The Girl Next Door (Shadow Agents 6)

Leaving her alone was the last thing on his mind.

“I’m not running, and I will have you.” He thought it was better to be clear about his intentions. “And when you’re under me in bed, it’s not going to be about seducing you for intel. It’s going to be about seducing you for the sheer, hot pleasure that we can bring to each other.”

Because on that point, at least, there would be no deception.

He started to step back.

Her hands flew up and curled around his shoulders. “My turn,” she said, surprising him.

Cooper’s brows climbed.

“I’m not seducing you so that you’ll protect me from that killer out there.”

She wasn’t—

“When I’m with you, it’s going to be because that’s where I want to be. Because I want you.” Her voice dropped, got even huskier, seemed to stroke right over his skin as she added, “And I do want you, Cooper. I want you more than I’ve ever wanted another man.”

She was going to bring him to his knees.

“But I am not,” Gabrielle continued in the next instant, “going to tell you anything about the EOD. So I figure we have two choices. We can continue working as partners, but you don’t get to ask me about the EOD again. You just don’t. Hugh’s afraid of the group, and if Hugh is afraid, then I am, too. I won’t do anything to put you in their sights.”

His teeth were clenched so tightly together that his jaw ached.

“Or we can go with option two,” she said, her voice like sin. “We can forget being partners, just be lovers—and there will be no more questions asked from either of us.”

His heart slammed into his chest. The blood in his veins heated and seemed to pump even faster, harder.

“There’s another option,” Cooper forced himself to say. “Option three. We stay partners and we become lovers.” He paused, long enough to let those words sink in. “That’s the option I want.”

She wet her lips. “Me, too...”

Then that was the option they would take. And, maybe...maybe Gabrielle never had to learn the truth about him. If he could keep her away from the EOD, then Gabrielle could keep believing he was just a P.I. who lived in her brownstone.

They could keep being partners...and lovers.

He backed away from her. For now. She skirted toward the door and stepped into the lobby. But then she paused. Her hand reached for his. Her fingers curled around his.

The touch was so innocent and light. An ache grew in his chest. “Gabrielle,” he began, but then Cooper saw the man rushing toward him. The man with a badge clipped on his belt and a burning glare on his face.

Detective Carmichael had just joined the party.

“Lane?” Gabrielle didn’t release Cooper’s hand. “Do you have news? Did you find out about—”

The detective braked to a hard stop right in front of her. “Why didn’t you call me?” He pulled Gabrielle away from Cooper. “I just heard about the break-in! Damn it, Gabby, you should have let me know right away! I would have rushed over!”

And Cooper realized that all along, the detective had responded a little too personally to Gabrielle.

I’ve had one lover.

Jealousy thickened within Cooper. He had the feeling he was looking at Gabrielle’s ex. He should have seen it before.

“You’re homicide,” Gabrielle said as she glanced around the lobby. They’d attracted a few stares. “This was a B&E. Cooper said he had friends who could help and they—”

Carmichael sent a withering glare Cooper’s way. “I’m sure he has plenty of friends. Just like the friend who managed to get him hauled out of my precinct last night.”

Cooper

gave him a grim smile. Get your hands off her, cop.