Page 60 of Vicious Temptation

My attention drops to her lips, and all I can think about is how fucking good she tasted. Then her eyes drop to my mouth, and there it is. I smile, wondering if she’s remembering the exact same thing I am. Leaning closer, I brace an arm against the wall beside her without touching her, and her next breath deepens.

“We had an emergency at the precinct. A busted pipe flooded the area near our range, so we needed somewhere else to train tonight. Your place happened to be available.”

Remi folds her arms and makes no effort to move away. “You and your convenient bullshit.”

“What can I say? Sometimes things work out in my favor.”

Her eyes narrow. “You had a hand in this, didn’t you?”

“I didn’t break the pipe.”

“That wasn’t my question.”

I give her a careless shrug, which earns me a hard shove to the chest. Stumbling back a step, I laugh under my breath as déjà vu hits me, only this time without the reward that followed.

“Listen, Officer Braga, if you or your team of idiots annoy or piss me off even once, you’re out. And I’ll make good on that trespassing order,” she says as she turns away. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got someone named Callahan to stab.”

A laugh bursts out of me because I have no doubt she means it. Then my gaze drops to her ass as she walks away, and apparently, self-preservation only gets me so far.

“Hey, Remi.”

She stops but doesn’t turn around.

“I like your hair. It looks really good.”

She stays there for another second, long enough that I wonder whether she’ll respond, but then she keeps walking and rejoins Valentina at the counter.

“You good?” Ryan asks as we head toward our reserved room. “She looks pissed.”

“No, that’s just her face,” Grey says. “I swear that chick is such a waste. Someone needs to teach her how to better use that pretty mouth.”

Any amusement I had vanishes.

“Shut the fuck up.” I plant a hand against his chest, stopping him in his tracks.

The grin drops from his face, and Ryan’s eyebrows lift beside me as his gaze shifts between us.

Grey scoffs and knocks my hand away. “Relax, man. I thought you said you didn’t care about that broad.”

“Whether I care about her has nothing to do with it. Have some goddamn respect. She owns this place.”

His stare hardens.

It’s no secret that Grey and I butt heads more often than not. From the moment I arrived, he’s treated me as a threat, though I’ve never figured out exactly why. Maybe it’s how quickly I earned the commander’s trust, or what he sees as preferential treatment on her part.

Whatever the reason, this has nothing to do with our usual bullshit. The tension between us draws the attention of the guys nearby, and even the ones loading magazines stop to glance our way. Grey glares at me for another second, then looks around at the rest of the team before snatching his bag off the floor.

“Fuck this.”

“Oh, come on.” Ryan steps in, playing mediator, like always, even when he knows Evan Grey is a dick.

What Ryan doesn’t realize is that I’m a bigger one.

Standing here now, watching Grey walk away, I know my reaction had very little to do with respect or with the fact that Remi owns this range. I didn’t like hearing him talk about her that way. I didn’t like him looking at her at the gym, and I sure as hell don’t like the thought of him anywhere near her now.

That feels a little too personal for a woman I’m supposed to be using to complete an assignment. And figuring out what the fuck that means is a problem for another day.

Seventeen