Read Online In the Devil's Nebula (Phoenix Adventures #2) by Anna Hackett - Free Book Online Page B

another assassin if it means
completing the mission.”
    “That’s a crappy way to run a team.”
    She shook her head. “Assassins operate solo,
not as a team. We rarely work together and when we do…they tell us
not to feel. They tell us we’re already dead. Just a weapon of the
Guild.”
    “You don’t belong there and we’re going to
get you out.”
    Now she looked at his face, at his eyes.
Those fascinating, wild, bright blue eyes that she’d seen in her
dreams for so long. She felt the air around them still and her
breath caught in her chest. He tugged her closer and with a final
pull, overbalanced her into his lap.
    Her mouth went dry. “I thought you had to
concentrate on the asteroids?”
    “We cleared the field about thirty seconds
ago.”
    She swallowed. She’d never been held on
someone’s lap before. He was hard and firm beneath her. He tipped
her face up with one finger under her chin.
    “I’d have you on my team any day, Ria.”
    A warmth spread in her chest. She’d been a
member of the Guild all her life but had never truly felt any sense
of belonging. Those quiet words from this man were enough to make
her feel like she was a part of something.
    His gaze dropped to her lips and her stomach
knotted. Did she want this? Did he see her or Vik?
    Ria decided not to think too hard about it.
She was going to take what she wanted. She closed the infinitesimal
distance, her hands sliding into his hair. After what felt like an
eternity, his mouth fused with hers.
    God . Ria froze for a second, the
taste of him flooding her senses. Then they were both moving
closer, devouring each other. His tongue met hers and she urged him
closer. She wanted more.
    She shifted in his lap and felt the hard
press of his erection against her hip.
    “You taste good,” he murmured against her
lips. One of his hands had slid down over her hip and was toying
with the waistband of her trousers. “I’ve wondered for a long time
how you’d taste.”
    Ria froze. “You’ve only known me one
day.”
    He blinked. “I…ah…”
    He didn’t need to say anything else. She
pushed to her feet and straightened her shirt. “I’m not her. I’m
not going to be some poor substitute for your dead obsession.”
    His jaw clenched hard, a muscle ticking.
“That’s not…I don’t…fuck!” He shoved a hand through his hair.
    It was all she needed to hear. She needed
this man’s help, nothing else. The guy was stuck in the past and
had nothing to offer except his skills in helping her snatch the
derringer and gain her freedom.
    She needed to make she sure remembered that.
But as she turned and walked out of the cockpit, her insides felt
fractured.

Chapter Seven
    “I think this’ll be the best point for
infiltration.”
    “I don’t think so, Dath. Check out this spot
on the southern wall.”
    Zayn watched his brothers argue and debate.
They were all leaning over the Assassin Guild plans—newly scanned
off the plas-sheet stolen from the Tekton—on the holo-table. Eos
and Ria stood on the other side, talking quietly between
themselves.
    Zayn found his gaze returning to Ria. She’d
pulled her hair back in a tight ponytail and was wearing dark
leather pants with a loose white shirt. She looked different
without the body armor. Softer. Friendlier.
    Not that she was sending him any friendly
vibes. All he was getting now was either the occasional blank stare
or a glare.
    Not that he didn’t deserve it.
    He’d replayed their kiss in the cockpit…oh,
maybe a hundred times. When he’d kissed her, he’d known he was
kissing Ria. The woman he’d just finished surviving a dangerous
mission with.
    But he couldn’t lie. Some part of him had
thought of Vik.
    Ria looked the same, sounded the same and
sometimes used the same mannerisms. But Viktoria had been a
stickler for the rules, always living for the mission. Ria was more
relaxed, more flexible. Vik would never have stolen anything, even
if it was the right thing to do.
    He frowned.