Sweet Seduction Secrets (Sweet Seduction, Book 8): A Love At First Sight Romantic Suspense Series by Nicola Claire Read Free Book Online Page A

Māori?” Brook asked, looking at me.
    “Can you?” I offered.
    “We’re not talking about us, Lieutenant. You’re the newbie, you get to be razzed.”
    “Razzed?” Adam asked. “Who says razzed?”
    “I do,” Brook said affronted. “Do you then?” he added, clearly speaking to me and not about being razzed.
    “Māori, no,” I replied. “But I speak several others,” I added in French.
    “Ooh, that’s sexy,” Koki said with an appreciative head nod.
    “You think every thing’s sexy,” Jason drawled.
    “But French?” Koki countered. “Come on!”
    “What else?” Brook asked, munching on a chip.
    I turned to look at Adam, raising an eyebrow. “Well?”
    “Well, what?” he replied, shifting back in his seat as if to place distance between us.
    “I’d love to know what my file said,” I explained.
    “Yeah,” Koki and Brook agreed together. “Spill,” one or other of them added; I wasn’t looking, so couldn’t be sure which. If I wasn’t careful, I’d start to see them as a unit, homogeneous, despite their clearly different ancestry and looks.
    Adam sighed, obviously feeling severely put-upon. Or regretting his admission of earlier.
    “English, French, Russian, Mandarin, German, and Farsi.” Silence met Adam’s words again. Silence but for the U2 song blasting out of the speakers in the main room of the pub.
    “Wow,” Brook said, the first to break his stun. I wasn’t surprised in the least. It was true, and all part of the cover devised especially for this assignment.
    “Six,” Koki offered. “That’s impressive.”
    “Six highly important and strategic languages,” Jason offered, drawing everyone’s attention with the measured tone of his voice. “Interesting combination for a naval officer to have.”
    All eyes shot to my face, but I was holding that whiskey brown stare that saw more than it should have. No, I hadn’t passed all the tests Jason Cain would throw my way yet. Not by a long shot.
    “Our military gets around,” I offered, breaths even, pulse rate steady, face pleasantly impassive.
    “Yeah, but you were in the navy, Lieutenant. What’s the navy doing in Iran?”
    Brook shifted in his seat, picking up on the tension that had suddenly sprung up between Jason and myself. I could feel Adam’s eyes on my cheek; hot, oddly branding me there. Koki just crossed his arms over his chest and sat back waiting for the fireworks to explode.
    None of them knew me, really knew me. Adam thought he’d met the leather clad biker woman who’d barely spoken a word. Koki and Brook saw the hard-nosed tough act. Jason identified the government trained asset; he just hadn’t been able to reconcile what he thought he saw with what I was meant to be.
    I’d outstayed my welcome. Sowed the seeds for camaraderie, sure, but now risked inquiry that crossed a line I needed to avoid at all costs.
    I arched my brow, reached forward and picked up my Guinness, draining the glass in one large swallow. Placing it back on the table, I pushed up from my chair and leaned towards where Jason sat.
    “I’m an assassin for hire,” I whispered, making all four men move forward on their seats in order to hear me. “Trained to infiltrate enemy camps and eliminate my targets from within.” It was bullshit, they all knew it. At least, in the world they lived in, it was a tall tale.
    I stood up and smiled. Gotcha . Then added, “Even the navy has its secrets, Captain. You of all people should know that.”
    The blow was on target. His eyes shuttered, a blank expression crossing his face. His jaw clamped shut, a muscle twitching in his cheek. And then slowly he inclined his head, accepting my volley.
    Jason Cain had been a member of an elite team. As had Eric Shaw. Of all the men inside ASI they were my greatest threats. They would see themselves in me, if I let them. They would see too much that could raise questions and make my task impossible to complete.
    But they also understood discretion. The