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

It was a pleasure watching my lover in action.


He went from window to window, making sure the almost invisible strings of gum he’d placed there were intact, and removing them. Finally, he squatted down in front of the door.


“Gum’s still here.” He tugged it off, straightened, and unlocked the door, still cautious. I didn’t tease him about it. Only when he was satisfied the cabin was unoccupied did he say, “Go on in. I’ll get the bags from the hardware store.”


I set the bags from the Peking Dragon on the table. In spite of the electric heat Wally had promised us, it was cool in the cabin, and I went back out to find the woodpile. I might have been a city boy, but Grandfather had taught me to prepare and light a fire in the big fireplace in the living room at Shadow Brook. “It behooves a gentleman to know how to care for himself and his loved ones in all manner of situations,” he’d told me.


Chapter 133