Magic Resistant by Veronica Del Rosa Page B

shoulder.
    “You need to get dressed. We have to drop off
information to my friend.”
    Jackson turned around, the extra towel he
draped around his shoulders. “A friend?”
    “Yes. He can help, maybe dig deeper into the
Coterie files since he built their database and security
systems.”
    Jackson quirked an eyebrow at her. Damn, why
didn’t he get dressed already? His chest was too damn distracting
and that bead of water trailing down his pec begged for her to
lick. A slow smile lifted his lips and her insides may have melted
a little.
    “What’s this ‘we’?” He strode toward the
bathroom, holding a pair of cargo pants and a thin shirt. The towel
shifted as he went. Eyes drifted downwards as she watched the
fluffy white material. All too soon, the wall obstructed her view
as he entered the other room. She squashed the urge to lean over
the couch and continue ogling him.
    “You’re not leaving this room. It’s too
dangerous.” His voice muffled as he pulled on his shirt. “Plus,
you’re as wanted as I am, but for different reasons. I can’t take
the chance you’ll get hurt.”
    Astonished by his worry and pissed off at his
heavy-handed attitude, she jumped off the couch and rushed over to
glare at him. She arrived in time to see him pull the pants up his
legs and over his naked backside. Her eyes met his in the mirror
and an impish smile played on his lips.
    Ignoring the delicious distraction of his
body, she launched into reasons why she needed to go. Ticking off
each point with her fingers, she said “First, you have no idea
where the spot is. Second, you don’t have the key to open the
locker. Third, it would look less suspicious with a couple being
lovey-dovey than either of us showing up alone. There’s a ton of
security cameras at Union Station, so we’ll blend in easier as a
couple. Plus, I’m as competent as you are and I don’t like you
implying that I’m a liability.”
    Combing his hair, he laughed. “I already know
how dangerous you are in battle. There’s no one else I’d rather
have next to me. And I now know it’s at Union Station.”
    When she started to protest, he lifted a hand
and continued. “But you’re right about the rest. Lovey-dovey, eh?
Think you can pull that off?”
    He winked at her and she refrained from
sticking her tongue out at him.
    When Jackson acted cute, she found him nigh
irresistible. While the weeks had been a strain, they were slowly
becoming comfortable with each other, their natural guard falling.
Spending every day with another person guaranteed one of two
things: they either hated each other or they learned to enjoy the
company.
    Julia enjoyed his companionship. He was
quick-witted, well-read and interesting to talk to. It helped he
was damn good-looking, all lean muscle and strong bone structure.
His profile could easily have graced a Roman coin and his thick
hair begged her to run her fingers through it.
    He also didn’t spend unnecessary time arguing
with her. How refreshing, being treated as an equal. The other Mage
Enforcers rarely trusted fledgling Enforcers to make competent
decisions, believing it’d be another twenty or thirty years before
she had something useful to contribute. She found herself talked
down to, patronized and sometimes outright ignored.
    Markus was the only one who treated her with
respect but even he treated her like a subordinate at times. After
so many years of training her, he still looked at her as his
responsibility and not as a skilled Enforcer.
    “Let me freshen up then we can go. I’ve put
everything on a USB key and I’ve created a file that explains what
we’re dealing with.” Julia purposefully left Nathan’s name out of
the conversation. She didn’t want anything tied to him. Trust was
blossoming between her and Jackson, but she wasn’t willing to
involve her friends directly in this mess yet.
    Turning her back to him, Julia rooted through
the shopping bags stacked near the couch. The day after