Free Reckless Heat: A Hostile Operations Team Prequel by Lynn Raye Harris

going?” she asks, and I glance over at her.
    My heart skips a beat. “I’m taking you home.”
    She doesn’t say anything at first. And then she crosses her arms. “Take me back to the party.”
    “No. You need to go home, Evie.”
    “Don’t you fucking dare,” she spits out. “You don’t get to tell me what to do. It’s not your call. If you don’t want to be my first, then take me back to the damn party. I’ll find someone else.”
    My stomach clenches tight at those words. I flip on the blinker and whip onto a road that I know leads into a field where I can park the Escalade and no one will bother us. I don’t mean to do it. I really don’t.
    But now I’m driving down a dirt lane, between the farmer’s crops, until I reach the clearing I’m looking for. I put the Escalade in park and sit there with both hands on the wheel. Arguing with myself.
    What am I doing? Why am I here? This is Evie, little Evie, and I need to take her home right now.
    “Am I that ugly?” Her voice is whisper-soft, near to breaking.
    I look at her, at those beautiful eyes in that beautiful face, and I feel something snap inside me.
    “You aren’t ugly, Evie. You’re perfect.”
    She snorts. “Says the guy who won’t take what I want to give.”
    I reach over and tuck her hair behind her ear. I shouldn’t touch her, but I need to.
    “Is this really what you want?”
    Her eyes sparkle with unshed tears as our gazes meet. She sucks in a breath, heaves it out. “Would I ask you if I didn’t? I trust you to do it right.”
    Oh sweet Jesus.
    “Do you understand what you’re asking?”
    She clasps my hand and presses it to the underside of her breast. It’s soft and round and my dick gets hard again.
    “I think I get what this entails,” she whispers.
    Oh Lord, fuck me, I’m doomed. What am I doing? But I can’t stop touching her. I don’t want to stop touching her. Something about being with Evie makes me feel good, and I don’t want that to end. Asking me to quit is like asking me to stop a boulder from crashing down a mountain after it’s already rolling.
    I reach over and drag her across the console, fusing my mouth to hers. She tangles her fingers in my hair and kisses me back, our tongues sliding together over and over again.
    I don’t know how long we kiss, but it’s a long time. I’m hard, so damn hard, but kissing her is sweet. Part of me is dumfounded at this turn of events.
    This is Evie, my Evie, my friend. And I’m planning to strip her naked and use her body the same way I used Jeanine and Tiffany and all the others.
    My conscience pricks me now and again, but I rationalize what I’m doing by telling myself if it isn’t me, it will be someone else.
    I don’t want it to be someone else. I want it to be me. I can make it good for her, make her first time special.
    And, yeah, it’s totally selfish of me to justify myself this way. But I do. Why shouldn’t I be the one? Why shouldn’t I take what she’s offering me?
    I slip my hands beneath her top and run my palms up her silky sides. She shudders. I drag her shirt up, breaking the kiss long enough to slip it over her head.
    I drop it on the passenger seat and reach for her bra as I find her mouth again. My fingers tangle in her bra strap, and I unsnap it on one try.
    I feel her flinch, but then I gently pull it from her shoulders and drop it. When I break the kiss to look at her hovering over me, I feel a jolt all the way to my toes.
    Fuck, she’s gorgeous. Her breasts aren’t small, but they aren’t huge. The nipples are tightly beaded, upturned, and I cup her breasts gently, sliding my thumbs over the peaks.
    She gasps and bites her lip, tilting her head back and thrusting her breasts toward me. What comes next is obvious to me. I lick a nipple and Evie moans. The sound is like a whip to my need, spurring me on.
    But this isn’t how I want to do this. I wish we had a bed, but we don’t. We do, however, have a backseat. I want to lie on top