I nodded. “You did well. I owe you.”
“You’re paying me well,” he teased. Then he hesitated before he quietly murmured, “You know this was all about wanting her afraid. They wanted her to know they’d been close. They wanted you to know they’d been close.”
“Yeah, well, they succeeded,” I replied. “Once.”
I moved down the hall and stopped outside the door where Sofia slept. I didn’t go in. Not yet. I rested my hand against the frame, swearing I could feel the steady rush of her presence on the other side.
“They crossed a line,” Archer said behind me.
“Yes,” I agreed. “And now they die.”
“Simple as that?”
I turned back to him. “Yes. Exactly as simple as that. Get some sleep. I slept on the plane a little, so I’ll be up for a while. You can take over for me in a few hours. We’ll switch out. At any point, if anyone so much as breathes wrong?—”
“They don’t breathe anymore,” Archer finished. “I know.”
I trusted him because over the years, he’d walked through fire with me and never flinched. Because he guarded what mattered without needing to be told why. Because he had become the only family I had in the US.
I looked at the door again.
My hand tightened into a fist.
“I’m assuming they wanted leverage,” I softly explained, then heavily sighed. “There’s someone in my circle who has betrayed us. Someone who is testing me. I’m pretty sure they wanted to see if I would choose.”
Archer waited, a single brow raised.
“I’m certain you’re aware I already have. Maybe it makes me a fool in this world I live in, but I will choose her over everything.”
Outside, snow kept falling.
Inside, my war began in earnest. Archer waited and listened.
“You think it’s the same person?” he finally asked.
“God help them if it is, but yeah, probably.”
With a brief squeeze of my shoulder, he passed me and went into the room at the end of the hall.
I turned the knob and went into the one where Sofia slept. A small lamp cast a soft glow over her small form bundled up in the bed. As I stared, her even breaths became music to my ears. I had no idea how on edge I’d been until that tension slowly uncoiled in my shoulders at the sound.
Making as little noise as possible, I stripped out of my clothing, placing it neatly on the dresser. Then I lifted the covers, slid under them, and drew her close. At first, she startled awake. Her wide eyes found mine and relief instantly softened her furrowed brow. Her arms and legs immediately wrapped around me.
“I missed you,” she whispered, her voice cracking.
My hand cupped the back of her head as she rested it on my chest. For a moment, we simply held each other. I ignored the aching of my cock, but she obviously didn’t.
Her hand slid down and wrapped around it.
My breath caught.
“I need you,” she said, her lips softly brushing over my skin as she spoke. “Please.”
A groan escaped me as she stroked my length.
It was all the encouragement she needed. She pushed up from the bed and straddled me, guiding the tip into her wet heat. A sigh parted her lips and her head tipped back slightly as her gaze remained locked with mine.
“Take this off,” I demanded, jerking on her T-shirt.
