At Any Cost by Allie K. Adams Page A

She tossed her pistol at him. "Watch the door."
    Dan grabbed the pistol and shoved it into the back of his pants. He didn't want to watch the door. He wanted to watch her. He tried his damnedest to block out how she might look in some of the lacy things now strung all over her bedroom. The deep red and sexy-as-hell lacy thong he'd spotted hanging on the corner of her bed had him hard just thinking about her tight ass in it. And then out of it. Ah, hell. Why fight this?
    He wanted her. She was female. He was male. Nothing more to it. Right? Right.
    No doubt she was naked on the other side of that bedroom door. The curves of her body fit perfectly in his when he helped her up the stairs. Although she'd been through Hell before jumping into
Puget Sound
, she still smelled amazing. Like the apple blossoms that grew on the tree in his backyard where he grew up.
    He heard water running and figured she must have jumped in the shower. Good. She looked like she'd been shot and thrown into salt water. And yet she still looked damn tempting. Mouth-watering. Delicious.
    The thought of JT without a stitch of clothing on made his pants excruciatingly tight. He tried to adjust himself, but it did absolutely nothing to relieve the pressure. Only one thing would.
    JT Turner.
    Dan threw that idea out. This morning he thought she was the mole. He was ready to turn her over to the firing squad. Hell, he was ready to shoot her himself.
    But then he'd met her, actually talked to her. He'd never met anyone like her. Most women he knew used their gender to their advantage. Not JT. She expected to be treated equally. When he offered to help her up the stairs, he braced himself for her to push him down them.
    But those damn noises she made drove him crazy! They were heart-wrenching, gut-stirring, body-tensing. He wondered if she made those same noises when she made love. And then all he could think about was how much he wanted to be the reason she made those noises.
    He'd done the first thing he could think of before he took her right there on the stairs. Carrying her up seemed like the quickest way to shut her up. And it gave him an excuse to touch her again.
    Dan had to give himself credit. Any other red-blooded male would have given in to her feline temptations by now. He noticed the way she lifted her chin to grant him access to those soft, very delicious-looking lips. He almost gave into the pleasures of the flesh. Twice. But as he drew her close to him, looked deep into those pretty eyes, another set of pretty eyes flashed across his memory.
    He ran his fingers over the scar on his chest. His permanent reminder of what happens when a man drops his guard, all for the love of a woman. The first woman he'd ever loved. Truly loved. Head over heels loved.
    Raven.
    Of course, he knew it wasn't her real name. He never bothered to learn her real name. He didn't care. She was intoxicating. Her dark eyes, dark hair, incredible body. He fell for it all.
    And it almost got him killed.
    He still couldn't remember everything from that night. After she stabbed him in the chest, he'd blacked out. But not before she saw him charge his best friend and drop him by slicing his throat.
    Dan thought about the woman on the other side of the door. She wasn't Raven. She wasn't the mole. She was all woman, flesh and blood. And he wanted her, needed her. He needed the touch of woman again to prove not all of them were evil, cold-blooded killers. Except that JT was a trained killer, trained by the same organization that trained him.
    The water stopped, which meant she would only have a towel covering her moist skin. The little water droplets would be cascading down the curves of her breasts, dripping off her nipples, taking the path his mouth longed to take. The coarse curls covering her mound would be glistening with wetness, and knew it wouldn't only be from the water. He saw the way she responded to him. Hell, she practically jumped him in the kitchen. She definitely