Page 41 of Code Name: Grit

I checked the house’s security system. “This location is secure, but I don’t like having multiple hostile organizations operating nearby.”

Lumi stood by the window, watching the afternoon light on the river. “What were they discussing that was worth meeting so openly?”

“Nothing good,” I replied, moving beside her. The proximity felt both necessary and dangerous. “Whatever it was, Patriarca’s involvement is significant.”

She turned to face me, close enough that I could see flecks of amber in her brown eyes. “Do you really think it’s a coincidence they were all in the same area?”

“There are no coincidences.”

The lights flickered once, then plunged us into shadows.

My hand went immediately to my weapon. “Power cut,” I whispered. “Stay close.”

Lumi drew her own weapon, following my lead through the darkness. Glass shattered at the rear of the house, confirming my fears.

“Intruders,” I breathed, taking her arm. “This way.”

Given the security protocols dictated we retreat to the most defensible position until extraction, I guided her toward the panic room I’d found shortly after we arrived. It was concealed behind a storage closet.

The backup generator activated as I sealed the door, bathing everything in dim red light. Eight feet by ten feet of reinforced steel and concrete surrounded us—built for survival, not comfort.

With Lumi pressed against me in the darkness, the walls seemed to close in with each breath. Her olive skin looked luminous in the crimson glow.

“How long until the team realizes we’re trapped in here?” Her voice was soft, controlled despite her pulse racing whereher body nearly touched mine. Her breath was warm against my neck, making it impossible to ignore our proximity.

“They’re tracking us and them, so I don’t think it will be too long. Depends on their twenty.” When she shifted, the curve of her hip brushed mine, sending electricity through my veins. I could step away, but nowhere in this room would be far enough. The space contained only two chairs, a table, and most dangerous of all, a bed.

“Anything?” she asked when I checked my phone.

“SOS only, which is all we need.”

“What do we do now, Grit?”

“We wait.” And pray I could maintain my resolve not to strip off that catsuit, lay her on the bed, and do all the things I’d been fantasizing about since the day I first saw her. I couldn’t stifle a groan when she pressed against my chest, her body warm and solid against mine.

When a bead of sweat trailed down her neck, disappearing beneath the opening in the suit’s zipper, my fingers twitched with the urge to follow its path. She noticed—of course. Lumi never missed anything about me.

“I see how you watch me,” she whispered, stirring something primal in my chest. “When you think no one’s looking. Even today. You can’t keep your gaze from lingering…”

The words she spoke, in a sexy-as-fuck voice, weren’t wrong. Weeks of watching her transform from someone I thought I could resist into a woman I couldn’t stop wanting had me hanging on by the thinnest measure of restraint.

“Chiara—” Her given name emerged as both a warning and a plea. She leaned closer until I felt her heartbeat against my chest, its rhythm matching my own.

“I’ve never been as innocent as you think, Grit.” Her words scorched my skin, offering what I’d denied myself permission to want. I needed to resist, to maintain some control.

But from the hunger in Lumi’s eyes, that line had already vanished.

12

LUMI

Grit’s breath quickened as the distance between us vanished. In the crimson glow of the emergency lights, his eyes darkened with naked desire, all the restraint he’d maintained these past weeks crumbling in this confined space.

I pressed my body against his, erasing any pretense of professional boundaries. The thudding of his heart matched my own racing pulse. We’d danced around this magnetic pull neither of us could deny any longer. With the adrenaline from the danger, everything was heightened, particularly our desire.

“We shouldn’t,” he whispered, even as his hands gripped my waist.

“Why not?” I traced my fingers along his jaw. “Give me one good reason.”

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