The Agent's Surrender (26 page)

“You’re not getting that drive,” he gritted out. “You can fill me with holes and it won’t matter. That list is going to save my brother’s reputation. He was trying to take you down...only he didn’t know it was you, did he?”

Selena walked to his kitchen and helped herself to a beer. “No, he didn’t know at first. Miko...so damn noble. When he found out what Auntie Penny was having him do, it killed his sense of justice. It was actually hard to watch him self-destruct.”

“Don’t talk about my brother like you have the right.”

“I have every right to talk about my lover. That’s right, Holden...we were lovers. He was a beast in bed.” She smiled coyly as she purred. “Is it true what they say about twins? That they’re alike in all things? Are you a beast in bed, too?”

“Bitch, that’s none of your business.”

He and Selena whirled to find Jane, feet planted and gun pointed straight at Selena’s chest. Without dropping her gaze from the woman, Jane said to Holden, “I can’t leave you alone for two seconds and you have another woman up in your apartment. And to think I was coming to ask you to dinner.”

“I’ve got her right where I want her,” he groaned. “But feel free to take over. I’m a little busy bleeding out.”

“Well, well, this is an exciting development. Jane Fallon, the agent with daddy issues. Come to play?”

“I wouldn’t piss her off,” Holden warned, blinking against the spots dancing before his eyes. Ah, crap...he was going to pass out from blood loss. Not very manly. “Could you hurry it up? I think I’m about to pass out.”

“Tick tock,” Selena murmured with a cold smile. “What are you going to do? Help him or shoot me? Can’t do both.”

The tiniest smile lifted the corner of Jane’s mouth as she quipped, “Why not?” and she sent a bullet right through Selena’s model-perfect shoulder, sending her crashing to the floor screaming. Selena struggled to rise to her feet, and Jane clocked her, knocking her out.

“Nice shooting, Tex.” Holden winced as she helped him to the sofa. “Good God, this freaking hurts. Getting shot is no picnic.”

“Surely this isn’t your first bullet wound,” she asked incredulously as she wound a kitchen towel around his leg and pulled it tight. “Afghanistan? Iraq? Chicago?”

“Sorry to disappoint you, but I tried to avoid getting shot,” he answered, breaking out in a sweat. “So...you’re saying you’ve taken a bullet?”

She laughed and pulled up her sleeve, showing off a small circular scar that punched in one side and went out the other. “A through and through in Uzbekistan. Hurt like a bitch, but I still managed to complete the mission and go out for drinks with my unit afterward.”

He grinned as his vision dimmed. “You’re such a badass, Jane Fallon. Will you freaking marry me?”

His vision began to smoke around the edges and he vaguely heard her answer as if shouted through a tunnel four miles long. “I just might have to in order to keep you out of trouble, Archangelo.”

And then he blacked out completely, but he was pretty sure he was wearing a smile.

* * *

Jane couldn’t believe how narrowly Holden had skated kissing the big one. The surgeon was able to patch him back up and, lo and behold, Jane matched his blood type and was able to donate to replace the blood he’d lost. The knowledge that her blood had played a part in saving him gave her warm tingles of happiness...well, that and putting a hole in that beautiful bitch, Selena. Yeah, that gave her really happy tingles.

Jane smoothed Holden’s hair and watched him as he slept off the anesthesia. So much had changed in a very short amount of time. Her life would never be the same.

She’d lived her life trying to earn some modicum of respect from her father when, in fact, she didn’t need anyone’s approval. And that was exactly what she’d told her father. Once she’d realized she’d nearly lost the one man who’d never tried to make her feel less than the men around her, the one who thought she was damn awesome just the way she was, she’d found herself at her dad’s house with a heart filled with purpose even if her hands were shaking.

“Dad, we need to talk,” she’d said, moving past him when he’d started to bluster. “No, actually, you’ve done enough talking in your life—you’re going to listen while I do the talking.”

“What’s come over you?” he’d asked gruffly.

“Reality, Dad. That’s what’s come over me. I’m tired of paying for the sins of my mother. I’m my own person and I’m a pretty great person. Here’s the thing, Dad...I’ve spent my life trying to earn a smidge of your approval and I’ve never really gotten it because all this time you’ve been punishing me for being a girl. Or maybe you’re punishing me because I look so much like my mother. I don’t know and I don’t care. It’s over. I just helped uncover a plot to wipe out the president and half of his executive board. That’s right—me. The one you think can’t wipe her ass without assistance.”

“Watch your mouth. I didn’t raise you to be disrespectful,” he’d said sharply, but she wasn’t about to be cowed into silence. Not this time.

“See, there you go again. You can’t even give me a single word of praise after I just told you that I saved the freaking president of the United States. And you know what? I don’t need your approval any longer. I love you, I really do, but I’m sick and tired of your bullshit. And another thing—it’s time you either hire an accountant or do your checkbook yourself because I have a life to plan.”

She had left him sputtering in his chair, and she didn’t feel the least bit guilty. In fact, the smile curving her lips felt just about perfect.

Holden had helped her realize that it was more important to live by your own code than try to conform to someone else’s. She wished she’d known Miko the man so she could see him as Holden did; she had a feeling she would’ve liked him.

She wasn’t entirely sure if Holden had meant what he said when he’d asked her to marry him, but she knew she was ready to take a chance at a relationship—a real relationship where they watched movies at night, had sleepy morning sex and stashed a toothbrush at each other’s places. Yeah, the real deal, not partners with benefits. A smile found her. She liked the sound of that. No, actually...she loved the sound of that.

But you know what? She loved the sound of something else too...Jane Archangelo. It had a nice ring to it.

She leaned in and nuzzled Holden’s neck, inhaling his scent and committing it to memory. Whispering against the shell of his ear, she said, “I don’t know how you did it, but somewhere along the way, you made me fall in love with you. What do you think about that?”

Holden sighed softly in his sleep, and she brushed a kiss across his mouth. “I’ll take that as confirmation that you are tickled pink.” She grinned. “Now, hurry up and get better. I think we have a wedding to plan.”

Epilogue

H
olden and Jane stood at attention as Miko Archangelo was given the military funeral he deserved with full honors intact. The white-gloved marine officer presented Holden with the American flag, saying in a tone steeped in respect, “On behalf of the president of the United States, the United States Marine Corps and a grateful nation, please accept this flag as a symbol of our appreciation for your loved one’s honorable and faithful service.”

Blinking back tears, Holden accepted the flag and held it tightly.
This is for you, brother.
A life without his twin flashed before his eyes, and it was almost more than he could stand. True grief rolled over him for the first time since hearing the news that Miko was dead. But even as the grief hurt, the pain was cathartic. He could finally let Miko go. His brother’s integrity had been salvaged and they’d managed to finish the work Miko had failed to complete. Selena Weston was rotting in federal prison along with her father, Trevor Granger, and Holden had the most beautiful woman in the world at his side. All in all, things couldn’t have ended better. Oh, and as a happy side note, MCX-209 would never see light again. Every shred of documentation and sample had been incinerated, so at the very least anyone suffering from memory loss would do so by natural causes.

“You good?” Jane asked, looking to him with love in her eyes.

“I’m golden.” He sniffed back manly tears. “It’s a good day.” And he meant it. A hawk screeched overhead and he chuckled.

Miko, wherever you are, I hope you’re kicking back enjoying a cold one, buddy. You earned it.

* * * * *

Keep reading for an excerpt from CODY WALKER’S WOMAN by Amelia Autin.

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Prologue

“S
cream.”

Keira Jones pushed the hair out of her eyes with both hands and stared in incomprehension at the man who’d just dragged her kicking and clawing all the way from the other room into this one. His hold had been brutal, crushing her bones as he’d thrown her onto the filthy bed in the corner of this room before moving to shut the door behind them and lock it.

And then nothing. Nothing except that one word uttered in a harsh undertone—
scream.

“What?” she gasped.

He held one finger to his lips, pressing his ear against the wooden door. He cast a sharp glance around the room, grabbed a rickety chair and propped it under the door handle. Then he moved purposefully toward Keira.

She scrambled off the bed and backed away from him, away from what she thought was coming. If she was going to be raped, she wasn’t going to make it easy for him. She looked frantically around the room for something, anything to use as a weapon, but he was on her before she had a chance.

“I said scream, damn it!” His angry voice was pitched to carry no farther than a foot away as he plastered her body against the wall with his muscular frame.

But she couldn’t. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and her breath was coming in rapid pants, but no sound emerged from a throat dry with terror she refused to betray.

He made a sound of frustration deep in his throat. He held her squirming body captive with his while his powerful hands gripped the lapels of her cotton blouse and ripped it open from top to bottom. Then she screamed. And screamed again when one hand groped her breast through and beneath the fabric of her bra while the other moved to the juncture of her thighs.

She clawed at his face. He ducked, but she had the savage satisfaction of seeing her fingernails make contact with his skin and leave four red welts before he captured her flailing hands and pinned them both to the wall over her head with one iron hand.

“Damn it, I’m not going to hurt you,” he whispered in that same deep undertone.

Blood was oozing from two of the scratches on his face, but he ignored it. And to Keira’s shocked amazement he didn’t follow up on her physical helplessness. In fact, he turned away from her, listening intently to the sounds emanating from the other room.

Now Keira could hear it, too, over the rasping sound of her own breathing; coarse male laughter and guttural catcalls, as if Keira’s screams were entertainment for the men in the other room.

“What—” she began, but he covered her mouth with his free hand.

“Shh.” He pressed his lips to her ear, but not in a mockery of a kiss. “We have maybe five minutes to get out of here,” he breathed. “Unless you want me to leave you behind to be gang-raped by them,” he said, tilting his head in the direction of the other room, “or worse, promise me you’ll do
exactly
what I tell you to do, when I tell you to do it. You got that?”

She swallowed as her panicked brain assimilated what he was saying as well as what he was
not
doing. Then she nodded. His hand came off her mouth but hovered close, as if he didn’t trust her not to ask questions in a voice that could be heard from the next room. But Keira wasn’t stupid. She knew in a flash that instead of trying to rape her he was trying to rescue her.

She didn’t know why he was risking his life this way, but she didn’t care. Going with him was infinitely preferable to the fate in store for her if she stayed here. And if she was going to die, as she had feared from the moment she’d been kidnapped from beside her car, she’d rather die running, fighting, anything except submitting meekly to being raped and murdered.

“Okay,” he whispered. His lean, muscular body was suddenly gone, and Keira sagged for a moment, her own muscles barely able to hold her up. Then she got control of herself and watched him move across the room.

For a big man he moved with incredible stealth. He had seemed to tower over her earlier, but now she saw that, while he was well above six feet, he wasn’t a giant of a man; his strength had fooled her into envisioning him as bigger than he actually was.