Page 70 of Operation Heartbeat

Con led Sophie into the bedroom and closed the door.

She turned to him, eyes wide. “I can help the guys find out more about the tattoo.” She threw a glance at the cot where she’d left her laptop open on the images of Henry VIII and the geometric design. “I need to keep working. There’s so much more to decode.”

He stared at her thighs and the enticing way his shirt swirled around them. “Can you put some pants on?”

Her face blanked. Suddenly, she looked down at what she was wearing. Red splotches of color spread over her cheeks. “I-I didn’t realize what I had on. Ordidn’thave on. My only thought was to show you what I found.”

“I know, Professor.” His mouth dried out, and he swallowed hard. “We all have work to do. I need you to be ready to move if we have to.”

“Of course.” She moved to her bag. He watched her for a moment before realizing if he didn’t go now, he would never leave.

The emotions slammed straight into his chest. Into his heart.

He was falling in love with her, if he hadn’t already. Since he wasn’t known for his depth of feelings, maybe he was wrong—

Who the fuck was he kidding? He knew everything in his mind, inside and out. There was never a time he questioned himself. And he wasn’t questioning this either—he wanted Sophie.

“After you get dressed, bring your devices to the living room. We’re all going to be working there. You should be close in case you find something else.”

“Okay.” She grabbed a pair of pants draped over the end of the bed.

“Sophie. One more thing.”

She turned just as he grabbed her.

She melted into him.

As he lowered his mouth to hers, she surged onto tiptoe and claimed his kiss with as much force as he claimed hers.

Dark desire wove through him, and his cock throbbed with want.

Want that couldn’t be satisfied at this moment. He needed to stop kissing her.

He couldn’t stop kissing her.

Their mouths clashed again and again. He slanted his over hers, sinking his tongue inside in slick sweeps. She dug her fingers into his shoulders and arched her body toward him, pressing her hips against his stiff cock.

Realizing that the fate of too many lives rode on his shoulders, he broke the kiss. He released her and stepped back. Chest heaving, he sliced his hand through his hair to keep from grabbing her again.

“Come join us.”

She nodded, looking just as dazed as he felt. “I’ll just be a minute.”

When he collected himself, he returned to the guys. The tablet was still in his hand, and he stared down at the geometric pattern of that tattoo. It wasn’t a symbol of any gang or group that he’d ever encountered, but new things popped up every single day. New criminals met with old and conspired to break people down.

In no time, they all got down to business. Sophie entered a few minutes after him and sank into her own world. Con took three phone calls in a row with new orders each time. He’d just brought the phone back to his ear when Henner jerked his head up from the screen he was researching the tattoo design on.

“Hold on a minute,” he told the caller. Muting the phone, he said to Henner, “What do you got?”

“I think that design points to an organization.”

“A terrorist group?”

“I’m not entirely sure yet—I didn’t find much. Only that a group of people right here in Istanbul all sport that same symbol in the form of a tattoo.”

“Do you have a location?”

“There’s a building near the dock, two blocks from Deniz’s shipping headquarters.”

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