“Second, you are never allowed to describe this as something you produced.”
Her brows lift. “No?”
“No.” I kiss her once, slow and deep and very deliberate. “This was ours.”
Her breath catches at that. I should not say things like that.
I know I shouldn’t.
But tonight has already crossed every line worth naming.
She studies me with those dark, searching eyes, then asks softly, “Are you mad?”
I think about the question. About the files that haunted me. About the stories she gave away to strangers. About the fact that underneath all of that was this woman, warm and real and brave enough to give me her actual first time while bullets were still fresh in the walls outside.
“No,” I say honestly.
“Then why did you freeze?”
I brush my thumb over her cheek. “Because I’m trying very hard not to do something reckless.”
Her gaze dips to my mouth. “Too late.”
That earns her a real laugh. A low one, but real.
And Christ, I like her like this. Flushed and clever and not at all what I thought when I first heard that voice. I ease out of her carefully, and she winces just a little. I hate that I notice. I hate more that I want to do something absurdly tender about it.
So I do.
I lift her into my arms.
She startles. “What are you doing?”
“You’re not walking anywhere right now.”
“That is dramatic.”
“You can barely stand.”
She considers that. “Fair.”
I carry her to the bed because apparently there’s no going back now, no pretending this suite was ever for anyone else. I lay her down against the pillows and pull the blanket up over her.
She looks up at me, all soft and spent and still a little shy now that the adrenaline is fading. “I can’t believe I just admitted that.”
I sit on the edge of the bed and look down at her. “You should be more concerned about the fact that you arranged a romantic suite for me and another woman.”
Her face flames again. “I hate you.”
“No, you don’t.”
“No,” she admits, too tired to lie well. “Unfortunately not.”
I lean down and kiss her forehead. The gesture surprises both of us.
Then I pull back and say, “Get some sleep.”
She blinks. “You’re just… leaving?”
