.  I  knew  it  was  more  likely
the  target  would  travel  at  night,  but  he
would  have  to  take  care  of  his  injury
first. We could get some rest and pick up
his  trail  in  the  morning,  hopefully
catching  up  to  him  before  he  slipped
away the next night.

Evie pulled a backpack from the

passenger seat and slung it over a

shoulder. To most people, it didn’t look
like anything special, but in reality, it
was a tactical backpack.

“Valkyrie?” I guessed.
She shook her head as she pulled out

another smaller bag, and slammed the
door shut. “Vanquish. It’s my personal
weapon,

don’t

need

the

ambidextrous feature. I saw no reason to
switch, the precision is equally good on
either.”

It was her personal weapon? I

pictured my own little armory at home
and wondered. “The safe in your
office?”

She cocked her head to the side,

studying me. “SCIF and weapons. You?”

“Same.” The conversation was

taking  on  a  surreal  quality,  and  I  wasn’t
ready  to  get  into  everything  right  then.
So,  I  changed  the  subject.  “Let’s  find  a
room  and  we’ll  figure  things  out
tomorrow,” I suggested wearily.

“Sure.” Evie gestured for me to lead

the way out of the alley. Before we left, I
quickly retrieved my briefcase and go-
bag. Then, I dumped the rest of the brake
fluid around the van and as we walked
away, I tossed in a lighter.

***

“I’m going to grab a shower,” Evie said
before disappearing into the bathroom.

We’d checked into The Waldorf,

figuring  it  was  a  better  choice  than  our
villa.  Neither  of  us  wanted  to  draw
attention  to  our  vacation  home  while  in
the  thick  of  an  assignment.  After  tossing
her bug out bag on the bed, she slid her
rifle underneath. She immediately moved
to the mini-fridge and opened it to stare
longingly at the small bottles of alcohol.
She sighed and grabbed a water.

I almost smiled at how damn cute

she was, but I was too tense to really be
amused. I wasn’t, however, too occupied
to miss the sight of her heart-shaped ass
sticking  in  the  air  as  she  bent  down  to
peer into the appliance. She always had
the  power  to  make  me  want  her,  no
matter  what.  My  body  and  heart

recognized my soul mate. The love of my
life.

Turning away, I strode to the phone

and  ordered  room  service.  When  it
arrived,  we  ate  in  relative  silence,
neither  of  us  knowing  what  to  say.  I
hated  the  awkward  tension.  It  had
always been easy with us, even when we
got angry with each other. Knowing there
were  always  lies  between  us  actually
made  me  realize  how  strong  our
relationship  was.  We  were  sure  of  our
love  for  each  other  and  despite  holding
our  own  secrets,  we  still  had  complete
trust  in  one  another.  A  rarity  for  people
who  lived  their  lives  in  a  world  of
espionage.  I wondered if we’d ever be
able to get back to that place.

I cleaned up once she closed the

bathroom  door,  trying  not  to  think  about
what  was  on  the  other  side.  I  didn’t
know  why  I  was  even  trying.  Resisting
Evie  wasn’t  possible,  even  with  the
“what  ifs”  hanging  over  us.  She  was
mine, she would always be mine.

I stripped on my way to join her in

the shower, entering the room naked and
hard  as  a  fucking  rock.  The  sight  of  her
in  the  big,  glass  shower,  her  head  back
to  rinse  her  hair,  thrusting  her  amazing
tits  in  the  air,  her  flat  stomach,  the  flare
of  her  hips,  her  beautifully  bare  pussy,
had  my  muscles  clenching  and  all  the
blood  in  my  head  rushing  straight  to  my
groin.

Pulling the door open, steam

billowed  out  and  made  rivulets  of
condensation  roll  down  my  already
overheated  body.  The  draft  of  cold  air
creeping in blew over Evie, causing her
nipples to tighten into hard little peaks.

I tore my eyes away from the dusky

tips,  dragging  my  gaze  up  to  meet  her
eyes. Only, they were glued to my cock,
standing up against my stomach, already
begging  to  be  inside  her.  As  I  slowly
approached,  she  finally  lifted  her  gaze
and  the  burning  want  in  those  chocolate
depths  made  any  hesitancy  I’d  been
harboring dissipate.

My hand slid easily over her wet

skin, grasping her around the waist and
slamming her body into mine as my

mouth sealed over hers. It had been over
four days since I’d tasted her lips, and
just like every time I was away from her,
it felt like I hadn’t seen her in forever. I
licked the seam of her mouth and she
immediately opened for me, our tongues
twisting

and

tangling,

matching

desperation in our kiss.

I loved her so fucking much and I

needed her more than my next breath. My
hands  traveled  up  her  torso  to  palm  her
full tits, their size making them spill out
of  my  hands.  Massaging  them  to  the
rhythm  of  our  kiss,  I  felt  a  shiver  rip
through  her  and  I  wanted  more.  Shifting
so I was cupping her, exposing her hard
little  nubs,  I  trailed  kisses  down  until  I
took  one  peak  into  my  mouth.  I  was

rewarded with another shiver. Her hands
delved  into  my  hair,  sending  tingles
straight  down  to  my  cock.  I  switched  to
her other tit until I’d had my fill, then let
it  go  with  a  little  pop  before  sinking  to
my knees.

With my hands on her hips, I

encouraged  her  to  turn  and  face  the
shower  seat.  “Bend  down,  baby.  Widen
your  legs  so  I  can  see  your  pretty,  pink
pussy.”

She bent and opened her legs, but it

wasn’t enough and she knew it. I slapped
a palm down onto the creamy skin of one
ass cheek, enjoying the sight of my mark
on her and the deep moan ripping from
her chest. “Tilt your pussy, and get those

legs open, or I’ll eat until I’m full and
won’t let you come.”

Her ass angled higher and her legs

moved  open  wide,  exposing  her  lower
lips.  Even  though  she  was  wet  from  the
shower,  I  could  see  the  slightly  thicker
wetness of her arousal on the insides of
her  thighs,  and  I  couldn’t  wait  any
longer.  “Always  so  wet  for  me,  aren’t
you,  baby?  You’re  fucking  soaked.”  I
pushed  her  ass  a  little  higher  until  she
was  on  her  tip  toes,  then  I  spread  her
pussy lips and licked her with the flat of
my  tongue,  from  bottom  to  top.  She
moaned  again,  but  as  I  began  to  eat  her
in  earnest,  her  sounds  became  cries  of
passion, spurring me on.

“I love your taste, baby. I want it to

fill  my  mouth.  Come  on  my  face,  Evie.
Do it now.” I slid two fingers inside her
incredibly tight pussy and sucked her clit
so  hard,  my  cheeks  hollowed  out.  She
exploded,  screaming  my  name  as  her
body wracked with shudders, her juices
flooding my mouth, the sweetest taste in
the world.

Surging to my feet, I flipped us

around so I could sit on the shower
bench. “Sit on my cock, baby,” I
commanded. “I want you to ride me.”

She straddled my legs, giving me the

perfect  opportunity  to  bite  her  ass,
causing  her  to  give  a  little  squeak.  The
next  thing  I  knew,  she  dropped  down
onto  my  dick,  impaling  herself  all  the

way, and I shouted, “Fuck! You’re so
damn tight.”

Rocking back and forth a little, she

let  herself  adjust  to  my  size.  I  put  my
hands under her elbows and brought her
arms  up  to  circle  my  neck,  behind  her
head.  “Keep  them  there,  baby,”  I
whispered  before  nibbling  on  her  ear.
Her skin was slick as my hands slid the
rest  of  the  way  up  her  arms,  then  back
down  and  over  clavicle,  falling  to
squeeze  her  tits  and  play  with  her
nipples, plucking and twisting them. She
squirmed  on  my  cock,  and  I  groaned  at
the way her pussy walls were clenching
around me.

Her rocking slowly turned to

bouncing, until she was wildly lifting

and dropping as my hips thrust up to
meet her.

“Oh! Oh! Yes, Alex!” Her cries

fanned the fire inside until I was no
longer satisfied with our position.

“I need to fuck you, baby. Hard. I

know you can take it, right?”

She mumbled an agreement, still

panting  and  moaning  from  her  orgasm.  I
lifted  her  off  my  cock  with  a  tortured
groan  and  spun  her  around  to  face  me.
Backing  her  up  the  wall,  I  grasped  her
ass and raised her high enough for me to
drive  home.  She  immediately  came,
screaming my name.

“The feeling of you coming around

my cock is unbelievable, Evie. Give me
more of it.” I increased the power of my

thrusts, my hands gripping her ass hard
enough to bruise. Her legs encircled my
waist and her head fell back against the
wall with a soft thump.

“I can’t,” she whined. “Just finish,

Alex. I can’t come again.”

Smirking, I leaned in close so my

face was a breath away from hers. “You
know better than to give me a challenge
like that, baby,” I growled.

My hips moved back and forth with

power,  driving  deep  each  time.  When
she  was  writhing  once  again,  I  used  my
thumb  to  press  down  on  her  clit.  She
went  off  like  a  fucking  rocket,  her
screams music to my ears. But, I was an
over  achiever,  so  winning  the  challenge
just once wasn’t my style. I sucked up all

of my restraint and slowed down while
her racing heart calmed.

“Alex,” she whimpered. “Please.”
“One more, baby. Then I’ll let you

rest.  I  know  you  can  give  me  another.
Your body is already tingling with need,
isn’t  it?  I  can  see  the  beautiful  blush  on
your  skin,  your  hard  little  nipples,  and
your  pussy  is  holding  me  so  tight  I  can
barely  move  in  and  out.  Fuck!  The  feel
of your pussy—Oh fuck! Come on, baby.
Do it.”

I put everything I had into my

movements, driving her higher and
higher, and going right along with her.

“Yes! Yes! Oh, Alex! Yes!” she was

shouting the fucking walls down.

“Keep it down, baby. I love to hear

you  screaming  my  name,  but  it’s  for  me
only.  Nobody  else  gets  to  hear  you
come.”  I  decided  to  help  her  out  and
crashed  my  mouth  down  over  hers.  My
balls drew up, and I knew I was about to
fall  over  the  edge  so  I  took  two  fingers
this  time  and  pinched  her  clit,
swallowing her screams as she gave me
the orgasm I demanded.

I let go and sensation after sensation

washed over me as I came. Long, hot
jets of semen shot from my cock in
spurts. I filled her to the brim, my come
leaking out of her pussy.

Eventually, our breathing slowed and

our hearts returned to a steady beat. I
hastily washed myself, then took my time

gently  cleansing  her  from  head  to  toe.
After we were done and dry, I lifted her
naked  body  into  my  arms  and  strode  to
the  bed.  Using  one  hand  to  pull  the
covers  away,  I  helped  her  slip  between
the sheets. I quickly checked the bolts on
the  door  and  windows,  then  shut  off  the
light and got into bed with my wife.

I wrapped myself around her from

behind, throwing a leg over hers, one
arm under her head, and the other
splayed over her belly.

“Alex,” she called softly.
Kissing her temple, I rested my

cheek on her silky hair. “What, baby?”

“What do we do now?”
That was a loaded fucking question

and I didn’t know the answer. The best I

had was to focus on the mission.

“I guess we’ll team up and find the

son of a bitch.”

“And then?”
I sighed, having no solution. Only

one of us could succeed in our
assignment.

“I don’t know, baby. We’ll cross that

bridge when we come to it.”

We lay in silence awhile, and I

thought maybe she’d fallen asleep until
she shifted her head to look up at me. “I
love you.”

My heart burst with the same warmth

it always did when she professed her
love.

“I love you too, my Evie. Until death

do we part. And forever after.”

Chapter 5

Evie

For  a  brief  moment,  when  I  woke  up  in
the middle of the night with Alex’s body
wrapped around mine and the sounds of
Rome  filling  the  air,  I  thought  we  were
on  vacation  in  our  villa.  I  snuggled  into
his hold, letting my eyes drift shut again
and intending to fall back asleep when it
hit  me—my  lawyer  husband  was  an
operative.  Not  just  your  everyday,
ordinary  spy  either.  Justice  was  the  guy
they  called  in  when  The  Company
needed  answers  and  the  target  wasn’t
inclined  to  offer  any.  Considering  his

reputation and the kind of cases his name
was  connected  with,  it  was  hard  to
believe  we  hadn’t  been  assigned  the
same  target  before  Heron.  Not  unless
one of the higher ups had been protecting
our  cover  identities  from  possible
discovery, intent on making use of us for
as long as they could.

It galled me to know someone in the

agency  knew  we’d  married  each  other
and played God with our lives by hiding
the  truth  from  us.  And  yet,  I  also
treasured  all  the  years  we’d  spent
together  in  the  dark.  Time  we  might  not
have  otherwise  had  if  I’d  known  Alex
was  Justice.  It  probably  would  have
messed with my mind knowing I’d fallen
for  a  fellow  operative,  leading  me  to

think  it  had  all  been  planned  with  the
intention  of  keeping  tabs  on  me.  What
better way to know what your lone wolf
assassin  was  up  to  during  her  off  time
than  to  insert  someone  into  her  life,
right? I might have fought my feelings for
Alex back then, but I was in too deep to
do  so  after  spending  four  blissful  years
with  him.  There  was  no  doubting  the
depth of our feelings for each other—or
the  stunned  shock  in  Alex’s  eyes  when
he realized I was Scarlett.

I’d never intended for him to see the

darker  side  of  me,  but  there  was  no
hiding  it  from  him  once  he  knew  my
code name. My reputation had preceded
me,  and  the  silence  which  stretched
between us when we’d reached the hotel

almost  had  me  convinced  that  Alex
wouldn’t be able to deal with the reality
of  what  I’d  done,  even  if  it  was  in
defense of our country. The relief I’d felt
when he’d joined me in the shower was
staggering. He hadn’t backed away from
me  in  fear  or  disgust.  If  anything,  the
force  of  his  passion  had  been  stronger
than before. More explosive, if that was
even possible, considering how amazing
it had always been between us.

I’d been helpless to resist his

sensual demands last night, as he forced
orgasm  upon  orgasm  on  me.  Not  that  I
was  complaining,  because  I’d  enjoyed
the  hell  out  of  it.  I’d  enjoyed  the  power
he’d held over me, several times in fact,
but  I  wanted  to  get  a  little  of  my  own

back. Exert some dominance of my own
and drive him beyond reason, the way he
had with me.

Shifting out of his hold, I tugged the

sheet  down  his  muscular  form,  savoring
the  sight  of  his  tanned  skin  as  it  was
exposed  to  my  sight.  Trailing  my
fingertips down his chest, I kept my eyes
locked  on  his  as  I  moved  to  kneel
between  his  legs.  When  I  leaned  over
him, my hair brushed over his chest and
his eyes popped open. Holding his gaze,
I  lowered  my  head  and  flicked  my
tongue  over  one  of  his  nipples,  while
rolling  the  other  between  my  finger  and
thumb.  As  I  raked  my  teeth  over  his
nipple,  I  felt  his  cock  jump  in  reaction,
hot and hard against my belly.

“Watcha doing, baby?” His voice

was raspy with sleep, but his eyes were
alert and heated.

“I woke up in the mood to play,” I

murmured,  before  moving  to  the  other
side  and  swirling  my  tongue  around  his
other  nipple.  It  beaded  into  a  tight  nub,
and  I  bit  down  hard.  Alex’s  hips  jerked
upwards in response, and he reached out
to  grip  my  hair.  He  didn’t  pull  my  head
away from his chest, though. Instead, his
fingers slid upwards until they tightened
on  my  scalp  as  he  held  me  in  place.  I
sucked  at  his  skin  and  smirked  at  the
sight of the dark red mark I left behind.

“Those four orgasms I gave you

didn’t tide you over?”

“I said play, not come,” I corrected

him  as  I  moved  farther  down  his  body,
enjoying the taste of his skin, licking and
sucking as much of it as I could along the
way.  When  I  reached  his  cock,  I  licked
the  drop  of  pre-come  from  the  tip,
sucking  greedily  before  twirling  my
tongue  around  the  crown.  “You’re  the
one  who’s  going  to  be  coming  this  time
around, stud.”

“Who am I to argue with a plan like

that?” Alex chuckled, lifting his arms
and folding them under his head.

“Resistance is futile anyway,” I

breathed  onto  his  wet  skin,  making  his
cock  twitch.  “I’m  going  to  have  your
come  coating  my  throat  one  way  or
another.”

“I guess I’ll just lay back and enjoy

the ride.”

“Mmmmm,” I hummed, sucking the

head  of  his  cock  into  my  mouth.  Alex
continued watching me, his eyes hot with
need.  His  cock  thickened  and  hardened
in my mouth, but I didn’t want him to go
too soon. I wanted to enjoy torturing him
first.  Releasing  him  with  a  slurp,  I
climbed  up  his  body  and  positioned
myself so his cock was nestled between
my  breasts.  Squeezing  them  together,  I
moved  up  and  down  with  his  cock
sliding in and out. Each time it poked out
of  the  top  of  my  breasts,  I  stuck  my
tongue  out  and  swirled  it  around  the
crown.

“Evie,” Alex hissed. “It feels so

damn good.”

Alex’s hips jerked with each of my

movements,  his  fingers  tightening  on  his
biceps  so  hard  his  knuckles  whitened.
The  taste  of  his  pre-come  in  my  mouth
and the burning need in his eyes spurred
me on. On the next pump, I drew him all
the way into my mouth. Sucking so hard
my  cheeks  hollowed  out,  his  breath
hissed  out  when  the  tip  bumped  against
the back of my throat.

“Holy fuck, baby. You suck me so

good. I don’t think I’m going to last much
longer.”

I released him with a pop, making

him hiss in frustration. Wrapping a hand

around the base, I squeezed. “You’ll last
as long as I say you’ll last.”

“Oh, is that how you want to play?”

His  fingers  unclenched  as  he  lifted  his
head.  He  moved  his  arms  to  his  sides
before  dropping  his  head  back  down  on
the pillow. “Just keep in mind, paybacks
can be a bitch.”

“And so can I, stud.” I warned

before  swallowing  him  whole  once
again.  I’d  never  had  need  to  show  him
my sharper edges, but knowing he knew
about the darker side of me meant I had
nothing left to hide. Humming deep in my
throat, I twisted my head in one direction
and  twisted  my  hand  in  the  other.  His
cock  grew  impossibly  big  in  my  mouth
as  his  fingers  delved  into  my  hair.  I

worked my tongue over his cock, and he
wrapped  my  hair  around  his  fist.  His
hold  tightened,  causing  a  slight  sting  in
my  scalp,  while  his  hips  jerked  up  and
down in time with my motions. I slid my
hand from the base of his cock, down to
his balls and felt them tighten as I rolled
them in my palm.

“Fuck, Evie. You’re gonna make me

come so hard,” he groaned.

Bobbing my head up and down, I

quickened my pace. I wanted, no needed,
to send him over the edge. It didn’t take
long  before  I  got  my  wish.    Hot  jets  of
come  exploded  from  his  body,  into  my
mouth  and  down  my  throat.  Swallowing
them down, I hummed in pleasure. When
his  fist  unclenched  and  his  hold  on  my

hair  loosened,  I  lifted  my  head  and
kissed  my  way  up  his  chest.  His  head
was  thrown  back  against  the  pillow,  his
eyes  clenched  shut.  I  curled  up  on  his
chest,  dragging  the  sheet  with  me  and
covering  us  both.  His  arms  slipped
around me and held me close.

Snuggling into his warmth, I felt

triumphant.  I’d  accomplished  what  I’d
set out to do, making my man come in my
mouth. Contentment filled me, and I was
drowsy  again.  My  eyes  slid  shut,  and  I
drifted  off  to  sleep  feeling  more  secure
than I ever had before during a mission.
Alex  and  I  might  have  opposing  orders,
but  he  was  still  my  safe  place.  My
beloved  husband,  and  the  only  person  I
would ever truly trust to have my back.

When I woke up a few hours later, it

was to the cold light of day. To a reality
where our situation couldn’t be avoided.
Where  we  couldn’t  screw  away  the
truth. Our missions were fucked, both of
them.  We  had  to  find  a  way  to  work
together to track Heron down, and then I
was  going  to  have  to  kill  the  target  in
front  of  my  husband  and  blow  his
mission  sky  high.  I  didn’t  want  to  fuck
him  over,  but  I  didn’t  see  another
solution  that  didn’t  end  up  with  me
burned—or  even  worse,  dead.  My
division  operated  under  different  rules
than  Alex’s.  He  could  survive  a  failed
mission with his career intact, while I’d
be  lucky  to  keep  my  life.  I  only  hoped
he’d  come  to  understand  why  Heron’s

death was necessary when the time came
for me to do my job.

“I much prefer the mood you woke

up in earlier than this quiet intensity I’m
feeling from you now,” Alex whispered
in my ear as he lifted me out of the chair
where I’d been sitting while I sipped my
coffee and stared out the window.

“Me, too,” I sighed, settling onto his

lap as he lowered himself onto the seat.

“Everything will work out in the

end,” Alex assured me. “Between the
two of us, I’m sure it won’t take us long
to track Heron down. Then we’ll be able
to put this all behind us and head back
home.”

“What? No Fiji?” I joked.
“Did you pack your white bikini?”

“I don’t have it with me, but I’m sure

I can pick another one up along the
way.”

“Then Fiji it is,” he promised. “As

soon as we clear up this mess with
Heron. The quicker the better because
it’s been too long since I’ve enjoyed the
sight of you in a bikini.”

“It didn’t take me too long to find

him the first time around. I’m sure I can
do it again,” I answered carelessly.

“Or I could.” A competitive gleam

shown from his eyes.

“How long did it take you to track

him  down  to  the  Rafaello  the  first  time
around?”  I  asked,  pretty  damn  sure  I’d
been the first agent to locate the Heron at
his  hotel,  since  it  had  taken  another

twenty-four hours before I noticed
anyone else on the scene. Alex had
hidden in the shadows, but the signs had
been there all the same.

“Three days,” he muttered, sounding

disgruntled.

I cocked my head, wondering if he

was even better at hiding in the shadows
than I realized. “Including travel time?”

“Plus the time it took me to get

here,” he admitted gruffly.

“Aha!” I crowed, triumphantly.

“Then I beat you to him by a whole day.”

“And yet he’s still alive,” he

grumbled.

“We don’t just go around killing

people willy-nilly,” I protested, hurt by
the implication otherwise. I strode to the

window  and  stared  out,  unable  to  see
anything  through  the  tears  which  filled
my  eyes.  “I  studied  the  target  and
reported  back  to  my  boss  before  he
confirmed the kill order stood.”

“I’m sorry,” he sighed, coming up

behind me and wrapping his arms
around my middle. “That was a low
blow.”

“I wish I could say it was uncalled

for too, but I guess I can understand how
much of a shock it was to learn your
wife kills people for a living.”

He dropped his chin onto the top of

my  head,  tightening  his  hold,  as  though
he thought I was going to try to get away.
“It’s  not  like  I  can  point  an  accusing
finger  your  way.  I’m  hardly  innocent.

I’ve taken my fair share of lives over the
years, too.”

I straightened my spine and leaned

farther  into  his  body.  Running  was  the
last  thing  on  my  mind.  “We  both  know
your job is different from mine.” Taking
a deep breath, I said the words I’d never
expected to speak. Not even after finding
out  Alex  and  Justice  were  one  in  the
same.  “And  that  your  kill  count  is  much
lower  than  mine.  As  is  every  other
agent’s  in  your  division  and  most  of  the
ones  who  serve  beside  me  in  mine.  It
might not be something you want to hear,
but I’m very good at my job.”

“Are you trying to scare me away?”
It sounded like I kind of was, but it

wasn’t my intention. “No, just trying to

make sure you see me for who I really
am and hoping like hell you still want
me afterwards.”

“Want

you?”

sounded

incredulous  as  he  yanked  me  by  one
shoulder  and  swung  me  around  until  I
was facing him. “Don’t you get it? Want
isn’t  a  strong  enough  word  for  what  I
feel for you. Neither is love. Or need.”

My heart raced as I was filled with

hope we’d find a way out of this mess,
with our marriage intact. “Promise?”

“You’re mine, Evie. Period. End of

story,” he answered. “I meant it when
we said our vows and each time I’ve
repeated it ever since. Until death do we
part. And forever after.”

My nerves settled at the familiar

words. “I love you, too.”

“You’d better,” he muttered. “Cause

there’s no getting out of this marriage for
you.”

“Or you,” I warned. I might have let

him walk away from me four years ago,
but that ship had sailed a long time ago.
I’d hunt his ass down if he tried it now,
and I was damn good at finding the
people I searched for.

“How about you stop worrying about

what I’m going to think about you and
focus on proving your stuff instead?”

“Proving my stuff?” I sputtered.
“That’s what I said, baby. I’ve heard

about the infamous Scarlett for years. It’s

about damn time I had the chance to see
her in action,” he teased.

“I packed more ammunition than I

need. You want to be quiet or do you
want me to start using it?”

“Can you really blame me for being

curious?” he asked. “I’ve been married
to you about as long as I’ve known
Scarlett existed.”

I thought back to how we met, on the

tail end of one of my earlier missions. It
was too much of a coincidence to think
he hadn’t been in London hunting Pierce
down too. I’d just gotten to him before
Alex’s team had a chance to do a snatch
and grab. “London? When we met?”

“Yeah,” he confirmed. “It was the

first time Scarlett interfered with one of

my missions.”

“You really shouldn’t complain,” I

chided.  “I  left  you  the  ledger,  after  all.”
My  boss  knew  another  team  had  been
sent in and wasn’t far behind me. It was
easier  to  leave  the  ledger  to  them  after
I’d  eliminated  Pierce  and  made  a  clean
getaway.

“Gee, thanks,” he groused. “But you

also left a mess behind since we had
some questions to ask Pierce about his
mafia ties.”

“You snooze you lose,” I joked. “If

you’d  managed  to  gain  access  to  him
before  me,  then  I  guess  you  wouldn’t
have  had  that  problem.”  And  I  would
have  had  a  bigger  one,  since  I  would
have failed a mission.

His gaze dropped to my tits, filling

with  appreciation.  “I  think  you  had  a
slight  advantage  that  time  around.  You
had  just  the  right  assets  to  lure  a
reclusive target into a meeting.”

I swatted at his arm. “If by assets

you mean my brain and my knowledge of
fine arts, then yes, I did.”

“Let’s put your big,” he paused to

slide his hands up to cup my breasts,
“brain to good use and figure out where
Heron’s hiding.”

“Just so long as you don’t think this

is  me  proving  myself  to  you,”  I  replied,
sliding  my  hand  down  his  side  and
moving  over  to  cup  his  dick.  “Because
Scarlett doesn’t need to prove herself to
anyone.”

His thumbs slid over my nipples,

making  them  stiffen  into  hardened  nubs.
In retaliation, I squeezed his cock lightly,
feeling  it  harden  in  my  palm.  “You  sure
you don’t have anything to prove to me?
Like  maybe  how  fucking  gorgeous  you
are  as  you  cry  out  my  name  while  you
come?”

I tugged him towards the bed. The

search for Heron was going to have to
wait a little while. I had a husband who
needed fucking first. A girl had to have
her priorities after all.

Chapter 6

Alex

Evie was lacing up her boots while I re-
packed our bug out bags when my cell
phone started ringing. My other phone.
Son of a bitch. I knew who would be on
the line.

I picked it up and pressed the accept

button. “Justice,” I barked.

“Relax, mate. It’s Colin.”
I was relieved the caller wasn’t

Donovan, but was still on edge, wary of
why he was calling. “You have
something for me?”

“You left me quite a mess to take

care  of,”  he  muttered,  his  irritation
evident.  “Lucky  for  you,  Martin  and  I
handled  it  before  it  was  brought  to
anyone else’s attention. We scrubbed all
the  traffic  cam  footage  and  sent  in  a
sanitizer to clean things up.”

“Thanks.” Colin had put his ass on

the line to keep this situation under
control and me out of the dog house with
the higher ups. “I owe you.”

“And, I’ll definitely be collecting.

It’s  not  the  only  reason  I’m  calling
though,  I’ve  got  a  lead  for  you.  Well,
someone  who  can  get  one  for  you,
anyway.”

Colin gave me the name and address

for an old CI of his, someone who was

out of the game but still had their ear to
the ground.

“She went legit a few years back, but

she still hears things and will pass them
along for the right price.”

I ran over my reserves in my head,

I’d had to grease quite a few palms to
find Heron the first time. “I don’t think I
have enough, where is the nearest drop
site?”

The sound of clicking came across

the  line  before  he  replied.  “I  would  say
you might not need it, but I’m aware how
pussy-whipped you are by your wife.” I
snorted  but  didn’t  otherwise  respond.  If
what I had with my Evie was considered
pussy-whipped,  they  could  tattoo  it  on
my forehead and I’d wear it proudly. He

ignored me and continued, “There is one
a  little  over  eight  kilometers  from  your
current  location.  It’s  a  used  book  store,
look  for  a  first  edition  James  Bond
novel, it’s in a compartment just above.”

“Bond?” I asked drily. “Really?”
Colin chuckled. “Whoever set it up

had a sense of humor. Give me half an
hour to get a cut-out to make a drop first.
You’ll also find keys in there and a car
parked out back.”

“Great. Keep me posted if you hear

anything else.”

“Will do. Oh,” he stopped me before

I could hang up, “Am I seeing things or
was that sexy as fuck dominatrix in
black, Genevieve?”

A growl rumbled to the surface from

my  chest.  “Colin”,  I  said,  my  voice
filled  with  malicious  warning,  “I  don’t
ever want to hear you say the word fuck
and  Genevieve  in  the  same  sentence  or
I’ll  cut  off  your  balls  and  shove  them
down your throat.”

“Whoa, whoa, okay. Won’t happen

again.  Thanks  for  the  very  vivid  image,
by  the  way.  But”—he  paused  before
continuing  hesitantly—“was  it  your
wife?”

“What if it was?” I was fishing,

trying to ascertain how much he knew, if
he’d realized she was also a spy.

“You’d better send her home, mate.

Now would be a good time to put in the
request to read her in, because she’ll

figure it out eventually, if she hasn’t
already.”

“I’ve got it under control.” It was all

I was willing to give.

“Alright, well, keep me posted and

I’ll give you a heads up if I hear anything
more.”

I hung up and looked at the name and

address  I’d  written  down.  Once  I  had  it
memorized, I pulled out a small, yellow
Bic  lighter  from  the  pocket  of  my  black
cargo  pants  and  lit  the  paper  on  fire.
Dropping it in the ash tray on the room’s
table,  I  turned  around  and  saw  Evie
quietly speaking into her phone as well.

“Yes, sir. I’m on it. No, I don’t have

any leads but—” I waved my hands to
get her attention and when she met my

gaze, she raised an eyebrow in question,
to

which

nodded

confirmation

—“Never mind, sir. A lead just showed
up. Yes, sir. I’ll keep you updated.” She
snapped her phone shut and blew out an
exasperated breath.

“It’s like having a fucking babysitter

sometimes.”

I chuckled, knowing exactly how she

was  feeling.  Picking  up  our  bags,  I
tossed  them  over  my  shoulder,  grasped
the handle of my briefcase, and made my
way  to  the  door.  “Let’s  go,  baby.  I  got
the  name  and  address  of  an  asset  who
might know something.”

Evie pulled her backpack from under

the bed, and I held the door open as she
stepped out into the hallway. A quick

elevator  ride  and  we  were  walking
through  the  hotel  entrance,  out  into  the
bright  sunshine.  Instinctively,  we  both
moved  so  we  were  standing  out  of  the
direct rays, blending into the shadows.

“Someone is leaving me money and

a  car  at  a  drop  about  five  miles  away.
We’ll  grab  a  cab  and  pick  up  my
packages,  then  head  out  to  see  Colin’s
contact.”

Evie murmured an agreement, and I

signaled to the doorman to flag us down
a taxi.

“Colin?” Evie asked when I gave her

my attention once more. “The sexy Brit
at your firm?”

Despite my complete confidence in

Evie and our love and desire for each

other, jealousy exploded inside my head,
pounding at my temples. “Yes, the dead
man who used to work with me.” I was
only half-kidding.

Evie’s eyes widened in surprise,

then her lashes lowered, but not before I
caught the coy gleam in them. “I should
have known he was a spook. He just
screams 007, don’t you think?”

I growled, gripping Evie’s waist and

pulling  her  against  me.  “Don’t  push  me,
baby.  Or  you’re  going  to  find  yourself
bent  over  my  knee  with  a  very  red  ass.
And then I’ll show you exactly who your
man is, by fucking you into next week.”

She looked up at me through her

long, dark lashes, her brown eyes
heated. “Promise?”

I stifled a groan with a curse. I was

going to need to learn to control myself.
If I had to spend the whole mission with
a hard on, it was going to make things
extremely difficult. “Behave,” I scolded.
Just then, the doorman whistled and a
cab pulled up to the curb.

Before climbing inside, she leaned

up and whispered in my ear, “Jealousy is
a sexy look on you. It makes me wet.”

For the love of... I was so screwed.

***

My eyes swept the perimeter of the
nondescript apartment building we were
standing in front of.

After collecting the stash from the

dead  drop,  I  was  startled  to  see  two
extra passports. Again, I wondered what
Colin  knew,  or  if  he  was  simply
speculating and being over cautious. The
note  said  they  were  brand  new
identities, under the radar from even The
Company.  Apparently,  he’d  contacted  a
local  cobbler,  one  not  associated  with
any institution, but one he trusted.

The car was a boring, gray sedan,

perfect  for  blending  in.  With  our
belongings  in  the  trunk,  save  for  the
weapons  strapped  to  our  bodies,  we
drove to the address I’d memorized.

I did another sweep and my gut told

me we were clear. Glancing at my wife
—no, I needed to think of her as Scarlett

while we were in the field—she nodded,
indicating

she

agreed

with

assessment.

exited

the

vehicle

and

approached  the  building,  halting  when
the door opened before we could knock.
A  pretty  young  woman  stood  there.
Probably  in  her  early  twenties,  she  was
a  tiny  thing  with  short,  curly  blond  hair
and  alert,  blue  eyes.  “Brandon  and
Penny Abel?” she questioned in Italian.

“Sì,” I confirmed. Those were the

names on our new identity papers.

She moved back and waved us

forward. “Entra. Come in. I’m Antonia.”

“Grazie,” Evie thanked her. “Per

l'incontro con noi, Antonia.” I knew
Evie spoke Italian fluently, just as I did.

I’d  heard  it  many  times,  considering  we
had  a  home  there.  However,  no  matter
how  much  I  heard  it,  it  never  stopped
being a huge turn on. I had to find a seat
quickly and set the bag I was carrying on
my  lap,  doing  my  best  to  disguise  my
growing erection.

Antonia took the chair beside mine,

forcing  Evie  to  sit  on  the  couch  across
from me. Her eyes narrowed slightly, but
her  tone  was  neutral  as  she  started  the
conversation.  “You  have  information  on
the whereabouts of Mark Sai?”

Blue eyes bored into me as Antonia

placed a hand on my bicep. My erection
suddenly withered and died, limp as a
noodle. “I do, but my knowledge isn’t
free.”

“Of course.” I reached into the bag,

but her hand moved to cover mine.

“I’m happy to trade what I know for

... other things.” A sound that could best
be  described  as  a  growl  emanated  from
the other direction. I looked to see Evie
sitting  ramrod  straight,  her  hands
clenched  into  fists  on  her  lap,  and  her
face  storming.  The  situation  was  too
tense  for  me  to  enjoy  my  wife’s  display
of jealously, but make no mistake, I’d be
coming back to it later.

“Colin certainly enjoys his preferred

method  of  paying  me  and  he  suggested
you  might  too.”  I  hear  whispered  in  my
ear. Colin. He was messing with me, and
I  was  going  to  kick  his  ass  before  I
strung him up by his balls.

“Would you please remove your

hand

from

my“—Evie

hesitated

—“partner,” she requested frostily.
“Before I remove it for you.”

Antonia spared her a quick glance

and  must  have  noticed  a  connection  of
some  kind  because  her  eyes  bounced
from  Evie’s  ring  finger  to  mine,  then
back up to my face, smiling smugly. She
obviously  wasn’t  put  off  by  Evie’s
attitude  since  she  didn’t  see  a  ring  on
either of us. We didn’t wear them in the
field. Letting on that you have a spouse,
or  family,  puts  you,  and  them,  into  even
more danger. It was the reason Evie had
referred to me as her partner.

It was time to shut this shit down. I

pulled my arm away and adopted a

bored expression. “I’m not on the menu.”
Opening the bag, I withdrew nine
hundred Euros and waved it in front of
her. “Talk.”

She sighed and leaned back in her

chair sulkily. “I heard rumors of an arms
deal  going  down  in  two  weeks.
Supposedly,  word  got  out  and  they  are
moving  it  to  a  port  off  the  coast  of
Spain.”

“Why would we care about an arms

deal?” Evie pipes up.

Antonia finally turns her full

attention to my—to Scarlett. “Because
the man you’re looking for. He’s the
courier.”

I blew out an annoyed breath, no

wonder the agency wanted to interrogate

this guy. He could be the key to taking
down a major crime ring. So, why did
Scarlett’s superiors want him dead?

“You should know,” she added, “my

contacts also tell me this man isn’t only
dealing in weapons.”

My stomach sank. I knew what was

coming, but I hoped I was wrong.

“He’s deep into the slave trade as

well.”  Definitely  what  I  hadn’t  wanted
to  hear.  I  still  didn’t  understand  how
anyone  could  think  him  more  valuable
dead than alive.

We thanked Antonia for her help and

returned to the car. Once inside, I faced
Evie. I needed answers. “What possible
reason could your people have for

wanting him dead, rather than alive to
spill his secrets?”

She chewed her bottom lip as she

considered my question. I wanted to
reach out and remove it, but I waited,
keeping my hands to myself. Finally, she
seemed to make a decision.

“He’s got a noc list.”
I rear back in surprise, almost

slamming my head into the window
behind me. “How many?” I croaked.

“Every operative in southern Asia.”
Fucking Hell.
A noc list had the real identities of

agents working under non-official cover,
ones who didn’t have official ties to the
government. Spies like Scarlett.

I fought the need to drown in my fear

for Evie’s safety. This wasn’t the time to
let my training go.

“I still don’t understand the kill

order.”

Evie ran an agitated hand over her

head  and  down  her  smooth  pony  tail.
“He has a photographic memory. The list
is in his head. We can’t take the chance,
Alex.  Not  even  within  The  Company.
There  could  be  a  mole,  and  the  lives  of
all those agents and their families would
become  targets  and  they  would  be
picked off one by one.”

I shook my head in denial. “A

mole?” I asked skeptically. “This isn’t
the cold war, Scarlett. You know as well

as I do, the likelihood of a mole in the
agency is slim to none.”

“And yet,” she argued, “somehow

this guy got a look at a list of black
operatives.”

Her point was valid, but I couldn’t

swallow the bitter idea of a traitor
within our ranks.

“Thus,

bosses

want

him

eliminated.”

I finally understood their rationale,

but I didn’t agree with it. I wanted this
guy alive. I was going to bleed
everything he knew out of him, a drop at
a time. There was a reason I was the one
given

the

tough

interrogation

assignments. With me, everybody talked.

Chapter 7

Evie

I’d  tried  to  forget  about  the  dreadful
woman’s  actions  all  day.  I’d  been
successful at pushing my anger down and
focusing  on  the  task  at  hand,  but  it  was
more  difficult  than  it  should  have  been
considering  I’d  never  had  an  issue
keeping my emotions out of a mission in
the  past.  Then  again,  this  was  my
husband we were talking about. It wasn’t
a normal op.

After spending the day hitting one

dead end after another in our search for
Heron, once we were back in the safety

of  a  hotel  room—at  the  Grand  Hotel
Palatino  this  time  around—I  let  my
irritation  get  the  better  of  me.  I  finally
blurted  out  the  question  which  had  been
on  my  mind  ever  since  her  hand  had
landed on top of the bag my husband had
been  holding  in  his  lap.  The  bag  which
rested right over his cock—or my cock, I
should  say,  since  I  considered  it  my
personal property. The little blonde was
damn  lucky  we  were  on  a  mission  and
needed  information  from  her,  because  it
was  the  only  reason  I  hadn’t  broken
every finger in her hand.

I was staring out the window and

doing a sweep of the prime view we had
of Rome’s rooftops when the words
popped out of my mouth. “If I hadn’t

been there, would you have given her the
payment she really wanted?”

“Would you care to repeat that?”

Alex’s  question  was  a  deep  purr  as  he
stalked across the room towards me. His
reflection  was  clear  in  the  glass  of  the
window.  His  body  was  coiled  tight  and
his  muscles  were  bunched,  as  though  he
was  ready  to  strike.  “Because  I  must
have  heard  you  wrong.  There’s  no  way
in  hell  my  wife  just  asked  me  if  I’ve
betrayed  her  by  fucking  another  woman
in the course of a mission.”

I swiveled on my heel, jerking my

chin  up  as  I  stared  him  down.  I  wasn’t
about  to  back  down,  not  after  what  I’d
heard  that  little  whore  whisper  into  his
ear.  “You’ve  worked  with  Colin  the

entire time I’ve known you, and he
certainly seemed to think you would
have taken Antonia up on her offer. What
am I supposed to think?”

He stopped inches from me and

wrapped his hands around my upper
arms. My hands went up, palms out as I
held him back. “You should damn well
know better, Evie.”

As little as a day ago, the thought

never would have crossed my mind, but
things had changed since then. “There’s
a lot I don’t know about you, Justice.”

“I could just as easily say the same

about you, baby. But you don’t hear me
accusing you of fucking your way to a
kill.”

“We both know how you would have

reacted if some guy had lain his hands on
me  and  told  me  my  pussy  was  payment
enough for the intel he could offer, since
one  of  my  co-workers  had  told  him  I’d
be  down  to  play!”  I  tossed  out
recklessly.

My accusation seemed to break his

restraint and he pounced. He went to lift
me over his shoulder, but I countered by
dropping  my  arms  to  my  sides  and
completely  relaxing  them.  I  shook  my
hands  a  little  and  envisioned  my  arms
extending  from  my  shoulders  down  and
deep into the earth.

“Shit,” Alex huffed, struggling with

my weight. “I pick you up all the time,

but it’s like you’re impossible to lift.
How the hell are you doing it?”

“Your Evie might be willing to let

you haul her around, but you’re going to
find that Scarlett’s not so easy to
manhandle.”

“Manhandle?” he growled, bending

low and digging his shoulder into my
stomach as he successfully lifted me into
the air. “Every time I touch you, it’s with
love in my heart.”

He punctuated his statement with a

swat  on  my  ass  before  tossing  me  onto
the  mattress  and  swiftly  following  me
down, covering me with his body. If I’d
really  wanted  to  get  away  from  him,
there  were  several  moves  I  could  have
made.  But  I  didn’t  try  a  single  one  of

them, not even those which wouldn’t hurt
him. I’d poked and prodded at the beast,
and I wanted to stick around to enjoy the
show.

“You’re the only woman I want,” he

snarled. “There hasn’t been anyone else
for me from the moment I first saw you.”

The honesty and love shining from

his eyes helped to soothe my wounded
heart. “Then why did Colin tell Antonia
you’d be interested?”

“I haven’t even worked that closely

with  him  since  they  moved  him
overseas.  Then  he  had  to  go  dark  on  a
mission so I haven’t talked to him at all
until  this  mission.  And  he  knows  me
better  than  that.”  His  voice  softened.  “I
don’t  know  what  the  hell  he  was  trying

to pull, but I’m going to find out. You’re
even sexier than usual when you’re
jealous, but I’m not about to let his little
game stand if it hurt you in any way.”

“While you’re at it, let him know that

I’m a dangerous woman to cross,” I
mumbled, embarrassed by my show of
insecurity.

“I’ll handle him.” Alex’s tone was

firm, brooking no argument.

I cocked my head, studying his

expression and trying to discern why he
was so adamantly against the idea of me
getting into it with Colin. “I’m a
notorious assassin. I can handle him just
as well as you can.”

“As far as Colin is aware, your

presence here is a total coincidence,” he

pointed out. “One I haven’t even
positively confirmed, and I’m not sure I
want him knowing differently.”

“Don’t you trust him?”
“I’ve trusted him with my life

countless times,” he answered. “But
yours is a different story.”

Poof! There went any lingering anger

or doubt. How could I stay mad when he
was so damn sweet? “No handling of
Colin for me then,” I teased, attempting
to lighten the mood.

My words had the opposite effect,

though. “If you’re going to handle
anyone, it had better be me.”

“Oh, yeah?” I drawled. “How do

you want to be handled?”

“I want to fuck you.” His words

were  blunt.  Stark.  But  they  sent  need
racing through my veins. “Hard. But first
I  want  you  on  your  knees,  sucking  my
dick  with  your  dark  eyes  shining  up  at
me.  After  you  take  edge  off  with  your
sweet  mouth,  I  want  to  bend  you  over
this  bed,  hold  your  hands  behind  your
back  and  fuck  you  until  you’re  begging
me to let you come.”

“Sounds like a good idea to me,” I

whimpered.

“And then when I’m done fucking

you,  I  want  to  make  love  to  you.  To
worship  every  inch  of  your  body  with
my lips and hands until you know to the
depths  of  your  soul  that  I’d  never  so
much as look at another woman.”

My clit throbbed right along with my

heartbeat. “In case you were wondering,
I’m totally on board with this plan.”

“I thought you might be.”
He smirked down at me, and just as I

was about to pull his head down to kiss
the  hell  out  of  him,  he  rose  up  to  his
knees.  Then  he  unsnapped  the  button  on
his  cargo  pants  and  lowered  the  zipper.
His  cock  was  already  hard  when  he
pulled  it  out,  and  I  was  mesmerized  by
the  sight  of  his  hand  stroking  up  and
down  his  length.  My  tongue  flicked  out
to  wet  my  bottom  lip,  drawing  his  eyes
to my mouth with the motion.

“You want this as much as I do, don’t

you baby?”

The question didn’t require an

answer. We both knew I wanted to suck
his dick, but I responded anyway. “Yes,
please.”

He climbed off the bed, tugging my

hands  and  taking  me  with  him.  After  he
got  me  settled  on  my  knees,  with  a
pillow  underneath  them,  he  stepped  in
front of me and nudged my lips with the
tip of his cock. “Open up, baby.”

My lips parted and he slid inside my

mouth. His flavor burst on my tongue,
and I tilted my head back to let him go
deep. I gazed up at him, my eyes locked
on his as he pumped his hips.

“It feels so good, baby, to have those

plump lips of yours wrapped around my
cock while you suck me off.”

“Mmmmm,” I hummed around his

length, bobbing my head up and down in
rhythm with his thrusts.

“Almost too good,” he groaned.

“Since I’m not going to come until I’m
balls deep inside your tight pussy.”

Even if I didn’t have a mouth full of

his cock, I wouldn’t have argued with
him. Not when my pussy ached for him.
He was sexy as hell, staring down at me
while he fucked my mouth like he owned
it.

“Mine,” he murmured, as though he

could read my mind. “So fucking
gorgeous and completely mine. Men see
you and want it, but nobody else gets to
have this.”

He slowed his pace, rubbing the tip

over  my  lips  before  sliding  into  my
mouth again. I twirled my tongue around
his  length,  licking  along  the  underside
and  moaning  when  I  reached  the  crown
and  tasted  his  pre-come.  Letting  out  a
groan, he pulled his cock from my mouth
and  helped  me  to  my  feet.  His  fingers
shook  while  he  made  quick  work  of  my
clothes,  stripping  them  from  my  body
and letting them fall to the floor.

“Lean onto the mattress, baby,” he

instructed. “Belly down with your ass in
the air.”

I turned away from him, doing as he

asked without question. I wanted his
cock in me, just as he’d described. I was
rewarded with the feel of his palms as

they slid up my ass, along my spine, and
over my shoulders. Down my arms until
he  gripped  my  wrists  and  tugged  them
behind  my  back.  He  positioned  himself
behind  me,  and  I  felt  the  material  of  his
cargo pants brush against my legs. It was
insanely  hot  to  know  I  was  completely
bare to him while his cock was the only
part of himself he’d exposed. It made his
control of me seem even more complete,
something  I’d  never  given  any  other
person except for him.

“Knowing you’re willing to give me

this, seeing you this way. I can’t tell you
how much it means to me, Evie. Even
more so now that I know the Scarlett
side of you.”

He drove deep, filling me in one

powerful thrust that took my breath
away.

“Alex,” I moaned.
“Don’t come yet,” he warned. “Need

to fuck you hard first.”

He did exactly as he’d said he

would, each and every thrust sending me
closer to the edge. His thrusts were hard,
driving my body into the mattress like he
was  trying  to  nail  me  into  it.  His  cock
swelled within me, the heat of his come
tossing  me  over  as  my  orgasm  crashed
through me. When he released my wrists,
I  blindly  reached  for  the  sheets  and  dug
my fingers into the mattress. Holding on
tight  as  we  both  found  relief  in  each
other’s body.

“No,” I whimpered when he eased

out of me. I wasn’t ready to lose him yet.

“Shhh, baby,” he murmured, pressing

a kiss on my lower back. “I’m not done
with you. Let’s get you cleaned up so I
can worship you the way I promised.”

My legs were unsteady as he helped

me  into  the  bathroom.  I  leaned  against
the  counter  while  he  gently  cleaned  me.
After  he  got  all  the  stickiness  of  our
come washed off me, he swatted my ass
and  motioned  towards  the  bed  through
the  open  door.  By  the  time  I  made  it  to
the  bed,  he  was  right  behind  me  and
completely  naked.  He  dove  on  the
mattress,  twisting  until  he  was  on  his
back, and crooked a finger at me to join
him.  I  didn’t  hesitate,  crawling  over  his

body and kneeling up until my pussy
hovered a couple inches above his
mouth.

“Spread ‘em for me, my Evie,” he

ordered. “I can smell how turned on you
are for me from here and can’t wait to
have you come all over my face.”

Sliding my hand down my body, I

rubbed over my clit along the way and
moaned.

“Now, Evie,” he barked.
The second I parted my lips with my

fingers,  his  head  lifted  off  the  mattress.
He  gripped  my  hips  tight  and  slammed
me down onto his mouth hard, eating me
like  he  was  starving  for  my  taste.
Sucking  and  licking  until  my  knees
shook.  Sliding  his  tongue  in  and  out

while  I  rode  his  face,  my  hips  pumping
as  I  raced  towards  another  orgasm.
When  his  hand  reached  between  us  to
pinch my clit, I exploded. Writhing in his
hands  as  he  licked  me  through  my
climax.  When  it  was  over,  my  knees
gave out and I flopped to the side.

“Can you take me again, baby?” he

whispered in my ear, rolling over me,
his hands braced on each side of my
head and his cock nudging my entrance.

“Always,” I answered, lifting my

legs to wrap them around his hips.

He inched inside and I moaned in

pleasure.  My  nerve  endings  were
sensitive  from  my  last  orgasm,  and  it
was almost too much for me. Almost, but
not  quite.  My  body  tightened  as  he  slid

in  and  out  of  me  with  slow  strokes  that
teased.  As  hard  as  he  took  me  before,
this  time  was  gentle.  Loving.  He  really
was worshipping me with his body, and
I felt it all the way to my soul.

“I love you,” I whispered, cupping

his face in my palms and staring deep
into his eyes so he could see how much I
meant the words.

It seemed to be his undoing. “Fuck,

my Evie, I love you too,” he groaned as
he  emptied  inside  of  me.  His  orgasm
triggered  another  for  me,  and  it  washed
over me while I kept my eyes locked on
Alex’s,  letting  him  see  exactly  how
deeply  he  affected  me.  Leaving  myself
completely vulnerable, because I knew I
was safe with him.

“I’m sorry I was a jealous bitch

earlier.” My face was hidden in his chest
as I curled up in his arms.

“Jealous is as sexy on you as you

seem to think it is on me.” He tipped my
chin up to look in my eyes. “But you
don’t have any reason to feel that way,
baby.”

“Neither do you,” I reassured him

softly.

“Yeah, well, it goes without saying

that you damn well better not have used
your feminine wiles on any of your
missions.”

The possessiveness in his tone made

me giggle. Me. Giggling like a
schoolgirl. But who could blame me?
He’d just proved how much I was his in

ways which would stay with me forever,
but he still felt the need to get all growly
with me before letting me fall asleep.
“And yet you just said it.”

A deep growl rumbled up his throat

as his hands slid under my armpits. Then
he  hauled  me  farther  onto  his  chest  and
tightened  his  hold  on  me.  “I  fucked  you
hard  enough  you  shouldn’t  have  any
energy left to sass me.”

“What can I say? I’m full of your

come and sass.”

“I like knowing you’ve got me deep

inside you, my scent marking you,” he
rasped.

“Such a possessive beast,” I teased.
“Damn straight.”

I loved my husband, but I didn’t

understand  his  reaction  to  some  things.
“You  seem  to  have  no  problem  with  the
number  of  targets  I've  eliminated,  but
one mention of me so much as flirting for
intel and you turn into a raving lunatic?”

“Other men would kill to have you in

their beds, Evie. If it takes me being a
raving lunatic to keep you in mine, then
so be it.”

“Silly man.” I cuddled against his

chest, letting my eyes drift closed
without telling him that he didn’t have to
do any such thing. I didn’t have room to
talk—I’d kill to keep us together.

Chapter 8

Alex

Some people would probably flip their
shit if they found out their spouse was a
covert spy, and in particular, an assassin.
It was clear Evie wasn’t sure what to
make of my reaction.

It wasn’t like my hands weren’t

covered  in  red,  though  my  job  didn’t
often  lead  to  death,  unless  they  got  the
chair, of course. I was no innocent, I had
a body count and it wasn’t exactly small.
In  some  ways,  what  I  did  could  be
considered even worse than Evie’s job. I
used  manipulation,  yes,  but  I  also  used

pain  and  intimidation  to  get  what  was
needed,  and  I  was  damn  good  at  it.  The
justification  was  simple;  what  we  did,
we  did  in  defense  of  our  country.  Bad
deeds for a noble purpose.

As a spy, we spend so much time in

the  darkness,  sometimes  the  reasons
don’t  make  the  pill  any  easier  to
swallow, and we could lose sight of why
we’re  doing  those  things.  Then  the
darkness  is  all  that’s  left.  There  were
moments  in  my  life  when  I  wondered  if
I’d  traded  my  soul  for  the  safety  of
others.  Then,  I  met  Evie.  She  was  the
light of my life, and the love I felt for her
was  like  a  balm  to  my  wounded  soul.  I
felt  some  redemption  in  knowing  my
actions protected her.

Finding out she was doing the same,

how  could  I  judge  her  for  having  the
same  sense  of  duty  and  patriotism?  No,
her  kills  weren’t  what  bothered  me.  In
fact,  knowing  my  wife  was  such  a
badass was a pretty big fucking turn on.
What  got  to  me,  was  seeing  her  in
danger,  worrying  about  her.  I  knew  she
would want to kick my ass for it because
she  was  the  best  at  what  she  did,  but  it
didn’t stop the torturous emotions.

I wanted her out of this life, to stop

putting herself at risk, because what she
was asking of me, it was killing me. And
when  this  mission  was  over,  we’d  be
having  a  very  frank  conversation.  I  was
going to make sure she kept her sexy ass
at  home  if  it  was  the  last  thing  I  did.

Knowing my Evie ... it very well could
be.

She walked out of the hotel lobby

after  checking  us  out,  came  over  to
where  I  was  idling  on  the  curb,  and  got
into  the  car.  We  were  trying  to  avoid
being  seen  too  much  together  in  public,
putting  off  the  assumption  we  were  a
couple.  Little  things,  like  being  at  the
front desk of a hotel, could make all the
difference.

She buckled in and I drove out onto

the road, ready to make the hour drive to
Civitavecchia  Port.  We  were  going  to
spend  the  night  at  a  local  safe  house
while  Martin  tried  to  pinpoint  Heron’s
location, or at least get us a lot closer so
we weren’t stumbling around in the dark.

I  was  only  giving  him  a  day,  then  we
would  catch  the  ferry  to  Barcelona  at
five  o’clock  pm.  On  our  way  to  the
house, my phone pinged with a text and I
asked Evie to check it.

“It’s from... Archmage?” she ended

the statement with a question mark.

I laughed, explaining, “It’s Martin,

my tech guy. He was pissed because they
wouldn’t give him a code name. So, he
hacked his record and gave himself one.
Then he locked the file so no one but him
could edit it.”

Evie was silent for a moment, then

asked, “This is Martin Banks?”

“One and the same,” I replied. “You

know him?” It wouldn’t have surprised
me.

“More like, know of him. My boss

has been trying to recruit him to black
ops for years. Damn, I’m a little
envious.”

I stole a glance at her and winked

before looking back at the road.

“He sent an address.”
“Must be the safe house,” I mused.

She punched the address into the GPS
and we followed it to an old farmhouse
about ten minutes away from the port.

It sat a ways back from the road, and

from  the  rest  of  Martin’s  message,  it
appeared  to  be  empty  at  the  moment.
Turning  onto  the  gravel  drive,  I  glanced
out  Evie’s  window  and  saw  an  older
woman sitting in a rocker knitting, by all
accounts not paying the rest of the world

any attention. It was very quaint, like a
picture on a postcard.

I pulled the car around back and

parked  a  good  distance  from  the  house,
by  an  old  shed  and  out  of  sight  of  the
road. Our go bags only had one extra set
of  clothes,  so  this  stop  would  give  us
somewhere  to  lay  low  until  we  needed
to be at the port and the chance to change
and re-stock our bags.

Evie stepped out of the car and

looked  up  at  the  house,  raising  her
brows.  “Damn.  Your  safe  houses  are  a
lot  bigger  than  ours.  At  least,  the  ones
I’ve been to.”

“You don’t drag your targets back

with you,” I reminded her. “Live people

can make a lot of noise.” My tone was
matter-of-fact.

She stared at me for a moment, and I

wondered  if  my  candidness  had  given
her a glimpse of a side of me she didn’t
think  existed.  Seeing  the  ruthless  spy  in
action  is  a  lot  different  than  hearing
about the things I’d done.

I grabbed our bags and headed up the

porch,  set  them  down,  and  dug  around
for my key impression kit. When I found
it,  I  picked  up  my  phone,  scrolling
through  until  I  found  the  file  sent  from
Martin  a  few  minutes  before.  I  attached
my  phone  to  the  kit  and  hit  the  transfer
button.  After  a  moment,  I  opened  it  and
saw the new key impression and poured
the mixture from the bottle inside into the

mold.  Shutting  the  case  once  more,  I
pressed the start button and waited for it
to  beep  thirty  seconds  later.  After
extracting the key from the mold, I stood
and  inserted  it  into  the  deadbolt  on  the
door.

The lock clicked and the door swung

open. I held it so Evie could pass by me,
then  retrieved  our  bags  from  the  porch
and followed her. I put everything down
on a scarred, wooden table in the large,
old  fashioned  kitchen.  Evie  started
rummaging  through  our  things,  figuring
out  what  we  needed.  I  meandered  over
to the refrigerator to see how long it had
been  since  someone  stocked  the  house.
Not  surprisingly,  it  was  pretty  bare,  but
the  pantry  was  bursting.  I  sighed,  well

aware this was par for the course on a
mission when you’re forced to stay out
of sight, a lot of dried or canned food.

Evie laughed, and I turned to see her

staring  at  me.  “You’re  adorable  when
you  pout.”  I  glared  at  her  and  she  only
laughed  harder.  “Go  find  us  clothes  and
ammunition,

stud.

I’ll

make

you

something to eat. I promise, it won’t
taste like MREs.”

I grinned and walked swiftly over to

her, pulling her into my arms and giving
her a hard kiss. “Thanks, baby.” Then, I
did  as  I  was  told  and  left  the  room  in
search of supplies. Turned out, the house
had  a  washer  and  drier,  so  rather  than
make do with whatever we could find to
wear,  and  since  we  would  be  there

overnight,  we  decided  to  wash  our
clothes. I brought us each a set of unisex
sweats usually found in these places. We
changed  and  Evie  worked  her  magic
(damn my wife was amazing) and fed me
a  lunch  I  could’ve  sworn  I’d  ordered
from a restaurant.

We took advantage of the time in

seclusion  and  spent  most  of  it  in  the
bedroom.  I  felt  a  quiet  desperation
inside me, a mixture of fear and need. It
poured out of me as I made love to Evie,
and when the panic reached the surface,
I  fucked  her  hard.  I  wanted  to  leave  no
doubt  as  to  who  she  belonged  to  and  to
leave my mark on her soul.

The next day, a couple of hours

before our scheduled departure on the

ferry,  we  were  all  packed  up  and  ready
to go. Evie was finishing up a call with a
contact  while  I  ran  our  things  out  to  the
car.  As  I  jogged  back  to  the  house,  my
phone  beeped.  Digging  it  out  of  my
pocket,  I  froze  as  I  read  the  message.
Forecast:  rain.  Wind:  four  mph.  Time:
twenty  minutes.  Roads  blocked  east  to
west.

Fuck! “Evie!” I yelled as I sprinted

back toward the house. She appeared in
the door as I was about to throw it open
and I almost bowled her over.

“What?”
I tossed my phone to her and ran into

the  kitchen.  I  stood  for  half  a  second,
thinking,  then  moved  to  the  kitchen  sink
and  dropped  to  my  knees.  Opening  the

cupboard under the sink, I located what I
was looking for and put it on the sink.

“Alex, we don’t use the same terms,

I don’t—“

“Wet work team,” I interrupted her,

“Four on the team, coming from both
directions on the road, twenty minutes
out.”

“Shit!”
“Pretty much.” I was in the pantry

looking for an empty jar. “Scarlett, run to
the shed out back and see if you can find
me some paint thinner, or rust remover.”
I didn’t wait to see if she would follow
my direction, I knew when I referred to
her by her code name it would kick in
her training.

I finally found a glass mason jar and

set it on the table before sprinting to the
bathroom

and

locating

hydrogen

peroxide.  When  I  returned,  I  opened  the
two containers and put the right amounts
into  the  jar.  As  I  worked,  Evie  came
back  and  handed  me  a  tin  of  paint
thinner. She was holding a length of pipe
and  I  threw  her  a  curious  look,  but  she
shook  her  head.  It  wasn’t  the  time  for
questions.

Carefully

adding

the

third

component,  I  mixed  it  until  the  liquids
became  a  crystalized  form  of  acetone
peroxide. I placed the lid back on the jar
and  screwed  it  on  tight.  For  good
measure,  I  poked  holes  in  the  top.
Jerking  my  head,  toward  the  door,  I

indicated  for  her  to  lead  the  way  out.
Once we stepped outside, I left the door
wide  open  and  set  the  concoction  down
to  the  side  of  it,  directly  in  the  path  of
the hot, afternoon sun.

Evie grabbed my hand, tugging me

after her and we ran to the back shed,
taking cover inside on either side of the
doorframe. Then, we waited. Eventually,
the sun should heat the jar enough for the
mixture to explode.

Whenever I’d jerry-rigged something

at  home,  Evie  used  to  ask  me  if  all  I
watched  growing  up  was  MacGyver.  I
laughed  it  off  at  the  time,  but  the  truth
was,  in  order  to  improvise  something,
you  just  had  to  understand  the  basic
principle behind whatever it was you’re

making. The same thing applied to
weapons and explosives. And...maybe
an episode or two of MacGyver.

I was fervently hoping the makeshift

bomb  would  go  off  when  the  kill  squad
was in the house searching. If it took too
long,  they’d  be  headed  for  our  little
hideout.  Our  weapons  were  already
packed  up  in  the  car,  since  we  knew
we’d  have  to  have  them  carefully
concealed to get them on the ferry. I felt
fucking naked without my Sig.

We heard the cars screech to a halt

before  we  saw  them.  The  loud  crash  of
the front door was followed by a swarm
of  movement  we  could  barely  make  out
through  the  windows  and  open  back
door. I stared hard at the jar, willing it to

ignite. A bullet whizzed by my head and
I jerked back. “Fuck! If the acetone
doesn’t ignite in a minute, they’ll be on
the shed in seconds.”

“What if Heron is in there with

them?” Evie asked, her face thoughtful.

I narrowed my eyes at her, wary of

the calculating look in her eyes. “It’s a
definite

possibility,”

reluctantly

agreed. Another hail of bullets sprayed
above our heads where we were
crouched.

“Friction or shock will set it off too,

right?” she whispered furiously.

“Yes, but—” Before I could finish

speaking  or  had  any  kind  of  clue  as  to
what  was  on  her  mind,  Evie  shot  to  her
feet  and  positioned  the  pipe,  her  stance

meant  to  absorb  kick-back.  I  realized
she’d  concocted  a  fucking  zip  gun  from
pipe, a bottle cap, and a nail or screw of
some  sort.  If  I  wasn’t  so  fucking
terrified,  I  might  have  teased  her  about
her  own  MacGyver  skills.  However,  at
that  moment,  Scarlett  stepped  into  the
doorway and I felt my world stop. When
it  started  moving  again,  it  was  in  slow
motion. I watched in horror as it played
out in front of me, and I could only move
as  fast  as  the  world  around  me.  Which
meant  there  was  nothing  I  could  do  to
prevent what was happening.

Scarlett took aim, and in a

surprisingly  accurate  shot  for  such  an
unstable  weapon,  the  single  bullet  went
flying.  As  bullets  began  to  fly,  so  did  I.

Barreling into Evie, I knocked her to the
ground, barely aware of the stinging pain
on my arm or sound of the blast as it
blew the house and engulfed any
remaining pieces in flames. Including its
occupants.

The stark terror inside me suddenly

morphed  into  blinding  rage  like  I’d
never  felt  before.  I  lifted  myself  up  and
shifted to look out the door. I spied two
unmoving  bodies  a  few  feet  from  the
burning  structure.  There  was  no  way
anything inside had survived, so I stood,
pulling  Evie  up  with  me  and  throwing
her  over  my  shoulder,  ignoring  her
protests and hauled ass to the car.

I threw open the car door and set

Evie inside, then sprinted around to get

into the driver’s side. I started the
ignition and screeched to the far side of
the property to get to the road, avoiding
the flames.

“What the fuck were you thinking,

Evie?” I thundered.

“I was thinking about accomplishing

my mission and saving our asses. If
Heron was in there, it solved both our
problems!” she snapped.

I should have cared that she’d

chosen to use our situation to complete
her mission without any protest from me,
but I was too focused on what could
have happened.

She said something, but I didn’t

know what. I couldn’t hear over the
roaring in my ears, fury and fear as

explosive  a  mixture  inside  me  as  the
acetone peroxide when it met her bullet.
I glanced at her and her eyes became as
wide  as  saucers  as  she  took  in  my
expression.  She  abruptly  twisted  in  her
seat and faced forward, remaining silent.

It was clear the storm inside me was

showing  on  my  face,  but  I  didn’t  give  a
fuck.  Let  her  see  it.  Maybe  it  would
scare  some  fucking  sense  into  her.  She
could have been killed, I could have lost
her.  It  took  everything  in  me  not  to  lose
control  at  those  thoughts.  I  held  the
steering wheel in a white-knuckled grip.

A gasp from Evie brought me out of

the red haze long enough to see her
staring at my arm. I took my eyes off the

road long enough to look down and see
what she was looking at.

The long sleeve of my black Henley

looked wet and there was a small tear in
the fabric.

“Alex! What the fuck?” she shrilled.

“You were shot?”

Of course, after she pointed it out,

the  wound  started  to  sting  like  a  bitch.
However,  another  quick  inspection  of  it
showed  the  blood  was  already  clotting
and  the  fabric  was  only  torn  the  tiniest
bit.

“I’m fine, Evie. Calm down and look

at it again. I was only grazed.” My
expression turned thunderous once again
and my voice was dangerously low as I
continued. “Which is a fuck of a lot

better than what you’d be suffering from
if I hadn’t gotten to you in time!” By the
time I was finished, I was shouting. But,
our  conversation  came  to  a  halt  as  I
pulled into the Park and Wait. I searched
for  my  phone  but  couldn’t  find  it,  then
remembered  I’d  given  it  to  Evie.  She
must have sensed what I needed because
she handed me the small, black burner.

I punched in a number and it was

picked up before it even had a chance to
ring. “What the fuck, Colin?” I
bellowed. “How the fuck did they know
where I was?”

“Justice! Dude, it’s Martin. Calm the

fuck down!”

“You get that motherfucker on the

phone, right now!” I was going to kill

him. Slowly. With as much pain as
humanly possible.

“He’s in a meeting with Donovan

and  the  other  suits  trying  to  figure  out
what  happened,”  Martin  grunted  in
frustration.  “Colin  and  I  were  tracing  a
lead when it led us to an encrypted com.
I  broke  it  and  we  realized  Heron  had
hired  a  mercenary  team.  Colin  flipped
his  shit,  certain  they  were  heading  for
you, then he and Donovan tried to head it
off.  But  they  weren’t  able  to  catch  the
wire transfer before the group was paid.
Don’t know how they found out about the
house, but we think they were tipped off
by  someone  who  let  them  know  when
you’d arrived.”

“How, Martin? How did they find

the damn house?!” A thought hit me.
“Check into the people who lived across
the street.”

“Will do, man.” Martin got quiet,

then asked in a low voice, “Justice, are
you stepping out on your wife?”

Now was not the time to resurrect

that line of thinking, it only added fuel to
my fire.

“WHAT. THE. ACTUAL. FUCK.

MARTIN?” I was as close to screaming
as I could be without drawing the
attention of the people standing across
the parking lot.

“Justice!” Evie hissed. “I don’t think

the people in Spain heard you.”

“Chill, man,” Martin said tiredly. “I

read something else in the cable. But,
you owe me, Justice, because I kept it
out of Colin and Donovan’s eyes.”

I took a deep breath, shut my eyes,

and pinched the bridge of my nose.
“What?”

“Someone must have spotted you

because the team was warned to be
prepared for a man and a woman.”

I sat in silence, having no ability to

respond. My life had been officially
turned into a shit show.

“Um, Justice?” Martin’s voice was

very hesitant. “Are you with your
Scarlett?”

My spine shot ram-rod straight and

my eye lids tore up as I registered his

question. “What do you know about
Scarlett?”

At my inquiry, Evie sat up straight

too, her eyes narrowed on my phone in
suspicion.

“Just that she was on the contract

too.  I  thought  maybe  you  were  working
together  because  I  couldn’t  see  you
running  around  with  a  civilian  while  on
a mission. Especially a female.”

“Their information was faulty,” I

told him.

Something was wrong. It was all

wrong. But, I needed focus, so I steered
back to Heron. “Was he with them or
was he only the financier?”

“We weren’t sure, but one of his

aliases pinged five minutes ago at a bar

in Barcelona. We sent an agent, but he’d
cleared  out  by  then.  Looks  like  Colin’s
ass-et was right though,” he snickered at
his  joke,  and  I  rolled  my  eyes.  The
asshole  must  have  been  bragging  to
Martin. So professional.

“I’ve got a five o’clock ticket for the

ferry,” I informed him. “I’ll be in Spain
tomorrow, around one in the afternoon.”

Martin didn’t respond right away,

and  I  knew  he  was  trying  to  decide
whether  or  not  to  let  me  change  the
subject.  But,  he  must  have  known  me
well  enough  to  figure  out  he  wasn’t
going to get anywhere by keeping at it.

“I’ll let you know if he pops back up

on the radar.”

“I wouldn’t count on it,” I snapped.

“You’ll hear from me later. I’m ditching
the phone.” I hung up.

I drove up to the ramp of the ferry.

We were early so there was no line.
They checked our tickets and waved us
on.

Evie reached into the back and

grabbed  one  of  the  jackets  we’d  tossed
back  there  earlier.  “Here,”  she  said,
handing it to me. “Cover it up and we’ll
take  care  of  it  in  our  room.”  I  nodded,
still too livid to speak without shouting.

After donning the jacket, I picked up

my  briefcase  and  Evie  slung  her
backpack over her shoulder, then we set
off  to  find  our  private  room.  The  trip
would  take  about  twenty  hours,  and

while  I  wouldn’t  normally  have  booked
a  private  space,  I  didn’t  want  to  spend
the  trip  separated  from  Evie,  out  in  the
open.  As  we  entered  the  room,  I  was
immensely grateful for my choice.

We set our things down, and Evie

went  into  the  miniscule  bathroom  to  get
the  first  aid  kit.  I  took  off  my  shirt  and
tossed  it  into  the  corner  where  I’d  set
our bags. The room was tiny and I was a
big guy, so maneuvering in it was a bit of
a  challenge.  I  kicked  off  my  shoes  and
went  ahead  and  ditched  the  pants  too,
then  sat  on  the  side  of  the  bed  and
inspected my arm. It was little more than
road rash, the broken skin wouldn’t need
stitches.

Evie came back into the room with a

wet  cloth  and  the  white  kit,  pausing
when  she  looked  at  me.  I  took  the
opportunity  to  run  my  eyes  over  her  as
well. I’d had a knot in my stomach since
we’d  learned  about  the  wet  work  team.
It  was  becoming  a  slow  burn,  growing
hotter  as  my  eyes  landed  on  her  full  tits
and slim waist, the flair of her hips and
the juncture between her thighs.

She visibly swallowed and moved

toward  me  again.  I  was  sitting  with  my
legs off the side of the bed, knees open,
and  feet  flat  on  the  floor.  She  stepped
into  the  V,  putting  her  chest  at  my  eye
level, and I licked my lips involuntarily.
When  I  felt  the  sting  of  the  antiseptic,  I

hissed and put my head down, resting it
on her stomach.

Her flat stomach. Which, hopefully,

it wouldn’t be for long. It hit me, like a
ton

fucking

bricks,

crushing

everything except the one thought filling
my head.

“You could be pregnant.” The words

fell from my mouth without my
permission, gritted out through clenched
teeth.

“What?”

She

stopped

her

ministrations, but I didn’t look up,
completely absorbed in staring at the
place where my baby could be.

“I could have lost you both, Evie.” I

finally lifted my gaze to hers, letting her
see the growing fire inside me. “You

stepped into the fucking line of fire, and
I could have lost you both.”

She started shaking her head. “Alex,

I told you. The doctor said it would be a
few months.”

“No,” I stood as I spoke. “The

doctor said it could be a few months.”

Her head was still moving back and

forth,  her  face  clearly  showing  her  state
of denial. I gripped her arms and hauled
her up against me. “I won’t do it, Evie. I
couldn’t live without you. I won’t let you
go.”  I  slammed  my  mouth  down  over
hers,  holding  her  as  tightly  to  me  as  I
could  without  hurting  her.  I  wanted  to
fuse  our  bodies  together  so  we  would
never be apart, so she couldn’t ever put
herself in danger again.

I practically ripped the clothes off of

her  body  as  I  backed  her  up  against  the
wall.  “You’re  mine,  Evie,”  I  growled.
“You  need  to  remember”—I  ran  my
hands  over  her  tits,  before  one  traveled
up  to  grip  her  pony  tail  and  the  other
sliding  down  to  cup  her  naked  pussy
—“this belongs to me. And I’m not going
to  let  it  go.”  Dipping  one  long  finger
inside  her  heat,  feeling  how  soaked  she
was,  I  couldn’t  wait  any  longer  to  be
inside her.

I took her mouth in another rough

kiss,  pulling  her  hair  from  the  band  and
spearing  my  fingers  through  the  silky
strands.  I  pulled  my  hard,  aching  cock
out of my boxer briefs and grabbing her
ass,  I  raised  her  up  enough  to  bring  our

sexes flush with each other. “Legs
around my hips, baby,” I commanded,
once I’d torn my lips from hers.

As she encircled my waist, I lined up

my cock with her pussy and thrust inside.
She  instinctively  clenched  her  legs  and
in  turn,  the  walls  of  her  pussy  clamped
down on my cock. “I didn’t think I could
get  any  harder,”  I  said  raggedly.  “But
fuck, Evie, your pussy is so damn tight.”

I took a minute, hoping to calm

myself,  but  it  was  useless.  Gripping  her
wrists, I shoved her hands up against the
wall above her head, holding them there
as  I  began  to  fuck  her  so  hard  she  was
sliding  up  the  wall  with  each  thrust.
Somewhere in my haze, I worried about
her  delicate  skin  being  marred  by  the

wall paper, so I brought her hands down
behind her back and held them there.
“Hold on, baby,” I warned her before
backing away from the wall.

The position thrust her tits up into my

face,  and  I  couldn’t  pass  up  the
opportunity  to  suck  one  rosy  nipple  into
my  mouth.  She  moaned  and  pushed  her
chest  out  even  more.  I  was  still  a  mess
of  missed  emotions—fear,  anger,  love,
they  were  all  there.  The  fear  had  me
pulling  her  as  close  as  I  could.  The
anger had me lowering her to the ground
and spinning her around to face the wall.
Returning  her  hands  to  the  place  above
her  head,  covered  by  my  own  and
fucking her as hard and rough as I could.

The love kept me from taking it too far
and poured into her through my kisses.

We were both reaching the peak and

I wasn’t ready, so I abruptly stopped and
she  cried  out  in  protest.  I  gave  her  a
swat on the ass. “Don’t worry, baby. I’m
going to have you coming so hard you’ll
see  stars.  But  not  until  I  feel  like  you
understand  who  you  belong  to.  This
body,  this  heart”—I  brought  one  hand
down  to  caress  her  stomach—“my  baby
in  your  belly.  I  love  you  so  fucking
much.  No  one  is  ever  going  to  take  you
away  from  me.  Including  you.  So  I’m
going to fuck you until you agree to quit
this life, Evie.”

I pulled out and thrust back in,

burying myself so deep in her pussy, I

felt as though we were one. “I want you
to choose me, our baby. Us. Until death
do we part. And, forever after.”

I dropped my face into her hair and

felt the strands turn damp as a few tears
slipped  down  my  cheeks.  My  hips
started  up  again  and  I  pumped  into  her,
listening  to  her  cries  of  pleasure.  I
couldn’t  get  close  enough,  deep  enough.
I was lost in desperation, terrified to let
go  and  realize  it  was  a  dream  and  I’d
really lost her in that shed.

But, I couldn’t hold us off forever. I

glided the hand I’d kept on her belly
down to her pussy. She was so wet, my
fingers slipped through her lips. Finding
her sensitive little nub, I pressed hard as

Chapter 9

Evie

“I  love  you,  too.”  My  words  filled  the
silence  surrounding  us.  In  the  minutes
that  had  passed  since  we’d  climaxed,
our  breathing  had  evened  out  and  our
heartbeats  returned  to  normal.  My  body
wasn’t  in  its  usual  post-orgasm  relaxed
state,  though.  Even  with  Alex’s  body
wrapped  around  mine,  pressing  me
against  the  wall,  my  muscles  were
clenched  and  butterflies  swirled  in  my
stomach  as  I  considered  how  to  talk  to
Alex about my job. About my decision to
put myself at risk when I’d taken the shot

at the bomb he’d improvised back at the
safe house.

This was a discussion I’d never

planned  to  have  with  my  husband,  the
sexy  man  with  a  boring  job  as  a
contracts  attorney.  Turning  in  his  arms
and looking up at him, I knew there was
no  avoiding  it  any  longer.  He  was  a
covert  operative  who  knew  exactly  the
kind of things Scarlett had been up to as
a black ops assassin. I’d managed to put
it  off  for  the  last  couple  days,  but  no
more.  Not  when  my  strong  man  had
actual  tears  on  his  cheeks  over
something I’d done.

I reached up and swept the moisture

away with my thumb. “Thanks for the
save back there.” I slid my hand down

his  neck,  across  his  shoulder,  and  along
his arm to twine my fingers with his and
tug  him  over  to  the  bed.  He  sat  when  I
gave  him  a  little  push,  and  I  climbed
onto his lap. “I’m sorry I scared you.”

“Damn straight I was scared. What

you did was reckless, putting yourself in
the line of fire like that, instead of
waiting to see if the acetone peroxide
would ignite on its own.”

“I wasn’t reckless,” I argued. “I took

a  calculated  risk,  a  necessary  one  since
a team of hitmen had already marked our
location.  If  your  device  hadn’t  gone  off,
we  would  have  been  at  a  serious
disadvantage.  They  were  well-armed
and  all  we  had  was  my  makeshift  pipe
gun.”

“Which you could have given to me

so I could take the shot,” he growled.

“No, I couldn’t,” I sighed, hoping I’d

be able to make him see reason. “Not
only were we running out of time, but
I’m the better shot.”

He stiffened under me and I hurried

to  explain.  “I  don’t  mean  that  as  an
insult,  Alex.  It’s  just  a  fact.  I’m  damn
good with a gun. Any kind of gun. I have
been  ever  since  my  dad  first  put  one  in
my hands when I was little.”

“Your dad taught you to shoot?”
“Yeah,” I answered. “I remember

being six years old, out in our backyard
with cans setup on the fence. My dad
was lying next to me with a .22 propped
on a sand bag. His arms were around me

as I tried to line up the sights and pull
the trigger. I hit one of the cans on my
first try.”

I hadn’t shared many childhood

stories  with  Alex  since  it  was  hard  to
talk  about  my  dad.  Even  after  all  these
years,  and  knowing  the  culprit  had  paid
with his own blood, it hurt to think about
how  he’d  been  stolen  from  me.  Alex’s
expression  softened  and  his  arms
tightened  around  me  in  comfort.  “Six
seems early to teach you how to shoot.”

“Maybe, but it had only been a

couple weeks since my mom had bailed
and  I  think  he  was  looking  for  a  way  to
connect  with  me.  He’d  spent  so  much
time  on  missions  as  a  SEAL  that  we

hadn’t really had enough time together to
bond before she walked out on us.”

“Any time you’ve mentioned your

dad, it sounded like you two were really
close before he died.” His words held a
questioning note in them.

“Shooting helped bring us together.

That,  and  him  leaving  the  Navy  the  first
chance  he  got  so  he  could  be  there  for
me,” I explained. “Target practice in the
backyard  turned  into  trips  to  the  range.
Eventually,  he  was  taking  me  to
marksmanship  competitions  and  we
bonded  over  all  the  awards  I  was
winning.  He  was  so  damn  proud  of  me,
bragged  to  all  his  SEAL  buddies  about
how his little girl could outshoot the lot
of them.”

“With what I’ve heard about

Scarlett, it’s not hard to believe he was
right.”

“Oh, I proved it more than a few

times,” I chuckled. “The guys got such a
kick  out  of  it  that  eventually,  they  all
chipped  in  to  teach  me  the  skills  at
which  they  excelled.  Hand  to  hand
combat,  knives,  reading  people,  and
foreign  languages.  My  education  was
unusual, to say the least.”

“It’s hard to argue with the results

because you turned into an amazing
woman.”

My muscles unclenched a little at the

pride in his eyes. Opening up to him like
this and showing him the side of myself
I’d kept hidden was scary as hell, but it

didn’t seem to be changing his feelings
for me. If anything, I found myself
feeling even closer to him.

“An amazing woman who knows

how to handle herself in tough
situations.”

“I’m not trying to take that away

from you, baby.”

It kind of felt like he was, though. I

wasn’t sure how to make him see it from
my  perspective,  but  I  needed  to  try.  “I
was recruited straight out of college, on
the  heels  of  my  dad’s  death,  and  went
straight  into  dark  ops  after  they  helped
me hunt down his killer.”

His eyes lit with understanding.

“That’s how they got you, by playing on

your vulnerability after your father
died.”

“No, they played on my need for

vengeance,”  I  corrected.  “By  the  time  I
got  it,  I’d  been  sucked  in  too  deep  to
walk away. That was years ago, Alex. It
will  be  even  harder  to  get  out  after
everything I’ve done since then.”

“Will you try? For me?” I felt Alex’s

chest expand as he took a deep breath
and held it, waiting for my answer.

I nodded jerkily. “I think so. Maybe.

I  hadn’t  really  gotten  far  in  my  thinking
process  yet,  but  when  I  made  the
decision  to  stop  taking  my  pills  it  was
with  the  knowledge  that  something  was
going to have to change, because I don’t
want  to  be  out  of  the  country  for

missions all the time. If we have a child,
I want to be there for him or her in all
the ways I wish my mom had been for
me.”

“Thank you, my Evie,” he breathed

out.

“Don’t thank me yet,” I warned “I

haven’t figured it all out yet, and I’m not
going  to  do  so  during  the  course  of  this
mission.  I  still  have  orders,  and  I’m
going to follow them through to the best
of  my  ability.  Once  this  is  over  and  the
dust  settles,  then  I’ll  talk  to  my  boss
about making a change.”

He opened his mouth, and I slapped

my palm over it. “In the future. When I’m
ready, which very well could be months

or even years from now if it takes us
awhile to get pregnant.”

His lips moved underneath my hand,

making me glare down at him until he
stopped trying to talk.

“I’m not saying I’m going to walk

away  from  this  world  completely.  I’ve
carved my place in it with blood, sweat,
and  tears—earning  my  place.  But  I’m
willing  to  consider  making  some
changes,  if  my  boss  will  allow  it.  Only
time  will  tell  I  guess,  but  he  did  let  me
alter my mission parameters a few years
ago  when  I  told  him  I  couldn’t  take
anymore  up  close  kills  after  a  mission
where  I  ran  into  some  issues,  and  you
noticed  the  bruises  which  hadn’t  healed
entirely by the time I got home..”

His eyes bugged out, and I pulled my

hand away from his mouth. “You told me
it  was  a  car  accident!  That  the  taxi  you
were  riding  in  had  been  in  a  minor
fender  bender  and  you  bumped  your
head because you weren’t wearing a seat
belt.”

“It’s not like I could have told you

the truth,” I reminded him, kissing his
cheek before climbing off his lap. “I said
what needed to be said so you didn’t
worry about me.”

“No more secrets,” he growled.
“I need food,” I blurted out,

unwilling  to  touch  that  verbal  grenade.
We  were  spies,  the  both  of  us.  Secrets
came  with  the  job.  With  us  working  for
different divisions, and me in a position

where

the

agency

couldn’t

even

acknowledge  my  existence,  it  was  what
it  was,  even  if  it  sucked.  “And  so  do
you.  That  might  just  be  a  graze,  but  you
need  some  protein  to  help  speed  along
the healing process.”

I felt his stare on my back as I

grabbed  my  clothes  from  the  floor  and
tossed  them  on.  I  glanced  over  my
shoulder  when  I  neared  the  door  and
found  him  glaring  at  me,  spread  out  on
the  sheets  in  all  his  naked  glory.  His
cock was semi-erect, lengthening farther
under my gaze.

“Or maybe I’m the one who needs

protein to keep up with you,” I joked.
Striding into the hallway, I heard his

laughter through door after it shut behind
me.

“If only I were kidding,” I muttered

to  myself,  slumping  against  the  wall  for
a  moment.  Between  the  adrenalin  crash,
hot sex, and opening myself up to him the
way I had, I was exhausted. My stomach
growled,  reminding  me  I  needed  food
before  I  could  sleep.  We  only  had
another  eighteen  hours  or  so  before  we
hit the Port de Barcelona. While it might
sound like a lot of time, we couldn’t just
eat,  sleep,  and  fuck  our  way  across  the
Tyrrhenian and Balearic Seas. The ferry
had  an  internet  cafe,  which  meant  we
could get some research done before we
arrived  in  Barcelona.  I  hadn’t  ever  run
an op there before, and I needed to get a

lay  of  the  land  before  I’d  feel
comfortable.  Luckily,  the  language
wouldn’t be an issue, although the locals
might  snub  their  nose  at  my  Latin
American dialect.

Weaving my way upstairs to the deck

with  the  a  la  carte  restaurant,  I  sweet
talked  the  host  into  letting  me  place  a
carry-out  order.  Twenty  minutes  later,
my  hands  were  full.  He’d  packaged  the
boxes into a bag to make it easier for me
to  carry  back  to  our  room,  which
allowed me to carry the bottle of Ferrari
Perlè sparkling wine he’d talked me into
purchasing,  along  with  two  flutes.
Wandering  past  the  swimming  pool,
casino, and disco on my way back to our
room,  I  couldn’t  help  but  wish  this  trip

was  for  pleasure  instead  of  business.
Alex  and  I  had  taken  many  vacations  in
our  years  together,  but  we’d  never  done
a cruise. Probably because neither of us
wanted to run the risk of being caught at
sea  if  something  went  wrong  while  the
other  was  unaware  of  our  career  as  a
spy. Maybe now that the secret was out,
we  could  consider  taking  one  in  the
future—after  I  figured  out  what  to  do
about my job. And before he managed to
knock me up. The last thing I needed was
to combine morning sickness with being
at sea.

Chuckling to myself at the thought, I

bumped my hip against our door, and it
only took a moment for Alex to open it
and let me in. He took the bag out of my

hand,  pulling  the  boxes  out  and  setting
them  on  top  of  a  towel  he’d  laid  on  the
bed.  When  he  glanced  at  the  wine  and
glasses  in  my  hand,  he  quirked  his  head
and raised an eyebrow at me.

“The host did me a favor getting our

carry out order ready so quickly, I
couldn’t say no when he recommended
the wine.”

He peered at the label and chuckled.

“If I had to go out on a limb here, I’d say
you didn’t argue too hard since it’s a
spumante.”

I blinked up at him, trying to look as

innocent as possible. “What can I say? I
was lucky he suggested something I
knew I’d love. In my defense, I did
choose some of your favorite foods.”

I flipped open the lids on the boxes

filled with a mushroom and crispy bacon
risotto, sliced black Angus steak, an
Italian

cheese

platter,

and

fresh

pineapple.

“Pineapple?”
The contents of that box did look a

little  out  of  place  with  the  rest  of  the
food,  but  I  hadn’t  been  able  to  resist.
Being  on  a  mission  with  Alex  had
apparently  sent  my  hormones  into
overdrive.  “I  thought  maybe  later  we
could test to see if it changes the taste of
your come.”

He popped the cork on the bottle of

wine and filled both glasses, handing me
one while he dove into the pile of
pineapple. After eating, sleeping, and

completing  all  the  prep  work  we  could
before  we  made  it  to  Barcelona,  I  had
the chance to test the pineapple theory. In
case you were wondering, by the time he
blew  down  my  throat,  the  last  thing  on
my mind was the way it tasted. I was too
far  gone  to  pay  attention  to  anything
other than my next orgasm.

Chapter 10

Alex

“Have  you  been  here  before?”  Evie
asked  curiously,  obviously  noticing  I’d
driven  straight  from  the  ferry  to  a
parking  garage  in  the  city,  without  any
direction.

“I was here for work a couple of

years ago.”

Her

forehead

wrinkled

concentration as she thought hard about
something. “Wait”—her jaw dropped for
a second before she continued—“two
summers ago when we had to put off our

anniversary trip because we both had to
go out of town for work?”

I nodded distractedly as I took a

ticket and pulled into a parking spot.

“Alex.” The odd tone of Evie’s

voice had me turning in her direction.
“You told me you were going to
Barcelona.”

I suddenly realized what had her

confused, and I laughed. “I was here for
my other job, if you can believe it.
International Contracts Attorney, Alex
Shaw.”

Evie started giggling and soon we

were both bent over with laughter. It felt
wonderful.  For  a  moment,  we  were
simply  Alex  and  Evie  Shaw,  a  young
couple  in  love  who  had  so  much  fun

together, their life was filled with
laughter.

I couldn’t help staring at her, awed

by how free and open she looked, so
beautiful. My Evie.

She looked at me quizzically as her

chuckles subsided. “What?”

I told her the absolute truth. “I love

you, baby.”

Her face lit up and she smiled wide.

“I love you too, stud.”

I picked up one of her hands and

brought it to my lips, kissing it softly
before giving it a little squeeze. “Let’s
get going, baby.”

We gathered our bags and weapon

cases, leaving the car with the keys in a
compartment under the wheel well. It

was  time  to  ditch  that  one.  Barcelona
was  a  pretty  pedestrian  city  anyway,
mostly  people  used  public  transit.
Another  agent  would  take  care  of  this
car,  and  should  we  need  to  drive
somewhere, we’d get another.

“We have a flat by the Parc de la

Ciutadella,” I mentioned as we exited
the structure.

“Do you think it’s wise for us to stay

somewhere together?”

My jaw hardened at her question. I’d

taken her hand and my grip tightened, as
though I was afraid she would run away.
“No. I want you with me.”

“Alex—” she began, her tone

admonishing.

“No!” I barked. “I don’t give a fuck

about protocol or being seen together.
You stay with me.” I spared her a glance
to see if she would continue to argue
with me. But, she smiled and her grip on
my hand squeezed.

“Okay, stud. We stay together. Lead

the way.”

I dared anyone to find a woman as

perfect  as  my  Evie.  It  would  be  a
pointless  challenge  because  they  would
always  fail.  When  we  arrived  at  the
building  housing  the  safe  house,  I
punched  in  a  code  and  the  front  door
unlocked. Then I rapped my knuckles on
the  door  with  a  gold  letter  A  and  the
number 1.

When the door swung open, a rough

looking,  middle-aged  man  stepped  out.
Despite his salt and pepper hair, he was
fit  and  didn’t  look  like  someone  who
would  be  easily  handled.  His  eyes
landed on Evie and lit with appreciation.
I  quickly  pushed  her  behind  me  and
leveled  him  with  a  deadly  look  in  my
stare.  He  smirked  at  me,  but  kept  his
attention on me after that. We conversed
in  Spanish  for  a  minute,  then  he  handed
me a key.

I led Evie to an elevator and we

rode  up  to  the  second  floor,  stopping  at
the  first  apartment.  I  unlocked  the  door
and  held  it  open  for  her  to  enter.  She
walked to the living room and set down

her backpack while I took our other bags
into the bedroom.

Returning to the front, I walked over

to  a  black,  cheap-looking  desk  with  a
small laptop on it. The piece of furniture
was  probably  made  of  particle  board
and  would  collapse  if  I  put  any  extra
weight  on  it.  I  grabbed  the  computer
with  a  sigh,  cursing  budget  cuts,  and
went  to  the  couch.  Setting  the  laptop  on
the  low,  wood-like  coffee  table,  I
hunched over and booted it up.

Evie came to stand next to me and

tapped  my  shoulder,  chuckling  at  my
uncomfortable  position.  “Scoot,  stud.”  I
immediately  moved  over  and  she
plopped  down  on  the  ground  in  front  of
the computer. I slid back over and swung

a  leg  around  her  so  she  was  caged
between  my  legs.  She  started  tapping
away,  and  I  watched,  idly  playing  with
her hair.

“You don’t speak with a Latin

accent,” she commented. I leaned closer,
both

reading

through

the

information her tech had forwarded.

I almost missed the question,

absorbed  in  the  files  we  were  sifting
through.  “What?  Oh,  no,  I  learned
French,  Russian,  German,  and  Italian
first.  I  spent  a  month  on  assignment  in
Madrid early in my career and picked up
the  language.  Then  I  learned  Farsi,
Arabic, and a few others”—I pointed at
the computer screen—“does that file say
Pájaro Negro?”

When Evie didn’t answer right away,

I tore my eyes from the computer screen
and saw her staring up at me with a bit
of wonder. “What?”

“How many languages do you

speak?”

I thought about it for a minute.

“Eleven,  I  think.  I  can  passably  speak
Japanese,  but  most  people  there  look
pretty  insulted  when  I  do,”  I  finished
with a grin.

“I had no idea,” she murmured.
“Hey, hey, Baby,” I said softly,

lifting  her  chin  so  I  could  look  directly
in  her  beautiful,  chocolate  brown  eyes.
“We’ll  learn  all  of  these  things  about
each other. No more secrets remember?”

She smiled, but it didn’t reach her

eyes. I tried to lighten the mood a little.
“How many languages do you speak,
smarty pants?” I’m rewarded with a
slightly brighter smile and a snicker.

“Twelve,” she informed me smugly.
I laughed, “Too fucking adorable.”

Shaking  my  head,  I  nudged  her  to  turn
back to the computer screen. “Look, I’m
pretty  sure  that  says  Black  Bird.  Last  I
heard  that  was  the  code  name  for  a
major arms dealer based in Marseille.”

She looked through the next couple

of paragraphs. “Maybe he’s expanded
his operation down the coast,” she
hypothesized.

I shook my head. “I think he’s moved

his epicenter to Port de Barcelona.”

“Check this out.” Evie highlighted

the text of a cable sent to Pájaro Negro,
but there was no indication who it’s
from.

“Print out the whole communiqué,

baby,” I requested as I went back to the
desk and rummaged around the drawers
until I found a little silver cell phone.

Opening the phone, I dialed a

number and entered an extension as I
waited for the printer on the table next to
the desk to finish printing.

“Dude,” Martin said in greeting.
“Can you look into Black Bird and

find out if we have any locations for his
warehouses? Possibly one in Port de
Barcelona?”

“No problem. His operation has

been mobile lately, I don’t think I’ll have
anything for you until tomorrow.”

I grunted in frustration, I wanted this

shit over and done with. After hanging
up, I filled Evie in and despite our lack
of location, we spent most of the night
working through possible scenarios.

My phone rang again at six in the

morning.

“Are you aware of the awesome that

is me?” Martin said by way of greeting.

“Yeah, Martin, you certainly tell me

enough,” I replied drolly.

I could practically hear his eye roll

through the phone. I heard a litany of
taps, Martin’s fingers probably flying
across his keyboard. “Justice, I’ve been

picking up chatter. Please tell me I’m out
of my fucking gourd and you are not
working with Scarlett?”

I stiffened. “What makes you think

that?” I asked cagily. Grabbing the
papers off the printer, I took them back
over to Evie.

“Like I said, chatter.” The clattering

stopped abruptly. “I’m emailing you four
addresses, try one of those. But, back to
what  I  was  saying,  man.”  He  was  silent
for a moment, and then I heard the click
of  a  door  closing.  “There’s  random  talk
of  a  two  person  team  after  Heron.  The
thing is...” Martin trailed off, clearly not
happy with the information he was about
to  impart.  “They  only  talk  about  taking
out the female. The male is supposed to

remain

alive

and

his

mission

uncompromised.”

I sucked in a breath, as pain tore

through my chest. I tried calming myself
by remembering what Scarlett and I are
both capable of. Nothing would happen
to her. I almost believed it.

“This is coming from Heron’s

network?” I clarified.

Martin was silent for too long, which

meant he was about to drop a fucking
bomb on me.

“I’m not supposed to be monitoring

these people, but I got bored.”

“Who?” I growled.
“I have a contact who roams in the

CI network.”

“Okay.” I didn’t understand what

was so unusual about that. “So, they
brought the information to us, what about
it?”

“No, Justice. They were spreading

the information the other way. As
though... as though they were getting it
from someone here.”

“Find them!” I roared and threw the

phone at the wall, shattering it.

“Alex!” Evie exclaimed, jumping to

her feet, her eyes bouncing back and
forth between the broken cell and me.

“Someone

doesn’t

want

you

completing your mission.”

She put her hands on her hips and

cocked her head in question. I quickly

filled her in on the details Martin
discovered.

“Not Heron’s network. Someone

inside the fucking agency.” I was shaking
with rage and betrayal.

“Okay,” Evie said as she began to

pace, her fingers running through her hair
in agitation. ”Okay, um...” She stopped
suddenly. “They want the noc list.”

“Special operations doesn’t even

know about the noc list,” I argued.

“Seriously, think about it Alex.

Somebody has to.”

More than likely, she was right, but

if I spent too much time focusing on this
new turn of events, we’d both fail to
succeed in our assignments.

“We’ll keep our heads down, do our

best  to  stay  off  all  radars.  We  need  to
wrap  things  up  with  Heron.  ASAP.”  I
grabbed  the  computer  and  located  the
addresses  from  Martin.  “Bring  the
papers,

baby.

We’ll

start

cross-

referencing the addresses with those
times and dates against shipping
manifests.”

We got to work and were able to

eliminate one address, but no matter how
much we scoured the information, it
looked like we would have to make a
visit to three of the warehouses.

It was only just after three in the

afternoon and we wanted to wait for
dark. So, I ran out for lunch and after, I
coaxed Evie into the bedroom and made

love to her, sinking inside her as I
reminded myself that she was there, safe,
protected, and strong.

“Alex?”
I looked down at Evie, where her

head lay on my chest. “What, baby?”

“Why did you become a spy?”
I realized she’d given me her history,

but  I  hadn’t  ever  shared  mine.  I  ran  my
fingers  through  her  hair  and  kissed  her
forehead  before  speaking.  “My  reasons
weren’t nearly as compelling as yours,”
I  said  ruefully.  “I  scored  exceptionally
high  in  classes  where  the  CIA  monitors
students.  However,  the  army  got  to  me
first. You know I was in the military, but
what  is  kept  on  the  DL  is  that  I  was
Special  Forces.  I  loved  it,  but,

eventually the agency came knocking and
they painted a pretty picture. One of duty
and  patriotism,  making  a  difference  in
the  world.  They  presented  it  in  such  a
way  as  to  make  it  look  as  though  you
would  be  in  so  much  greater  service  to
your  country  than  any  other  government
work. So, I signed on the dotted line.”

“What about your family?” she

asked.

“I didn’t lie to you about my family,

Evie.” I tried and failed to keep the hurt
out of my tone. “I wasn’t keeping you or
them,  hidden  from  each  other.  I  really
did  grow  up  in  foster  homes.  I  was  one
of  those  rare  kids  who  got  extremely
lucky  and  I  had  teachers  who  did  their
best  to  help  me  succeed.  I  went  to  a

local state college, then earned a
scholarship to Harvard.”

I sat up, brought her with me, and

stared  into  her  beautiful  face.  “Fast
forward to four years ago. I met the love
of  my  life  and  she  made  everything  that
had  ever  happened  to  me  before  her
worth it. Because it brought me her.”

Evie threw her arms around my neck

and kissed me with unbelievable passion
which led to hot, rough fucking. When
we were spent and sated, mostly, we ate
leftovers for dinner and as night fell, we
prepared to get to work.

The night yielded nothing, the

warehouse  abandoned  with  no  signs  of
life,  frustrating  us  to  no  end.  The
following  night  resulted  in  the  same.

However,  the  third  night,  when  we
checked the last address, we witnessed a
shipment  being  offloaded.  We  had  to
wait  until  the  following  night  when  the
activity  had  died  down  to  sneak  in  and
take inventory.

The crates were loaded with drugs

and weapons, so we dropped a bug and
got the hell out of there. It took two more
days, but finally, we heard plans for a
meeting.

One

where

they

were

apparently  supposed  to  pay  a  great  deal
of  money  for  a  list.  It  was  set  for  three
days  from  then,  at  eight  pm,  giving  us
ample time to come up with a solid plan.

We avoided the elephant in the room

as we made plans, never discussing our
conflicting missions. But one thing was

Chapter 11

Evie

I hadn’t been this nervous since my first
mission.  It  wasn’t  as  though  Alex  and  I
weren’t  prepared.  We  were.  We’d
stayed  up  until  the  wee  hours  of  the
morning,  making  sure  we  had  our  plan
set  in  stone.  We  were  on  the  same  page
for timing, access points, exit strategies,
weapons

bring.

Pretty

much

everything with one exception—what we
were going to do with Heron once we
got him.

I’d never questioned the orders I’d

received. Not once in all these years.

But  listening  to  the  quiet  confidence
when  Alex  spoke  about  his  role  in  the
agency  made  me  wonder  if  it  wouldn’t
be  better  to  let  Heron  live  just  long
enough  for  Justice  to  question  him.  My
faith  in  my  husband  was  unshakeable.  I
knew  he  wouldn’t  betray  me  or  our
country  with  the  information  he  would
be  able  to  get  from  Heron,  if  given  the
chance  to  interrogate  him.  My  superiors
didn’t  know  Alex  the  way  I  did.  They
weren’t  able  to  factor  him  into  the
equation  in  the  same  manner  I  could.
Plus, if there was someone in our agency
gunning for me while also going after the
noc  list,  I  needed  to  find  them.  There
might be something we could learn about
that person’s identity from our target.

Dead men couldn’t talk, which is

exactly  what  my  boss  wanted—Heron’s
lips  sealed.  Even  after  I’d  updated  him
on the information Martin had uncovered
about  me  being  a  target  of  a  wet  work
team,  he  hadn’t  lifted  the  kill  order  on
Heron.

National

security

took

precedence  over  one  operative.  Always
had and always would for him. It had to
be that way or he’d never be able to do
his job. It was a fact I’d accepted when
it was only my life at risk. Having Alex
with  me  on  this  mission  changed  my
perspective,  though.  If  his  boss  treated
him like he was expendable, I’d burn the
whole agency down. My father’s murder
had filled me with a need for vengeance,
but  it  was  nothing  compared  to  what

would happen if Alex was harmed. And
his reaction to me being in the line of
fire at the safe house made it clear he
felt the same way about me.

It was an eye-opening moment for

me.  One  which  I’d  pondered  these  last
few days as I struggled with what I was
supposed  to  do,  versus  what  I  was
starting to think was the right thing to do.
A struggle I hid from Alex. Until I knew
for  sure  what  I  was  going  to  do  about
Heron,  I  didn’t  want  to  give  him  ideas.
Sex worked well to avoid the subject. A
distraction technique I’d used often over
the last few days.

As I woke up from the five hours of

sleep we’d managed to get after we’d
fallen into an exhausted, tangled heap on

our  bed,  my  body  bore  the  marks  and
aches  from  the  hard  fucking  he’d  given
me  yesterday.  Sex  should  have  been  the
last  thing  on  my  mind  between  the
urgency  of  the  mission  ahead  and  how
satisfied  he’d  left  me  last  time  around,
but it didn’t seem to make a difference to
my  body.  I  wanted  to  feel  him  moving
inside me again, and I wasn’t willing to
wait  until  after  the  dust  settled  to  get
what I wanted from him.

The morning of the meet, I tugged the

sheet  away  from  Alex’s  body,  and  his
cock  sprang  free,  jutting  toward  me.  A
quick  glance  up  confirmed  he  was  still
sleeping,  but  the  head  of  his  cock  was
already

glistening

with

moisture.

Wrapping my hand around his hardened

length, I stroked him slowly from root to
tip  while  I  kept  my  eyes  locked  on  his
face.  It  only  took  a  few  strokes  before
his  eyes  blinked  open,  hazy  from  sleep,
but also filled with desire and need.

“You sure do know how to wake me

up in the best ways, baby.”

“It’s not like I could let this morning

wood go to waste, could I?”

“Definitely not,” he chuckled, sliding

his hands up my back to tangle them in
my hair. “That would be a damn shame.”

I gave him a few more slow tugs

before  leaning  forward  to  wrap  my  lips
around  the  head  of  his  cock.  My  tongue
flicked  out  and  swiped  the  bead  of
moisture from his tip, making him groan.
I loved when he made sounds like that so

I licked at the same spot, over and over
again,  until  he  was  writhing  underneath
me  with  his  fingers  digging  into  my
scalp.  When  I  parted  my  lips  and  took
all  of  him  inside  my  mouth,  his  hips
jerked up and sent his cock deeper.

“Who’s in control here, stud?” I

mumbled  around  his  shaft.  He  didn’t
bother  answering  with  words,  choosing
to  show  me  that  even  though  I  was  the
one  sucking  him  off,  he  thought  he  was
the  one  in  charge.  I  felt  a  slight  stinging
sensation  at  my  scalp  as  he  pulled  my
hair  tighter,  his  hips  thrusting  forward.
He’d turned the tables on me, fucking my
mouth and using it for his pleasure.

“Fuck, baby. You suck me so damn

good. Feel free to wake me up like this

anytime you want.”

His words spurred me on, making

me  suck  him  harder.  I  tilted  my  head,
giving him a better angle so I could take
more of his length into my mouth until it
bumped  against  the  back  of  my  throat.
More pre-come seeped from his tip, and
I  hummed  in  approval  at  the  flavor  on
my  tongue.  His  cock  swelled,  and  I
whimpered  when  he  pulled  out  of  my
mouth.

“Gonna come deep in your pussy this

time around, baby.”

Before I had the chance to agree, he

shredded  the  panties  I’d  slid  on  last
night and flipped me around. I landed on
the  mattress,  flat  on  my  back,  his  body
over  mine  as  he  plunged  into  me.

Wrapping  my  legs  around  his  waist,  my
hips  rose  and  fell  in  rhythm  with  his
thrusts. My nails bit hard enough into his
shoulders  I  was  certain  they’d  leave
marks,  but  it  only  made  him  thrust
harder.  His  hand  slid  between  our
bodies,  seeking  out  my  clit  and  my
pleasure sky rocketed, throwing me over
the edge.

“Yes,” he hissed, his body jerking

with  his  own  orgasm,  his  hands
tightening  around  my  hips  while  he
emptied  himself  inside  me.  My  legs
were  still  tight  around  his  hips  as  he
briefly  dropped  his  weight  onto  me
before  rolling  us  over.  Resting  my  head
on  his  chest,  I  hugged  him  tight  while  I
caught my breath.

“It’s going to be okay, Evie,” he

murmured, dropping a kiss on my hair
and rubbing my back in slow circles.

My frantic need wasn’t fooling him.

It probably hadn’t been the whole time
and he’d just gone along with it because
he knew it was what I needed. My hubby
knew me better than I wanted to admit to
myself. Either that, or my nerves were
showing when they never had before.

“I know it will be.” My answer was

soft. Hesitant. It sounded nothing like the
usual confidence with which I spoke, but
anxiety had taken flight in my belly and I
couldn’t  shake  it.  Even  a  mind-blowing
orgasm  hadn’t  helped.  I  allowed  myself
to  enjoy  the  comfort  of  his  embrace  for

as long as I could. Too quickly, time ran
out and we needed to get moving.

There were no lingering glances as

we dressed.

No words exchanged as we double-

checked and packed all our gear.

Not a single smile shared when we

left the room and exited the hotel, hand
in hand.

We were both mission ready and

focused on the task at hand, but it was
more than that. A dark cloud hung over
our heads as we drove over roads we’d
traveled

before,

heading

the

warehouse  we’d  successfully  infiltrated
only  a  few  nights  earlier.  Tension  built
as we arrived an hour before the meeting
we  were  hoping  to  crash.  We  exited  the

car at the same time, meeting at the trunk
to unload our gear.

“You ready to do this?”
Alex’s question broke the silence. I

glanced  up  at  him  to  find  his  worried
gaze  locked  on  my  face.  Using  every
inch  of  willpower  in  my  body,  I  forced
myself to relax and offered him a smile.
“Of course I am, stud. I was born ready.”

He rewarded me for my effort with a

chuckle and a quick but hard kiss. I felt it
seep into my bones, warming me—but
doing nothing to lessen the tension I was
feeling.

“Then let’s get this over with, once

and for all.”

Hefting my bag over my shoulder, I

followed behind him. My head swiveled

as  I  studied  our  surroundings,  looking
for any changes since we were last here.
The warehouse district was quiet at this
time of night, and nobody was around. I
spotted one light out over the door of the
building across from our destination, but
the  bulb  was  intact.  It  hadn’t  been  shot
out,  most  likely  just  needing  to  be
replaced  by  the  owner.  I  scanned  the
windows and roof anyway, searching for
signs  that  we  had  unwanted  company.
Reaching  a  hand  out  to  touch  Alex’s
shoulder  briefly,  he  paused  and  glanced
back  at  me.  He  caught  where  my  gaze
was aimed and joined me in my perusal.
After  a  couple  minutes,  he  squeezed  my
hand.

“Spot anything?”

“No,” I answered. Nothing except

the darkened light bulb was different, but
it was enough to put me further on edge.
I figured part of it was that I was hyper-
sensitive to danger after the close call at
the  safe  house,  and  because  Alex  was
with  me.  If  it  had  only  been  me,  I
probably would have set-up on the same
roof  I’d  just  stared  at,  but  I  couldn’t
bring  myself  to  be  that  far  from  him,  in
case we needed to make a quick retreat.
If that wasn’t a sign I needed to seriously
reevaluate my role with the agency, then
I didn’t know what was. Letting emotion
impact my decisions was a sure fire way
to get myself killed, but I couldn’t shake
my  gut  feeling  that  I  needed  to  stick
close to Alex. “I think we’re good.”

We moved on and rounded the

building to approach the rear door of the
warehouse.  Alex  kneeled  down  to  pick
the  lock,  his  back  to  mine  as  I  kept
watch.  I’d  never  worked  a  mission  this
closely with another operative, and I felt
the  weight  of  my  responsibility  for  his
safety  heavy  on  my  shoulders.  He  made
quick  work  of  the  lock,  and  we  entered
the  building  swiftly  and  quietly,  softly
closing the door behind us so we didn’t
alert anyone to our presence.

Heading to the east side of the

building  to  the  large  stack  of  crates
where  we’d  dropped  our  bug.  Nearing
them,  I  noticed  the  lid  of  one  was
slightly  off  center.  I  was  certain  we
hadn’t  left  it  that  way,  and  we  hadn’t

heard  anyone  open  them  while  we’d
listened in. I stopped dead in my tracks,
gripping  Alex’s  arm  so  he  halted  with
me.  It  was  then  I  heard  it.  Clapping.
Motherfucking clapping.

“Well done, Scarlett.”
I swiveled around, pulling a Glock

from each shoulder holster mid-turn, and
found  our  target  standing  about  ten  feet
away  from  us.  He  had  four  beefy
bodyguard  types  with  him,  each  with  a
gun aimed our way. I raised my arms and
aimed mine right back at them.

“I have to admit I was hoping you

were  the  one  they’d  send  after  me,”
Heron  announced,  his  eyes  raking  my
body  before  he  turned  his  attention  to

Alex. “But I’m a bit disappointed, since
I’d heard you always worked alone.”

“Maybe you were too big a target to

risk losing with only one agent,” Alex
interjected, presumably in an attempt to
play on Heron’s ego.

“Ah, but Scarlett isn’t really an

agent,  is  she?”  Heron  replied.  “You
might  be,  but  she’s  a  bit  more  than  that.
Or less, depending on how you look at it
since your government would be content
to  let  her  die  while  denying  her
existence. All of which means she could
be quite valuable to me.”

At that, the guards shifted their

stances so all four guns opposite us were
aimed Alex’s way. And my husband, the
stubborn ass, took several steps away,

drawing their aim farther away from me
and more firmly on him.

“How interesting,” Heron murmured,

his  gaze  darting  between  us  with  a
calculating  gleam.  “Looks  like  I’m  not
the  only  one  who  thinks  the  infamous
Scarlett is valuable.”

I tapped my left foot, hoping like hell

Alex  would  catch  the  signal.  Between
the two of us, we could take four of them
out  fairly  easily,  but  five  would  be
pushing  it—especially  since  Alex  was
hell  bent  on  taking  Heron  in  alive.  This
situation  called  for  kill  shots  if  we
wanted  to  improve  our  odds  of  getting
out of here alive. With the bodyguards, I
didn’t  have  to  worry  about  Alex
hesitating.  If  Alex  understood  what  I

meant and started from the left, we had a
good chance to take them all out, leaving
Heron as the only one standing.

“I can think of at least four people

who  would  agree  with  you.”  I  stressed
the  number  as  I  spoke,  and  followed  it
up  with  three  light  taps  of  my  foot.  As
soon  as  my  sole  hit  the  ground  the  third
time,  I  fired  in  rapid  sequence.  Three
shots  from  my  two  guns  and  one  from
Alex’s  pistol.  Four  shots,  straight
between  the  eyes  of  each  bodyguard.  It
would  have  been  perfect,  except  Heron
had  used  that  time  to  reach  behind  his
back to pull out a weapon. A gun he had
aimed straight at my husband.

“You were just a name on a list to

me up until a few days ago, Scarlett. One

of  many  who  I’d  sell  to  the  highest
bidder  without  thinking  twice.  Then  I
heard  rumblings  about  a  dark  ops
assassin  who  was  hunting  me,  with  a
male special agent at her side.”

“Fuck,” Alex hissed.
“An assassin so good at her job that

a  kill  team  had  been  sent  for  her  but
failed  when  she  blew  the  safe  house
where  she’d  been  staying,”  Heron
continued. “Someone on your side wants
you  dead,  and  they’re  willing  to  pay  a
lot  of  money  to  make  that  happen.  I’m
curious to see how much you’d be worth
to others, alive.”

“You’ll never find out because

there’s no way in hell you’re gonna walk
out of here with her,” Alex growled.

“Are you sure about that?” Heron

chuckled. “It’s not like you can kill me
since you’re supposed to bring me in
alive for questioning.”

“The only way she leaves here with

you is over my dead body.”

“If you insist,” Heron replied.
In those brief seconds as I watched

Heron  take  aim  at  my  husband,  I  better
understood  why  he’d  been  so  angry
about what I’d done at the safe house in
Rome.  His  fury  merely  masked  his  fear
of  losing  me.  A  nightmare  I  shared,  as
images  of  our  life  together  raced  before
my  eyes.  I  couldn’t  just  stand  here  and
watch  it  happen,  not  when  Alex’s  life
was  on  the  line.  I  leapt  into  action,
diving  in  front  of  Alex  just  as  Heron’s

finger pressed down on the trigger of his
gun.

Shit! I was hit. I’d never taken a

bullet  before,  but  I  knew  what  the  flare
of  heat  and  stinging  pain  in  my  upper
arm  meant.  Luckily,  I’d  already  gotten
both  of  my  shots  off  and  it  looked  like
my aim had been true, one to his hand to
knock the gun out of it and another to his
knee  so  he  couldn’t  run.  Mid-leap,  I
twisted my body to avoid landing on my
injured  arm.  I  went  down  hard.  Damn
hard.  I  managed  to  miss  my  arm,  but  I
took the brunt of the landing on my upper
back.  My  head  snapped  backwards,
smashing  against  the  concrete  once,
before  bouncing  up  and  slamming  down
again.

Fuck! The pain in my head

overshadowed  my  arm.  Darkness  crept
around  the  edges  of  my  vision.  I  wasn’t
sure  how  much  time,  if  any,  had  passed
since I went down. I heard Alex yelling,
but  his  voice  was  muffled  as  though  he
was in a tunnel far, far away from me. I
tried  to  lift  my  hand  and  reach  out  to
him, to reassure him that I was okay, but
my body wouldn’t cooperate.

“I don’t care what the fuck it takes,

get an ambulance to our location and
make sure a medevac is on standby at the
hospital for her, Martin!”

Was it bad enough that I needed a

medevac?

“I know her personnel file is buried

deep, but you’re going to have to figure

out a way to unearth it because her
medical records had damn well better be
at Moron when we get there.”

Martin was good, but there was no

way he could get me onto a military
base for treatment.

“You’ve got plenty of time to find a

way to make it happen between however
long we’re at the hospital and the almost
two hours we’ll be in the air.”

Even if he managed to get an

operative who technically didn’t exist
onto the base, he couldn’t get his hands
on my info. Not that quickly anyway.

“Yeah, we need medical care for

two.”

My breath froze in my lungs. No.

Please don’t tell me it was all for

nothing.

“Damn fool woman leapt in front of

a bullet for me, and she still managed to
fire two rounds at Heron with a
precision most operatives don’t even
have at the gun range. He took one in the
hand and one in the knee.”

He meant Heron and me. Alex was

unharmed. Comforted by the knowledge
that  he  had  escaped  the  confrontation
unscathed,  my  eyes  slid  closed  and  I
stopped  fighting  the  darkness,  letting  it
swallow me whole.

Chapter 12

Alex

I rested my forehead on the bed next to
Evie as I held her hand tightly in mine. I
heard the door open and the doctor
walked in, staring at a chart.

“Mr. Shaw,” he greeted me in

Spanish,  finally  glancing  up  from  his
clip  board  and  shaking  my  hand.  “I’m
Dr. Ruiz.” I had a lump in my throat and
fear  was  keeping  me  tongue  tied,  so  I
simply nodded.

“From the bruising under your wife’s

eyes, and her state of unconsciousness,
it’s highly possible we are dealing with

a skull fracture, but I’m confident it isn’t
more than a linear fracture.”

He said it as though it was no big

deal. I’m no doctor, but it seemed to me,
any  kind  of  crack  in  the  skull  was
fucking  serious.  The  lump  in  my  throat
became  a  boulder  and  I  silently  begged
Evie to wake up.

“We want to confirm this and rule

out  an  epidural  hematoma.  Normally,
we’d  do  a  CAT  scan  but,  I’d  rather  not
take  a  chance  at  harming  the  baby,  so
we’ll move forward with an MRI.”

I froze. “The baby?” I croaked.
The doctor’s eyebrows went up into

his hairline as he registered my shock.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Shaw. This early on, I

shouldn’t assumed you knew. You
weren’t aware she could be pregnant?”

I shook my head, once again,

speechless. Then what he asked seeped
into my awareness. “No, I mean I didn’t
know, but we were trying.”

Evie was pregnant? My eyes strayed

to her belly. I’d put my baby in there.
Unfortunately, I was too worried to gloat
about the fact that I’d been right, and I’d
knocked her up the first night we tried.

“Well, congratulations, Mr. Shaw. It

looks like she is about two weeks along.
Once we get the results on the MRI back,
we’ll do an ultrasound to check on the
baby. Depending on the results, we’ll
clear her to be transferred to Moron.”

“Thank you,” I murmured, my eyes

still  glued  to  Evie’s  flat  stomach.  I
vaguely  noticed  the  click  of  the  door
shutting  as  I  stood  and  sat  a  hip  next  to
her on the bed. I couldn’t wait to see her
round with our child. Now, if she would
just wake the fuck up so my dream could
become a reality.

Brushing her hair back from her face,

I cradled one cheek in my hand. “Did
you hear, baby? You’re going to be a
mom. But, you have to come back to me
first.”

Nothing.
I tapped her on the nose, then tried

another  tactic.  “I  told  you  I’d  get  you
pregnant  that  night,  didn’t  I?”  I  asked,
infusing  my  voice  with  smugness.

“Aren’t you going to give me shit for
being so damn cocky?”

Nothing.
I leaned down and kissed her dry

lips softly, before resting my head on her
chest. The slow, steady beat of her heart
and even breaths brought me some
comfort.

A knock on the door interrupted the

peaceful moment, and I sat back up as a
nurse entered the room.

“This was left at reception for you,

sir?” She stretched out her hand, a small
black burner phone in her palm.

“Gracias.” I took the phone warily,

not sure if it was from my superiors or
Scarlett’s.

“De nada,” she responded, before

disappearing  back  through  the  door.  No
sooner  was  she  gone  than  the  phone
began  to  vibrate.  Unknown.  With  one
last glance at Evie to make sure she was
resting  comfortably,  I  stepped  into  the
hall and answered.

“Justice.”
There was silence for a moment

before an emotionless disembodied
voice spoke. “Where is Scarlett?”

I gripped the phone tightly, already

sensing this call was going to piss me
the fuck off. “She’s in a damn coma.”

There was an extended silence once

again, fraying my nerves and making me
want to punch the son of a bitch on the
line.

“Give her a message. We’ve

received a burn notice on her. She’s
blacklisted.”

“What the fuck?” I roared, earning

me angry glances from the nurses and
fingers pointed at the signs declaring the
use of cell phones was prohibited.

I was prepared to stalk outside and

let the asshole have it when the call was
cut off with a resounding click.

Pulling the phone from my ear, I

stared at it hard, willing it to ring again.
The  squeak  of  rubber  soles  on  the
linoleum  broke  my  concentration,  and  I
looked  up  to  see  the  nurses  arriving  to
wheel Evie from her room for her scan.

For some reason, I felt panic that she

would be out of my sight for even the

smallest  amount  of  time.  Something
wasn’t  sitting  right,  but  I  had  no  idea
what it was or what to do about it. So, I
let  them  take  her,  following  until  we
reached  a  restricted  area  and  I  had  to
stay  behind.  When  the  procedure  was
completed,  I  returned  with  her  to  the
hospital room to await the results.

I was starting to fidget, impatient for

answers, and frustrated that Evie was
still unconscious. With every set of
footsteps approaching the door, I shot to
my feet but then they would pass by and I
would slowly sink back into my chair to
brood.

Finally, there was a knock, and the

door opened to reveal a nurse in pink
scrubs entering the room with a smile.

She  introduced  herself  as  Beth  and
picked up Evie’s chart. “The doctor has
prescribed  some  pain  medication  for
her.  Often,  with  a  closed  fracture,  pain
meds  are  the  only  course  of  treatment
and  if  she  is  suffering  a  great  deal,  it
could be contributing to why she is still
in a coma.” She smiled at me again and
again,  something  struck  me  as  odd.
“Don’t worry, the medication is safe for
pregnancy.”

I nodded and watched her walk over

to Evie’s IV and uncap a syringe I hadn’t
realized she’d brought in with her.
Readying the shot, she picked up the
tubing.

“Stop!” I yelled, jumping to my feet

as I realized the insignia on the liquid

filled  plastic  wasn’t  the  one  I’d  been
seeing  all  day,  everywhere.  This
hospital  had  their  logo  on  all  of  its
equipment.  At  the  urgency  in  my  voice
and  my  abrupt  movement,  Beth  dropped
the  syringe  and  darted  for  the  door.  The
bed  hampered  my  movements  and  I
wasn’t able to reach her before she was
out  of  sight.  Dashing  into  the  hallway,  I
looked  left  and  right  frantically,  then
quickly  checked  several  rooms  in  the
vicinity,  but  she  was  nowhere  to  be
found. Fuck!

Back in the room, I retrieved my

phone from my jacket pocket and hastily
dialed  Martin.  “There’s  a  kill  order  for
Scarlett,”  I  barked,  “Get  it  called  the
fuck  off,  Martin!”  I  was  shouting  by  the

end, terror and rage clawing at my
insides.

“Dude, calm down.” Tapping.
“Someone just tried to kill my wife,

Martin.  I  will  not  calm  down  until  I
know  she’s  safe!”  I’d  sidestepped
Martin’s questions about my concern for
Scarlett  before,  but  no  more.  I  was
beyond  caring  who  knew  about  our
relationship anymore.

More tapping. The silence was

unbearable.

“Um, Justice,” Martin’s tone was

wary and shocked. “It’s not the agency.
There is no record of a kill order. Just a
burn notice. She’s on the books now
because she’s been blacklisted and is on
the no-fly.”

I was confused. “I’m telling you,

Martin.  A  woman  was  in  here  who
didn’t  belong  and  she  almost  injected
Evie  with  something.  Then  she  ran
before I could get to her.”

“Yeah, I meant, there isn’t a kill

order from us. I sent a secure text to a
contact and he just replied. It’s a hit,
Justice.”

I dropped the phone, stunned and

incapable  of  moving.  It  clattered  on  the
ground, and I could hear the faint sounds
of  Martin  calling  my  name.  If  there  was
a  hit  out  on  Scarlett,  how  would  they
know  she  was  in  the  hospital?  She  was
checked in as Genevieve Shaw.

Suddenly, it hit me. I bent and

scooped up the cell, my voice like steel

when I asked, “Where is Heron?”

“Interrogation at Moron. The brass

wanted to wait for you, but Colin
convinced them to let him fly out there
and take a run at Heron.”

I was pretty sure I’d reached my

limit on shock for the day. One more jolt
and my heart would probably give out.
Colin. No fucking way. I’d trusted him
with my life countless times, I’d trained
him and been his partner. He’d been the
best man at my wedding for fuck’s sake.

“Martin, who all knows about the

noc list?”

He cleared his throat guiltily. “Um,

you know, the higher ups.”

“I don’t give a shit how long you’ve

known, Martin. Or the fact that you

shouldn’t. Who else? Does Colin
know?”

“I honestly don’t know, man. I can’t

hack a person.”

“How

many

times

has

interrogated Heron?”

Martin

clacked

away

his

computer. “Three. He stepped out twice,
ostensibly to give a progress report.”

“Did he make a phone call?” I asked

anxiously, more and more convinced by
the second.

“Let me check his log.” After a

pause, Martin responded. “Yeah, two on
his second break.”

Two? Shit. There could be another

contract on her life.

“Martin, you’ve got to get her out of

here  and  to  Moron  as  quickly  as
possible. I don’t care what it takes. Burn
the  fucking  agency  to  the  ground  if  you
have  to.  I  want  her  in  the  air  in  30
minutes. And find out who the fuck took
the contracts.”

He blew out a frustrated breath.

“You don’t ask much, do you, Justice?”

My response was a menacing growl

before I snapped the phone shut. I didn’t
know  how  long  I  stood  there,  my  eyes
squeezed shut as I tried to process. I was
practically crushing the cell phone in my
hand  when  the  doctor  came  back.  I
stalked  to  Evie’s  bed  and  hovered  over
her warily.

“Good news, Mr. Shaw. The lab

results came back sooner than expected.
There  is  no  sign  of  bleeding  or  trauma
beyond  a  very  small  fracture.  No  need
for  surgery,  it  can  be  treated  with  pain
medication  and  rest.  I’m  clearing  her  to
be  transferred.”  He  looked  at  me  oddly.
“I’ve been told to wait on the ultrasound
and  any  other  tests.  Is  this  what  you
want?”

I stifled a sigh. Martin had come

through. “Sorry, doc. I need to get my
wife to a military facility. Insurance and
all that stuff,” I lied.

He looked slightly affronted, but

nodded and left the room without
speaking further.

We were in the air no less than

twenty minutes later. I watched Evie like
a  hawk,  alert  for  any  signs  of  things
being  off.  At  last,  we  reached  Moron
and  she  was  taken  to  a  private  patient
room where I waited for her new doctor.

Dr. Pena eventually brought me the

rest of Evie’s test results and completed
an ultrasound. I breathed a sigh of relief
when it was confirmed that both she and
the  baby  would  be  okay.  They  were
convinced  her  state  of  unconsciousness
was  simply  her  body  healing  from  the
trauma.

I thanked the doctor and she left me

alone with my wife. I needed to call in
but unable to resist it a moment longer, I
crawled into the bed and held her, my

hand resting protectively over the place
where our baby was nestled. Sleep
eluded me as I ran over the events of the
last two weeks and the phone call about
Evie’s burn notice.

Guilt filled me, knowing Evie had

sacrificed  her  career  for  me.  I  realized
there  wasn’t  a  part  of  her  I  didn’t  love,
and  that  included  Scarlett.  I  never
wanted  to  lose  my  Evie  and  changing
who  she  was  would  chip  away  at  the
woman I so desperately adored. An idea
began  to  take  root,  and  I  mulled  it  over
until  I  heard  the  low  buzz  of  my  phone
vibrating on the bedside table.

***

I  wiped  blood  off  of  my  hands  as  I
stepped  into  the  hall  outside  the
interrogation room. Looking down, I saw
it  splattered  all  over  my  clothes.  I
needed new ones and decided to shower,
hoping  to  cleanse  away  some  of  the
ugliness  lingering  over  me  from  my
interrogation.

Perry, the Chief of Station, was

waiting for me and lifted a brow in
question.

“My wife?” I asked first. I wouldn’t

agree  to  leave  her  side  for  the
interrogation  unless  she  was  heavily
guarded  and  her  condition  monitored
closely.

“No change.”

There was nothing left in me to

deflate, yet somehow, I felt my body sag.
“I’m going to get cleaned up before we
debrief.” I stared at him for a moment,
daring him to contradict me. I was in no
mood to be fucked with.

He nodded and spun around,

marching  down  the  hallway.  I  made  my
way  to  a  locker  room  and  found  a  fresh
pair  of  jeans,  a  black  t-shirt,  and  black
Converse.  Seemed  he’d  been  expecting
my  demand.  After  a  quick  shower,  I
dressed  and  dragged  my  tired  ass  to  the
nearest  conference  room  to  give  my
report.

Unsurprisingly, I found my superior

looped in on a secure feed, appearing on
a large flat screen mounted on a wall. I

lifted my chin in acknowledgment.
“Donovan.”

“Seems you’ve once again proved to

be invaluable, Justice. I hear you broke
them both.”

I dropped into a chair, wishing I

could slither to the floor and sleep. But,
the sooner I got the debrief over with,
the sooner I could get back to Evie.

“Heron is a weasel and it only took

threats to crack him wide open. He
rolled

Colin

immediately.

Apparently,  Colin  has  been  dabbling  in
unethical  methods  and  black  market
sales  for  a  while.  Heron  made  the
mistake  of  approaching  Colin  to  help
him  with  the  sale  of  the  noc  list.  Colin
clearly never learned to share as a child

because  he  wanted  it  for  himself  and
tried  to  kill  Heron.  He  went  on  the  run
and Colin came to us with his sob story,
hoping you’d send me to retrieve Heron
so  he  could  interrogate  and  extract  the
noc list.”

I clenched my fist, swallowing down

my fury as I relayed the next bit of
information. “Colin specifically asked
about the identity of Scarlett. Heron gave
it up, giving Colin the opportunity to put
a hit out on her life.”

Perry jumped in with a question.

“And the list? Did Colin get it?”

I pierced him with a dark stare.

“Colin has watched me interrogate
targets for the whole of our careers.
What the fuck do you think?”

“Justice,”

Donovan

said

with

reproach.  I  looked  up,  annoyed,  but
slightly  pacified  when  I  saw  the
understanding  in  his  eyes.  “What  about
Colin?”

I narrowed my eyes and spit,

“Everybody talks.”

Colin had been harder to break, it

had taken some interrogation techniques
I couldn’t have gotten away with in
certain parts of the world.

“Heron gave me the list of agents,

Colin provided the names and locations
of the hired guns.” I locked my gaze with
Donovan’s before delivering the next
blow.

“He had a partner.”

None of us had expected this, but I

was  the  best  there  was  at  this  fucking
job.  Although,  as  I  sat  in  the  meeting,  I
began to realize, I didn’t want to do this
anymore.  I  filed  that  away  for  further
dissection later.

“Leon.”
Donovan and Perry hissed matching

breaths before muttering, “Fuck.”

“Pretty much,” I agreed dryly. Leon

was the Chief of Station in the part of
India where Colin had been working.

Donovan sighed and shook his head,

then peered at me with a calculating
expression.

“You seem burned out, Justice.”
Burned. The term perked me right up

as I remembered the plan I’d been

formulating.

“Are you ready to move on from the

field?” he asked. “Because we’ve
decided to offer you a promotion. If you
take it, you’ll no longer be a field agent,
though you will remain field rated to be
one for any times it might be necessary.”

I guess my heart could take one more

shock.  Because  instead  of  stopping,  my
heart  sped  up.  Was  it  really  going  to  be
this  easy?  I  could  make  the  change  and
know  I’d  be  coming  home  to  my  family
every  night,  not  putting  myself  in
constant  danger.  But,  the  question  was,
just how much they wanted me to fill the
position. I wanted something in return.

“I’m open to the change, sir.

However, I’ve got a few conditions.”

Chapter 13

Evie

“C’mon, baby. Open those pretty brown
eyes for me. It’s been too long since
I’ve seen them.”

There was something wrong with

Alex’s  voice.  It  sounded  hoarse,  like
he’d  been  crying.  That  couldn’t
possibly  be  right,  though.  My  husband
wasn’t  a  crier.  I  tried  to  think  of  the
last time I’d seen tears in his eyes, but
my  brain  didn’t  seem  to  be  in  working
condition at the moment.

I felt the weight of his hand where it

rested on my belly. His heat seeped into

my  skin,  warming  me,  and  I  realized  I
was  chilled.  Goosebumps  raced  along
my  arms,  and  I  wanted  to  pull  the
blankets up higher but couldn’t seem to
make my arms move. There was a short
buzzing  sound,  and  I  tried  to  turn  my
head  in  the  direction  from  which  it
came, but couldn’t manage it. I started
to panic, but then Alex spoke again and
the sound of his voice soothed me.

“Can you bring in a warmed

blanket for my wife? She’s cold and it
isn’t good for the baby.”

Baby? I knew he liked to call me

baby.  It  wasn’t  something  I’d  ever
expected to enjoy, but I loved that Alex
had  a  cute  nickname  for  me.  Only,  I
didn’t  think  that’s  how  he’d  used  it.  It

was so hard to focus, but I could have
sworn he meant it as in an actual baby,
a life we’d created together.

Holy crap, how long had I been out

of it? I fought against the exhaustion
and pain, desperate to make it past the
darkness. I tried to open my eyes, but it
made

the

pain

worse.

was

excruciating, worse than anything I’d
ever felt before, but the added pain had
one huge benefit—it got my vocal cords
working again as a deep moan burst
from my lips.

“Evie,” Alex gasped, his hand

moving from my stomach to grab my
hand and squeeze tightly. “Come back
to me. I’m right here waiting for you.”

His voice is filled with hope and

rough desperation. I can’t let him
down. Not my Alex. I gathered all of my
meager strength and directed it towards
the hand he was holding, making my
fingers wiggle.

“That’s it, baby. You can do it.”
It was as if some of his strength

flowed from him to me, coursing
through my veins.

“Alex,” I croaked. My throat felt like

it was on fire, very dry fire. I swept my
tongue over my lips, trying to wet them,
but to no avail. My entire mouth felt like
I’d been walking in the desert for months
without water. The sound of pouring
liquid filled the room, and I almost cried
in relief.

“Here, baby,” Alex murmured,

sliding a straw between my lips. “Just a
little sip. The nurses will probably want
to  kick  my  ass  for  giving  you  water
before  I  tell  them  you’re  awake,  but  I
can’t  bear  to  see  you  in  pain  like  this
when  there’s  something  I  can  do  to
help.”

I managed a sip and the cool liquid

tasted better than the finest wine as it hit
my tongue. I took a second sip, and then
a third before he pulled the straw away
from me.

“No,” I protested, cracking an eye

open  and  wincing.  I  left  it  open,
squinting  in  the  direction  of  Alex’s
voice,  just  in  time  to  see  him  drop  the
cup onto the floor as he jumped from the

chair  beside  my  bed.  He  looked  so
haggard  in  his  rumpled  clothes,  with
dark  circles  under  his  eyes  and  more
days’ growth on his face than I’d seen in
a long time. “I want more.”

“My greedy girl,” he whispered into

my ear. “I’ll give you all the water you
want as soon as the doctor clears you for
it.”

“Doctor?” I repeated, thinking back

to the last thing I remembered. “We were
at  the  warehouse.  Heron  was  going  to
shoot  you.”  My  other  eye  popped  open,
the  pain  overshadowed  by  my  fear  for
Alex  as  I  frantically  searched  his  body
for  any  signs  of  a  bullet  wound,  until  a
long  finger  gently  lifted  my  head  until
our eyes met.

“I’m fine,” he reassured me. “You

dove in front of me and took the bullet he
meant for me.”

His gaze dropped for a moment to

my  shoulder,  and  I  was  suddenly  aware
of the throbbing pain there. A pain which
was  mirrored  in  Alex’s  eyes  when  they
met  mine  again.  “Fuck,  Evie.  I  can’t
believe  you  did  that,  but  it’s  something
we’ll  discuss  later  when  you’re  fully
recovered.”

The thread of steel in his tone made

my  lip  tug  up  at  one  corner.  It  was  as
close  to  a  smile  as  I  could  manage.  I
knew what he meant when he said we’d
be  discussing  it  though,  and  the  reason
why I needed to be better for that talk—
one which was sure to take place while I

was stark naked and spread eagle on our
bed. My thighs tightened together and the
slight movement sent a shockwave of
pain through my body.

“Hurts,” I whimpered.
Alex’s head swiveled away from me

so he could look over his shoulder.
“You’re due for more medicine soon.”

“Where are we?”
“Moron.”
His answer shocked me. Martin

really had been able to get me on a
military base.

“What’s my cover?”
Alex dropped back into the chair,

running his fingers through his hair. It
was a sure sign I wasn’t going to like
what he had to tell me. “You don’t have

a cover, Evie. There wasn’t a need for
one because you’ve been burned.”

He slumped even farther into his

chair and rubbed his palms over his
eyes, but we were interrupted before he
could tell me anything else.

“Oh, my,” the nurse breathed as she

walked into the room. “It looks like our
patient finally woke up.”

She flashed me a smile before

calling  out  to  someone  else  in  the
hallway.  Before  I  knew  it,  I  had  a  full
medical team in the room with us.  They
hovered,  poking  me,  prodding  me,  and
doing  who  knows  what  else.  None  of  it
phased  me.  It  didn’t  even  register.  My
gaze  was  locked  on  Alex.  I  needed  to
make it through their examination before

I  could  be  alone  with  him.  Before  I
could  find  out  why  I’d  been  burned.
They  explained  that  I’d  suffered  a  skull
fracture,  but  to  my  relief,  it  didn’t
require  surgery.  Finally,  after  what  felt
like hours, they left us alone.

“Tell me.” I didn’t need to say

anything else, Alex knew exactly what I
meant.

“Colin put a hit on Scarlett after he

got information about your code name
off the noc list from Heron.”

“Colin?” I felt like I was in an

alternate universe as Alex explained
everything that had happened with Colin,
Heron, and Leon while I’d been
unconscious.

“I’m damn sorry, Evie. Colin was a

part of our lives because of me.”

“It’s not your fault, stud. He managed

to  fool  us  all,  and  from  what  you
uncovered,  it  sounds  like  he  was  after
Scarlett  without  knowing  I  was  her,”  I
reminded  him.  “And  I’m  probably
getting  off  lightly  since  I  made  the
decision to leave Heron alive against my
orders.”

“Why did you do it, Evie?” he

sounded tortured.

“Because I love and trust you, Alex,”

I  answered.  “You  were  so  certain  you
needed the information Heron had. How
could  I  take  that  opportunity  away  from
you?  And  look  what  happened.  If  I’d
killed him, you might never have known

about  Colin.  A  fact  my  boss  was
apparently  unwilling  to  take  into
consideration  when  he  burned  me,  but
maybe it’s for the best. I’m clearly not as
good  at  reading  people  as  I  thought  I
was.  I  didn’t  know  you  were  an  agent
and I never pegged Colin for a bad guy.”

“About that,” he sighed. “We’re

lucky the agency doesn’t look at it the
same way you do because I didn’t see it
either and they offered me a promotion.
To a desk.”

“You won’t be in the field

anymore?”  It  was  a  huge  relief  to  me,
knowing  he’d  be  safe  in  an  office.  But
I’d  seen  for  myself  how  he  thrived  in
that environment. “Are you sure it’s what
you want?”

“Yes.”
His one word answer wasn’t exactly

convincing. “Really?”

“I think I’ll make a damn good

Controller,  and  it  means  I  get  to  come
home  to  you  every  night,”  he  replied.
“So  yeah,  I’m  more  than  okay  with  the
promotion.”

“Good,” I sighed.
“That’s not even the best part,

though,”

continued.

“Special

Operations wants you to stay on with the
agency as an instructor.”

“They do?” I breathed, afraid to get

my hopes up. It was practically unheard
of for a burned operative to be allowed
anywhere near the agency, let alone to be

offered a position. “How did you
manage that?”

He grinned sheepishly. “It wasn’t too

hard  to  convince  them  to  make  it  a
condition of my accepting the promotion.
My superiors didn’t want to pass up the
opportunity to have the infamous Scarlett
training  the  newbies.  I  think  I  just  gave
them  the  perfect  excuse  to  make  it
happen.”

A giggle slipped past my lips,

surprising  me  considering  the  situation.
“I  guess  we’ll  start  on  a  new  phase  of
our  lives  together  when  they  spring  me
from here then.”

“More

than

you

realize,”

mumbled under his breath. His Adam’s

apple shifted as he gulped, making me
incredibly nervous.

“What haven’t you told me yet? Are

my injuries really bad?” My voice rose,
and I wiggled my toes to make sure I
wasn’t paralyzed.

“Shhh, baby. You need to calm

down.”

“I’ll calm the fuck down when you

tell me what the other shoe is that’s
about to drop on me!” I shrieked. Ouch!
Fuck! I needed to remember there was a
crack in my skull.

“Damn, Evie,” he sighed, freaking

me out even more until he placed his
hand over my belly again, and I
remembered what I’d heard when I was
struggling to wake up.

“Baby,” I gasped. “Am I imagining

things or did you tell the nurse I needed
a warm blanket because the cold wasn’t
good for me or the baby.”

“You’re not imagining things,” he

confirmed arrogantly. “You never stood
a chance against my swimmers. I
knocked you up that first night, just like I
said I did.”

“So damn cocky,” I sputtered.
“I’ve got more reason to be than I

ever have before, with you carrying my
baby.”

My left arm, the one not attached to

the shoulder where I’d been shot, moved
down  and  I  rested  my  hand  over  his.
“I’m  really  pregnant?”  It  was  almost
impossible  to  believe.  I’d  thought  my

entire life had changed when Alex told
me I’d been burned, but it paled in
comparison to this news.

The shit eating grin on his face was

answer enough, but he gave me the
words

anyway.

“You’re

really

pregnant.”

“And the baby’s okay?”
“The baby is fine. They did an

internal sonogram and found the sac
holding our baby exactly as it should be
this early in the pregnancy.”

I heaved a deep sigh of relief,

horrified  at  what  we  could  have  lost
because of my actions. “I swear to you, I
never  would  have  done  it  if  I  thought  I
was  pregnant.  I  saw  the  gun  aimed  your
way,  knew  he  was  going  to  shoot,  and

didn’t even think of anything other than
you dying right in front of me.”

“You couldn’t have known, Evie,” he

reassured me. “The doctor even told me
it was too early for us to have known.”

“I’ll do my best to make it up to our

baby,” I promised. “I won’t take the job.
I’ll stay home with him instead. Bake
cookies.

Help

with

homework.

Whatever it is that stay-at-home moms
do.”

“No, Evie,” he barked. “There’s

been enough pretending in our marriage.
No  more.  You’re  going  to  do  whatever
makes  you  happy.  If  you  decide  it’s
staying home after the baby is born, then
I’ll  support  your  decision  one  hundred
percent. But I love you for who you are.

All of you, Scarlett and Evie. You don’t
need to change for me, and you don’t
have anything to make up to our child.”

“I love you, too,” I cried, tears

streaming down my cheeks as he
carefully cradled me in his arms. “And I
want to go home.”

“Not until you’re back to fighting

form, baby.”

***

It  took  another  three  weeks  before  Alex
agreed  to  take  me  home.  Three  long
weeks  of  him  watching  me  like  a  hawk.
The  doctors  had  given  me  the  okay  two
weeks  earlier,  but  Alex  didn’t  want  to
leave anything to chance. I had a simple

linear  fracture  to  my  skull  but  was
neurologically  intact.  The  second  they
told him I would need medical attention
if  I  became  symptomatic,  my  hopes  for
going  home  flew  out  the  window.  That,
combined with the gunshot wound to my
shoulder and my pregnancy were enough
ammunition  for  him  to  convince  my
medical  team  that  they  needed  to  keep
me longer.

As the car Alex had hired pulled in

front  of  the  private  jet  which  we’d  take
for  our  first  leg  home,  I  found  my
thoughts  turning  to  how  strange  and
wonderful  the  world  could  be.  I’d
played  many  roles  in  my  life,  some  of
them  planned  and  others  unexpected
blessings or curses.

Genevieve Parker, beloved daughter.
Evie Parker, bereaved college

student.

Scarlett, notorious assassin.
Evie Shaw, adored wife.
As I stepped onto the plane with my

hand  clenched  tightly  in  Alex’s,  I  found
myself  filled  with  excitement  for  the
most  important  role  I’d  ever  fill—
Mommy.

Epilogue

Alex

I hit the button to lower the garage door
and stepped inside the kitchen.

“Evie, baby, I’m—”
Thunk. My briefcase hit the floor

and my jacket soon joined it.

Holy fuck. Evie was standing at the

counter  in  an  apron  that  said  Kiss  the
Cook, what looked like white lingerie on
underneath,  and  fuck  me  heels.  I  was
happy  to  oblige.  I  had  a  weird  sense  of
déjà  vu,  but  I  was  too  focused  on
burying  myself  deep  inside  my  wife’s
hot little pussy to dwell on it.

My shoes were kicked off next and I

began  unbuttoning  my  shirt,  letting  it
drop to the floor as I stalked toward my
wife.  Her  blatant  stare  of  appreciation
hardened  my  already  painfully  erect
cock.  I  swiftly  unbuckled  my  belt,
unbuttoned  my  pants,  and  lowered  the
zipper.  I  stopped  about  a  foot  away  and
raked  my  gaze  over  her  luscious  body.
Ever since giving birth to our baby girl,
Amelia, a year ago, Evie had gained the
most  delicious,  womanly  curves.  Her
body was my own personal wonderland
and it was about to be thoroughly fucked.

“Welcome home, stud.”
I closed the gap between us, my

body flush against hers as I untied the
apron and let it drop to the floor. I filled

my hands with her perfect tits and took
her mouth in a deep kiss. Pulling back a
fraction, my eyes darted around,
“Emmy?” I asked.

“With Martin and Kelly,” she panted.
Growling with desire, I lifted Evie

and  placed  her  on  the  kitchen  counter,
before  dropping  to  my  knees.  I  brought
my  nose  to  her  pussy  and  inhaled.  She
smelled  so  fucking  good,  sweeter  than
ever.  There  was  something  familiar,
something  that  wasn’t  always  in  her
scent  and  it  had  my  body  humming  with
desire.

She moaned and I moved a finger to

pull her panties aside, when I noticed an
opening down the middle. Crotchless
panties? Fuck, yeah. I had the perfect

wife,  I  thought,  before  leaning  in  and
running  the  tip  of  my  tongue  through  the
slit,  flavor  filling  my  senses.  Evie
shivered,  and  I  grunted  in  satisfaction.
Licking  again,  I  noticed  once  more,
something was different and yet familiar.

Impatient to have her fully in my

mouth,  I  used  two  fingers  to  split  open
the  fabric,  ripping  it  wide  so  I  had
complete  access  to  her  pussy.  She
squeaked in surprise but the shudder that
rolled  through  her,  and  the  glistening  of
her  pussy  lips,  betrayed  how  hot  she
thought it was.

“Look at you, baby. Always so

ready, so wet for me.”

I dragged the flat of my tongue up her

sex, circling her clit before sucking it

into  my  mouth.  She  came  with  a  rush  of
liquid which I greedily drank every drop
of.  Evie  had  always  been  incredibly
responsive  to  me,  but  for  her  to  blow
apart so quickly and easily was unusual.

Standing, I took out my cock, then

grabbed  her  hips  and  yanked  her  to  the
edge  of  the  granite  slab.  I  kissed  her
hard  as  I  plunged  inside,  sheathing
myself  completely.  I  groaned  at  the
exquisite  pleasure  as  she  cried  out.  My
hips  began  to  pump  wildly,  my  grip  on
her  tight,  my  tongue  mimicking  the
movement, fucking her mouth.

Each powerful thrust had her

screams escalating and my cock growing
impossibly bigger. Tearing my lips from
hers, I dragged down the cups of her

bustier and wrapped them around one
pointed nipple, biting down lightly and
to my shock, Evie exploded into another
earth

shattering

orgasm.

took

everything  I  had  not  to  go  with  her,
fighting  the  way  her  pussy  was  milking
my  cock.  “Fuck,  baby.  You’re  so
sensitive  tonight.”  She  moaned  in
response.  I  continued  to  play  with  her
nipples, enjoying the way her body lit up
with  yearning  and  the  beautiful  blush
spreading over her skin.

I licked my lips, her essence still

lingering. “I swear, you taste different,
baby. It’s so fucking delicious. Have you
been raiding the cookie jar with Emmy?”

She reached down and grabbed my

ass, pulling me even closer so my cock

was bottoming out with every drive
inside her.

“I didn’t do anything,” she breathed.

“You knocked me up again, stud.”

I stilled, earning a mewling of

protest and her hands clenching my ass,
her nails digging in.

Suddenly, it hit me. We’d been here

before. Two years ago, Evie had met me
at the door, just like this and told me she
was ready to have a baby. This time, she
was  already  pregnant.  With  my  baby.
Color  burst  into  my  vision,  the  world
turning  hazy  with  the  coating  of
happiness.

I shouted with excitement and held

Evie tight as I twirled her around. The
movement shifted my angle and I buried

myself  even  deeper.  We  both  groaned,
and I swiftly walked to the nearest bare
wall,  supporting  her  up  against  it,
pulling  out  and  slamming  back  inside.
No wonder she was so fucking sensitive.
I pounded into her, my elation fueling my
energy.

“That’s it, baby. Let me hear you

scream. There’s nobody but me here and
I’ve missed the sound of it,” I growled.
“Your pussy is so tight, fuck! Squeeze
me hard, Evie. Clench that pussy around
me—oh, fuck! Just like that!”

“Alex! Oh, Yes! Yes!” she screamed,

and her body began to convulse with
another powerful orgasm.

“Seeing you come is the sexiest

thing, baby.” One, two more thrusts and I

let go, coming so hard I felt the world
tilt. I poured out my come inside her and
rode us both through our orgasms with
shallow thrusts, determined to drag them
out as long as possible.

As the world righted itself, I lazily

licked  her  nipples,  then  her  shoulder,
before  brushing  my  tongue  along  the
seam  of  her  lips.  Our  mouths  danced
with  each  other  to  the  gorgeous  music
only we could create together.

“I love you,” I murmured against her

lips.

I pulled back and felt warm all over

at the happy glow in her chocolate
brown eyes. Her bee-stung lips curled
up in a blinding smile.

“I love you too, stud. Now, take me

to bed or lose me forever!”

I grinned, “Seriously, babe? I’m way

more a Maverick than a Goose.”

Evie rolled her eyes and then

swiveled her hips, then leaned in close.
“Okay. How about this? Take me to bed,
stud, and fuck the hell out of me.”

I wasted no time heading for the

bedroom,  but  only  ended  up  making  it
halfway  down  the  hall,  falling  into  a
burning  heap  and  fucking  wildly  on  the
floor.

She wrapped herself around me as I

got  up,  my  cock  still  half  hard  and  snug
inside her channel. We finally made it to
the  bedroom,  where  I  spent  the  night
worshipping  her  body  from  head  to  toe.

She was so damn beautiful. My every
dream come true, even the ones I didn’t
know were lurking in my heart.

She was my light, my life, my

everything, my Evie.

“If I weren’t already pregnant, I do

believe we would have accomplished
the

task

tonight,”

she

giggled

breathlessly.

I rolled onto my back, bringing her

with me and settling her astride, with her
head tucked under my chin. I trailed my
fingers in circles over her back, my
mood thoughtful and quiet.

We’d both settled into our new jobs

pretty  smoothly.  Scarlett  was  the  best
instructor  they’d  had  for  decades.  Her
recruits  scored  incredibly  high  in  both

cognitive  and  weapons  training.  I  ran
ops  from  D.C.  most  of  the  time,  but  I’d
had to go into the field a few times. Evie
hadn’t  liked  it,  but  she’d  supported  me
every single time. She was amazing.

Then our little Amelia had come

along and she was the best of both of us.
A little spitfire, smart as a whip, and she
had her daddy securely wrapped around
her cute little finger. I fucking loved that
kid. She and her mom were both sides of
my heart. And now, I’d be sharing it with
three and I couldn’t fucking wait. Maybe
it was from growing up without a family,
but  I  wanted  a  home  full  of  kids,
laughter,  and  utter  chaos.  Lucky  for  me,
family  was  every  bit  as  important  to
Evie  and  she  had  happily  informed  me

that she had the same visions for the
future.

“Hey,” she called softly. “What’s on

your mind?”

“You,” I answered. “I love you, my

Evie. Until death do we part. And
forever after.”

The Yeah, Baby Series

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About the Author

Hello! My name is Fiona Davenport and
I’m  a  smutoholic.  I’ve  been  reading
raunchy  romance  novels  since...  well,
forever and a day ago it seems. And now
I get to write sexy stories and share them
with  others  who  are  like  me  and  enjoy
their  books  on  the  steamier  side.  Fiona
Davenport  is  my  super-secret  alias,
which  is  kind  of  awesome  since  I’ve
always wanted one.

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