Free Wicked Lies: A Dark Mission Novella by Karina Cooper

hardening, he said, “So you say. Did you mean anything you said back there?”
    Shit! There it was. The blowback. Jonas’s fingers curled into fists against his thighs. I’ll follow you to hell itself. He wanted to close his eyes, but didn’t dare. Forcing his lips to curve up into a smile, he deliberately filled his face with sympathy. “I see,” he said gently, itching to brush away the fall of dark brown hair from Danny’s forehead. Bad. His fingers cracked, muffled in the cushions. “Danny, I’m a troubleshooter.”
    His eyes narrowed. “I know.”
    No, he didn’t. “It means,” Jonas explained patiently, “that when I go in somewhere, I do whatever needs to be done to get someone like you out of a jam. People need to trust me in there. If it means I flirt with an agent to put her at ease, or joke with a guy, or even listen to a feed full of threats and vitriol, I do it.”
    The muscles in Danny’s arms clenched. Tightened, until he could all but feel them vibrating as Danny stared at him. “Did you mean any of it?”
    Yes. But Jonas would never admit it. “No,” he said, lifting his chin. Forcing himself to go stern, unyielding. The kid had to learn. “Not even the part when I said I couldn’t see you in that cell.”
    The skin over Danny’s cheekbones went taut. A ruddy flush climbed his cheeks and dulled his throat. Something dark and hurting flashed in his eyes, and Jonas steeled himself. Pushed every word past the ache in his chest.
    “I watched them beat you for three days, Danny.”
    “That won’t work.” Quiet words. Nearly a whisper.
    Jonas shook his head. “So you can be damn sure I’d do anything to get you out.”
    “Sorry.” Those dimples flashed, even if the smile didn’t quite burn off the shame in Danny’s eyes. “You’re going to have to do better than that.” He leaned in, arms bending in a surprising show of strength, until Jonas inhaled the same air. Smelled the mint of his toothpaste, the subtly musky fragrance of his skin and the cheap soap Jonas had picked up at the market.
    The dull thud in his heart dropped to echo painfully in an erection he couldn’t fight.
    “You’re just feeling grateful,” Jonas whispered.
    But his eyes dropped to the other man’s mouth.
    Want. Like a fist to his chest. Around his cock.
    How long since he’d wanted so badly?
    “Did you flirt with the male agents on your teams, Jonas?”
    Never. Never had he wanted like this.
    “Are you gay?”

 
    Chapter Six
----
    I T WASN’T A taunt, but it may as well have been. The words jerked something raw and wounded inside him. Something Jonas didn’t ever want to reveal, not to him. Not to this aggravating, pushy, fucking amazing kid.
    “Are you interested in men at all?” Danny’s breath was a warm caress across Jonas’s lips. “In me?”
    Jonas sucked in air to say something, anything. Too late. Too slow.
    Danny let his arms slide, caught his weight on his forearms. Suddenly, Jonas’s world was filled with hot male skin, the solid weight of a man over him.
    Danny’s mouth, touching his.
    Turning his world upside down.
    Any other time, any other man, and Jonas would have called it sweet. Danny’s lips were soft, his mouth relaxed—a kiss as beautifully exploratory as it was a knife of pleasure slicing all the way to Jonas’s soul.
    His hand rose without permission.
    His fingers locked in the back of Danny’s sweatshirt.
    Pull him away , he thought wildly, don’t do this, don’t—Oh, God. The sound Danny made as his tongue stroked Jonas’s bottom lip slammed into him like a fist. Stripped him of everything he was until the rush of sexual anticipation filled the void.
    Danny licked his way into Jonas’s mouth, balanced all his weight on one forearm to slide his hand into his hair, and Jonas’s fingers loosened. Splayed.
    They flattened low on Danny’s back and pulled him closer on a shuddering moan.
    Just a little bit more. And then he’d say no. He had to say no.
    The