Excerpt of Sizzle by Liliana Hart

PROLOGUE

Lyon, France

Three years ago

She’d broken all the rules. But boy, had it been worth it.

Audrey Sharpe tried to open her eyes, but they only fluttered before closing again.

The effort was too much. Maybe she’d just stay like this forever—her heart pounding, the sweat cooling on her skin, and the weight of a very attractive man pressing her into the mattress.

“I don’t think I can move,” Jonah Salt murmured against her neck.

“I’m not complaining. I can’t feel my legs anyway.” Her eyes slowly opened and she noticed some of the candles had guttered out, so the room was cast in shadow instead of a soft yellow glow.

Jonah had been her partner and trainer for the last eight months. And as of tonight, he was her lover. They were covert agents for Oblivion, an off the books division of the CIA, and they’d just finished a mission they’d been working for months. It hadn’t exactly gone as planned, and now they were waiting to tie up a few loose ends and see what their debriefing orders were.

The small chateau that had been turned into a boutique hotel was where they’d planned to regroup if the mission was compromised. It was high traffic and touristy, and no one would ever suspect that they were anything other than a normal couple. It was an act they’d perfected dozens of times before.

But this time had been different. Between the leftover adrenaline rush and the king size bed that dominated the room, it had only taken one look for the sexual tension to crackle between them. It had been a race to the finish after that. But she didn’t regret her actions.

Something had been building between them for weeks, though Audrey could admit she’d been attracted to him since he’d been assigned as her trainer. There was something about the sheer maleness of him that had drawn her in like a moth to flame. Jonah hadn’t been quite so quick to accept her though.

Audrey knew her looks made people underestimate her ability, and she accepted her beauty as a tool—a weapon just as deadly as the knife she perpetually wore in her boot.

But others, especially men in this business, didn’t trust her beauty, thinking there was nothing beneath the surface. So she had to continually prove herself and her abilities, and be better than they were. Jonah had been wary to take her on. But she soon proved her looks were nothing more than a distraction to hide the killer she was beneath.

She’d been Israeli Mossad—one of the elite Kidon assassins— before she’d been captured and tortured by the Syrians. All Mossad agents were trained to withstand various torture techniques, and though the training wasn’t pleasant, it had kept her from spilling secrets that would have betrayed her country.

U.S. intelligence agents had rescued her. And she’d been given a choice once she’d been debriefed and made contact with her superiors. She was deemed ineffective by the Kidon since she’d been captured, and she had no wish to be one of the numerous intelligence gatherers who did nothing but stare at a computer screen all day. She belonged in the field. So she’d taken the offer the U.S. had given her. A new identity. A new country. A new team.

She’d had no family left in Israel, and though her loyalty had always been to her homeland, she felt the move to the United States was the best she could have made. Her two home countries were allies, and she would defend her new country with honor, just as she had her last.

Her cell phone buzzed—an insistent hum that droned on and on —from the little table across the room. But she was in no hurry to go back to the real world.

“You need to get that?” Jonah asked, kissing the side of her neck before rolling to the other side of the bed. He sat up and ran his fingers through tousled blonde hair in need of a trim.

“That’s my private line, so no. Not until tomorrow. I’ve got the satellite phone if the agency needs to get in touch.”

He stood without any self-consciousness at all, and she watched in pure female appreciation as the muscles in his back and buttocks flexed as he stretched. Jonah was an interesting man. Quiet in a lot of ways. But she felt like she’d come to know him well over the last eight months. He was fourteen years older than her own twenty-seven years, and what they said about older men being excellent lovers was true. He knew exactly what he was doing, where to touch and taste to make her blood sing.

His face was an interesting one rather than handsome. The lines that fanned from his eyes and the corners of his mouth were deep, and his beard was flecked with the occasional strand of white. But it was his eyes she’d first noticed. They were the most beautiful shade of blue. She wasn’t even sure blue was the correct color to describe them.

Streaks of silver shot through them and the iris was ringed by a dark navy. She’d seen them turn cold and implacable as a glacier when they were on the job. And she’d seen them melt to the color of a summer lake only moments ago.

“We’ve got an early morning tomorrow. The boat will be here to pick us up for debriefing.”

Audrey sighed and pulled the covers over her chilled skin. “My favorite part. They’re going to be pissed we didn’t get the identity of Proteus. Francois Renard was the only person we’ve been able to find who’s had direct contact with him. I still don’t understand how they got the explosives in. He was right there under surveillance and no one saw anyone go in or out. We’re going to take the rap for that.”

“Maybe a slap on the knuckles. But it wasn’t our job to keep Renard alive. It was our job to get him out. Those explosives were well placed and well timed. We’re lucky to be alive. In fact, I’m going to be feeling the aches and pains of this mission for a while.” He rubbed his hand over the growth of beard on his face and turned to give her a wry smile.

“Field work gets harder as you get older.”

“If it makes you feel better, I wrenched my knee when we jumped into that drainage ditch.”

His eyebrows raised in surprise. “You should have said something. I would have been… gentler.” His mouth quirked and she snorted out a laugh. He could always make her laugh.

“Endorphins make an excellent pain killer.”

“Hmm, good point. Don’t feel bad about losing Renard. We’ll find out who Proteus is sooner or later. He’s on every worldwide agency’s watch list.”

Audrey licked her lips and debated whether or not to pass along the information she had. He was her partner. Now her lover. And it wasn’t that she didn’t trust him.

She trusted him with her life. But her Mossad training ran deep, and she wasn’t used to sharing viable information. She wasn’t used to having a partner, period.

Before she could change her mind, she decided to tell him what she’d learned. “I’ve got a contact from back home. He thinks he’s got a line on the identity of Proteus, and I’ve been waiting for him to get in touch.”

“How did he get close enough to get an identity? Can your informant be trusted?”

“Shai isn’t Mossad, but he works special assignments on occasion for the Israeli government as a contractor. He told me he set a trap for Proteus. You know how we have that partial recording of Proteus’s voice talking to Renard?”

“Right, but the voice was distorted.”

“Shai is a genius with computers. He didn’t care about the voice. He wanted to use the partial set of numbers Proteus gave to Renard for payment. Shai was able to use those numbers to find the account. And from there he said it was simple to lay a trap. The next time Proteus gets online, Shai will have his identity.”

“Very clever of your friend. Good work,” he nodded approvingly.

“You’re not angry at me for keeping it from you?”

“Not at all, love. We all have secrets. Secrets are our line of business. But I’m glad you trusted me enough to tell me. You and I are going to be a hell of a team.” He came toward her and ran his finger down the gentle slope of her jawline. “I wanted you from the moment I saw you.”

“Liar,” she said, laughing. “You told me I wouldn’t last two days under your training. I believe you also told me there was no place for beauty queens in espionage. I was never a beauty queen, by the way.”

“You and that damn memory of yours. You never forget anything,” he said, grinning.

“And it looks like I was wrong. You lasted more than two days. Now I can’t imagine my life without you in it.”

He leaned down and kissed her softly and she felt her heart sigh. This man could make her love him. She was already half way there. And that was something she’d need to think about. She’d never been in love before, and the feeling was both euphoric and terrifying at the same time.

“I’m going to get in the shower. Care to join me?”

“As tempting as that is, I’m not moving from this spot until morning. I’m exhausted. And I’m not sure my legs are ready for walking.”

He kissed her again and moved toward the bathroom. “You do excellent things for a man’s ego, love. When should your friend have a lockdown on Proteus?”

“The last I heard from him was the day before we went in for Renard. He said he thought he’d have it within forty-eight hours.”

“Excellent. You sure you don’t want to join me? I’m feeling very…rejuvenated all of a sudden.”

“Yes, I can see that,” she said, laughing again. “Why don’t you come back here instead?”

“You’re a temptress, Agent Sharpe. But I’m made of stronger stuff than that.”

He closed the bathroom door behind him, and Audrey snuggled down in the covers as the shower turned on. She smiled as she heard him whistling. The man loved to whistle, especially while they were prepping for a job. It was his thinking mechanism, and she knew once he started whistling she needed to be quiet and let him ponder through possibilities. It was just one of the quirks they’d learned about each other over their time together.

Wasn’t that what love was? Learning each other’s idiosyncrasies—likes and dislikes—how to read each other so you knew what your partner wanted without him having to ask?

God. Maybe she was already in love with him. Her phone buzzed again, but her realization kept her immobilized. Love. She never thought a relationship would be something she could have. She’d been trained from her twelfth year for Mossad, and then at eighteen she’d been selected for the elite Kidon. She’d known nothing else. Her future had been determined for her, and she’d always accepted it as it was.

But Jonah Salt had taken what she’d known and turned it upside down. He’d been her trainer, her friend, and her lover. And she loved him. The question of the hour was whether or not he loved her too.

She blew out a shaky breath at that thought and told herself to relax as the shower turned off. Jonah was excellent at reading people. If she wasn’t careful he’d know her feelings, and if he didn’t feel the same, that could ruin their partnership. They were already breaking agency rules by being involved. They’d be reprimanded and reassigned to different partners in a heartbeat if their sexual relationship was discovered.

Discretion was key—both their outward relationship as well as her personal feelings.

Her training had been ingrained and extensive. She could keep her emotions to herself— she’d never cried out once when she’d been tortured by her Syrian captors. And she’d carry the scars on her back and torso forever. But they certainly hadn’t bothered Jonah.

He had his own share of scars. The scars were just part of who he was, just as hers were part of who she was.

She propped up on her elbow when he came out of the bathroom. A towel was slung low on his hips and droplets of water clung to his skin. He’d shaved and his hair was slicked back from his face.

“It’s dangerous to keep looking at me like that, love.”

“It’s dangerous to make threats if you don’t intend to follow through,” she said, her voice low and seductive. She pulled back the sheet and her blood pounded faster as his eyes darkened with desire.

Her phone buzzed again and he moved to the table, distracted by the interruption.

She could tell by the short length of the buzz that it was a text message instead of a call.

“Can you toss that to me?” she said. “I guess they’re not going to leave me alone until I answer.”

Jonah picked the phone up from the table and looked at the screen. “Looks like your friend found Proteus.”

Adrenaline surged through her veins at the information. Proteus was one of the most dangerous men in the world. He was the mastermind of too many crimes to count, but there was never enough evidence to pursue. Only statements from witnesses that never managed to survive let them know that he existed at all.

Audrey caught the phone with one hand and glanced at the screen, feeling her blood chill at the information there. She looked up in time to watch Jonah pull the trigger.

The fact that the bullet was silenced didn’t make it hurt any less when it pierced her chest. The force of it knocked her against the headboard and she struggled to breathe as what felt like molten lead burned through her lungs.

She stared at the face of her partner—her lover—and she knew she couldn’t hide her surprise. She’d never suspected. Never thought he could be Proteus. And now she’d be dead because of it.

“Surprised, love?”

She sucked in a breath and heard the whistling sound from her lungs. There was no use trying to speak.

“As you can understand, it’s time for me to leave. You’ll have to go through debriefing by yourself. Though I’m not sure they care much at the morgue.”

His smile was a slash of cruelty and his eyes were cold as ice. Her lips were wet and she tasted the blood as it bubbled from her mouth.

“Thanks for giving me the name of your informant. I’ll take care of him immediately. And thanks for the fuck. It was definitely— memorable.”

Her gun was in the nightstand drawer. She might have a chance if she could just get to it in time, but she wasn’t sure she could move her arm. She focused on breathing and put the pain away as she’d been trained to do. Her mind zeroed in on the area of her body where the bullet had pierced, slowing the beat of her heart so her blood didn’t pump from the wound quite as fast. She knew how to survive. It was these skills Mossad excelled at over the American agencies.

Jonah began to dress quickly and he started scattering things across the room, tossing tables and their belongings about. But he kept his eye on her. He knew her training better than anyone. Knew that she could be just as deadly while wounded.

Audrey’s time was running out and she’d never have a better opportunity to try and take him down. She made her move and pulled out the drawer, reaching for the gun inside, but the agony of another bullet had her slumping against the blood soaked mattress.

“You could never hope to be better than me, love. You’re too soft. It’s why you failed as a Mossad agent and why you’ve failed now. Didn’t I tell you to never trust anyone? Even your partner? I told you we all have secrets.”

She didn’t even feel the third bullet as it entered her body. Her eyesight dimmed and the only sound was her waning heartbeat and the soft click of the door as he left her there to die.