Oath of Honor

surveillance team and provide medical containment if necessary. She’d

be in a van somewhere, safely observing. Evyn would be in the hot zone.

The virus, if released, would be as lethal as a bullet, although not quite

as rapid. The diner was a public place—and the agents’ body armor

would be no protection at all. She had nothing other than supportive

measures to counteract its destructive potential—no vaccine, no drugs.

Exposure could be a death sentence.

Evyn slept with her head on Wes’s shoulder. She fit into the curve

of Wes’s body as if she’d always been there. Wes stroked the slope of

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RADCLYfFE

Evyn’s shoulder. Her skin was soft, warm. Her breasts were firm and

full, nestling against hers in a sensuous embrace. The brush of Evyn’s

nipple over her breast teased her clit, and she tensed with a sharp thrum

of arousal. She tightened her grip on Evyn’s shoulder and held her

closer.Evyn murmured and shifted above her, easing her leg between

Wes’s thighs. Her pelvis rocked into Wes’s and the tight knot of need

between Wes’s thighs grew. She’d come hard the night before—the first

time when Evyn had taken her with her mouth, then more slowly as

Evyn had stroked her, and now she was ready again. Cupping Evyn’s

ass in her palm, she guided Evyn’s leg to the place she needed her.

“I like waking up with you,” Evyn whispered, her lips against

Wes’s throat. She kissed her way up and tugged lightly on her earlobe.

The tiny points of pain sent pleasure streaking down Wes’s spine.

She raised her hips so her clitoris rubbed against Evyn’s thigh. “I like

sleeping with you. I like waking up with you. I like everything about

being with you.”

Evyn chuckled. “Handy, that, because I plan on being around a

lot.” “I think I’ll need you around a lot.”

Evyn propped herself up on her forearms, the first rays of morning

light breaking over her face. Her eyes were blue-gray in the dusky

dawn. “We haven’t talked about the future.”

Wes cradled Evyn’s face, scooped her fingers through her hair,

kissed her. “I want one.”

“So do I.” Evyn kissed her, exploring, teasing, tasting. She slid

deeper, claiming. “I want you. Just you. I know always sounds like a

line, but I mean it.”

Wes’s concentration faltered—gave way under the sensation of

Evyn’s mouth and hands. She pressed harder against Evyn’s thigh,

climbing faster. Too fast. Gasping, she pulled away. “I’m going to come

soon.”“Mmm—then don’t stop.”

“I want—I need—to say this first. I love you. I’ve never wanted

anyone else and I never will. Always sounds like the beginning.”

Evyn shuddered. “I never even wanted tomorrow with anyone

before. Now I want every single one of yours to be mine.”

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Oath Of hOnOr

“They will be.” Wes’s muscles clenched and she rode the plume of

pleasure higher. “I’m sorry, I can’t…I’m coming for you.”

“Yes. For me.” Evyn scored her teeth down Wes’s neck, biting

gently. “Yes,” she breathed against Wes’s skin, hearing the startled cry

as Wes’s control unraveled. Her clitoris twitched, pulsed, thickened.

She needed to come but she held back. She needed Wes more. “Mine.

All mine. Come for me.”

Wes cried out, body shattering with pleasure. She crushed her face

to Evyn’s neck. “Yours. Yes.”

Pushing up on one arm, Evyn fumbled for Wes’s hand with the

other. She pressed Wes’s fingers between her legs. “Touch me. I need

to come for you.”

Wes stroked her, slid lower, pressed inside, and Evyn exploded

in her hand. “I love you,” Wes whispered. “No chances today, Evyn. I

can’t lose you.”

Evyn sighed and stretched, trailing her fingers down Wes’s back—

sated, supremely content. “You won’t lose me, I promise. I’m here for

the long term.”

Wes kissed her, choosing to believe for a little while longer they

could control the future.

v

Hooker opened the minifridge tucked in the corner of his motel

room and removed a small plain cardboard box the size of a ballpoint

pen case. The clear plastic vial with the screw top was nestled inside,

surrounded by a Styrofoam cut-out. A half-inch of milky white fluid

filled the end of the tube—at least it had when he’d checked it when

he’d accepted it from the woman in Georgia. He hadn’t looked at it

again. He didn’t want to look at it, he didn’t want to touch it. He wasn’t

superstitious, but he didn’t ride around with a loaded gun and the safety

off pointed at his chest, either. If all he’d been told was true, whatever

was in the tube was ten kinds of deadly dangerous. He couldn’t hand it

off soon enough.

He placed the small, narrow box in a white plastic cooler along

with a couple of cans of beer and a burrito from the minimart where

he’d gassed up the rental car he’d used to drive north the night before.

• 255 •

RADCLYfFE

Russo had pushed the timetable forward, and haste was never a good

idea, but Russo lived by the polls. If the numbers showed Powell

gaining in popularity, that was all that mattered to Russo—after all, he

wasn’t taking any risks. Hooker didn’t concern himself with politics—