Page 161 of Secret Weapon

“It didn’t.”

“I…” Was this what love was?Freaking out when somebody was injured?I’d stitched Rad back together plenty of times without feeling such overwhelming worry.“Ireallydon’t like it when you get hurt.”

“Does that mean you’re going to kiss me better?”

“I would have kissed you anyway, without the knife wound.”

“In future, I’ll remember that.”

Alex rolled me underneath him and pinned my arms, his fingers twined with mine.I almost rolled him right back off again—old habits died hard—but I caught myself in time.This was exactly where I wanted to be.Our lips met, and he kissed me lazily as he nudged my legs apart with his feet.

“We don’t have—”

“Shh.”

Last night—this morning—Alex had carried me to my room and dressed me in one of his T-shirts, but now he sat me up and peeled me out of it.Being manhandled was still a strange experience, but I decided to go with it.So much of my life was changing—why not let someone else do the work for once?When his mouth closed over one breast, I let my head sag back onto the pillow and allowed the sensations to wash over me.The tickle of his tongue.The scrape of his teeth.The caress of his fingers.Not always gentle, but not rough either.I let my own gaze wander over his broad shoulders, watching the muscles ripple.

Sex with Rad had always been a hurried affair, pleasurable but tainted by an underlying fear that we’d be caught.In the early days with Ana, we’d both fumbled our way through things because neither of us had a clue what we were doing.And the one time I’d fucked Vik—something I’d never admit to Emmy or Ana and a mistake I’d tried to erase from my mind—he’d got me off, then got himself off, then left the hotel room without saying another word.

Other than those forbidden dalliances with colleagues, sex had been a chore.Work.A task I’d performed like a circus monkey when the job called for it.Oh, sure, I’d become technically proficient at it, just as I’d strived to master every skill, but I’d gained zero enjoyment from the act.

And now there was Alex…

We both knew what we were doing, and neither of us was going to get punished for doing it.He said he loved me.At some point, he would come to his senses, but for the moment, I could enjoy our time together.I twisted one hand out of his to check my watch.We had fifty-five minutes, although we should allow ten minutes for a shower because even if fraternisation wasn’t banned, attending a debrief smelling of sex would be unprofessional.

“Am I taking too long?”Alex asked, and he didn’t sound happy.Uh-oh.

“I’m just considering the logistics.”

“Logistics?”

“Yes, assuming we’re planning to have sex.Do you have a condom?Because my implant expired, so I removed it.”

“Dashenka, the words ‘sex’ and ‘logistics’ don’t belong in the same sentence.”

“We only have forty-five minutes, so planning is—”

He covered my mouth with one hand, then reached for his phone with the other.What the hell?Who was he calling?This was only wasting time.

“Emmy?We’ll be late for the debrief.”A pause.“Why?Because we’re having our own debrief first.”Another pause.“Three hours should be enough.”Alex looked down at me and smiled.“Actually, make it four.”

For a whole five seconds, I was speechless.

“Did you just tell your boss”—and technically my boss too, for today at least—“that we’re planning to sleep together?”

“Who said anything about sleeping?”

I grabbed his balls and gave them a little twist.

“Counterproductive, Dasha.You think Emmy doesn’t already know what we’re doing?”

“You didn’t need to spell it out.”

Alex settled his weight onto me, trapping my hand.“You’re a top-tier assassin masquerading as a craft store owner, and your biggest concern is that people might find out you have a healthy sex life?”

I opened my mouth.Closed it again.When he put things like that, my little foible did sound slightly ridiculous.

“I’m still getting used to the new rules.”

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