Oath of Honor

identity issues all adolescents face that talking with her sister helped.

And when she’d told Chris she was a lesbian, her sister had been cool.

Hell, she talked to Gary when things got really hairy—when the stress

and the insane schedules and the lack of a personal life started to make

her crazy. She wanted Wes to get any help she needed—and making a

move on her did not qualify as helping.

Evyn pulled on Wes’s jacket, not so much because she wanted to

keep dry in the still-falling snow but because she liked wearing it. An

unusual intimacy for her—wearing someone else’s clothes. Silly, but no

one needed to know. The jacket was a little big. Wes’s shoulders were

a little wider, her arms a little longer, but she wasn’t so much bigger

their bodies wouldn’t fit together seamlessly. Wes’s breasts were just

the right size for their torsos to meld perfectly, Wes’s thighs just long

and tight enough to wrap around hers with no space between them. The

fist of want in her belly tightened, and she dashed outside, welcoming

the blast of cold wind and icy snow. The storm had picked up. Two

inches of wet powder covered the parking lot. No cars passed on the

two-lane. The road remained unplowed.

After tossing the detritus into the open maw of the dented blue

Dumpster tucked behind the end of the building, she ran back along the

row of darkened rooms. She stamped her feet to clear the snow from her

boots and jumped inside their room, shutting the cold night outside.

Wes stood in the middle of the room with a towel cinched above

her breasts, leaving her upper chest, sculpted shoulders, and a lot of

thigh exposed. A sliver of light slanted through the partially open

bathroom door behind her, highlighting her strong curves and sinewy

planes. The red-green glow of the motel sign flickered through the

open slats on the blinds hanging on the single window beside the door,

leaving Wes’s face mostly in shadow. Evyn flashed again on the picture

of Wes wrapped around her, nothing between them. Her skin tingled

and heat flooded her core.

• 167 •

RADCLYfFE

“Better?” Evyn backpedaled until her ass hit the wall. She couldn’t

read much in Wes’s face, but she bet hers was easy to decipher. She’d

had more control when she was fifteen than she did now.

“Yes,” Wes said. “How is it outside?”

“Snowing pretty heavy.” Evyn couldn’t move. Couldn’t take her

eyes from Wes’s face.

“Your hair is wet.” Wes took a step closer, ran her fingers through

the hair at Evyn’s temples. “You should’ve put the hood up.”

Evyn laughed shakily and rubbed her hair with a hand. “I thought

I could outrun the snowflakes.”

Wes laughed. “Why does that not surprise me? Do all federal

agents think they’re capable of superhuman feats?”

“Only the ones who are, like me.” Evyn grinned, watching the

smile reach Wes’s eyes. She loved making her smile. Still, she looked

strained, as if she’d been pulling doubles for a week. “How are you

really feeling?”

Wes shrugged. “Like I had a really long day. Nothing some sleep

won’t cure. I’m not that out of practice working twenty-four on—I still

cover the ER pretty regularly.”

“Yeah, but you aren’t usually physically accosted in the ER.”

“I wasn’t today either,” Wes said gently. “I took a header off the

boat—none too proud of that actually. I should have ducked. I saw it

coming.”

“For how long—a second?” Evyn shook her head. “You never had

a chance.”

“And neither did you.” Wes brushed a loose curl away from the

corner of Evyn’s mouth. “You must have hit the water pretty hard to

bruise your face.”

“You hit a lot harder.” A pulse beat rapidly in Wes’s throat,

matching the crazy rhythm of Evyn’s heart. Evyn started to sweat. Wes

was inches away. She wanted to touch her. “You should get dressed

before you get chilled again.”

“You should get undressed before you end up the same way.”

Wes reached out and unzipped the windbreaker. “I left a little hot

water. You need it?”

“I’m good,” Evyn said, never having made a less true statement in

her life. She didn’t know what she was, but it wasn’t good. Turned on,

• 168 •

Oath Of hOnOr

desperate to ease the shadows Wes couldn’t quite hide, aching to hold

her. “Wes, I—”

“I want to get one thing clear,” Wes said.

Evyn drew up short. Here it came. The no-fraternization-at-work

speech. Her own rule, the one she should have been remembering, and

the one she forgot every time Wes was within a mile of her. “You don’t

need to say anything. I agree with you.”

Wes’s eyebrows shot up. The corner of her mouth lifted. “Do you?

I didn’t realize you were psychic as well as superhuman.”

“Another big bad federal agent skill,” Evyn said as nonchalantly

as she could manage. “Always a bad idea to complicate a working

relationship. No need to go there.”

“You’re right, we do agree.” Wes’s tone was soft and serious, but

her eyes were partly amused. “Although I was going to say that what

happened out there this afternoon was an accident. No one could have