Melody's Six

A twitch stung him, dead-center between his shoulder blades. Faking this marriage was tough enough. He didn’t ever want to wear that label in real life again. “No. I sound like your concerned partner. Believe me, Atwell is trying to figure out why you’re familiar to him.”

“Not a chance.” She shook her head, the golden curls of her ponytail swinging with the motion, feathering across the back of his hand. “It was—”

At the sound of footsteps approaching, he nuzzled her neck. “Aw, come on, baby. It’ll be fun.”

She picked up the cue immediately, pressing closer with a sultry giggle.

His mouth danced up and over her chin, finding hers for sweet kiss. Her velvety-soft lips were warm and familiar. She sighed, her fingers toying with his hair. Lifting a hand to her cheek, he tipped up her face. He only intended to deepen the illusion. Then her lips parted under his and his tongue swept across hers. His first real taste of her.

“Mel.” The plea was ragged. One of them had to be smart.

For a moment, her eyes met his, wide and unfocused. Then her eyelids lowered and she rocked her hips into his. He was lost. All hers. His mouth crashed into hers, hot and needy. Time and place fell away as a new intense awareness pounded through him. His world started and stopped right here, with her. She was on the same wild ride, her tongue dipping into his mouth, her strong arms holding him tight.

This wasn’t a partner kiss. This was loaded with desire and too many sensations for him to process. He lost track of the reason they’d come out here, had no idea what happened to the person who’d been approaching.

“You should take that back to your cabin.” Spalding’s booming voice was almost as effective as a bucket of ice water.

Almost. Dean dragged his mouth from Mel’s, his hands keeping her steady when she swayed. She ducked her head and touched her mouth with one hand.

“Good advice,” Dean agreed. “Have a good night, sir.” He caught Mel around the waist and hurried her along, back up the path.

“You too.” Spalding’s chuckle followed them.

They reached the cabin in record time, Dean’s pulse still jackhammering in his veins. What the hell was that? How was he going to walk that back? He didn’t want to. No, fool that he was, he already craved another taste of her.

They’d shared kisses time and again on the job. Been close for the sake of cover.

A kiss didn’t mean anything.

Until it did.

* * *

“I’ve been thinking,”Mel whispered in the dark.

Or, more accurately, she’d been trying to think about everything except kissing Dean. Whatever that had been, she had to let it go. A one-off mistake, too involved in the act. The only silver lining was they’d apparently convinced Spalding they were in the throes of newlywed bliss.

And that was the point.

But they hadn’t spoken more than a few words since returning to the cabin. That kiss seemed to linger on her lips and in the air, like ozone in the air after a lightning strike. Now, sharing the bed with Dean, she felt all stiff and awkward. Worried that any movement would end with her right back in his arms.

Unfortunately, right this second, she couldn’t come up with a reason why that would be a bad thing.

“Mel? You fall asleep?”

If only. “No. Sorry.” She had to pull herself together. Hot kisses or not, they were here to do a job. “I heard you. I understand you’re worried about me and about how Azizi managed to get over here and become Atwell.”

Dean shifted, adjusting the pillow under his head, but didn’t interrupt her.

“Our focus needs to be protecting the scouting team. They don’t seem to be under any threat from Atwell.”

“Go on.”

Those two little words, delivered in monotone, confirmed he still believed she was in danger. “We gave Beck a heads-up.” Mel focused on the assignment. Any lusty thoughts, wayward hormones, and misplaced concerns had to wait. “We have to count on her to make the connections that got him here.”

“And she’ll rely on us to find and report on anything incriminating going on here.”