Ghosted (Team Zero #3) by Rina Kent

“You won’t tell anyone you got this from me.” His eyes turn robotic. Completely and utterly pale blue to the point of whitening. Like an ice storm.

What in the living hell is wrong with these people? Do they have a switch or something?

“If you do, I will find out.” He pauses and stands toe-to-toe. He’s taller, but he still pushes his shoulders back in clear menace. “You don’t want to witness my reaction.”

“Yes, fine.” I jump and yank the flash drive from his hand. “Not telling anyone. Got it, Ghost.”

His face fills with distaste. “Ghost?”

I angle away from him and slip the flash drive in my bra. “Well, aren’t you the notorious Ghost?”

“I’m not.” He appears quite offended. “Don’t insult me.”

And then he’s out of the door.

My jaw drops. If that isn’t Ghost, then who the hell is he?

Most importantly, who the fuck is Ghost?





I quicken my pace down the hall, needing somewhere safe and a laptop to watch the flash drive. Julian doesn’t have a laptop. Not one I’m aware of, anyway, and the computers around Le Salon aren’t safe to use.

I can ask Scar for help.

Strong hands surround my waist. My reflexes shoot, and I’m about to elbow him, but when I catch his deep, masculine scent with hints of cedar, my body caves against his.

Julian pulls me into a room, closes the door and pins me against the wood. The deep hunger and longing in his eyes send tingles down my spine.

I don’t even know what room we’re in. It’s dim and smells of dust as if it hasn’t been used in ages. But none of that matters. My eyes are glued to the darkness and intensity in Julian’s.

He’s about to devour me, and I’m craving him to do it.

“Firefly...” he rasps, and his fingers wrap around my neck. My pulse leaps to life. “Do you have any idea how much I’ve missed you?”

“We’ve been together this morning.” Twice. And a third time in the shower. It’s become a routine. An addiction. I’m not sure I can ever detox.

“Not enough.” His nose nuzzles near my neck and he breathes me in. My heartbeat speeds into a frenzy, and I’m sure he can feel it under his thumb.

I brush thick strands of his hair back, trying to ease the tension in his shoulder. He’s more tense than usual. He’s been all wrapped up in President Joe’s business, the attack on the club and Kyle being shot.

And protecting me.

He’s protecting me from everyone else’s clutches. Shadow confirmed that Julian is standing up to Mist and the others for me.

It weighs on my heart that I’m not telling him everything. A stupid part of me wants to bare all and to hell with consequences. I don’t think I can continue to lie to him and to myself this way.

But the fear of being thrown away always stops me.

So I cling to whatever we have with all my might. I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him. My lips implore his, nibbling, and sucking.

“In all those meetings,” he whispers against my mouth. “All I could think about was you.” As if to prove a point, his knee yanks my legs apart and his erection presses into me. “What will you do about this, Firefly?”

It always makes me so proud when he seeks me out during the day. Sometimes, that happens right after we get here. I love that he can’t keep his hands or eyes off me. That I drive him just as crazy as he drives me.

In answer, I climb up his body and tighten my legs around his waist. My dress hikes up. Julian fumbles with his belt as he trails hot, urgent kisses down my neck. I’m a burning mess by the mere feel of his body against mine and his hands roaming all around me.

Once he moves to my breasts, I stiffen. The flash drive. Before he notices – and Julian always notices – I rub against his hardness so he’ll get inside me.

He doesn’t mind. He rips my lace undies with a grunt and throws it somewhere beside us. I yelp, but not from the ripping. It’s from the sparkling pleasure that surges through me.

He growls when his calloused fingers meet my slick, wet folds.

“Would you stop ripping my clothes?” I’m half-smiling half-scolding.

He nibbles on my bottom lip. “No.”

“Julian!”

“It was in the way.” He smiles in that carefree way that knots my heart.

He’s so damn beautiful. I’m officially ruined for anyone else.

Julian sinks inside me in one go. He drives into me hard, fast and relentless. My back bangs the door’s harsh wood with each thrust. The pain is erotically delicious. I grip his shoulders for balance as I’m driven over the edge. I scream his name, uncaring if anyone hears, and collapse against his shoulder.

A guttural groan rips from his throat as my insides fill with his warmth.

We remain like that for a minute with him seated deep inside me and his arms caging me. This moment, where he holds me close after intense sex, has become my addiction. My go-to drug. Beside the dopamine haze, this level of intimacy throws me into an endless loop and down the rabbit hole.

What would it be like if I had this forever?

Then, I recall Ma and Zoe. I don’t get forever. It just doesn’t work that way in my life.

Julian will disappear one day – or throw me away, as that redhead witch Mist said.