Mark Vincent has risen from senior special agent to Director of Interior Affairs in the WBIS. Lately, life has been sweet for him -- in addition to his promotion, he's found a partner in Quinton Mann, who can almost match his ability in the intelligence field, in spite of the fact Quinn's CIA. Mark has also found a condo in Alexandria with the help of Portia Mann, Quinn's mother, and it's closer to Quinn's town house than Mark's present apartment. Sweetest of all, Mark plans to take Quinn to his island in the Caribbean for the holidays.<br><br>Quinn's glad he has the holiday with Mark to look forward to -- something is going on at Langley, and he feels he's being kept out of the loop. To make matters even worse, useless missions and sleepless nights filled with nightmares are leaving him exhausted. But then his mother's life if threatened, and Quinn discovers the accident that resulted in her hospitalization was no accident. The obsessively self-absorbed Senator Wexler is involved, and while Quinn considers himself a civilized man, now he's out for blood.<br><br>Up until this point, Mark has stayed out of Quinn's CIA business. But hurting Quinn and those he loves isn't a smart move, and Mark has every intention of seeing Wexler pays. Quinn demands to come along, and while Mark isn't happy, he finally agrees, and they set out together to deal with the senator. There's just one catch: this will be the first time Quinn sees Mark at his deadly best, and Mark isn't sure how his lover will react.

Forever

I opened my mouth to tell them I was quite capable of taking care of myself, but Mark gave me a look and closed his hand over my arm.


“C’mon, tough guy. I’ll drive you home.”


I would have protested, but I had no ride. “Fine,” I muttered. I refused to be embarrassed by my ill-tempered tone. “Goodbye, Mother.”


“Make sure you get some rest, sweetheart.”


I sighed and leaned down to kiss her cheek. “I’m sorry. I will.”


I followed Mark out to the car and let him open the passenger door for me, but when he would have buckled my seatbelt, I slapped his hands away and glared at him. “I’m not a child, Vincent!”


“That’s a damn good thing, baby. What I have in mind for you would get me arrested if you were.”


He leaned down and kissed me, then straightened and shut the door. Once he was behind the wheel, I opened my mouth to take him to task for kissing me in front of my mother’s house, where any of her neighbors could have seen.


Chapter 37