“I hate this.”
“You’ll thank me later.”
“YouwishI’ll thank you later,” Kyle muttered under his breath before submitting to the hands of the attendant.
In the end, Jamie got Kyle in a tuxedo that passed his notoriously high approval level.The final result was a look Jamie really wouldn’t mind peeling Kyle out of if they were home and they didn’t have a countdown hanging over their heads.The attendant discreetly left with a mutter about booking for a rush alteration.Jamie barely heard him, all his attention focused on Kyle as he drank in the sight of the other man.
Kyle didn’t squirm under Jamie’s thorough perusal, mindful of Jamie’s previous command.Jamie finally crooked a finger at him, and Kyle stepped off the dressing platform, walking toward him in the shiny black wingtips Jamie had chosen for him.
“You look good,” Jamie said as Kyle crawled onto his lap, knees on either side of Jamie’s legs.
Kyle wrapped his arms around Jamie’s shoulders, casually running his fingers through the short blond hair at the nape of Jamie’s neck.“It’s too tight.Where the fuck am I supposed to hide a gun on me?You’d be able to see the imprint of it a mile away.”
“You’re exaggerating.”
“Like hell I am.There’s barely any room to breathe in this thing.”
Jamie rolled his eyes.“I’ve seen you weighted down with fifty pounds of gear and you never complained, yet a proper fit is what has you whining?”
“I can carry my gear in uniform.I can’t carry anything while wearing this getup.”
“This getup is your uniform for the gala.You’re not getting out of it.”
“I’m sure you wouldn’t mind helping me get out of it right now.”
Jamie skimmed his hands up Kyle’s torso, liking the feel of the soft fabric beneath his hands, liking the feel of Kyle even more.“You’re wearing it.That’s final.”
“Yes, sir.”
Jamie leaned up and nipped at Kyle’s mouth, pleased when he immediately parted his lips to let Jamie kiss him.Jamie slipped his tongue into Kyle’s mouth, very thoroughly mapping out the taste of him, swallowing the soft moan Kyle couldn’t help but let out.He vaguely heard the door behind the couch they were seated in slide open before someone let out a strangled cough.Jamie broke the kiss with an irritated sigh.
“We’ll be right out,” he called over his shoulder, never taking his eyes off Kyle.
Kyle buried his face against Jamie’s neck, laughing, his whole body shaking with it.Behind them, Jamie heard Donovan heave out a sigh and make their apologies for them.The door slid shut, and Jamie let himself finally crack a smile now that no one could see him in the three-way mirror.
“You’re impossible,” Jamie said, pushing Kyle off his lap.
“Yeah, but you like me that way.”
Jamie reeled him back in by the sleeve of his tuxedo jacket for one last kiss that was just as deep as the last.“Yeah, I do.”
* * *
At 2137 on a Tuesday evening, Alpha Team got the green light to continue with their mission.
The UMG, after an emergency meeting with their counterparts in the United States and the European Alliance, agreed to the parameters of the job that Nikolaas Jansen wanted them to do.That it would possibly destroy a family’s business and reputation, to say nothing of the people thePresnenskaya Bratvahoped to get their claws into, was a small price to pay, objectively speaking.If the means to an end resulted in unearthing the location of the labs where Splice experiments were being performed by the criminal alliance, then the governments of more than a dozen countries believed it was worth the risk.
Kyle knew he should be appalled at the way the brass weighed out the decision—who was worth more, in the end, and who wasn’t—but he’d seen the same sort of decisions made in war.He’d made them himself in the uncertainty of battle.The majority outweighed the minority in democracy, and while this fight wasn’t a democracy, the results were still the same.
None of them would sleep easy, despite the decision being taken out of their hands.There was no clear conscience to be had with any of them as they accepted their orders to proceed.Alpha Team was the bullet, even if someone else was pulling the trigger, and they couldn’t ever escape that.
Casualties were inevitable in war.
When Katie initiated an uplink with Jansen in the home’s office Wednesday morning at 0900 sharp, the rest of the team was on hand to listen in and watch out of view of the camera feed as she greeted Jansen with a smile.
“Niko, good morning.Thanks for taking my call,” Katie said pleasantly.
“I’m surprised to hear from you so soon,” Niko replied.He looked tired through the uplink, as if he’d had another long night as a professional partier.
