Spies Need Love Too (Adorable Psychos #4)

Chapter 1

Cole Clayton had done a lot of messed up shit in his day. But spying on someone who was also spying on him?

That was new.

Technically, he supposed what he was doing could be deemed stalking. Especially since he’d taken early retirement from the CIA and any horrible thing he decided to do now wasn’t government sanctioned.

Not that any of the horrible things he’d done in the service of his country were actually sanctioned. Not on the books, anyway. Black ops didn’t work like that. It was more of a do-what-you’re-told-to-do-and-if-you-get-caught-we’ll-disavow-all-knowledge-of-you-and-let-you-die situation.

Which wasn’t the point. The point was that some might say he was stalking his neighbor—the one who used her binoculars for bird watching and occasionally getting a better look into his bedroom.

He refused to think too hard about why he didn’t just close his curtains. Or refrain from getting naked in front of the window like he was in a Magic Mike performance.

Again, not the point.

The fact of the matter was that stalking was an ugly word, and he was not stalking his pretty little neighbor, the peeping Tom.

Nope. He was merely looking out for her.

Because if there was anything Cole could spot at twenty paces it was a bad guy, and this woman’s boyfriend was 100%, USDA-certified, grade-A bad guy.

So far, he’d been able to stop himself from doing any research on his neighbor or her questionable boyfriend.

He was proud of himself for not using any of his considerable skills to look into them at all.

Hell, he didn’t even know their names. He was just doing a little old-fashioned surveillance to make sure the poor girl didn’t get hurt. Like any good neighbor would…right?

The fact that she was the most adorable woman he’d ever seen, with the shiniest black hair and big Disney-princess eyes, had nothing to do with it.

Just like the fact that she was, at that very moment, sitting in a car with an obviously dangerous guy, letting him put his hand on her thigh did not make him jealous.

It wasn’t like Cole wanted to touch her thigh. That would be weird.

It’d been so long since he’d had any human interaction that wasn’t part of an op he wasn’t even sure he remembered how. He’d been such a hermit since retirement that he was practically feral at this point.

So, watching her sit in that car wasn’t personal. He was just doing what he imagined any decent, normal person would do.

Which didn’t explain the immense satisfaction he felt when she very purposefully removed the bad guy’s hand from her thigh.

Good girl. Now, get out of the car.

If she sat in there any longer, they’d lose what remained of the daylight, which meant he’d have to switch his tactical binoculars out for something with night vision and that’d just be a pain in the ass.

The dude was still talking, though. Based on his tense posture and the way he was making increasingly bigger hand gestures, Cole guessed the guy was angry. She pressed her body back against the door like she was hoping she might melt through it and disappear.

She was afraid.

Cole tossed the binoculars on the bed, rushed out his front door, and was crossing his yard into hers before he’d even considered formulating a plan. That was new for him. Spies didn’t do much of anything without a plan. All he knew for sure was that no one was going to hurt this woman.

Not on his watch.