Glitter and Gunfire/Bulletproof (Shadow Agents 4)

“I’ve never seen anyone fight the way you did.”

When it came to up-close kills, he knew he had a brutal talent. But that wasn’t something he would have chosen for her to see.

I guess we’re both seeing things we shouldn’t. “Why do you do it?” Cale asked, voice deep and rough because the arousal he felt for her pulsed through him. “Why do you pretend to be the party girl, flitting from one ballroom to another?”

“Maybe that is who I am.” Where his voice had been rough, hers was soft. Husky. “No pretending needed.”

He didn’t buy it anymore. “No. You’re the woman who didn’t flinch when the Executioner had his knife at her throat.” Even though she’d flinched when she’d touched Cale’s chest.

So many contradictions.

So much mystery.

That was Cassidy.

“You’re strong and you’re smart, and you don’t let fear control you.”

Her gaze met his. She didn’t stop touching him. “That’s because I can’t let it control me. I won’t.”

She was so much stronger than he’d realized. I was a fool.

“They’re going to try to take me away from you.” Cassidy’s soft words made him furious—because he knew they were true.

He’d screwed up. He hadn’t protected her as he should have, and now Mercer already had other EOD agents there to take over her case.

One agent in particular...

Drew Lancaster. The guy was good—cold but good. Former Delta Force, Lancaster had a reputation for emotionless hunts. Some said he had ice that pumped through his veins, not blood.

“I guess that’s the way it works, right? Agents come, agents go.” Her smile was bittersweet. “But I’m not going to forget you as easily as I have the others.”

“Damn straight, you’re not.” He sure wouldn’t be forgett

ing her anytime soon, and—he didn’t want to let her go.

So he tightened his hold on her.

“Why did you kiss me in that basement?” Cale asked her, unable to hold back the question. She hadn’t needed to seduce him then.

“I did it for the same reason that I kissed you the first time.”

The first time her lips had brushed against his, Cale had thought that she was trying to manipulate him with sex.

A trick that wouldn’t have worked coming from most women.

Only she wasn’t most women. He was finding that he would do just about anything for her.

“What was the reason?” he pressed, because he wanted to hear her confession.

“Don’t you already know?” Then she leaned toward him. Her lips feathered lightly over his. “Because I want you, Cale Lane. I kissed you the first time because I needed to feel your mouth on mine, and the second time—it was about need, too. About me wanting you, needing you, as a memory to hold against anything bad that could happen to me in that terrible place.”

Had she thought that she might not escape the Executioner alive?

Her lips molded to his.

His mouth opened as he took control of the kiss. He wanted more than just a light touch from her. He wanted everything.

That was exactly what he was determined to have.