“Hey! What the hell!”
I came to, snapping out of the spell of my training and instincts. Once I was back in the moment, I looked down to see that it wasn’t some international assassin that I’d put in an arm lock—it was Vic.
“Aye, sorry, Princess.” I let her go. She wasted no time putting some distance between us, then turned around to look at me with fire in her eyes.
“What the hell was that about?” she asked, her chest rising up and down, the loose fabric of her shirt draped over her large breasts.
She was dressed in nothing but a T-shirt and very skimpy sleeping shorts. Her hair was done up in a simple ponytail that made her look effortlessly sexy. It was impossible not to ogle her, even with the furious expression she wore on her gorgeous face.
I shook my head, doing my best to break the spell of what had just happened.
“What the hell was that about, you ask,” I said with exasperation. “Vic, you just snuck up on me in the middle of the night, in the middle of thedark! What on earth did you think was going to happen.”
The anger faded from her face, a look of understanding taking its place.
“You looked like you were very deep in thought. I didn’t want to bother you.”
I laughed. The intensity of the situation was fading, replaced by a keen awareness of its absurdity.
“I know you’ve been handling yourself damn well during training, but did you really think you were going to sneak by me like that? I’m pretty good at listening for these kinds of things, you know. Years of experience and practice and all that.”
Her face fell, and she seemed to realize that she was in the wrong in this situation.
“Next time, just give me a little shout before you try to sneak around. Fewer bruises that way.” I followed this up with a grin, to let her know there were no hard feelings.
She raised her finger. “Maybe next timeI’llbe the one to giveyoubruises.”
That got a laugh out of me. “You might be right, lass. You’re a pretty damn good student, to be honest.”
I stepped toward the counter and picked up my glass of water.
“Anyway, I’ll let you get to it.”
A sheepish expression took hold of her face. “There was, um, another reason why I didn’t want you to hear me.”
“What’s that, lass? Come down for a little nip of whiskey you didn’t want anyone to know about?” Just the mention of the drink was enough to make my mouth water. With the way the mission was going, there was a damn good chance I wouldn’t be getting a taste of it for a good, long while.
“Not exactly,” she said, a slyness taking hold of her mouth. “Something else I was planning to sneak.”
Without another word, she stepped over to the fridge and opened it. Vic bent down to grab whatever she was going for, her shorts so short that the bottom of her perfect ass was visible for a few quick seconds, and my cock twitched in response to the sight.
When she turned, she held in her hands a bottle of milk and a different container, this one holding the cookies she’d made earlier that afternoon.
“Ah,” I said, getting it. “A little midnight snack.”
She put the container on the kitchen island, then stepped over to the cupboard and grabbed a mug.
“One for you?” she asked, holding a second mug out for me.
“Ah, why the hell not?”
Once back at the island, she poured two mugs of ice-cold milk, then put a pair of cookies on a napkin for each of us.
“Cheers,” she said, raising her mug.
“What’re we drinking to?” I asked. “It’s not a toast unless we’ve got something to cheers to.”
“Hmm. How about…to not accidentally breaking each other’s arms in the middle of the night.”