Page 44 of The Sniper

“Neither are you.”

A quiet chuckle. “Hard to sleep when I’m waiting for you to do something reckless again.”

Daniels tightened his hold on her. “I’m not planning on getting stabbed twice in the same week.”

“So you planned this one? Was it on your list of things to do?” she quipped, then turned, rolling onto her back to look at him. Even in the dim light, he could see the exhaustion in her eyes, the raw emotion she was still trying to bury.

“You did everything right tonight,” he said softly, reaching out to brush a strand of hair from her face. “The bitch was fast. We’ll get another shot.”

She swallowed hard, her fingers trailing lightly over the bandage at his side. “We should’ve had her. If I’d fired a second earlier...”

He caught her wrist, stopping her. “Don’t.”

Her jaw tightened, frustration simmering just beneath the surface.

“You think I don’t want to break something?” Daniels said, his voice low, rough. “You think I don’t want to put a bullet between that bitch’s eyes? But we keep moving. We don’t let it eat at us.”

Her lips parted, something unreadable flickering in her expression. “You make it sound easy.”

“It’s not. But if you keep carrying this, it’s going to break you, Reyna.”

She stared at him, her fingers still resting lightly against his ribs. Then, with a breath that sounded too much like surrender, she leaned in, pressing her forehead to his.

“I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you,” she admitted, so quietly he almost didn’t hear it.

Daniels’ chest tightened, something raw twisting inside him.

“You’re not going to.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep. I hate feeling like this.”

He nodded. He understood. He hated it, too. But there was nothing either of them could do about it. So instead of talking, instead of pushing her, he kissed her.

It was slow and deep, not about heat but about something else entirely. About grounding them both, about silencing the doubts for just a little while. Her fingers dug into his skin as she pulled him closer, and Daniels let himself get lost in her, let himself forget everything outside this room.

For now.

But the world didn’t let them have peace for long.

A sharp knock on the door shattered the moment.

Daniels’ head snapped up, his body immediately on high alert. Reyna was already moving, untangling herself from him and reaching for his shirt.

Another knock, this one more insistent.

Daniels slid out of bed, tugging on his pants, his side protesting the movement. He pulled the door open, his face set in a glare, ready to tear into whoever thought this was a good idea—until he saw Mitch standing there, looking wide awake and grim as hell.

“We’ve got something,” Mitch said without preamble. “Anton’s been digging through some financials tied to the auction. You’re gonna want to see this.”

Reyna stepped up beside Daniels. “Tell me you found something solid.”

“Not just something solid,” Mitch said, his tone dark. “We found a direct link between the killer and the auction house.”

Daniels felt the surge of adrenaline spike through his system.

“Give us five minutes,” he said.

Mitch nodded. “Make it fast.”

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