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Ed ran his fingers through the condensation collecting on the side of his glass and scanned the immediate area out of habit. “Grew up in a town just outside of Wilmington, which is right on the coast. Little north of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I’m an only child, but both of my parents come from big families who also live in the area, so I was always surrounded by aunts, uncles, and countless cousins.”
“Sounds…normal.”
“Very normal.”
Max smiled up at him. “I’m jealous.”
“If you want, I can take you back home after you’ve found this tomb and introduce you to my mom. She’ll be happy to adopt you, feed you, and manage your life for you.”
That earned him the head shake he’d been aiming for. “That’s tempting. Especially since being adopted by Alexei hasn’t earned me any home cooking yet. Just a lot of meddling. Do your parents know what you do for a living?”
“God, no!” Ed gasped. “My mother didn’t mind me going into the military too much, but she hated when I decided to become a SEAL.” He paused and grinned. “When I was recruited by the Company, they made it look like I was still in the Navy so I’d have a solid cover that I could sell to family and friends. When that line of work fell apart, I told my family that I started working for a private security company.”
“Mn. Nice cover and not necessarily inaccurate,” Max murmured. The sexy man opposite him stared at his own nearly empty drink for a second. The next question sounded as if he were trying very hard for nonchalant, and Ed was very considerate in that he pretended equally hard not to notice. “So, with this gig you’ve got going, have you done a lot of dating? I was thinking that it probably wasn’t easy to balance what with the travel. And do you even tell a person what you do?”
“Dating…ah…” Ed opened his mouth and then closed it. Did he want to admit to this guy he was trying to covertly woo that he had been a tiny bit of a slut over the past few years? But was it right to lie to him if he thought Max wouldn’t accept him? No, it wasn’t fair to either of them. Ed might not be exactly proud of his behavior, but he wasn’t ashamed of it. He hadn’t been looking for that forever-type relationship. Just some laughs and a good orgasm before they moved on to their next job.
Max leaned across the table toward him, a wicked grin spreading across his lips. “Really? You didn’t date? Hot stud like you didn’t date?”
“I definitely wouldn’t call it dating,” Ed admitted, wringing a cackle out of Max.
“So, what you’re saying is that you were having wild, dirty sex in every city you visited, leaving behind a string of very satisfied lovers and countless broken hearts,” Max teased in a low voice.
“I doubt there were any broken hearts.”
“Broken other things?” Max taunted. He licked his lips. “You wanna break mine again?”
Well, things had taken a very unexpected turn, and he was more than happy to follow this path. They could talk dating and all that sweetness later if it meant he could drag Max into bed.
“Sure. We—” Ed broke off when his phone started to vibrate in his pocket. He grabbed it with a curse and answered it when he saw Charlie’s name on the screen.
“Sorry to interrupt whatever dirty conversation you’re having,” Charlie immediately said, not sounding apologetic in the slightest. “But Rive’s people are getting close to your location, according to Kairo.”
“What?” Ed gasped. “Kairo?”
“There are several security cameras around Karnac, and he’s tapped into the feed. He’s spotted two of Rive’s goons about three blocks away, approaching from the south. Don’t return to the temple. Walk east to the end of the block and turn north. Catch a taxi there. Soren and I will take your car to the house.”
“You’re here?” Charlie and Soren must have followed them while Kairo watched what he could from the security cameras.
“What’s happening? Are we in trouble?” Max demanded.
Ed motioned for them to get up so they could start walking in the direction Charlie had instructed.
“We didn’t want to tell you and ruin your date. Get to the house. We’ve got your back.” Charlie hung up and Ed grinned.
Okay, he owed his boss. If he’d known they were being watched by his own team, he would have demanded to have an earpiece so he could keep in contact with their secret set of eyes. This way, he’d at least been able to relax a little and live in the blissful belief that he was having a private moment with Max.
“Everything okay?” Max inquired.
“We’re all good. Rive’s people are getting close, but Charlie and Soren are covering our backs so we can return to the house safely.”
