Way of the Shadows (Shadow Agents 8)

“Doctors told me that same line for weeks.” Anger snapped in her words, and she tried to pull back the old fury. “‘Things will be clear...’ and ‘Give it some time...’ and ‘You just need rest.’” Her laughter held a bitter edge. “I’ve heard all of that a dozen times before. And guess what? Rest doesn’t help. Time doesn’t help.” Her lips pressed together, and after a tense moment, Noelle demanded, “But you know what did help? Seeing that poor girl tied to the chair.” She took a step toward him. “Just like me.” Because it had been as if she’d stared into a mirror of her past.

A muscle flexed along Thomas’s jaw. “She’s not you, though, Noelle. You’re just getting things confused.”

She sucked in a sharp breath. “Stop lying to me.”

He shook his head.

“You are. You’re lying. From the moment I saw you at the EOD, I felt like we’d met before.”

“Other missions,” he growled out. “Our paths have crossed. I can’t tell you what I was doing then; you don’t have the clearance.”

“Forget clearance!” The words came out as a yell as she shot forward and grabbed his arms. “This is my life! Tell me!”

He stared into her eyes. “I’ve seen you. You haven’t always seen me. The FBI works plenty of cases that merge with the EOD. Sometimes, you guys thought you were hunting serials, but you were after assassins. It was our job to contain those killers. My team did its job.”

“No, there’s more to this.” Earlier, she was sure that he’d started to tell her more. Back at the station, before they’d learned about Jenny.

“I’ve told you the truth.”

Her temples were throbbing, her heart breaking. “Not all of it.” She blinked because her eyes were filling with tears, and she would not let them fall. “I thought we were partners. I thought we could count on each other.” She dropped her hold and stepped back. “I guess I thought wrong.” She whirled away from him.

But his hand locked around her shoulder, and he spun her right back to face him.

“Thomas—”

His mouth crashed down on hers. She was so shocked by the move she just stood there a moment. Then...

“Damn it, I’m sorry.” He tore his mouth from hers, but he didn’t let her go. Thomas stared down at her with glittering eyes. “Let’s try that again....”

And this time, the kiss was softer. Tempting her, not taking or demanding, but seducing her instead.

Her emotions were about to rip her apart. She shouldn’t just be standing in his arms.

I’ll always be with you. The memory of those words didn’t scare her. The words made her feel safe. The way being with Thomas always did.

Her hands rose to curl around his shoulders. She shouldn’t be in his arms, no, but nothing had ever felt more right to her before.

His mouth pressed to hers, and her lips parted. He kissed her, deeply, sensually, and she rose onto her toes in front of him. The anger that had been blasting through her changed. Desire rose, igniting like a firestorm because, suddenly, it was all too much. The past. The present. The fire. The fear.

She didn’t want to think anymore. She only wanted to feel. And Thomas, he was very, very good at making her feel.

Her hands shoved against his coat. He let her go, just for a moment, and that coat hit the floor. He stared at her, and she could read his gaze then, no problem. Lust and heavy desire shined in his eyes. “Noelle...”

She shook her head. She’d asked him to talk. He’d refused. Now... Now she just wanted to keep feeling.

Noelle tossed aside her coat. Kicked off her boots and ditched her socks. She was stripping in front of him, when she’d never had the courage to do this before, not in front of the only two lovers she’d had. She’d been so nervous with them. So afraid.

But there wasn’t any room for fear. Not with him.

Thomas pulled her against him and kissed her again, even as his hands slid over her flesh. His fingertips were rough, callused, but he was so careful as he caressed her. She arched into his touch. Wanting more. Needing more. She needed everything he had to give.

Lies. Truth. She didn’t know the line between them anymore.

She didn’t know what was memory. What was hope. She only knew desire.

He pulled her down onto the rug in front of the fireplace. She could hear the wind howling outside. She could feel the mad drumbeat of her heart, shaking her from the inside.

He ditched his clothes, and then he—he just gazed down at her.