Page 53 of Code Name: Atticus

I smiled. “I love you, Mason.”

When he started to move, my back arched and my body met his, thrust for thrust, both of us repeating our love again and again.

“I feel a little guilty,”I said when we eventually made it downstairs to eat and saw it was close to zero eight hundred. I had on the dress shirt Atticus had worn at dinner the night before, and he’d put his pajama bottoms back on. When he walked by me to reheat our breakfast, he pulled me into his arms, reached under the shirt, and squeezed the cheek of my naked bottom.

“Favorite breakfast ever,” he said, pulling my body flush with his.

“We haven’t eaten yet.”

“You, in my shirt and nothing else, moments after I was inside you? Come on, what could be better?” he said as he squeezed my cheek once more before letting go. “So, why do you feel guilty?”

“I’m supposed to be working, not on a romantic getaway.”

“It was your idea for us to go undercover as a married couple. Which means being romantic is working. Now, sit down, and I’ll have our food reheated in a minute.”

“I can help.”

Atticus shook his head. “Check your email instead.” He was standing at the stove but looked over his shoulder at me. “Better yet, why not send Luke a message and let him know you’re ‘officially’ in town?”

“I would like to see him…”

While he waited for the microwave to ding, he rested his hands on the counter. “He said something when we met for breakfast that’s stuck with me.”

“Uh-oh.” I had my phone in my hand, but set it on the counter.

“It was good. I think.”

My eyes scrunched. “What did he say?”

“Luke was giving me crap, like he always does, and he mentioned you.”

I put my head in my hands. “Oh God.”

Atticus grabbed my wrist. “Hold on. Let me tell you the rest. So we’re shootin’ the shit, as it were, and I jokingly thanked him for pointing out all of my lesser qualities?—”

“To me?”

He nodded. “And he said he was just looking out for you, then added, ‘on the other hand, a guy can change, right?’”

I wasn’t sure how to interpret my brother’s comment, except I could see it might be in Atticus’ favor. “Interesting.”

“So I guess we have to figure out how to handle it if we get together with him.”

“We?”

“Yeah, Bug.We.” He came around the island, turned my stool to face him, and put his hands on either side of me. “I’m not sneaking around with you when we get back to real life. Loud and proud, baby.”

“But—”

He dropped his hands and walked away. “It’s that or nothing, Brenna.”

“Wow.”

His eyes met mine. “If that’s not what you want?—”

“Not that you’re even giving me the chance to speak.”

He huffed and put his hands back on the counter.