Page 26 of Lethal Game

He dressed and left the bathroom to find her sitting on the cot staring at the wall. “Got it figured out yet?”

“Not really.” She shrugged. “There’s a lot of things about people I don’t get.”

“Yeah, like what?”

“Like how anyone can justify any of the evils that seem so common in society.”

“Theft, rape, and murder, you mean?”

“For a start, yeah.”

“I think you have a pretty unique view of life,” he began. “You seem to see the world in absolutes. Useful, not useful. Smart, dumb. Good, bad. Most people are all over the place.”

“That sounds like a psychological analysis.” She glanced at him with a disbelieving expression. “Are you trying to manage me?” She shook her head and answered her own question. “Of course you are. It’s a coping strategy you learned growing up with all those older sisters.” She leveled a scowl at him. “I’m not them.”

Thank fuck.

She wanted the truth. Fine. That’s what he would give her. He crouched in front of her again and met her gaze. “You’ve got an hourglass figure that no uniform can hide, a face that makes a man race to open doors for you, even if that door leads straight to hell, and your hair is the stuff of wet dreams. The only reason you aren’t overwhelmed with offers is because you don’t notice any of them. And if a man gets too pushy you shut him down so fast he doesn’t even realize you’ve castrated him until he’s standing there with his balls in his hands wondering what the fuck happened.”

She blinked. “I assume you’re speaking of my castrating people figuratively.”

“You’re so damned smart when it comes to what you do that Max describes you as a prodigy, but you are completely clueless when it comes to men.”

“I know that.”

“Well, wise up.”

“And just how am I supposed to do that?”

He closed his eyes and wondered if prayer was the only way he was going to get through this assignment.

“I’m not,” she began in a softer tone, “all that comfortable around men in a sexual connotation.”

He opened his eyes and watched her head tilt to one side.

“It’s not that I don’t crave contact with another person, it’s just that I never had time to experiment like all the other girls do when they’re teenagers. So here I am, twenty-four and I don’t know what to do, how to do it, or when to do it.”

“You,” he began, his voice as soft and easy as he could make it, “are very beautiful. Just be honest with the guy you decide you want to be with. Tell him your situation. If he’s any kind of decent, he’ll be happy to let you experiment on any part of him you want.”

Didn’t he sound like the voice of reason when the last thing he was feeling with regards to her was reasonable. Hewantedto be that man.

She swallowed. “Oh, okay.”

“Yeah?” he asked, searching her face. She still looked too thoughtful, too anxious. “We’re good?”

She hesitated a moment longer, then nodded. “Yes. Thank you.” She paused, then said, “And I’ve decided to give you the green light.”

All Con could think of was their proximity to the bed.

“I think you’re the best partner Max could have found for me anywhere.”

She wasn’t talking about sex,asshole.

He cleared his throat. “We need to report in,” he managed to say in a businesslike tone. “And I need you at the shooting range for at least a couple of hours this morning.”

They headed out with her asking him about which weapons he preferred for himself and in what situation would he use them. It was a safe topic and the conversation got them all the way to the lab building.

Max was waiting for them. The colonel looked Sophia up and down, and Con remembered the warning about the bruises.

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