“What?”
“My death.”
“I’m supposed to thank him for that?”
“I’m dead, Luke. Think about it.”
He stared at her, his gaze a little unsteady. If she had to guess, based on the state of the house, he’d been in mourning. For her. And here she’d wondered if he cared, if her coming back from the dead was a good idea or not.
“You look awfully alive to me,” he said.
“Yael is dead. No one is looking for her.”
“So what?”
“It means I’m done. I don’t work for Mossad anymore. Everyone connected with my blackmail is gone. I’m out.”
“Are you serious? You’re free?”
“Yes.” She took a deep breath. “I don’t really know what happens next.”
Luke squeezed her, just a bit. She winced, but hid it by burying her face in his neck.
“You can stay here,” he said, his voice small and hopeful.
She wanted that. To stay with him. But was it because it was all she knew? Without covert work, Luke was all she had. The only anchor in existence for her.
“I’ve never been able to choose where I went or what I did…” She stared at the sofa.
“I can imagine.”
“During training, there was this one instructor. She said that hearts lied. That they were fickle, weak things, and we had to trust our head and our gut. I’ve never trusted my heart. I don’t know how to. I don’t know what I want, if I’m making the right choice. I…feel things…”
Love.
She felt love for Luke, but she couldn’t bring herself to say it.
“Hey?” Luke cupped her cheek. “How about this? You stay here for as long as it takes you to figure out what you want to do, and then we’ll figure out the rest.”
“But…what will I do?”
“What do you want to do?”
“I…don’t…know. I can’t work in covert intelligence. That’s the agreement. What am I supposed to do with myself?”
“Well, the obvious is that you could work with Zain. Not in intelligence, but in logistics. Moving people around, evaluating their strengths, who should do what job. I bet you could help him out a lot, especially if we get that Department of Defense contract. Word is Crawford wants to move Zain out west anyway. They’d need someone here who knows how to evaluate field ready skills. Stevens is good but he’s more operational.”
“But…they will know the truth.”
“And you think the guys don’t have secrets?”
Her gut had said the Aegis men who knew her were the good kind. Trusting them with this new life would be a gamble…but to be with Luke? Worth it.
“Abigail?” He cupped her cheek, his deep, brown eyes staring at her like she was his world. She wanted to be that, to matter that much to him. “Whatever you want to do, or wherever you want to be, just tell me, okay? I…love you. And I lost you twice already. You don’t have to love me back, you aren’t bound to me, but please, let me look out for you? I'm sorry I wasn't part of your past, can I make it up by being in your future?”
She sputtered and laughed. This man and his silly lines had wormed his way into her heart.
If she’d ever felt happiness before, it paled in comparison to what coursed through her veins now. Love. Joy. Happiness. She’d found them in this man’s arms, but could she trust it? Did she know how to be the kind of woman he needed her to be?
Epilogue.
Six months later…
“Hey, Bliss? Hannah? Where you want this ice?” Luke hefted a couple bags up under his arms. The cookout was in full swing, and he’d drawn the unlucky straw to replenish the ice mid-celebration. Probably for the best, since he was among one of the only sober ones in attendance. It was going to be one hell of a night, that was for sure.
“Oh, just through there, please?” Bliss pointed at the doorway leading into the laundry room. “Did you see who Molly Turner brought? Who is that guy, Luke?”
“Not sure.” The last thing Luke wanted to talk about was Ethan’s widow with someone else.
He shouldered through the door. Several empty coolers sat up against the walls, drinks and bottles stacked on top of the washer and dryer. He let the bags drop before ripping open one bag.
Life was…good. Work had cooled off, staying mostly uneventful, though he was pretty sure the admiral was keeping him close to home after the fiasco six months ago. Abigail was settling in nicely. They had a routine.
Work.
Make love.
And on the weekends they went somewhere. She’d never been to an amusement park, never seen the Grand Canyon, never celebrated a damn birthday. They were writing the pages of her new life. Together. And he never lost the opportunity to tell her he loved her.
That still made her uncomfortable as hell.
Was it because he didn’t care if she wasn’t telling him she loved him back? Because that was fine. Considering everything she’d been through, in her position, he wouldn’t be quick to pull the trigger either.
Maybe he should run it by Hannah. Or Bliss.
Get a woman’s perspective on things.
The kitchen door opened, the obnoxiously loud music spilling in for a moment before it thudded shut again.
“Bliss? Hannah?”
Abigail’s voice made him smile, the day seem brighter, the air sweeter.
“Hey!” Hannah’s voice cut off, drowned out by Abigail’s anxious words.
“Can I ask you something, Hannah?” Abigail spoke in a rush. Had something happened? He straightened, torn between wanting to fix it and sitting back to let Abigail do what she wanted. If she wasn’t talking to him about something, she probably had her reasons.
“Sure…” Hannah’s tone was…confused.
“What’s up?” Bliss asked.
Damn it. He should leave—but there wasn’t a door.
“It’s about Luke…”
Shit.
He froze.
This was the moment he needed to excuse himself. Abigail deserved confidents, people she could talk to who weren’t him. Even if she wanted to talk about him.
“Well, uh…”
“You know—”
Abigail charged ahead, speaking over the other two women. “Luke says he loves me, and I believe him. I think… I mean… I do, too, I just—what I’m trying to say is that I want to figure out a way to tell him. That I love him, too. My hands are shaking just saying it out loud. Shit. I want to figure out how to tell him…I want to spend my life with him. I know he won’t ask, and whenever I should say something I get tongue tied and then the moment passes and—”
“Shut up,” Hannah blurted out.
“Wait—are you saying you want to what? Marry Luke or something? Our Luke? I mean—your Luke?” That was Bliss, permanently on the marriage bandwagon.
Luke couldn’t breathe. He gripped his knees, trying to draw in breath, but he couldn’t.
Here he’d been wondering what he’d done wrong and…
Abigail was learning to follow her heart.
It was different for her.
“Oh my God,” Hannah said, her voice muffled.
He could imagine her glancing from Abigail to the laundry room door. Hannah had a terrible poker face sometimes.
“What?” Abigail asked. “Yes, if Luke wants to get married.”
He pushed upright, one hand on the dryer.
He was grinning so big his face hurt.
“But he won’t ask me. That’s part of the problem.” Abigail sighed.
He pulled the laundry door open, peering out.
Abigail stood with her back toward him, Hannah and Bliss staring at her—then him—eyes wide.
“I thought about asking him, but that’s not really done, is it? Men are supposed to be the ones asking.” Abigail shoved a hand through her hair and made a frustrated sound he’d come to adore. She only made it when there was something about normal living that annoyed her. “Why is this so hard?”
“Nothing easy is ever worth the effort.” He looped his arms around her waist.
Abigail gasped and elbowed him in the stomach trying to turn around.
“Where did you come from?” she demanded.
“I was looking for a Band-Aid. I skinned my knees falling in love with you.”
“That’s a new one.” Abigail sputtered, rolling her eyes.
“How about this?” He took her hand and kissed her knuckles. “You may fall from the sky, you may fall from a tree, but the best way to fall…is in love with me?”
“How long were you there?”
Luke knelt. He’d have preferred to have an actual ring, but they didn’t do anything by the book, so why start now?
“Abigail, I’d be honored to marry you—but would you marry me?”
“I was supposed to surprise you.” She glared at him.
“We had a deal, remember? No surprises.” Like finding out she wasn’t actually dead. “What does your heart say?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
You can stay up to date on the whole Aegis Group team in Dangerous Attraction, Dangerous in Training and Dangerous Games out now, and Dangerous Protector coming soon!
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See where it all started…
Blind: Killer Instincts
Available Now
He recognizes the darkness in her. It’s in him, too.
Detective Jacob Payton knows the clock is ticking down. Someone is about to die, and his best suspect is also his only source of information. He’s known Emma Ration’s story for years—after all, a brutal serial killer left his mark on both their lives when they were still young. Meeting her is another experience altogether. She challenges his control and entices him in ways no other woman has.
But is she the killer? As the bodies pile up and their passion ignite, Jacob runs the risk of losing his control. Falling for Emma was never in his plan, but now that she’s part of his life he’s not about to give her up. Not even to the FBI on the trail of the very same killer.
Jacob must figure out if it’s Emma in danger, or himself. If he can’t uncover the identity of the copycat killer, it could be the end for both him and the woman who has fast become the center of his life.
Blind, a new romantic suspense book for fans of Criminal Minds and The Following, from New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author Sidney Bristol.
Dangerous Attraction: The Complete Serial
Ex-Navy SEAL Travis Ration is an expert hunter. Whether his prey is criminal or victim, he always gets his mark. He's no hero, just a man doing his job. It’s all he has after a felony conviction after a bad judgment call. When the FBI call in a favor and ask him to look into a serial killer over the holiday break, he jumps at the opportunity to fill the long, cold days with something besides regret and bad movies. In Las Vegas, he's on the hunt for a prolific serial killer no one wants to admit exists. The leads are dry and the evidence gone, until she walks into his life. Bliss Giles—curvy, sassy and everything he can't have.
What’s worse, Travis knows Bliss’ sister is the killer's latest victim. She fits the profile. Time is running out and the fastest way to retrace the killer's path is with Bliss at Travis' side. In the seat of danger. He vows to keep Bliss safe and his hands to himself, after all, a nice girl like her doesn't need a guy like him in her life. Too bad no one told Bliss Travis was off-limits. She tests his boundaries and pushes his control every minute they're together until he can't remember why wanting her is a bad idea.
The hunters become the hunted in this tale of serial killers and SEALs for hire. One broken man must unpack his baggage, a woman has make a leap of faith and a sister chooses to live in this new, romantic suspense serial by NYT & USA Today bestselling author, Sidney Bristol.
Warning: Hold onto your panties, because nothing is safe.
Dangerous in Training
Disgraced Navy SEAL Mason Clark knows how to track his prey. He is an expert operative with a history of wrong-place-wrong-time luck. Landing a gig as a vacation bodyguard should have been an easy job—if he wasn't supposed to be protecting her body.
Hannah Stevens. His boss's virgin daughter. Their lust is forbidden and a relationship is out of the question--but what happens in Mexico is their secret. Getting lost between the sheets is their one and only goal, until Hannah's friends are brutally kidnapped by a human-trafficking ring. Things quickly spiral out of control when the kidnappers put Hannah in their cross hairs.
Mason is a man ready to put it all on the line to rescue the woman he loves. Love and honor are put to the test in this new, romantic suspense series by NYT and USA Today bestselling author, Sidney Bristol.
Warning: Deflowering virgins doesn't come with volume control.
Dangerous Games
Ex-Navy SEAL Zain Lloyd is good with his hands and even better with his head. As the chief intelligence officer for the private security firm, Aegis Group, it's his job to tackle problems before they costs his friend's their lives. Which is why R&R time away from the high-stress environment is always a top priority, and a week at ComicCon is just what this closet-geek wants most, until a fateful elevator ride with the woman of his internet fantasies.
Andrea Clark can't trust anyone, least of all the mysteriously sexy man she meets outside of her trashed hotel room. But Zain might be her only hope of making it through the convention and home alive. He's her very own superhero, made of all the stuff to make her fall fast and hard. With no safety net in place, she can only pray that Zain will catch her when she falls.
A web of lies and deceit ensnare two lovers. Zain must use more than his brain and quick fingers to put a stop to the doxxing and death threats before a killer emerges from the ranks of Andrea's friends.
Warning: The geeks do it better.
Book List
Aegis Group
Blind: Killer Instincts
Dangerous Attraction, parts 1, 2 and 3
Dangerous in Training
Dangerous Games
Dangerous Assignment
Dangerous Protector
Hot Rides
Drive
Shift
Chase
Bayou Bound
Picture Her Bound
Duty Bound
Bound Memories
Bound & Tamed
Other BDSM Titles
Committed
Bound with Pearls
Collar Me in Paris
Festive Seduction
Electric Engagement
So Inked
Under His Skin
The Harder He Falls
His Marriage Bargain
Standalone Titles
Falling for His Best Friend
Dream Vacation (free read)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
It can never be said that NYT & USA Today Bestselling author Sidney Bristol has had a ‘normal’ life. She is a recovering roller derby queen, former missionary, and tattoo addict. She grew up in a motor-home on the US highways (with an occasional jaunt into Canada and Mexico), traveling the rodeo circuit with her parents. Sidney has lived abroad in both Russia and Thailand, working with children and teenagers. She now lives in Texas where she splits her time between a job she loves, writing, reading and fostering cats.
Copyright © 2016 by Sidney Bristol.
Editing by Dayna Hart. | www.edits.daynahart.com
Copy editing by Nina S. Gooden. | www.greenteaandpinkink.com/pinkinkeditorialservices
Cover design by Charity Hendry. | www.charityhendry.com
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses pe
rmitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below.
Inked Press/Sidney Bristol
www.sidneybristol.com
Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.
Book Layout & Design ©2013 - BookDesignTemplates.com
Ordering Information:
Quantity sales. Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the “Special Sales Department” at the address above.
Dangerous Assignment / Sidney Bristol. -- 1st ed.
Dangerous Assignment (Aegis Group Book 4) Page 29