Bad Attitude (B.A.D. Agency #1)(10)
Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon

“Did she?”

He shook his head. “She died a few hours before I got to her house to surprise her with tickets for a show.”

Joe’s pain reached out to him.

“My grandmother used to have a saying. ‘Joe, don’t ever take your life for granted. There’s a big world out there, and it’s waiting for you. Don’t waste your time. It’s too finite, and before you know it, it’s gone.’ ” He looked back at him. “I’m giving you a second chance, Steele. I know you’re going to do the right thing with it.”

In that moment, Steele hated Joe. “What makes you so damned sure?”

“Because you have a little sister, and she sent you a Christmas card.”

A chill went down Steele’s spine. “How do you know about that?”

Joe gave him a lopsided grin. “I’m a spook. It’s what I do. And I know that you won’t let Tina live under the threat of a nuclear bomb from a country she probably doesn’t even know exists. Am I right?”

Before he could answer, he heard a shocked gasp.

“Joe?”

Steele jerked his head up at the deep feminine voice that made every nerve in his body sit up and take notice. But that was quickly followed by a fierce wave of anger.

“Hi, Syd,” Joe drawled.

Syd couldn’t keep herself from gaping as she caught a look at the Joe she never knew. Good grief, the man even had on cowboy boots! In the office and out in the field, he always wore dress clothes. Dress clothes that had never given her a clue as to how ripped the man really was.

She could do laundry on that stomach. And his arms…they were well-muscled and powerful. How on earth did Tee manage to share an office with this man day in and day out and not succumb to uncontrollable lust?

Joe stood up and vacated his seat, which she realized was hers. He handed her the box of popcorn in his hands. “You two need a night of relaxation. Enjoy the show. I’m sure afterward you can give Steele a ride back to Carlos’s. Right?”

“Sure.”

He looked back at Steele. “Be nice.”

The expression on Steele’s face said, Not likely.

Joe tipped his hat to her before he walked past her, into the aisle.

Still stunned, she watched as he headed up toward the back row, where, she realized, Tee was waiting for him. Unlike her, Tee didn’t seem to think there was anything odd about Joe’s clothing. She merely moved her knees aside so that Joe could take his seat on the other side of her. And after he sat down, Tee took his hat off his head and placed it on her own. Joe gave her an irritated smirk before he reached for her popcorn.

“What are you doing here? Trying to find a new way to screw up my life?”

She looked down to where Steele was seated. He was definitely still angry at her. Not that she blamed him.

“I don’t think you need any help in that department. It seems to me you did a fine job screwing it up yourself.”

As soon as those words were out of her mouth, she regretted them.

Sighing, she took her seat and placed the popcorn between her legs while she balanced her Coke on her knee.

Steele started to get up to leave. Syd reached over and touched his taut arm to keep him still. He glared his hatred at her, and it made her stomach ache.

“I really am sorry,” she said, enunciating every word carefully.

“There are some things that sorry don’t fix.”

“You’re right.” His face registered surprise at her apology. “If it makes you feel better, Joe already crawled all over me about it.”

“It doesn’t. I still have to keep looking over my shoulder for cops.”

“I know.” She raked her hand through the popcorn as she considered some way to make this mission work. “I screwed up today, okay? I don’t do it often, and I’m sorry that you got caught in the crossfire.”

“You practice that speech long?”

She gave him a sheepish smile. “Does it show?”

Still, his face was absolute stone. “Yes, and for an agent, you suck at lying.”

She stiffened at his criticism. “And you can do better?”

“Of course I can.”

She scoffed at him. “Sure you can.”

“I can.”

But she knew better. “That’s what they all think.”

Before she could move, Steele took her chin in his hand. His look changed from anger to one of heated passion. His dark eyes traced the lines of her face as he moved ever so slightly closer to her.

That look was so hot that she could feel that gaze like a human touch. It made the skin of her face tingle. Made her lips long to taste his.

“Has anyone ever told you that you have the sexiest mouth this side of a movie screen?”

Syd swallowed at his deep voice. Every nerve ending in her body stood at attention as desire coiled through her. “Excuse me?”

“It’s true,” he said, his tone breathless. “If I had you alone for five minutes…”

“What?” she asked, dying to know.

His gaze turned instantly back to anger as he released her chin and returned to his beer. “I’d probably beat the crap out of you for calling the cops on me.”

Her own anger flared. “You bastard!”

He glanced sideways at her. “You didn’t really think I was serious, did you? And I did that without practicing a single syllable. Like I said, you suck at lying.”

Syd seethed. She hadn’t been this stung since the guy she had a crush on in high school had ignored her. “You better be glad I need you, or I’d shoot you myself.”

He snorted. “I should be so lucky.”

Syd turned to look at Joe and Tee, who were laughing together. If not for their presence, she’d be out of here by now. But Joe would probably make her return to her seat.

More people started coming in as an awkward silence fell between them.

Steele had to shift as a man and woman stepped past him. When he did, it brought him close enough to Syd that he could smell the sweetness of her perfume. It went through him like a jolt. He was suddenly so hard that he could barely breathe.

There hadn’t been nearly as much acting with her as he’d wanted. The plain truth was that, even though she’d stabbed him in the back, the male part of him was still attracted to her.

Syd frowned. “You okay?”

“Fine,” he said, even though the odd thought went through his mind—could a man die of blue balls?

“You sure? You look kind of…strained.”

That was a good word for it. “Fine. Really. Fine.”

Her gaze dropped to his lap an instant before her eyes widened and her cheeks turned bright red.

“Yeah, you’re a great actor,” she murmured as she quickly turned her attention to the stage below them.

Fighting the urge to say something caustic, Steele rubbed his hand over his eyes as complete embarrassment hit him. He might as well be fourteen again and called to the front of the room for a presentation.

The lights dimmed.

Thanks a lot.Why couldn’t they have done that three seconds ago and saved him the humiliation?

Syd cleared her throat as she forced herself not to look at Steele at all, but it was hard.

Not as hard as he is.

She had to press her lips together to keep from laughing at that.Jeez, Syd, you’re awful! No doubt he was embarrassed by it. He’d been in jail going on two years now. It was bound to happen.

But the worst part about it was the curiosity that was begging for her to look again.

No!

She’d sooner have both her eyes poked out and die. Okay, that wasn’t true. But she couldn’t look. The man was a total jerk. He irritated her. Mocked her.

She didn’t even like him.

From the corner of her eye, she could see him take a swig of his beer.

His jerkiness aside, he was a gorgeous man. There was something about Steele that was absolutely delectable, and she didn’t say that about most men. His dark hair was brushed back from a face that was intrinsically masculine. His cheeks were dusted by shadow, adding a rugged quality to him.

In spite of her ire, a wicked part of her wanted to reach out and trace that sculpted jaw.

And then an even more wicked thought went through her…he’d been in prison. She wondered how many fights he’d been in with other inmates who thought he was cute too.

Most of all, she wondered if he’d lost any.

Don’t go there, Syd.But she couldn’t help it. It must have been awful to be that good-looking in jail. She couldn’t imagine many things worse.

At least, not until the music started. She tried to listen with an open mind, but this was so not her taste. She grabbed her purse from the floor to pull out Tee’s iPod. It wasn’t until she had it on and playing Papa Roach’s “Getting Away with Murder” that she could breathe again.

Ah, that was so much better.

She glanced up to find Steele glaring at her. “What?” she asked, pulling one of the tiny earphones out.

His gaze narrowed. “You’re something else, you know that?”

She honestly couldn’t imagine what she’d done now to irritate him. “I’m not doing anything to you. So sod off.”

Unfortunately, he didn’t. Instead, he grabbed her iPod and took it from her.

“Hey!”

“Sh!”

Syd cringed as the people next to them gave her a sinister glare. “Give me that back,” she said from between clenched teeth as she lowered her tone.

“No.”

He was an evil bastard. Crossing her arms over her chest, she stared sullenly at the stage while Pam Tillis told stories about how her father, Mel Tillis, had placed her in his guitar case backstage at the Opry when she’d been nothing more than an infant.

And as she listened, a part of her became charmed by the stories.

At least until the singing began. Syd cringed, wanting to leave. Just when she was sure she couldn’t stand it anymore, Steele did the most unexpected thing of all. He offered her one of the earbuds.

Startled by his actions, she looked up at him.

“I’m not as cruel as you are.”

She wasn’t sure if she should be grateful or ticked off. But as she moved closer to him so that they could share Tee’s playlist, her ire at him melted. Their faces were so close that they were practically touching. She could easily feel the heat of his skin. His warm, masculine scent permeated her head as she became acutely aware of his muscled biceps pressed against her upper arm while they listened to Papa Roach sing “Tyranny of Normality.”

They stayed that way until the curtain closed and the musicians took a break.

Steele tilted the iPod in his hand. “How long do you think the batteries will last in this thing?”

“I don’t know. How long is this show?”

He shrugged. “I have no idea. But I’m thinking jail was better. At least there cruel and unusual punishment can get the warden sued.”

She laughed.

Steele tensed at the pleasant sound of her laughter. But more than that, the gesture softened her face and made her seem almost kind. A sudden impulse to kiss her came over him, but he quickly squelched it.

And in the back of his mind was the thought that even though he didn’t like the music and wasn’t fond of the woman, this moment was the best one he’d had in over two years.

He wanted his life back like it had been before he’d been arrested.

He wanted to live.

Syd’s breath caught as she saw the look on Steele’s face. Gone was the hatred and suspicion. His expression was completely unguarded and open. And something in it reminded her of a boy.

For the first time, she understood what had made Joe so angry. She had tampered with this man’s life. Used him like a pawn.

She really was no better than the people they were after. Dear Lord, she’d pushed Steele’s back against the wall, and for what? She had no right to put him in this kind of danger. No right to interfere with his decisions.

Suddenly ashamed of herself, she touched his arm. “Look, Steele, I really am sorry if I offended you earlier. I tend to be a little overzealous sometimes.”

Steele frowned as he heard her honesty for the first time. He wanted to maintain his anger, but in spite of himself, it melted.

She was making an effort to lay the matter to rest. And he’d never been the kind of man to carry a grudge…much.

“It’s okay.”

“No,” she said, her eyes burning him with their intensity, “not really. If you want to go back…well, I can’t lie and say I like it. I don’t. We really do need you, for a multitude of reasons. But there are a lot of things in this world that are bigger than me and my ego.”

He doubted that.

She hesitated, and even though she was trying to hide her vulnerability, he saw it plainly. “I would really like for you to help us. I can prep you if you’re willing to do the job, and if you want to go solo…I won’t get in your way.”

Steele could sense how much those words stuck in her craw. Yet craw and all, she’d said them. He had to admire that.

“All right, Sydney. If you agree to listen to me and do things my way, I’ll do it.”

She actually smiled at him. It was an honest, open smile that struck him like a blow. It was precious and sweet, a total antithesis to the hard-nosed agent she’d been so far.

“Thank you, Steele.”

He inclined his head to her.

She turned to look back up at Joe before she pulled the earbud from his ear. “Since we’re on the same team now, why don’t we blow this gig and do some real work?”

He glanced behind them to the seats where Joe had taken his hat back and looked to be fussing at Tee as he adjusted the brim of it. “Think the boss will shoot us on our way out?”

She laughed again. “Only one way to find out.”

They got up and headed up the aisle.

Joe arched a brow at them as they started past him. Syd pulled Steele to a stop.