Her Obsession (by Sheridan Hartin) novel Chapter 37

Let’s Get Bloody.

Conner

I pushed open the door to my room, expecting quiet. What I got was the soft shuffle of movement and the unmistakable sight of Sage, standing in front of my open closet, buttoning up a pair of bloodstained tactical pants like it was just another Tuesday.

“Jesus,” I muttered under my breath, closing the door behind me.

Sage turned back to my closet like she owned the place, which, considering the way she moved through it, she kind of did. Her fingers brushed over the hangers until she pulled out a black long-sleeve shirt, clearly too big for her.

“I’m stealing this,” she said casually.

“Of course you are.” I stepped up behind her, reaching past to tug down the hoodie version instead, same color, same worn cotton softness, but with a front zip and deep hood. “Try this one. You’ll like it better.”

She looked up at me, surprised. “You sure?”

I nodded, handing it over. “Looks better oversized anyway. On you, I mean. Not on me. I’d look like a sad beanbag chair in that thing.”

She snorted, tugging it on over the singlet, my singlet she was wearing, without a bra…Her peaked nipples grabbing my attention. The sleeves swallowed her hands, and the hem hit her mid-thigh. Adorable. Dangerous. Deadly. All wrapped up in a hoodie that still smelled like my cologne.

*I’ll get you your own stuff when this is over,” I said quietly. “Real clothes. Not just stolen shirts and patched up combat pants.”

Sage tilted her head. “You offering to take me shopping?”

I gave her a lazy grin. “Only if I get to carry your bags.”

“That’s dangerously close to a date.”

“I know.” I paused, watching her tug the hood up over her messy braid. “And I meant it.”

She looked at me for a long moment, expression unreadable. Then she nodded once and turned toward the mirror, adjusting the sleeves.

“Not bad,” she muttered. “I’ll allow it.”

I leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed. “You can steal whatever you want from me, Sage.”

She glanced back at me, a spark of something soft and unspoken in her eyes.

“I already did.”

She was still looking at herself in the mirror, hands tugging the hem of the hoodie down over her hips like she was trying to anchor herself in something softer. Something real. The fabric drowned her a little, but the fit didn’t matter, not when it was mine, and on her, it looked perfect.

“Sage,” I said gently, pushing off the doorframe and walking over.

She didn’t look at me. Just watched our reflections, me standing behind her, her eyes shadowed under the hood.

“Promise me something,” she said, voice low. Not commanding. Not sarcastic. Just quiet.

I stopped behind her, close but not touching, “What is it?”

“If it goes sideways today… if things start spiraling and it’s looking bad, really bad, I need you to get out.” She finally turned her head, meeting my eyes in

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8:06 pm pp

Let’s Get Bloody.

the mirror “Leave me. Don’t try to be a hero.”

1 frowned, stepping closer, close enough that her back brushed my chest. “Not happening.”

0441

“I’m serious, Conner,” she said, and this time she turned fully to face me, pulling her hood down. “This isn’t your war. It never was. You’ve already done more than I could’ve asked for, keeping me alive, watching my six, staying by my side even when I didn’t deserve it.”

“You deserve it.”

Her throat bobbed. “Please. If it looks like I’m not getting out, if it looks like there’s no winning, just go. Get yourself out. Get Liam. Hell, grab Matteo too. Take your people and run. You still have a life after this.”

I shook my head slowly, jaw tight. “You don’t get to make that call for me.”

“I’m not.” Her hands came up, pressing gently against my chest. “I’m asking.”

That wrecked me. Sage wasn’t the kind of girl to ask for things. She took what she needed, fought for what she didn’t, and burned the rest. But here she was, scared, maybe not for herself, but for me. For what this mission might cost us.

“I don’t know how to walk away from you,” I said honestly. “I knew you were going to be the end of something in me. And maybe the beginning of something else and I never want to run from that.”

Her eyes shimmered. Not tears. Just that shine people get when they’re feeling too much and trying to swallow it down before it shows.

“I’ve survived worse,” she said again, a whisper this time.

“Yeah?” I leaned down, brushing my lips over her forehead. “Then let’s survive this too. Together.”

Her fingers curled into my shirt. “You’re such a stubborn bastard.”

“And you love that about me.”

“Maybe.”

I kissed her temple. “No maybes, Sage. Not today.”

The silence that followed her whispered “Maybe” hung in the air like smoke. But there wasn’t time to sit in it, not with the op looming like a storm on the horizon.

By the time I stepped into the weapons room, the energy had shifted. Tension buzzed through the air, coiled and sharp. Matteo was laying out gear like a surgeon prepping for the table, everything placed with surgical precision. Liam had already shrugged into a tactical vest and was double-checking comms. Nico was in the corner, trying to look casual as he tested his mic but muttering to himself like he was preparing a one-man stage play. I headed straight for the weapons rack, grabbing my favored Glock and holstering it with muscle memory. The familiar weight grounded me.

“Got your gear?” Liam asked, tossing me an extra set of mags.

“Always,” I replied, checking the chamber out of habit. “You ready?”

He grinned, teeth sharp with adrenaline. “Born ready. Naomi’s getting out today. One way or another.”

Sage entered then, calm and lethal in her borrowed black hoodie and fitted tactical pants. Someone had dug out a thigh holster for her, and her knives gleamed as she slid them into place like extensions of her own hands.

“You sure you’re cleared to be walking?” Matteo asked, eyeing her bloody-stained pants from days earlier.

She didn’t even blink. “I’m sure I could walk with a bullet in my lung if I needed to.”

Nico let out a soft, awed whistle. “I’m never sleeping again.”

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8:06 pm P PDD.

Let’s Get Bloody.

༠:་

I handed her a comm unit. “Channel four. Liam, you’re on point for Naomi extraction. Matteo’s team will shadow you. I’ll breach from the west with Sage and clear a path to Mirov.”

“Sniper coverage?” Sage asked.

“Luca’s setting up now. We’ve got thermal and drone feeds. Storm hits in forty.”

She clipped the comm to her ear, her expression all business now. “Then let’s get bloody.”

My kind of woman. Feckin’ perfect.

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8:06 pm P PDD.

Her Obsession.