The Girl Next Door (Shadow Agents #6)(23)
Author: Cynthia Eden

She deserved someone who was just as honest as she was, someone who wasn’t working a second agenda.

Someone who might not have to contain her.

But he’d be damned if he’d step aside and let anyone else get close to her.

Cooper brushed his lips over hers. He fought to keep the kiss light, but it was a losing battle. He needed her, desperately, and he wasn’t sure that he’d be able to hold back with her much longer.

Her taste drove him wild. Made him need and want—only her.

“Cooper…” She breathed his name.

He took that breath, drinking it from her lips. He turned her in his arms, held her close.

He wanted to give her something real. Not a lie. The desire wasn’t a deception. It was as real as he could get.

She kissed him back, her response tentative at first, then stronger. Her fingers sank into his hair. Her body arched against his.

I won’t give her up.

He just had to find a way to stay at her side, because there was no other place that he’d rather be.

When I’m with Gabrielle, I don’t feel alone.

He felt alone when he was with other people. Alone at the EOD. Alone on his missions, even when other teammates were with him.

He’d worked with another agent a while back, a man who seemed to have ice flowing through his veins. Drew Lancaster had been an untouchable agent. The guy had cared only about his job. No family. Few friends.

I’m just like him.

But something had changed for Drew. No, someone had changed Drew. The little doc who took care of the agents at the EOD. She’d gotten under Drew’s skin and thawed his ice.

Cooper was afraid that Gabrielle was doing the same thing to him. Getting past the defenses he’d erected.

The way she made him feel could be dangerous.

He hadn’t let himself care about anyone in a very, very long time. Already the force of his desire for her was so strong—

She pulled her mouth from his. He didn’t let her go. His body brushed against hers.

“I won’t tell you,” Gabrielle said, lifting her chin, “what Hugh revealed to me in that office. So trying to seduce the information out of me just won’t work.”

For an instant, he saw red. His pushed her back, caging her against the wall with his body. “We need to get a few things straight,” he gritted out.

Her eyes widened.

“I’m not going to be seducing you for information.” Was that what the other agents at the EOD thought he was doing? “I’m kissing you and touching you…because I want you. I want you so much that I want to strip you right here and take you in this damn stairwell.”

Gabrielle swallowed.

His hips were pressed against her, so she had to feel the proof of his words.

“I’m not seducing you for information—” his voice was low and hard and anger bit through each word “—I just want you.”

Her gaze searched his.

“And you want me,” he added. “This isn’t about information. It’s not about anything but us.”

After a brief hesitation, Gabrielle nodded.

That little nod wasn’t good enough.

“You aren’t going to ditch me. You’re not going to make me run by saying there’s danger around. Sweetheart, I’ve been handling danger all my life.” He’d lived on the rush for years. It’s what made me feel alive. “I can take any threat. I’m not going to run and leave you alone.”

Leaving her alone was the last thing on his mind.

“I’m not running, and I will have you.” He thought it was better to be clear about his intentions. “And when you’re under me in bed, it’s not going to be about seducing you for intel. It’s going to be about seducing you for the sheer, hot pleasure that we can bring to each other.”

Because on that point, at least, there would be no deception.

He started to step back.

Her hands flew up and curled around his shoulders. “My turn,” she said, surprising him.

Cooper’s brows climbed.

“I’m not seducing you so that you’ll protect me from that killer out there.”

She wasn’t—

“When I’m with you, it’s going to be because that’s where I want to be. Because I want you.” Her voice dropped, got even huskier, seemed to stroke right over his skin as she added, “And I do want you, Cooper. I want you more than I’ve ever wanted another man.”

She was going to bring him to his knees.

“But I am not,” Gabrielle continued in the next instant, “going to tell you anything about the EOD. So I figure we have two choices. We can continue working as partners, but you don’t get to ask me about the EOD again. You just don’t. Hugh’s afraid of the group, and if Hugh is afraid, then I am, too. I won’t do anything to put you in their sights.”

His teeth were clenched so tightly together that his jaw ached.

“Or we can go with option two,” she said, her voice like sin. “We can forget being partners, just be lovers—and there will be no more questions asked from either of us.”

His heart slammed into his chest. The blood in his veins heated and seemed to pump even faster, harder.

“There’s another option,” Cooper forced himself to say. “Option three. We stay partners and we become lovers.” He paused, long enough to let those words sink in. “That’s the option I want.”

She wet her lips. “Me, too…”

Then that was the option they would take. And, maybe…maybe Gabrielle never had to learn the truth about him. If he could keep her away from the EOD, then Gabrielle could keep believing he was just a P.I. who lived in her brownstone.

They could keep being partners…and lovers.

He backed away from her. For now. She skirted toward the door and stepped into the lobby. But then she paused. Her hand reached for his. Her fingers curled around his.

The touch was so innocent and light. An ache grew in his chest. “Gabrielle,” he began, but then Cooper saw the man rushing toward him. The man with a badge clipped on his belt and a burning glare on his face.

Detective Carmichael had just joined the party.

“Lane?” Gabrielle didn’t release Cooper’s hand. “Do you have news? Did you find out about—”

The detective braked to a hard stop right in front of her. “Why didn’t you call me?” He pulled Gabrielle away from Cooper. “I just heard about the break-in! Damn it, Gabby, you should have let me know right away! I would have rushed over!”