Page 38 of The Honeymoon Hack

“Eight years.” He let the sleeve fall back down. “Decided to try civilian security work.”

“Must be an adjustment.” Claire sipped her coffee. “From ship life to underground bunker.”

“It’s very similar to being on board a ship, sleeping and working below decks, but certainly fewer waves. And a lot fewer stairs.” For someone who usually communicated in grunts and single syllables, he was being downright chatty. And the way he smiled at her? Was he flirting? Or was this how he worked undercover? “Food’s better than expected. And the tech is impressive.”

“Right?” Claire salted her hash browns and speared a few. “It’s like working in a cross between a military bunker and a research station.”

A hand landed on my shoulder. Will. His hair stuck up in three different directions, his sleep shirt was rumpled, and he looked like someone had personally offended him by making him wake up this early.

“Morning, Bug.” He pressed a kiss to the top of my head, sending warmth through my chest.

I put my hand on his and chuckled. “I wasn’t sure I’d see you for another couple of hours.”

“I’ll move,” said Claire, already shoving her tray across the table and sliding around to the seat next to Rav. Was she the welcome crew? Or was she hitting on him?

“Oh, hey. I’m Will,” he said, blinking slowly as he sat. “You helped with our orientation yesterday, right?”

“Pierre,” Rav said, extending his hand.

As Will shook it, Claire’s eyes lit up. “Will, I heard you got access to The Deep yesterday.”

“Yeah, Ronnie needed help with some heavy lifting.” Will yawned. “Nothing exciting.”

“And he put in a request to have you work with him for the full rotation,” Claire said. “You must have impressed him.”

“You think?” Will stretched his arm across the back of my seat. “That’s… great.”

“Now, as I was saying…” Claire leaned her elbows on the table. “Military bunker or research station. Which one does Mnemis remind you of more?”

“I’ve never been inside a bunker,” Will said, mid-yawn, “but it reminds me of a lab I worked in.”

“Oh really?” Claire perked up. “Where?”

“A molecular lab at Dalhousie.”

“Molecular lab?” Claire picked up her coffee cup. “That sounds fascinating. What kind of projects did you do there?”

“Oh, you know,” Will said as he waved a hand vaguely, “using nanoparticles to deliver?—”

“Will?” I interrupted, reaching over to pat his arm. He was going off-script and talking about thingshedid in college, rather than what undercover-Will did. “Your brain won’t turn on until you have some coffee. Go get some before you fall asleep in your seat.”

He blinked at me, then nodded. “Right. Coffee. Good idea.”

As he wandered off toward the coffee station, I replayed his responses in my head. Had he said too much? Or was the churning in my stomach because I was still jumbled up after this morning? Or general anxiety?

Probably just anxiety.

Chapter 15

Brie

“So, Pierre,”Claire said, propping her chin on her hand, “security must be pretty different from military life. Why did you switch?”

I should have been listening. Should have been staying focused on the people sitting with me.

Instead, my gaze drifted toward Will at the coffee station. The sleep shorts rode low on his hips, and the worn T-shirt stretched across his shoulders. His hair was still messy from sleep, sticking up in the back the way it used to on summer mornings when we were kids sprawled on his living room floor playing video games. Before he started caring about how he looked. Long before we?—

Stop thinking about that night, Brie.