A shot rang out just as Theo reached me and his body slammed into mine as the night descended into sheer chaos.
––––––––
Theo had saved me thatday at the cost of his shoulder and his career. He’d let his feelings for me and protecting me get in the way of completing the mission and he’d paid the price. Theo’s shoulder wasn’t the only casualty of that night, Reynolds had been hit in the neck with a stray bullet and had died en route to the hospital. Several of the other agents had also been taken down with bullets but, thankfully, they’d all eventually been able to return to duty.
Theo had died twice on the table during surgery and we’d nearly lost him. I had never seen Aria so disheveled and unsure of herself before. Matteo had been silent as they had clung to one another every time one of the doctors had come out to give an update on Theo. It had reminded me in the most horrible of ways exactly why there was a policy against dating your coworkers in the FBI.
I called Director Cruz that afternoon and had requested a transfer. I ignored the phone calls from Pack Simmons over the next few days and had ended the lease on my apartment. Soon enough I was on a plane bound for Quantico where I taught classes and finished the therapy that was required so that I could get back into the field.
Three years ago Cruz had forced me to come back to the San Francisco field office, citing the need for a more experienced agent to help him run things. I avoided Pack Simmons pretty well, San Francisco was a big city and it wasn’t like it was easy to run into them on the street. In fact, I was sure that I would never hear from them ever again...that was until Theo had contacted Cruz about needing help with Pack Russo. My plan to move on from Theo and Pack Simmons had gone downhill pretty quickly from there.
For the five years after the incident, I told myself that it was better for us to be apart. That it was too scary to open myself up like that again. But now that I was standing in the lobby of Pack Simmons’s apartment, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was finally coming home after a long time away.
The front door of the apartment opened, revealing Theo who already had a smile forming on his handsome face, “Hey Guppy, welcome back.”
And, suddenly, it was like I’d never even left.
CHAPTER 11
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The aroma of freshtomato sauce and garlic filled the kitchen as we watched Tibby float from the stove, to the counter, and back to the stove again. She was in the middle of cooking a lasagna that smelled like heaven, and we couldn’t help but watch with awe as she expertly made a sauce from scratch right before our eyes. The only pasta sauce that we ever ate at home came from a prego jar.
Needless to say, we ordered out most of the time.
In fact, the last time that I had attempted to cook the night had ended with a burnt-out stove and a visit from the San Francisco Fire Department. After that, I was no longer allowed to cook anything more than microwaving popcorn or making the odd cold cut sandwich here and there.
Tibby, however, was like a cooking fairy as she stepped on her tippy toes, so she could look down into the pot of sauce as she stirred. She pulled the spoon from the mixture, tapping the tip of it with her tongue and smacking her lips a few times, thinking about the flavor before grabbing the salt shaker and adding a few generous shakes to the sauce.
I wanted her to taste my cock just like she tasted the sauce, licking the tip and smacking her lips as if to decide on its taste. As if hearing my thoughts, Aria gave me a‘down boy’look, and I sucked in a few breaths of tomato-scented air to calm myself.
Tibby continued to dance around the kitchen, all of her earlier worries and anxieties taking a back seat while she cooked. She turned away from the pot and noticed me watching her, her petal-pink lips turned up into a smile before her eyes briefly met mine before flitting shyly away again.
The memory of her velvety soft skin sliding against mine as the scent of her heat enveloped both of us came unbidden to my mind. I could hardly believe that it had only been twelve hours since I’d reluctantly left her side when her heat had finally abated. As I drove home this morning, I had come up with several crazy schemes to get the academy to reveal her identity. One even included a motorcycle, though I was sure that Theo would have vetoed that right away. But, in the end, there had been no need for any of that because she was now standing in our kitchen, smiling at me. Life was funny like that.
Now I just needed to figure out how to get her into my bed so that I could bury my nose in between her breasts and inhale her strawberries and cream scent again. Even just the thought of it made a little growl rumble out of my chest, which I promptly cut off. I needed to get my growling under control ASAP. They had been slipping out all afternoon and Aria had scolded me more than once to get my shit together.
