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Ten minutes later, I was in front of a bank of computer screens in the windowless security room belowdecks, staring at a grid of camera feeds throughout the boat.

Marielle glanced into the hallway as she shut the door behind us and came to stand behind me, next to Laurent. “There’s another page,” she said, pointing to the arrows at the bottom of the page.

I thanked her, but I was after more than a glimpse of the camera feeds.

I needed to link them to my computer so that I could access them remotely whenever I wanted, and that required getting into the operating system, which I was pretty sure Marielle was not going to be comfortable with. Which meant I needed to get rid of her.

“This may take a minute,” I said, clicking into the settings of the page.

She checked her watch, nervous. “How long? I have to serve dinner in fifteen minutes.”

“It won’t take longer than that,” I promised. “Why don’t you go ahead?”

“I don’t know,” she said, uneasy. “I’m not supposed to—”

“You’re doing us a big favor,” I said, buttering her up. “We don’t want to get you in trouble. If you’re not here, it won’t be your ass on the line if anyone catches us.”

“Right.” She looked over my shoulder at the bank of cameras. “Unless they check the tape and see me letting you in here.”

“Watch this,” I said, clicking into the video. I snipped out the footage of us entering the security room and patched it with a clip of the static feed of the empty hallway so that the time stamp didn’t jump. “See? We were never here.”

“Oh, you’re good,” she said, impressed.

“It’s really not that hard,” I demurred, throwing her a smile.

She shook her head. “I can hardly do a Zoom call.”

I laughed, hoping my friendliness was having the intended effect. “Well, I bet you know your way around a yacht a lot better than Ido.”

She nodded, looking from Laurent to me. “We won’t mess anything up, we promise,” Laurent swore.

“Okay,” she said. “If anyone comes, the door was unlocked.”

“I’ll snip your exit too,” I offered.

She nodded. “I’ll see you at dinner in fifteen.”

She slipped out the door and I went to work, my fingers flying over the keys while Laurent watched, standing behind me with his arms crossed. I threw a glance at him.

“What?” he asked.

“You’re making me self-conscious,” I said.

He laughed. “Don’t be. I’m amazed by what you can do.”

I tried to forget he was there as I peeled back the front-facing part of the server and located the code within that would allow me to access the cameras from outside the system, leaving no trace.

I would have to hack into the Wi-Fi from my computer as well so that I could connect to the internet, but in comparison to what I was doing now, that would be a cakewalk.

“Shit,” Laurent said when I’d been at it for about ten minutes, pointing at the feed from the camera in the hallway directly outside our door. “Someone is coming down the hall. I don’t know that guy.”

I glanced around the small room. There was nowhere to hide unless you crawled under the desk, which was in full view of the door, so not really a hiding place at all. “I’m almost done here,” I said, sending myself what I needed.

“He’s right outside,” Laurent whispered urgently.

In a flash, I’d restored the page, but it was too late. On the screen, I could see the guy just outside the door. Laurent grabbed my hand, pulling me out of the chair and spinning me until my back was against the wall.

Our eyes locked and my heart quickened as he slipped an arm around my back, drawing me closer.

This was exactly what I’d promised myself I wouldn’t do—but it was a ruse, I justified as our lips met, our tongues tangling as we made out with abandon, my hands in his hair, his pushing up my skirt.

My body lit up like a phosphorescent sea as he pressed me into the wall.

It was a tactic, sure, but I was enjoying every second of it, and I knew he was too as I wrapped one of my legs around his, my inhibitions negated by the need to put on a show for the guy I could hear pushing the door open behind me.

We didn’t stop when he stepped inside, pulling up short. “Oh,” he muttered, thrown.

Laurent and I separated, playing at being embarrassed. “Oh,” I said, still panting.

“This room is private,” he said.

“Sorry,” Laurent said. “We were just looking for a place to—”

“I see,” the guy said, looking away as I straightened my clothes. “Please.” He gestured to the door.

“Please don’t say anything to anyone,” I said, batting my eyes. “He could get in trouble.”

He nodded. “Please, go out.”

“You got it,” I said, threading my fingers through Laurent’s as we slunk out the door, acting sheepish.

In the hallway outside the room, he again pulled me toward him, playfully biting my earlobe. “You know he’s watching that camera,” he whispered, his breath hot on my neck. “I’m just making sure he believes our story.”

I knew it wasn’t necessary, that I couldn’t trust him and shouldn’t let it happen again. But what was one more kiss? I tilted my face to his and my body flooded with pleasure as our lips met, my reservations melting in the heat between us.

“We’re gonna be late for dinner,” I murmured into his mouth, breathless.

He took my lip between his teeth, teasing, before pulling away just far enough to lock eyes with me. “We could skip it,” he suggested.

I flushed as my body responded with a resounding yes. But we both knew skipping wasn’t really an option—not to mention the decision I’d made just an hour ago not to trust him. “Ha,” I said, pulling away. “We need to be there.”

A hint of a smile flickered across his face as he ran a hand over my hair, smoothing it.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing,” he said. “Let’s go.”