Page 41 of Code Name: Atticus

“Everything about this case is important. But right now, the only thing I care about is that we have”—he checked his watch—“one hundred and sixty-five minutes before we have to be professional again.”

“We have to shower, get dressed, make breakfast?—”

“One hundred minutes,” he negotiated, his hand sliding up my thigh. “I’ll make it worth your while.”

“Mason—”

“Say it again.”

“What?”

“My name. You called me Atticus for years. Then last night, you called me Mason about seventeen times, and I’m not going to lie, it did things to me.”

Heat flooded my cheeks. “We really should get ready?—”

He rolled me beneath him, his expression shifting from playful to intense. “Brenna. My brilliant, beautiful, stubborn Bug. We just changed everything between us. We made promises. Real ones. And now, you want to talk about schedules?”

No. I didn’t. He was right.

“Sore?” he asked, cupping my pussy.

“A little,” I admitted. “You’re, um…”

His eyes twinkled. “Youmustfinish that sentence.”

“You’ve never struck me as the kind of man who needs his ego elevated.”

“Elevated?” He looked under the sheet. “Yep. One hundred percent elevated. Now, finish the sentence.”

“Big.”

“That’s it?Big?”

I smiled and buried my face in his shoulder. “What do you want me to say? That you’re bigger than any man I’ve ever been with?”

“Uh, definitely not that. In fact, if we could just pretend you hadn’t been with anyone before me, I’d be good with it.”

I leaned away far enough to look into his eyes. “Really? Again, I didn’t expect you to be that guy. I mean, I know about the women you’ve been with.”

He cupped my cheek. “And I’d bet that the last thing you want to actuallythinkabout is any other woman I’ve been with.”

I kissed him. “You’re right. Fair point, well made.”

“Now, let’s see what we can do that won’t make you more sore.”

My fingers weaved in Mason’s hair as he insisted I orgasm at least twice—and frankly, I lost count—before he’d allow me to get out of bed.

“I’m nervous,”I admitted while we showered together.

“About the meeting with Kodiak and Emma?”

“About us. About how we navigate this. The mission, Morrison—it’s all still there. But now, there’s also us, and I don’t know how to be both your partner in this investigation and your…whatever I am now.”

“Everything,” he said simply, brushing the hair from my face with a tenderness that made my chest tight. “You’re my everything. My partner, my future, the woman I want to wake up next to every morning. I thought I made that clear last night. Multiple times. In various creative ways.”

“You did. I just?—”

“Need me to show you again?” His lips found that spot below my ear that made me shiver. “Because I’m happy to provide regular reminders.”