Page 124 of Secret Weapon

“Blackwood encourages staff to develop their skills.I also have a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology, and I’m learning acupuncture.”

I could speak seven languages, put a bullet through a man’s eye at twelve hundred metres, and fly everything from a Cessna to a commercial jet to a MiG, but I didn’t have a piece of paper to say so.My “qualifications” were useless in the civilian world.

Alex’s definitely weren’t.He hit exactly the right spots, and a sound that wasn’t even human slipped from my lips.A cross between a moan and a purr?I’d lost my damn mind.

Which was probably why I didn’t say a word when he led me back into my bedroom.When he peeled my sweater over my head and unsnapped my bra.When he…lowered me face-first onto the bed?

“You don’t even want to look at me when you fuck me?”

I thought I’d exhausted the capacity to be hurt in my life, but it seemed I’d been wrong.

Alex’s laughter was unexpected.

“I’m not going to fuck you.Not tonight, anyway.”

“You’re not?”

“No, I’m going to work the kinks out of your back.”

Cool splashes hit my skin—massage oil?Where had that come from?—swiftly followed by the sweep of Alex’s hands, and those hands were impressive.No wonder Emmy funded his continuing education if this was what she got out of it.All those little tight spots magically disappeared, pummelled into submission by a man who knew precisely what he was doing.

Every so often, his fingers would slow, and I knew he was studying my scars.Was he wondering where each one came from?Some were obvious—the thin slice of a knife, the pucker of a bullet hole.Others less so, such as the zipper-like tear I’d gotten when I jumped out of a building and caught the back of my shoulder on a sharp nail as I fell.Art had been the one to sew me up that day, his stitches neat and precise, so the evidence wasn’t as glaringly obvious as it might have been.

Alex’s fingers paused between my shoulder blades, stroking over the bump that remained there.

“This is where you cut out the tracker?”

“I didn’t have time to finesse the job.”

No, I’d just gritted my teeth against the pain as I hacked away, desperate to get that last part of my past out of me.Blood had still been oozing from the wound when I reached Las Vegas.

“Does it still hurt?”

“Sometimes the muscles underneath feel tender, especially when it’s cold.”

“Then I’ll skip that spot.”Instead, he leaned forward and pressed his lips to the lumpy scar.“I hate that you went through that.”

“It’s over,” I whispered.

But was it?Ilya was back…

Alex raised my hips to unfasten my jeans, then slid them off over my feet before starting on my legs.Even though I was nearly naked, there was nothing sleazy about his touch, although when he turned me over, the enormous bulge in his pants told me he wasn’t quite as unaffected by the situation as he’d made out.

“Tell me that’s not an occupational hazard?”

“Only with you.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to…?”

Wasn’t everything in life a trade?And okay, I was a tiny bit hot and bothered too.

“Tonight, I want you to sleep well, nothing more.Close your eyes.”

I’d always prided myself on being prepared.On staying alert and ready to react to any threat.But by the time Alex had finished with me, I was nothing but a limp heap of dopamine and thoroughly unknotted muscles, my skin slick with oil and my eyes barely able to focus.

He leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to my lips.

“I’ll see you in the morning.”

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