“Here.” I found a small alcove earlier, when I went to the restroom, and it’s the perfect spot for us to be alone for a few minutes.
“What are we doing?” she asks breathlessly.
“Nothing,” I say softly, looking into her eyes. “I wanted a moment alone with you to ask for a tiny favor.”
“O-okay.” She looks a little nervous, but my intentions are mostly innocent.
“Can I look at you without your glasses?”
“Oh.” She blinks. “Sure.” She takes them off without hesitation, and my whole body tenses with arousal. Not the sexual kind, believe it or not, but the kind of excitement you feel when you look into someone’s soul. I’ve known her as an adult for four damn hours, and she makes me want things I shouldn’t want.
I can pretend, though. For one moment in time, I can pretend I’m just a regular guy who wants to fall in love and live a normal life. A life that doesn’t include the CIA and all the dangerous missions in my future.
“Ace?”
“Hmm?” I’m so caught up in the blue depths of her eyes, I have to snap back to the present.
“I want it to be you.”
“What?”
“My first kiss. I want it to be you.”
“Shannon.” I put one hand on the side of her face. “I leave for Iraq the day after tomorrow. I don’t know when I’ll be back.” I pause. “If I’ll be back.”
“I knew you were special.” She doesn’t seem at all daunted. “A literal knight in shining armor, out to save the world. Just the man for my first kiss.”
“Oh, baby.” I lean in, one arm circling her waist and drawing her close. She doesn’t need to ask me twice. I want to kiss her more than I want to breathe, and when my lips touch hers, it’s more blissful than any other kiss ever.
Her mouth opens under my guidance, and I slide my tongue against hers easily, slowly, savoring the taste of her. She’s exquisite, and when I deepen the kiss, she’s right there with me.
I keep it gentle, regret twisting through my gut as I realize this is the one and only time I’ll ever touch her.
Damn, I want more, and she does too.
The little whimper that escapes her makes me so hard it hurts.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper, drawing back. My forehead is pressed to hers, our bodies close together. “In another time and place…”
“It’s okay.” She smiles, that sweet, guileless smile that reaches right into my heart and wraps itself around it. “You made one of my dreams come true. I’ll cherish this always.”
“Shannon! Shannon, are you out here?” Her mother’s voice makes us jump.
We shrink into the shadows, biting back laughter as her mother blows right past us, oblivious.
“Be safe, Ace.” Shannon presses her fingers to her lips and then puts them against mine.
I lean into the warmth of her skin.
“Thank you, sweetheart. Be well and stay true to yourself. I’ll keep this memory right here.” I touch my fist to my chest, brush my lips across hers, slip out of the alcove, and stride toward the exit without looking back.
Chapter 1
Present Day
Ace
Sometimes life has a way of kicking you in the face, and getting called into your boss’s office when you work for the CIA is kind of like getting called to the principal’s office in high school. I have handlers who give me assignments and monitor my missions—getting called into the big man’s office can only mean trouble. I figure I deserve it, but I’ve also given nineteen years of my life to my country so I hope he’ll cut me a little slack.
