Page 96 of BounBound By Scars

He didn’t smirk.

But his eyes said everything.

“You good with that, Lia?”

Where is it?

The professionalism? The discipline?

“Yeah,” I breathed. “That’s perfect.”

Shit. That was too breathy. I knew it the second it left my mouth.

This time, he smirked. Full and unfiltered. I couldn’t help the matching grin that tugged at my lips. We were both idiots.

Someone cleared their throat, and we both froze.

“I don’t know about you all,” Delara said in her ever-poised British accent, “but I’m starting to feel like we’re no longer talking about mission objectives.”

Kabir and I snapped our heads in her direction. I’d forgotten she was even in the room. Of course she was—this was a strategy briefing. A professional one.

Shit.

Maybe Dylan was right. Weweredistracted.

“Um…” Kabir fumbled, the tips of his ears reddening. “Yeah, so—I’ll make that tweak, and we can run the sim later tonight.”

Delara gave him a knowing look and patted his back as she passed. “I’m sure you’ll do anything to getinside.”

Kabir coughed hard as she left the room.

Once the door shut, I stepped behind him, slipping my hand over his shoulder. He was glued to his laptop, pretending to focus—pretending very, very hard. He flinched when I touched him, which only made me laugh.

“You good, Mr. Gill?”

He groaned, dragging a hand down his face. “Add three security officers,” he muttered to himself.

I leaned in, sliding my hands across his shoulders and down the back of his neck. His muscles tensed, then melted slightly under my fingers.

“Level six,” he continued, voice rough. “Kill efficiency, 0.8.”

Still going. Like a robot short-circuiting under pressure.

I kissed the back of his neck, slow and soft.

He groaned again, lower this time. “Increase boot time to… t-three minutes.”

And still… still going.

This man. My sweet, flustered genius. So desperate to stay on task.

I smiled against his skin. “You sure you don’t want to simulate something else right now?”

He paused.

I did it, then.

I bit him lightly—right near his pulse point.

---