Deep Cover by Kimberly Van Meter

herself amongst a crowd of doped up, highly primed, twentysomethings who had a hive mind-set to GET LAID.
    The worst part...she was tuned in to that message as well and she was struggling with her urge to get wild with the first person she saw or seek out Shaine.
    Either decision seemed awesome and terrible at the same time.
    As if summoned by her drug-addled secret thoughts, Shaine grabbed her hand and pulled her to him, moving those hips in a way that intensified the urge to get naked—with him.
    “This stuff is amazing,” she admitted, looping her arms around his neck as he nuzzled the soft skin where her shoulders met her collarbone. “I can understand why it’s so popular. This is better than Xanax.”
    She hadn’t meant to let that slip.
    For six months Xanax had been her saving grace after leaving the Bureau and taking the DEA job.
    Not because she’d suffered anxiety over a new job—hell, that’d been exciting.
    No, the Xanax had been to help with the pain in her heart.
    Shaine had really done a number on her.
    “You’re such an asshole,” Poppy said with a dreamy smile. “You really know how to drive a knife straight to the bone.”
    “What are you talking about?” Shaine said, drawing her closer. “You’re the one who left.”
    “You’re the one who treated me like I wasn’t good enough.”
    “Shut up,” he growled, sealing his mouth to hers. His kiss ignited a firestorm of need made ferocious due to the drug. Her skin was on fire. Her brain was melting. She wanted to be naked against Shaine and forget all the crap that was still jagged between them.
    Get a grip. It’s the drug. You’ve trained for this. Get it together!
    Poppy pulled away reluctantly, so hungry for his touch, that tiny, insistent voice becoming an irritant in her head. “Why’d they pick us?” she wondered out loud. “Do you think there’s something to that?”
    “We’re just players in their game,” Shaine answered, his arms still anchored around her waist as if he didn’t want to let go. It would be so easy to just lean into his touch and stay there. “They set us up. Now we have to see it through.”
    “What do you mean?”
    Shaine grabbed her hand and led her off the dance floor. He found Brandi and Angelo tucked into a dark corner, kissing and groping.
    “We’re taking off,” Shaine announced, still clasping Poppy’s hand.
    “Have fun,” Angelo said with a knowing smile. “I’ll let Capri know Laci is in good hands.”
    Shaine didn’t wait to chitchat and simply walked away with Poppy in tow.
    She thought of protesting, to pull away, but she didn’t want to.
    Maybe it was a better idea to let them think that they were going home together to seal the deal and that way, she and Shaine could focus on other things without suspicion.
    But that wasn’t the reason she was eagerly following Shaine.
    She wanted to feel him against her. She wanted to remember what it was like to climax in his arms.
    It hadn’t been purposeful, but since leaving Shaine, she hadn’t been with anyone else.
    She hadn’t been able to bring herself to think of getting that personal with another person.
    Each time she’d gone out on a date, Shaine had been in her head, intruding on an otherwise nice evening.
    Unfortunately, by the end of the night, Poppy had always sent them home with a peck on the cheek, placing them firmly in the friend zone.
    She told herself that it was simply her dedication to the job that’d kept her love life on the back burner, but with her hand clasped firmly in Shaine’s, it was wildly apparent that she’d been lying to herself.
    “I think this is a bad idea,” she said, managing to get the words out as they approached his car. “We have to realize it’s the drug making us feel this way.”
    “Don’t worry about me. I’m fine,” Shaine replied, though his teeth seemed gritted as he added, “But we need to get out of here.”
    The fact that he was downplaying that he was affected, too,