Unfortunately, Tess wasn’t a random target anymore. He knew her. He liked her. But did he like her enough to let her go?
Shade stalked his quarry past the first of the docking towers—the lower, cheaper ones that were bordering on dangerous and that would have seen a total overhaul by now if he’d been in charge. He trailed her by about half a block, always on the lookout. The Dark Watch was around, and other hunters might have been scoping out the area. He didn’t know if he’d managed to throw off Solan and Raquel with his story. Lately, they’d taken to tracking him instead of tracking the target. The cheating fucks.
Shade sped up when Tess rounded a corner. He should nab her now, before someone else did. If anyone was going to bring her in, it should be him. She’d fallen right into his lap. It was like a gift from the universe. Wasn’t it?
He got her in his sights again. Tess turned halfway, glancing back. She started moving faster.
Shit. Had she seen him?
Making a split-second decision, Shade veered off, hoping that would calm her suspicions. He jogged down a side street and then took a parallel avenue to Tess’s path, moving fast enough to get ahead of her. He turned down the next cross street and sprinted back toward the main artery.
Reaching the corner, he put himself in a position to pop out at her from the side when she came to the intersection. He leaned forward just enough to take stock of where she was—not far away and closing fast. She was coming on steadily, but he had time to settle his breathing.
Shade quickly scanned the nearest platforms on the docks. No movement. No flash of weapons. No inky spots that might have been Solan and Raquel about to jump out at him or Tess with a freakish amount of stealth. The area was quiet, settled, although there would be the inevitable Dark Watch patrols.
He knew the area so well it was like a 3-D grid in his head. Right now, they were closer to his place than to the Squirrel Tree, and for a second, Shade wondered if he should just go home. He’d see Tess tomorrow. He had her stuff. He could fix her door.
A dread-like feeling twisted through his gut. What was he doing? He’d never hesitated to bring in a target before, and he sure as hell shouldn’t have started with this one, a woman worth more than what he still needed to move the fuck on with his life.
Why hadn’t he turned her over to Bridgebane yet? Why hadn’t he gotten his money and finished it?
Tess had almost reached his hiding place, and Shade felt himself start to sweat. He needed to close the deal on this one. Make a damn choice.
But nothing about this sat right with him. When he looked at Tess Bailey, he saw what he wanted the galaxy to be like, not how it actually was. He used to dream about joining a crew a lot like Tess’s, about putting up a fight. He’d have done it a long time ago if he hadn’t had the responsibility of an urban empire to run.
That thought drove into him like a rusted nail. He wasn’t running it, was he? Scarabin White was doing that.
The sudden, low vibration of an engine made Shade stiffen. He flattened himself against the wall, darting a look back. A Dark Watch patrol had just turned the corner and was zooming up from behind him, doing a sweep of the streets in an open hovercraft.
At the speed they were going, they’d reach the intersection not long after Tess. He’d already heard her steps.
Adrenaline dumped into his system. If she spooked and ran, they’d chase. If she kept her cool, it might be okay.
Shade’s pulse pounded as his decision time narrowed to mere seconds. He despised having his hand forced. Only an idiot made important choices without reflection—he’d learned that the hard way—and he hadn’t yet determined what to do with Tess himself. But if the Dark Watch brought her in now, he’d lose his chance.
He slipped around the corner just as Tess was bolting away from the engine noise. Her hair nearly whipped his face as she took off in the other direction at a dead run. He lunged and grabbed her wrist. In a blink, she broke his hold, spun, and came at him with a closed fist.
Shade ducked and used his shoulder and weight to plow her toward the wall. She grunted when her back hit, and he caught her head in his hand just before it thumped the building. She struggled against him, her whole body tensing to fight.
“It’s me, Tess,” he whispered next to her ear.
“Shade?” she breathed out.
“Good reaction time,” he said. “Sloppy attempt at a hit.”
She huffed in surprise, and then, damn him, she completely relaxed. Her whole body softened, and she lifted her head. Their cheeks brushed. Her exhale warmed his jaw, and those fingers that had been trying to shove him away only seconds earlier suddenly curled into his shirt and held on.
“Dark Watch patrol.” He settled one hand on her hip and slid the other into her hair. “Gotta make this look real.”
Somehow, Tess understood exactly what he meant. Her nod was so slight that he might not have noticed it if their heads hadn’t been touching. But then, before he could line up their mouths, she slid her parted lips all the way across his cheek in a sexy-as-fuck move that sent hot blood rushing through his veins.
“Kiss me, Shade,” she murmured, pulling slightly back before their lips could touch.
Her eyes flicked up, meeting his. His heart slammed so hard inside his chest that she could probably feel it thundering against her palms. He didn’t think he’d ever had a woman in his arms who was this honest. Oh, she’d lied about a ton of shit, but there was almost more honesty than he could take in the way she looked at him right now, and how her breath hitched.
Knowing he’d started this and needed to follow through, Shade tightened his hold on Tess’s head and hip, drawing her in to him. Their bodies lined up perfectly, and he ate up her little gasp when it feathered across his mouth.
Tension crackled between them like an electrical charge, almost drowning out the sound of the hovercraft turning the corner next to them. Angling his head, Shade both fought and desperately wanted what he was about to do. He had a sense of honor, and right now, he was deliberately kicking it to the curb. He’d also been dying to taste this woman since the moment they’d met.
Shade molded his lips to hers, desire sparking even more powerfully at the contact. She kissed him back without hesitation, and his mind blanked to tactics, to the Dark Watch, and even to his docks. Everything seemed to condense into a tight little ball of him, Tess, and so much heat and pressure that a supernova had nothing on the explosion they could generate.
* * *
Shade kissed me just as the Dark Watch rounded the corner. If I’d had a bomb, I might have tossed it into their loud, showy hovercraft and blown them all to bits just so that Shade Ganavan could keep devouring me in a way that was so hot I turned molten in his arms.
His hold on me tightened, and his breathing changed. I gripped his shoulders and pressed into him, kissing him back with a sweep of my tongue that tangled every part of our mouths. I wanted him, and I couldn’t help myself. I knew this was supposed to be a ruse, to hide my face and allay suspicions, but it felt pretty damn real to me.
So did Shade’s growing hard-on. If the goons hadn’t started barking at us with their megaphones right then, I would have rolled my pelvis against it and gotten a really good feel for his length and size. I was seriously tempted as it was, even with the military right behind us, yammering about rules and regulations and the unseemliness of public displays of affection.
Things like “Bring that inside, you two!” and “No vulgarity in the streets!” rang in my ears, but I hardly even noticed. I was too caught up in Shade, especially since the Dark Watch seemed to have bought our deception.
Shade broke the kiss and turned his head, nodding to acknowledge the goon patrol’s orders. He kept his hand firmly in my hair, pulling my face into the crook of his neck.
The protective tug sent heat spiraling through me. Excitement, danger, and desire all crashed inside me like some fucked-up storm that made me crazy with want. I opened my mouth and licked his neck, tasting the entire length of that tendon I’d seen dripping with sweat. He was clean now, but my imagination supplied the tang of hard work and salt. I sucked, and Shade exhaled in a burst.
He didn’t move until the Dark Watch had gone farther down the avenue and away from us. Then he met my eyes and half carried, half swept me around the corner and out of sight.