Page 105

For a moment, they just lay there, tangled and silent, the world narrowed to skin and breath. Then Grace stirred, her voice lazy. She lifted her head, her smile sly and smug and all kinds of wicked. Her eyes sparkled with mischief, still heavy-lidded from sex and satisfaction, but that brain of hers was already rebooting.
“Okay,” she conceded, lips quirking as she dragged a fingertip along the edge of his jaw, followed by soft kisses that landed not only on his jaw, but his heart. “I can live without the drawer. But I’m not negotiating on upload speed.”
He caught her hand in his, kissed her knuckles with mock solemnity, then cupped her face like she was his entire mission objective. His grin was slow, crooked, and completely besotted.
“I’ll buy you a whole fucking dresser,” he said. “I’ll bury the fiber line myself if I have to.”
Her answering grin went soft around the edges, her gaze catching his like gravity had a taste and it was him. “You’re home to me,” she whispered against his throat, the words breathless and soaked in truth.
He didn’t speak. Just held her tighter.
For a while, there was only the sound of their breathing. The weight of everything unspoken settled into the stillness.
Then, quietly, like a secret being handed over, Grace spoke again.
“It was all beige and concrete,” she murmured. “Flat roof. Dust-colored walls. Even the grass out front was artificial.”
Nash blinked, brow furrowing. “Where?”
“That stupid facility. Arizona. Middle of nowhere. I think they put it there to forget about it. To forget about me.”
She didn’t sound bitter. Just…quiet. Like the words were facts she’d never said out loud until now.
“There weren’t even birds,” she added. “Just the sound of humming fluorescents and dead air. I’d come home every night, and it was like the whole world had been paused.”
Nash was silent.
She looked up at him. “I think I started pausing with it.”
He brushed a strand of hair from her cheek, fingers gentle. “You didn’t disappear, Grace.”
“No,” she said, her voice soft but steady. “They kept me, even though I didn’t know it.” She inhaled, her breath warm and soft on his skin. Her explanation of everything that had happened at the Navy Yard rushed through him. He blinked. “You deserve everything they promised you. You’re staying here.”
“There’s that pushy alpha male.”
“I’m not wrong,” he growled.
She smiled, pressed a lingering kiss in the hollow of his neck. “The director engineered all of it, in collaboration with Caspari.”
“Fucking CIA,” he growled.
“He said the evidence I uncovered would change how NCIS audits its entire contractor system. I told him good. Then I told him I wanted DC. The juiciest job in the building.”
He pulled her close, kissed her temple. “You’re unbelievable.”
“No,” she said. “I’m just done being buried.”
He stilled. Then kissed her again, this time just over her heart.
“I wanted to be here,” she added softly. “With you.”
He looked at her, and whatever came next in the conversation… it could wait.
She nudged, eyes shining. “I can’t stop squeeing about my whole fucking dresser.”
Nash barked out a laugh, wrapping his arms around her like he couldn’t hold her close enough.
“Woman, I’d build you a walk-in closet if that’s what it takes.”