Close Quarters by Lucy Monroe Page A

search.”
    Neil frowned. “Unless she has the JCAT, and then the leak has to be plugged.”
    â€œBullshit, she’s not the leak and saving some Army brass’s ass is no reason to take out a sweet woman like Tanna,” Kadin said.
    For some reason, Kadin’s use of Tanya’s preferred nickname pissed Roman off. “I didn’t say I was going to eliminate her, but if she’s been selling secrets, she has to face the consequences.”
    â€œYou don’t think having sex with you is punishment enough?” Kadin demanded with pure aggression.
    Roman swatted at his head, but Kadin moved and swept at Roman’s ankle with a low kick. Within seconds, they were in a sparring session more intense than anything they’d ever done before. The sound of sliding furniture told Roman that Neil was giving them a cleared area for their fight.
    Neil wasn’t foolish enough to try to stop it. Even friendly sparring between Roman and Kadin was dangerous to interrupt.
    Kadin got Roman temporarily pinned. “She’s not the information leak in this assignment. Open your damn eyes.”
    His own inexplicable anger coming to the fore, Roman flipped Kadin and ground out, “They are open and they see you taking entirely too much interest in our target.”
    â€œI’m not the one threatening to screw her.” With a powerful full-body heave, Kadin threw Roman off.
    Roman used the momentum to roll into a backward somersault and come up on his feet in a crouch. “It’s not a threat. I’ll give her more pleasure than she knows what to do with.”
    â€œAnd then break her heart,” Kadin practically shouted.
    Roman stopped fighting and stared at his team member. “What the hell? Do you have a thing for this woman?” If the answer was yes, Roman did not know if he could back off and allow the other man to do the seducing. Shit. Could this situation get any more screwed up?
    â€œYeah, I’ve got a thing for her.”
    Roman felt his insides twist to the point of pain. “You—”
    â€œI’ve got a thing for you not breaking her heart.”
    â€œSince when do we let hearts get involved with what we do?”
    â€œYou can’t control what she feels.”
    â€œWhat she feels is a physical reaction to my body, ass-wipe. She’s not in love with me. She barely knows me, damn it.” And he wasn’t the lovable type. He was too hard, inside and out. He looked around the room, but Neil wasn’t in it. “Where’s Spazz?”
    â€œHe’s probably working on the new toy you brought him.” Kadin glared. “Don’t try to change the subject.”
    â€œDrop it, Trigger. We all have our jobs to do and they rarely fall in the without-consequences category. You of all my team should understand that.”
    Kadin’s expression turned to stone. “Maybe I should, but I don’t. There’s something there, between you and her. You send it fubar and that’s your chance gone.”
    â€œA thing between me and Tanya?” This wasn’t about Kadin’s feelings for the much too appealing woman. “What are you talking about?”
    â€œShe’s your chance.”
    â€œMy chance?” He felt like an idiot repeating everything Kadin said, but none of it was computing in the world they inhabited.
    â€œAt normal. At life outside what we do. At love.”
    â€œYou’re serious.”
    â€œYes.”
    Roman shook his head. “You’re talking about fairytales and sunshine up my ass. No matter what you think, neither one of those things are going to come true in this lifetime.”
    â€œJust because you’re a soldier doesn’t mean you have to be alone.”
    â€œMaybe if we weren’t Atrati assassins. But Kadin, you and I, we’re not like other men.” That chance Kadin was talking about, it had passed Roman by the day he’d walked out of the lab