Exposed. Samantha Keith

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СКАЧАТЬ so do a lot of other people. I want to know what’s making you so determined to go after him specifically.”

      Her line of vision shifted away from his gaze just enough for him to catch that she was hiding something. “Dammit, tell me. Do you really think I won’t be able to find out? Save me the work.”

      She sighed, shifted her weight to her other foot making her hip jut out. “Last year my best friend Zoe’s sister came to Miami. She was twenty-one years old and was here on spring break…only she refused to come home. She got involved with Carlos and he got her hooked on cocaine and crystal meth.” Her throat tightened on the next words she had to say. “She died in an alleyway.”

      Nate rubbed his hand over his face. “Fuck, Maddie. You can’t—”

      She snagged his elbow, shaking his arm. “It’s not just that. What he did to Leila makes me want to see him in prison, but that’s not my fuel. He’s a terrible man, a dangerous one. And since Ethan has put up road blocks preventing me from getting into the FBI—”

      He lowered his hand and met her hard, determined stare. “You want to take him down because he’s a big fish and use that as a leg up to get in?” He didn’t need to ask the question. The fire in her eyes spoke volumes. With her background, she was a shoo-in for an agent. She had a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, had worked undercover, and now that he knew her reason for transferring to the Narcotics Unit, he had to question if Carlos had been her motive in the first place. Hell, of course it was. Knowing Maddie, she’d strategically stacked the deck in her hand of cards.

      Add to all that her martial arts training. Maddie was lethal, smart… and more qualified than some of the guys he’d worked with over the years. But he agreed with Ethan… this line of work was dangerous.

      It was on the tip of his tongue to talk her out of it, though he’d tried already. He wanted to shake her, to knock some sense in her head, and yeah, maybe he could now understand where Ethan’s overbearing streak was coming from. Part of Nate still wanted to step away from the case in the hope doing so would force her to drop it. But even without him, she’d still complete this stupid suicide mission—only it’d be with another agent who didn’t give a rat’s ass about her well-being. The mission was well into production, and there was no way his superiors would pass up the opportunity to take down Carlos Santiago. Nope. His fate was sealed.

      As if she sensed his temptation to pull back, her fingers tightened on his forearm. “It was the perfect opportunity. I’m safer doing undercover work here in Miami than I was in Seattle. You know how risky it is when you’re on a case and people in your community know you. I was limited there.”

      Hell, she was right. With cases of this magnitude they would have hired someone who wasn’t local. But he hated that she had a personal interest in this. It made it that much more perilous.

      “I need to do this, Nate.” She wet her lips and her eyes turned glassy. “For myself. This is all I want to do with my life, it’s who I am.” Her soft, broken words tore at his heart. He’d disagreed with Ethan for years about his interference with Maddie’s career, now he was crossing a boundary of no return.

      But he couldn’t say no. Aside from the fact that she’d already flung herself into the center of the storm, her determination impressed the hell out of him.

      She’d make a damn good agent.

      “If we’re going to do this, you need to listen to me, Maddie. That cocky streak of yours,” he said, pinching the tip of her button nose. “Could get you killed in the blink of an eye. The only reason I’m still on this case is because I know you’ll go ahead with or without me.”

      She folded her hands together in front of her abdomen. “Thank you,” she said, the words slipping from her lips and winding their way into his heart. He grunted in response. Her fingers drifted lower to smooth over a wrinkle in her shorts. His pulse thundered through his temples.

      “Am I safe here?” Her throat moved over a swallow.

      Christ. His shoulders loosened and he folded her into his arms, crushing her against his chest. That small, tiny show of trepidation cut through him. He could count on one hand how many times he’d caught a streak of fear in her face. She always held such a tight front, that when it cracked, it was as if a piece of her was leaking out.

      He burrowed his face in her hair and her scent filled him. Her face snuggled against his chest and her hands curled around him. The top of her head sat just below his chin. Her body was so much slimmer than his, yet firm muscle lay beneath her slight frame. His hunger ate through him. The need to kiss her, to take away her fear, to protect her, burned inside him. And he couldn’t do fuck-all about it, and never would. He was a damn coward. If he held her tight enough, he might be able to resist tearing her clothes off.

      “Nate?” Her cautious, unsteady voice broke his thoughts.

      He closed his eyes as the scent of pineapple and coconut from her shampoo tickled his taste buds. “Yeah?”

      “Why did you leave that night?”

      He pressed the tip of his tongue to the back of his teeth until it ached. He didn’t want to talk about that night. About how close he’d been to having her, to filling her… to betraying his best friend. He shouldn’t be here. And he sure as hell shouldn’t be touching her. But no matter how much he willed himself to let go, he couldn’t break away.

      “Please, tell me.” She pulled her head back to look up at him. Her lips fell into a soft pout and her hands pressed over top of each other against the front of his shirt. “I promise I won’t come on to you. I just want to know what happened.”

      A sigh breathed through his nose. He brought his fingers up to tuck her hair behind her ear, his knuckles grazed over the silky skin of her cheek. Dread ate through him. Talking about that night would only open up a can of worms… but he owed her some kind of explanation. Leaving her in need that night was not one of his proudest moments.

      “I wanted you, believe me.” His voice was rough as he forced the words through his tight throat. He watched her face carefully as a dark pink stain crept over her cheeks. “But I could never betray Ethan like that.”

      Her eyes shot to his and her body went rigid. She pushed out of his embrace. “Are you kidding? You left because of Ethan?” Her voice raised an octave and her breasts jiggled in her top as she moved on the balls of her feet.

      He rubbed his hand over his face. “C’mon Maddie, it’s not that hard to understand.”

      “Yeah, it is. I’m twenty-eight years old, goddammit. Do you think any other man has avoided sleeping with me because I have a brother?”

      He clenched his jaw until his teeth threatened to chip. The last thing he needed was an image of Maddie getting screwed by other men. Had she just got done with Carlos? The need to ask burned up his esophagus like acid. “It’s different and you know it. I’ve been friends with him for more than a decade—I can’t just fuck his little sister.”

      Her chest rose and fell and the soft lines of her cheeks hardened. “Thanks for the explanation. You can leave now.” She stepped around him. He closed his hand over the soft skin above her elbow and pulled her back.

      “We’re not done.”

      “I think we are.” She yanked her arm, but he held fast.

      “What СКАЧАТЬ