Heat flashed through her, and he kissed her.
Not a careful kiss. It was hot and hungry. A kiss that told her he wasn’t offering a job. He was offering a life. With him.
When he pulled back, his forehead rested against hers for a beat. Their breathing was ragged.
“I love you,” he said.
No numbers.
No code.
No hiding.
Ellory’s eyes burned again, but this time she didn’t fight it. “I love you too,” she whispered.
A laugh trembled out of her, half sob, half joy. “I helped catch the bad guy. I found my brother.” Her chest felt like itwould burst as she dragged in air that felt crisp and new. “I have more than I ever thought I’d have. What else could I want?”
Angelo’s mouth curved. One dark brow hiked upward. “I want more.”
Her heart slammed.
She kissed him again, harder, letting him taste her passion, and felt him respond instantly with a rumble in his throat that went straight through her.
“Come on,” Angelo murmured against her mouth.
When they turned back to go inside, she didn’t wait.
She led him down the hall to her room, her heart hammering with a different kind of urgency now, not fear, but hunger and relief and love that had nowhere else to go.
The second they reached her room and the door closed, she was on him—mouth on his, hands sliding over his shoulders, her body pressing into his like she needed proof he was real.
“I’ve wanted you,” she whispered between drugging kisses, breath catching. “So bad.”
Angelo’s answer vibrated against her mouth, rough and needy. He gripped her hips, pulling her closer, and Ellory felt heat steal through her.
She dragged his shirt up and off with impatient fingers and kissed the skin she uncovered, tasting salt and the faint trace of soap. She pushed at his belt, at the buttons, at anything between them, her mouth still on his because she couldn’t stop kissing him—never wanted to stop.
Angelo growled into her mouth when she slipped her hand around his stiff cock and felt him surge in her fingers. “My god, Trouble.”
Ellory pressed her forehead to his for a beat. “I love you.”
“I love you,” he rasped back. “Stay with me. Forever.”
She answered by pulling him down with her, the rest of the world dissolving as they fell into the bed and into each other.
After that, there was no need for words.
Later, when they were both spent, Ellory lay curled against Angelo’s side with the blanket pulled up around them.
Outside, the base moved on. More missions would come. She’d be staring at numbers until her eyes blurred. Threats would rise again, because the world never ran out of monsters.
But now, Cipher was dead.
Now Archer was headed toward help.
Now she wasn’t just The Accountant anymore.
Now she was right here.
