Damon held the lift door open for Penelope when it arrived at their floor. She stepped out with a calm detachment that deeply worried him.

He’d been too rough on her. He should have stepped away and given himself a few hours to calm down. The sight of that bastard touching her had sent him into a rage.

He’d known immediately that she had disobeyed because of some mission related event, but there had been a deep disconnect between his brain and his mouth. His mouth had let his anger talk. He’d heard himself spouting shit about her finding another Dom, and he couldn’t stop himself.

“Where did Charlotte go?” His words were even and measured now. Now that it seemed to be far too late.

“She was going up to her cabin. She was going to meet us there.” She’d explained what had happened on the way up the lift, her voice flat and monotone as she told the story of how they came to have Mr. Tilman’s kit. “Mr. Taggart should be there by now.”

Whenever she started talking like a Jane Austen heroine, he knew he was in trouble.

“Penelope, do you understand why I had to punish you?” He reached out and grabbed her elbow or she would very likely have kept right on walking.

She didn’t meet his eyes. “Yes, of course. We would have been disinvited from the dungeon if you had not.”

“But you’re angry with me. Damn it all. Did I hit you too hard?”

Her eyes were as blank as any doll’s. “It’s fine, Damon. I think I just realized what you’ve wanted me to all along. This isn’t the life for me. I’ll obey you from now on. I won’t attempt to use my own brain. I’ll remember at all times that you’re in charge.”

He should be jumping with joy because apparently he’d finally gotten through to her. All it had taken was a minor paddling and she wilted.

And then he’d been stupid enough to threaten to let all the other Doms spank her, too. Lesson number one in the Dom book was to never threaten something he wouldn’t go through with. He couldn’t stand it when another man touched her. He certainly wasn’t going to allow one to spank her, but he’d been so angry with her the threat had just popped out.

Anything could have happened. She’d taken off her collar. She’d lost herself in the crowd. He had no idea what Robert Tilman was capable of. If he’d caught her trying to steal his kit, he could have quietly carried her off and slit her throat and Damon would have gone utterly insane. He’d had a vision of her, broken, dead, cold. His Penelope was always so soft and warm, and he’d seen her rigid and trapped in the horror of death.

He wouldn’t survive it. He’d known in that moment that he couldn’t live through her death, and he’d do anything to prevent it. Hence his idiotic words.

He couldn’t work with her. He couldn’t think about anything but her when she was around. Since that first moment he’d gotten a taste of her, he’d lost his bloody mind to anything except her.

“I want to look at your bum. I want to make sure I didn’t hurt you.” He thought it had gone well after he’d calmed a bit. Yes, he’d spanked her hard, but he’d tested her. He’d felt her arousal, her relaxation. He’d thought she slipped into subspace. Even through his irritation with her, he’d felt a deep satisfaction because of the trust she placed in him.

And then she shut him out.

“My bum is fine, Damon.” Her lips moved, but there was no expression on her face. That killed him. She was always so vibrant, smiling or with a mischievous light in her eyes that only he seemed to be able to see. “Could we please get some work done? I would like to know if I endured that for something.”

“Then I did hurt you.” Something didn’t add up.

Her face flushed, her blue eyes narrowing as she snarled his way. “Yes, Damon. Hitting someone with a paddle hurts. My arse hurts. It will likely hurt for several days. Are you happy now?”

He’d never seen her angry before. He was shocked to find that what he really wanted to do was get on his bloody knees and beg her forgiveness.

But if she hadn’t been able to take that scene, he’d been wrong about her. Or she was attempting to manipulate him. She’d done that before. He let himself go cold. If she didn’t want aftercare, who was he to complain? She’d disobeyed the rules. She’d put herself and their operation in danger. It wasn’t his place to apologize. “Not at all. I didn’t enjoy that scene any more than you did.”

Except he’d rather thought they had both been enjoying it. After he’d slapped her ass silly and still been able to smell the arousal coating her pussy, he’d decided to take it a step further and fuck her mouth. She’d been enthusiastic. She’d sucked him down like a starving woman.

Was she mad he hadn’t given her an orgasm? Did she think sulking would fix the problem? He hadn’t expected that from her.

“Well, the good news is you won’t have to suffer through it again.”

He tightened his hand on her. “I meant what I said.”

Except the part about allowing other Doms to get a smack in. It was a common enough punishment at both Sanctum and The Garden. Some subs enjoyed it. No hands were allowed because most Doms Damon knew didn’t share even the touch of their sub’s skin, but paddles and canes and floggers were all on board. Hell, for some subs’ birthdays, he’d arranged spanking parties, but he couldn’t allow it with Penelope. He had hard limits, too, and letting someone else touch her was his. But he couldn’t tell her that. He needed to stay in charge.

“I believe you.” There was such accusation in her eyes that he nearly folded and just apologized.

He was saved from that fate by the door opening down the hall and Tag stepping out, a grim look on his face. “I was just coming to find you. Pen, you all right?”

She nodded. The smile she plastered on her face didn’t come anywhere close to her eyes. “Of course. What did you find?”

Tag gestured them inside the cabin he shared with his wife. It was the cabin next to theirs. The balcony between them had been opened to form a long outdoor space.

“I’ve got Jesse on his way here,” Tag explained. “Chelsea, too. Simon and Jake are herding our targets. Jake is going to have a talk with Rob, and we’ll get the reporter. Though from what I hear, I should have sent Pen down because she’s totally into threesomes.”

Jealousy flashed through his system. Tag held the door open, and Penelope entered.

“Dude, chill.” Tag held a hand out, his voice going low. He let the door close. “You have got to check the caveman. She wasn’t trying to fuck the guy.”

“I know. She wouldn’t do that.” Damon shook his head. Why did everyone seem to think he was accusing Penelope of cheating? “I might kill him though.”

“Okay, that’s slightly healthier, but seriously, she’s pissed. What the fuck did you do?”

Yes, he’d certainly figured that out. “I spanked her with a paddle. Her arse is red, but I didn’t break the skin. I doubt she’ll even bruise. I fucked her mouth. I told her if she ever did it again, I would let every Dom in the room paddle her and see how she likes it.”

A chuckle came out of Tag’s mouth. “That’s going to go so well. You’ll go insane when the first one touches her.”

Damon felt himself flush. He never used to get embarrassed. “I know. It was stupid. Now she says she understands this isn’t the lifestyle for her.”

“It isn’t for everyone,” Tag said with a sigh. “Give her some time. Some subs freak out after their first intense scene. The good news is Baz is likely to try to kill us in Helsinki tomorrow, so she’ll probably forget you spanked her.”

His stomach turned. If she wouldn’t even look at him, how was he going to protect her? “Don’t remind me.”

“And if Baz doesn’t kill us, the unholy amount of smoked fish they’ll offer us might. Man, I know why Northern Europeans are so skinny.” Tag started to open the door again. “Pull it together. You’re going to endanger every single one of us if you can’t control yourself. You could have handled that situation in a way that her punishment would have been private.”

“Really? So if Charlotte had done the same thing and you found her with another man, you would have been perfectly calm?”

“Not at all. I would have thrown down with the fucker, target or not. But then I admit freely that I love my wife. Last I checked, Penny was just your unwanted partner and part-time fuck buddy. So check yourself, man.”

Sometimes he wanted to plant his fist in Tag’s face.

He couldn’t love Penelope. He couldn’t. The people he loved died. He followed Tag into the suite and couldn’t help but take in how perfectly the soft, fluffy robe suited Penelope. Soft and sweet as candy.

Penelope’s lips finally curved into an actual smile. “We were right.”

Charlotte was standing beside the bed that dominated the room. “Oh, yes. Look. I think that’s our guy.”

He glanced down at the table where the contents of the kit had been placed. There was a small photo of a man. He was roughly thirty with thick glasses, dark hair, and a ready smile. Damon picked it up and turned it over. There was writing on the back. Walter Bennett.

Their guy. So the reporter was the contact. Or they had more trouble than he’d thought. “What else did you find?”

Charlotte sat down on the sofa, wincing slightly. “Sorry. Ian took a moment before he let me go through the kit. My ass is a little tender.”

Penelope sat down beside her, but there was nothing on her face. She’d shut down the minute Charlotte spoke. She was right back to blank professional. “There was a thumb drive under his flogger.”

Ian picked it up. The flogger was black and looked to be cheap leather. It wasn’t custom made. He’d likely bought it at a toy store. “I wouldn’t use this on anyone.”

Penelope stared at the flogger and when Ian set it down, she picked it up, touching the falls. “It isn’t soft. Why are they so stiff?”

“Because he’s never used it before. It’s strictly ornamental.” Damon jumped on the chance to be her mentor again. “The leather should be treated so it has some flexibility. The one I use on you is actually deerskin. It’s more for the thud than a sting. I’m not sure this would give you either.”

She laid it back down and turned her attention back to Taggart. “Have you tried to open the drive?”

“Password protected,” Charlotte said. “That’s why we need Chelsea. We’re going to have her in your cabin while we talk to our reporter.”

There was a knock on the door and Chelsea entered. She was dressed in her security uniform. “What’s up? This is my sleep time so it better be good. I get to share a cabin with eight other chicks. I want to kill myself. Oh, and nice move, sis. It was quite the distraction.”

Charlotte grinned. “You know me. I like to give a good show.”

Taggart chuckled as he passed Chelsea the thumb drive. “There are cameras everywhere on this ship. When Damon rifled through the target’s cabin, he wasn’t on camera, but they would have caught him breaking into the room. So we gave them something better to watch.”

“Security is a bunch of peeping tom perverts,” Chelsea complained. “I swear, they must test these guys for voyeurism before they hire them. There aren’t cameras in the cabins, but they’re all over the balconies. When I needed to turn their attention away from Damon, big sis and Satan here just went at it on the balcony. No one noticed when Damon slipped into a room that wasn’t his own.”

“You better destroy that tape,” Ian said. “Well, after you make a copy and give it to me.”

Chelsea rolled her eyes, took the drive, and slipped out after Damon handed her the keycard to their cabin.

He had zero doubt she would break the code in no time at all. If only he could make her break Penelope’s code so she would make sense to him.

He stared her way, but she didn’t spare him a glance.

This was why he didn’t have girlfriends. He didn’t understand women at all. She’d been comfortable in D/s. She’d opened up more in the last week than he’d seen her in the years he’d known her. When they had been on that stage, she’d been hot and ready for anything. Now she thought she could make him feel guilty?

He just wished he knew what he was supposed to feel guilty about because he was feeling bloody bad about everything now. Perhaps she’d been acting, playing along so he wouldn’t leave her behind.

That was stupid.

“Hello? Knight? You with us?” Taggart sat down beside his wife.

“Of course.” He was losing it. Focus on the job. If Penelope no longer wanted him, he would just have to deal with it. Perhaps she was telling him the truth. She’d seen the real him and she no longer fooled herself that she could care for him.

It was better. Really it was.

He forced his brain away from her.

The sound of a keycard engaging made him turn just in time to see Jesse Murdoch begin to head inside.

“And you’re sure it’s here?” a female voice asked.

“I saw her run away with it. She stole the bag and I followed her here,” Jesse replied. “This is my floor so I have the key. That’s when I called security and then talked to you.”

“I just want the bag and then I need to get back to my boyfriend. I don’t get why security needed to talk to him. I don’t want to involve security. My not-so-brilliant boyfriend will keep it with him from now on,” Candice complained as she started into the short hallway.

She stopped when she saw the group around the table.

Damon stood up.

“What’s this?” She tried to turn but Simon was right behind her. “Fuck.”

Simon caught her, putting a hand over her mouth. “Don’t scream. I don’t want to have to gag you, but you should know that we have everything we need to ensure this talk is very uncomfortable for you.”

She’d been wearing an ill-fitting corset in the dungeon. She’d changed somewhere along the way and now looked extremely young and somewhat fragile in jeans and a T-shirt covered by a cardie. Her eyes were wide with terror. He had to figure out who she was really working for.

“My name is Damon Knight. I’m with SIS. Can you nod if you know what that is?”

She nodded. She was a reporter. She should understand how her country’s intelligence worked, but he was often surprised at some people’s stupidity.

“If my colleague removes his hand, will you scream?”

Her head shook. Either she was an excellent actress or she was scared. Either way, he thought there was a chance she would keep her head about her.

“If you do scream, he’s going to tie you up and keep you that way until we sort this out. Simon, let her go.” There was no reason to be uncivilized if he didn’t have to.

Her hands were shaking as Simon took a step back. “You’re MI6? Really? You’re a real bloody double 0?”

“Yes, though I’m afraid you’ll have to take my word on it since we don’t carry badges.”

“We don’t need no stinking badges,” Taggart said with a smile.

“How do I know if I should talk to you then?” She might have gone to a posh university, but her accent gave her away. She’d been raised in the country.

And she was cautious. He couldn’t blame her. “Because I’ll very likely torture you if you don’t.” He could be uncivilized when it was called for.

Tears started rolling down her cheeks. Penelope sighed and stood up. “Come here. He’s not going to torture you. He just likes to have everyone afraid of him. Come sit down and we can get this sorted out. It’s obvious you’re not in league with terrorists.”

“It’s not obvious to me.” Did Penelope think she would wear a sign?

Candice Jones practically tackled Penelope in her haste to get away from him. He was just charming all the ladies this evening. He had to admit, conducting an interview in his leathers was a new experience.

“Is he really with the government?” Candice turned to Penelope as though she’d figured out she was the only person in the room who hadn’t recently killed someone.

“Yes. I am as well. Can you tell me how you know Walter Bennett?”

Candice’s jaw practically locked.

Penelope reached out and picked up the shot of Bennett. “Your boyfriend is carrying around a picture of him. We’ve got the thumb drive as well. We’ll know everything very soon. How about I tell you what I know?”

“That isn’t necessary,” Damon explained.

Penelope sighed. “Damon, something’s obviously wrong. If she’s trying to blow up the London underground, I would be very surprised.”

Candice’s eyes went round. “What are you talking about? I’m a reporter. I don’t want to blow up anything except a story. Walter wouldn’t do that. He’s not like that. At least he doesn’t seem to be the type.”

Clever girl. What might have taken him an hour to pry out of her, Penelope had gotten her to give up inside a minute. “According to what we know, Walter Bennett works for a pharmaceutical company.”

“I’m not going to get a big story out of this, am I?” Candice asked, frowning.

“No, you’re very likely going to spend some time in prison if you don’t start talking,” Damon explained.

She sniffled and clasped her hands together on her lap. “About a year ago, I did an exposé on a group called Nature’s Core. I became friendly with a couple of them. Two weeks ago, the leader of the Core called me. He said he had a massive story for me, but he wouldn’t tell me what it was about.”

“Not even a hint?”

She bit her bottom lip, sighing. “No. He just said that I had to help him smuggle a man into England and that it would be dangerous. People would try to kill him.”

“That man was Walter Bennett?” He settled in across from her, fairly certain she wasn’t going to break out any martial arts moves on anyone.

“Yes. I’ve talked to him over the computer a couple of times. He seems harmless enough. He says he’s got something really important, but he won’t tell me what it is until we meet. I was supposed to find a way to meet with Walter and to get him on this boat without having to use his passport. He’s paranoid. He thinks someone from his old company is trying to kill him.”

Yes, Baz would very likely kill the bloke. “What company did he work for?”

He already knew the answer to that, but he wanted to see what Candice knew or if she would lie.

“Agro Pharma is what I was told. I looked him up, of course. I didn’t just believe him. I did my research. He’s a virologist who’s been working in DNA coding on some of the nastiest strains in the world. He worked at CDC in Atlanta for a couple of years after he graduated from Johns Hopkins.”

“But then the lure of big money was too much, huh?” Taggart asked.

Candice nodded. “That’s how it seemed to me. He’s been working in their Geneva campus for the last two years. It’s one of the only private BSL-4 labs in Europe. Nature’s Core has been watching Agro. According to my source, they think Agro is working on some nasty bioweapons.”

He looked over at Taggart, who nodded. It was something of the same story they were getting from their handlers and nothing that went against what Baz said.

“Why you?” He had an inkling, but he wanted her thoughts.

Her shoulders moved up and down. “I guess I was the only reporter they trust.”

Penelope leaned forward. “If he has pure intentions, why wouldn’t he go to the government?”

She pushed a hand through her hair as she spoke. “I don’t know. I just wanted a big story, all right? My career hasn’t exactly been smashing. My editor wants to move me to the society pages. He thinks I’m not smart enough to work anything but debutante parties. He thought my piece on Nature’s Core was a fluff piece, but I’m going to show him. It was my idea to use the boat. I’ve gone on a couple of cruises and the security isn’t the best.”

“And if you’re being used by a terrorist to get into England?” Damon was well aware he wasn’t using his charming voice. “How is that going to affect your career? When you abet a terrorist, I think you might get relegated to something less pleasant than society weddings.”

“He’s not a terrorist,” she shot back.

“How do you know that?”

She pointed to the picture. “Look at him. He’s a geek. Geeks aren’t terrorists.”

“You’ve obviously never met my sister-in-law,” Taggart said.

His wife sent Tag a nasty look, but it was so much more than Penelope sent his way.

There was a knock and Simon let Chelsea in. She moved past him, obviously trying not to touch the big guy. “It’s all porn and pictures of naked chicks.”

Candice gasped. “Hey, that’s mine. You’re not supposed to look at that.”

Chelsea tossed it to Damon. “This is not the droid we were looking for, boss. I’m going back to bed before the spa staff gets in. They smell better than the maids, but god they love to talk in like fifteen different languages. This assignment sucks.”

Jesse grinned her way. “Hey, I saw one of the head waiters hitting on you. Nice.”

Simon frowned. “Staff isn’t supposed to mingle in that fashion.”

Chelsea gave him back a nasty look. “Oh, we’re only supposed to sleep with guests, huh?”

She turned and stormed out.

Damon was getting sick of the soap opera, but Tag just grinned as though the world was his entertainment.

“Sorry.” Jesse held his hands up. “I was just teasing her. It wasn’t like she took him up on it. She doesn’t look at anyone except Simon, and even then it’s only when she thinks he’s not looking.”

“Could we deal with the problem at hand?” Simon asked. “If she doesn’t know anything, then we need Walter Bennett and we need him damn soon.”

“Look, I’m obviously in over my head. This was a stupid plan. I should have known it was too good to be true.” Candice wiped away tears.

The last thing he needed was another crying female. “When are you meeting with Bennett?”

She sniffled a little. “Tomorrow. I’m meeting him at someplace called the Rock Church. It’s in Helsinki. I’m supposed to be there at three. It gives us just enough time to get Walter on the boat. He looks a bit like Rob. Rob is going to spend a couple of days with some mates from university and then fly back in time to pick us up from Dover.”

Bennett bore a nominal resemblance to Tilman. They were roughly the same height, same coloring. If Bennett took off his glasses, he would likely be able to use the card the cruise company had assigned to Tilman. He wouldn’t need a passport if he didn’t go into the ports that required them and he wouldn’t need to show one to get back into England. He would be flying utterly under the radar.

“I’m going to need you to make that meeting. I’ll let you talk to my boss tonight so you feel more comfortable with me, but I need you to cooperate until I can take Bennett into custody and figure this mess out. Is that understood?”

She nodded, tears still in her eyes.

“Penelope? Would you take her to our cabin and use the sat phone to contact Nigel? He’s going to want to talk to her.” He could give Penelope something to do, take her mind off whatever was bothering her, make her feel like one of the team.

She stood up and gave Candice a smile. “Yes, I can certainly do that. And while we’re at it, I’ll order us some tea. Charlotte, should we leave the men to their plotting?”

So she saw right through his plans. He found it rather frustrating. “Someone needs to talk to Nigel.”

“Of course.” She walked by him, clutching her keycard. Candice and Charlotte followed.

“Dude, what did you do? Because Penny looked pissed.” Jesse seemed to be very good at stating the obvious.

“He punished her for doing her job,” Simon said, pulling his jacket off. “I was watching over them. Jake and I were both there.”

Taggart shook his head. “Don’t you get in the middle of this because you’re pissed about Chelsea. She was given very specific instructions. No matter what she and Charlie say, this was not going to be the only time for us to get that kit.”

“They were fine,” Simon bit back.

“They’re not your subs, Weston.” Damon was sick of people questioning his rights. It was his right to keep Penelope safe. She bloody well belonged to him. She was wearing his collar. Well, when she thought to keep it on she was wearing it. “Penelope might be SIS, but she’s not a trained field agent. She’s only here because I need cover and Baz is a bastard who never learned how to play well with others. So I will make the decisions concerning her.”

“Until the operation is over. It looks like you scared her away from the lifestyle. How hard did you hit her?” Weston asked.

Taggart stood up, apparently ready to get between them. “Stand down, Simon. I get it. You’re frustrated and pissy, and I can’t let you take that out on him.”

“But I want to so badly, boss.”

“Step away. Go back to your job. Tell Jake to bring Tilman down here. We have some plans to make. And you stay away from Chelsea tonight.”

“I think I’ll stay away from Chelsea altogether. You’re right, boss. I’ve been frustrated over nothing. I think it’s time I moved on. And Knight, Penny’s my friend. Don’t think this is over. If you hurt her, I’ll take you apart with my bare hands and I’ll enjoy it. I’m not your employee anymore.” He turned and walked away, letting the door slam.

Jesse groaned. “Damn it. I’ll go after him. I don’t want him doing something stupid.” He held his hands up. “I know, boss. I’m usually the one doing stupid shit. I swear I’m going to roofie them both and get it over with.”

He followed Weston out of the room.

Taggart shook his. “Yeah, he doesn’t understand how a roofie works. I’m going to keep him away from the pharmaceuticals. So, how do you want to play this?”

“Well, we need to figure out how big this church is and where to place everyone. We know we can get Bennett on the boat, but perhaps the best thing to do is to take him into custody and get him on the first plane back to London.”

Then his time with Penelope would be over. How long would it be before she moved out? An hour or so? Would he even get a chance to talk to her?

He suddenly knew he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t go back to England and ignore her. He needed her in ways he’d never thought possible. He needed her in his bed and his life. He needed to know she was waiting for him. He needed to know he had time with her.

“But you have to meet with Baz,” Tag pointed out.

Baz. Baz who didn’t really understand the meaning of needing someone. It was why they’d actually worked well together. Baz would prefer that he spend the rest of his likely short life alone because he hadn’t been able to return his affection. He laughed because actually Baz had been a terrible partner. He’d constantly gone behind Damon’s back because he was a secretive fucker who liked to one-up everyone around him. He’d kept things from his handlers, his fellow agents, everyone, so he could pop in at the end and save the day.

Fucker.

“I think I know when I’m supposed to meet Baz.”

Taggart growled and threw his big body back on the couch. “Of course. Three o’clock anywhere but the Rock Church.”

Suspicion began to play in his head. What if Baz was lying to them all? “He wants Bennett. He knows he has to keep Bennett away from me. What better way than to force me to meet him somewhere else while he scoops up the prize?”

“Do you think he made up the threat about our operatives?” Tag seemed to follow his line of thought.

“You know he was always awful with tech. How hard would it be to get that list?”

“From both agencies, damn near impossible unless he has someone on the inside. Adam could probably do it, but it would take him time. But, again, we know he has some people on the inside.”

“People who could get him a list of undercover agents? If he was that well connected, why would he have to wait for Eli Nelson to die to take his place?”

“You really think the fucker’s lying.”

“I think Baz was always climbing the ladder, and he would do it any way he could. He wants to bring this guy in and he’s alone. He knows he doesn’t have a shot until he gets rid of me and the team. He found a way to do it.”

Taggart shook his head. “How does he know about the meet up?”

“He’s been on this case longer than we have. If Agro is a Collective company, I have no doubt they keep a close watch on their employees. If Bennett is going to sell some sort of viral agent, he’s likely had to talk to someone about it. I would bet our reporter’s phone is tagged.”

Taggart was on the small walkie he’d given everyone on the team. “Jake?”

“Yeah, boss?” Jake Dean’s voice came over loud and clear.

“Check his phone.”

“Already done. He’s got a tag and so does she. Tilman is cooperating. He’s crying actually. I think I might have been too honest about what could happen to him. I don’t know that he’s going to be capable of helping us in an undercover capacity.”

Fuck. At least his girlfriend seemed fairly calm. Damon leaned in so he could be heard. “Thank you, Dean. Tell him he needs to keep his mouth shut. SIS will want to debrief him when he gets back to London.”

Taggart shut off the walkie. “All right, so Baz played the odds and figured out who to listen in on. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t have that list.”

But sometimes an operative had to follow his instincts, and every single one he had was screaming at him that this was just another distraction. “I have to make a call. If he contacts me and tells me where to be at three p.m. tomorrow, I’m going to assume this has all been a distraction. It’s typical Baz. I worked with him for years. I’ve run this play with him. He’s got nothing.”

“Let me send Jesse and Chelsea in as decoys. They’re roughly the right height and size. We dress them up and if Baz shows, Jesse can kill him. He’s a rabid puppy who hasn’t been able to shoot anyone lately. It would likely help me out in the long run.”

“All right. Penelope stays here. I go with you to the church.”

“If you can convince her to stay, man, good for you.”

“She’s my sub. She’ll do what I tell her to.”

Taggart snorted a little as he laughed. “Yeah, you keep believing that, dude. I’m just going to give Charlie a sniper position. She gets mad when I try to treat her like a pretty toy. Even though she’s a really pretty toy. The good news is, she’s a gorgeous fuck toy with killer aim.”

He rather envied Taggart his relationship with his wife. Charlotte was proven in the field. Penelope wasn’t. He couldn’t risk her.

He just worried that he was risking his relationship with her instead.

He took a deep breath and stepped out on the balcony, the cool air from the Baltic whipping against his skin.

It could all be over tomorrow. Penelope would be safe.

So why was he still so scared? It wasn’t a feeling he liked.

He stepped through the door that led to the balcony of his and Penelope’s room. The curtains were open slightly. He could see her sitting at the sofa, speaking into the satellite phone. Her face was soft, blonde hair curling around her jaw. So beautiful.

He couldn’t lose her. He just couldn’t.