CHAPTER TWO

 

 

Kiera

“Whatcha doing?” I asked Demetrius. I would have ignored him, but he had decided to follow me to the little cafe where I liked to get a cup of soup and salad—okay, half a sandwich—every day. I always meant to get a salad. My thighs were not getting a bit smaller, and I didn’t need the calories from the bread and the cheese and the meat. But salads were so… green.

Anyway, it didn’t much matter what my thighs looked like anyway. It wasn’t as if anyone besides me ever saw them.

Demetrius followed me there more often than not. He was like a puppy dog that way.

A large, intimidating puppy dog who insulted me all the time. I didn’t know what his problem was, but he never left me alone. I was pretty sure that he had social issues or something. Most of the guys who worked for the organization did. A guy doesn’t start killing people for money if he’s totally well-adjusted and healthy.

Maybe he didn’t know how to talk to women.

Although, sometimes, when he spoke to me, he did it in this low, rumbling voice that made my whole body feel shivery. My nipples would stiffen and there would be twitching between my thighs, and I’d have to mentally reign myself in. So, in those instances, he really did seem to know how to talk to women. Or at least to me.

But I was not attracted to him.

I only talked to him because I felt sorry for him.

Yeah. He was very pitiful, with his stupidly rippling biceps and his olive skin and his light brown eyes and the little dimples that appeared under his stubble when he smiled and—

“I’m working on the job we’re doing for Matteo, if you must know.”

“Oh,” I said. “Want some help? I could be a sounding board.” I took a bite of my sandwich. Horseradish and roast beef. Mmm. There was nothing better on earth. Some people didn’t like horseradish, but that was only because they weren’t adventurous enough. Food could be bland, or it could be a rainbow of flavors and tastes. Excitement.

I kind of liked eating.

My thighs could attest to that.

I wasn’t overweight or anything, but I wasn’t super skinny either. I would be overweight, though, if I kept indulging myself so much.

I sighed.

“I’m fine,” said Demetrius.

“Oh, right,” I said sarcastically. “You don’t need my help, because you never need my help. Because I’m just the stupid little girl who you have to babysit.”

He was sitting a table over from me, close enough for us to converse. He scribbled something on a piece of paper. “I don’t think you’re stupid.”

“But you do think I’m a little girl?”

He raised his gaze to me. “Does that offend you?”

“I’m twenty-one.”

He scribbled something else.

“How old are you, anyway? You can’t be older that twenty-five.”

“I’m trying to think here. Your chattering away in the background is not helping.”

I picked up my tray and my drink and went over to his table. I sat down next to him. “Why do you follow me around, anyway? You know, if you were so after peace and quiet, you could have just stayed at headquarters while I came out to lunch. Instead, you always come here with me.”

He didn’t seem ruffled that I’d joined him. “I like the food.”

“And you always come at the same time as I do because?”

“We seem to be hungry around the same time,” he said.

“Oh, is that so?”

“Yes.” He glowered at me.

I glowered back.

He gestured to my pickle spear. “You going to eat that?”

“Yes.” I seized the pickle and took a bite. Pickles were delicious. Also, they had practically no calories. Lots of salt, though. Which made you retain water. “I think you follow me around because you’re secretly in love with me.”

He coughed.

I squared my shoulders, grinning. Of course, I knew that he didn’t like me at all. All he did was yell at me. That was why it was so funny to tease him about it. “Yes, you probably spend all your time trying to work up the courage to ask me out on a date, and you just can’t. Probably because you’re terrified of women.”

“I am not terrified of women.”

I shrugged. “When I was looking into you, I checked your credit card receipts, and you go out to the bar a lot, but never out to eat. So, not a lot of dating.”

“When I date, I pay cash.” He picked up the rest of my pickle and shoved it in his mouth.

“Hey!”

He chewed and grinned at the same time.

“You are a toad,” I decided.

He swallowed, still grinning. His voice lowered. “Yes, as you can see, Kiera, you scare me immensely.”

That voice. That was the shivery voice. My nipples got hard, and I could feel the fabric of my bra brushing against them. I sucked in a tiny breath. I cleared my throat and turned my attention to my soup.

It was quiet for several minutes.

He scribbled.

I slurped soup.

At one point, he lifted his hand, and I lifted my hand, and we accidentally brushed each other.

We both recoiled, like we’d been burned.

And I felt a little like I had, as if my entire body had been seared with his touch. Inside, I felt fluttery, uneasy. I was getting turned on. I swallowed hard. I didn’t let this happen to myself. I wasn’t repressed or anything. I just felt that those kinds of feelings were distracting. I did my best to find ways to take care of my needs and then to keep that side of me under lock and key. Being turned on while eating soup? That was… disturbing.

“I’m sorry I ate your pickle,” he said suddenly.

“That was a total dick move,” I said, anger rising, drowning out my arousal. Oh, no, damn it, it was actually just fueling my arousal. Argh.

“I know. It was juvenile. I shouldn’t have done it. You just…” He shook his head. “You get me so…” He squeezed his eyes shut. “Maybe we should talk about the job.”

“Sure,” I said. “I can help, you know. I really can.”

“The problem is that I’m running into dead ends in terms of anyone else who could be on the team. So, I’m thinking we might have to do this just the three of us. You, me, and Blaze. But I can’t figure out how to make it work, because I need Blaze in the building getting Natasha, and then I’m going to do Nikolai, and you’re outside running point—”

“I could come inside.”

“No.”

“Why not? Too dangerous?”

“Yes. I don’t want you to get killed.”

“Oh my God. You’re overreacting.”

“I really don’t think I am. This job we’re pulling? We’re going up against very dangerous men. Now, you know your stuff, but you work in an office, behind a screen—”

“I can easily use a laptop or a tablet and be mobile—”

“You are not getting killed on my watch. So, you don’t go in.”

I sighed. “Have you thought about using Leak?” Leak was another of the hitmen who worked for our organization.

“Leak?” He shook his head. “I don’t need Leak. What I need is someone who can sweet talk himself out of situations. And… and maybe a cat burglar. Someone who steals jewels by lowering himself down on those little rope things?”

“Ooh,” I said. “I know just who you need.”

“You do?”

“Yeah,” I said. “You need the Crosbies.”

* * *

 

Demetrius

“You sure about this?” I said to Kiera. We were standing outside the door to an apartment. All the way up the steps, we could hear two people screaming at each other. Sounded like a bad argument.

There were even some sounds of something shattering.

Now, we were standing in front of the door in which the argument was taking place. I did not have a good feeling about this.

She bit down on her lip. “I never heard them fight before. But yeah. Cass and Ambrose Crosby. They’re who you need.” She raised her hand to knock on the door.

“Maybe we should hold up a minute,” I said.

She knocked anyway.

I winced. Too late.

Suddenly, all noise from inside the apartment stopped.

We waited.

Kiera raised her hand to knock again.

The door opened. A sunny-looking woman with her hair in a ponytail answered, a big smile on her face. “Hi there.”

“Hey Cass,” said Kiera.

“Kiera Quill.” Cass threw her arms around Kiera and yanked her into the apartment. “It’s so good to see you. Oh my God, you look great.”

“Thanks,” said Kiera. “This is Demetrius.”

I glared at her.

“I’m not telling them some stupid handle,” she said. “It makes you sound like you think you’re a superhero or something.”

“I don’t like to advertise my identity,” I said.

“Whatever.” Kiera released Cass and grabbed me by the sleeve. She pulled me in after her.

Inside the apartment, it was surprisingly clean for having been the site of a knock-down-drag-out fight just a few seconds ago. The living room had a light shag carpet. There were tan couches flanking a television that hung on the wall. Around it were framed circus posters. I squinted at them, because they seemed out of place. Then I realized that they were advertising the Captivating Cass, who had apparently done acrobatic work.

Huh. An acrobat. Yeah, she could be useful.

A man stood on the opposite side of the room, wearing a white-shirt and jeans. He was holding an empty glass. “Hi, Kiera. You want a drink? Whiskey?”

“It’s too early,” admonished Cass. “You shouldn’t be drinking either, Ambrose. You’re an ass when you drink.”

Ambrose’s face reddened. “I’m not an ass. You’re just overly sensitive.”

“You said I was fat,” said Cass.

Ambrose snorted. “I did not.”

Cass turned to Kiera. “He did. He never used to say things like that.”

Kiera bit her lip, clearly unsure of what she should do now that she was in the middle of a fight between the couple. “Look, the reason we’re here is that—”

“When I met him, he was so amazing, you know?” said Cass. “Everything was great. We would stay up all night, just talking, and I felt like he really got me. But now, all I can think is that I must have made a huge mistake. I never should have thrown away my entire life on him.”

“Oh, come on, baby,” said Ambrose, looking at the floor. “Don’t say shit like that.” He glanced at me. “In front of strangers.”

“I’ll say it in front of whoever I want,” she said. “Because it’s true. I don’t even know who you are.” Suddenly, Cass burst into tears and fled out of the room.

I raised my eyebrows at Kiera. “Uh, maybe this is a bad time, and we should just forget about this whole—”

“No, we haven’t even asked them,” she said. “Come on, give it a chance. I’ll go talk to her.” She went after Cass.

Leaving me alone with Ambrose.

He held up an empty glass. “Whiskey?”

“No thanks,” I said.

We were quiet.

I wandered over to get a closer look at the posters.

“I didn’t say she was fat,” said Ambrose.

I turned to him. “I’m sure you didn’t.” I didn’t know how to respond.

“You know how women are. They trap you into saying things. They ask you questions, and there’s no way to answer them without pissing them off. I used to think that Cass was different, that she and I clicked somehow, and that she would never do something like that. But now I realize she’s just like the rest of them.”

I nodded. I tried to think of something to say.

He kept talking. Probably because he’d been drinking whiskey. “She asked me if I’d noticed that she’d gained weight since we got together. You know what I said?”

“No?” I said. “I think the correct answer to that question is, ‘No.’”

He sighed. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“What did you say?”

“I said she looked good with a few extra pounds. Which is true. I mean, she’s always been beautiful, but when she was an acrobat, she was like almost too thin, and now she’s… Well, you saw her. She looks great, right?”

I coughed. No way was I going to compliment this guy’s wife. I didn’t know how he’d take that. He’d been drinking, and he might decide he wanted to fight me if I said the wrong thing.

Luckily, he didn’t even notice. “She looks great. And I said that she looked great. So, I don’t see why she’s all hurt about it now. It’s stupid. And I told her that.”

“You said she was stupid?” I cringed.

He sat down on the couch and put his head in his hands. “Man. I’m an idiot. And I’m usually so good at talking to people.”

“Oh? You are?” This was something I was more interested in.

He looked up at me. “Yeah. I used to be someone. Maybe not a respectable someone, or anything, but I was good at what I did. When we got together, I figured I’d go straight as an arrow. It wasn’t as if we needed the money. I had savings. But now I spend all day drinking and getting yelled at by my wife.”

“What did you do before?” I wanted to steer the conversation away from the stuff about the marriage. That really wasn’t my angle.

“Well, like I said, it wasn’t respectable.” He looked me over. “Who the hell are you, anyway?”

“I’m putting together a team to do a job. A not-very-respectable job,” I said.

He nodded slowly. “I, uh, used to pull cons. Long cons on big corporations, mostly. Set up a big investment, get the cash, get out.”

It was my turn to nod. “Huh.” That could work. “And you were good?”

“I was the best.”

* * *

 

Kiera

“I never should have left the circus.” Cass was sobbing, lying in a fetal position on her unmade bed.

I sat down next to her and gingerly patted her back. Honestly, we weren’t really close like this. I had known Ambrose before I knew her. I’d taught him some hacker tricks, and I’d helped him set up a new identity when he wanted to go straight and start a new life with Cass. But Cass was nice, and I didn’t want her to cry.

“He’s not the same as he used to be,” she said, wiping at her eyes and sitting up.

“Well, he cares about you,” I said. “I know he does. And I can’t imagine him saying you were fat. You’re not, by the way.”

She hiccuped. “Well, maybe he didn’t exactly say that I was fat. But he said that I looked good with the extra weight I was carrying around.”

“Ooh,” I said. “That wasn’t very nice.”

“I know.” She looked at me in vindication. “And he kept saying, ‘But I said you looked good, baby. But I said you looked good.’ Jackass.”

“I’m sure he didn’t mean—”

“Oh, who cares what he meant. It was awful what he said.”

“It’s just you know how men are,” I said. “They have very primitive conversational skills.” I was pretty much convinced that there were about four layers to spoken language that most men didn’t even hear. They heard the words and the literal meaning, but they didn’t understand the other implied meanings.

She laughed a little. “But he didn’t used to be like that. He used to understand me so well.”

I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t have a lot of experience in that department. I was planning on having an actual relationship with a guy at some point in my life. Just not now, when I was so focused on my work. I needed to establish myself, and then I’d be able to think about that sort of thing.

“He has nothing to do all day,” she said. “He just lies around and watches TV and drinks. He’s driving me crazy. I didn’t want to be married to a conman, but I’m not sure I like being married to a guy who’s unemployed either.”

“Well,” I said. “Actually, the reason I’m here is because I might have a job for you.”

“For me?” She furrowed her brow. “What?”

“For both of you.”

She made a face. “What kind of job?”