“I’ve never known love. But…”
“But?”
“But I think this may be it. I just don’t want you to leave. Cannot bear the thought of you leaving.”
“I don’t want to leave.”
“Do you…? Could you…? Do you think you could ever feel…like that for me?”
“Could I ever love you?”
“Could you?”
She stroked his cheek, thumbing the scars he wore like a badge. “Silly rabbit.” His brow darkened so she hurried to add, “I already do, George. I already do…”
He stared at her in silence as myriad emotions rippled over his features. Surprise, gratitude, devotion. She steeped in it. Steeped in the moment.
Then his expression firmed into something she now recognized and welcomed. The rumble of his growl sent excitement and anticipation whipping through her. “What did I tell you about calling me George?” he asked in a harsh voice. His lips hardly quirked at all.
Oh, she remembered. She remembered just fine. Her ass trembled at the memory of his palm. “Was that supposed to be some kind of deterrent…George?”
His gaze heated and a wild and hungry wind whipped between them. “I’m warning you.”
She put out a lip. “Where’s the fun in that?”
He made a sound, the howl of a wounded beast. “Jesus, Michelle. You’re killing me.”
Killing him? Hell, this verbal intercourse was killing her. “Let’s find somewhere private. How far is it to your place?”
“Not far.”
“Thank God.” She shot him a tremulous grin.
“Ah. Michelle.” He yanked her hard against him once more, but this time, his kiss was gentle. So gentle. A gentleness that brought tears to her eyes.
“You’re mine. Mine. Do you understand?” A savage declaration.
She smiled. Her heart filled to the brim and overflowed. It was a glorious feeling. “I do,” she said. “I am.”
And, without warning, he whipped her into his arms and stormed from the room.
THE END
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Cesium’s Capture
By Sabrina York
Dedication:
For Siobhan
Cesium’s Capture
By Sabrina York
The mission is all that matters...until he meets her.
Jason “Coop” Cooper, AKA Cesium, is as cold as they come. Nothing matters except for the job—a lesson he’s learned through painful experience. But while on a mission in the gritty back alleys of Hong Kong to collect intel on one of Red Wolf’s criminal associates, Coop is stunned to meet a woman who reaches past his elaborately constructed walls. A woman who sparks a fire inside him. One that could burn him from the inside out.
What a pity she’s in cahoots with his enemy.
Natalia Goodinov Petrova is not all she seems. Oh, she’s beautiful and smart and uses her sexuality to get what she wants with no qualms whatsoever, but her sex-kitten mask hides her true identity as a hard-core Russian agent determined to root out the villain who killed her father…and wreak her revenge.
Coop and Natalia come together in a clash of wills that threatens to destroy both of them. Other than their stubborn determination to complete their missions, they have absolutely nothing in common.
Or do they?
Chapter One
Hong Kong, 2300 hours
Jason “Coop” Cooper, AKA Cesium, leaned casually against a marble column in the opulent foyer of Hong Kong’s ritzy Mandarin Palace Hotel, ostensibly checking his cell phone. This was the worst part of his job. The waiting. He was hardly the patient sort.
“Heads up. He’s coming.” Sterling’s voice crackled through Coop’s headset and he came on point, sharpening his gaze. A slick, black Lamborghini purred to a halt in the circular drive. The hairs on the nape of his neck bristled as the door opened and the object of his surveillance, the infamous Ming Kow, stepped out.
As usual, Ming Kow was dressed in a sleek, expensive suit, one that belied his humble beginnings. Born an orphan in the back streets of Kowloon, he had fought his way up the ladder of the Hong Kong underworld. But he hadn’t really made it big until he’d aligned with an international coalition of criminals, run by the notorious Red Wolf. Now Ming Kow served as a port authority official for one of the seedier docks, one ignored by the Chinese officials. One renowned for its less than upstanding business practices.
If anyone wondered how a lowly port official lived so far beyond his means, they didn’t ask. Indeed, in Ming Kow’s circles, it would be fatal to do so.
Fortunately for Coop, the man’s arrogance and taste for luxury had served as a flashing beacon, making him easy to identify and even easier to track.
It hadn’t taken long for a man of Coop’s resources to compile enough data on the crime lord’s foul activities to prove beyond all doubt