Page 16 of Securing Her Secrets
The second her soft body impacts mine, the frantic, rabid roaring in my head instantly quietens. I wrap my massive arms around her, burying my face in her damp hair, taking a deep, shuddering breath. She is my anchor. My peace. This is what I’m fighting to protect at all costs. Not just Rya, but our future. Our children. Our life together, growing old on the porch alternating between enjoying the sunset and hacking the rich to give to the poor. I can see all of it. Now I need to make it come true.
"Miller, please," she whispers against my chest, her voice trembling slightly. "You're ignoring me and brushing me off. I... Did I do something wrong? Did you… I don’t know, lose interest in me after everything we’ve done?”
The words tear through my gut, sharp as shrapnel. I pull back, cradling her face in my rough hands, forcing her brown eyes to lock onto mine.Lose interest?The very idea is laughable, a sick joke my mind plays while I’m trying to keep the world from ending for her. I want to tell her the truth—that she isthe only thing currently tethered to my sanity—but the mission’s demands are a cold, iron cage locking that confession away.
Every instinct in my DNA screams to drag her into the corner, to lock her in my arms and keep her there until the danger passes, to hoard her like the most precious commodity in this burning world. But that possessiveness is a jagged edge, and I have to dull it. If I give in to the desperate, primitive urge to just hold her, I’ll never let her go. And if I don’t let go, she dies.
I force my grip on her face to remain steady, masking the tremor of my own restraint. I have to be the machine. I have to be the weapon. "Look at me, Rya. Look at me, baby girl. I am completely and utterly in love with you. I’m consumed by thoughts of you; I’m a man possessed. You are the most precious thing in my existence, do you hear me?” Big brown eyes blink up at me, the tears slowly receding as she takes in my words. “I’m so fucking sorry I made you doubt that for even a fraction of a second."
I kiss her fiercely, pouring every ounce of my obsessive devotion into it, tasting her sweetness and trying to memorize it, all while my brain is coldly calculating exit vectors and threat assessments. It’s a brutal duality. My heart is hers, completely and ruinously, but my hands have to stay lethal.
When I pull back, I keep my palms flat against her shoulders, using the physical distance to snap myself back into the mission. "The file you found proved the Syndicate is more dangerous and resourceful than we could have ever imagined. They’ve tracked our location, Rya. They’re coming here. Right now."
The words land like ice, forcing me to shift gears. My jaw locks, my focus sharpening into that singular, tunnel-vision intensity that has kept me alive this long. I have to compartmentalize her safety, locking it away in a vault of tactical procedure so I don’t get us both killed.
She swallows hard, but instead of panicking, her jaw sets. She nods, her inner strength shining through those gorgeous eyes. "Then let's show them they picked the wrong tech-nerds to mess with."
I reach for my tactical vest, but Rya’s hands catch the fabric before I can snap it closed. Her fingers are trembling, a stark contrast to the fierce determination in her eyes as she helps me adjust the straps across my shoulders. I don't pull away. I take her hands, pressing them over the gear to steady her, needing that one last touch to anchor me before I step into the cold.
"Look at me, Rya," I say, keeping my voice low and steady to cut through the hum of impending adrenaline. I point to the main terminal. "You stay right there. The cabin’s perimeter is reinforced with triple-redundant encryption, and I’ve hardwired the blast shutters to drop the second the alarm trips."
I guide her through the console, mapping out the kill zones and emergency protocols with precise, clinical detail. It’s not just a briefing; it’s a blueprint for her survival. With every switch I explain, I’m building a wall of steel around her, a physical manifestation of the obsession that's currently screaming to lock her away and never let her out of my sight.
"The moment I engage them, the house goes into total lockdown," I continue, tracing my thumb along the line of her jaw, memorizing the shape of her face. "You aren't just sitting in there, baby. You're the heart of this defense. You hold the controls, you keep the perimeter live, and you keep your head down. I need to know you’re untouchable inside, so I don't have to hesitate for even a heartbeat when I’m outside."
She grips my vest, pulling me down for a kiss that tastes like desperation and defiance. "I'll be the iron gate, Miller," she promises. "You just make sure you come back and open it."
"Always," I vow, my voice low and possessive. For the first time, my focus fractures; my brain is calculating tactical vectors, but my heart is already fighting to get back to her.
10
RYA
It’s a little after midnight, and the silence inside the fortified cabin is heavy enough to suffocate. I’m sitting at the command terminal, my eyes scanning the external camera grids, while Miller stands near the door, a dark, silent shadow holding his customized weapon.
The tension is like a living, breathing presence in the room with us, but neither Miller nor I make a sound. We’ve been waiting, silently preparing, reading ourselves for the moment of the attack. I’m wound so tight I swear I could snap from hearing a pin drop.
Suddenly, the bottom-left monitor flickers. Just a tiny glitch in the infrared sweep, but my hacker senses instantly scream. I click furiously around the code, my blood turning to fire. "Miller,” I alert him, my voice quiet and yet sharp in the still night air. “The external camera feeds are looping. Someone is overriding the local routing node."
In less than a heartbeat, Miller’s entire stance and being changes. The protective, tender man who cradled my face earlier disappears, replaced by a deadly, stealthy predator. His blue eyes harden to steel and his jaw is set in a harsh line as heclenches his teeth. A ripple runs through his muscles, each one flexing as if waking up and reporting for duty.
My ex-military bodyguard is on high alert, all of the instincts and skills he’s honed in his life now being used to ensure my safety. We’re on the brink of an attack, yet I can’t help but take a second to appreciate how fucking hot Miller is when he’s on high alert. His tactical gear covering his taut muscles, the strained muscles in his neck, the flex of his forearm as he palms his gun…
"Stay on the terminal, baby girl. Keep the locks live," his parting whisper echoes in the room, pulling me from my inappropriate thoughts. Without another word, he checks his weapon and slips out the heavy side door into the pitch-black night, moving with a terrifying, silent grace.
My fingers fly across the keys as I fight for control of our network. The Syndicate hackers are good, but I’m a digital Robin Hood, and I’m protecting my home. I tap into the perimeter defense matrix, locking and unlocking strategic gates to funnel the attackers right into Miller’s path.
We make an incredible team, if I do say so myself. We could help so many people with our hacker skills and Miller’s deadly presence. Despite the seriousness of the situation, I’m picturing Miller helping me free animals from a kill shelter, and then punching a predatory landlord so he can’t keep raising the rent on families who can’t afford it. All in a day’s work for Rya and Miller, the dream team.
A sound from the external audio feeds rips through the small, dark space, clearing my head of everything outside of this moment.
I almost don’t believe the primal, rabid roar I’m hearing could come from Miller, but I know deep in my bones it’s him. This is what he turns into when someone threatens the most important thing to him. There are muffled shouts, the brutalsound of bone snapping, and low, feral snarls ripping from my man’s throat as he completely neutralizes the threat.
It’s violent, primitive, and terrifying—and as completely fucked up as it is, hearing him go absolute beast-mode to protect me has me so insanely turned on I’m literally squirming in my seat. My core throbs with a wild, primal heat. He ismyalpha predator. My beast. My shield against anything and everything.
I finally smash through the hacker's breach, regaining absolute control of the security cameras. I quickly override an external camera pan, pointing it toward the dark tree line to check on him.
My breath catches. Through the night-vision lens, I see Miller wrestling a massive operative to the ground, his strength a brutal force to be reckoned with. I’m so mesmerized by Miller’s perfect execution of strength, I almost miss it. Further back in the shadows, a second man is creeping up slowly behind Miller’s blind spot, raising a silenced rifle.
