Battle with the SEAL (Norse Security 3)

“Promise.” He gave her the scouts-honor sign. “Now tell.”

“Mirabelle.”

“Mirabelle.” He said with it with a roll of his tongue. He raised a brow and opened both eyes, staring at her with that intense green gaze of his, heat and humor flickering in its depths. “All right. Sure. I can see it. Yeah. And thanks for being honest.”

“Oh, shut up.” She threw her towel at him, smacking him directly in the face with it, though there was no real anger behind it. Soon, she was chuckling right along with him. “It was a Walker family name. Belonged to a great-grandmother or something. It’s a perfectly fine name.”

“If you’re two-hundred.” Loki shook with laughter, his eyes watering. “I figured your real name was something kick-ass, like Motherfuc—”

“Hey!” She whapped him hard on the arm and he grabbed her wrist, pulling her into his arms in f

ront of him. M stared up into his grinning face and smiled right back. “I like M. It’s mysterious.”

“And it has that whole James Bond-y thing going on too.” He widened his stance so she fit neatly between his thighs, making her feel small and fragile yet cared for and strong at the same time. “And it suits you perfectly. I like it too.”

“You do?” she teased, pressing closer, enjoying this playfulness.

“Oh, yeah.” He bent his head, his gaze flickering to her lips before returning to her eyes. “I do.”

His kiss started soft and gentle then gradually progressed to hard and hot and needy. By the time they separated, both of them were breathless. M took his hand and led him out of the gym, flipping the lights off on their way with her free hand.

“Let’s get upstairs,” she said, dropping another quick kiss on his cheek. “I’m seeing another shower in our future.”

11

Loki rolled his tense shoulders and focused on the road ahead.

“Remind me again why we’re back here,” M said impatiently from the passenger seat of the SUV. “Because I hate sitting around doing nothing.”

He glanced over at her, brow raised. “Really? I had no idea.”

She gave him a death glare for his sarcasm and he chuckled. This was nice, this new easy banter between them. He liked it, probably way more than was wise. Liked her too, a lot. Way more than he’d liked another woman in a long time. M just seemed to get him. She didn’t take any of his shit either, which was refreshing. People tended to either go along with his ever-changing personas or ignore them. M did neither. She called him out on it, and he appreciated that. With her around he certainly wouldn’t ever have to worry about losing himself inside one of his created, imaginary lives. That was worth a great deal.

But so was his career. He’d worked hard to get where he was and he wasn’t prepared to lose it all because he got too wrapped up in some whirlwind affair. Frankly, that’s all there was between them at this point. Sex. Incredible, hot, naughty, burn the house down sex, but still just that. No more and no less. Hardly enough to build a future on, right?

Exhaling slow, he pulled out his phone to check the latest updates from Cam back at headquarters. “We’re here because word on the street has it that Todd Martin will try to make another drop at the convenience store tonight, remember?”

M flipped him off at his patronizing tone, then crossed her arms. “I know that. I just don’t like sitting around. Why can’t I go in undercover like I did before? There’s a thrift shop down the street. I can pop in and buy an outfit and be unrecognizable in five minutes.”

“No.” Loki frowned down at his phone screen. If things went south again and another shootout erupted, he didn’t want M caught in the crossfire. “Cam thinks the location might be compromised and I don’t want you going in there alone.”

She snorted. “I didn’t think you cared.”

Loki opened his mouth to answer then snapped it shut. He did care, too much. That was the problem. “This mission’s too important. We wait here and go in once Martin arrives.”

“Who died and made you the boss?”

“What crawled up your ass and died?” he countered, regretting the rash statement the minute the words left his mouth. Her expression shifted from annoyed to downright mulish and he knew he was in for a long, bumpy stakeout.

“You know what? Fuck you, that’s what.” She poked her index finger at him across the console, her blue eyes glittering like diamonds in the darkness. “You think just because we’ve fucked a couple of times that it’s okay for you to tell me what to do? Wrong. No one bosses me around except the people paying me, and even then I only do what I want to do. Got it? You don’t own me, you don’t tell me what to do. Period. The end. We’re a partnership, not master and slave.”

He raised his hands in surrender. “Fine. Sorry. I didn’t intend to say that, but I was angry.”

“Yeah, well, you did.” She started to say more, but her phone buzzed and M pulled it out, scowling. “It’s Marcus.”

Loki did his best not to eavesdrop on their conversation, but it was hard given they were sitting only about a foot apart. He heard M murmur something about family and not going and then she hung up, her expression darker than before.

She sighed and shoved her phone back into her pocket then stared out the window beside her, silent.