Flash Marriage To My Undercover Husband

came from the orange cherry of the cigarette he'd just lit. The smoke curled towards the ceiling, a gray ghost in

efly illuminating the sharp angle of his jaw and the utter detachment in his eyes. He

at still held the roughness of their recent ac

ick not with intimacy, but with evaluation. She could feel his mind w

ne elbow, the cheap cotton sheet pooling around her waist.

get m

t, a tiny gray stain on the white. His head turned slowly, and for the first time since they'd finished, his eyes focus

She held his gaze

her voice even. "City

essing in on them. She could practically hear the gears turning in his head, the rapid calculation of risk and reward. A wife was a perfe

s an opp

ps, visible even in the gloom. It was a smil

y n

a negotiation, a dismissal, at least a series of questions. His immediate agreement was a deviation from her projections. She leaned

mured against his mo

ng flat on the mattress. He gave her back a perfunctory pat.

e bed, her back to him. The space between them felt like a mile-wide can

ed was cold. The only evidence she'd been there at all was a cocktail napkin on

n unreadable. Then he picked up his phone, a cheap, untr

nitiated. A

auto shop on the industrial side of town. The smell of oil, gasoline, and burnt coffee hung heavy in the ai

ently etched into the lines of their hands, saw him an

his hands on an already-filthy rag. "Heard you left O'Malley's last ni

He bent over the engine of a vintage Mustang, the con

ng a greasy handprint on his shirt. "S

ek with the back of his hand. His face was a mask of indifferenc

ed," he said, his

rete floor with a loud clang that echoed in the sudden, profound silence. Every single

lanced at the grimy clock on the wall. It

bed his jacket, and walked out, leaving a

een didn't show a social media feed, but a grid of security camera feeds from the

crackled to life. "Nyx, target has left his p

red, her lips barely m

ting agent vanished, replaced by a woman buzzing with nervous energy. She checked her reflection in the dark screen of her phone,

dn't even notice he was doing it. He saw her through the cafe window, a splash of color in the morning sun, looking for all the world like a girl waiting for her boyfriend. For a spli

s boots hit the pavement wi

d have powered the city. She jumped up from her table and met him on the s

ct, a brief, reflexive stiff

Port Sterling City Hall, a perfect portrait of a

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