Page 106 of Immersed
“Asher, this isn’t the time—”
“It’s never the time.”Asher’s palm settled on the nape of Levi’s neck.“But you still owe me those three minutes.”
The touch sent a shiver down Levi’s spine and settled in his groin. He should pull away and focus on the mission. He should remember exactly what Asherwasand whathe haddone. Instead, he found himself leaning into the contact.
“Thirty seconds,”Levi countered, voice embarrassingly breathless.“That’s all you get. We’re in the middle of—”
Asher’s mouth caught his, swallowing the rest of the sentence.
Levi’s hands came up to push him away, but ended up curled in the fabric of Asher’s shirt instead. The feel of solid muscle beneath his palmswasgrounding, a fixed point in the nightmare they inhabited. His lips parted without conscious decision, allowing Asher’s tongue to slip past.
“Twenty-nine,” Asher murmured against his mouth. “Twenty-eight.”
Hewascounting down the seconds, Levi realized with a jolt of surprise.
“Twenty-seven,”Asher continued, his hand sliding up to cup Levi’s jaw.“Twenty-six.”
The deliberate countwassomehow more intimate than the kiss itself—an acknowledgment of boundaries, however temporary. Levi found himself responding with increased urgency, something about the artificial time constraint making each second more precious.
“Fifteen,”Asher whispered, his other hand settling on Levi’s hip.“Fourteen.”
Levi’s back hit the edge of the desk, and Asher pressed closer, the heat of his body a stark contrast to the cool air of the abandoned office. For these few seconds, Levi let himself forget everything—thedanger, the deaths, the manipulations. He let himself be simply a body responding to another body, seeking comfort in the dark.
“Five,” Asher’s voice had roughened. “Four.”
His teeth caught Levi’s lower lip, tugging gently before releasing it.
“Three. Two. One.”
True to his word, Asher pulled back precisely at zero, though his hands lingered a moment longer. His eyesweredark, pupils dilated, as he studied Levi’s face with hungry attention.
“You’re learning to enjoy me,”he observed, voice low.“That’s progress.”
The comment shattered the momentary spell. Thiswasn’tmutual attraction; itwasconditioning. Training. Asherwasteaching Levi’s body to associate him with pleasure rather than pain.
And it was working.
“We should get back to the others,”Levi said, straightening his shirt with fingers thatweren’tquite steady.
Asher stepped back, allowing him space, but his expression remained satisfied.“Of course,”he agreed smoothly.“But we’ll continue this... discussion... later.”
Before Levi could respond, a shout from the next room broke the tension.
“Guys! I found something!”
They hurried out to find Maddie kneeling by a bookshelf, her fingers pressed against its edge.“There’s airflow coming from behind this,”she explained, looking up at them.“And look—the dust pattern is different here. Like it’s been moved recently.”
Levi crouched beside her, feeling the faint current of cooler air against his fingertips.“It’s a hidden door,”he confirmed.“Nice catch.”
Maddie beamed at the praise, and Levi felt a twinge of guilt. In another circumstance, in another life, they might have been real friends.
“How do we open it?”Tyler asked, examining the bookshelf.
“Classic mechanism would be a specific book that triggers the latch,”Owen suggested.“Or a sequence of books.”
“Or we could just push really hard,”Elliot said, positioning his shoulder against the shelf.“On three. One, two—”
“Wait,”Levi interrupted, noticing a small triangular symbol etched into the baseboard beside the shelf. The same symbol they saw in the courtyard.“Look at this.”
