I laughed at that. “I mean I grew naturally, but the muscles, those took work. Liam eventually introduced me to this bloke at the gym he used to go to. He taught me that what I lacked in size, I could make up for with speed. And I did.”
“Okay so you told me about Liam, that’s your brother, right? Is he the one with the son named Evan?”
I frowned, about to correct her that it was Ella, but then I remembered my lie, so I covered. There was no letting my guard down with her.
“Ah, Evan, yeah. He’s pretty stinking cute.”
“I love how your whole face lights up when you’re talking about him.”
“I can’t help it. The little sucker is adorable, you know?”
“Do you ever want a son of your own?”
I couldn’t explain the sudden tightening of my chest then, the desire to answer her honestly, but I kept it together. “Yeah, you know, one day. I’m only twenty-seven. I guess I have time.”
She nodded. “Yeah. One day will come soon enough, won’t it?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
Uncomfortable with the direction of our conversation, I turned it on her. “How about your family?”
She laughed and shook her head. “No, today it’s all about you and your family and friends. Who do you hang out with? I don’t think I’ve seen many people at your place.”
“Oh, my best mate, Rhodes. I go to his place a lot. His fiancée is an excellent cook.”
“Oh, that’s fun. How did you guys meet?”
Fuck me. “Oh, you know, work. I was doing a game component for a company and had to work with Rhodes. He’s a software developer.”
“Ah, geeks unite.”
“Yeah.” She was going to get really suspicious if she ever saw Rhodes and I together. We looked more like what we were, stone cold killers, than the geeky types. But that was our cover. “You should meet him some time.”
The words were out of my mouth before I could think about what I was saying. What the fuck was wrong with me? I was clearly losing it. Being surrounded by her scent had my brain muddled.
Separation. I needed to separate. The problem was that while my brain was giving the command, my body was not complying. Wholly non-compliant. As a matter of fact, it was leaning toward her as she was smiling up at me with those big dark eyes, staring clear into my soul, and I was convinced she would know that I was lying to her.
Then convince her, because her life depends on it.
I cleared my throat. “Ah, that’s enough soul baring.”
“But I like your soul bare. There’s something about the way you talk about your family. It’s like I can see them. It’s palpable.”
She wound her arms around my neck and my brain sent out the warning signals. Danger. Danger. Too close.
Then my heart did that tripping thing it always did around her. Christ, I could get lost in this woman. Really, really lost.
Determined to help her though, I cleared my throat. “Ready to go again?”
She took one last swig of her water and gave me a determined nod. “Yup, put me in coach.”
I laughed. “What am I going to do with you?”
“You, fine sir, are going to teach me to be a badass.”
Lyra
“Oh my God, you had that poor man trying to teach you how to fight?”
I winced, all the while laughing. “I know. I felt terrible. I can lie with my mouth, and even with my face, but to make my body forget muscle memory is just impossible.” He had seemed to marvel at how quickly I’d picked up the punches and blocks he’d shown me.
Tyler was on our comms. “Would you two fucking focus?”
Addie and I were on standby for the surveillance team looking for Prochenko and his contact. Since he hadn’t shown up for that meet at the fair, we’d had to rely on chatter to get another bead on him. Sometimes you just got lucky.
“You know what, Tyler? Set us to B channel. If they move, we’ll let you know.” With that declaration, Addie disconnected the line.
I rolled my eyes. “Addie, I’m pretty sure Roz isn’t going to like that.”
“Frankly, I don’t care what Roz likes. Saddling us with Tyler? That’s cruel and unusual punishment.”
“Yeah, tell me about it.”
“Okay so, back to the man that you’re actually interested in. Tell me the truth, who’s better in bed, Tyler or Marcus?”
I laughed, even as I took the binoculars and swept for our target. “There is no competition. Hands down, it’s Marcus.” Because when I was with him, I didn’t have to search for connection. It was there. It was evident in the way he looked at me, watched me. Made sure I was connected with him at all times. Yes, he was clearly very, very good in bed, which meant he had more practice than I wanted to even think about. But Marcus was real. It had felt real. And I was in more danger with him than I had ever been with Tyler.
I forced my attention on the task at hand. The house was dark. No movement, no nothing. “Is this the house? This feels wrong. It’s almost too quiet. Do we have the right location?”
Addie and I switched to Channel A. “Tyler, are you sure it’s 100 Crescents?”
“Yes. We’ve got other agents stationed there. Crescents Road, we’re in the right place. Sit tight.”
We shrugged and went back to watching. “Okay so, how did you manage to pretend you didn’t know how to fight? You’re really good at hand-to-hand combat. One of the best. I mean, Roz trained you herself. Everyone tells the new recruits the story of how you put your handler on her ass.”
I winced as I remembered. “To be fair, when she said go, I didn’t think of it as training. She’d said I’d have to fight for my life one day, and I didn’t want to get sent home. So I was fighting for my life.”
She
