Page 172 of Operation: Defiance

“You haven’t turned off the lights once,” she says.

“Do you want me to?”

“No.” She studies me for a moment, and there’s a softness in her gaze that hits deep in my chest. “No one has ever seen me like you do.”

The slight hesitation in her voice tugs at my heart. “Being observant has kept me alive,” I say. “But seeing you? It’s not work.”

With slow care, she reaches for me, until her warm fingers cup the back of my neck.

I don’t move, letting her set the pace, the distance, and everything that happens next.

Her eyelids flutter closed a moment before her lips brush mine. It takes everything in me not to lean in. I want to wrap my arms around her, to take the kiss deeper. I don’t.

Maybe that’s why her tongue flicks at the corner of my mouth. It’s so brief, I wonder if I imagined it. Until she does it again.

This time, I let her in. The kiss deepens by degrees. No claiming. No taking. Just pressure and release, a quiet back-and-forth that settles my heart, but not my body.

By the time she pulls away, I’m half-hard. Her cheeks are flushed, and she doesn’t meet my gaze. “Was that…okay?” she whispers.

“More than.”

Raine rests her head against my upper arm, her breathing still a little uneven. “I’m not…I haven’t kissed anyone in a long time.”

Her hand comes to rest against my ribs. I don’t cover it with mine. I do let my fingers brush her waist once, then pull back slightly and wait until she meets my gaze.

She nods. “It’s okay. There.”

That’s enough for now. Despite how much I want more, what she’s just given me might as well be the whole world.