Page 3 of Stealth Mission

Dangerous, fiery eyes flash toward me. “Let. Me. Go.”

Oh no. I know good and well when you need to keep the enemy close. “How about figuring out who you’re hitting before you knock their brain into next week?”

We breathe at each other.

Wild energy pulses around us.

Her heart is pounding madly against my sternum. Every damned one of her curves is glued to me.

Yes. This is really happening.

I’ve breached a lot of buildings in my time as an operator.

Gunfire. Smoke grenades. Bad guys. That’s what you expect, along with being ready for the unexpected.

Just not this. And that includes the reaction my body has to hers.

For some reason, it makes me feel better she’s affected too. Even if it is only fury that’s got her vibrating.

A frown pinches her brows together as she glares up at me. “For all I know, you were with those jerks.”

I’m a jerk, alright, but for a whole different reason.

My voice comes out thick. I’m about ten seconds from being at full mast. “I’m one of the good guys. Not that I can’t be bad when the situation calls for it.”

Her eyes narrow. “Surely, you’re not making a sexual joke right now.”

An older couple teeters out of the bank, giving us a wide berth as they pass, their gray hair in disarray, throwing me death glares.

With a somber nod in their direction, I regretfully set the brown-eyed wild woman away from me. This time, I step back, making sure I’m out of range. “Really, I’m here to help.”

She jerks her bag off of the ground. Whatever’s inside makes a clanging noise.

“A little late, don’t you think? The bad guys are gone. Only a couple of customers left inside.”

“Did they hurt you?”

“No.”

But she’s rattled and reasonably so. The shaking hands, the tremble in her pretty lips make my blood surge hot for a different reason.

I want to make those fuckers pay for scaring her.

Straightening her spine, she looks me in the eyes. “I’m fine.”

She pushes a hand into her hair but doesn’t look away. I’m not sure what’s happening, but I like this better than her punching me in the gut.

I drink my fill of her beauty.

My feet seem to have glued themselves to the sidewalk. Some might think I’m staring because of the hit I took to the head. But the dazed and confused feeling is pure chemistry.

I’m gobsmacked.

Shit, how do I even know that word?

The cornersI feel of my lips tug upward. “Personally, I’m beginning to think I was right on time.”

She doesn’t bother to reply, but instead looks past me, the color on her cheeks still pink. “Uh oh. The gossip gang is showing up.”

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