Page 50 of In the Nick of Time
“Yes.”
Also—Doug clenched his fingers around the steering wheel—they’d had sex while this voyeuristic turtle was under the bed. Dammit. Pressing his foot against the gas pedal, Doug sped out of the parking lot, careening down the Strip and toward Harry Reid
“Whoa there,” Tim said. “I don’t want to fly through the window.”
“I can think of worse things.”
“You woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, didn’t you?”
Doug felt his jaw tighten at the use of the word bed. “Not a fan of Agent Sedgewick being abducted,” he managed to say. An oblivious driver in a Prius veered across from the left lane. Doug pounded on the horn and pressed harder on the gas pedal to get past it before the guy took him out.
“I’d probably survive a car accident if that’s what you’re trying to do. My shell is very thick. I’d also like to point out that getting in an accident or being pulled over by the LVPD before we get to the shopping center will not help Nick, either.”
Hating that the reptile had a point, Doug slowed down.
“Maybe some deep, even breathing would help.”
“Maybe you should shut up before I decide to test your thick-shell theory.”
Doug didn’t risk a glance at the passenger seat but he suspected that, once again, Tim was shooting him a death glare.
THIRTEEN
NICK
Is the special agent gig living up to expectation? The jury is out.
Nick opened his eyes.At least, he thought he did, but he couldn’t see anything. For a millisecond, he was disoriented by the odd darkness and by what appeared to be some sort of musty old cloth covering his head and face.
What the actual fuck?
Events came back to him in a rush. He’d been hanging out in the parking lot with Tim, waiting for him to do his tortoise business, when all of a sudden, two men had appeared from around the corner of the building and rushed him.
He’d tried to fight them off, but one of the bastards had jabbed something sharp into his biceps and that was the last thing Nick remembered. And to be honest, physical fighting was not one of Nick’s strong points.
No…
Nick recalled that he’d been kicking a loose pebble around the lot, wondering if it was a waste of his time to tell Doug that he—he, Nick, not he, Doug—was pretty sure he was falling forhim. Doug would hate that Nick had feelings. They hadn’t talked about anything, and what was happening firmly fell into thehooking upcategory, not thelifelong partnerscategory or even thecasual datingcategory. And probably SPAM had some kind of rules about fraternizing anyway.
Regardless of the fact that Nick could picture himself with Doug for the long term, retirement was calling Doug’s name. Sheesh, even Nick could tell that Doug would be bored out of his mind doing nothing. Maybe he needed a break, but he didn’t need to retire.
So, there he’d been in the parking lot, mentally kicking himself for being a fool. A fool who was falling for Doug Swanson. Not only was the older agent subtly funny and obviously smart, but the sex was also mind-blowing.
Right, Sedgewick. Focus on the fact that you aren’t where you’re supposed to be,not the sex.
That’s why Nick hadn’t been paying enough attention to his surroundings in the first place.
“He’s still out cold,” an unfamiliar voice said.
“Whatever The Undertaker uses is strong shit. That last one never woke up.”
The last one?
Inadvertently, Nick flinched, his foot bumping against something. He stilled and forced himself to think about nothing. He was definitely in a car; he could feel the rumble of the engine.
“What was that?”
Crap, they were talking about the agent who’d been found a couple of days ago. At least he thought so. Schoen-something?
