Chapter 17
Brie
Will’s lips pressed against mine, and everything else disappeared—the mission, the beach, the team listening—gone in an instant.
There was only the hunger of his mouth, the weight of his body above mine, the sudden rush of blood in my ears.
My skin tingled everywhere he touched, nerve endings lighting up faster than I could track.
Someone spoke in my ear. Rav, maybe? The words didn’t register.
All that mattered was the tickle of Will’s stubble against my chin and the pressure of his thigh between my legs. I arched against him as my fingers found their way around his back, tracing along warm skin and taut muscle.
This was about our cover, right? I couldn’t remember, couldn’t think past the scent of coconut from his sunscreen and the insistent pulse between my thighs.
More words in my earpiece. Something about a target.
You should care about that.
But I didn’t.
My hands dropped lower—stop it, Brie—pulling him closer, and I heard myself whimper.
What the hell? My leg latched tighter, holding him against me, anchoring myself as if letting go meant losing the very oxygen I needed to survive.
Each time he shifted against me, electricity sparked beneath my skin, shorting out any attempt at rational thought.
The heat built low in my belly, and the ache deep inside me grew.
“Claire’s gone.” Rav pronounced the words so clearly… Had he said that more than once? “You can stop now.”
Will pulled back, only a fraction of an inch, so we were still breathing the same air.
Breathing? Was that what this was?
More like consuming.
Holy crap. When had Will learned to kiss like that?
“Nice work,” Scarlett said over the comms, completely unaware of the fact that the planet just flew off kilter. “Drew, you were saying something before the interruption?”
“Right,” Drew’s voice cut back in. “I’ll coordinate with Gideon—see if we can find an excuse for Brie to observe their security card provisioning process.”
I stared into Will’s eyes, trying to process what was going on. His lips were swollen, I couldn’t catch my breath, and he was still hovering above me.
“Our security documentation mentioned protocols for high-value clients,” Rav added from down the beach. “Rarely happens, but facility executives sometimes give VIP tours.”
“VIP?” Drew said. “You’re thinking of Scarlett?”
“Or Jayce.”
“I’ll ask Gideon about getting Scarlett on their visitor list for one of those tours.”
“Excellent,” Scarlett said. “Now, let’s wrap this up. Will, Brie, how are you finding the undercover aspect? Any complications maintaining the married-couple facade?”
It was… what?
It was opening a familiar door and stepping into an entirely unexpected room.
“It’s… manageable,” Will finally responded, his voice rougher than I’d ever heard it. The raw need in his eyes went straight to my core.
“Yeah,” I practically squeaked. “Manageable.”
Heat prickled across my skin as Will shifted his weight.
We were suspended in this moment, his chest against mine, his hand at my waist, his breath across my lips.
The conversation continued in our earpieces, but the words washed over me like distant waves.
It was a hum of meaningless noise compared to the thundering of my heart.
What had just happened?
The team droned on about logistics and plans. Drew asked about security protocols. Emmett said something about timing. All I could focus on was the way Will’s eyes searched mine, and I couldn’t tell what question he was silently asking.
This was Will—my Will—and me, leaping headfirst across a boundary I’d spent years carefully maintaining.
Panic bubbled up inside me, clawing and screaming to get out.
This wasn’t supposed to happen. Not after the last time, when our friendship had crumbled into awkward encounters and stilted conversations.
I couldn’t lose him again.
“I think I’m getting a little red,” I blurted out, the excuse tumbling from my lips before I’d fully formed the thought. I wiggled out from under Will, scrambling to sit up. “Claire was right about how strong the sun is. I didn’t put on enough sunscreen.”
He returned to his lounger and picked up his phone before sitting.
My hands trembled as I reached for my cover-up, pulling the white dress over my bikini.
“Ending the call now,” Scarlett said. “Call again tomorrow morning, if you can. Drew will update us on Gideon’s response regarding the tour.”
Will disconnected the satellite link with a tap on his phone screen. “You okay?”
“Fine,” I said too quickly, a nervous snort escaping as I shook sand from my towel with excessive force. It wasn’t even on the sand, Brie. “Just don’t want to turn into a lobster on my first day. We should get ready for our shifts, anyway.”
He watched me with a look that said he knew I was hiding something. I could tell from the slight crease between his eyebrows and the careful distance he maintained as I gathered my things.
“Sure,” he finally said, slipping his shirt back on.
We walked back to the entrance to Mnemis in silence. I kept my eyes on the white sand path, my thoughts racing in dizzying circles.
It was just the mission, Brie. Just for show. Just a diversion.
But it hadn’t felt like just anything.
We passed through the security checkpoint, then moved through The Grotto and into the Reef. I walked too fast, but Will stayed at my side, too close and yet too far away.
What did you do, Brie?
Once inside our room, I made a beeline for my laptop. “Give me your phone. I’ll install the partition and the Mnemis app now.”
Will handed it over without comment, though I could feel his gaze on me as I sat. The familiar click of keys under my fingers soothed my nerves. It was a job. We were playing house. It was all an act.
“Brie—” he started, his voice soft.
“This should only take a few minutes.” My eyes remained fixed on the screen. “The partition’s processing.”
The screen displayed a progress bar that moved far too slowly.
“About what happened on the beach—” Will tried again, taking a step closer.
“I should shower and get ready for my shift.” I stood, nearly knocking over my chair in my haste, and spoke far too quickly, “The phone will need about twenty minutes to complete the setup. I don’t need to babysit it.”
I grabbed my clothes and retreated to the bathroom, leaning against the counter as the door closed behind me.
“You’re overreacting,” I said to myself in the mirror. “It was nothing more than a kiss. Scarlett does it all the time when she’s on the job.”
But the flutter in my stomach told me I was lying.
Under the shower spray, with hot water rinsing away the salt and sand, memories flooded back. Memories of the aftermath of our night together ten years ago. The weeks of silence. The distance we’d maintained. All from one stupid mistake.
We’d eventually patched things up, but only after explicitly agreeing to pretend it never happened and to never speak of it again.
Because Will was the one constant in my life, the anchor when everything else headed for a whirlpool.
He’d been there when we moved to Halifax after my father’s arrest, when other kids whispered about the traitor’s daughter behind my back, when my mother retreated into work and secrets.
He’d been there after every prison visit, waiting for me without any questions, just quietly understanding.
He’d been my safety blanket when my world was chaos.
The only time he hadn’t been there was when Shawn broke up with me. With Will in London, I’d had no one to help me through those lonely days, no familiar shoulder to cry on, no voice of reason to tell me I was better off without that jerk.
Those weeks without Will had been a preview of what life would be like if he weren’t part of it, and the emptiness had almost broken me.
I couldn’t risk losing him for good.
By the time I emerged from the bathroom, I’d regained some measure of composure. Will sat at his desk, already dressed in a navy blue Mnemis polo shirt.
“I’ll finish with your phone,” I said, sliding into my chair. “The modified Mnemis app only takes a sec. Just remember to disconnect from the Wi-Fi if you need to access the Reynolds partition.”
He looked up, eyes meeting mine for a moment before I glanced away. “Thanks. Ready for your first shift?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be.” I placed his phone on his desk, not trusting myself to hand it to him. If I touched him again… “I’ll mostly be watching training videos today.”
“Ronnie mentioned last night we’d probably take a dinner break around six. I’ll text you when we’re heading to The Grotto?”
“See you then.” I nodded and hurried out the door. I should have walked with him to the security desk. That’s what our cover called for. But not today. Maybe tomorrow.
The Bridge was humming with activity when I arrived. Claire waved me over to a workstation in the middle of the room, where she provided a brief overview of the training system before setting me up with a series of training modules.
“You can work through these today,” she said, bringing up a playlist of videos on the ultrawide monitor. “They’ll teach you the basics of our support protocols and help you understand the kinds of issues clients typically report.”
I settled in, grateful for the focus that work provided.
The videos were dry but informative, covering a range of topics from basic troubleshooting to advanced security protocols.
I took detailed notes, partly to pretend I was an enthusiastic new employee, but mostly to keep my mind occupied with something other than Will’s lips.
And his hands.
And the intensity in his gaze.
Shake it off.
During a break between modules, I ran a few basic searches in the ticketing system. Finding Fenix wouldn’t be that easy, would it?
“Of course not,” I said to myself. The system kept redirecting me to beginner content, blocking access to more advanced material. Even with my years of experience mining data, I couldn’t bypass the tiered access system without risking our cover. I’d need to be patient.
Around six p.m., my phone buzzed with a text from Will through the Mnemis app: We’re heading for food now. Meet us at The Grotto?
A rush of heat started in my chest and spread outward. Suddenly I was back on that beach lounger, his weight pressing me down, his tongue sliding against mine, his hands—
I swallowed hard, forcing the image away.
The training video on my machine had stopped. I’d missed five minutes. With a frustrated sigh, I rewound and tried to focus.
I texted Will back: Don’t wait for me. I’m in the zone. Probably won’t take a break today.
Good excuse. He’d buy that.
But as I resumed the video, I struggled to concentrate. The technical details that normally captured my full attention seemed to slide away, replaced by the memory of Will’s touch, his stubble, the soft sound he made when I pulled him closer.
What is wrong with you?
I’d spent ten years maintaining our boundaries. Ten years successfully not thinking about Will that way. One kiss, and now I was a hormonal mess?
His friendship was more important than a few minutes of physical pleasure, no matter how explosive those minutes might be.
By the time my shift ended at eight, my stomach was growling so loudly that I was stunned no one commented on it. I’d skipped both lunch and dinner, but I wasn’t ready to face Will yet. As I walked out of the secure area, I replayed the kiss again in my mind, feeling the ghost of his touch.
The last time, it had taken months for things to go back to normal between us. Months of awkward conversations and careful distance before we’d found our way back to the easy friendship we both valued.
We didn’t have months now. We had a mission to complete, a cover to maintain, and my father’s name to clear.
But I couldn’t go back to our room. Not yet.