Page 20 of Russian Rescue

With a shrug, I crossed my arms. “I’m good at what I do.”

“No.” He shook his head, and I furrowed my brow. “You’re the best at what you do. It was amazing seeing you in action live. You were like, pow, pow, pow!”

He mimicked my fighting moves, and I laughed. “That’s not how I fight.”

He lifted his hands and aimed them at me like he was about to karate chop my head. “Well, it was hot watching you go all Kung-fu on those guys.”

“You weren’t so bad yourself, Wes.”

His impossibly sexy dimples deepened with his grin. “Yeah. I held my own, didn’t I? Not bad for no special ops training.”

“I mean, you’re no Marcus or Knox, but yeah. Not bad, Pretty Boy.”

With a groan, he dropped his head back onto the couch. “I hate you.”

I leaned over and whispered in his ear. “No, you don’t. You love me.”

He rolled his head over, and our foreheads almost touched. “Not as much as you love me, Madam Piper.”

He wasn’t wrong there. I did love him, but not in a romantic way. I loved him the same way I loved Marcus and Knox. The only three people on this planet I’d ever been able to say that about.

Well, almost. For a short time in my childhood, I’d had parents I loved. But then they were gone, and I was all alone again... until I found my new family in Elite Stealth Force Alpha.

I stared at the face of the boy I adored, who was no longer a boy. For a moment, I got lost in his eyes. The electric blues mixed with the dark swirls looked like storm clouds on a summer day. They were mesmerizing. His gaze drifted down to my lips, and they parted instinctively.

My heart thumped in my chest as tiny visions of his full lips pressing into mine invaded my head. I tried to force them out, remind myself that this was Wes. My Wes. The Wes I teased and tortured for years, but it was only for fun. I’d never once thought of kissing him for real.

Until now.

Like a magnet had woven its way into my red lipstick and the other had somehow ended up on Wes’s perfectly kissable lips, my body inched toward his without my permission. As our mouths moved closer and closer, my brain raged at me to pull back... stop this nonsense before it started. Flirting with Wes was one thing but kissing him for real meant something else entirely. And yet, as loudly as my brain screamed at me to stop, to push him away or get up and run, my stupid body kept leaning into the kiss I shouldn’t—couldn’t go through with.

But a kiss I wanted badly. So, so badly.

Maybe because he’d been kidnapped, and we’d been so close to losing him, or perhaps the fact that he no longer looked anything like the geeky kid I’d used to torment, but there was something about the man sitting next to me ignited a fire inside of me.

“Here you go!” Oleg said as he burst through the door.

I blinked fast, shaking myself from the trance I’d slipped into as I sat back against the couch. I noted the recognition in Wes’s eyes and the knowing pride that swelled inside them as he accurately concluded...

I would have kissed him.

Jesus. What the hell was the matter with me?

I’d abided by one hard and fast rule since I was sixteen. Never ever kiss anyone that I cared about. Kissing someone you’re interested in emotionally means things can get messy. Instead, I only hooked up with people I was sexually attracted to. The guys I hated talking to but could get my kicks with and never once start thinking about white picket fences and happily ever after. One-night stands meant for hot sex and nothing else. The dumber they were, the better. Like a walking, talking vibrator made just for my pleasure to be discarded as soon as I was done.

Guys who weren’t smart, funny, and charming like Wes. Kissing someone like Wes would be a slap in the face to those rules since I had such heavy affection for him as a friend. It would confuse things and complicate a relationship I had no interest in mucking up. Didn’t matter how hot he’d gone and become.

“Thanks, Oleg,” I answered, sliding a little farther away from Wes.

He handed us each a bowl of aromatic food. “It’s past my bedtime, so I’m going to turn in. But you know where the blankets are, and my place is yours, so make yourself at home. I’ll be up early if you need anything.”

“Thanks, Oleg.”

“Anytime, Piper. Nice to meet you in person, Wes.” Oleg lifted a hand and waved while he yawned. “Night, you two.”

We bid him goodnight, then devoured our meals.

“Oh my God,” Wes mumbled over a mouthful of food. “This shit is as good as you guys always said. Wow. I need to learn how to make this.”