Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 64938 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 325(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64938 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 325(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
It’d make Grace a pretty shitty protector of innocents if he allowed that to happen. It wasn’t the wife’s fault her husband was a piece of shit.
Also, fighting bad guys with Mirage was a convenient way to project his frustrated energy on a worthy subject.
Though the reprieve had been short-lived.
Walking close to Mirage in the dark made a pit of nervousness settle in his gut at what he had to confess.
Mirage had to know what was happening to him. His partner knew everything else.
Grace would be foolish to think his attraction was the one thing that confused Mirage.
For a fleeting moment at dinner, he thought he’d noticed a hint of jealousy in his partner’s tone when he asked if Grace wanted Meridian instead of him.
Oh, he did want something Meridian had, but it wasn’t his skills or partnership.
He wanted the all-consuming heat and passion he had with his partner, Ex.
If the Blacks could pull it off, fooling the entire agency, including their handler, he believed he and Mirage could as well.
He at least wanted to try.
The silence between them buzzed in the air.
Mirage’s hand brushed the back of his, sending arousing sensations up his arms.
He wasn’t used to being so sensitive. Mirage was always close, but recently, Grace had moved him in even closer. Close enough to smell his citrusy scent and feel his warm breath grazing the back of his neck.
He wanted his partner, his healer, his warrior, as close as he could get him.
He stole a glance at Mirage, his fair skin so enticing under the faint lighting.
He wondered what it’d feel like to cup Mirage’s cheeks and pull him toward him until his lips were pressed to his.
His new out-of-control emotions were as scary as they were exhilarating.
How is this happening?
Did the serums dilute over time?
Had this all been turned on by witnessing the sexual acts between two other assassins?
Or am I a five-million-dollar malfunctioning weapon?
“You gonna keep staring at me, Grace, while talking to yourself, or are you gonna talk to me?” Mirage asked.
Grace always found Mirage’s mind, his intuition and perception, nothing short of spectacular.
The sight of Mirage’s lithe, fit body, strong arms, and callused hands made him want to—
Grace coughed, choking on the strange essence of what he was sure was lust.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
His heart raced, and his palms grew sweaty as heat spread through his chest.
Something intense and transformative was happening inside him.
A rush of yearning, desire, and arousal suddenly came to life, the reawakening of dormant feelings drowning him under a tidal wave.
Grace buried his hands in his pockets to control the shudders and clenched his jaw to hold back the groans from the rush of blood flooding his cock.
He leaned against the back of a wooden bench, attempting to appear composed while his heart thudded like a battalion of soldiers marching across his sternum.
Mirage turned, their eyes locking.
Grace swallowed a boulder of nerves.
A striking gaze with shimmering shades of gray and blue paralyzed him. Mirage’s eyes reflected storm clouds and tranquil oceans, each hue blending into the next.
When Grace continued to stay silent, Mirage scoffed and put some distance between them.
He thought he might have gotten a glimpse of hope or want, but Mirage’s unfazed mask slid back in place too fast for him to be sure.
The dance of yearning and hesitation wreaked havoc on his mind, a fucking rumba he didn’t know the moves to.
Mirage stared at him with impatience, an undertone of expectation sizzling in his irises.
The words Grace wanted to say—I wanna know what it feels like to kiss you and probably fuck you—got caught in his throat.
Grace wasn’t a virgin, but he also wasn’t Meridian. He had no clue how to do this suave romance shit.
He hadn’t had a lover while serving twenty years in the Marines, eight of them in Special Forces.
For the first year in the Ravens organization, he was pumped full of so many medications, enhancers, and psychological programming that by the end, they’d turned him into a goddamn cyborg. No longer a man with sexual needs, and he’d been locked in that state for eight years.
He was supposed to be, and remain, immune to lust. And he had been…until a bomb reactivated it.
The detonation not only sparked the return of delicious feelings but a few not-so-great ones as well.
Fear had been triggered until he was incapacitated with it.
Grace could’ve done without that one.
All right, I’m gonna fuckin’ tell you, but if—
“Let’s go, Grace…it’s getting late.” Mirage seethed around a tight jaw, his tone loaded with frustration.
Apparently, Grace had taken too long.
Dammit.
Grace
The ride back to headquarters was borderline painful.
The silence between them was always a balm to his chaotic mind, but not this time.
His eight courses of food churned in the pit of his stomach as they exited the vehicle and rode the elevator to their floor.