Page 34 of Pulse

They stayed that way for a few moments, both lost in thought. Her air conditioning whirring to life was the only sound besides their breathing.

“I walked away that day,” he eventually said against her skin. “So many fucked-up things happened during that time, but Camila’s death was the final straw. I couldn’t do it anymore, so I resigned and left that life behind.”

And at some point, he’d gone to nursing school to begin a new career. She’d loved to ask him what drove him toward his current job, but it wasn’t the time. They needed to focus on the issue at hand.

“Want to know the most fucked-up part?”

She ran her hands up and down his back. The patches on his cut tickled her palms and reminded her of what the DEA agent wanted in the first place—Pulse spying on his club.

“What’s that?”

“I missed it,” he whispered against her skin. “Missed them. The way they were with each other. The way I became part of the family.”

The pieces fell into place. She nudged him back by his shoulders. Their gazes locked, and her breath caught.

“That’s why you joined the MC.”

CHAPTER NINE

HE’D HAVE BEEN more comfortable if someone carved him open and let his insides spill out all over the room. Four years undercover, never talking about his true feelings and thoughts, followed by five years of keeping himself emotionally removed from everyone in his life, meant he was severely out of practice talking about his shit.

Sharing his secrets with Talia, secrets he’d never voiced, made his body prickle as though thousands of needles were dancing along his oversensitive skin. His clothes felt too tight, near suffocating. Her arms around him felt intoxicating and torturous.

Her tits pressed into his chest, and her soft skin against his own soothed as well as aroused. He was as out of practice with physical intimacy as he was emotional. Sure, he fucked on occasion, but that’s all it was. The sixty seconds of hugging Talia was more meaningful than a single sexual interaction he’d had over the past five years.

“You needed a family,” she whispered as she snuck a hand under his cut then continued rubbing his back. Without the leather and thick patches blunting the sensation, he might as well have been naked. The heat from her hand seared through his thin T-shirt.

“Yeah,” he whispered back, though the admission nearly killed him.

Talia’s hand slid to his lower back, then stilled beneath his cut. She pulled away, only far enough so she could see his face. “And now the DEA wants you to spy on your family.”

Did they? Something about this entire situation was off. After a decade of working for them, Pulse knew how the government worked. The alphabet agencies could be shady as fuck when they needed to be, but actively running a woman off the road to get their way? That wasn’t their style. There were so many methods of putting pressure on a person that were more effective and subtle.

When he didn’t respond right away, Talia frowned. “That’s what they want, right? I mean, that’s what they told me. And when I told the agent to suck on an electrical cord, he said he had ways of making me comply, hence the car accident.” As though a lightbulb went off in her mind, her eyes widened. “Unless…”

He nodded.

God, she was so close he could see a moon-shaped speck of gold in her right eye.

“It’s more in line with something a cartel out for revenge would do. Oh shit, I had the impression he was trying to downplay an accent.”

Goddamn, she was quick. “Yes. I didn’t think that at first, but given what happened to you…” He shrugged. “Something deeper is going on. Maybe a rouge cartel member we missed during the arrest who’s now posing as a DEA agent.”

She swallowed. Her throat rose and fell with the motion, drawing his attention. His lips tingled. She’d taste good, like sweetness and strength intertwined.

“Or maybe they feel the ultimate revenge is infiltrating the DEA.”

Oh shit. She was right. He let his hands fall from around her. They landed on her thighs. “Five years is the perfect amount oftime to get someone in the door. They could have worked up to a solid position and been trusted by the entire agency by now.”

“Yes.” She nodded. “And they bring up this idea of delving into MCs as the perfect way to fuck with you and everyone you love.”

“Fuck,” he spat out as he tried to push off the couch.

Talia caught his hand, drawing him back down. “Pulse, wait.” She kept a firm grip on his hand. “You have to tell Curly.”

He reeled back as though she’d slapped him. “What? Fuck no.” This time, he successfully ripped out of her grasp and leaped off the couch. “That cannot happen,” he said as he paced away. “Worst idea ever. You have no idea the shitstorm that would bring.”

She rose from the couch with a wince that had him feeling like an asshole.

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