“I’m sitting right here.”
“Physically,” Jagger says. “Emotionally? You’re upstairs.”
He’s right, and it’s where I should be physically, too. I push my chair back abruptly enough that the wheels scrape sharply across the floor.
Hawk glances up immediately. “Where are you going?”
“I’ve had enough of him.” I tip my head toward Jagger. “I need air.”
Jagger snorts loudly. “Inside the building?”
“Shut up.”
“I’m just saying, if theairupstairs suddenly has long brunette hair and big adoring eyes?—”
I point at him warningly without breaking stride. “Careful.”
He grins wider, with that maddening cocky smirk of his. “That’s not denial.”
I don’t bother answering, because if I stay in this room for another five minutes, pretending I can focus on logistics while Mackenzi is alone upstairs, likely replaying that storage room in her head, I’m liable to lose what little sanity I have left publicly.
The hallway outside the command center feels cooler. The storm has darkened most of the embassy windows, long shadows stretching across polished marble.
My boots echo softly as I move through the east wing. Anticipation and need grow with every step I take. I pass two Marines rotating posts near the upper hallway landing, both nod respectfully before continuing without question. Nobody stops me. Nobody would. I’m supposed to be checking on her. Every excuse I need to be alone with her already exists.
By the time I reach her door, my pulse is already beating harder than it should. I stare at the dark wood for one long second before knocking. The brief silence is followed by a few muffled footsteps and then the soft click of the lock. The door barely opens three inches before Mackenzi peers out, and every coherent thought immediately leaves my body.
Fuck.
Her hair hangs loose around flushed cheeks, slightly messy like she’s been dragging nervous fingers through it. But it’s her eyes that destroy me. They’re wide and uncertain, looking at me like she can feel the same unbearable tension pulling between us.
“Hi,” she greets softly, with nervousness in it, like she wasn’t sure if I’d ever come.
“Trouble.” I brace one hand against the doorframe, and her throat moves slightly when she swallows, the air between us feeling heavy enough to choke on.
“Are you okay?” Her question catches me completely off guard. She’s the inexperienced one, and I should be asking her. The one I came to ask. But here she is, worried aboutme.
I exhale steadily through my nose. “No.”
Vulnerability flickers across her expression, and she opens the door wide without another word. The invitation snaps my restraint in half. I step inside quickly, shutting the door behind me before either of us can overthink this.
I close the distance between us in a single stride. Mackenzi gasps softly when my hands find her waist, backing her instinctively against the nearest wall as my mouth crashes into hers. It’s hot and desperate, too many hours of denied need detonating at once.
She melts against me with a shaky mewl that nearly drives me insane.Fuck.I kiss her harder, one hand sliding into her hair as the other grips her hip firmly enough to pull her flush against me. The oversized sweater she’s wearing bunches beneath my fingers as she grabs fistfuls of my shirt, needing something solid to hold onto.
Her lips part, and I swallow her warm breath as I deepen the kiss. She arches instinctively closer like she’s been wanting this just as badly as I have. I drag my lips from hers long enough to breathe. “Trouble.” I sound wrecked, andshe looks equally ruined, staring up at me with hazy eyes, pink cheeks, and swollen lips. My hands slide slowly down her sides before settling at her waist again. “You should probably tell me to leave.”
“No.” She shakes her head without hesitation.
I laugh softly under my breath, equal parts disbelief and surrender. “You are unbelievably bad for my self-control.”
A shy smile tugs at her mouth. “You don’t seem very controlled, anyway.”
Cupping her jaw, I kiss the corner of her mouth gently before brushing another softer kiss against her cheek. Her lashes flutter when I pull back just enough to look at her.
“Stay,” she whispers. The lone word nearly caves my willpower in completely.
I rest my forehead on hers again while rain lashes harder against the embassy windows outside, her heartbeat fluttering, rapid and delicate, beneath my palms. My eyes close before I force myself to shake my head. “Not tonight,” I murmur roughly. “Not like this.”
