Page 62 of Operation Heartbeat

He already had his phone in hand and was shooting off a call to report to Commander Barrett.

As soon as he finished, he dropped his phone on the table and yanked Sophie out of her chair. She issued a noise of surprise, but when he hugged her hard, she embraced him in return.

“Sophie.” He buried his nose in her sweet-smelling hair. “You’re brilliant.”

“Just doing my job.” Her voice sounded raspy.

She drew away from him, avoiding his gaze once more.

He grabbed his phone and placed a call to the front desk. “Send champagne and strawberries. Please,” he added as an afterthought. Manners were rarely required in his line of work.

After he set his phone aside, Sophie blinked up at him. “Champagnes and strawberries, Con?”

“You had a long night. You deserve some self-care.”

Her eyes glazed over for a moment, then she shook her head as if to clear away thoughts. “We attended a concert. Agreatconcert.”

“Yeah. Undercover. Trying to catch the person controlling Deniz. I know you were on edge.”

“How do you know?” She tipped her delicate jaw in defiance.

He balled his hands at his sides and took a step closer. “I felt it,” he grated out.

They stared at each other for three heartbeats. Then five. Ten.

Finally, she broke the connection by running her fingers through her thick hair. “Con…”

“Whenever I touched you, I felt you tremble, Sophie.”

Her mouth opened and closed. “Because…I was reacting to being with you.”

His quick intake of air didn’t stop the whirl of his brain. Was she serious? He’d seen her playful side, but she didn’t appear to be toying with him now.

“Jesus, Sophie.” He started to reach for her, but his phone buzzed with an incoming message.

Sophie took a step toward the bedroom, but he caught her arm before she could walk away. “Stay here. Please. We’re not finished.”

As he responded to the text, she kept her stare trained on his face. Arms folded, her breasts pressed upward as though on offer.

“Let’s try this again.” He purposely set the phone face down on the table and reached out to take her in his arms.

A knock at the door stopped him cold.

With one hand, he swept her off to the side, out of the line of sight of whoever was at the door—and out of the range of fire. He didn’t take chances. Especially not with her.

Shooting a warning glance toward her, he answered the door. A server held a tray containing a bowl of strawberries and an ice bucket of champagne with two flutes.

He took the tray with a nod, kicked the door shut and twisted the extra locks. Then he started toward the table.

On second thought…

He took a detour to the bedroom. The patter of Sophie’s feet behind him made him smile.

With a flourish, he set the tray on the bed.

Holding out his arms to her, he said, “Third time’s a charm?”

“Now who’s asking questions?” Her smoky tone matched the hooded look of her eyes as she slipped into his arms.

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