Free The Reveal by Julie Leto

that had formed on her thigh with the other.
    “No, but I admit it surprised me. I’d never pegged her for a traditional kind of girl.”
    “Girl?” she said, eyebrow lifted.
    Rather than engaging Brynn in an argument about gender equality that had no relation to them, he searched through his bag for the antibiotic ointment they’d brought from Spain.
    “You two are going to get along just fine. When we show up on her doorstep, maybe she’ll like you enough to help us. She definitely won’t do it for me.”
    “How could she possibly not like you?” Brynn asked, her tone only hinting at sarcasm.
    He found the tube and uncapped it. “By the time I joined the Arm, she’d already defected to T-45. Dante was fairly obsessed with winning her back. I wasn’t around when they were first together, but apparently, he’d done something really stupid and she left.”
    “And you blame her for this?” Brynn asked.
    “Nah, I’m pretty sure it was all Dante’s fault. But he risked a lot of lives to make it up to her. And,” he continued, not wanting to fill in details that weren’t his to tell, “Macy knows I wasn’t supportive of their reunion.”
    Brynn nodded. “I can see how she might hold a grudge.”
    “Of course you would.”
    She opened her mouth to protest his remark, but he grabbed her leg and dragged it across his lap, causing her to yelp instead. Though healing, the scrape was pink and puckered and no doubt painful when rubbed by clothing.
    If only he could keep her naked for a few more hours.
    “I can do that,” she murmured, shifting into a more comfortable position.
    “You could,” he replied. “But you took care of me longer than you should have. Let me do this for you. This last time.”
    He should have swallowed his final phrase. Pain skittered across her eyes, but then she shut them tightly and relaxed, bundled in his jacket, her back braced against the wall.
    “It doesn’t make sense. I don’t understand why anyone was targeting me . I don’t have enemies in San Sebastían.”
    “Apparently, you do.”
    “No,” she insisted. “I don’t. It’s against Titan protocols to operate in a town where known hostiles exist.”
    “Maybe they just weren’t known until now.”
    She smirked. “I’ve been running the European division of Titan since I graduated from college—not finishing school, by the way,” she said, snapping his brain back to a comment he’d made days ago but that she clearly still took umbrage over. “Spain, Italy, England, France, Germany and a significant part of the Netherlands have been my playing field for over a decade. Every six months, we evaluate and re-evaluate all our contacts, safe houses and escape routes. El Creador did not originally operate from San Sebastían. When he wanted to retire, we placed him there on the condition that he continue doing work for as long as he was able. He would never risk his lifestyle by selling me out.”
    “What if the local muscle was just answering an international call?” Sean suggested.
    “Meaning?”
    “The minute you came to my rescue, you put yourself in some serious crosshairs. If Dante had really hired you, he would have protected your identity with his life. But we know now that he wasn’t the mastermind. Maybe whoever really hired you didn’t appreciate you helping me escape and put a bounty on your head.”
    “That still doesn’t explain how anyone knew where we were,” she argued.
    “Maybe we were followed. Maybe it was dumb luck or an educated guess based on your previous behaviors. Bottom line is that once we make contact with Macy, no one will find us. Not unless she wants them to.”
    Sean had finished applying the ointment, but he wiped his hand on his shirt and continued running his fingers up and down the uninjured part of her skin, unable to stop himself from touching her. She hadn’t yet put her panties back on. Little by little, his fingers inched closer and closer to her sweet center.
    And