Page 26 of Redeeming Meg

His lips were warm and demanding. Possessive.

She was immune to many things, but Declan’s lips were not one of them. Even now, after his confession, those lips could bring her to her knees.

She shoved at his chest, fighting to move away. He allowed it, both of them breathing heavily as their eyes stayed locked on each other’s.

He reached out as if he would grasp her arms and drag her back, but then he let them fall to his sides. “I’ve wanted to do that for a long time.”

She wanted to slap his face, yell about how inappropriate his timing was, not to mention the fact that nonconsensual kisses were rude and…

She swallowed hard and licked her lips, watching his eyes track the movement. Screw that. All of it. His touch, his lips—she wanted more. More of his steadiness. More of…him.

I will always choose you…

“I shouldn’t be here,” she admitted. “My head is… Screwed up.”

She thought he might reach for her again, but he didn’t. “No more so than the rest of the world. No matter what happens, we are a team. I won’t let you go off the deep end, but you have to let me help you.”

There was a part of her that wanted to throw her arms around his neck, to throw caution—and her damaged, broken heart—to the wind.

Later.

She hoped there would be time for that later.

Always reading her mind, he held out of hand. “Don’t let Hagar see you. I’ll distract him.”And end him if given the opportunity. It was in his eyes, if not said aloud. “You focus on that USB.”

She slipped her hand into his. “If we get separated…”

“I’ll meet up with you and the others at the evac site.”

“Be careful.”

Their footsteps were silent as they descended, and once they reached the fire door on the first floor, Dec insisted she stay put while he scouted ahead. It killed her to allow him to take the lead, but he was much better at stealth than she was. She was more likely to double-fist her weapons and start taking out any terrorist she ran into.

Which would only make matters worse, but God, it would feel good to get at least a little revenge on the men who had kidnapped her, tortured her, and did even worse to her friend.

She paced while she waited, the ultrasonic gun in hand in case anyone came through the door that wasn’t him. A minutegrew into three, then five. She was ready to ignore his orders and go after him when he slipped back into the stairwell, a finger to his lips.

He leaned in and spoke into her ear, his breath warming the shell. “There are at least a dozen, if not more. Right now, they’re looting, along with a bunch of the citizens who joined the uprising. Hagar is watching. It’s as if he’s waiting for something.”

“Or someone,” she whispered back. “Did you spot Shredder Man?”

“Negative. But Hagar’s lieutenant, Sayed Karzai, mentionedfinding the rat, if my Farsi is still accurate.”

He wasn’t fluent in it, but better than she was. “Could be our guy.”

A shrug. “Or anyone else. We can’t search everyone in the place, but maybe Shredder Guy is Marchetti’s assistant and took the drive to hide it. We need to find out.”

“He may be armed with the missing weapon. We just didn’t see them on his person.”

He handed her his Sig. “Fully loaded. Don’t take chances. If anyone, including that other trigger-happy moron, lifts so much as an eyebrow at you, shoot them.”

She pushed it away. “You need that more than I do.”

“Meg.” He held it out. “Either you take this, or I stick to you like glue.”

She worried her bottom lip. “You are always so bullheaded.”

He snorted a laugh. “Pot, kettle, on that one, sweetheart.”

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