Free Hot & Bothered (A Hostile Operations Team Novel - Book 8) by Lynn Raye Harris

She was carrying a small red purse.
    A man came over and kissed her on the cheek. He’d been aiming for her mouth, but Sam turned her head at the last minute, and his lips met her cheek instead. She said something then, her expression amused, and the man offered his elbow.
    She took it, and he led her toward a table opposite from where Mendez sat. He wondered if her date knew what she did for a living. Sam was, without doubt, one of the smartest and toughest CIA agents he’d ever known. She wasn’t in the field anymore, according to what he’d heard. She’d returned a few months ago from the Middle East and taken a desk job at Langley in the intel division.
    He hadn’t seen her in years, but that didn’t stop his body from tightening with memories. They’d been Army officers together once. And they’d been lovers.  
    It hadn’t worked out.
    The waitress delivered his beer, and he picked up his phone to scroll through e-mail as he tried to shake off old memories. Old regrets.
    “Drinking alone, Johnny?”
    He looked up to find Sam standing beside his table. Damn her for moving so quietly that he hadn’t even noticed. He set the phone down and stood to greet her. A quick glance at her date told her the guy was immersed in his tablet and unconcerned that she’d walked over to talk to him instead.
    “I like drinking alone.” He took the hand she offered and clasped it gently. A sizzle of attraction rolled through him at that simple touch. And suddenly he found himself doing something he shouldn’t with this woman. He stepped to her side and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
    Her skin was soft, her hair smelled like flowers, and his groin stirred as she gasped softly. He still remembered what it had felt like to sink into her, even after so many years.
    “It’s good to see you, Sam,” he murmured as he stepped back again.
    Her hand was still clasped in his as she blinked at him. Then she pulled it away, and he missed the warmth of her skin on his.
    “It’s been a while.”
    “About five years, I imagine.”
    Her eyes sparkled with humor. “Something like that. It was a briefing in Germany. You were annoyed with the major giving the presentation.”
    He laughed. “He was a posturing asshole.”
    “And when you were done with him, he was probably just an asshole on his way to a new, less than cushy assignment.”
    “Something like that.”
    He wondered what she knew about Ian Black since she’d spent so much time in the Middle East bureau and must surely know him—or know of him—but now certainly wasn’t the time to ask.  
    Though Black operated outside the bounds of the law much of the time, it was clear to Mendez after the mission with Grace Campbell that Black was still working with the CIA even though they denied it. Which made Mendez very curious about a lot of things, not the least of which was the identity of the agent running Black.
    Whoever it was had to be highly placed and utterly secretive. Though Mendez wasn’t sure that Black’s handler had as much control over him as they thought they did. Black seemed to be willing to work for the highest bidder, though he also did the right thing when the principle was inviolable.
    The man was definitely an enigma.
    “I have to get back to my date,” Sam said, throwing a glance over her shoulder. “But I wanted to say hi.”
    Mendez let his gaze drift back to the man who was now watching them with narrowed eyes. “He your boyfriend?”
    Sam laughed. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think that question had a touch of jealousy in it.”
    “Maybe it does,” he said, and she lifted an eyebrow.
    She shrugged. “He’s not my boyfriend. He’s someone a friend set me up with. A meddling friend who thinks I work too much and don’t get out enough.”
    “Work doesn’t keep you warm at night.”
    Her mouth curled in a smile. “Ah, Johnny, that’s ironic coming from you.”
    “Probably is.”
    She shook her head. “You are remarkably flirtatious