The noise of my motorcycle drew dirty looks from a few passersby, but I didn’t care in the slightest.

It’s hard to give a shit what people think when you’re a free man.

I rolled up to one of the first parking spaces and killed my engine in front of the drab red brick office building that housed the DEA.

I got off the motorcycle and removed my sunglasses. The grass surrounding the building was bright green. I’d be damned if San Diego wasn’t the best city on the face of the Earth. Seventy degrees and sunny, and I could still taste the delicious turkey, bacon, and avocado sandwich I’d had for lunch when I’d met up with my brother Casey.

Freedom.

A young happy couple walked by on the sidewalk holding hands. I felt so damn good, I gave them a wave. They waved back. I had been on cloud nine all morning replaying that night weeks ago in my mind. I could see Alexa’s beautiful brown eyes staring back at me, hear her moans, feel her beneath me. It made no sense. I wasn’t the kind of guy who got caught up on a particular girl. It just wasn’t my thing. Yet here I was, daydreaming like a middle-schooler.

I entered through the main door of the DEA building and passed through the security check, waving at the secretary who I’d already befriended that morning on my way out. I walked down the hall to Ned’s office, and before I could even knock on the door, Ned opened it. I grinned as I walked in.

“Corbin, it’s two-fifteen. You’re la—”

“It’s a touch hot out today, Ned.” I breezed past him while he remained standing next to the doorframe. “Do you mind if I grab some water?”

“Sure,” Ned answered futilely, pursing his lips as if restraining himself from adding another comment. I opened the mini fridge, took a bottle out and unscrewed the top.

“You guys really keep the beverages stocked around here, don’t you?” I took a seat on the small couch in Ned’s office and spread out my arms behind me. “So. Analyze me! I’m ready! Do your thing! Where’s your psychology girl?”

Ned shook his head and walked back behind his desk. “Please take this seriously, Corbin.” He pressed his thumb into his intercom. “Dr. Napleton, Mr. Young is here.”

“Coming,” said the voice on the other end.

“Corbin,” Ned continued, straightening his tie. “Dr. Napleton is the best at what she does, and I want you to treat her with the utmost respect. None of this bullshit cocky attitude that you’ve had today, getting on tangents about cream in your coffee. Remember, we’re getting you out of prison, doing you a big favor.”

“You may be doing me a favor,” I said. “But the only reason I’m helping you with Reyes is because I think he’s a sick fuck.”

It’s true. I might have been an asshole and a criminal, but even I had standards of honor. Marco Reyes was a sick motherfucker, and the word on the street was that his cousin Luis was even worse. He didn’t just go after his enemies, he went after their children.

And yeah, there was the matter of the conditional presidential pardon extended to me. Slicing eighteen years off a twenty year sentence was a new lease on life.

The door swung open and a blond woman came in with a blue and white pinstriped pantsuit and an authoritative walk. It was hard to tell because her clothes were so damn businesslike, but my assessment was that she had some nice curves underneath her professional veneer.

She got closer, and I decided I was right. Hell, she almost looked as good as Alexa. Although she had blonde hair instead of dark brown, she had the same light coffee colored skin, and these gorgeous brown eyes. She was hot yet proper and—

Holy shit. Were my eyes deceiving me, or was this my goddamn one-night stand in the flesh?

With recently dyed blonde hair. Which was a shame since I loved the way she looked as a brunette. Still, I wasn’t complaining about the new do.

Fuck it, I decided. I might as well just come right out and find out.

“Well, fancy seeing you here, Alexa!” I blurted out.

She raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

“Do you two know each other?” Ned interjected, furrowing his brow.

Alexa shot me a look that said don’t you fucking dare. Like the good poker player I was, I stared back into her big brown eyes and smiled.

I considered my options. I took a guess that a DEA agent sleeping with a convict was probably against their handbook or protocol. She could probably get in a lot of trouble for doing what she did with me if I pressed the issue.

Lucky for her, I decided it would be best for me to simply do what I did best: fuck with her. Plus, if the DEA tried to send me back to prison, now I had an ace up my sleeve. A DEA agent sleeping with the criminal she interviewed? That certainly made the results suspect.

“Yeah, I’ve definitely seen you before.” I squinted, like I was at the eye doctor trying to read the smallest letters of the eye chart.

“I’m sorry, you must have me confused with someone else.” The words rolled off her tongue so convincingly; I began to wonder if maybe Alexa had an identical twin. Except that there was no mistaking how present her scent was in the room.

“Hmmm. It’s just that you look…strikingly similar to someone I know.” I inhaled through my nose deeply, breathing her in.

She took a seat across from me and dropped her notebook onto the table with a thud.

“That’s weird. Must be a coincidence. Anyway Mr. Young, my name is Eva Napleton. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She extended a slender arm toward me as if she was shaking my hand for the first time, and I couldn’t help but smile as I returned her handshake.

She’d somehow transformed herself from the hottest piece of ass at the club to a businesswoman with an aura around her that said do not fuck with me or I will fuck you up.

I had to admit, I kind of liked it.

She’d make a new challenge now, as a conquest.

I glanced at Ned, who had seemingly taken my ‘looks similar to someone I know’ explanation to heart, had moved on, and was jotting something down on a notepad with a blank expression. He had the same nervous, stressed expression that he’d had all day.

“What a weird coincidence. Must be a doppelganger. What a pleasure to meet you. You said your name is Eva?”

“My first name doesn’t really matter, does it? I’m Agent Napleton. Dr. Napleton to you.”

So the hot piece of ass was a doctor. That explained a lot. I’d always thought the best lays were intellectual types.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” I responded, my tone dripping with sarcasm. “It’s just that I’ve been in prison for so long, I’ve forgotten when to be formal and when to keep it casual. Will this be our only meeting, Dr. Napleton?” I locked eyes with her as I let the syllables roll slowly off my tongue. She brushed her hair behind her ears and diverted her eyes from my gaze. I recognized that tender look in her eyes from earlier. “Or will this become a regular thing? Like weekly, or maybe even daily?”

As her eyes fell on me, my memory flashed to that night when she screamed with my cock so deep inside her I could feel her every movement. In my mind’s eye I heard her voice screaming at the top of her lungs as she did that night—the voice that was now speaking so coolly and professionally, it sounded to me like she was faking it, playing a role.

Which half was the real her?

She was a total mindfuck.

And I kind of liked it.

Alexa, Eva—whatever the fuck her name was—sat back in her chair, crossed her legs, and spoke in a professional tone. “It is likely that we will only require one meeting, Corbin. I am the investigative psychologist whom headquarters has assigned to approve you for the operation to take Luis Reyes down. I’ll be conducting your psychological evaluation here to make sure you are a suitable candidate for the undercover work you’ll be doing with the agency. You look ready. Let’s get started, shall we?”

Eva was a doctor who fucked, apparently, like a stripper. It was always easier to put people in boxes, but clearly Eva wasn’t someone who was easily nailed down.

Nailed down. Heh.

I pictured nailing Eva again. This time from behind, pressing her body down as I pulled her hair and she screamed my name...

Fuck, I really need to do something about this dirty mind of mine. Thank God this wasn’t a mind reader test.

I managed to focus my eyes on Eva’s beautiful face. “I think you’ll find that I’m a very direct and honest person. I know what I want, and I go get it. Let’s start this thing so I can tell you what you want to hear,” I took a drink of water and adjusted myself. Surprisingly to many people, honesty was one of my best qualities. I might have been a criminal, but I wasn’t a bullshitter.

“Corbin, I’m going to start the digital recorder now,” Eva nodded toward Ned and pressed a button on the phone on the table. “The purpose of this interview, as you probably know, is to get everything out in the open. All of the secrets, Corbin. The agency realizes you’ve had a checkered past and we need to get everything on record.”

“That’s true,” I smirked. “I tend to get into trouble, especially late at night. A few weeks ago, for example, I got into something. I met this girl—a great lay, by the way—but she was a total liar. She didn’t even give me her real—”

“Let’s stay on topic,” Eva interrupted, raising a hand. “There are people who think you’re the right man for the job. But we need to know everything about you. Which is why we’ll be hooking you up to a lie detector.”

“Go ahead.” I made a fist and flexed my arm to see how the thing felt. She also hooked up a part that strapped across my chest, and put a little thingy on my finger. I didn’t like any kind of contraption connected to my body. It reminded me of the first time I got a lie detector test hooked up to me when I was sixteen, in juvenile jail. I squirmed a little as she hooked it onto me.

“Is your name Corbin Young?” Eva began.

“Yes.” I raised my eyebrow, giving her the are you serious look.

“How long were you in prison?”

“Twenty-four months, three days, 7 hours.”

“You kept track, huh?”

“Not much else to do in prison but count the hours.”

“Looks like the detector is working,” Eva said, her eyes on the monitor. She scribbled something down on a notepad in front of her. “Moving on to the standard background questions. Growing up, did you torture small animals?”

“I think I forgot to feed my goldfish one night.”

I could see her resisting the impulse to roll her eyes. “Do you have problems with authority?”

I smiled. “Depends what you define as a ‘problem.’” I made air quotes.

“Let me be specific. Do you have a ‘problem’ with following orders from Headquarters to take down Luis Reyes?” She imitated my air quotes.

“No. I hate that fucker as much as you do.”

“Will you follow all orders we give you, to the letter, without thinking about them?”

“No,” I said. “Follow orders blindly? What is this? Nazi Germany? Of course I won’t do that.”

She nodded and glanced down at the monitor then at Ned. “Do you more often act on impulse, or do you think things through?”

“Neither. I act on instinct.”

“Sounds a lot like impulse.”

“It’s similar, but different,” I explained. “Impulse implies that I am making an uninformed decision. Whereas instinct means that I am taking into account all of the possible angles and making a calculated decision without hesitation. I know what I want, and I take it.” I flashed a micro smile in Eva’s direction. And you know better than most people that I get what I want.

“My, aren’t you impressive,” Eva says, scribbling some more notes. “This isn’t a job interview, just so you know.”

She tapped her pen on her pad and flashed her eyes at me. “Just a few more questions.”

“Please.”

“Do you love anyone?”

“My brother. And what the hell does that have to do with this mission?”

“Those close to you could be in danger for a mission like this, if Reyes finds out your true identity. He might go after them.” Eva said. “So you’re not in love with anyone? Romantically, I mean.”

I scoffed. “Ale—Doctor Napleton. I just got out of prison four weeks ago. That’s not a lot of time to fall in love.” I stared into Eva’s eyes as I said the words. “Besides, I’m not a big love guy. I’m more of a one-night stand type of guy. Maybe two if you’re lucky. So don’t get any ideas.”

“Jesus, Corbin, that’s enough,” Ned barks from his seat.

Eva sat back in her chair and paused for a bit before asking the next question.

“Did you kill Arnaldo del Valle?”

Coming with the big guns. I knew the question was coming.

Arnaldo’s death was one of the man-slaughter counts I’d been charged with.

“Yep. Self defense. We done here?”

Ned nodded.

“Yes,” Eva said, taking the equipment off me.

I stood up. “Good. Because it’s time for me to meet with Marco Reyes and get this sting started.”

“You’re meeting with Marco Reyes?” Eva asked.

“Well somebody has to set this fucking plan in motion, and that someone is me.”

“Corbin, don’t you walk out,” Ned barked. “You need to go through us when you are planning this stuff.”

I looked at Ned. “I’ll let you know how it goes.” I turned and walked out the door. These motherfuckers had no idea what they were about to get into. And if this mission was going to succeed, I didn’t need them poking around in my business.