𝐕𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐚 | ✎

𝐱𝐱𝐢

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𝐇𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐬
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"What do you say we get out of here?" I listen through the ear piece.

"But I just got here," Phoenix whines.

"C'mon baby..." I internally roll my eyes at this guy. I hear Aziel start singing Take a Hint from Victorious.

"Aziel if you don't shut the fuck up," Phoenix mumbles into her drink.

"Need some assistance chérie?" I chuckle.

We're at Alek's (Andrey's right hand man) event for other criminals like him. Aziel and Aspen are supposed to be distracting Alek, while Phoenix and I go upstairs to find Alek's office and try to find vital information, like where some of their warehouses and other stuff are.

But we can't really do that right now, while this guy is trying to get Phoenix in bed with him.

"Nope, I think I can manage," She whispers.

"Stop letting your pride get in the way of this mission." I scoff, "We should've been upstairs five minutes ago."

She looks over at me and nods curtly while her fist clenches her champagne glass. I internally smile.

"Just follow my lead," I say into the ear piece as I walk over. Then I turn it off because I don't need Aspen and Aziel hearing this. They'll make fun of us 'til the day we die.

Once I reach Phoenix I wrap my arm around her waist. She stiffens slightly, but easily slips into following my lead. She smiles up at me but I see the questioning and distaste in her green eyes. I bring my hand to her hair and tuck it behind her ear while simultaneously turning off her ear piece.

I feel Phoenix's "companion" staring at us, so I whisper in her ear, "How else are we going to get upstairs without any suspicions?"

I can tell she knows what I'm getting at because she whispers back, "By playing the in lust couple..." She just barely holds back her cringe.

Trust me, I hate this as much as you.

I smile at her and pull her closer to me. Finally I look up at the guy like I just noticed him. "Oh hey," I nod at him as Phoenix puts her hand on my chest, her soft hand curls around the the clothing covering my chest.

"Hey man," He looks me up and down, "Who are you?"

"My boyfriend," Phoenix answers for me. He looks over at her and I see the anger in his eyes.

"Are you fucking with me?" His clenches his fists, "You were flirting with me and you have a boyfriend?"

"Actually, I was just trying to have a drink," She furrows her brows lifting her drink.

"Whatever, bitch." He rolls his eyes. Phoenix scoffs at him. I grab his shoulder just as he's about to walk away. He winces at my tight grip.

"Let's not call women bitches when you don't get what you want," I smile at him, but it's a threatening one. He looks like he wants to say something else, but before he can, I interrupt him as anger simmers in my gut, "Leave."

He rolls his eyes at me and heads somewhere else (probably another girl to try and get laid).

I turn back to Phoenix and see her looking somewhere else. "What is it?"

"I think Alek's looking over here," She mumbles.

"So you're staring back at him?" I ask like she's dumb.

"Sorry," She winces. I push her so her back is against the bar.

"Is he still looking?" I ask.

"Kinda." She looks over at me. I smirk at her and my head dips down to her neck.

"What are you doing?" She whispers.

"Just playing the in lust couple Phénix," I mumble before my lips attach to her neck. I feel her stiffen so I thread my hand through her hair silently telling her to relax and that it's all part of the plan. She needs to look like she's enjoying it for this to work. If not, they'll follow us upstairs and we'll get caught.

I lick the skin on her neck and I feel her shiver. It makes me smile, and I know she feels it because she laces her hands through my hair tugging a little to hard. I lightly bite her neck in return. She subconsciously rocks her hips against mine, and it takes all my will power not to groan. I grip her waist tighter.

I suck on the spot right by her ear and a breathy moan escapes her lips, bringing me back to that night in the motel room.

I know we said that was a one time thing, but this is for a mission so it doesn't really count...right?

But I love seeing the way she reacts to my touch, -the way her body jerks and the sounds that leave her lips, like right now, makes me smug as hell- even though she says she hates me. It feels like a challenge, and I love it.

Just to rile her up more, I roll my hips into hers and trail my hand up her red gown to her thigh. I hear her sharp inhale and her breathing starts to deepen.

"Okay, I think we can go now," Phoenix's voice is scratchy. Just for good measure I trail my lips up her neck, reaching her ear. I take her earlobe between my teeth and nibble on it gently and her fists in my hair and on my shirt tighten.

I pull away from her, "Let's go," I put my hand on the small of her back, leading her towards the doors. She clings onto my bicep and I feel her deep breaths, trying to calm herself down. It makes me smirk as I turn on my earpiece as we walk across the room towards the doors.

"I can't believe it!" Aziel's words are the first thing I hear.

"I wish we got that on video!" Aspen wheezes.

"Hey, can you guys try not to blow your cover?" I interrupt them as we walk out of the doors and into the long hallway.

"There never gonna let us live that down." Phoenix mumbles.

"Nope." I hear a snort on Aziel's end.

"Okay, whatever, just do your job and make sure Alek doesn't leave that room. Got it?" Phoenix tells them seriously

"Got it," They say at the same time, sobering up. We walk into the elevator and press the top floor. Aspen found blue prints to the building yesterday and showed us the layout of it, so we know exactly where to go.

There's still some tension as we wait for the elevator to go to the top floor so I break it taking off my ear piece. Phoenix looks over and takes off hers too. "What?" She asks.

"How are your stitches?"

If she's shocked by my question she doesn't show it. She takes a second before answering, "They're fine. They don't hurt as much as they used too." She pauses before saying, "How are you so good at stitching?"

I shrug, "They taught us at the agency."

"Well yeah obviously but," She rolls her eyes like it pains her to say her next sentence, "Even my stitches aren't that good."

"Wow, is that a compliment chérie?" I smirk, she flips me off making my grin widen. "Have you ever watched that one doctor show?" I ask her.

"Doc Mcstuffins?" She smiles.

Despite myself, I burst out laughing, remembering how she called me that when I was stitching her up. She stares at me -with something in her gaze that I refuse to acknowledge-, biting her lip to contain her smile. "No, Grey's Anatomy."

"Nope, that show is way too long." Her eyes widen and she laughs, "You watch that show?"

"No," I chuckle, "My sister does, she makes me watch it with her every now and then. It's not half bad you know."

"You have a sister?" Phoenix asks in shock.

"Yeah, I've literally seen you talk to her before." I raise a brow at her. "Fayette?"

"Fay's your sister?" She gapes, "No," She drags out the word, "I actually like her. What happened to you? I mean, she's so nice and you're...you know..."

Trauma.

"Yeah, she's the nice one," I say instead, "Anyway you'll probably need to take them out soon, the stitches." I tell her changing the topic back to her.

"Okay Doctor Hayes." She says as the elevator doors spring open. We walk out in a long white hallway. I start walking right. I stop mid step, when I realize Phoenix isn't following me. I turn around and see her going the other way.

"Where are you going?" I ask.

She spins around like she just noticed I wasn't following her either, "His office is this way."

"No, I clearly remember that we have to go right," I tell her.

She shakes her head at me, "No it's definitely left."

"No it's not."

"Yes it is."

I stare at her clenching my jaw. She stares back at me with her arms crossed over her form fitting dress. I roll my eyes and turn my ear piece back on. "Aspen, for Phoenix's sake," I say just to rile her up. Her jaw drops and if looks could kill... "Do we go left or right once we get on the floor?"

There's a pause before she answers, "Are you guys seriously fighting right now?"

"Of course they are," I hear Aziel answer, "It's Phoenix and Hayes,"

"I literally said you guys could go either way. They both lead to the back of the floor where his office is. They both take the same amount of time to get to the office, just pick one and go. Good luck." Aspen tells us, then I hear a muting sound on her end.

"I'll be the bigger person," I hide my grin, "Let's go left," I gesture and start walking towards her.

"If we had time, I would so break your nose again," Phoenix mumbles turning around and walking down the hallway.

"See, I'm being the bigger person by not saying anything," I have to rub my jaw to hide my smirk. I see her shoulders elevate and then lower, like she really is trying to keep herself from breaking my nose again.

"I can't even believe I let you touch me back there," She mutters with her fists clenched.

"It's for the mission sweetheart," I tell her.

"Yeah, that's the last time that's happening again, got it?" She looks over her shoulder at me.

"Uh-huh, got it chérie," I look down at her.

She rolls her eyes at me and looks forward again as we make a left, "Let's just focus,"

We continue our way down the hallway, following the mental path from the blue prints in our heads down to Alek's office.

"I think we're almost there," I mumble as we're about to turn the corner. Just before Phoenix makes a right down the hallway, I hear voices. I swiftly pull her back by her shoulder and push her against the wall. I put my finger to my lips signaling for her to be quiet. Her eyes are wide like she heard the voices to.

We stay silent for a second waiting for the voices again. After a beat we hear fast speaking Russian men. The voices sound closer than they were before. Much closer.

"Shit," She whispers. She turns her head and sees a door next to us, testing the handle, the door opens and she pulls me inside quickly. She shuts the door behind us, enclosing us in the dark. I squint and look around, noticing that we're in a very small storage closet.

Phoenix is pressed up against the door and I try to give her more room, but there's barely any space for two people in here. She must notice this too because her eyes widen.

"They'll be gone before you know it," I try to appease her. She turns her head putting her ear to the door to listen to the hallway. The action exposes her neck to me, we're barely two inches apart in this small closet, if I just leaned down, my lips could connect with her neck.

I take a deep breath at my dark thoughts, but that only makes it worse, because her perfume fills my senses, smelling like jasmine and vanilla. I clench my jaw.

Phoenix turns her head towards me, "Can you not smell me, you creep,"

"Phoenix, we're in a storage closet that was definitely not made for more than one person to be in here, I'm literally just breathing and you're only two inches away from me," I argue with her while still trying to be quiet. Just then we hear the voices get louder.

Eager to hear what they're saying, Phoenix turns around to face the door, while putting her back to me.

As well as her ass.

I try not to think about it and concentrate on the voices, but it's so hard to when there's barely any room between my dick and her ass.

Now your definitely a creep, Hayes.

"Do you speak Russian?" Phoenix asks turning her head towards me, making her body shift against me.

I look up at her, clearing my throat, "Hmm?"

"Do you speak Russian?" She repeats.

"Yeah, but they're speaking so fast it'll take me a second to understand what they're talking about," I answer, "Do you?"

"Mhm," She mumbles.

Of course she does, she's been training for this mission for years.

"Не могу поверить, что Андрей заставит меня работать завтра. Я уже столько поработал на этой неделе." The voices are just outside the door now.
Translation: I can't believe Andrey is making me work the job tomorrow. I've already worked so much this week.

"По крайней мере, ты один из его любимцев." Another voice jumps in.
Translation: At least you're one of his favorites.

"Был ли это шкаф, из которого Алек хотел, чтобы мы достали вещи?" The first man says. His voice sounds like it's right in front of the door.
Translation: Is this the closet Alek wanted us to get the stuff from?

"Shit," Phoenix mouths, stepping away from the door and closer to me. I finally take a good look around the room and notice that we're in a closet full of drugs and other narcotics.

"Fuck," I whisper. Phoenix's mouth is parted in shock as she looks around the closet too. She continues to press her body against mine in panic, while she reaches for her gun under her dress.

"Нет, это то, что он потом продает Ивану. Тот, который он хочет продать сегодня вечером, находится в другом коридоре." The other guy answers him. At that Phoenix relaxes slightly.
Translation: No, that's the stuff he's selling to Ivan later. The one he wants to sell tonight is in the other hallway.

"Единственная особенность любимца Андрея в том, что он позволяет мне трахать его сучку, когда я захочу." The voices start to move away. I can't make out what the guys said because he said it too fast. But whatever it was made Phoenix as stiff as a board in front of me. I look down at her, and her mouth is parted and her fists are clenched.

"Phoenix?" I whisper.

"Который из? У него так много." The other guy cackles.

"Самый горячий. Очевидно," The first one laughs.

"Селия?" The guy snorts.

"Конечно. Как она кричит, так жарко." He cackles. They say something else but their voices start to drift away until eventually they disappear.

"Phoenix?" I nudge her again. Her hand is against her chest but other than that she's frozen in place. She doesn't even look like she's breathing.

"Phoe?" I say louder again, "What did they say?"

She's quiet for a few seconds before she whispers, almost as if she physically can't speak any louder, "Nothing."

I'm not gonna continue on this mission if she's gonna be distracted by something they said the whole time. Whatever they said must've struck deep because I've never seen her this disconcerted before. "No, they obviously said something that bothered you." My knuckles accidently brush hers.

There's a moment of silence before a loud sob breaks out of her and her hands cover her mouth. "They- They...I-" She starts hyperventilating and her hand clutches her chest like her heart is literally shattering.

I quickly turn her around to face me and there are tears pouring down her face. "Phoenix what the fuck just happened?" Her hand claws at her chest as another sob breaks from her.

I've never seen Phoenix cry before, but seeing the mess of tears pouring down her cheeks tugs at something foreign in me and I hate it. I suspected that I made her cry when we met with Cole a little over 2 weeks ago to prepare for the mission and I asked if her mom was even alive. After she left I felt like such a dick. Director wouldn't even look at me for the rest of the meeting, I think he was really pissed at me.

A choked cry leaves her lips, "I-I knew that it was possible but-" She doesn't finish her sentence as she continues to hyperventilate. She's not looking at me.

I grab her face between my hands. "Phoenix, please, breathe." She won't calm down and her hand keeps scratching at her chest. I take her hands and put them down by her sides. I grab her face again and make her look at me. Another choked sob leaves her lips and she tries to grab at her chest again but I shake my head at her. "In," I tell her.

I don't think she hears me, "Phoenix." Her eyes dart to mine. "In." Her chest rises in a shaky inhale and I do it with her. "Hold," I pause for a beat, "Out," Her chest deflates in an exhale. "Good. Again." I murmur and my thumbs sub consciously strokes her cheek. Her chest slowly rises to its peak, holds for a few seconds, and then exhales. "Again"

She does this a few more times until she's not hyperventilating anymore but she's still crying. I try to rub her tears away as best as I can, but there's make up pouring down her face. I take her purse and find a bag of make up wipes in there. I pull one out and put it back in her purse.

I wipe the tissue below her eyes and take a look at her. She's staring off into space, probably processing whatever she just heard. Once I've cleaned up the mess on her face. I put the makeup wipe in my pocket and take a deep breath.

"Are you gonna tell me what happened?" I murmur.

"We don't have time," She sniffles and turns around to leave the small room. But I grab her hand just as she reaches for the door.

"Yes we do. Aspen and Aziel will make sure of it," I whisper in her ear. "You're gonna be distracted for the rest of the mission. What happened?"

Her chest collapses again. "I thought you spoke Russian,"

"I do," I answer, "But they were talking too fast in the last half of their conversation."

She takes a deep breath before she speaks again, "They were talking about my mom."

My stomach sinks but I wait for her to continue.

"They said 'The only good thing about being Andrey's favorite is that I get to fuck his bitch whenever I want'. Then the other guy asked, 'Which one?'" Her voice trembles, "And the guy answers 'The hottest one'. The other guy asked if it was Celia. The first guy tells him 'Of course. The way she screams for-"

I flip Phoenix around again and interrupt her, "You don't have to finish." Tears line her eyes and she takes in a shaky breath. "I'm sorry." I say sincerely.

"Yeah, so am I," She whispers. I stare into her eyes for a second taking this all in. There's a moment of silence and understanding between us.

"Aspen and Aziel don't need to know about this," Phoenix wipes her eyes and turns around. She opens the door, letting the bright light shine in on us from the hallway. I almost want to say something else but I don't know what. "Let's go. We need to hurry now. Tell Aspen and Aziel to distract Alek a little longer." It's like she flipped a switch and is back in mission mode now.

I step out of the tiny room and close the door behind me. We start making our way towards Alek's office again. I speak into the ear piece, "How does it look right now guys?"

"It's great. He doesn't look like he's leaving anytime soon. He's talking with business partners. We haven't needed the chance to distract him yet." Aziel answers.

"Good." I say, "There was a fork in the rode, but it's all good now. We're on the way to Alek's office now."

"What-"

"I'll explain later," I interrupt Aziel. Phoenix and I make a left and come up to a large set of double doors.

"This should be it," She mumbles.

"I'll let you know if he's on his way up." Aziel speaks.

Phoenix gets down on her knees and pulls out a lock pick from her bra and starts to pick the lock on the office door. She fiddles with it quickly before we hear a click, signaling that the door is unlocked.

She stands up and we both pull out our guns and step to either side of the large doors. We grab the door handle on our sides and Phoenix mouths a countdown. Once she gets to one, we quickly open the doors and bring our guns up, checking to see if the room is empty. Thankfully it is.

"Check everywhere." Phoenix rushes over to the desk while putting her gun back in her thigh garter, "We need to know as much as we can,"

I walk over to the bookshelves lining one wall of the room as I put my gun back in my blazer. One shelf is filled with binders. I pull one out and I here typing on a keyboard at the desk behind me as Phoenix searches his computer.

"Fuck." She whispers.

"What?" I mutter distractedly as I flip through the binder. It's just a list of all the people who work for Andrey. We already have all that, thanks to Director. I close it and slip it back on the shelf.

"It has a password," Phoenix says as I turn my head towards her.

"Let me see," I walk over towards the desk. I lean over her and attempt to type in a password. I feel her stiffen as my breath hits her neck.

I press enter but the word, incorrect, flash on the screen.

"Yeah, his passwords definitely gonna be Isuckdicks69." She rolls her eyes, "If anything his password would be in Russian.

"Okay, then what's 'I suck dicks' in Russian." I get ready to type it in.

She then shoves me away, "Stop fucking around." I hear a slight smile in her voice. She pulls a trash can out from under his desk and she lets out a snort.

"What?" I ask curiously.

"Come here," She sounds off as she puts the trash can on the desk.

With one brow raised, I step up next to her, "Look." She tells me. I peer into the bin and see a used condom and cringe. Just as I'm about to pull back, Phoenix puts both of her hands on my head and attempts to shove my head into the bin.

Before she gets to chance to shove my face into Alek's used condom, I swiftly grab her wrists from behind me and spin her around so her back is to my chest. I pin her arms to her torso and breath sharpens.

Phoenix definitely could've countered that.

"Very funny chérie." I whisper against the curve of her exposed ear. "I thought you said to stop fucking around?"

"Yeah, clearly Alek didn't get the memo." She jokes again as barely there smile lines curve her cheeks. I hate the feeling that enters my chest and stomach, knowing she's feeling better after what happened in the hallway less than five minute ago.

At my distracted thoughts, she escapes my hold and she's suddenly serious again. "Okay, for real, no more fucking around."

"The password could be in one of these binders," I tell her as I walk over to the shelf lined wall. I pick up another binder.

"Or in this notebook..." Phoenix trails. Her eyebrows raise and she opens up to a page. "Alek is either really dumb or just didn't think that his office would get hijacked tonight because..." She flips the notebook towards me and at the top of the page it reads Пароли which translates to Passwords.

I shake my head at his stupidity as I turn back to the binder in my hands. I hear typing on the keyboard behind me and then a mumble of triumph, signaling that Phoenix got into Alek's computer.

I open up the binder and pages of blue prints of different warehouses.

"What's that?" Phoenix asks.

"Blue prints of all their different warehouses." I smirk as I walkover to the desk. I pull out my phone and start taking pictures of the pages.

"Do you have the thing Aspen and Aziel gave us?" She puts her hand out. I nod pulling it out from my blazer pocket and handing it to her. Aspen and Aziel worked together and made a device that will plug into Alek's computer to make a copy of all the data. So when it's plugged into another computer, we'll see everything that was there at the time of the scan.

She plugs it into the USB port and a window pops up on the screen showing that the data collection is only one percent done.

"This is probably gonna take a while," She sighs as she puts the trash can back under Alek's desk. She continues to tidy up his desk so nothing looks out of place.

"Help me look through the binders," I suggest, seeing as there's plenty more to go through. She walks over to the shelves as I continue to take pictures of the outlines of all their warehouses. In the corner of each of the pages, I notice something that makes a grin grace my face.

Phoenix comes over with a binder from the shelf and notices my smile, "Why are you smiling?" She asks with an eyebrow arched.

"There are addresses for the buildings on the corners of the pages," I inform her. Her lips tug up for a second and then lower again, almost like the doesn't want to be smiling at something with me. My grin grows at that. She rolls her eyes and then opens up the binder that's in her hands.

After a few minutes, I finally finish taking pictures of all the layouts of the warehouses. I notice Phoenix hasn't said anything about the binder she's looking at. I look up and see her brows furrowed in a frown.

"What's that one on?" I ask. I think she forgot I was in the room with her because her head snaps up to mine quickly.

She clears her throat before answering, "Pictures of...girls." She exhales, "I think it's the ones that they've kidnapped or trafficked, but something tells me this isn't all of them."

"Shit," I murmur.

"I'll send these pictures to Director to put in the data base," She waves to her phone. I nod as I go to put the binder back.

"Shit, shit, shit," I hear through the ear piece.

Phoenix and I share a tense look.

"What?" Phoenix asks through her ear piece while still looking at me.

"God damn it, He's on his way up now with two other men." Aziel answers.

"Can't you try to distract him again?" I question as my jaw clenches.

Aziel mumbles another curse as Aspen responds for him, "We've tried. We were talking with him a little too long, he's gonna suspect something's up if we try again." Aspen exhales roughly, "I doubt I could hack into the building system in time to stop the elevators either."

"How much time do you think we have?" Phoenix asks as she rushes over to the computer. She waves at me to keep looking through the binders. I pull another one off the shelf and head over to the desk as Phoenix unplugs the device Aziel and Aspen made. She hands it back to me to put it back in my jacket, she nods signaling it's done it's job.

"I don't know..." Aspen pauses thinking, "Maybe less than five minutes."

"Okay, start the countdown then," Phoenix mumbles in concentration as she searches through the desk drawers.

"What the fuck? You guys need to get out now," Aziel says.

"Where's the fun in that?" I smirk as I hear him sigh. I flip through the new binder in my hands and see a bunch of words. It takes me a minute to process that this is record of all their deals. I briskly pull out my phone and start taking pictures of each of the pages.

"What's that one?" She asks me as she rummages through one of his drawers.

"All of their deals..." I respond, snapping another picture.

"Do you think it has future ones too?" She muses.

"Maybe..." I mumble.

When I'm halfway through the binder, Aspen hastily says, "Okay you guys have probably less than three minutes,"

"Please tell me you guys are getting out of there now," I can almost see his wince.

"Soon..." Phoenix says distractedly.

"Oh my God...Director's gonna kill me for letting you die," Aziel says.

"We're not gonna die." Phoenix rolls her eyes, "Now stop distracting us,"

I take a picture of the last page in the binder and put it back on the shelf, I make sure all the binders are aligned neatly like they were before. I look at the remaining binders that we haven't looked at yet and sigh. There's no way we're gonna be able to look through all of these in time.

I turn around and say, "We gotta go."

"I know..." She trails, "But what if we're missing something important."

"Yeah I know, but we won't ever be able to get that important information if we die," I walk over to the desk and start straightening everything out.

"You guys have less than two minutes," Aspen says, "Aziel and I are gonna start leaving because obviously if we get seen together that'd be suspicious. But please tell me you guys are out of there."

Phoenix looks up at me as she closes the drawer, "Yeah, we're out," She lies, "Go ahead and leave, we'll see you back at the hotel."

"Oh thank fuck," Aziel exhales.

"Let's go." She stands up.

"You lied," I state the obvious.

"Really? Shit, I swear I thought we were out of his office," Phoenix's eyes widen in sarcasm. "I didn't want them worrying about us." She shrugs like it's nothing

I ignore the feeling that blooms in my chest at her caring because I'd rather focus on getting us the fuck out of here without getting caught.

We walk towards the doors of the office, listening for any voices outside. We hear nothing so we slowly open the doors and the hallway is clear. I step out first and Phoenix closes the door behind her. She pulls out the lock pick from her bra again, fiddling with the door so it locks again.

"Come on-" I start as I turn the corner of the hallway but stop immediately when I see Alek and two men turn the corner at the other end of the hallway. I swiftly turn around and press my back against the wall. I grab Phoenix as she's about to turn the corner, and press her against the wall with my arm.

"Shit," She whispers, obviously having seen Alek before I grabbed her.

I look down the other end of the hallway we're in, but it's a dead end with no other rooms to hide in but Alek's office.

We're so fucked.

I look over at Phoenix and she looks like she's trying to come up with solution to our issue, but only one sticks out in my mind and that idea only raises red flags for us.

Sighing, I move in front of Phoenix and her gaze snaps to mine, "What are you doing?" She asks.

"What's the first thing they teach us in the agency about circumstances like this?" I whisper.

She doesn't hesitate when she answers, "Blend in with your surroundings and use whatever you can to do so..." She trails off in realization of what I'm getting at. "Hayes-"

"Phoenix." I interrupt her, "This doesn't mean anything. And if your gonna spew some shit about rather dying then kissing me, I'd rather kiss you so we can both live to see tomorrow and so you can see your mom again." Her eyes widen and something softens in her look. She looks down at my lips biting her own.

"I'm not gonna force you to do something that you don't want to, but you better make a decision quick," I say as I hear their footsteps getting closer.

"Okay." She doesn't hesitate and puts her hands on my chest. I look down at her hands on me and pause. Now I'm the one hesitating.

This could fuck up shit between Phoenix and I. I've already gone into dangerous territory by kissing her neck more than one time. We both need to be focused on this mission and not stupidly lusting after each other or whatever the fuck is going on-

"Don't tell me you've gone all shy on me now," Phoenix's whisper right in my ear brings me out of my thoughts. I shudder as her warm breath hit the shell of my ear. She drags her lips down my cheek and to the edge of my jaw as I press into her more, pinning her between my body and the wall. She sighs as my hips make contact with hers. When she pulls away from me, our lips are only a few centimeters apart. Her warm breath fans across my parted lips.

She drags a hand to the nape of my neck and her other to my hair. One of my hands slide up her waist and the other grips her hair, pulling slightly. She lets out a small gasp as I bring our lips slightly closer. Want and desire mingle in her gaze as she stares at my lips. The pleasure that courses through me as I delay what she wants the most right now has me gripping her tighter.

Ever so slightly, I brush my lips against hers. It's barely even a touch, but it sends her hips arching against mine.

I'm enjoying this a little too much.

"Hayes," She whimpers in need but also warning as we hear Alek and his men getting closer.

I breath out a dark chuckle against her lips, brushing mine against hers again as I whisper, "Let's make it convincing chérie."

And then her soft lips finally connect with mine.

♚♚♚

AHHH they're finally kissing!!

I've literally had this scene planned in my head for SO long now. Like this was one of the first scenes that I've had in my head when I first had the idea for this book, because the trope where they have to kiss so they don't get caught is just so >>>>>

I'm not gonna lie, I've out done my expectations for this

If this chapter gets enough love, I might upload the next one sooner!

Also I'm sorry this took so long, I haven't had much time to write because of Christmas and all that, and then I had a major migraine the other day.

But here's the last chapter of the year! I hope you've all had a happy holidays!

Thank you all so much for reading I love you all so much <3

P.S this is literally the longest chapter I've ever written so I hope you all enjoyed xx