"NO!" SILAS WAILED AS his avatar stumbled then died.Again.Ekko tossed her head back and laughed.Despite her starting a new character she hadn't died more than one or two times when they got in over their head."I thought you said you've played this before." She snickered and wiped at her cheeks."I have. On console." He grumbled and turned from the computer at the sound of creaking wood.There was a loose floorboard in the hall that gave a slight squeak whenever it was stepped on.Chayan shambled into view.The man wore baggy sweatpants and his long coat. His salt and pepper hair stuck every which way and his glasses sat precariously on his nose.Ekko glanced at Chayan then Silas. Her eyes were worried and she bit her lip.Silas didn't bother to revive his character. He pushed away from the table, picked up his empty glass, and stood."Hey, man. How you feeling?" He headed toward the kitchen, doing his best to act casually.Chayan's face rumpled. "Don't talk so loud."S
EKKO'S SKIN FELT TIGHT and even her shirt seemed to chafe.Ever since that kiss earlier she had a one-track mind. Food and rooting Chayan out of bed to eat hadn't distracted her from constantly being aware of Silas. Every bite he ate, each shift of his body drew her.She scrubbed at her face with the washcloth and shivered. The cool water was nice against her heated flesh, but she wanted relief of a different sort.Who had kissed who?After Silas pushing her away at the hotel, she'd promised herself that she wouldn't be the one doing the kissing. At least not the first kiss. But she couldn't say for sure she hadn't been the one to kiss him there in the kitchen.At the very least he'd kissed her back, that was for damn sure.Just thinking about that kiss made her body hot all over again.Damn him.She wasn't going to get an easy night's rest this time, and of course she'd promised her viewers to start early her time. It was going to be a miserable night staring at the ceiling. T
"YOU HEADING TO BED?" She couldn't tell anything from his tone. It was perfectly neutral.She pasted on a smile. "Yeah, I was thinking I would. Early morning and all that."He slowly closed the distance between them. "How early are you going to get up?"She swallowed then tried to pretend she wasn't hyper aware of his nearness. "About half an hour before I need to stream. Just long enough to make myself presentable and eat something."Silas was close enough now she could see him despite the lack of light. He nodded and lifted a hand. She braced herself and held still, both hungry for his touch and dreading it. He slid his fingers along her cheek and tucked some of her hair behind her ear.That simple gesture had a three-fold reaction. She inhaled sharply, her nipples tightened and a tingling sensation spread up through her body. From a scientific standpoint her reaction to him was getting worse. Much worse. At this rate she'd be pacing in her room tonight.Did he have bat-like he
Ekko was going out of her mind.Silas tugged on her hair and once more he hugged her from behind. She let him turn her head until she could look at him. He pressed a gentle kiss to her mouth. As she relaxed against him the hand on her stomach slid down, his fingers dipping into her pants and panties. She sucked in a breath and went up on tip-toe before she could stop herself. His big fingers stroked down over her mound as his body curled around her. His tongue teased her lips as he pressed against her, sliding a finger over her clit and between her folds.He groaned against her mouth and tore his hand away from her. Still holding her hair, he turned her, their lips never parting. The kiss took on a decidedly hungry feel as he moved against her and in her. He took a step, forcing her back, as he half-carried her to the edge of the bed then gently pushed her.She sat down, bouncing a bit with the mattress, and stared up at him. He was breathing hard, his hair sticking up on one side.
IGNEY SHOVED THE FRONT door of the DSS Safe House open. He'd come back as soon as he'd finished tracking down the taxi driver. It helped that Igney had taken out some of his initial rage on the man. Now Igney was in control. Utterly calm despite the white hot rage bubbling up through his body.Where the hell was Pasley?Igney stopped a few feet into the foyer.Pasley had no doubt spoken to the taxi driver first, but he hadn't shared the man's intel. Pasley had kept it to himself. Why? To what purpose or end? Was he trying to wrap up the job on his own? Cut Igney out of it?He'd never pegged Pasley for the ambitious type. It was why, despite the other man's slow ways, Igney liked working with him. He knew that Pasley would never be competition for a raise or a more desirable position.But could that have changed? Where was Pasley?Igney walked through the house with new purpose. There were fewer people around now as some were being transferred back to the home office for an extens
SILAS SWIPED THE RAG over the kitchen counters. There wasn't a speck of food on them, but it gave him something to do since he couldn't hear the soft sounds of Ekko moving around anymore. The coffee machine bubbled and gurgled, drowning out everything else at this early hour.He'd fallen asleep almost immediately after his final walk-through of the house. The moment his head touched the pillow and Ekko snuggled up to him, he'd been out. He'd slept the sleep of the dead. All the little sounds hadn't woken him this time, at least not for a few hours.His eyes had popped open around four and he'd lain there, holding Ekko, and trying to feel anything except content.He shouldn't get to feel content. Not with their lives in danger or with a woman he barely knew. Hell, before the other day they'd pretty much been enemies. Now, what were they?Footsteps thumped in the hall.Silas turned toward the coffeepot. He picked up the carafe and poured a mug, timing it so that he'd just finished f
EKKO COULD BARELY BREATHE.Her contact, one of the people she knew was a regular viewer from Dauria, had just spilled the beans on how it was happening.The new user handles in her chat made sense now. Or at least some of them did. The ones with the capital Rs at least.She couldn't ask how many people were watching illegally. That would put those people in danger. She'd long ago come to the conclusion that someone in the DSS was monitoring her streams. But she wanted to know.What she was doing, getting Chayan to the UN, it was only part of the solution. For real change to happen, people within Dauria would need to make their own stand for change. All she could do was help the world not turn a blind eye on what happened beyond those borders.How many knew about Chayan?National media in Dauria would have blocked the story, but people talked. One of the drivers or an off-handed comment by a guard to the right person could spread the story. But that would take time.Was it possib
PASLEY TIPTOED TO THE door and peered out on the hall.It was a ghost town.The new rotation of DSS operatives should be there soon, but for now it was a skeleton crew. To make it worse, Igney and Pasley had been ordered to stay close to their headquarters. He didn't know the details, but it sounded like the police knew the stabbing in the park was linked to them.Nothing would happen. The DSS had carried out enough executions this side of the border. But there was a process they had to follow.That wasn't what Pasley was trying to be cautious about.He eased the door shut and twisted the flimsy lock into place. That done he returned to his bed and dug out the ear buds. He jammed one in his ear and plugged the other end into the phone. The video began playing immediately.It was the video of Ekko Kaur's stream earlier that morning.He peered at the background, noting how light and airy the room looked.Was she still in Ulaanbaatar? If she was, she'd have been up before the sun