Free A Man Like No Other by Aliyah Burke

how she made sure to keep their attention off what that one hand was
doing. Not obviously, but very smoothly and with the ease of someone who’d been
doing such things for a long while.
    Although Sean did a good job of
pretending to be in love with his ‘wife’, for Taber, his gaze fell to Serefina
a few too many times. When they finished, Taber watched her hug Rochelle then
turn to Roger. The smile on her face was bright, friendly, perfect for the
part, and again, all wrong for his gut.
    A low growl filled the car when he
noticed her almost sink into Roger. The action had been slight but he’d seen it
before she pulled away. Serefina waved and glided off without looking back. In
fact, she didn’t look anywhere. When she turned a corner, her cell was in her
hand. He longed to follow her but he had to remain until they were sure Roger
and Rochelle got away clean.
    He hated spying on his own but one
didn’t argue with Tobias. A smile cracked his visage. Well, not unless your name
was Serefina LeBenoit. The car door opened and in slid Shania.
    “Mornin’, darlin’,” he said
affectionately.
    “Hey, hot stuff.” She whistled low.
“You look like hell. Are you getting enough sleep?”
    Not even close. When he closed his
eyes, his thoughts went to Serefina; after which, sleep was nigh impossible.
Hard to rest when you have a hard-on you could drive railroad spikes with.
    “Sleep. What’s that?”
    “Woman troubles?” Shania asked, swiftly
braiding her red hair into a French braid.
    “I think one has to have a woman
first.” He ignored the fact it continually bothered him that Serefina seemed
content to keep him at a distance.
    “Losing your touch, Taber? I don’t
believe I’ve ever met a woman who could resist your charms.”
    He shifted on the seat. His relationship
with another woman was not even remotely what he wanted to discuss with a past
lover. “Let it go, Shania.”
    She faced him, blue-green eyes shrewd. “She’s
the one, isn't she?”
    It wasn’t a question, really, but a
statement. One he couldn’t even begin to dispute.
    “Have you…?”
    He nodded.
    “And her response?”
    He bristled. “She doesn’t do my kind.”
    “What does that mean?” Shania rumbled
dangerously.
    “DEA, she doesn’t do DEA.”
    “But she knew you were… How… I’m
confused.”
    “Welcome to my world, darlin’.”
Confused was the least of his worries. How to keep Serefina in his life, how to
keep her safe on this op, things like that took precedence over his worry. At
least for the moment.
    “You know I’m here for you, Taber. For
whatever. But I have to tell you, Tobias wants you back at the warehouse. I’ll
stay here and watch. Before you ask, no, I don’t know why.”
    Damn. He wanted to go after Serefina
then get some shuteye.
    “Thanks.”
    “Welcome.”
    She reached over and squeezed his hand
before sliding out. He drove away, content in the knowledge Shania had it now. He
parked the car and jogged up to the door and let himself in. The mood in the
warehouse was sombre. Tobias waved him over.
    “I want to know what the hell happened
last night,” Tobias snapped.
    “With what?”
    “Sean Forrest being in LeBenoit’s
room.”
    “He wasn’t. Sebastian checked. The man
wasn’t there.”
    “Well, at some point, that tracker went
from Sean to LeBenoit and back again.”
    He’d suspected that but kept his mouth
shut. It could have been something else she put on Sean’s hat. “I wouldn’t know
about that.”
    “Really? Because after your night with
her, I thought maybe you’d have a bit more insight as to her character.”
    Without batting an eye, Taber
responded, “We spoke a little on family and how we got into our lines of work.
Not that you didn’t know that already considering the room was bugged.”
    “Hmmm.” Tobias scratched his chin. “Not
the night I was talking about. I’m talking when you were in a hotel room in
New Mexico
with her.”
    How
the fuck does he know about