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“Even you?” It was both a tease and a challenge.

Like she didn’t fucking know.

I gruffed out a disbelieving sound toward my worn motorcycle boots as I clomped up the stairs. “Even me.”

“So, I’m not just an assignment to you?” Tinkling laughter filled it.

I looked up. I had to grit my damned teeth since her ass hugged by those jeans swayed back and forth as she climbed.

Elena Mercer was a seductress without even knowing it.

Not waiting for my answer, she hit the landing and moved to the right.

The complex was made up of three separate buildings that sat in a U-shape.

Each building had two apartments on the ground floor and two on top.

Her apartment was on the second floor on the farthest right of everything, a unit we’d deemed to be in the safest location.

She set the box onto the mat that said Welcome in big, bold letters. Written in small script below it was but only if you have wine.

A housewarming gift from Brinley.

No shocker there.

Elena dug into the giant bag slung on her shoulder to get her keys. They jangled as she fumbled them around to the right one, then she slid it into the lock.

All while I finished climbing the stairs, my boots thudding low as I edged up behind her.

She froze when I did.

Like she was hooked. Snagged on the movement.

I knew better than getting so close. I’d trained myself like a soldier to always stay three feet away.

Near enough to intervene if she needed me to rip some fucker to shreds.

Far enough that I wouldn’t get trapped by the delicious scent she emitted.

Cinnamon and apples.

I had to steel myself every time she pushed beyond the boundaries I’d set. Whenever she tossed an arm around my waist or set her head on my chest like that was where it belonged.

This time it was me crossing the line.

Angling up behind her and letting her aura fill my nostrils.

Sweet fucking temptation.

This girl who was nothing but forbidden fruit.

“You think you’re just an assignment to me, Lena?”

Chills lifted where I breathed the words against the side of her neck.

“You’ve never been a fucking assignment, even though I would have beaten down any other asshole who would have tried to take it.”

She swallowed hard, and she peeked back at me with those toiling eyes.