They spent the majority of the first day in Brazil in the pool. He had immediately taken advantage of skinny dipping by pushing her to the edge of the pool and sliding into her, finding little resistance. It had been more than a day since they had been able to be so close. The days they had spent in the little motel room making love didn’t seem to hold a flame to what he had made her feel now.

“Turn around,” he growled in her ear. Something about the way he spoke seemed to promise just how good he was about to make her feel.

It took little motivation for her to do as he asked. She had begun the contraceptives as soon as he had given them to her while they were still in Santa Fe. He slid into her bare and they both moaned. He took her from behind in the pool and they faced away from one another. She was wrapped around him in a fashion that she didn’t think she would change. This was a clear difference that she was going to enjoy each time they made love.

His hands gripped hers as he thrust into her, the water splashing up over the edge he had her pressed against. “This,” he hissed in her ear. “This is what I want. This feeling you’re making me have.” His hips picked up with the force he used to thrust into her. “Every day, I want this.” His mouth pressed against her ear, and she felt his hard chest pressed into her back. “Every day, with you.”

“Every day,” she echoed, so close to exploding around him.

His breathing hitched and his thrusts began to lose the rhythm he had built. His mouth was at her ear, his tongue coiling over it and brushing against the shell. She tilted her head back to rest on his shoulder, moaning her encouragement.

She felt him quaking, and the stutter to his thrusts shift into something jerkier. He was losing control, and it was clear just how close he was. “I love you,” he gasped. “God, I love you.” His arms came around her and she felt him erupt inside her.

His words and the hot liquid he spilled within her had her gasping, her hands clinging to the cement that surrounded the pool. She cried out and pressed back into him, though the words echoed in her mind, seemingly on repeat. He loved her. He just admitted to loving her.

Her breath hitched. Did he realize what he had said? Did he know? Would he be upset? There had been so much that happened that surely, it was the stress of their situation that brought him to say that.

His voice cracked slightly. He knew what he’d said. “Withhold sex long enough, and I go admitting embarrassing shit.”

“I did not withhold it. There was not time before where we could have it,” She gasped and leaned back against him, her muscles still trembling. “Do you regret it?”

“No, you didn’t,” he agreed, and he grunted when he pulled out of her. It was a loss she felt. “And no, I don’t.” He turned her around in the pool so they faced one another. “It might have been something I felt or just said in the heat of the moment.” She met his gaze. His brows were drawn together and his face was flushed as he seemed to consider his words.

She wasn’t sure if the flush was due to their just having sex or his embarrassment. “You struck a chord with me since I first saw you in Kosovo. You have lived with me in my heart and in my head for years.” He cupped her face in his hands. “When I saw you again, I thought I was going to go through with my duty. I thought I was going to kill you because of an order, but as soon as I touched you, as soon as I looked in your eyes again, I knew I couldn’t. You’ve meant too much to me for so long. I couldn’t just kill all of that because of an order.”

His voice quaked and the emotions were evident, fear and hope. He was afraid of what she would say. “I needed you. I needed you living in my heart and head. Now that I have you right here with me, I can’t just let you go. I need you.”

Her chest became tight and her throat began to burn with tears. “I love you,” she choked out. “You have been with me, giving me drive to pursue the job that I did, to do all that I could. All because you spared me. You drove me to be intelligent and strong.” A sob managed to break through, but his hands on her face kept her from completely crumbling. He was holding her together.

“I saw you when I slept, anytime I felt doubt. You have been in my heart and in my head for so long.” She closed her eyes, suddenly not able to face the emotions reflected in his eyes. “I need you, too.”

He released her face and caught her mouth, kissing her gently. “Never going to be rid of me now,” he murmured against her lips. He pulled away from her, and without another word, tugged her out of the pool. He tugged her through the little villa that would be their haven until it was time to go again.

He walked through it without a care of their nudity until he found a bed. Still wet from the pool, he pushed her onto the bed and crawled on top of her. “You’ve saved me,” he murmured to her as he curled around her. “I had no idea where I was going and I was just living day to day. I didn’t know if I could be normal, if I could love someone. When I realized that I couldn’t kill you, I knew I had to keep you safe. You gave me direction to do more. You showed me that I could love.”

She laughed lightly, wiping the tears from her cheeks. “You have saved me quite literally.” She kissed him. “If it had been anyone other than you, we both know where I would be.” She sobered. “It is very likely that we would not be here if you had not been assigned this mission.”

“You’re here with me now,” he growled at her. “And that’s all that matters now.” He returned her kisses, the hunger in them growing to the point that he was nudging her legs apart and was pressing his hard cock back between her thighs. “No one will take you from me,” he grunted as he slid back into her, pressing into her to the hilt. “We’re in this together.”

“Yes,” she hissed, her arms going around his shoulders and holding onto him tightly as he began to move. “Together.”

They rocked together slowly, not as desperate as before in the pool. This was more about the connection, more about the feel of one another than just the completion. They kissed, and the tenderness in it made her heart clench just as it made her tremble.

She knew that the exchange in the pool had been true. She loved him, there was no denying it. She loved him for sparing her life when she was still a child. She loved him for sparing her again when his duty was to kill her—again. And she loved him for doing all that he could to keep her safe.

If this was a sign of what Brazil would bring them, then she was so glad this is where he thought to bring her. “I love you,” she breathed in his ear again, clinging to him as his thrusts became too much and she was so close to falling apart.

“I love you,” he gritted out as she trembled apart, and as she quaked, she felt him filling her again. They stayed connected, him fully sheathed in her, twisting onto their sides so that they were both comfortable.

The day, the long flight, and the confrontation that they had with Sasha added up. Sleep tugged at the edge of her senses and she fought it. She didn’t want to lose the feeling that warmed her chest. “Sleep,” he murmured, as if he knew she was struggling with it. “I’m right here. In this together,” he breathed against her brow. “Not going anywhere.”

“Together,” she echoed, deciding to give in, letting sleep take her.

* * *

He heard a noise. It was just soft enough to get his attention and pull him out of sleep. That was saying something because he was wrapped around Jovana and so comfortable that it should have taken a bomb going off to wake him. But instinct woke him and prevented him from drifting back to sleep. Scott sat up and rubbed a hand over his face, still so tired after everything that had happened. The noises that filtered in through the open doors drifted to him. He could hear waves crashing against the beach, the chirps of bugs, and a soft creak of wood as weight shifted on it. That was the something that woke him.

Someone was there. They weren’t alone in the villa.

He immediately became alert, wide awake, and shifted off the bed, careful not to disturb Jovana. Quickly and as quietly as he could, he closed the doors that led to the bedroom. He found a gun and checked the clip, finding it fully loaded.

Then he slowly began to creep out of the bedroom. He was naked without a care, having not dressed since Jovana and he had gotten there. He stayed close to the wall, listening closely for any other signs of the intruder, trying to pinpoint where they were, a predator searching for its prey.

A noise announced him. A hum of the refrigerator, a creak of wood, and there was a squeak of hinges. The kitchen. That’s where he was. He crept through the hallway and made sure to keep himself between whoever was dumb enough to sneak up on him and Jovana. He was keeping her safe. When he managed to get to the kitchen, he found it clear. His prey wasn’t there. Cat and mouse it was then. He kept moving, going to the next room. It was clear, too.

A creak of wood sounded nearby. His prey was close. He shifted into a lower stance, stalking until he caught the first glimpse of who he was going to kill. They had been foolish in thinking they were safe. How stupid could he be to think that they had won even a bit of freedom?

He ignored the real danger in favor of dealing with the fucking Russians. He had been thinking with his dick—that was the only explanation he could come up with. He got so caught up in Jovana that he had become careless and was so close to killing them.

He wasn’t going to let it kill them this time. As soon as he was close enough, he struck. Instead of shooting the man, he thought better. The hard, heavy butt of the gun came down on the back of the skull of the man who had broken through his dream.

Then he punched him hard in his jaw. Even if he had already knocked him unconscious, he was angry, pissed. He gave the man another few solid punches, shifting from his face to his middle. If he let the anger reign over him, he would likely kill their intruder with his bare hands.

He didn’t really care until he thought better of it. He got back to himself, shaking off the burning rage in favor of cold fury. Scott made sure to check if the intruder was still alive. He felt a heartbeat. Good, that was enough. He dragged him back to the kitchen. “Jovana,” he shouted, hoping she wasn’t sleeping so hard she wouldn’t hear him. He called for her again. Just to be sure, he made enough noise to wake her.

He heard quiet footsteps coming his way, and she appeared in the doorway wearing his shirt. “What is it?” Her voice shook like she knew how close they had been to pissing away their lives.

He clicked on the light to get a better look at just who had snuck into the villa. “We’ve been invaded. I need something to tie him up with. If there’s no rope or tape, bring me the sheets,” he instructed as he began to search him. He pulled every gun he found on him—the one he had been holding, another in a shoulder holster, one at the ankle, and then a sizeable knife that had been clipped to his belt. He was armed to the teeth like any good agent was expected to be.

Jovana had been quick to do as he told her, surprise evident that they had been found. She probably lived on the same pipe dream he had that they had been safe. He clenched his hand into a fist, trying to fight the urge to punch the man again. He had to learn who he was and who sent him first. Then, after he had all the information they needed, the man could be dealt with.

He pulled a chair from the kitchen and propped the man up in it, in the process spying his wallet in his pocket. He tugged it out of his pants. He wasn’t going to take his attention off him. When Jovana came back to him, she offered him the sheets she stripped off the bed. Because, of course, there would be no rope or tape in the damn villa.

She helped him make the effort in securing the man to the chair. They tested it to make sure there was no way he would be getting loose. It was better to be prepared now. “Go get some pants on,” she commanded, a slight edge to her voice.

“I’m not leaving this man,” he growled. There was the urge to punch him, to attack and be volatile. To be violent. “He came in here to kill us,” he snarled at her. “It’s not safe to leave him unguarded.”

“Give me your gun,” she said, her eyes locking on his. There was a seriousness in them that made them look hardened. “And go get some clothing on.”

“Why?” He wanted to argue with her.

“Because it will be difficult to maintain an air of authority with your business out.” Her face remained hard as she spoke. “If you wish to question him, you will hold his attention on your face and he will see how serious you are. Your lack of dress will leave you vulnerable, and I will not allow him to take advantage of our vulnerability again.”

He glared at her, not wanting to listen to her reasoning, but he offered her the pistol and stalked back to the bedroom. He found a pair of shorts in his duffle bag and pulled them on, not bothering with a shirt, and stalked back to the man tied to a chair in the kitchen. It didn’t take away from his anger. It didn’t cool him down in the least.

When he got back into the room, Jovana offered him his pistol back, but he ignored it in favor of picking up the pistol the man had brought in with him. And his wallet. He picked that up and handed it to her. “Look to see who it is. Tell me the name on the ID and anything that might be in there.”

She did as he asked, going through the wallet. “Walter Andrews,” she murmured, throwing the identification onto the table. “That is his driver’s license. A credit card says Matthew Anderson.” She threw that on the table. “Andrew Carroll.” She pulled out a badge, showing it to him. It was familiar. He had one on him, too.

“That’s his real name,” he said out loud, moving to sit heavily in the other chair that sat at the table. “He’s CIA.” A sour taste entered his mouth and he looked at the battered face of the man who had come to kill them. “I guess he got us as an assignment when I failed to kill you.”

“What do we do?” she asked, fear evident in her voice now, that hard edge breaking.

“I don’t know.” He took a moment to rub his face. He hadn’t been prepared for this. He hadn’t expected to face someone who did the same job he did, not yet. “I don’t know.”