I close the laptop and lean back in my chair. The weight of the night settles into my bones. I think of Alessandro, the driver who never made it out of the car. He had a family. His wife had just given birth.
I don’t feel guilt, but I do feel responsibility. I will make this right.
The faint sound of movement pulls my attention toward the bedroom door. Alina emerges, watching me curiously.
“That sounded like an important phone call,” she says carefully.
I can’t help but smile. So she was eavesdropping, just like I thought. She’s more trouble than I could have imagined.
“Did you find out anything?” she asks.
“Nothing I didn’t already know,” I reply honestly.
She nods and sits in the chair next to me.
“I could help, you know,” she says. “I’m no computer whiz or anything, but I can help look through footage.”
“Alina,” I say evenly, “this is not something you need to be part of.”
Her lips press together, and she folds her arms loosely in front of her. She’s not being defensive, necessarily, just stubborn.
“I already am a part of it,” she replies. “Whether you want me to be or not.”
I rise from the chair and take a step toward her deliberately.
“This situation is dangerous,” I say. “And it is ongoing. You’re safer not knowing details. My enemies could use your knowledge against you.”
“What the hell else am I supposed to do?” she asks stubbornly, tipping her chin up at me. “We’re clearly trapped here, and I can only stare at books for so long.”
“I don’t want to argue about this,” I say firmly, turning away from her and shutting my laptop. Even if she manages to grab it, she’ll never figure out the password.
I leave her at the table and grab a beer from the fridge, before I sit back down on the couch, watching her. I expect her to argue with me, or to stomp away like she did earlier, but she just gets up slowly and comes over to me.
I brace myself for a fight, ready to turn down all of her arguments, when she stops directly in front of me. She doesn’t speak. Before I can ask what she’s doing, she climbs into my lap.
The couch creaks softly under the shift of new weight. Her hands slide around my neck and her fingers thread into my hair with a quiet confidence. Her body settles against mine like she’s done this a hundred times before.
Every thought in my head dies at once. My reaction to her is immediate and unmistakable. Heat floods low in my body,uninvited. I suck in a breath through my nose and grip the edge of the couch hard enough that my knuckles whiten.
“Alina,” I murmur, a desperate plea and a solemn prayer all at once.
“I know,” she whispers, like she’s doing this against her own judgment. Like she’s helpless to stop what’s happening between us.
My hands hover for a moment, caught between instinct and restraint. The smart thing would be to move her off me, to stand up and put space between us. To reprimand her. Instead, my hands settle at her waist, gripping her with enough force that she gasps.
The sound sends a jolt through me. I’m losing my control one tiny movement at a time.
Her lips brush against my jaw, not quite a kiss, but a test. My pulse beats hard against my throat. I tilt my head to give her access without consciously deciding to.
It’s so easy to give in to her. There’s no resistance left once she decides to ask for what she wants.
She shifts slightly, until our bodies are perfectly aligned and I can feel my hardness pressing against her soft heat. It steals what little bit of control I had left. My hips lift without permission, rubbing against her as she gasps again.
I let one hand slide up her back, underneath her sweatshirt, splaying between her shoulder blades. She lets out a quiet sigh, ending whatever resistance there was between us. Her lips crash against mine as her body grinds against me again, chasing a need she can’t name.
My tongue slips into her mouth, tasting and teasing and undoing her with every stroke while my other hand slides beneath the waistband of her sweatpants, where I know she’s already wet and hot for me.
Her fingers dig into my shoulders when I find the spot that makes her come undone. I circle her clit with my index finger slowly, eliciting the most impatient moans from her as she grinds her hips against my hand.
