“What’s your brother’s code?”

The slap cracks across my face before I even have a chance to react, but once I do I take her out like any other threat. I grab her arms, twist them behind her back, push her forward with a knee to the ass, and take her down to the hard concrete floor.

She struggles beneath me, slips out of my hold and does a half turn, just enough to thrust her foot into my abdomen.

I grab her ankle, but she twists again, elbowing me in the neck. “Fuck!” I grab her foot, twist her body until she’s forced to roll and then hold her with an arm across her thigh and a hand on her calf.

“You better snap my knee, James,” she seethes, her breath coming out in long gasps, matching my own from the sudden effort of the fight. “Because if you let me up, you’ll regret it.”

I lean into her a little harder, making sure she’s pinned good and tight to the concrete floor. I’m not quite sure if she’s serious. I know she’s capable. I’ve heard all about the mistakes they made with her upbringing. It was drilled into us in the debrief. She’s dangerous. Do not underestimate her. Never turn your back.

Watching her all these months, the severity of the little warnings diminished as the days grew longer. She never got angry. She never raised her voice to anyone. She was no more intimidating than any of the other young girls on the beach.

But the venom in her voice right now jars my memory and the warnings are back in full force.

“Harper—”

“No,” she snaps. “You’re here to kill me? Take me back? Then what the f**k are you waiting for? Give it your best shot.” She wiggles again and I lose my grip. Her knee comes up and almost connects with my jaw. But I’m the one who twists this time and she slides out from under me and bounces to her feet.

She’s fast. And young. And angry. And cornered.

I’m up a fraction of a moment later, but I back up and throw her the surrender hands to ease her down off the ledge. “Whoa, OK? I’m not here to do any of that.”

“Why did you ask about him?” she snarls. “You—”

“Harper, if I wanted to kill you, you’d be dead, honey. I’m a dirty killer, I get the job done and get the f**k out of Dodge. I’m not here to hurt you.”

She just stares at me, shaking her head. “You’re trained to say that. You’re trained to make me believe you, to lie about anything and everything to get what you need. You’re trained to make me vulnerable and needy and weak—”

“And so are you, Harper,” I bark, cutting off her rant and snapping her back to attention. “So. Are. You. You’re just as ruthless. More maybe. Because you plotted this for years, didn’t you? Maybe you’re playing me?”

“Maybe I am,” she retorts.

“You say they call you Come? And maybe they do. But that’s not your code, so don’t feed me that bullshit. At least I was honest. Do you really think I’d give you my number if I was here to kill you?”

She swallows and I know I’ve won.

Chapter Nine

HARPER

I turn away quickly so I don’t have to look at him.

“Harper?” he asks softly.

I have no words. I just have no words.

“Harper?” He touches my shoulder this time and I shrug him off.

“Don’t.”

“I swear to God, I’m not here for you.”

“Where were you last?”

“I can’t say.”

I already knew that. So I change the question slightly. “Where were you last year?” He pauses and I turn so I can see his face as he makes his decision. He looks like he’s thinking hard, counting back the months, maybe. But they are trained to do that, aren’t they? “I’m waiting.” I tap my foot like a petulant child and his eyes drop down to my flip flop and then he looks up at me and smiles.

How could this man be one of them? I don’t understand how anyone with those dimples could be a killer.

“I was f**king up a friend’s job over in a small, nondescript European country. Which is where all my trouble really started.”

“Not in the South Pacific?” I ask warily. Like he would tell me.

“No. I don’t work that side of the world. Haven’t been back in there since I was assigned when I was sixteen.” He watches me as I process his words. Since he was sixteen. He’s been killing people since he was sixteen. “OK?” he asks, breaking the silence. “We good?”

I shake my head and lean against the wall. He comes towards me and puts his hands on my hips and plays with my belt loops. “Harper,” he whispers in my ear. “I’m not walking away from you. You need to understand that. Accept it. I’m here now and I feel like I’m doing the right thing for the first time in my life. I want you. I want to be inside of you. I’ve waited patiently for so f**king long. And this was a stroke of luck. Being sent here and finding you.”

I shake my head at this. “No, it’s a trap.”

“Maybe,” he says, continuing his soft whisper. It disarms me and I want to give in, I really want to give in to him. But deep down I know what he’s capable of. I know because I was taught all the same tricks. “Maybe it was a setup. But I swear to you, I’m not in on it. I won’t ask about your brother again.”

When confronted by the mark, placate them with any and all possible concessions. It’s a textbook example and yet… I’m so falling for it. I want him to stay with me and never leave. I’m so lonely and needy and he has to know this.

His hand cups my face and then his lips brush against mine. “Harper,” he pleads as he takes his mouth back to my ear. “Trust me, I’ll take care of you, Soldier.”

I force myself not to react but it takes every ounce of training not to.

“I know that’s what they really call you, Harper. The Little Soldier. A baby name, right? Since childhood. I know you and you know me, don’t you?”

I pull back, forcing him back at the same time. I need to look at him. He is so familiar. I had to have noticed him on the beach or something.

He doesn’t wait for an answer, just leans in and nips my lip until I squeal.

And that’s all it takes. I melt. He senses my surrender and crashes his mouth against mine, hungrily, like he’s been waiting for this moment for years. “I want to f**k you right here in the hallway. Bend your ass over and take you from behind.”