Page 105 of Lady and the Hitman

“Mina.”

“I’m not wrong.”

I glanced around the coworking space, like maybe the walls were bugged. Like maybe if I said it out loud, it would make it too real. A few more heads turned, curious, but quickly returned to their screens and half-empty coffees, the low hum of tapping keys and quiet conversation resuming like nothing had happened. Still, I felt exposed—like everyone could see straight through me.

I focused my attention on Mina.

“I went to his house,” I finally said, quietly. “On the water. John’s Island. It’s beautiful—dark, masculine, but warm. And he—” I swallowed. “He took me outside,” I whispered. “To the balcony. Overlooking the marsh. And yes … he did rail me against the railing.”

Mina made a sound that was half gasp, half swoon. “I fucking knew it.”

“After that, he didn’t just take me to bed. He made another bath. Lit candles. Washed me like I mattered.”

Mina’s expression was already softening, but I wasn’t done.

I smiled, but it was shaky. “It wasn’t just sex. It was—God. It was like he needed me to know. That I belongedto him. That he could ruin me and hold me in the same breath.”

Her jaw dropped, hands over her mouth again. “Tell me everything. Start to finish. Don’t leave out a single detail.”

I pressed my thighs together beneath the table and shook my head, blushing. “I don’t think I can say some of it in public.”

“Oh, you will.” She leaned in with a grin. “Because if I had a man who gave me a claim fuck on a balcony and then a bath? I’d be writing about it in the damnNew York Times.”

I looked at my hands. “I don’t know what this is.”

“You do,” she said gently. “You just don’t want to admit it.”

“I shouldn’t even be seeing him.”

“But you are.”

Silence settled between us again, heavy with everything I couldn’t say.

She reached out and touched my wrist. “I won’t tell anyone, of course. But be careful. Alpha Mail isn’t just a fantasy. It’s a business. And if he’s still seeing you, it means either he’s broken the rules—” she hesitated, “—or you were never a regular client.”

My stomach twisted. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying there’s something going on here. Something you’re not seeing yet.” She paused. “You’re in deep, Zara. And I get it. God, I get it. But don’t lose yourself in the way he makes you feel.”

I bit the inside of my cheek and let the thought unspool in my mind—how it felt when he touched me like I was something fragile and filthy all at once. How his mouth moved like he’d memorized every curve ofme. How my body ached for him, even now, seated at a shared table in a room full of half-started dreams.

He didn’t just please me.

He ruined me.

No man had ever looked at me like that. Like he was starving. Like I was a secret he couldn’t wait to learn again and again.

“Zara,” Mina said again, softer now. “Whatever this is? It’s not going to stay secret for long.”

“I know.”

And I did.

But I also knew that whatever lines I thought I’d drawn had already been crossed.

Because I wasn’t thinking about how to walk away.

I was thinking about when I’d get to see him again.