Undercover Captor (Shadow Agents #5)(24)
Author: Cynthia Eden

Because she was targeted for death.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

She’d known that it was him, of course. Whenever Drew was in the room, her body responded with an awareness that was almost frightening.

Tina wasn’t sure that she liked being that tuned to another person.

His fingers brushed over her arm. “Doc?”

She forced her shoulders to straighten. “There wasn’t anything you could do while we were on the run. It wasn’t like you were going to have asthma medication in your back pocket—or even in your handy motorcycle saddlebag.”

She’d been managing to keep the asthma in check. She’d handled the motorcycle ride just fine. Tina had thought she could keep controlling the asthma. Until the plane had exploded. Until the smoke had choked her. Until— “Has Pierce been recovered?”

Drew shook his head. “There’s…not going to be much left to recover.”

Right. Her eyes closed for an instant. That last little bit of hope left her.

“Tina?”

Her eyes opened. “How did Devast know I was getting on that plane?” The EOD had made arrangements for her flight out of Texas. She should have been safe.

“I slipped into his network,” Drew said quietly, his gaze watchful on her face. “And it looks like he managed to slip someone into ours.”

Her heart seemed to ache with each beat. From past experience, she knew the soreness would last for a while. “You’re saying we have some kind of double agent in the EOD?”

He nodded. “It looks that way.”

“Who?”

“That’s what we have to find out. And we will find out.”

“Before,” she demanded because it was too much, “or after I’m dead?”

His hands rose and curled around her shoulders. “I’m not letting you die.”

Didn’t he get it? “You saw me.” She pressed her lips together so they wouldn’t tremble. Shame burned in her, but she pushed past it. “When an attack hits me, there is nothing I can do. I’m too vulnerable. If there’s a double agent in the EOD, he can find out my secret.” If he doesn’t already know. “I’m easy to kill.” The paper gown scraped across her knees as she shifted uncomfortably. “Too easy.”

“I’m not letting you die,” he said again, voice rougher.

“You can’t save everyone, you know.” That was a lesson she’d been taught long ago. Sometimes you couldn’t even save the ones who mattered to you the most.

“You aren’t everyone.” A muscle jerked in his jaw. “You aren’t dying.” His head bent toward her. “You scared me.”

She didn’t think anything scared him.

His lips brushed against hers. “You were dying in my arms. There was nothing I could do.”

Tears stung her eyes. Her father had died in her arms.

“Come back to me.”

Those harsh, rumbling words had her blinking.

And getting lost in the gold of his gaze.

“You think I don’t know,” Drew began as he eased ever closer to her, “when you leave me? I can tell when you slip into your mind, into the past that has left those scars inside you.” His lips thinned. “I don’t like it. Don’t focus on whatever the hell happened to you. Focus on now. On me.”

He kissed her again. Harder. This wasn’t a kiss of comfort. This was a kiss of pure, wild need.

His mouth didn’t hesitate—it took. He was demanding a response from her and, raw and vulnerable from all that had happened, Tina had no barriers to protect herself from him.

So she just…let go.

Her mouth met his. Hungry. Desperate.

Her hands came up and locked around his shoulders. She pulled him against her. She needed him as close as she could get him.

Her heart pounded. Ached.

When he kissed her, she didn’t feel weak. She felt sensual, powerful, alive.

Nothing else mattered in that instant. Desire twisted through her; a want that couldn’t be denied. Her br**sts ached, her legs shifted restlessly. She needed to be closer to him.

Needed…him. Her short nails dug into his arms.

His mouth pulled from hers. Just a whisper of a space separated their lips as he growled, “Stay with me.” He began to kiss her neck.

Her breath was fast, it was—

He stilled. “Are you okay? What am I doing?”

And, just like that, he’d done the one thing she’d feared. He’d discovered that she was weak.

So now he was treating her as if she’d shatter too easily.

He stepped back, a hurried, almost clumsy move for a man who usually moved with such grace.

“Tina? Tina, answer me. Are you all right?”

She’d been more than all right a few seconds ago. Unfortunately reality was back. “Kissing me doesn’t kill me.” She’d had other men who treated her as though she was some kind of broken china doll once they’d seen her attack.

His eyes narrowed. “I didn’t…” His hands fisted and he backed up another step. “I don’t mean to be so rough with you.”

She didn’t want him to back away. “I don’t need you to treat me like I’m…I’m going to shatter.”

He stared back at her. Drew seemed to absorb what she said as his eyes narrowed and swept over her face. “I won’t make the mistake again.”

She jumped off the bed. She could taste him on her lips. Desire still pulsed through her blood. A desire that seemed to burn too hot and fast whenever they touched. Was it from the adrenaline? The danger? Something else? “What is happening between us?” Then Tina forced herself to say the painful truth. “You didn’t even notice me before that group took me prisoner—”

He caught her hand. His head moved in a hard, negative shake. “That’s bull. I noticed you every moment.”

He sure hadn’t seemed to see her. Only when he’d been in the lab with her for his checkups, and then he’d been gruff. All business. Never lingering to chat or—

One dark brow rose. “Calling me a liar?” His head tilted to the right as he studied her. “Doc, I’ve wanted you in my bed from the first moment I saw you. I came into your office, expecting some kind of quick clearance check from a stuffy M.D., and the next thing I knew…you were in every dream I had.”

She sure hadn’t expected that. He’d treated her with the same icy indifference that he seemed to show everyone at the EOD.