Chapter One
Her H.I.V.E. agents failed.
Of course they failed. Addie had known they would; she had read up on the Titans' abilities as much as Slade had. She stood a few feet away from her ex-husband, smoothing her hands over the disgusting polyester skirt that went with her bland uniform. He stood with his hands locked behind his back and scanned the large plasma monitors installed into the wall.
"I assure you, such failures are not tolerated within the HIVE," Addie said, "Once the agents have been retrieved from the authorities, they will be disciplined. Strictly disciplined."
"Actually, your agents served my plans quite well," Slade replied in his smooth, eerily calm voice, "I never expected them to succeed. They were merely messengers. And the message has been received."
She resisted the urge to roll her fake blue eyes. Slade had never had a flair for the dramatic until they got divorced. Addie resisted the barrage of memories that flooded her brain: Barking out orders at him in basic training, making love on the beach, signing the divorce papers, flinging them in his face with a triumphant smile as she took the kids and ran.
"—is in the designated H.I.V.E. account. I trust you know the way out, Headmistress Williams."
"Yes I do. Thank you, Slade. Should you ever need our students again, they are at your disposal."
She made a slight bow, turned, and exited the premises at a brisk clip in her sensible, ugly shoes.
"Come on, Private Wilson, don't you want to have a little fun?"
He was cute. He was beyond cute, and her training had certainly done a number on his physique. His eyes widened as she gently pushed him against the wall and eased the white t-shirt up. He lifted his arms in compliance and she pulled it off, trailing kisses along his neck and chest. God, he was gorgeous—just like those Calvin Klein underwear models she and her silly friends had ogled when they were teenagers.
"Don't you think I'll get written up for this? Ma'am?" Slade asked, though his hands were already around her waist.
"No one comes in the training room during off hours, Wilson," she sighed, "No one but us."
"Headmistress Williams," Addie snorted, "Stupid."
She scowled at her reflection in the bathroom mirror and wrapped a large white towel around her dripping body. Addie should have known better than to use a pseudonym so similar to her own name. A dissimilar one would have eliminated the possibility of any unconscious associations in Slade's mind, but alas. She had to be boring and unoriginal. Propping a hand on her hip, she smoothed a hand over her forehead and squinted at some of the wrinkles that were starting to form there. Addie tried to pacify herself—she didn't look like she was almost forty, did she? No, of course not. Her green eyes were still bright and her auburn hair didn't have any greys in it, at least not any that were noticeable with the side part she typically wore. After toweling off her hair, Addie casually picked up her watch off of the counter—7:04p.m. It had been a long, nerve-wracking day, but she had managed to squeeze another night at the hotel out of the Academy, which meant that she didn't have to check out until 1 p.m. the next day. But the H.I.V.E. headmistress was bored and hungry, which meant that a bottle of wine and a large steak were in her near future.
"Shit," Addie swore, backing up into the wall as her ex-husband's frame filled the doorway.
Slade strode forward, a determined look on his face as he clapped a hand over her mouth and slammed her into the wall.
"What do you think you're doing here?" He hissed into Addie's ear, "This is my city."
"Mmph," she replied angrily, glaring at him until he removed the offending hand and grabbed both of her arms instead.
"Fulfilling a contract," Addie spat, squirming under his tight grip, "Don't be so fucking paranoid."
"You only swear when you're lying."
"What the hell are you doing here then? You got your precious Teen Titans to pay attention to you, or did your "message" not get delivered well enough?"
Slade laughed at her. Addie's blood boiled. He had somehow managed to figure out who she was, sneak into her hotel room in casual clothes, and catch her with her pants down. That would have never happened in Addie's army days.
"My ex-wife shows up, goes undercover and wants to work a business deal and I'm supposed to just let it go?"
"Be quiet. I didn't do anything to you."
Silence.
Her eyes locked on the eye patch that covered where his right eye used to be.
"But it's okay to compromise your son's life?"
He turned away from her.
"I have another contract. We'll talk about this when I get back."
"Addie?"
BAM.
She flinched. Slade had slammed her into the wall again. Addie coughed as the breath was knocked out of her, her own pounding heart refusing to let her catch it again.
"Then. Right then. What were you thinking about?"
Addie opened her eyes and stared at him. Her lip curled.
"I was thinking—how glad I am that you got rid of that hideous facial hair."
He made a sound like a growl in his throat and a knock at the door made them both freeze.
"Housekeeping!"
"Don't think I won't break your neck, Adeline…" he whispered against her ear, sending chills down her spine as his mouth grazed her skin.
"Not now!" She managed to croak, staring at the closed bathroom door until she heard the woman roll her cart down the hallway.
Addie turned her attention back to her ex-husband and realized that he was breathing in the scent of her hair, pressing his body close to hers either for the sake of doing so or to keep her in check in case she decided to try and strike.
"Weshouldhavesex."
The words came out quickly, seemingly of their own accord, and Slade straightened up and raised one eyebrow. She didn't like asking and she certainly wasn't going to beg for it.
"Excuse me?"
"Yes or no. I didn't want your opin"—
He kissed the side of her neck. If Adeline had an "on" switch, that would be it. And he knew it.
Slade kissed her full on the mouth and Addie wrapped her legs around his waist. Convinced that he was going to get some, he relaxed and his hands went around her body. Addie stroked his incredibly soft hair and caught a whiff of Slade's expensive cologne. Keeping her legs crossed around his waist, the HIVE headmistress leaned back and in one fluid motion peeled off his nondescript black shirt.
"When did your personal style get so plain?" She asked, smoothing her hands down his muscular chest.
"Around the same time yours did," he replied, "Though I find it much improved this evening."
She responded immediately when Slade kissed her full on the mouth. Irritatingly enough, Addie had never been with anyone who could kiss quite like her ex-husband, and he had gotten all of his practice by being with her, which had to be some sort of great cosmic irony.
Addie opened her eyes and caught sight of herself and Slade in the mirror. Her hand was laced through his startlingly white hair while he went at her neck like a vampire. Addie's eyes fluttered with pleasure but she remained mesmerized with the image in the mirror, with Slade's rippling muscles and the way he held her and was caressing her thigh, slowing sliding his hand up and under the towel hugging her body.
"We should do it on the bed," she said in a strangled voice, obstinately refusing to moan as his mouth strayed lower.
"You're as soft as the bed, Slade whispered, "But if you insist."
"Was that an insult?" She asked finally as he carried her into the bedroom.
"You know it wasn't."
"No I don't."
Adeline had what her mother mournfully referred to as "the curse of curves." Ample chest, slender waist, and hips. Naturally her almost fanatic level of exercise kept most of the fat off of her, but she was forever stuck at a size 6 and couldn't go any lower for…hourglass reasons.
"You know I want your body," he said hungrily, trailing kisses down her neck, "You're like a pin-up model from the 50's. Not like the emaciated little girls wandering around today."
She was secretly pleased. Addie started undoing his pants to hide the look on her face.
"Remember the beach?" Her ex-husband asked.
"Maybe."
"No biting," he growled immediately.
"Shut up and take it, Slade.