And then I kissed him. A tingling buzz and hum drifted over my skin, making me alert in the kind of way that worried me. I’d never felt that before. I’d been kissed of course, usually on jobs or for practice. So I’d only kissed marks and other operators, but nothing had ever felt like this.
His lips were a slow, silken caress and a complete surprise. One I hadn’t been prepared for. I gasped into his mouth, and all that gentleness, all that tentativeness was gone. He deepened the kiss. Not pushing me. More like coaxing me. His tongue delved in, and I caught a spear of need into the center of my core. I tried to clamp my legs together, but since he was standing in front of me where I sat on the bathroom counter, all they did was clamp around his hips. He groaned and then cupped both of my cheeks in his hands and angled my head just how he needed it to stroke his tongue against mine, making me want things I had never needed. Sure, I had wanted, but I had never needed before. Holy hell. Where had this man been hiding?
A tingling need unfurled low in my belly, turning into a wildfire, then an inferno. He changed the angle and the pressure again, teasing me into playing, into being part of the game. Taking the dare, my tongue slid over his, falling into his mouth, exploring tentatively but ready to run. But the spell he wove around me made it impossible to run because I wanted him more than I had ever wanted anything.
And then the alarm bells rang in my head.
Too close, Lyra. Too close to danger. Back down.
I retreated, and he let me, the kiss slowing as I drew back slightly.
He cleared his throat. “See, I don’t think we’re friends.” And then he backed away. “I know you said you wanted to shower, so I will walk you home. When the police get here, I’ll give them a statement and arrange for you to give them one in the morning.”
I was in a daze, my lips still tingling from his kiss when he dropped me in front of my apartment. “Thank you for everything.”
His lips tipped up into a smirk. “You’re welcome. And so you know, since our date was interrupted again, we’ll be getting a re-do.”
He leaned against the wall as he made sure I went in.
“Goodnight, Lyra. Let me know when you’re up for the do-over.”
All I could do was stare at his back as he stomped down the hall like he owned the place. Who the hell was Marcus Black? And had he awakened a monster?
Chapter 3
Marcus
Holy shit.
Kissing Lyra Wilkinson was like sticking my whole body in an electrical socket. The buzzing hum stayed with me as I walked back to my flat.
I locked the door behind me, then double locked it and chained it because I wanted to make it difficult for myself when my body prompted me to go back and finish that kiss. Finish it naked. Finish it with her screaming my name.
What the hell? Where had that side of the woman been hiding? She kissed like she was discovering kissing for the first time and really, really liked it.
How had I not seen it before? I ran my hands through my hair and paced in an attempt to burn off some of the energy.
You were too in your head. Now enjoy it.
Fucking hell. She was dangerous
I needed a clear head. She’d tried to give me that ’we should be friends’ nonsense.
Friends? What kind of shite was that?
She wanted to walk away. That had never happened before. Whenever I put my mind into something or someone, they all wanted to stay. But not Lyra. I might have let her go if she hadn’t kissed me.
We needed to stop with this banal small talk and start touching more. There should be lots more touching. I’d seen her tonight, the real her, not the version she presented to the world. She was like me. Well, she was normal. But normal or not, there was a part of her she kept safe, hidden.
I wanted to know about her life. But all those important things that I had found in my background search, she hadn’t told me any of it. Nada. It was as if she had parts of her that she was willing to share, but I hadn’t passed muster, so I didn’t get to hear it. Which was bullshit.
Lyra and I would deal with each other later. I had more pressing questions. I lifted one of the cushions in my couch and then adjusted the tab until it stayed up and revealed the keypad beneath it. A couple of quick taps, and I was able to log in. Curtis, my handler, answered. “Marcus, it’s Friday night. What’s the matter?”
“I was mugged today.”
Curtis cursed. “You should have called housekeeping.”
I grunted. “No, he’s still alive.”
There was a beat of silence. “What?”
“I was on a date. We got mugged by a member of Victus. I couldn’t deal with him in front of a civilian. Advise.”
He cursed. “Where were you?”
I gave him the pertinent details, and he was silent as he waited for me to finish. He knew if I was calling it in, something important and immediate needed to be done. The team had learned to trust my instincts. “Is my cover at risk?”
“No. You’re clean. There is no chatter on you or your ID.”
“You want me to believe it was a coincidence? No way. There was something about the way it happened. Like he was waiting for us. I don’t know. It just feels wrong.”
Curtis was quiet for a moment. “Victus has all sorts of low-level minions. No need for alarm yet. Have you involved law enforcement?”
“No. But that will be the expectation since I was with a civilian,” I muttered. The police were just going to make this messy.
“We’ll send
