She moved closer to him, snuggling her nose into his ear. “What’s going on?” she whispered, sending heat zinging through his body right to his groin.

He shook his head and rolled onto his side to face her. There was no way to know how strong a bug might be. So he kissed her, making noise.

She started and then kissed him back, moving into him. Not what he’d expected. He lightened the kiss before he completely lost his mind and rolled her onto her back and took what he needed. Instead, he moved his mouth against hers, forming the word “bug.”

Against all rational thought, she burst out laughing, her mouth warm against his.

Amusement took him, and he smiled. Okay. Not his most seductive moment, he could admit.

She caressed the side of his bruised face. “My dad?”

Raider barely kept from prodding the bruise. How had they not had a chance to talk about this? Way too much had happened. “Yes. Sucker punch to the head and then I woke up in a field in the rain.” He didn’t care if Eddie tried to decipher that statement.

“I’m sorry.” Brigid explored his cheekbone down to his now-whiskered jaw.

“He wants to protect you,” Raider whispered, wanting to do the same thing. Even if it was from himself.

She leaned in and kissed him. “I don’t need protecting.”

Ah, but she did. Even though she’d been in trouble for hacking, she still hadn’t seen the darker side of life. Not really. Now she was making a move in a situation where they needed to keep their minds alert and ready to fight. That was sweet and naïve in a way that touched him much deeper than he liked.

But the first time he had sex with her, he wasn’t going to have an audience.

His phone buzzed, and he reached for it, his eyebrows rising at seeing it was a call and not a text. He put it to his ear. “Tanaka,” he whispered as quietly as he could.

“Hey. It’s Force. We have a problem. The stuff isn’t in the grave where Sean said it’d be.” A tractor droned in the distance.

Raider breathed deep, keeping his body and voice as calm as possible. “Copy that.”

Force muttered something beneath his breath. “This is a shitshow. We’re not going to have anything by the deadline in the morning. I don’t want to storm the house, even if HDD will give us resources, because that’d tip off Eddie. But if you want me to, I’ll do it. We can sabotage the case and then try to break him.”

Eddie didn’t seem easy to break. Raider closed his eyes for a moment. “No. We’ll just talk to you in the morning. Good work tonight.” He’d have to get Brigid out of there somehow.

“You sure?” Force asked.