Page 61 of Entwined With You

“He filled me in, yes,” I say, reaching for his hand. I immediately regret doing that; it’s probably not cool to hold hands in front of his boss. But Brax takes mine immediately and gives it a soft squeeze.

“As for holding up,” I continue. “The jury’s still out.”

“Well, here’s where I ask you the big question. We’re trying to bring this organization and all it’s cells down. That’s a big job, and not one that can be done overnight. We need people on the inside. Right now, in LA, we only have one.” He meets my eyes. “We’d like to have two.”

I try to answer, but my mouth has gone dry. I try again. “Who’s already in?”

Ryan and Brax exchange a glance, then Ryan nods. “Morris Grey.”

“Oh,” I say, suddenly understanding why he asked if I wanted to meet for a drink tomorrow.

“I won’t sugar coat it. The job’s dangerous. But it’s also important. And if you go in, Brax has agreed to join.”

I frown. “Doing data entry?”

Ryan laughs. “No. That’s a cover. Brax is one of our purely covert agents. Outside the office, there’s no hint of what he does for Stark Security.

“Stark Security,” I repeat, recalling a time when Director Lambert had told a small group of us that Damien Stark’s spin-off security company was a well-known front for money laundering and drug trafficking. The though must show on my face, because Brax tells me it’s not true.

I tilt my head up to him, and though I don’t say it aloud, I know he understands me. How the hell am I supposed to know what’s true?

He doesn’t answer. But in his silence I hear the promise I already made. That I would always trust him.

And so that’s that. I draw a breath, look between the two men, and simply ask, “So what do I do now?”

Chapter Seventeen

As it turns out, the answer to “what do I do now,” is pretty simple: business as usual. Except now I’m focusing on remembering details so that I can pass them back to Stark Security and the real SOC. I can’t say I love the job—it’s stressful as shit—but at the same time, it’s not that different than what was doing before. Now I’m just doing it with eyes wide open. And my true boss doesn’t even work in the building.

“This is strange,” I say after my second day in my new role. “Living a double-life, I mean. But it’s not as strange as I thought it would be.”

“That’s because you’ve been doing it all your life,” he says, rubbing my feet that I’ve plunked on his lap.

We’re on the sofa in his apartment, which, as of yesterday, is officially our apartment. Though we’re going to have to move more of my stuff over for it to really feel like mine.

I consider what he said. “You may be right. I never felt like I was living a double-life before, though. It was just the job. Survival. It was be whoever you had to be to get from one moment to the next.”

“The same, but different,” he says. “But either way, I think we’re uniquely well-suited for the work.”

“Good,” I say. I pull my legs up under me and scoot closer so I’m leaning against him. “I like working with you again. I like being us again.”

“Me, too,” he says, as I shift again, this time to straddle him. “I have some interesting information already,” I say.

“Yeah? What’s that?”

“I have over an hour before I’m supposed to meet Morris at Clandestine.” I wiggle a little more, the invitation obvious. “However will we pass the time?”

“My mind’s a complete blank,” he says, as his fingers find the button of my jeans.

“Mine too,” I say, as my fingers go to work on the buttons of his shirt. “Maybe we should—oh!” I squeal with laughter, then hook my legs around his waist as he somehow manages to rise with me attached to him, arms and legs holding tight.

He carries me the short distance to the bedroom, tosses me onto the mattress, then joins me there.

“Want me to tell you what I have planned?”

“Nope,” I say, sliding his shirt off. “Why don’t you just show me?”

It’s a brilliant suggestion if I do say so myself, though to be perfectly accurate, it wasn’t show so much as feel. Because what Brax had me do was stretch out on the bed with my eyes closed as he proceeded to kiss and stroke and undress every single part of my body.