Page 45 of Hunter's Game
“Good thing I like complicated.” He pulled her closer again. “Almost as much as I like dangerous women with trust issues.”
“Hunter.” She meant it as a warning, but it came out breathless as his lips found her throat.
“Besides.” His voice rumbled against her skin. “Darkness’s going to want someone keeping an eye on you. Make sure you don’t cause any more international incidents.”
“And you’re volunteering for that duty?”
“Let’s just say I’ve got a vested interest in keeping you alive.” His hands slid lower, making it hard to think. “And in figuring out what other secrets you’re keeping.”
She should argue. Should point out all the reasons this was a terrible idea. Instead, she found herself pulling him closer, letting the heat between them burn away the complications and consequences.
Later, much later, her phone buzzed with an update from the FBI task force. Romano and the bonds were in custody. Federal agents were rolling up his network across three states. The museum’s artifacts had been recovered from a hidden vault in the maintenance tunnels.
“Told you I had it handled,” she murmured against Hunter’s chest, feeling the steady rhythm of his heartbeat beneath her cheek. The sheets pooled around their waist, leaving his tattooed torso exposed to the cool air of the safe house.
Hunter’s calloused fingers traced the line of her spine, sending shivers across her sensitized skin. “Never doubted you,” he said, voice still rough from their earlier activities. His hand dipped lower, following the curve of her hip with deliberateslowness. “Though I have to say, your recovery method is particularly...effective.”
Eden smiled against his skin, pressing a deliberate kiss to the scar that ran along his collarbone. “Medical necessity,” she whispered, her breath warm against his chest as her hand slid down his abdomen, feeling the muscles tense beneath her touch. “Doctor’s orders.”
“In that case...” Hunter rolled them in one fluid motion, his larger frame covering hers as he captured her mouth in a kiss that rekindled the heat they’d just spent hours exploring. His hands tangled in her hair as her legs wrapped around his waist, pulling him closer with an urgency that belied her exhaustion.
Their bodies moved together with the same synchronized precision they’d developed in combat—anticipating needs, responding to the smallest signals, finding the perfect rhythm that left them both gasping. Every touch, every kiss was both familiar and thrillingly new, building toward a crescendo that had them clutching at each other as if their very survival depended on this connection.
Afterward, as they lay tangled together, breathing hard and hearts racing, Eden felt something she’d never expected to find in the middle of chaos and violence. Peace. A sense that despite everything still waiting for them beyond these walls, this moment—this man—was exactly where she belonged.
His laugh rumbled under her ear as he pulled her closer. “Nope. Never doubted you. Much.”
She propped herself up to look at him, her honey-blonde hair falling in a curtain around them as her expression turned serious. “We’re going to have to choose eventually, you know. Between duty and whatever this is between us.”
“Maybe.” His hand traced idle patterns on her bare shoulder, following the curve where it met her neck. “Or maybe we already chose and just haven’t admitted it yet.”
Hunter’s fingers traced idle patterns on her shoulder as they lay in silence. “Maya,” he said softly, using her birth name—a privilege he alone had earned.
Eden—no, Maya—felt something shift inside her at the sound of her real name on his lips. “I haven’t been Maya Wolfe in so long,” she admitted. “I’m not sure if she still exists.”
“She does,” Hunter said with quiet certainty. “Eden is the warrior, the operative who brought down Romano’s empire. But Maya?” His eyes held hers. “Maya is the woman I fell in love with. The one who chose justice over vengeance, truth over power.”
The intimacy of the moment hung between them—not just physical connection but something deeper that neither had expected to find in the midst of chaos and violence. Something that transcended operational necessity and tactical advantage.
Before she could respond, both their phones buzzed simultaneously, breaking the spell. Darkness’s message was simple.Meeting. Now. Bring your fed.
“Ex-fed,” they said simultaneously, then shared a look that was half amusement, half resignation—the kind of wordless communication they’d developed through weeks of operations together.
“Ready to face the music?” Hunter asked as they reluctantly separated, bodies cooling as they dressed with practiced efficiency.
Eden checked her weapons out of habit, movements automatic despite the lingering satisfaction in her muscles. “With you watching my back? Always.”
They stepped out into the pre-dawn darkness, leaving behind the wreckage of their careful plans and complicated loyalties. Ahead lay uncertainty, danger, and the growing knowledge that some choices changed everything.
The plan they were about to present to Darkness was risky but necessary. Eden had spent the night outlining the strategy—using herself as bait to draw out Aleksander Romano.
“He won't show himself unless he thinks he has leverage,” she'd explained as Hunter studied the building schematics she'd spread across the bed. “He needs to believe he's in control.”
“I don't like it,” Hunter had said, his jaw tightening as he realized what she was proposing. “Too many variables.”
“But it's our best shot at getting into his command center,” she'd countered, her fingers tracing potential entry points. “Sometimes, the only way to find a shadow is to let it think it's caught you.”
Now they just needed to convince Darkness and King that the calculated risk was worth the reward.
