Alpha One. Cynthia Eden

EOD.

      Juliana shook her head. “I didn’t think he’d try to get me back.” A whisper of the lost girl she’d been, so many years ago, trembled in her words. Lost … but not clueless.

      She knew her father too well. The mission to Mexico hadn’t just been about her. And if Juliana knew the full truth about the trade-off that had been made in that quiet D.C. office, she’d realize that she’d been betrayed by them both, again.

      As if the first betrayal hadn’t been hard enough for him to stomach. For years, he’d woken to find himself reaching for her and realizing that she’d forever be out of his hands.

      But she’s not out of reach right now.

      He turned fully toward her, almost helpless, and caught her chin in his fingers. “I was getting you back.” Logan recognized his mistake. He was letting this case get personal, and that was the last thing he should be doing.

      Hands off. Get her on the plane. Deliver her home.

      Walk away.

      But it had been so long since he’d held her. Even longer since he’d kissed her. One moment of weakness … would it really hurt? Would it really—

      She rose onto her toes and kissed him.

      Yes.

      Logan let his control go. For that moment with her, he just let go. Logan’s arms closed around her as he pulled her against him. Her breasts pushed against his chest, and he could feel the tight points of her nipples. She had perfect breasts. He remembered them so well. Pretty and pink and just right for his mouth.

      And her mouth … nothing was better than her mouth. At twenty, she’d tasted of innocence. Now she tasted of need.

      Seduction, at that moment, from her, wasn’t what he’d expected. But it sure was what he wanted. His hands tightened around her, and he held her as close as he could. His tongue thrust against hers. The moan, low in her throat, was a sound he’d never forgotten. Arousal hardened his body as her hands slid under his shirt and her nails raked across his flesh.

      She was hot. Wild.

      But this was wrong.

      So why wasn’t he stopping? Why was he putting his hands on her curving hips and urging her up against the flesh that ached for her? Why was he pushing her back against the wall so that he could trap her there with his body?

      Because I need her.

      The addiction was just as strong as ever, just as dangerous to them both.

      He jerked his head up and stared down at her. Juliana’s breath panted out. Her lips were red, swollen from his mouth. He wanted to kiss her again. One hot minute wasn’t close to making up for the past ten years.

      A taste, when he was starving for the full course.

      Get her naked. Take her.

      She’d been through hell. She didn’t need this. Him.

      He sucked in a sharp breath and tasted her. “This can’t happen,” Logan said, voice growling.

      At his words, the hunger, the passion that had been on her face and in her eyes cooled almost instantly.

      “Julie—”

      But she shoved against him. “Sorry.”

      He wasn’t. Not for the kiss, anyway. For being a jerk and turning away? Yes.

      But making love then, with his teammates in the next room? He wouldn’t do that to her.

      “I don’t even know what I’m doing.” She walked away from him and didn’t look back. “I don’t want this. I don’t want—”

      She broke off, but Logan stiffened because he could too easily finish her sentence.

      You.

      Adrenaline. The afterburn. He understood it, had been through enough battles and enough desperate hours after them to know what it was like when the spike of adrenaline filled your blood and then burned away.

      He headed for the door and kept his shoulders straight, like the good soldier he was supposed to be. “You should try to get some more sleep.”

      They weren’t out of the woods yet. Until they were back in the United States, until death wasn’t hanging over her head, he would be her shadow.

      That was his job.

      Since they’d been forced together, he figured she deserved the warning he’d give her, and he’d tell her only once. “If I get you in my arms again like that …” His hand closed around the old doorknob, tightened, almost broke it off. Logan forced himself to exhale. If I get you in my arms again … He glanced back and found her wide, dark eyes on his. “I won’t stop. I played the gentleman this time.”

      Right. Gentleman. Because he knew so much about that bit.

      Her eyes said the same.

      His jaw clenched. “I’ll be damned if I do it again. You offer,” he warned, “and I’ll take.”

      Not the smooth words a woman needed to hear after her ordeal in captivity, but there wasn’t much more he could say. So he left. While he still could.

      And of course, Jasper was waiting for him in the other room. The guy lifted a blond brow. His face, one of those pretty-boy faces that always fooled the enemy, hinted at his amusement. “Now I get it,” he drawled.

      Angry, aroused, close to desperate, Logan barely bit back the crude retort that rose to his lips. But Jasper was a friend, a teammate.

      “You’re always looking for the blondes with dark eyes,” Jasper teased as he tapped his chin. “Wherever we go, you usually seem to hook up with one.”

      He was right.

      Jasper smirked. “Now I know why.” The briefest pause as he studied Logan. “How do they all compare with the original model?”

      Logan glared at his friend. There is no comparison. Instead of responding to Jasper, Logan stalked off to trade out for his guard shift.

      SENATOR AARON JAMES stared down at the gun in his hands. Things weren’t supposed to end this way. Not for him. He’d had such big plans.

      Easy money. The perfect life. So much power.

      And everything was falling apart, slipping away.

      The phone on his desk rang. His private line. Jaw clenching, he reached for the receiver. “J-James.” He hated the tremble in his voice. He wasn’t supposed to be afraid. Everyone else was supposed to fear him.

      Once, they had.

      Until he’d met Diego Guerrero. Then he’d learned a whole new meaning of fear.

      “She’s dead.” The voice was low, taunting. No accent. Just cold. Deadly.

      Diego.

      Aaron’s hand clenched around the receiver. “Juliana wasn’t part of this.”

      “You made her part of it.”

      His gaze dropped to the gun. “She’s not dead.” He’d gotten the intel, knew that Juliana had been rescued. The price for that rescue had been so high.

      His life.

      “You think this will stop me?” Laughter. “I’ll hunt her down. I’ll get what I want.”

      Diego and his men never stopped. Never. They’d once burned a whole village to the ground in order to send a message to rivals. And I thought I could control him? Perspiration slicked Aaron’s palms. “I made the deals for you. The weapons were transferred. We’re clear.”

      More laughter. “No, we’re not. But we will be, once I get back the evidence you’ve been stashing.”

      Aaron’s