Page 54 of Dangerous Devotion

She blinked down at the small devices no larger than tiny insects. “You plan to play spy games while we pretend to eat dry roast, and you were going to leave me in the dark on this?”

“Are we having a roast?”

She unfolded her arms long enough to throw her hands in the air. “How would I know?”

He leaned over the console, bringing his spicy scent close enough to make her senses spin and his hard lips near enough to cause her insides to flutter.

“Planting bugs could be romantic, May.”

She darted a glance at his lips. “Oh yeah? How?”

“Because we’re doing it together.”

His words were low and gritty, not at all the kind of thing that would cause her to rock in her seat. But she had to grip the seat to remain in it—and not end up in AJ’s lap.

Kissing the hell out of him.

Rubbing against him.

“So now we’re in it together?” she challenged.

“I told you what you wanted to know, didn’t I?”

“Only after I forced you to.”

“No one can force me to do anything I don’t want to, darlin’.” He reached out and hooked his knuckle beneath her chin, catching her even more off guard. Tingles scattered through her lower belly…and kept on sinking oh so low between her legs.

“AJ.” She meant for her voice to sound like a warning, but it came out breathless.

He studied her face. “You know you love working with me.”

“If you mean I love sneaking around in the house of an old family friend, trying to distract him while you plant bugs to spy on him, then you’re wrong.” Her voice came out too husky. Too heated by the desire mounting in her core.

He stroked his fingertip under her chin in an infinitesimal caress, but her body ate it up. Desire arced through her at a high voltage.

She squeezed her thighs together and reached for the door handle. She had to get out of this car before she jumped his bones and to hell with the op.

She leaped out and didn’t take three steps before AJ was there, reaching out to take her by the hand. She tried to ignore the acceleration of her pulse when his warm, callused hand enveloped hers.

The way he shifted his shoulders as he led her to the big wood-and-glass double doorsdrippedwith sexy confidence.

His posture…the way he moved…

Everything showed her that this man was a professional, already deep in the game.

May straightened her back and focused on what she needed to do. What began as a chance meeting when they ran into Simpson at the ball now felt dark and fraught with risk.

Simpson just extended a friendly dinner invitation to me because of his relationship with my family. Nothing deeper than that.

But she wasn’t stupid. Popping up at the ball, then at the base where Simpson was in command, did look a little fishy.

She and AJ came to a stop in front of the impressive doors and traded a look.

He extended a long finger and pressed the doorbell. In moments, the shadow of a form was visible behind the glass door, and then Simpson opened it to greet them with his usual reserved smile.

Out of uniform, he looked even more like the old friend she knew, the one who visited during summers to go fishing with her father. In fact, he lacked the formidable demeanor that came with the uniform.

“May! And Alfonso. So glad you made it.” He acted like his old self too as he leaned in to plant a peck on May’s cheek and grasped AJ’s hand in a handshake. “Come in. Care for a martini?”

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