“I’ve never slept with anyone by my side,” I admit, and she goes quiet.
“Why?”
“You’re vulnerable in your sleep. You’re not there. Defenseless. All your dreams, desires, secrets, and fears could be spilled. It’s too much of a power over yourself to give to just anyone, and way more intimate than fucking.”
“Hate to break it to you, but you already slept next to me, so it’s safe to say I popped your cherry.” Her nose scrunches in the most adorable way. “Not to worry. You popped a cherry, too. I’ve never before had a note from anyone.”
“I’m pretty sure I popped more than one. Have you come in frontof a room full of people before? Or had a belt around your neck?”
She slaps me again, making me cackle.
Instead of falling asleep, we keep talking for hours. Long enough for me to piece together that her mother was a poker hustler, even if Summer never says it outright. Or to know her father wasn’t an accountant. The only counting he was doing was in lives taken. By the time the night fades, I realize that a lock-picking set as a gift for her seventh birthday is the least shocking thing about her upbringing.
When sleep is about to claim part of our time together, she whispers, “Thank you for being here with me,” sealing the moment with a kiss before snuggling right next to me and dozing off faster than I can give any kind of reply.
I drift off soon after, certain that with her, the fear of falling asleep beside someone doesn’t exist.
My dreams, desires, secrets—she can have them all.
Chapter 28
Summer
Atlas’s scent engulfs me, awakening my senses before my eyes even open. When they do, I realize I’m clinging to him like he’s my lifeline.
This won’t end well.
For either of us.
The corner of my eye catches his phone sitting on the nightstand. I need to know if he’ll be visiting Mason soon. I need intel to keep my head in the game, because right now, it’s anything but.
I’ve been trying to figure out how Atlas got into my device, and I don’t think Link had anything to do with it. My guess is he used a certain feature I hadn’t disabled. Maybe the same trick would work on his phone?
I ease up carefully, reaching over him to grab it. A beat of hesitation makes it feel like it’s glued to the nightstand.
God, this is so wrong!
I point it at his face... with those lethally sharp cheekbones and dangerously tempting lips relaxed in sleep, as I move a strand of his pitch-black hair away from his forehead.
The quiet click of the unlock hits like a rib snapping in mychest, one of the ones guarding my heart.
I glance at Atlas, then open his messages, searching for the latest from his father.
Mason
Gabriel’s off to Malta. If the deal goes through, I’ll let him handle the rest of Europe for the next year. I’ll need you more present here.
Malta. Germany. Poland. Switzerland. Those documents I got my hands on...
No!
I need them in the same place, not on different continents.
This ruins everything.
Maybe if I create a problem for Mason’s business here, Gabriel will come running back home? I stash that idea for later and keep reading.
Mason
