"I know you won't." He pauses. "Just... take care of her. And take care of yourself. You've been alone too long, my friend. Maybe this assignment will be good for both of you."
The screen goes dark before I can respond.
I stand in the empty lodge, staring at my reflection in the blank monitor, and wonder how the hell I'm supposed to protect Mara Plummer when I can't even protect myself from wanting her.
I findher in her cabin three hours later, after the sun has set and the compound has gone quiet.
She opens the door in yoga pants and an oversized sweater, her hair loose around her shoulders, her feet bare. The fire is crackling behind her, and the warm light turns her skin golden.
"Boone." She steps back to let me in. "I was starting to think you'd decided to avoid me forever."
"The briefing ran long." I move past her into the cabin, my shoulder brushing hers. "We need to talk."
"That sounds ominous." She closes the door, leaning against it. "Is this about what happened at the training ground? Because I already told you not to apologize."
"It's not about that." I turn to face her. "The threat has escalated. The timeline's been moved up. Someone inside your company has been feeding information to the people who want you dead."
Her expression shifts. The playfulness drains away, replaced by the sharp intelligence I first saw in her corporate headshot.
"A mole."
"Sully's working on identifying them. In the meantime, we're increasing security. More patrols, tighter protocols. You don't go anywhere without me or another team member. Not even across the compound."
"Okay."
I blink. "Okay? That's it? No argument, no pushback?"
"Boone." She pushes off from the door, moving toward me. "I'm not an idiot. I know when to fight and when to follow. If the threat is real, if someone inside my company is trying to get me killed, then I need you. I need your protocols and your plans and your obsessive need to account for every variable."
She stops directly in front of me, close enough to touch.
"What I don't need," she continues softly, "is you pretending that what happened between us doesn't matter."
"It doesn't matter."
"Liar."
The word hangs between us.
"I talked to your father today." I don't know why I say it. Maybe I need the reminder. Maybe I need her to understandwhat's at stake. "He's counting on me to keep you safe. He trusts me."
"I know he does."
"If he knew what happened on that training mat..."
"He'd probably be more upset about the security breach than the kiss." She reaches up, her fingers brushing my jaw. "My father wants me alive and happy. Right now, you're the only thing making either of those things possible."
I catch her wrist. "Mara."
"Tell me you don't want this." Her eyes hold mine, steady and certain. "Tell me you haven't been thinking about it all day, and I'll back off. We'll go back to professional distance and clear boundaries and pretending we don't feel what we feel."
The smart thing would be to end this before it goes any further. I’ve never claimed to be smart everyday. I pull her against me and kiss her.
She makes a sound, surprise and satisfaction mixed together, and her arms wrap around my neck. I lift her easily, one hand under her ass, and she wraps her legs around my waist as I carry her toward the couch.
"Not the couch." She breaks the kiss long enough to gesture toward the loft. "Bedroom. I want you in my bed."
I change direction, taking the stairs two at a time with her still wrapped around me. The loft bedroom is small, dominated by a queen bed covered in a thick down comforter. I lay her down on it, following her body with mine, and her back arches to meet me.
