Page 4 of Dangerous Devotion

This op was getting off to aterriblestart, but she was no quitter. There was a reason why she held such a notable position and worked with special ops teams all over the world. She was the best at what she did too.

Swinging her attention back to Con, she jumped to her most persuasive argument. “With all due respect, Constantine, you can see it’s impossible for Henner and me to pull this off. We have to pose as a couple at this gala, and that means we have to actually like each other.”

Henner huffed. “I’ve been to these galas before. Plenty of the couples are at each other’s throats and good at hiding it.”

She sucked in a breath. Was he suggesting thatshecouldn’t pull this off? She opened her mouth to share some of her credentials, including the latest, which was working with the CIA to investigate a top-secret weapon overseas. But anything she said would fall on deaf ears.

She closed her mouth and pushed away from the table. With a courteous nod to Constantine, she said, “Thank you for taking my concerns into consideration.”

Then she pierced Henner in a glare. “I’ll just have to make the most of a bad situation.”

With measured steps, she strode by Henner and out the door. She didn’t take four steps before she heard boots thumping the floor behind her.

He caught up with her in no time at all. From the corner of her eye, she studied him. His huge frame dwarfed hers, though she was the tallest woman in her family.

She continued toward the exit, ignoring him completely.

“You actually thought Con would change his mind.”

It took a lot of self-control, but she refused to rise to his taunt.

Her soft shoes made no sound on the high-quality marble tile floor of Charlie team’s base. She’d heard the rumors about this building being seized by the government for unpaid taxes and sitting empty until some higher-up decided to hide their black ops team in plain sight.

When she arrived at the New Jersey mansion, she was stunned by the fairytale storybook look of the base. The inside was decked out in high-end materials, but from what she’d seen, the rest was exactly like what you’d expect from the military, with sparse, cold furnishings.

“Are you going to answer my question?”

“I didn’t hear any question,” she tossed back at Henner.

He kept pace with what were long strides for her but nothing for him. “Did you really think you’d get your way with Con?”

She made the error of looking at him. Since she’d been seated across the conference table from him, she knew what he looked like, but his piercing dark blue eyes set in his tan face nearly made her steps falter.

He wore a black T-shirt and black military-issue pants made for performance in the field that hugged his muscular body like they were tailored for him.

She could only imagine what the man would look like in a tux.

Her step slowed again.

Nope. Still didn’t make her like him any better.

“For the record,” he bit off, “I don’t want to work with you either. The difference between us is I don’t defy orders.”

“For the record”—she delivered a glare that cut as sharp as her tone—“I’m a private contractor. I don’t take orders from your leader. Or you.”

She quickened her pace until she reached the heavy front door. Opening it had taken a lot of body strength, making her glad she hit the gym on a regular basis. But when she latched her hand on the big brass handle and tugged, the heavy wood slab only opened a crack and then shut again, yanking her forward from the sheer weight.

A chuckle sounded from the cocky jerk standing behind her. “Since we’re about to attend a gala together, allow me to show off my manners by opening the door for you.” He snaked a long arm across her and lashed his fingers around the long bar of brass above hers. With no effort at all, he yanked open the door, and May stalked out.

This op wasn’t just going to fail. It would probably end her career once people got wind of how disastrous it actually was.

And it would be Special Operative AJ Henner’s fault.

TWO

Henner gave the universe credit for blessings, even small ones.

Being paired with the explosives expert wasn’t one of them.

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