Page 74 of The Honeymoon Hack

In bold red letters, it read:NOTIFICATION: Hurricane Lorenzo forecast to make landfall tomorrow. Resort evacuation complete. All teams continue to operate in hurricane mode.

Brie stared at my phone, brow furrowing. “I wonder if the hurricane is going to help or hinder us?”

“We’re an amazing team,” I said with more confidence than I felt and dropped the phone on the table. “We can handle anything.”

She laughed suddenly, the sound sending warmth through my chest. “I was so nervous I thought I’d pass out when they scanned my new card.”

“But you didn’t.” I nudged her, almost tipping her over onto the bed. “You pulled it off perfectly.”

She straightened her shoulders, buffing her fingernails on her shirt. “I did, didn’t I?”

The smile that bloomed across her face transformed her entire being. This wasn’t the cautious, analytical Brie who’d been maintaining a safe emotional distance. This was the Brie who’d once stayed up three days straight with me to crack a prototype encryption algorithm, who’d danced around my workshop when we successfully built our first machine learning model.

This was my Brie. Brilliant and beautiful and alive with the thrill of accomplishment. The sight of her like this stirred something deep inside me. In that moment, I wanted nothing more than to close the distance between us, to frame her face in my hands and tell her how incredible she was. Tell her how proud I was of her—how much I adored watching her transform from the bundle of nerves she was on the jet, into the woman helping Scarlett pull off a con.

My gaze dropped to her lips, remembering their softness against mine on the beach. The way she’d responded, her body pressed against mine. The memory of our kiss had haunted me for days, and now she was looking at me with something that felt dangerously like an invitation in her eyes.

Something shifted in the air between us, a charged hesitation that made the room feel dramatically smaller. Her rapid breathing matched my own.

Is she ready to cross the line again?

I wanted to say her name. Wanted to tell her how much I craved her. But fear bubbled up inside me. If I moved too fast,she’d bolt. She’d double down on avoiding me, and I’d lose this chance.

As if reading my mind—as she so often did—her voice pitched up and she said abruptly, “I should get ready for bed. Long day tomorrow.”

I should have grabbed her before she could leave. But she was too fast, vanishing into the bathroom and leaving me alone with the ghost of whatever had just passed between us.

I sank onto the bed, running a hand through my hair. This emotional rollercoaster was impossible to navigate. One moment she was leaping into my arms; the next she was running away.

How much longer could I pretend it wasn’t tearing me apart?

Chapter 29

Brie

Early Sunday afternoon,I closed the final training video. Four days’ worth of modules. Done. I messaged Ken through the internal system: ‘Ready when you are.’

Ken stood from his desk a few rows away and walked over to me. “Let’s go.”

I looked up at him, noting the dark circles under his eyes. “You look tired.”

“Mnemis is fully climate-controlled, but I swear the pressure differential is still off. Anytime a hurricane passes within fifty miles, I can’t sleep.” He managed a tired smile despite the exhaustion evident in his posture. “But at least we can get out of here and see the server rooms. First time in there will blow your mind.”

“I’ve been looking forward to it!” I grabbed my ID card from its slot and stood. “Which section are we headed to?”

He glanced at his tablet. “We’re starting in the Atlantic section.”

Yes!

“I have two updates in there, then another in Pacific. It should take us—” His voice dropped. “Aw, shit.”

I followed his gaze.

Claire smiled at us from her workstation. She stood, tossing the small crossbody bag she wore most days across herself. On her way over, she asked, “Where are you two headed?”

“Got some local updates to handle.” Ken straightened. “Brie’s shadowing me—part of her training schedule.”

Claire stopped beside us. “Which updates?”