Liam glared at me from where he stood, balls ass naked, shackled in the center of the room, his wrists and ankles in heavy cuffs, connecting him to a thick chain bolted into the rock ceiling. I followed the line of the chain from his wrists up to the gigantic bolt. Titanium. The one substance that sapped Liam’s strength. Much like Superman’s Kryptonite. Hmm. No ordinary criminal had been behind this job. There was only one who’d go to the trouble to make titanium chains. Had to be—

“What the frig are you waiting for, Kit? Get me the hell down.”

Something held me in place, kept my boots rooted the spot where I stood and stopped me from pointing my wrist lasers at the chain to free him. Maybe it was Liam’s growled demand, an echo of the withdrawn, brooding, belligerent asshole he’d been these past weeks, pulling away from me, keeping me off balance, closing me out every time I tried to get him to open up.

“Kit!”

I looked into his eyes, their blue glaring. Sweat gleamed on his forehead and planed cheeks. I followed the trails of the droplets and found myself perusing his naked body in all its broad, chiseled perfection. More sweat gleamed off his dark chest hairs, which drew my eye to the pattern in which they funneled into a thin trail down the center of his cut abs. “Are you in pain?” I asked.

“Kit, dammit!” He tugged, uselessly against the chains.

No. Apparently not in pain. I resumed my ogling until I reached his eyes again. A knowing look came into them.

“I get it,” he said. “You’re leaving me hanging here like a side of beef to punish me. Well that is just rotten.”

“Come, Liam. You like chains. You know, prisoner ditch digger and warden?” I reminded him. It was a little game we played together sometimes in private.

He glared some more. “You know who did this to me, don’t you?”

Of course I knew. Hummingbird’s nemesis, Kendo Ishihara, a multi-billionaire from Japan. However, Ishihara wasn’t still here. He had his own devious expensive methods of getting around the world, unseen. My scanners did not detect any other human presence. This little chain thing was, I knew, a mere gesture, Ishihara’s way of letting Liam know he was still around and getting ready to do something else dastardly. Which is why I’m extra pissed that the Agency would force Liam to retire. Hummingbird is the only one who can keep Ishihara at all in check.

So now, it was just me and Liam, alone in this cave, Liam naked and chained, and our relationship desperately in need of some drastic measures.

Aware of my sudden power, I folded my arms and leaned against the doorway. In doing so, my eyes shot down, catching sight of his cock. I stared, and watched it twitch to attention under my gaze. My body tightened. No matter how hurt or pissed I felt, I could never be anywhere near Liam and not get hot. Not only was he so close by, but he was naked, sweaty and chained up. I could do whatever I wanted to him and he was helpless to stop me. “Sort of,” I said finally.

“All right already. You want me to apologize for throwing your book into the shithole? All right, I apologize. There. Are you happy? Now get me the hell free.”

Feeling suddenly evil, and a bit more randy now, I grinned and took a few steps toward him. “Or what, Hummingbird? You’ll spank me?” I laughed and closed the distance between us, stopping a mere foot away.

In spite of Liam’s anger, I didn’t miss the change in his blue eyes, the way they darkened slightly under heavy lids. I struck a pose, knowing the effect my Bruce Lee shaggy black hair and sleekly muscled physique under the skintight uniform was having on him. After all, it was my looks that had drawn Liam from the Hong Kong sky to check me out the day before the thugs attacked me.

Liam remained silent but I saw the heavy rise and fall of his broad chest. I glanced down. Liam Junior had also risen to attention and stood hard and full, already leaking a shiny trail of juice over the plump head. “Kit,” Liam said. The anger had drained from his voice and sounded husky now. After all our years together, I knew exactly what it meant.