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Showing more energy than Edward expected, Daniel rolled over so that half of his body was now lying across Edward. There was no stopping the smile that formed on Edward’s lips. This felt really nice. He slid his right arm under Daniel’s body and pulled him closer. This was really fucking nice.
“That was more than amazing,” Daniel sighed.
They lay together, the comfortable silence extending until Edward was almost sure that Daniel had fallen asleep against him. They needed to get up and at least order some room service, try to make some plans for their next steps, but he couldn’t bring himself to move.
“Can I ask you a question?” Daniel said suddenly, surprising Edward. Daniel lifted his head and smiled down at him. “And it’s okay if you have to tell me that you can’t answer it.”
“I’ll try,” he hedged. He was done lying to Daniel if he could help it.
“Do you like your job?”
Not at all the question that he was expecting from Daniel, but a good one all the same. The funny thing was that he really didn’t have to think too hard about the answer.
“I did when I got it. But then I was a twentysomething, know-it-all punk and racing around the world while pretending to be something I wasn’t, all in the name of patriotism, fit my massive ego just right.”
Daniel’s thoughtful smile turned to a smirk. “Are you saying that you don’t have a massive ego now?”
“It’s nowhere near as massive as it was.” He paused and stared at the man who’d purposefully broken the tension that had been building. Daniel was too insightful for his own good. “I’m no longer that punk, and I’m not comfortable blindly following orders anymore. But this isn’t a job that allows for a lot of questions when it comes to orders and your superiors. Like my job or not, I’d never betray my country like this rogue agent.”
Daniel lifted his hand and cupped his cheek. “I know you wouldn’t. I don’t know a lot about you, but my instincts tell me you’re a good man. We’ll get this all figured out.”
For the first time in more years than he wanted to count, Edward struggled to keep his emotions from his face when he nodded. If he was such a good man, he wouldn’t have had sex with Daniel the second time or even this time. He wouldn’t be wanting things that he knew he just couldn’t have.Chapter ElevenEdward woke with a start, his hand automatically going for the gun he’d placed under his pillow before falling asleep for the night. His other arm tightened around Daniel, who was plastered to his entire body. The smaller man had one arm and one leg thrown over him, and his face was buried in Edward’s neck.
He blinked against the darkness and strained to hear anything in the room that would have disturbed his sleep, but they were alone.
His phone rang and Edward released a pent-up breath.
Now that he knew it had only been his phone, Edward was reluctant to move from the warm comfort of Daniel’s body. It was so damn sweet the way he was snuggled against him, and Edward hated to disturb him.
But the phone was going to do that anyway. Daniel huffed and stirred against him. Edward reluctantly unwrapped his arm from the sleeping man and released his gun to get out of bed. He glanced at the clock to see it was three in the morning. James worked twenty-four seven and never cared about what time he made his phone calls—he’d be the only person to call him at this time.
“What?” he barked softly into the phone after he carried it into the bathroom.
“New orders. We’ve traced Kevin Jones to an apartment in Paris.” James rattled off the address. “Go there and see what you can find.”
“What about Daniel?”
“Keep him with you. We can still use him.”
Seething, Edward hung up his phone and paced to the small balcony to stare out at the city. Toulouse was beautiful at night, lit up like some kind of fairy-tale land. But the view was lost on him. There was truly no reason to keep using Daniel—they never should have in the first place.
As far as getting attached, he was too honest with himself not to admit he’d crossed that line some time back. Damn, the man burned him up. It might have started as great sex, but the longer he spent with him, the faster he sank. His lack of confidence in his own amazing intelligence and skills left Edward wanting to push him more, knowing the man was stronger and smarter than he gave himself credit for.
And then there was just how he saw the world. He’d worked at the FBI and now with a security company. There was no question that he was regularly exposed to the ugly side of society, but he didn’t let it taint his view. He treated everyone with kindness and gave everyone the benefit of the doubt until they burned him. Even after Edward had done that, Daniel found a way to forgive him.
