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“Fine.” Edward gritted his teeth and tightened his fingers on his phone. He normally didn’t have a problem taking orders from James but this one time, it went against everything in him. His urge to protect Daniel was stronger than his desire to find the buyers, and that too was a real problem.
James hung up and Edward stood there for a moment before he turned to see that Daniel was standing inside the room, watching him. He walked back in and stood staring at Daniel. The man was too pretty to be real and again, his back went up over the thought of putting him in danger. He sighed and slipped his hands into his pockets. “Our orders are to go on to Toulouse and wait there. They’re looking into a new lead.”
“Don’t you mean your orders?” Daniel scowled and sat down on the queen-sized bed. This old hotel was quite a bit different from where they had stayed in Barcelona. No king-sized bed would fit in this much smaller space. “I don’t work for those people.”
Edward lifted an eyebrow.
“Okay, fine.” He threw up his arms. “Temporarily I do. Right. You know I need to know more than mindfulness to pull this off.” He stood and paced across the small space, then back again. “I was nearly shot at the first meeting, then we were almost run off the road in the mountains—this is so much more involved than just showing up and pretending to be someone I most definitely am not.”
“I know,” Edward said, his voice low.
Daniel paused and cocked his head, his green eyes intense on Edward. “You tried to get me sent home, didn’t you?”
“I did. My handler wouldn’t listen. You’re our best playing card in this game, according to him. I still hate that you got involved in this.” He paused. “But I don’t regret the time we’ve spent together. I like you, Daniel Hendricks.”
Daniel sighed and looked away from him. “I’m scared. I can’t help it.”
“If it makes you feel any better, I’m not happy with the situation at all.”
He walked up to Daniel and put his hand under his chin to lift his face. He stared down at the handsome man, taking in the wide, green eyes filled with fear, the sensual curve of his lips. He leaned down and pressed his mouth to Daniel’s, happy when the other man didn’t pull away immediately. Damn, his lips were soft. He slanted his mouth over Daniel’s, loving the way he opened up for his tongue. He slid his inside and couldn’t stop the moan of pleasure that escaped his throat. Their tongues slid sensually along each other until Daniel did eventually pull away.
He stepped back and ran his tongue over his lips like he was tasting Edward, before he bit down on his lower one. “We have to stop doing that.”
“Why?” He really wanted to know because the two of them together were explosive, and he wanted to explore it more. “You allowed me much more earlier.”
“I’d just nearly died. I wasn’t thinking straight.”
“I’m glad you don’t think straight.” Edward grinned.
A faint smile twisted Daniel’s lips, and he ran his hand through his hair. “Look, we’re obviously good at…at that.”
“I’d say we’re a lot more than good. I still don’t see a reason not to enjoy the time we have together.”
“Just…let me think about it. I’m not used to having sex with someone I don’t trust.”
Edward’s gut knotted at that admission. Of course, Daniel had no reason to trust him. He’d lied and coerced him from the moment they’d met. But a part of him ached to fix it, to tell him about himself, to open up. He felt connected to Daniel in a way he hadn’t felt with anyone in a long, long time. Even the friend he sometimes hooked up with at home in Virginia. Hell, Daniel didn’t even know he lived in the States. He knew nothing real about Edward at all. Not even his name.
“I’m sorry if that hurt your feelings,” Daniel murmured.
“It’s true. You have no reason to trust me. But I’m not going to give up on trying for more sex. It’s too good between us.”
“I can admit that’s true.” The corner of Daniel’s mouth went up. “I’m just not comfortable sleeping with someone when I don’t know anything about them. I’ve never been one for random hookups, and you have no reason to believe that given our history. I took you to my bed the first day we met. That is not my usual way of behaving, and I’m still reeling over everything that’s happened since then.”
“You took me to your bed because whatever this is we feel is strong. It’s why I’m not giving up.”
“Well, you’re going to have to back off.”
“I will. For now.”Chapter TenEdward sat at the small table after they finished brunch, flipping through the French newspaper. He didn’t want to admit that his French wasn’t nearly good enough to follow all the stories in detail, but he could at least glean something from it as he skimmed for key words that he did know. Of course, he wasn’t actually interested in the newspaper but rather, he was interested in avoiding Daniel’s eyes. The younger man had been restlessly pacing for the past twenty minutes.
