1.

Something was wrong.

Even in my sleep, I could sense it. It was just that feeling that spies get; the feeling that someone is watching you. I slowly opened my eyes, but the pitch black didn't tell me anything. I could still feel the warm sheets around me and smell the Glade Plug-In of my room. But something was off.

A hand came down on my leg to keep me from kicking, another hand went over my mouth, and the intruder's body kept my arms from moving. I was about to bite him when the voice reached my ear, low and tenor. "Bite me and I'll bite you back. Hard."

I smiled as the hand uncovered my mouth. "Hey, Nate."

I felt him crawl into the bed beside me, one arm around my waist and the other arm under my head. I could smell his sweet cologne and his shampoo and feel his warm breath on my neck. It felt so right, and I immediately closed my eyes to revel in it for as long as I could. His breath tickled my ear, "School starts in a week."

"Yeah," I said. "Senior year. Can you even believe it?"

He chuckled softly. "Yeah, I can. Soon, we'll be out in the real world."

My voice was dreamy. "Can't wait."

He exhaled a laugh. "Terrorists, here we come."

I laughed under my breath. "And we'll still move in together, right?"

I felt him nod against my shoulder. "Absolutely. I mean, if you're not too worried about your parents." We had kept our relationship a secret from everyone. My roommates, my parents, my aunt and uncle…everyone in the spy business. No one knew that we had even met. It had been at the mall one day and…well…we got close. At first, I pushed him away all the time, but he somehow broke all of my carefully built barriers down. He was the one I trusted without a shadow of a doubt. He was the one that knew me the best, even over my family and best friends.

Spies keep secrets. "They won't find out."

"And if they do?"

"Then they do," I replied confidently. "I'll be eighteen; a legal adult. They can't do anything about it."

I could feel him smile against my neck. "I love you, Layla Goode."

"And I love you, Nathan Rivers."

He began to trail feather-light kisses down my neck, along my jaw line. The hand that had been around my waist began to move up and down my side slowly, making me shiver. "Nate," I whispered.

"Yeah?"

"How hard was it to get in here?"

He moved my hair and kissed my neck. "Not too bad. It took me about an hour and a half to hack the security system."

"You hacked it?" I asked. Nate was an incredible spy, but hacking wasn't his strong suit. And my parents were very cautious about their security system.

"Well," he admitted. "I tried to at first, for about forty-nine minutes, and then I just called Seth."

I smiled. Seth Newberry was an absolute genius, and he was one of Nate's roommates. "I see."

"He says 'hi'."

I exhaled a laugh. "Good. Tell him 'hi' for me. It's been a while."

I had met all of Nate's roommates –Seth, James, and Landon – when Nate had brought them with him to the mall one day. I never did find out where they stayed during the summer, but Nate never seemed to have a problem getting to my house, so I didn't press him about it. I knew that he went on a lot of summer missions, so that meant that the other boys did, too.

"Will do," Nate said, still kissing my neck.

"I guess he didn't mind you bothering him at two in the morning?"

I felt his smile against my skin. "He was already up, cracking some new NSA codes. He was actually happy for the break."

"Those codes are getting harder and harder," I agreed.

"I don't bore myself with NSA codes," Nate told me. "I have other things to occupy my time." He moved his arm so that I rolled to face him and he pressed his lips firmly to mine. I kissed him back, moving my hands up to run my fingers through his messy dark brown hair.

He pulled away and began to kiss my neck again, biting down. "Nate," I warned. "Don't leave any marks."

"But what if I want to mark you as mine?" he said against my skin, biting harder.

I bit my lip to contain my moan of pleasure. When I could open it again, I said, "My dad would kill you if he knew. And don't you dare say that he couldn't, because he trained at Blackthorne, too."

"I know," Nate said. Then he moved his mouth to whisper sexily in my ear. "But I'm not scared."

I shivered and pulled Nate down to kiss me. We made out until four in the morning, kissing until we couldn't breathe, talking, and then kissing again. Finally, he said he needed to go and I knew that it was true – because my parents always got up at five – but I didn't want him to go. I pulled him back down to me for another kiss, giving him full access to my mouth.

He pulled away with a smile, "I love you, Layla."

"I love you, too," I whispered, not wanting him to go.

"I'll see you soon," he promised.

"How?" I pouted. "School starts in a week and you already told me that you have to go on a job tomorrow."

"I'll be back before school starts," he promised. "One last time. And then we have winter break," he said suggestively, making butterflies go wild in my stomach. We hadn't had sex yet, but over winter break (right after I'd turn 18) I was going to spend winter break with him. I hadn't yet picked what I was going to tell my parents, but I knew that I'd figure it out.

"And then another semester," I said.

"And then you'll move in with me," he said.

I smiled. "I love that part."

He kissed me again. "Me too. Be safe, okay? I'll be back soon."

"Okay."

He kissed me again, deeply. When he broke away, he gave me a smile that took the remainder of my breath away. "I love you."

"I love you."

He headed for my window and disappeared in the blink of an eye. I smiled to myself as I went to close the window.

Nathan Rivers was the best young spy-in-training that I knew.