Page 23 of Cash

“Well fuck,” Stella mumbled.

“But that’s not the plot twist,” Kira went on. “According to Iriana, the assistant is a double. Or maybe he’d be considered a plant. The Chinese think he’s theirs but really, he’s the CIA’s.”

I sat back in my chair, tipped my head back, and stared at the ceiling. “I’m too fucking tired to play musical spies.” I righted my head and looked at Kira. “I will supply you with all your caffeine and sugar needs for the next thirty days if you’ll make me a cheat sheet of who’s screwing who—no, scratch that, I don’t care who’s screwing who and who’s playing double-agent, triple-double-back-around-the-bend-up-the-ass-with-no-lube agency games. Just work up a target package and give me a clear list of people to take out.”

“Make it ninety days and you have a deal,” Kira returned.

“Done.” I pushed back from the table, made my way to Zane, dug into my pocket, and pulled out the flash drive.

Zane’s hand came up and I dropped the drive into his palm. “Mission complete. Now I’m going to take a nap.”

With a jerk of his chin, I was dismissed.

I took the stairs two at a time to the main floor, exhaled when I saw Penny was no longer in the living room, and hustled up the next flight of stairs.

Two minutes after I stripped off my clothes and faceplanted onto the mattress, I was dead to the world.

I felt a hand on my ankle and instantly came awake. Almost as instantly instinct kicked in. I rolled to my back and knifed up. My hand shot out but before I could connect with anything solid, it was slapped away.

What the fuck?

Without thinking I lunged at the same time my eyes adjusted to the darkness as a fist came flying at my face. A last-second adjustment saved my face but the power behind the punch meant my body took the brunt of my attacker’s momentum as we collided. I rolled but not before my head was forcibly yanked back by my hair and I felt a hand cup my balls.

I grunted in surprise.

“One more move, asshole, and I’ll make that vasectomy you’re so proud of an unnecessary precaution,” Stella growled.

No, I didn’t have Stella under me, I had Lore. And why did that turn me on so damn much?

“Baby girl, if you wanted to feel me up, all you had to do is ask.”

Her hand tightened to the point of pain.

“Now you’re just being a tease.”

I felt her body under mine stiffen. I counted the seconds it took her to relax into her protective façade—the fortress of bitchiness she erected to keep everyone out. Unfortunately for her, I liked Lore and her cutting words and bad attitude. I understood that side of her—the pain that was buried deep but always simmering close to the surface. The need to hide that ache—not out of fear it would hurt if it surfaced but the damage you’d inflict if you didn’t.

“Such a silly boy,” she purred, not releasing my balls or the hold she had on my hair. “I don’t tease. I take.”

I bet she did.

My left arm around her back trapped her on top of me. My other went to her ass, encountering soft cotton instead of the jeans she had on earlier, and I dug my fingertips in.

I bucked my hips and asked, “Tell me, Lore, what is it you plan on taking?”

“I hadn’t planned⁠—”

“Plans change,” I interrupted her. “And as much as I get off on a healthy dose of pain, if you squeeze my balls any harder, you’ll be spending a fair amount of time with my cock in your mouth as an apology.”

The woman didn’t disappoint. Her grip held tight. I smiled into the dark and slid my hand from her ass over her hip and continued skating my palm up, skimming the side of her breast, until I caught her around her throat.

“You wanna play, baby girl?”

I heard her breath hitch.

“You can’t⁠—”

I flexed my hips again and cut her off. “I swear on all things holy if you tell me I can’t handle you, I’ll fuck you so hard and long you’ll be begging me to stop.”