Taste Me Deadly (Sensory Ops) Read Free

Ruby’s bed. Her voice, when she found it, trembled with uncertainty. “What did he tell you?”
    “Marshal Carpenter,” Liam said, impactful, “apologized for blocking my searches.”
    “He shouldn’t have called.”
    “He cleared me through the director first, who you will be related to as soon as my brother and his fiancée say ‘I do’.” Liam looked pointedly at Grey’s hand and sighed. The sigh seemed to soften him a little. “He said you left WitSec to come here. Then he mentioned Karl Jessup.”
    Grey flinched. She’d been ashamed to tell the U.S. Marshals what had happened, and that had been a lifesaving necessity. She actually cared what Liam thought of her, so the idea of him knowing everything did not sit well.
    In case he didn’t know everything she kept her guard up. “I couldn’t tell you.”
    She’d lied, but she’d had zero options. At least not after she’d seen his badge.
    “Because you didn’t think I’d go into WitSec with you.”
    “And I couldn’t leave it to come back here with you.”
    “So you vanished.”
    “So I vanished. Again. And I’ve regretted it since.”
    The censure she deserved never came and its absence opened the floodgate that restrained pent-up tension. They may not have a future as husband and wife—she couldn’t think about that—but he was here and she could be honest for the first time in five years. Mostly.
    The idea didn’t free her from the virtual tower she’d been imprisoned in, nor did it reassure her that Liam would be her prince.

Chapter Two
    Answers Liam had sought for two years did little to fill the hole Greycen Craig had left in his life. Her presence made all the difference, though.
    Sitting guard in Ruby’s room for twenty-nine hours had given him ample thinking time. He’d replayed waking alone in the Vegas hotel room, only he’d done it with new information that granted a new perspective. He recalled finding his badge on the bedside table, but saw it now in a new light.
    He was from the town she’d been moved from, and he had a specialized skill set that made relocation challenging. He didn’t like her choice, or that she hadn’t given him one, but he understood. Understanding didn’t ease his missing her.
    Liam stood and walked the few feet to where Grey sat on her sister’s bed. She tracked him with her gaze—piercing blue instead of the honey gold it’d been when he met her.
    “Answer one question.” The biggest one that continued to plague him even with new understanding.
    “Okay.”
    “Did you regret walking or marrying me more?”
    “Marrying you was an impulse I never should have indulged given my situation.” She stood and placed her hands on either side of his head. Pushing to her tiptoes she pulled him down and then pressed her lips to his forehead. She’d made the same gesture when she said yes. As it had then, her touch, sweet in its simplicity, eased the anxiety bouncing about in his chest. “I regret that I saw no other path than to treat you like a fling.”
    So she didn’t regret him. The relief he’d dreamed of since that dreaded morning erased the prints of pain. Like a wave-swept beach, his heart was a clean slate. His mind still questioned: was the Grey he’d married real or an assumed identity she would shed when she was safe?
    “Grey.” Liam lifted his hands, placing one on her hip and one over her left hand. His finger brushed the ring she still wore. His skin absorbed the sensation of her nearness. It was too possible she’d walk again when her business in Miami was finished. “We have a lot to talk about.”
    “Yes.”
    He stared into her eyes. Even with her new look, more fragile pixie than shocking seductress, his wife captivated him. Colored contacts held no power against the bravery that breathed fire into her gaze.
    “First…” Trailing off, Liam wrapped his long fingers around her hand and pulled her to him. She fell against his chest with a huff.
    Creamy chocolate with the