January, Two years later
It’s been a long time since I last stepped foot on the Langley campus. This time, I’m a civilian contractor with a unique security clearance granted by the newly sworn-in forty-sixth POTUS.
I’m here to teach a class to the newest batch of recruits. Life on the Other Side was the working title I joked about with Caroline and Wilson, who both gave me valuable feedback as I developed the lecture.
But it was Jason who helped me the most. Like so many of these trainees, he was indoctrinated in a selflessness instilled through military service, and that unwavering loyalty to his country was almost his downfall.
It was also what saved him in the end.
So the second working title was Life on the Other Side of Unchecked Loyalty, but I know the game. That has to be the subtle takeaway, not the headline.
I turn my attention to the instructor, who is introducing me.
“It’s my great honor to introduce Melinda Boyko, a former CIA operative who went on to have a remarkable second career in journalism under the anonymous pen name, Melinda Gray. She is the author of two bestselling non-fiction books, Private Plane, Private Hell and The Undoing of Giants. Today Ms. Boyko lives in California with her partner, and tries to visit Washington as little as possible.” He looks up. “It says that in the bio, and I was instructed to read the entire thing without revision.” The room erupts in laughter, which was my goal. Excellent. He smiles. “So it is obviously a great honor that she has agreed to spend the afternoon with us and present her lecture, At the End of the Day, We’re All Human.”
“Thank you so much,” I say, stepping to the lectern. “And I’ll be honest, I really wanted to give this as a TEDTalk, but I couldn’t get the best parts de-classified.” Another laugh. “Actually, the truth is there is no way that I could condense this talk into twenty minutes. Or do it without notes.
“My journey to this spot really begins not with my first day as a trainee, not with my time sitting where you are sitting right now, but with the day I handed in my resignation. Today, I’m going to talk to you all about the fact that one day you won’t be spooks any longer, and that’s going to be…strange. There will be secrets you need to keep forever. From loved ones at first, but then as time goes on, even from yourself. You will compartmentalize what you once were in order to move forward and be something else. Something whole and vulnerable and very human. That is, if you’re lucky. So let’s dig into all the reasons why that might be hard, and how you can be the best spy possible for your government while also investing in your future self so you can have a long and healthy retirement as a barista in Kansas.”
Jason is waiting for me when I finish. “I got the tour. Saw the chunk of the Berlin Wall, went to Stealth Starbucks.”
“Was it everything you thought it would be and more?”
“Don’t tease. Some of us didn’t get to actually be spies.”
“You’re my spy.”
“An excellent consolation prize.” He kisses me warmly on the mouth. “Ready to head home?”
“Yep.”
He takes me by the hand and leads me to the SUV we rented at the airport. We’re not lingering here. Back on a flight tonight, and we’ll land at LAX just as the sun sets. I didn’t just include that line in my biography because it got a good laugh. It’s the truth. Washington will forever be twisted up in trauma and misguided good intentions.
Particularly when waiting for us on the west coast is the crashing ocean, that magnificent breeze, and a quiet home perched high on top of a cliff.
The first thing Jason does when we arrive home is check to see if Monica needs a bit of water.
The second thing he does is pick me up and carry me to our bed.
“I have a new fantasy,” I whisper as he sucks on my nipples through my shirt.
“Tell me.”
“You’re Batman. You catch me breaking into your Batcave and things get wild.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Messy. Needy.”
He groans.
Sex with Jason was, once upon a time, a game between two confidence artists.
We’re just broken enough to admin that was good.
This is so much better.
“You get so mad at me. But then you want me, too, and there’s some fumbling, too. Fingers would shake. And suddenly I’d be naked.”
“I’d strip you down?”
“Mm hmm. And force me to my knees. You’d jerk off all over me.”
He bites my neck and slides his hand into my pants at the same time. He finds me soaked.
“Can we do that now?” I gasp as he pinches my clit between two fingers. “I want to see you come. I want to watch your cock get even bigger. I want to see it throb, all dark and full like that. Your balls are aching, and I know you’d rather be between my legs.”
“Fucking little tease,” he growls. “Come here. You’re getting fucked tonight. Your filthy blowjob fantasies will have to wait.”
I scramble away from him, but he catches my ankle and hauls me down the bed as I giggle, out of control with love and lust for this man.
“I’m so happy,” I whisper as he pins me down. “You make me so happy.”
“I make you come.”
“That’s a big part of it,” I say, mock-solemnly.
But the biggest part is that he moved across the country with me. He walked away from everything he had built and started over again out here, for me. I never would have asked him to do that. I was prepared to go back and forth. Tell him all my filthy superhero fantasies over the phone when we had to be apart.
But he didn’t want that. He wanted to be right here, burying himself deep inside me at every opportunity.
“Are you absolutely going to lose it?” I pant. “Yes, Jason. Pin me down and fucking nut inside me. You’re going to have to put your hand on my mouth, because I’m going to scream. I’m—”
He does as I ask and muffles me. I shudder in response.
My nipples ache from his mouth, a good ache, and between my legs, my slit is sloppy with need. This is everything. This is so hot and perfect. Jason holding me down, the heavy weight of him, his cock bare inside me.
Come inside me.
Mark me.
Make me whole.
And he does.
It takes us both a while to recover.
Jason’s the first one to talk after we sprawl out. “Wow.”
“Maybe one day you’ll take me to your bat cave and we can do that for real.”
He laughs. “Your mouth gets filthier every time, I swear. Fucking nut inside you?”
“That’s when you started to come, wasn’t it?”
“Damn straight.”
“Do you think I could ever come out with something that’s just right across the line?”
He laughs. “No, my beautiful little spy. Never.”
“Why not?”
He grins. “Because I love your wild mind. I love the way it works, the stories it spins, and none of it scares me.”
Who would have thought that a career as a spy and a sleuth would pay off one day in my love life like this.
Once a liar, always a liar.
I just use my powers for good now.
If you haven’t read the other books in this series, you’re in for a wild ride. Start with Cole and Hailey’s story, Hate F*@k. (Seriously get on that, because you need Cole’s dirty mouth in your life!)
The Forbidden Bodyguards Series
Hate F*@k (Cole and Hailey)
Booty Call (Ali and Scott)
Dirty Love (Wilson and Tabitha)
Wicked Sin (Taylor and Luke)
Filthy Liar (Jason and Melinda)
And if you’re ready for more dirty romances, the first book in a new duet, TEMPT, is coming soon. Newsletter subscribers can read an exclusive prequel story for Sam and Hazel right now! Sign up on my website.