54

Ryan and Leif gaped at me, and Kira arched an eyebrow. I guess I’d said too much. My cover was law enforcement. No one needed to know I was a TO. That would make it too easy to connect me to Kira when her career was eventually revealed.

I shrugged. “Took a specialty biology class in college. ‘Creatures of the Earth.’ Still remember all that stuff.”

The guys seemed to buy it. They started chatting with Kira, and I breathed a sigh of relief. The only reason I was here was to keep my best friend’s sister alive. Nothing about this would be easy, and I needed to keep my head on straight. As delicious as Kira was, and as tantalizing as it would be to make her back arch in ecstasy again, I needed to get my desire for her out of my mind. She always found a way to get into trouble. If I was going to keep her safe, I’d need to be completely focused on what was happening and what she was doing.

It bugged the hell out of me that she still seemed to despise me. Even when we’d had sex, there’d been