Chapter 26

The alarm pierced the quiet like a slap.

Sutton jolted, blinking hard as the sound cut through the thick fog in her head. The noise wasn’t deafening, but it was sharp and urgent. It snapped her back to the here and now with brutal clarity.

Saved by the bell.

She looked over Luca’s shoulder toward her workstation, the red light flashing on the security panel.

“Shit,” she muttered.

Luca stood quickly, already alert, already all business again. But when he turned to look at her, there was something softer lingering in his eyes. Something that she had never seen in him before.

“You okay?” he asked.

Sutton nodded, even though her body ached and her thighs still felt shaky. “Yeah. Just... give me a second.”

She pulled her dress down as best she could and stood slowly, ignoring the dull ache that followed. Her underwear was gone. Didn’t matter. Her limbs were jelly, her head still going over everything that had passed between them. She moved toward