Shades of Gray by Maya Banks Read Free Book Online Page A

market! I knew the damn Kellys were bad influences. If we aren’t careful, we’re
     all going to be domesticated and ball-less before it’s over with.”
    P.J. closed her eyes and willed Dolphin to drive faster.
    “Nothing wrong with one woman,” Cole drawled. “As long as it’s the right one.”
    “So, do tell,” Dolphin urged. “What’s she like?”
    Cole grinned. “A gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell.”
    Thank God.
    “So that’s why you were out of town, then,” Dolphin mused. “How she feel about you
     being yanked out of her bed so abruptly?”
    Cole cut a glance over his shoulder in P.J.’s direction, and she shot him a murderous
     glare that said
If you don’t shut up, I’ll kill you.
    He chuckled and drummed his fingers on the dashboard. “She was remarkably understanding.
     Of course, I promised her I’d be back as soon as I possibly could.”
    P.J. choked and then coughed to cover the sound. She was so going to kick his damn
     ass over this. He was going to torture her endlessly, and there wasn’t a damn thing
     she could do about it without letting everyone else know they’d slept together.
    “When was the last time you got laid, P.J.?”
    Her eyes widened as she stared back at Dolphin, who was peering at her in the rearview
     mirror. It wasn’t as if it was an out-of-the-ordinary question, especially coming
     from Dolphin, who had no couth. The whole “one of the guys” thing. But his timing
     sucked ass.
    Cole turned in his seat and sent her a wicked grin. “Yeah, P.J., when was the last
     time you got nasty between the sheets?”
    She flipped them both off and turned her gaze out the window as they flew down the
     interstate.
    She dozed on and off, trying to block out the memory of the night before. She was
     jerked awake when her head bumped the window, and she straightened to see they were
     driving down a long dirt driveway.
    “Wow,” she said.
    “Yeah,” Cole replied. “Impressive.”
    Acres of rolling pasture spread out on either side of the driveway. In the distance
     a huge pond glistened in the fading afternoon sun. Horses grazed sporadically. She
     hadn’t imagined Steele to be a horse person.
    A sprawling ranch house was situated in the middle of the small block of acreage that
     was cleared. Thick forest surrounded them on all sides, and knowing Steele, he likely
     owned it all and controlled access as tightly as they did Fort Knox.
    “Hey, did you have to give a blood sample at the gate?” P.J. said as she leaned forward.
    Dolphin chuckled. “He damn near made me get out and drop trou to give him a urine
     specimen.”
    P.J. grinned. They gave Steele shit privately, but to his face—and behind his back
     too—they gave him absolute respect. They might joke about how much of a hard-ass he
     was, but he had their unwavering loyalty.
    Steele had given her a chance. Despite her past, her record. He’d looked beyond what
     was on paper and the fact that she’d walked away from a position on a S.W.A.T. team,
     and he’d believed in her.
    In return she gave him one hundred and fifty percent every time.
    Their team was kick-ass and she knew so without false modesty. They worked like a
     well-oiled machine. She and Cole were damn good snipers. Baker and Renshaw were the
     muscle and the brains behind explosives and tactical maneuvers. Dolphin was their
     utility man. He could do a little bit of everything, whatever the team needed. Steele
     was just one badass motherfucker and he could do it all.
    Not that Cole wasn’t just as much of a badass . . . But he, more often than not, was
     sniping with P.J. He’d actually scared her shitless when he’d taken a bullet when
     the teams had gone into Colombia to rescue Rachel Kelly from a fucked-up situation.
    She’d never admit it. Not in a million years.
    Now it made her think of Dolphin’s own close call not so long ago.
    “Hey man, you feeling okay?” she asked as they pulled to a stop behind the other parked