Free Dark Cover (The DARK Files #2) by Susan Vaughan

of a sneer. “Right so far. Go on. What else?”
    “There’s mention of an op to secure a weapons cache in a remote village. Something went wrong and men were lost.”
    “Then you know everything. My screw-up killed four men. End of story.”
    “But surely—”
    “You have enough without me rattling the skeletons.” He’d tortured himself enough for one night.
    His gaze snagged on her sweet mouth, a much better alternative to think about. He slid a hand behind her neck and tugged gently until he closed the space between them to barely an inch. Her fresh scent lured him to forget everything else.The bed was only a foot behind her. He began edging her backward. “Instead, let’s talk about how hot you look in that slinky commando gear.”
    Her feathery lashes fluttered in uncertainty and she swayed toward him.
    She wanted him. Knowing that stoked the coals inside him to a blaze.Only inches to the bed now.He danced one hand down her back, closer to that pert round bottom he ached to hold. They could be on the bed, wrapped around each other. He went from aroused to hard in a nanosecond.
    But before his lips could touch hers, she sidestepped, the furrows again between her brows.She scooted around the bed, out of reach. “Clever job of derailing, but a dangerous detour. For both of us. You want the real Danielle. I’m just a convenient warm body. And I don’t trespass.” Her voice shook.
    Good, Somalia had flown from her head.“And such a sexy, warm body. You’re off base about who I want. I know exactly who I was about to kiss.” He trailed after her on her escape route.
    She stopped at the bedroom door and faced him. “Sexy? Me? Now I know you’re merely trying to change topics. You have to pretend in public, but in private allow me my pride.” Temper infused high color in her cheeks and flared her nostrils.
    “No pretense. You’re damn cute when you’re angry.”
    “Cute. Exactly. Not sexy. Not seductive. Wholesome. The cute sister. The good buddy, the best friend. That’s me.”
    He scratched his nape with his good hand. She had some strange ideas about herself. “I apologize for stepping over the line. Honey, you make me forget I’m supposed to be engaged.”
    “Give it up, Nick. Good night.”
    He stood in the doorway until he heard her door close. Confusing female, but weren’t they all?Fascinating. Bright and competent, witty, confident in her profession, but insecure as a woman.Maybe having a cover model for a sister was to blame. But they were nothing alike. Vanessa had her own beauty. Anyone with testosterone could see that. He sure as hell didn’t think of her as his buddy.
    But damn, he’d better try, or he’d blow his cover story of the engagement.
    He stretched out on his rumpled sheets and tried to ignore his thumb and another throbbing need caused by that particular confusing woman.
    ***
    As soon as she’d secured the motion sensor on her door, Vanessa stripped off the jumpsuit. She’d considered the garment only protective cover until Nick’s ogling turned it into seduction fashion.
    She slipped on her comfortable cotton nightgown. The garment was one of the few items of her own clothing she’d brought. No one but her would see it. Although the housekeeper knew she kept her toiletries and clothing in this guest room, Vanessa made this bed carefully every day to keep up the pretense that she spent her nights in Nick’s bed.
    Nick’s bed.She could’ve spent tonight there if she’d yielded to temptation. And his blatant invitation.He seemed to have no compunction about betraying his fiancée and expected her to have none. That incongruous lack of principle in a man bound to regain his honor worried her.
    His final words as she left came to her: “ You make me forget I’m supposed to be engaged.”
    Supposed to be engaged? What an odd choice of words for a man in love! Or was he?
    She heaved a tired sigh. She was being overly picky and suspicious, the default trait of her