Midnight Pursuits by Elle Kennedy Read Free Book Online Page A

no choice. Morgan’s jet was in Bolivia with the team, and he would’ve had to wait too long for a charter at the airfield in Denver, which meant sucking it up and hopping on a regular flight like a normal person. He’d become spoiled these past five years, what with the private charters and endless network of contacts that allowed Morgan’s team to go undetected anywhere they wanted.
    Val had left Juliet’s door unlocked, but it didn’t really matter because the lock was so cheap, a third-grader could’ve picked it. Ethan strode inside, doing a cursory sweep of his surroundings before heading for the queen-size bed in the center of the room.
    His breath caught when he laid eyes on the unconscious woman on the bed. Shit, she didn’t look good at all. Her dark hair was pulled back in a low ponytail, but several loose strands were matted to her sweaty forehead. Black leggings and a long-sleeved shirt were damp and plastered to her willowy body, and her face was flushed a deep crimson from the fever.
    She didn’t stir at his approach, which was a bad sign. Any operative worth her salt possessed highly honed instincts, and the fact that she hadn’t sensed his presence told him she was out cold.
    Ethan couldn’t control the worry swimming inside him as he leaned down to examine Juliet’s injury. Judging by the reddish brown puddle soaking the sheets, she’d bled quite a bit, but at least she hadn’t bled out, thank God. According to Val’s initial update, the bullet had missed any vital organs. It was through and through, and if you were going to survive a shot in the gut, the bullet had connected with the absolute best place for it.
    He carefully lifted the corner of the bandage covering the entry wound and found the puckered hole in her side oozing blood, the area around it red and swollen. Same went for the exit wound. And her skin felt like molten lava.
    â€œSon of a bitch,” he mumbled.
    Without delay, he grabbed the med kit Val had left on the bedside table and fished out a syringe and a vial of clear liquid. It took a second to administer the dose of antibiotics, but the waves of heat radiating from Juliet’s body concerned him. Christ, he needed to lower her core temperature before she self-combusted on the bed.
    Exhaling slowly, he swept his gaze over Juliet’s features. With her eyes closed and her skin flushed, she looked young and vulnerable, a drastic contradiction to the smirking, sassy smart-ass he’d met last year.
    Okay, now was definitely not the time to notice the tiny mole above her lush top lip. He marched purposefully toward the small bathroom across the room and filled the tub with lukewarm water—anything colder could potentially shock her system—and then he hurried back to the bed.
    She’d probably murder him if she knew what he was doing, but Ethan didn’t dwell on the fact that she could probably pull it off. As he peeled off her leggings and averted his eyes, it occurred to him that this was not the way he’d envisioned this ever going down. He’d figured that if for some miraculous reason he was ever lucky enough to see Juliet Mason naked, it would be in an entirely different context.
    Like maybe they’d cross paths on another job and fall into bed.
    Or maybe she’d infiltrate Morgan’s compound late one night and seduce him.
    Or maybe he’d be the one doing the seducing. Maybe
he’d
track
her
down and rock her ever-loving world, proving to the infuriating woman once and for all that he was not the kid she believed him to be.
    All right, fine. So clearly he’d put
way
too much thought into all the tantalizing possibilities, but truth was, Juliet had been on his mind ever since they’d parted ways last year. He hated to admit it, but she’d affected him way more than he’d expected.
    A throaty moan jerked him back to the present, to the woman who was now moving