Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 66515 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 333(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66515 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 333(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
“You need to know that I know him,” Adam interjects. “I was on a CIA-managed task force with him overseas about seven years ago, but for the record, I hated that shady son-of-a-bitch. How much does he have to do with any of this or anything at all?”
“Everything,” I say. “He has everything to do with this.” I glance at Blake. “I need to know everything there is to know about him and what he’s doing now and in the past, including where to find him right now. And I don’t care what it costs me.”
“There’s no charge for our help,” Blake says as he taps the folder. “And everything you want is there, but there’s a condition. I want to know when you go after him.”
I study Blake, and in his eyes, I see me. He’s dark. He’s dangerous. He’s willing to go where he needs to go to protect and serve. He’ll cross lines, and yet, he’s a good man. “You,” I say. “Just you.”
He narrows his eyes on me and then gives a quick jut of his chin in agreement. Meanwhile, Smith’s eyes burn into me, and I turn to find his gaze locked down on my face. “What do you want to know?”
“I saw how you blinked with his name,” he says. “What is your past with him?”
“Ask your boss,” I reply. “He knows.” My eyes meet Blake’s, understanding in their depths. I don’t want this part of my past blasted out in front of Ashley. But I also see insistence that I tell her in his stare. That she has to know because her life is on the line.
I don’t agree or disagree with him, but in the back of my mind, I know this part of me, this dirty, dark part of me is not something I can hide from Ashley. She will find out one way or the other why Mick wants me dead, why he now wants her dead.
Blake stands up, and his men follow. “We’ll help you wire the security and install cameras and then be out of your hair to let you read through the data. How about breakfast in the morning?”
I agree, and we arrange a meet-up time. The next hour is about turning this place into Fort Knox and even Ashley gets into the game, helping to test the doors and windows for sound notifications and alarms.
Finally, when the Walker team leaves and I lock the front door, I turn to find Ashley standing there. “Who is Mick to you?”
I have a flashback to her protecting me tonight, to her fighting for me, and I’m not ready to let go of that moment. I’m not willing to see the hate in her eyes when she learns the truth about Mick. I shackle her hips and then fold her close, my fingers tangling in her hair, my mouth closing down on hers, silencing her questions. Delaying her hate.
Chapter twenty-eight
Ashley
Ihave questions, so many questions, but Aaron’s mouth is on my mouth, his tongue stroking deep, drugging me with a long lick, the taste of him tormented. He doesn’t want to tell me about Mick. He still thinks I can’t handle the truth of who he is and what he’s done. His fingers tighten in my hair, and he deepens the kiss. I don’t fight him for answers. I don’t fight him for conversation. What he doesn’t seem to understand is how much I know him, how much I understand him. How much knowing him reaches deeper than his name, his job. If I didn’t believe that, I wouldn’t be here right now.
He pushes me against the door, his big body framing mine, caging me between him and the hard surface behind me. “You don’t need to hold me captive,” I whisper against his mouth. “I’m here because I want to be here.”
“Until you’re not,” he says, his mouth already back on mine, his kiss hungry.
I grab the hem of his T-shirt and shove my hands under it, pressing my hands to his hot, hard abs and leaning into him. We’re going to talk, but he needs to take the edge off. He needs to work through this, and if that means while naked, I’m not complaining. He tears his mouth from mine, his hands pressing to the hard surface on either side of me, his breathing ragged, his eyes swimming with that torment I’d tasted.
“Aren’t you going to demand answers?”
“No. You’re going to give them to me when you’re ready because you love me and because you can trust me with anything.”
“The way you trust me?”
“I do trust you.”
“Funny. That isn’t what you said a few days ago.”
“You know the situation. You know I had a right to be on edge, to be shocked.”
“And yet, a few fucks and you trust me?”