Page 5 of Tempting Alec

Grier nodded. In many ways she wanted nothing more than to go up to one of the rooms and spend the rest of the night pleasuring and being pleasured by Master McSexy, but that was more than she could allow herself. Being here at the club was risky enough; if someone found out, she could get her security clearance revoked and be out of a job, but there was something about the risk that only added to her arousal and the appeal.

She had wanted to experience this for so long. When the CIA had assigned her to talk to the romance novelist Samantha Coltraine about code cracking, they’d found they had far more in common than either of them had imagined they would. They’d become friends, and that friendship had led to an invitation from Samantha to experience a night at Club Southside. Samantha had assured Grier her confidentiality would be assured.

“I need to go use the ladies’ room,” she whispered to Master McSexy, her confidence beginning to fail her.

“Of course, G. Do you want me to take you or have one of the other girls go with you?”

“No. No. I’ll be fine.”

It wasn’t technically a lie. She would be fine. In fact, she’d be better than fine if she could just slip away from the Club and get to the train station.

Inside the submissives’ salon, Grier had changed quickly and slipped away into the night. Samantha called and texted. It was only once she had made her getaway and was on the train headed for home that she sent Samantha a text assuring her that she was fine and thanking her for a marvelous experience. Then she blocked Samantha’s number as the train rambled down the track and into the night.

Grier had always prided herself on being unflappable, but something about that man had rattled her, and she hadn’t been able to shake off the experience or him. She didn't even know his name, but the memory of his rugged features and the heat of his touch had been hard to forget. There had been so many times since that night she’d been tempted to find out, but she had reminded herself that night at the club had been a one night stand and nothing more.

A sudden blip on her screen pulled her back to the present, snapping her out of the memory's grip. She leaned closer to the laptop, her heart picking up speed as she realized what she was looking at. The file she had been working on for what felt like an eternity had finally begun to give up its secrets.

Her hands moved with purpose now, decrypting line after line of code. Each word that appeared on the screen made her pulse quicken. This was it—the file that could expose a high-level mole within the CIA. The implications were staggering, and Grier felt a mix of excitement and fear wash over her.

She had been chasing shadows for so long, and now, she was on the verge of a breakthrough. But the stakes were higher than ever, and the walls of the safe house seemed to close in even more tightly. She couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched, that somehow, someone knew she was getting close.

Her green eyes narrowed in focus as she continued to work, her mind no longer wandering. The man from Chicago was pushed to the back of her thoughts, replaced by the adrenaline coursing through her veins. She had a job to do, and there was no room for distraction. Not when the truth was so close.

Chapter 3

Grier

Grier was still hunched over her laptop, her fingers moving rapidly across the keys as she decrypted yet another layer of security on the file. Layer after layer—they didn’t want anyone to be able to decrypt it, but Grier was better than they were. The dimly-lit house was eerily quiet, save for the low hum of the computer and the occasional creak of the old wooden floors beneath her. The room was small, its bare walls and sparse furniture giving it an oppressive, claustrophobic feel. But Grier barely noticed. Her mind was sharp, focused on the task at hand, the boredom that had plagued her earlier now replaced with a razor-sharp intensity.

She was close, so close, to uncovering the secrets buried within the file. Her green eyes, sharp and intelligent, flickered with determination as the last line of code unraveled before her. The information she was about to uncover could shake the very foundations of the CIA. Her heart raced as the final lock clicked open, and she leaned in, eyes narrowing as the screen displayed the decrypted data.

Suddenly, a deafening explosion shattered the silence, ripping through the building with a force that knocked Grier out of her chair. The blast wave sent her sprawling across the floor, her laptop skidding out of reach. A high-pitched ringing filled her ears, and for a moment, she couldn’t move, her body paralyzed by the shock. Smoke began to fill the room, thick and acrid, stinging her eyes and lungs as she struggled to regain her bearings.

Panic surged through her as she realized what had happened. The safe house was under attack, and she was caught in the middle of it. Her laptop—she needed her laptop. Grier forced herself to move, crawling on her hands and knees across the floor, her vision blurred by the smoke. Her fingers brushed against the cool metal of the laptop, and she clutched it to her chest, the only lifeline she had in the chaos that surrounded her.

Stumbling to her feet, Grier fought through the haze, her analytical mind racing to assess the situation. She had to get out, had to escape before the entire building came down around her. But as she turned toward the exit, a strong hand suddenly grabbed her arm, yanking her back with a force that nearly sent her sprawling again.

She whipped around, her eyes wide with fear and anger, ready to fight off whoever had grabbed her. But the sight that met her stopped her cold. Standing before her, his face half-hidden in the shadows, was a man with intense blue eyes and rugged, battle-hardened features. His grip on her arm was firm, unyielding, and his gaze swept over her with a mixture of urgency and calculation.

It was him. The man she’d only known as Master McSexy.

Grier’s heart skipped a beat as recognition slammed into her. She’d known he was no ordinary man. Samantha had shared he was a former SEAL Commander and was now a Cerberus operative. Cerberus was one of the most elite and dangerous forces in the world. Samantha had wanted to assure Grier that her anonymity was assured. Those piercing blue eyes, that commanding presence—she had seen them all before—felt them all before—in a very different setting.

Club Southside.

The memory hit her like another explosion. The man standing before her was the whipmaster, the man who had brought her to the edge of ecstasy and beyond in that dark, decadent club in Chicago. The man she had run from, terrified of the intensity of what she had felt, of the power he had wielded over her. And now, here he was, in the flesh, standing before her in the middle of a war zone, his eyes locked onto hers with an intensity that made her breath catch in her throat.

For a split second, Grier hesitated, her mind a whirlwind of conflicting thoughts and emotions. How could this be happening? How could the man who had haunted her dreams for months now be here, in this very moment, pulling her toward the chaos of the Moscow night? She wanted to ask him, wanted to demand answers, but there was no time, no space for questions. The urgency of the situation pressed down on her like a physical weight, crushing her hesitation beneath its overwhelming force.

His grip tightened on her arm, his expression unreadable as he scanned the room, his military training kicking in as he assessed the dangers. “We need to move,” he said, his voice low and commanding, leaving no room for argument. There was no recognition in his eyes, no sign that he remembered her from that night in Chicago. To him, she was just another mission, another objective to be completed.

But Grier knew him. She knew the man behind those eyes, knew what he was capable of—and that was what scared her the most. The power he had over her then, the way he had unraveled her with just a look, was nothing compared to the force of his presence now, in the midst of danger.

“I’m Alec McKennon. I’m with Cerberus. We need to move.” She hesitated. “Grier, now,” Master McSexy snapped, his voice cutting through her hesitation like a knife.

How did he know her name? That was a stupid question to ask herself in the middle of this insanity. He must have been given her name when they’d given him the job of saving her. Wait. Was he saving her? If so, saving her from what? Did the Russians know she was here? What she was doing?

Alec McKennon. She liked his name. It was a strong, confident name.

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