Page 19 of Altered By Lead (Undercover Sinners 2)
"Shit." I grin like a madman, impressed as hell. "Didn't see that coming."
Mace grunts a noise beside me, like some sort of ogre. Damn that dude needs to start using his words more. Kinda like how he was back in the church … back when our Russian princess was getting under his skin and into his pants.
Turning slightly, I raise a questioning brow at him but he doesn't pull his eyes from the combat training in front of us. Not even for a second. Does he even need to blink? Dickhead thinks nobody knows about his fucking Natalia in the kitchen the other night. Actually, we all do. He’s not as sneaky of a bastard as he thinks he is.
I’m also starting to wonder if he’s falling for this chick.
I’m starting to wonder if I am.
"She's a natural," he finally says, his voice a low rumble. Like those rock monsters from The Neverending Story, the ones who eat rocks for breakfast? That's what I think of Mace like. "Took to this all like a duck to water." Finally he flicks a look in my direction, a small smile tugging at his lips and his eyes full of sex. "You should see her shoot."
I grin, letting the mental picture play out. "That good, huh?" If Mace is impressed, she must be better than I remember.
The big man's smile increases by a whole millimeter. "Better." His heated gaze returns to where our broken doll is now attacking Hawke with a determined look on her beautiful face.
"Let me guess," I murmur, turning my own gaze back on Natalia and Hawke, "the boss hasn't offered up any praise to show her how good she is?"
Mace's reply is a snort—as close to a laugh as I ever hear from him.
"Figures." I sigh, rubbing a hand over the scars on my chest. I've had my fair share of close calls in this line of work—to be expected seeing as I joined the Blackbirch Company as a fifteen-year-old runaway—but this one was as close as they come. So shouldn't I be getting my ass as far away from this volatile little troublemaker as possible? Not thinking about taking Hawke’s place in her combat training just so I can feel her hands on my skin again.
Damn. Maybe I really am pussy whipped?
Then again, it’s one hell of a good pussy.
I bite my lip to hold the groan silent and adjust my pants.
Of course fucking Mace sees me do it, even if his eyes never leave Natalia. He just gives a small head shake and clicks his tongue in a disapproving sort of way.
"She's off-limits, Colt," he rumbles. "Or at least she should be. She's on the team now."
I roll my eyes at the whole thing. "Yeah? Tell that to Arsen and his insatiable need to stick his dick in her every fucking second they're alone. Or not alone." Portia got too involved with us, and that got her killed. But Natalia is already involved in the underworld. Her parentage alone affords her zero freaking protection, so what does it matter if I want to touch her, fuck her, buy her cute pink thongs and stick them under her door?
Mace just grunts again, but I know he’s pissed at Arsen by the way his jaw tightens and his hand curls into a fist at his side. What’s new though? The two of them have hated each other since moment one. "We can discuss this further at the team meeting."
Across the room, Natalia throws a particularly precise right hook at Hawke and actually catches his cheek with her taped knuckles. Fuck yeah, princess. Hit that fucker.
"Didn't we just have a team meeting?" I narrow my eyes at Mace. Or at the side of his head, anyway. Big lug is still watching Natalia like she's dancing topless on a poker table, and not even his baggy cargo pants can hide the massive boner he's rocking for her. Fucking hypocrite.
He doesn't reply, folding his tree trunk arms over his chest as Hawke calls time on his fight session with Natalia. Right after locking her in a hold that could easily end with her neck broken.
The look on her face is pure frustration and anger, but Hawke must have trained her enough that she holds her tongue and gives a sharp nod before stalking to the wall where her water bottle waits.
"Tell her," Mace says quietly as Hawke joins us on the other side of the makeshift gym.
Our team leader’s eyes narrow slightly at his second-in-command, and he grits his teeth. "Good work today, Natalia," he throws over his shoulder like it physically hurts him to pay her a compliment. Which is insane, because if he'd been looking at her when he said that, he would see how much that small thing meant to her. The rapid transformation from frustrated and pissed off, to shocked and proud is so startling I almost gasp out loud. "Go and shower," Hawke adds, his voice cold and devoid of emotion, "you still stink of Arsen's dick which, by the way, brings me to another point. If the two of you have time to fuck day in and day out, then you have time to be in this gym more."
