Page 62 of My Temptation

“From what I heard, they watched me in the academy and liked what I was doing. Truthfully, my skill set and the fact that I was a female were enticing to them. Not a lot of female agents want to go undercover. I think they considered that an asset they couldn’t wait for.” She paused, but before I could ask more, she continued. “What about you? You told me you came to North Carolina for college but then just found New Hope?”

“Yeah. After I figured out college wasn’t for me, I roamed for a little while, and then one night, armed with my fake ID, I stopped in a bar called Mac’s. That’s where I met Jake Dimarco, who not only told me about Elite but also agreed not to tell the owner, whose name is actually Mac, that I wasn’t twenty-one.”

She smirked. “How did he know that?”

“Not sure it was that hard to figure out once we started talking,” I admitted. “I asked if he could get me an interview at Elite, and he agreed.”

Her eyebrows rose. “Just like that?”

“Yeah. He said he could tell I’d get along well with his brother Brody. I interviewed, but Brody explained they were restructuring and it could take a while to hear back.”

Mila turned in her seat to face me. “What did you do?”

“I went back to Florida, hung out with my sister for a while, worked a few different jobs, and then, out of the blue, Brody called me. I was back in New Hope within two weeks of him calling, and Brody was training me to install security systems.”

“Is that what you interviewed for?”

I huffed out a laugh. “I was willing to do anything but wasn’t qualified for much. I did have some experience with wiring, though, so Brody thought I’d pick up on installing systems fast.”

“How’d you get that experience?”

“I liked wiring bombs when I was younger,” I replied, careful to keep my expression neutral.

When all I heard was silence, I looked over at Mila and laughed when I saw the disbelief on her face.

She slapped my bicep and laughed with me. “I thought you were serious.”

“I could tell.”

She leaned toward me and grinned. “Why do I have the feeling you could actually build a bomb?”

I smirked. “Oh, I definitely could.”

She tilted her head to the side. “Arrogance isn’t attractive.”

“Confidence is,” I retorted.

She shifted in her seat to face me and pulled her leg up, putting her closer. Almost immediately, her scent surrounded me, and just like every time before, I was lost in her. Her green eyes sparkled, and what I once thought was teasing, I now recognized as excitement. The day we’d been in the gym together, the day Beth was taken, I thought she was teasing me. I was sure she’d figured out how I felt about her and was mocking me, but after the last week and working so closely, I knew I was wrong. Her eyes did that whenever she was excited about something, and I’d noticed they’d been doing it more often when we stared at each other for too long. It was beginning to fuel my desire to make her look at me like that. I’d been pretending she didn’t affect me because I knew nothing could happen. She wasn’t interested in men, and I had no reason to believe she wasn’t being honest about that. She was trained to be her alias while undercover, and nothing came between Mila and her assignment. She wanted to prove herself and would stop at nothing to show everyone she belonged on the team.

I had so many valid reasons for putting distance between us when we weren’t in public.

But at this moment, I couldn’t remember any of them.

Or I just didn’t give a shit anymore.

In the end, I would hate myself for playing along, but I just couldn’t find the strength to care.

Her eyes dropped to my lips before sliding back up to stare into mine. “Confidence is only sexy on certain men.”

I tried to think of something clever to say, but as she swayed closer, all I could think about was her body pressed tightly against mine.

“Ethan,” she whispered.

I swallowed hard and lifted my hand to wrap around the side of her neck. Christ, her skin was soft. I wanted to feel her silky, naked skin rubbing against mine while I ran my hands all over her body.

“Yeah,” I replied, my voice hoarse.

“I…” Her eyes slid to the side before widening.

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