Page 39 of Marked for Danger

It had been a particularly gruesome murder-for-hire scheme where the husband had hired someone to torture his wife to death. The husband was a doctor and really fucking smart, so it took the team longer than usual to find the evidence needed to put the bastard away for life. But, as was the way with his team, they’d done their due diligence and eventually got their man.

“I remember.” Declan nodded. “We went to Sin. Drank some. Danced a little. It was a good night.”

Sure as hell was.

“I took Izzy home that night. We agreed to keep things casual, which I thought was all I wanted. So did she. But…”

“It became more.”

Grady nodded. “A whole lot more.”

“That’s great, man.” His partner smiled wide. “Really. I’m happy for you.”

“Thanks.” He almost felt himself blush. “The thing is, Izzy’s a very private person. I don’t want something said that could offend or embarrass her.”

“I get it, man. I won’t say anything.”

“Funny thing is, she actually broke things off the other day.”

“That explains why I had to put up with your cranky ass for two days.”

“Yeah, sorry about that.” Grady grinned. “This whole time she’s been preaching how she doesn’t do commitments and all that, but then last night after we got to her house…I don’t know. It was like the shooting opened her eyes or something, because the next thing I know, she’s telling me she’s in love with me.”

Dec nearly spit out the drink of coffee he’d just sipped between his lips. “In love?” The other man coughed and sputtered. “Well that’s…”

“Fucking awesome.” Grady smiled wide.

“I take it the feeling’s mutual?”

“Oh, yeah. I mean, I agreed to the no-strings deal at first because I thought the same thing. I’ve neve been in love before. Never been with a woman make me think of the future and kids and all that.”

“And now?”

“Now…” Grady’s heart swelled at the thought of building a future with Izzy. “Now I can’t wait to see where this thing with her is gonna go.”

“I know that feeling. Still feel that every single day with Skye. Not a better feeling in the world than knowing you have a good woman who loves you.”

No, he couldn’t imagine there was.

“She doesn’t make it easy for people to get close to her.”

Declan sat back in his chair and linked his fingers behind his head. “Not surprised, given what happened to her and her brother when they were kids.”

Grady swung his gaze to his partner’s. “What do you mean?” He frowned. “What happened when they were kids?”

“Oh, shit. I’m sorry, man. I just assumed you knew.”

“Knew what?”

Rather than answer the question, Declan asked one of his own. “You really don’t know?”

“If I knew, do you think I’d be asking?”

“Sorry, I just…I guess I figured you’d already looked her up since you guys had that whole friends-with-benefits thing going on.”

“I thought about it,” he confessed. “In the end, I decided I wanted to get to know her the old-fashioned way. Let her reveal facts about herself as she and I got to know each other better.”

“Well, I’m guessing by your reaction to my comment, she never got into any of it with you.”

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