Wicked Lies: A Dark Mission Novella by Karina Cooper Page A

he said, his smile sliding crookedly. “There’s no fraternization rules. Grams knows exactly who and what I am. I’ve never hidden it.”
    And then he saw it. The fear. The visceral terror lurking beneath the surface protestations, razor sharp. Danny sucked in a breath. “But you have, haven’t you? You’d have to.”
    To his credit, much to Danny’s respect, he didn’t look away. “The Church frowns on it.”
    “ Fuck the Church,” Danny replied tightly, and caught the back of Jonas’s head, fingers firm on his nape. His soft, silky hair drifted over his knuckles. “You’re one of the most amazing men I’ve ever known, Jonas. You’re strong and brave and skilled. You’re so kind, you’d rather live a lie than worry people with your needs. You do things I thought only my grandmother could do with her magic.”
    Jonas reached back and grabbed Danny’s wrist. It didn’t work. Danny wouldn’t let go. Not now, not ever.
    He owed Jonas that much.
    “I will never ask you to be something you aren’t.”
    Jonas stilled, fingers tight at his wrist.
    “But I will ask you to push the boundaries you’ve set for yourself,” Danny continued, low. Intense. “Because you don’t belong in a cage, angel. Not even one you make for yourself.”
    His eyes closed. “I’m not you, Danny.”
    “No, you aren’t.” Another crooked smile, he couldn’t help it. “Which is good, because I can only handle so much of myself.”
    Jonas’s eyes snapped open. “That better not be innuendo.”
    “It might be.” Danny’s hand slid from around the back of his head, settled at his jaw. “I’m going to kiss you now, okay?”
    “Why?”
    And in that single, plaintive syllable, Danny heard a thousand questions.
    His smile gentled. “Because I’m pretty sure that I’m in love with you.”
    “Oh, God.” Jonas flinched. “You can’t know that.”
    “Yes, I can. Just like I know that you feel something for me.”
    “Don’t ask me—”
    “I’m not,” Danny interjected softly. There’d be plenty of time to come to terms with everything. Plenty of time to share and talk and laugh. “But in the interest of full disclosure, I’m well aware that your brain short-circuits when I kiss you.” He leaned closer, slowly. Deliberately. “You need to think less,” he whispered, his lips brushing Jonas’s with every syllable.
    Jonas shuddered, a full-body tremor that Danny felt all the way to his soul. “Okay.”
    It was barely even a breath of sound, but Danny felt the shape of it on his lips. Tasted the sweet bliss of surrender as he touched his mouth to Jonas’s and drank in his surprised, yielding sigh.
    The concrete floor hurt his knees. The chair wasn’t made for two, and it was all he could do to keep from over-balancing the swivel seat and tossing them both into a spin. The garage was chilly, dark, and the constant boom of too-loud bass thudded through the blacked-out windows.
    Danny didn’t care.
    Jonas’s lips opened beneath his, his tongue darting into Danny’s mouth to glide intimately over his, and there was nothing in the world more important than this kiss.
    This man.
    Jonas’s body relaxed into the chair. His legs opened wider, allowing Danny to settle against his chest, to slide one hand under his thermal shirt and find the warm skin of his left hip. Jonas whispered something encouraging; it didn’t matter what. Danny tilted his head, deepened the kiss. Claimed his mouth—claimed the man who’d taken him from hell.
    If he had to spend every waking moment proving to Jonas Stone that there could be a happily ever after for them, he’d do just that.
    There’d be time to sort out the details later. To call his grandmother and check in, to go visit Parker, who’d been arrested beside him all those days ago, and assure her that he was fine.
    This, right here, was more important than anything else. Right now, he had an angel to love.

 
    Author’s Note
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    Dear Reader,
    Every day, thousands of