Someone should write an etiquette book on the matter.
She also didn’t think that she should ask him about a partnership. Not right then. It would just look as if she’d tried to seduce him into cooperating with her. She hadn’t. The seduction-slash-sex had been its own thing. Its own truly glorious thing.
“Stay out of my bars,” Cass told her, voice grim. “Stay away from my MC. You will get hurt in my world.”
Oh, he was back to singing that tune. As far as getting hurt, he’d been the one in danger the previous night, not her. “If I see you in danger, I will have to step forward,” she said. “Whether it’s in your world or mine, I’d help you when you were in trouble.”
His eyes narrowed. Those eyes were so deep and dark and consuming. “You offering to bend the law for me, Agnes?”
Whenever he said her name, it made butterflies swirl inside of her. Growing up, she’d hated her old-fashioned name. But now…
I love the way it sounds coming from him. “I’m not bending anything. I’m just saying that if you’re in trouble, I’ll step in. I’m not going to let someone drive a knife into your back. I helped you last night, and I’m pretty sure that you never even gave me a thank you for my outstanding effort with that flying beer bottle.”
He stalked toward her. No shoes. Still way too tall. “You don’t consider the six orgasms a thank you?”
Had it been six? “You thanked me by fucking me?” She shook her head. “I don’t think I like that idea.” She grimaced.
“I fucked you because I wanted you. End of story.”
Fair. She liked that far better. “That’s the reason I fucked you, too.” Not because she wanted a partnership with him. Just because need had swept through her and destroyed every other thought.
What could have been regret flashed for the briefest of moments on his face. “This is the end of our story, sweetness. Stay out of my world.”
She put a hand to her heart. “You’re so very charming. How do you keep the women away?” Her hand fell. “I mean, jeez. Why don’t you just say I should hurry up before the door hits me in the ass?”
His eyes narrowed.
“You think we have to be enemies?” Now she was truly curious. And more than a little sad. “Because I’m a Fed and you’re…”
“The villain?”
“I don’t think that’s what you are.”
“Then you would be wrong. Better go back to the profiling board and see what you can come up with on your second try.”
“Are you trying to piss me off?”
“I don’t know. Are you getting pissed off?”
Yes, she was.
“I like you in my sweatshirt.” A roll of one big shoulder. “I like you better in nothing at all.”
“I like you better that way, too.” Her chin lifted.
His hand reached out. Curled under her chin. An oddly careful touch. “Watch your back, FBI Agent Quinn.” A soft rumble. “I’d hate like hell for anything bad to happen to you.”
No way. No way could he be… “Are you threatening me?”
“Hell, no. Just saying…no one had better ever fucking hurt you.”
That was sweet of the man who claimed to be the villain. “Guess what you’re saying is…if you see me in danger, you’d step forward too, huh?”
A faint incline of his head. His touch lingered.
“Maybe we’re more alike than you realize.” She needed to get out of there. Because this wasn’t just about hot sex. Something else was stirring within her the longer she stayed with this man. “For the record, I’d hate like hell for anything bad to happen to you.” Then, unable to help herself, she rose onto her toes. Her mouth brushed against his. “Goodbye, bad guy.” She stepped back, turned from him, and blinked quickly.
Those are not tears in my eyes. They can’t be.
