by Paige Tyler
Trevor was right about one thing, though. The worst of the bleeding had stopped. If anything, it looked like the gash was actually starting to seal itself with new flesh. That was hard to believe, considering how severe the wound had been. She’d never been one to get queasy at the sight of blood, but since her partner was the one bleeding, it got to her a little more than usual.
“Talk to me,” she said as she used the towel to wipe up a fresh dribble of blood running down his lower ribs. “So I don’t have to think about what the hell I’m doing.”
“What would you like to talk about?” he asked. “Other than my inability to avoid getting shot, I mean.”
She couldn’t believe he was cracking jokes. “I don’t care. Anything.”
When he didn’t respond, she decided to ask him about something that had been on her mind ever since she’d seen the way he moved tonight.
“Why don’t you tell me about what else you can do as a shifter? I’m not sure why, but I’d assumed that your abilities were limited to keen senses, claws, and fangs. But after seeing you fight, I’m guessing there’s more to it than that?”
He shrugged, making the gash start bleeding again. “You’ve pretty much seen the majority of what I can do.” He paused as she tossed one bloody towel in the trash and grabbed a fresh one. “Beyond all the enhanced senses, I’m faster than a normal person, both in speed and reflexes. I’m stronger than someone twice my size, and I can take a lot more punishment as well as heal faster. Within a couple of hours, this”—he pointed at the wound—“will be closed up completely, and in a few days, it’ll look like it’s months old. It won’t be long before you’ll have to know it was there to even find it.”
“That must come in handy,” she said, wishing like hell her teammates in the CIA had been shifters. Maybe some of them would still be alive.
“I won’t lie and say my healing ability hasn’t saved my ass a time or two,” he admitted. “But I try to use my coyote instincts to keep from getting into screwed-up situations in the first place. Trust me, I’d much prefer to be clever and tricky and not get shot at all.”
“I’m all for that,” she agreed.
Thankfully, the gash had stopped bleeding for the most part. It was still painful looking, but she breathed a sigh of relief knowing he was going to be okay.
“So what happened tonight?” She tossed the second towel in the trash and picked up a third to clean off the dried blood from the rest of his torso. “Why didn’t your coyote instincts for trouble keep you from getting hit?”
“I don’t know. I guess I was a little distracted.”
Trevor didn’t elaborate. Then again, he didn’t need to. Alina was well aware of the fact that he’d taken a bullet because he’d been worried about one hitting her. She’d seen him jump to take out that big guard as the man had been about to shoot her.
“Thanks for covering my back,” she said softly. “I know you got hit because you were more worried about me than yourself, so…thanks.”
He shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. We’re partners.”
Trevor might have been making light of what he’d done, but Alina appreciated it more than she could put into words. She hadn’t had a real partner since Turkey, and it wasn’t until now that she realized the biggest thing she’d missed was knowing she had someone who’d watch her back.
Tears suddenly filled her eyes, and she forced herself to finish cleaning off the dried blood on Trevor’s stomach. It was while she was absorbed in the meticulous task of wiping down every square inch of exposed skin that she became aware of the fact that he was an extremely fit man. It was hard to miss when her face was only inches from his very well-defined abs.
Well, she’d been looking for something else to focus on so she wouldn’t start crying, and Trevor was definitely a distraction. Her partner had the body of a Roman god, with shoulders, pecs, and arm muscles that made it obvious he worked out a lot. But he also had that lean, ripped look to him that make her think more of Tarzan than a weight lifter. And the way those rippling abs disappeared into his beltline, showing off just the sexiest hint of happy trail was definitely interesting.
As she lightly traced the wet towel back and forth across his lower abs and that absolutely mouthwatering trail of manliness, it dawned on her that she was in a somewhat compromising position. Seated in front of Trevor, her hand inches from his belt buckle and the very obvious bulge in his dress pants, thoughts of tending to his wound suddenly took a backseat to the memories of what it had been like kissing him tonight. And the stuff she was remembering weren’t the kind of thoughts she should have been having about her partner.
Alina knew it was supposed to have been a fake kiss as part of their cover, but if it had been fake, then her real sex life clearly sucked, because she’d never been that turned on from a kiss in her life. She’d actually gotten excited from a thirty-second make-out session in the middle of a crowded club, which was completely crazy. She wasn’t a teenager. She wasn’t supposed to get all tingly from a simple kiss. If they hadn’t been on a mission, she could only wonder how far she would have been willing to take things.
Crap, she was getting tingly all over again, simply thinking about Trevor’s lips on her. Not to mention the feel of his strong, muscular body under her fingers.
Strong, muscular body under her fingers. Say what?
Alina gave herself a shake and discovered that at some point, she’d tossed the last washcloth in the trash and was running her hands back and forth across Trevor’s drum-tight abs, getting damn close to the danger zone around his belt buckle.
“I’m pretty sure you’ve gotten all the blood off,” Trevor said from above her.
She jerked her hands away as if he were on fire. Which, she guessed, he kind of was. Because she was definitely going to get burned if she kept playing this game. And he definitely hadn’t missed her unprofessional grope fest.
She didn’t dare look up at him as she took out a handful of sterile pads and a roll of gauze bandage from her first aid kit. Knowing she was probably blushing furiously, she kept her head down and focused on wrapping the stretchy gauze tightly around his ribs. But focusing was harder to do than she imagined, because she was getting turned on as hell. She was more aroused than she’d been in a really really long time.
What the hell was wrong with her?
She’d never been the kind of woman to go all gaga over a guy, no matter how hot his abs happened to be. Yet here she was in front of her partner, telling herself it wasn’t okay to hump his leg or yank open his belt buckle.
She determinedly forced her hormones back under control. Thankfully, Trevor had no idea what he was doing to her. She would have been mortified if he’d known how turned on she was.
Alina finished the wrap, then added some surgical tape to keep everything in place. Whether she wanted to or not, it was time to stand up and look her partner in the eye.
“I think we’re good here,” she said softly as she rose to her feet.
Trevor stood there, barely a foot of space between them, his naked chest and shoulders so close that it was hard not reaching out and touching them. His dark eyes were thoughtful, and Alina waited for him to say something snarky…or teasing.
He didn’t do either of those things. Instead, he stepped a little closer so all those spectacular chest muscles were mere millimeters away from her breasts.
“We certainly are good here, aren’t we?” he said, his voice warm and smooth, like melted chocolate, almost making her melt in return.
Alina’s breath hitched. Trevor was going to kiss her. Just like he had back in that club in Baltimore. Except this time, there wasn’t anything to interrupt them.
Chapter 8
Alina didn’t care that kissing her partner was crazy. Telling the tiny rational voice in the back of her head urging her to be cautious to shut the hell up, she placed one han
d on that beautiful chest of his, licked her lips, and prepared to meet his lips head-on.
Then the door to her apartment opened, immediately followed by the sounds of running doggy feet.
Trevor had already stepped back a few inches by the time Molly rounded the corner and raced into the kitchen in her exuberant fashion. Catching sight of Trevor, she stopped cold with the oddest expression Alina had ever seen on her dog’s furry face.
“You decent in there?”
Kathy came around the corner…and stopped cold with the oddest expression Alina had ever seen on her friend’s nonfurry face.
“O-kay, apparently not,” Kathy said after a few moments, one brow arched high as she took in Trevor’s naked chest, Alina’s sexy dress, the bandages around his torso, and the scant distance between the two of them.
“Should I come back later?” she asked coyly. “Like in the morning, with two cups of coffee and a box of doughnuts?”
Alina forced out a laugh. “Very funny, Kathy. But it’s not like that.”
Kathy nodded slowly, still looking pointedly at her. “No?”
“No,” Alina insisted. “Trevor got a little nicked up while we were working tonight, and I was applying some first aid.”
“Uh-huh,” Kathy said, giving her a knowing look.
That was when Alina realized her hand was still resting casually—even possessively—against Trevor’s chest. Refusing to let her friend see her squirm, she slowly took her hand away from all that muscle.
“You two have obviously figured this part out, but to make it official, Kathy, this is my new partner, Trevor Maxwell. Trevor, this is my best friend, neighbor, and long-term dog sitter, Kathy McGee.”
“That’s Kathy with a K,” her friend said, not even trying to hide the fact that she was blatantly ogling his naked upper body as she stepped forward to shake his hand. “It’s so nice to meet you finally. I’ve heard a lot about you. Though I must admit, in the stories Alina told me, you were fully clothed.”
“Kathy!” Alina said. “Are you trying to embarrass me to death in front of my partner?”
Her friend held up her hands in mock surrender. “Okay, okay. I’m just having a little fun. Sheesh. Remember, I work from home, so I don’t get a chance to see half-dressed men that often.”
Alina wanted to ask if that disappointing fact included Kathy’s boyfriend, Armen, but decided not to go there. Kathy very well might tell them more than they really wanted to know.
Silence descended over the crowded kitchen, and for a moment, Alina was worried Kathy might open her unfiltered mouth and say something else completely inappropriate. Fortunately, Molly chose that moment to point out that no one had bothered to introduce her to the new man in the room, so she walked up and wedged herself firmly in between Alina and Trevor, looking at him with her head tilted sideways in obvious confusion.
“This is Molly,” Alina said. “She’s my fur baby, though she spends most of her time with Kathy.”
As Trevor squatted down to ruffle her dog’s ears, Alina wondered if Molly had somehow picked up on the fact that there was something different about him…that he was a shifter. It definitely seemed like it. Molly sniffed Trevor’s hands like crazy in between regarding him with a clearly baffled expression, as if her nose and eyes were telling her two different things.
Regardless of Molly’s confusion, it was safe to say she was captivated by Trevor. Even after he stopped petting her and stood up to slip back into his suit jacket, Molly sat there in front of him, her tongue hanging out in joy and her tail wagging a hundred miles an hour.
I feel you, Molly. There’s definitely something about him that really gets to you, isn’t there?
Alina caught movement out of the corner of her eye and saw Kathy wander over to take a look at the first aid kit still on the kitchen table. Fortunately, the last towel she’d tossed in the trash had been relatively blood-free and covered up the worst of the mess in there. Kathy would lose her mind if she saw all that blood.
“I’ve heard rumors about the federal government running on a tight budget these days, but don’t tell me they expect you two to provide your own medical care?” Kathy asked.
Trevor chuckled. “No. I could have gone to the hospital, but the paperwork would have been horrendous. I didn’t want to deal with it, since it was a little scratch. I was going to ignore it, but Alina wanted to bandage it up.”
Kathy laughed. “Well, at least she’s getting some use out of the kitchen. It’s not like she cooks in here.”
“That’s not true!” Alina protested. “I cook.”
“I’m not talking about the kind of cooking I just walked in on,” Kathy said. “I meant the kind with food, pots, and pans. And before you say it, poking the buttons on the microwave doesn’t count.”
Alina’s mouth fell open, not sure if she was more offended by Kathy’s sly sexual innuendo or the fact that her best friend had just outed her complete lack of cooking skills. She was about to blast Kathy with a snappy comeback—as soon as she came up with one—only to be interrupted by her partner.
“So, Kathy, you take care of Alina’s dog every day, even when she isn’t traveling? How do you pull that off and work too?”
Kathy smiled. “I work from home, so it’s not a big deal.”
When Trevor returned her smile with one of those roguish grins of his, Alina thought her friend might melt right there on the spot.
“Do you telecommute or own your own business?” he asked.
“Kathy owns her own business,” Alina answered quickly. Her friend didn’t like to talk about how she made a living. “She sells socks on the Internet.”
Trevor looked back and forth from her to Kathy and back again, as if he expected one of them to start laughing and say, just kidding. When neither of them did, he turned to Kathy.
“Socks…seriously?”
“Yes. I sell socks on the Internet,” Kathy admitted, slightly indignant, before turning to shoot Alina a vindictive glare. “And I’ll have you know that I sell a lot of them, thank you very much.”
Trevor glanced at Alina, who shrugged. “I have to admit, she’s right about that. As crazy as it sounds, she makes a buttload of money selling socks.”
“So how exactly does one get into the sock business?” he asked Kathy, his face completely serious. Which was a good thing, since Kathy could get rather irate if she thought people were ragging on her chosen line of work.
“Purely by accident,” Kathy explained. “A couple of years ago, I went to this outlet center down near Potomac Mills specifically to buy these thick, warm socks that I loved. They were cozy to wear around the house or in bed but were also perfect with the shoes I wear. I’d go through a dozen pairs a year, I wore them so much.”
Trevor frowned in confusion. “Okay, not seeing the start of a thriving new business yet.”
Kathy held up a finger. “I’m getting there.”
He leaned back against the kitchen counter, a move that only served to tighten his abs and make him look more delicious than ever. And yeah, Kathy noticed. She almost lost her place in the story as her gaze was drawn to that rippling display of muscles just above Trevor’s belt.
What was it about tight abs that did it for almost every woman on the planet?
“So,” Kathy continued, “I go to this outlet store I’d been going to three or four times a year only to find out they no longer sold my favorite socks. I completely freaked! And I wasn’t the only one. There were three other women there who were as upset as I was. But the manager of the store said the company discontinued the entire line and told me there was nothing she could do about it.”
“That must have been traumatic,” Trevor said, still somehow managing to keep a straight face.
“It was,” Kathy agreed, apparently not noticing how hard Trevor was fighting to keep from grinning.
“So I came home and ended up finding the socks I liked online being made overseas. The only problem was that I had to buy in bulk—a hundred pairs. I was desperate, so I bought them, figuring I could sell some of the extras to other people I knew who loved the socks as much as I did. Those friends and acquaintances ended up buying every single pair I’d ordered before they even arrived. So I ordered more, and people bought those, too. The next thing I know, I’m quitting my day job so I can stay home and sell socks on the Internet.” She smiled. “Honestly, I couldn’t do any of it without my boyfriend, Armen. He’s the one who makes most of the deliveries to UPS.”
“He drives a minivan,” Alina pointed out, not because she thought Trevor would be interested in that fact, but because she liked to tease her friend about it.
“What’s wrong with minivans?” Kathy demanded.
“Nothing at all,” Alina said before turning to Trevor with a mock whisper behind her hand. “She won’t admit it, but I think Kathy has a thing for guys who drive minivans.”
Kathy rolled her eyes. “Oh yeah. Minivans really get me going. And guys who drive minivans? You just can’t get any hotter than that.”
They all laughed at that, then talked a little more about minivans, socks, and working from home before Kathy announced she needed to head back to her place and get some work done before she went to bed.
“Besides,” she added with a smile, “I’m sure you two would probably rather get back to what you were doing before I interrupted.”
Alina laughed, but now that she thought about it, having Trevor all to herself again might be fun.
“See you in the morning,” Alina said to her friend as she held the door open for her. “I’ll drop Molly off at the normal time.”
“Really?” Kathy whispered as she stood in there in the doorway, glancing at Trevor, who was still in the living room playing with Molly. “Any chance you two might, you know, sleep in a little late tomorrow?”
Alina wasn’t sure how to answer, especially considering the fact that Trevor had probably heard every word of it. Finally, she shook her head and went with the safe response, just in case.
