Between Love And Obsession

Afar the Corsican coastline

The Mediterranean wind carried more than salt-it carried secrets, betrayal, and the scent of the man Audrey Rousseau swore she'd never fall for.

Dark waves lapped against the steep cliffs beneath, but the real menace was not in the sea tonight. It walked like a shadow down the villa's halls, silent, electric, and scented with gun oil and jasmine. Moonlight poured through the arched windows in silvery slants, cutting through the darkness. Everything else inside had blurred edges, except for them.

While leaning her back against the chilly stone wall, Audrey gripped her Glock securely and breathed steadily and deeply. The sound of her military boots' treading on the marble floor was muted, but the sound of her betraying heart thudded as if it were unaware of the sin.

This was nothing new for her. Covert. Isolated. No backup.

But never with him beside her.

Not this close.

She'd worked with dangerous men before. But none had ever made her doubt her orders-or her pulse-the way Sebastian Donovan did.

Sebastian was a step behind, taller, hotter than hell, and utterly unreadable. He hadn't said a word since they slipped into the villa grounds an hour ago, hadn't needed to. His body language spoke fluently in tension and precision.

That smirk he usually wore? Gone. This wasn't the boardroom or one of his tailored charity galas. This was blood and silence.

And Audrey... Audrey wasn't sure which made her pulse spike more-what they were walking into, or how goddamn aware she was of his hand brushing her lower back as they cleared another room.

Audrey Rousseau had killed in silence before, but never with a billionaire ex-lover brushing her back in the dark. This wasn't sanctioned. This wasn't smart. But it was personal. And personal missions had a way of ending in blood.

He was the son of a billionaire and the heir to a private empire built on muscle, money, and security secrets. She was a decorated French veteran who'd burned bridges with her own government just to take this job.

This mission wasn't sanctioned. Hell, it wasn't even smart. But when Audrey saw the name on the list-the one that connected both of their pasts in a tangle of betrayal and coded files-she didn't think twice.

Now here they were, moving through the lion's den, one heartbeat from exposure.

"Give us 10 minutes before their rotation resets," Sebastian whispered into her ear, his voice low and jagged. His words slid past her defenses like warm skin-unfair, distracting, lethal.

No response came from Audrey. She distrust her voice, not when he was this close and the warmth of his body was dissolving every disciplined instinct she had. She gave a stern nod instead, and the two of them moved forward-into a corridor lighted only by flickering lights and the gentle hum of monitoring they'd previously bypassed.

At the rear of the hall, an exit. Oak. Locked. Guarded.

And just like that-two quick gunshots. Silent. Surgical.

Sebastian blasted through the guards with effortless velocity. He dropped them both. Clean, quiet. Efficient. Audrey stayed there, unfazed-her look unreadable, her poise unbroken.

But the second the door shut behind them and the lock sprang into place, everything changed. The air grew heavier, tighter-charged with something unspoken.

Thicker. Heavier. Charged.

They were alone.

And the space? It wasn't what Audrey had expected-not even close. No documents stacked high. No crates of ammunition or gear. Just a bed, a solitary desk, and huge velvet drapes swallowing the windows whole. It felt... personal. Like someone's shelter.

Her brow clenched. "We're in the wrong place."

Sebastian's tone plummeted, grit threading through it.

"No. This is exactly where we need to be."

Audrey turned with careful slowness, her gaze catching his and holding. The space between them pulsed with unspoken tension, strained so taut it felt ready to break-and lash back with the fury of everything left unspoken.

Neither moved. Time hung suspended.

The warm glimmer of a bulb lighted him from behind, dividing light and darkness across his face. The scar on his jaw-sharp and silent-caught her eye again, like it often did. A mystery she never uttered.

His gaze kept riveted on hers-steady, piercing, unreadable. Like a hurricane seething just beneath the surface, barely tamed.

"This wasn't what we agreed on," she murmured finally, advancing toward him with purpose, closing the space between them not by mistake, but with intent.

"Neither were you," he murmured.

Then he was on her.

Mouth crashing into hers, hand on her throat-not choking, just claiming-his body pinning her back against the wall like he'd been starving for it since the first day she walked into his office with that cool military stare and a dossier thicker than his patience.

She kissed him back because resisting Sebastian Donovan was a lie she didn't have the strength to repeat tonight.

It was brutal. It was unwise.

It was real.

And somewhere, between the scent of danger and the sweat slicking their skin, Audrey remembered exactly why she never let herself get this close.

Because this wasn't just sex.

It was surrender.

And in their world, surrender got people killed.

Outside the villa, someone screamed.

The moment shattered.

They broke apart in an instant-guns raised, instincts taking over, eyes sharp and hardened once more. Whatever had flickered between them a moment ago vanished, swallowed by the sound of shouting and the rising storm just beyond the velvet drapes. Now wasn't the time for feelings. Now was survival.

She shot him a glance-half warning, half promise.

"We finish this," she said.

"Together," he replied.

And then they disappeared into the fire.