Page 30 of Explosive Vengeance

He nodded. “You’re not?”

“Not tired.”

“Yeah, energy drinks in the middle of the night will do that to you.” With the amount of caffeine in her system, she should be up for days.

One side of her mouth turned up. “That’s why I like ‘em. I get a crap-ton done while the rest of the world is asleep.” She sank onto the far sofa, patted the cushion next to her. “Come talk with me a minute.”

What he should do was hit the rack, sleep, and shore up his resistance to her. Because that seemed to be fading a bit with every minute he spent in her company. What was it about her that tangled him up so much?

He took the sofa across from her rather than accept her invitation, earning a pout. “What do you want to talk about?”

She tilted her head, considering him. “You.”

“What about me?”

“I’m just trying to figure out why you’re sticking around after everything you learned earlier.”

“Because it’s the middle of the night and I’m tired.”

She gave him a level look. “You know what I mean. You could try to get out now, before you get in any deeper.”

He shrugged. “Ty’s my best friend. I won’t walk away if he needs my help.”

“Admirable, but it’s more than that.” Those deep brown eyes continued to scrutinize him, giving him the eerie impression that she could see into his mind. “You’re a Boy Scout,” she murmured, having finished her analysis and come to her final conclusion.

“No I’m not,” he blurted, unable to keep the defensive edge out of his tone. He’d been called that before, and though it might be true to some extent, it still annoyed him that she’d said it.

“Yes, you are. You save people. It’s what you do, and now that you know what’s going on, you feel obligated to help me too. But as you’ve seen, I’m not helpless or in need of a man to rescue me. I don’t need a protector, so you can just stop with the whole white-knight routine.”

It’s not a routine.He bit the retort back before it could burst out of his mouth. He wouldn’t rise to the bait and let her know she was getting to him. “I can’t up and leave you and the others now that I know what’s going on.”

She sighed. “See? Boy Scout.”

Well, so what if he was a bit? “I’m only going to be around for another couple weeks. You’re used to working alone, but things change. What’s the harm in having some backup?” Okay, part of him felt compelled to help protect Chloe as she put herself in danger for the sake of others. He didn’t like that she was at risk because of it, with a dangerous enemy hot on her tail and people within the U.S. government possibly targeting her too. She needed help, whether she wanted to admit it or not.

“There’s gotta be more to it than that,” she argued, staring at him as if he was a riddle she was trying to solve.

He felt the same about her. “What about you?” he countered. “Why risk your life to save women you’ve never met?”

“Because no one else is going to.”

He arched an eyebrow. “That kinda makes you a Girl Scout then, doesn’t it?”

She half-smiled. “Nope. Because I don’t play by the rules.”

God help him, she was damn near hypnotic with that insanely sexy blend of confidence and resolve. “And what’s your plan? You gonna blow something up to save them?”

Her eyes gleamed. “Only if I get lucky.”

He wasn’t so tired that he missed the double entendre. He leaned back into the cushions, sleep suddenly the farthest thing from his mind. “What else are you trained in?”

Amusement crept into her eyes. “A lot of handy things.”

“Such as?”

Another slight upward curve of her mouth. Her lower lip was fuller than the top. A soft pink, no lipstick. He had the sudden urge to suck on it, sink his teeth into it. Mark her a tiny bit, soothe it with his tongue, then delve inside to taste her. “If you stick around long enough, I’ll show you.”

Only an unconscious man would miss the innuendo, the female interest in her gaze. Entranced as he was, he wasn’t dropping this line of questioning yet. “How did you meet Megan?”

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