Page 27 of Undercover Shadow
“You deserve romance, Leila.” He pulled out my chair. “You deserve so much more than I can give you.”
The honesty of it stole my breath. “Tag?—”
“Let’s not talk about it.” He poured wine, hands not quite steady. “Let’s enjoy tonight.”
So we did. We ate and drank and conversed about things that were safe—books, music, places we’d traveled. He told me funny stories about Con, Ash, and Gus from their childhood. I told him about the time I’d accidentally insulted a Syrian general’s mother while trying to compliment her cooking. We laughed and let the wine warm us and didn’t talk about tomorrow.
Later, in bed, our lovemaking had an edge of desperation. We came together again and again through the night, as if we could stop time through sheer will. I memorized how he felt inside me, the weight of him above me, the way he said my name when he came. He mapped every inch of my body with his hands and mouth, finding places that made me cry out, teaching me pleasures I hadn’t known existed.
“Stay with me,” he whispered at one point, though I was right there beneath him.
But I knew he didn’t mean forever.
When he finally slept, exhausted, I lay awake, listening to the rain. It was barely a drizzle now. Tomorrow, the sun would shine. The helicopter would come. We’d leave this place and go back to being who we were before—two people held apart by duty and fear.
I turned to study his face in the dim light. Asleep, he looked younger, the lines of tension smoothed away. I wanted to kiss him awake, to beg him to choose me, choose us, choose something more than these stolen days.
Instead, I closed my eyes, knowing I’d need this memory to keep me warm through all the cold, lonely nights ahead.
My mobile’sshrill ring shattered the morning peace. Tag stirred beside me but didn’t wake as I extracted myself from his embrace and padded to where the device was charging.
“Nightingale,” I answered quietly, moving into the bathroom and closing the door.
“Good to hear your voice.” Viper’s tone was clipped but relieved. “Typhon briefed me on the extraction to Dunravin. Are you holding up all right?”
“Yes, ma’am. The safe house was definitely compromised?—”
“We know, and you cannot return to London at this time. Typhon and I agree you should lie low somewhere else until we can narrow down who was surveilling you.”
“Understood. When’s the extraction scheduled?”
“Tomorrow morning, weather permitting.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“And, Nightingale? Good instincts getting out when you did.”
I ended the call and stood in the bathroom, processing. When I emerged, Tag was awake, sitting on the edge of the bed, his own mobile beside him.
“Viper?” he asked.
I nodded. “You?”
“Typhon.” He stood, moving toward me. “We’re not returning to London.”
“I know. Viper said she and Typhon would coordinate a new location prior to extraction.”
“We have done.”
My stomach clenched.We?“So, where?”
“Glenshadow. I suggested it, Typhon agreed. It’s isolated, defensible, and off anyone’s radar.”
Hishome. I couldn’t stay in his house, surrounded by his things, playing the role of just another operative under his protection while my heart broke a little more each day.
“I have other options,” I countered.
“No. You don’t. Not until we know who was after you in London.”
