Page 54 of Take the Sub and Run

“Yes, but only because not signing off would raise more questions. You’re on thin ice, Agent Leonard.”

“I usually am.”

Rolf shook his head and ended the video call.

Andrei sat for a moment in the silence, needing to gather himself. It had been a bad mix of desperation and frustration that drove him to arrest Sofie. He’d dragged her back through the tangled garden to the door he’d burst through. As expected, there had been police there investigating the back door being forced open. They’d opened an overgrown gate in the patio wall that he hadn’t notice in his panic to get to Sofie to let them in to the patio.

They’d looked ready to arrest both of them until Andrei flashed his badge.

Then he’d had them arrest Sofie.

He didn’t have the authority to arrest a Dutch citizen, but he could ask the local authorities to arrest someone and then have them transferred to Interpol’s custody, which is precisely what he’d done. Sofie had spent less than ten minutes sitting in the back of a warm police car before the rush paperwork was authorized. Andrei had parked nearly a kilometer away, since parking was scarce, so an officer had dropped him and Sofie off at his car.

He’d brought her back to Club Alibi.

The paperwork he’d filed to authorize her arrest and transfer had been coded to the Club Alibi project, which had a high security clearance. Given that, the transfers had gone through automatically, though clearly someone had woken Rolf, the lead agent, to let him know an arrest had been made in Amsterdam.

Twenty minutes ago, Andrei had stopped being able to ignore messages from Rolf, and after removing the cuffs and passing Sofie off to a very confused Colette and Landon, Andrei headed for the mini office suite they’d built on the private playroom floor to make this call.

Now, it was time to go find Sofie and get his questions answered.

Sofie’s desperate panic to get back into her house had disappeared in favor of other emotions when he arrested her. She’d looked scared when she was shoved into the back seat of the police vehicle, but he’d made sure to always stay in her line of sight. Once she’d been transferred to his car—and he redid her cuffs with her hands in front of her rather than behind her back—she’d gone quiet.

That silence had hurt, because her expression hadn’t given him any hints about the reason for her silence. Did she feel betrayed? Scared? Angry?

By the time they reached Club Alibi, she’d nearly been asleep. If not for the buzzing excitement of having an excuse to spend more time with her, he would have been exhausted.

And acknowledging, even in his own thoughts, that his handling of the situation was driven by a desperate need to spend more time with her was a bit too much honest self-reflection.

The upper floor of Club Alibi Amsterdam was all private playrooms, many of which were complete. Unlike in London, there weren’t any overnight rooms, but there were several playrooms with beds.

The door to one of those rooms was slightly ajar. Andrei nudged it open, then stopped to blink at what he was seeing.

Landon was seated on one side of the bed, back against the ornate tufted headboard. His long legs were stretched out and crossed at the ankles.

Colette was half reclined against his chest. He had one arm hooked around her, casually possessive with his hand cupping one breast.

And curled up in the middle of the bed under a soft white blanket was Sofie. Her cheek was pillowed on Colette’s thigh, and Colette had one hand protectively on Sofie’s head.

Both Colette and Sofie were asleep.

As Andrei opened the door, Landon’s eyes opened. He raised his brows in silent question.

Andrei tipped his head toward the door.

Landon leaned in to whisper to Colette as his hand shifted, thumb gently stroking her nipple. Colette woke with a needy sound, and Andrei looked away.

This moment felt too intimate for voyeurism. And besides, it made him jealous. Not that Andrei wanted a full-time lover or sub, but the closeness was enviable.

He jerked his attention back to the bed when he heard Landon's and Colette’s quiet voices. Colette slid a pillow under Sofie’s head as she slipped off the bed. Sofie burrowed into the pillow, pulling the blanket up over her face. Her pale hair blended with the fabric, until only the person-shaped nature of the lump in the middle of the bed indicated there was anyone there.

Landon led Colette toward the door as she yawned. Andrei stepped to the side to let them pass, his attention on Sofie.

Then nearly fell on his ass when Colette reached back, grabbed his arm, and yanked him out into the hall.

“What the hell?” Andrei snarled.

“Colette…” Landon rubbed the back of his neck.

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