Spy Games: Birthday Games (8 page)

After a few moments, he and Chase got up and did the manly stuff required of them. Jake paused to turn off the music while Chase brought back a warm towel and bottled water for Kate, cleaning her gently as she drank. Then they piled back into the bed with Kate snuggled in the middle. Jake always loved this quiet time after sex, though he tried to keep his hands to himself. But Kate grabbed his arm and slung it over her, almost demanding he touch her intimately.

Chase murmured, “Happy birthday, buddy.”

“Happy birthday, partner,” Kate said.

Jake looked at the clock—his birthday for only a few more minutes. “Thanks, Chase. Kate.”

“What did you wish for when you blew out your candle?” Kate asked, her back pressed along his side, that soft curve of her hip under his hand. He should move it, but he couldn’t, the heat of her sweet skin searing his palm like a branding iron.

“Isn’t it bad luck to share?” He usually wished for another year of no pregnancies and smooth, trans-Atlantic flights, because that’s what a man whore/spy wished for. But this year…something inside him yearned for what Chase had, the entire package. Never had he envied Chase. Up until Kate, the guy had a shitty life, an even crappier job. But his life had pulled together since meeting Kate, turning his shit luck into something to be admired. Envied.

“No, you can share,” Kate said.

Jake sighed and went for the lie. “I’m really happy, Kate. My life is great. I have good friends, four awesome brothers, a healthy mom, a great job, lots of adventure, money. What more can I ask for?” It wasn’t all a lie. Just the happy part, and the not asking for anything more part.

He felt, rather than saw, her glance at Chase. “Love?”

Fear skipped up Jake’s spine. Love, the scariest word in a man whore’s life, right up there with the sentence, “I’m pregnant, and it’s yours.” Yet as he stared at the ceiling, his arm around his best friend’s wife, his hand toying with Chase’s hair, he realized she had said a mouthful. That one word defined his life for so many years, and while others ran to it, he ran from it. Marathon-hard. Love wasn’t good, not for him.

And yet here he was, wondering how the hell he’d fallen for his best friend’s wife.

Fuck.

She must have taken his silence for what it was, denial. “Chase found love.”

“Yes, he did.”

“He said you were seeing someone. Maybe you’ll learn to love her.”

God, Tia. Another fucking mess, and his mind went there, too. Often. Only Kate seemed to win in the love race. “Kate. You don’t make a good cupid.”

“But—”

Jake cleared his throat and forced a laugh. “Darlin’, you read too many romances. Men like me don’t love. Tell her, Chase.”

“Slackers like him are too lazy to do the work involved in a relationship. He barely has energy to roll on a condom, but there is the whole pregnancy/STD thing.”

Jake nodded, for once in his life very disappointed in his buddy’s assessment of him. That was him at thirty-four. But at thirty-five…deep inside, a tiny sliver of him suddenly wanted nothing more than to do the work. All of it. It was as scary as contemplating freefall without a parachute. “Close enough.”

“But—”

Jake sucked in a breath and let it whoosh out. “The next time you say love, girlfriend, seeing someone, or bubble wrap in my presence, I’m going to paddle your ass.”

“You don’t have permission,” she taunted. “Bubble wrap.”

“Chase?” Jake inquired.

“Jake has permission.”

She plopped down, her shoulders stiff as she huffed. “I just want him to be happy,” she whispered.

Jake stared at the ceiling again, wishing he were looking up at a skyline in some small town while doing surveillance. Hell, hiding out while whacked-out terrorists searched for him in the brush would be better. Anywhere other than a place where Kate was wanting him to be happy.

But that small sliver of him couldn’t let her be unhappy, either. So he manned up and told the biggest lie of the evening. “I’m real happy, darlin’. This is going to be the best birthday year. You’ll see.”

Just shoot him now. Thirty-five was going to suck, and he was going to end up dead at the end of Chase’s sniper rifle for loving Kate. From a mile away, across a crowded room, off a busy street. He closed his eyes and kissed his life goodbye.

Love would be the death of him.

About the Author

Mia Downing started creating heroes at age four, but her heroes then rode ponies to rescue the princess, and only kissed her on the cheek. Today, Mia's heroes still rescue princesses, but the price of their toys and the expertise of their seduction leads to a lot more than a peck on the cheek. When Mia isn't busy creating new stories for her readers she fills in as an underwear model for a prestigious lingerie company. She also enjoys horses and knitting.

I love to hear from readers!

Visit my blog at: www.miadowning.blogspot.com

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @miadowning007

GoodReads: Mia Downing

See how the love affair started in

Spy Games: Trained for Seduction

(Book #1)

Emma Walters didn't choose to be a spy, but when her crazy father was caught selling bombs to the wrong people, she was given a choice—become a spy or rot in jail. Her exciting new life as agent Kate Wells becomes more so when she discovers her new boss is the agent—undercover and investigating her father at the time—who took her to third base. Emma is already half in love with the dark and dangerous Chase Sanders. Kate wants nothing more than for him to finish what he started, but he's the devil incarnate. And one doesn't make deals or fall in love with the devil.

If someone had told Chase he'd fall in love with a certain virgin when he was on his last mission, he would have shot them dead, sniper style. She was nothing more than collateral damage, damn it. But watching the sexy new spy morph into a bombshell killing machine is too much to bear. So when the powers that be command him to train her in the art of seduction for her first—and possibly last—mission, he's scared witless. Making love to Kate means preparing her for sex with another man.

Somehow, Chase has to find a way to get Kate in—and out—of her mission without dying. And without falling in love.

Buy links for both print and e-book:

The Wild Rose Press
,
Amazon.com
,
B&N

Jake’s story continues with

Spy Games: Lethal Limits

(Book #2)

Secret Agent Jake Anderson would rather have the measles than love his best friend's wife. So when she gives him a mission—to find his own woman to love—he knows just the woman to target. Exotic beauty Tia Richards—his new partner—is wild, twisted, and has no limits when it comes to adventure, in bed and out. She's perfect for him. Now he just has to get Tia and his heart to agree.

Sexy spy Tia Richards has a problem, and the solution is Jake. The last time they hooked up, he left her bound and begging, unfulfilled, so close to finally getting the fireworks she deserves. But Jake loves his former partner, and Tia refuses to be second best. Will she listen to the ache in her heart that whispers she has what it takes to be first in Jake's life, or will lethal limits separate them forever?

Available at:
Amazon.com

Check for availability at The Wild Rose Press and B&N