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I don’t know how she does it—gets under my skin so easily. The surface-level grace and calm, lulling you into thinking she’s a harmless kitten, then she unsheathes her claws and shows you she’s a fucking tigress.
I almost lost control yesterday on the sun deck. That’s never happened to me before. Thankfully, Casey wasn’t there to witness it or else I’d get an earful from him. God knows where he’s at these days. I thought he’d trail me everywhere on the cruise, but so far, I’d only seen him once—last night when I was nursing a drink at the bar.
The man’s an unwanted fucking shadow. And if he were here, he’d psychoanalyze my obsession with Olivia.
Something about how she doesn’t back down or take my bullshit has my cock resurrecting, my blood boiling. Her sweet scent of cotton and honey awakens my senses. She ignites a maddening craving to unnerve her the same way she carves up my insides.
God, when her lips parted as I described the lewd acts I thought would be too raunchy for her good-girl ears, I almost came in my pants.
Because if there’s anything I know, it’s women.
And this little innocent angel isn’t so innocent, it turns out.
She was fucking turned on.
And I wanted to do every fucking thing I described to her, and more. And I think she’d take it, and take it well.
It’s strange. This feeling toward her. Unnerving, even.
She makes me feel things other than emptiness.
My cock twitches and I swallow a groan because everything in my life—my mental state, my health, this cruise, this mission, all of it—is a mess.
I drag my gaze away from the good doctor to the woman next to me.
Focus, Rex. Flirt with Bree. Play the damn part.
“Nervous about Monaco?” I skate my fingers on Bree’s exposed thigh for the cameras. She’s clad in an enticing red bikini, whichshouldinflame my senses, but does absolutely nothing for me.
Because a certain no-nonsense doctor has bewitched me.Shit.
“Who wouldn’t be? It’s a big move, but I’ve made my choice.”
The move. A.k.a. her hacking into The Association’s servers and her present predicament of fleeing for safety and dropping off the face of the earth.
“What spawned the move then?” I roll the words around, careful of the phrasing. “What did you unearth at your previous home?”
Her eyes flare and snag on mine. She knows what I’m asking—what she found and why she’s a high-level target for one of the most dangerous organizations in the world.
There’s something bigger at play. When Elias first gave me the mission, I was so desperate for a chance at redemption, I didn’t question anything.
But now I wonder. Things don’t add up. Elias could disappear her without me helping. He could have a low-level lackey help her. Why is he personally overseeing the transport? With Raya, it made sense. Her husband was a high-level financier, and she discovered the identities of key people in the organization.
But what does a thirty-something-year-old hacker have that is so important?
What am I missing?
“I-I don’t want to talk about it.” She fidgets and I grab her hand to stop her from giving herself away. “Let’s just say there was a landfill under where I was living. I needed to clean up the trash, or I’d get sick. Not only me, but also others around me. And even if I weren’t successful, at least I’d have tried. My life would have meaning.”
My throat constricts. We aren’t talking about moving or garbage collection, but I know exactly what she means.
Two years ago, it was my search for meaning that landed me on a rescue mission with Elias. And when everything went sideways, not only did I not find clarity, I only dug my grave deeper, accumulating more debt than I could possibly repay.
It’s why I’m on this little yacht tender right now, sailing the deep seas under the guise of relaxation, knowing I may lose my life and Bree’s if I make one wrong move.
Because there’s no way The Association isn’t hot on our tails. They have resources. If Bree’s on the run, it means they’re onto her, or at least, her hacker identity.
They don’t like loose ends.
