Page 113 of Secret Weapon

“You’ll sleep better if you unwind first.Don’t roll your eyes.”

Did I do that?Okay, maybe I did.

“Unwinding is a luxury I don’t have time for.”

“When I took the job with Blackwood, the brief was to push Emmy when required but keep her in optimum shape, physically and mentally.At first, Black didn’t give her enough downtime, and when we increased her rest periods, her performance actually improved.Clearly, there’s a point where too much R & R is also detrimental, but what I’m trying to say is that there’s a balance to be reached.And I know from working with Ana that General Zacharov didn’t respect that balance.”

“He liked to squeeze the last drop of blood out of the workhorse.”

“At Blackwood, we take a different approach.Yes, there will be times when rest is impossible, but longevity is the goal.”Alex held up the bag.Bradley had even tied ribbon around the handles.“Sit down, and I’ll make the drinks.”

Ten minutes less sleep wouldn’t hurt, would it?

“Just don’t tell me to start meditating.”

“Meditation has health benefits.”

“Paulo gave me one of those CD sets for my fake birthday, and it left me more stressed than I was when I started.I…” I sighed.Alex had a way of digging into my psyche, of making me confront truths I’d rather avoid.“I guess I don’t find it easy to relax.”

“Then we’ll start slow, I promise.One drink.”

Ten minutes turned into half an hour.Half an hour of staring at the stars and listening to the waves and talking softly about our lives.Alex had bought a house in Richmond a decade ago, a fixer-upper, and now it was fixed up, but he didn’t spend much time there.Mostly he hung out at Emmy and Black’s home, a sprawling estate with three houses, a lake, some horses, and an airstrip that doubled as a shooting range.Plus there were indoor and outdoor pools and a gym with top-of-the-line equipment.

“I miss swimming,” I confessed.“We had an indoor pool at the base, a heated one, although the general thought it was fun to drop us into Lake Baikal and see if we drowned.”

One time, he’d even blasted a hole through the ice so we could dive there in winter.Our guide had gotten frostbite and lost three toes, and Ilya had tormented me with stories about the Lake Baikal monster, although in those days, getting eaten alive had been the least of my worries.

“There’s no pool in Baldwin’s Shore?”Alex asked.

The Peninsula resort had two pools, but Nico’s domain was off limits for obvious reasons.Not that I could swim there anyway.

“I have scars, and I can’t afford to have people ask questions about where they came from.And Darla isn’t the type to pull on a wetsuit and dive into the sea.”

“The pool here is warm.Black turned the heater on when he arrived, so the water’s up to temperature now.”

I already knew that because I’d seen Hallie take a dip before dinner.She’d stroked smoothly up and down for fifteen minutes, then checked her watch and hurried back inside again.

“I don’t have a bathing suit.”

“Bradley will find you one.Or we could always go skinny-dipping at midnight.”

“Oh, you think?”

There were two lounge chairs on the balcony outside my bedroom, but somehow, we’d both ended up squashed onto one of them.Purely for practical reasons, you understand—sharing body heat was the best way to ward off hypothermia.

“I won’t stare at your ass, I swear.”

“Why not?I have nothing to be ashamed of.I do a lot of squats.”

Alex’s arm tightened around my shoulders, and he stroked my cheek with a fingertip.

“Dasha…”

The word came out thick and hoarse, and I thought that maybe he was going to kiss me.And even though it was soon, so soon, and he lived on the other side of the country, and my whole life was a fucking shitshow, I wanted him to.

His breathing hitched as his lips brushed against mine, a whispered promise of what was to come.There were those damned palpitations again.Was his heart skipping too?I pressed a hand to his chest, felt the hammering against his ribcage.

“You’re okay with this?”Alex murmured.

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