Way of the Shadows (Shadow Agents 8)

“You already know I want you, and right now...my control isn’t real strong.”

She pulled back. “I didn’t mean—”

A muscle jerked in his jaw. “I know what you meant, but I’m running on no sleep and the memory of you being nearly naked in my arms. So you should go to your room, I’ll go to mine, and when we wake up in a few hours, we can just pretend we never crossed the line between us.”

The line between partners...and lovers?

“I’ll stay hands-off, and we’ll keep things just business.” The gold in his eyes heated. “And we’ll get the job done here so we can head back to D.C.”

That was the right thing to do. They had to work together. But... I want him.

Noelle turned away. She climbed up the stairs. She was right at the top when she just had to look back once more.

He was still standing at the base. That hot, golden gaze was focused on her.

“When did we meet before?” Noelle asked quietly.

A mask seemed to slip over his face.

“Don’t lie to me.” So, maybe she was also running on no sleep and the memory of him being so warm and naked beside her. Because she sure felt as if she’d been pushed to the edge. “You’re familiar to me. And sometimes, sometimes...like right now, I’ll catch you looking at me as if—as if you know me.”

“I do know you,” he growled. “We’re working together and—”

“You knew me before the EOD. You even slipped up once.” Another day, another case, but the words had nagged at her. “You told me that you’d seen me, but I hadn’t seen you.”

He glanced away from her, giving Noelle his profile. “You don’t have clearance to know about all the cases I’ve worked. So all I can say is that our paths have crossed.”

There was more. “Do you always keep secrets from women you want to have sex with?”

His shoulders stiffened. “I keep secrets from everyone.” He turned on his heel, giving her his broad back. “Get some sleep. Eighteen hundred hours will be here before you know it.”

Frustration had her muscles knotting, but she spun around and pretty much stomped her way into the room at the top of the stairs. The room was filled with heavy oak furniture, and a big, wide picture window overlooked the snow-covered land around the cabin.

The bed was a massive four-poster, which waited in the middle of the room. Noelle stared down at the covers, then she just let herself fall, face-first, into them.

She wanted sleep to take her away because the look in Thomas’s gaze... It had unnerved her far too much.

* * *

THERE WERE NO creaks from upstairs. No soft rustles of clothing. Noelle had been up there for fifteen minutes, and Thomas was pretty sure the woman had crashed.

He pulled out his phone and called Mercer. The situation was about to slide out of his control, and he needed to know what to do when—

“Don’t tell me you’ve found another body,” Mercer said, his words rumbling as the EOD Director answered the call on the second ring.

Thomas’s gaze stayed locked on the staircase. “Pairing me with Noelle was a mistake.”

Silence.

“She wants me to tell her how I know her.” He hated looking right into her eyes and lying. The lies were cutting him up inside.

“You’re in Alaska to track down the man who hired the Jack of Hearts to kill me...and to destroy the EOD.”

“Yeah, well...” His hand raked through his hair. “All signs indicate that guy is on a slab in the county morgue right now. We’ll do recon work after we’ve had a little time to rest, but Noelle is pushing, and I want to know just how much—”

“You can reveal?” Mercer’s tone was measured.

“It’s been fifteen years. She still has nightmares.”