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The cat yawned.

Kat moved to the kitchen counter, pulled a tin from the cabinet. The cat’s demeanor shifted from suspicious to hopeful, its purr rumbling to life as she opened the tin.

“It’s been coming every day since I got back from El Nido,” she said, scratching behind the cat’s ears. Its bone structure was still harsh under her fingertips, but it was already filling out from regular meals.

She’d spent too long convinced that caring for anything beyond her professional responsibilities was a liability. But this scrawny creature had simply appeared and stayed, requiringnothing more than basic kindness. No complicated protocols. No security clearances. Just presence.

She looked up at Leo, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. “It is my cat.”

“Does it have a name?”

The answer came without hesitation, surprising her with its rightness. “Oslo.”

Leo went still. “Oslo?”

“Yeah.” The word came out steady, certain.

Oslo, where everything had started between them. Where she’d first felt the pull of connection.

His eyes searched hers, and she saw the moment he understood. Not just the name, but what it represented. The acknowledgment that what existed between them had roots deeper than what they had just gone through. That it had been growing, quietly and inevitably, for years.

Leo crossed the small kitchen in two strides, his hands cupping her face with a gentleness that made her breath hiccup. His kiss was hope. Like choosing something for herself instead of duty making every decision.

Her hands fisted in his shirt, pulling him closer as the truth crystallized in her mind. She’d fought against this for so long, convinced that love and service couldn’t coexist. But standing here in her kitchen with Leo’s arms around her and Oslo purring at her feet, she understood what she’d been missing.

Vulnerability edged her voice as she faced him. “When you left for Norway, I thought... I wasn’t sure if what we had would survive. If it was just the moment, caught up in the chaos. If it was real. Real enough to survive outside the danger.”

Leo’s arm tightened around her, pulling her closer against his side. “Kat?—”

“I know it sounds stupid,” she continued, the words tumbling out. “But I’ve never had anything worth waiting for before. Never had someone I was afraid of losing.”

“You’re not losing me.” His voice carried absolute conviction. “Never. I don’t care about distance or duty. I’m not going anywhere, Kat. You’re it for me. That’s not changing.” He nuzzled her neck, his breath warm. “I’m yours and you’re mine. I love you.”

The raw claim in his voice sent heat spiraling through her.

“I love you too, Leonid.”

Before she could say anymore, his mouth was on hers again, fierce and claiming. This wasn’t the gentle reunion kiss from earlier—this was Leo showing her exactly what she meant to him.

Whatever it was between them—it didn’t weaken her.

It made her stronger.

Kat responded instantly, rising up on her toes to meet him, her hands sliding up his chest to tangle in his hair. He groaned against her mouth, the sound vibrating through her as his hands gripped her waist, lifting her effortlessly onto the counter.

She wrapped her legs around him, drawing him between her thighs as his mouth moved to her throat. The edge of a shelf bit into her back, but she didn’t care—not when Leo’s teeth were scraping against her pulse point, not when his hands were mapping the curve of her spine with hunger.

“Two weeks,” he muttered against her skin, voice rough with need. “It’s been two weeks too long.”

Tingles skated across her skin as he found that spot that made her see stars. “Leo?—”

A sudden thud echoed from the hallway, followed by the creak of her front door and heavy boots.

“Kat! You home?” Gage’s voice—far too loud, far too cheerful. He’d mentioned he would drop by, but his timing was impeccable.

Leo froze between her thighs. “Tell me that’s not your brother.”

She didn’t move. “That’s my brother.”