Page 113 of One Secret

'Cyrus, you're turning blue. Watch me!' Her lips purse on a heavy inhale. Her cheeks flair on a forceful exhale. 'Come on, Cyrus....'

It takes a minute but I begin to breathe. In and out. I follow her rhythm and we breathe together. Only then do I realize that I'm drenched in cold sweat and my fingers and toes are tingling with pins and needles. Darcy has stopped sounding so far away and the room is no longer spinning.

Darcy sighs in relief, her forehead falling onto my chest.

'Wh...' I'm not sure how to ask what I'm thinking.

'I think you had a panic attack.'

'I...' I rub a hand over my face and look up into Darcy's. There's a cut above her left eyebrow and her lip is split. Then there are the bruises under her jaw and the scratches on her wrist. 'I didn't like seeing you hurt.'

'Apparently not,' she smiles softly. 'But I'm fine.'

I reach to run a fingertip gently over her neck.

'I will be fine,' she corrects, 'I promise.'

'What...' I clear my throat. 'What happened?'

I ask, more calmly this time. I swallow my heart from my throat back down into my chest, where it sputters and then starts to thump normally again.

'He broke in. I was still in the chair—'

I wince.

'Baby, I—'

'Ssh...' She places a finger on my mouth. 'I do not forgive you for tying me up. That is going to take some groveling. But I do not blame you for a mercenary coming through the door like a rhino. You couldn't have known that would happen.'

'I should have—'

'You. Did. Not. Know,' she interrupts firmly. 'And, if I think at any point that you're blaming yourself for it, I'm going to slap you again.'

I don't know whether to groan or laugh. Some garbled mixture of the two rolls from between my lips.

'You should hit me, anyway,' I tell her. 'I still tied you up. I still thought you were a traitor.'

Darcy's eyes are gentle. Far gentler than I deserve.

'True,' she says. 'And we'll get to that. But I was able to get out of the chair and give whoever that is—'

'Ramirez,' I answer.

'Wait, you know him?'

I pinch the bridge of my nose and take a long inhale as my body continues to fight for its equilibrium.

'Only since we got here. He's a freelance mercenary working under Felix.'

'Sounded to me like he wanted bonus points. He said he was convinced you weren't on the level and that he would find evidence to prove it.'

'That tracks,' I nod. 'He'd be out for blood if he thought it would help pad his paycheck.'

'He was expecting to find me in here but I don't think he was expecting me to fight back,' Darcy concludes with an odd little smile. It's... refreshing. Almost liberated. And possesses a serious dose of pride. Despite everything else going on, that smile touches me. Arousal and adoration shoot along my nerve endings.

'How did you know how to—?'

'I told you, didn't I?' she reminds me. 'There are things about me you don't know yet. Not because I'm hiding them, by the way, but—'

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