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

“No.” I could feel his smile against my shoulder. “What would you rather talk about?”


“Mother’s having a small dinner party Wednesday evening.”


“Yes.” I scattered kisses over his shoulder blades, along the hollow at the back of his neck, and around to his ear. I licked and nipped the lobe, and he hummed with pleasure. “I know she’d love having you there.” And so would I. “May I tell her you’ll be joining us?”


“No. Goddammit.” The irritation in his voice had never been directed at me, and in spite of myself I was startled.


I tugged my hand free and started to turn him over to face me, but found that I didn’t have to. He’d turned over and tipped my chin up to meet his eyes.


“It would have to be this week. I can’t, Quinn.”


“Work? Never mind, I know you can’t say.”


He ran his tongue over my lips. “Rain check?”


“Of course.” Did he realize there was no ‘of course’ about it? “Next year.”


Chapter 123