Page 18 of Bishop's Queen

Still, with Crazy, he would keep score. That nickname fit her better than Eco-Ella any day of the week.

Pretty pink lips, which could’ve been a distraction, turned upward, and heknewhe had the win. Whatever she was about to say would work in his favor. Mentally, Bishop readied to give himself a high five.

“Yes,” she said. “We can start over—”

The bathroom door swung open, and Beth and Nicola, two Titan agents he had met in passing, walked in and stared at them. Whatever the women’s conversation had been, it was now muted. All Bishop could do was thank God that Crazy had ditched the paper towel she’d been licking.

To Beth and Nicola’s credit, neither agent gawked for too long. One of them mumbled over her shoulder, “Hey, new guy.”

Both ladies hit bathroom stalls around the corner. The doors opened, the locks slid into place, and theystarted to pee.

He tried, really tried to maintain a blank face. Then he tried to imagine they were in combat. He didn’t give a shit if there were women in the battlefield or if they were mucking through a jungle. He didn’t care when people had to go. But hecould hear them peeing.

His molars ground down as he tried to focus his unwavering attention on Ella. “Can we leave?”

“Are you uncomfortable?” Ella was apparently aware they were keeping score in their newfound situation. She was on the hunt for a point of her own. “Truthfully, I think we should hang out here a bit longer. I like people watching, and this is a comfy couch.”

She wiggled back as though she needed to get more comfortable then took out her phone. Her fingers flew on the screen, and for the moment, it looked as though she’d set up shop—checking emails or blog posts or whatever Internet celebrities did.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Seeing what time I told my publicist I’d post my vlog.”

“What the fuck is avlog?”

“A video blog post.” Her forehead scrunched as if he’d asked the eco-girl whether she’d seen the color green before. Then, as serious as the threats that had been made against her, Ella asked, “Do you think we can have lunch delivered here?”

They were in a bathroom.A bathroom. Had she lost her ever-loving mind? There was no way. Fifteen years, or however long it had been, might have changed her, but just…no. He prayed she didn’t actually want to eat in there. “Are you screwing with me?”

She cracked a smile, and for a moment, he saw the silly girl playing with the carefree guy, just like they used to be. “Maybe.”

He choked on a chuckle, shaking his head, because this was all a joke. Titan was the best in the world at pretty much everything. Why wouldn’t they dig into his past, find an ex-girlfriend, and throw him into the bathroom with her? It was epic. “You’re in on this thing with the guys, aren’t you?”

Ella’s eyes narrowed, twinkling with a dose of curiosity. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“This is abeasthazing job.” He would give them that. Sugar had to have something to do with this, and it was total payback for tying her up with a jump rope at the job he’d completed before starting at Titan. “And—”

“No one is hazing you,” one of the women said from the stalls.

Gah.Bishop dropped his head into his hands and rubbed the shit out of his face, trying, for the life of him, to not feel as if this was an insane moment as he heard Beth and Nicola flush and exit their stalls.

“All right.” He dropped his voice several octaves lower. “Ready?”

He pushed out of his glider and extended his hand. Ella eyeballed his hand, analyzing the peace treaty that it was.Come on, babe…Their distance hung, unsteady for a moment, and hell if he was going to let this waif of an uncertainty dangle without an anchor. “Take my hand,Ella.”

He’d said her name the way she liked it and left his hand outstretched. There wasn’t much more he was going to offer, and that included lunch in the bathroom. Saying “Ella” brought her eyes to his, and it was that simple. They’d always had a connection, and it was good to know the lines of communication had never truly disappeared.

Ella placed her much smaller, surprisingly familiar hand in his, and he pulled Crazy Eco-Ella to her feet.

“Come on.” Bishop tugged her fingers that cautiously wrapped around his, and the touch triggered a faint memory, tickling deep in his chest. Before her hand fell away, his mind cataloged several startling unknowns. Her handhold exuded strength and confidence, even though it was a passing touch. For everything eco-this and enviro-that, he would’ve thought she’d blossomed into some kind of delicate flower—but no. Ella was decidedly,unpredictablypowerful.

He cleared the eco-miscalculation from his head and turned toward the sinks, where Nicola and Beth were involved in the slowest hand-washing process known to man, also known as obvious spying. “We’re out of here, ladies. The bathroom is all yours.”

Two good-byes mixed with laughter rang out.

Bishop grumbled but focused on controlling the situation. On the upside, he no longer had a running, crying, paper-towel-licking Ella. On the downside, where the hell should they go if not the war room? He didn’t know this building, and even the conference rooms looked lethal. “If not the war room, where to?”

She stopped in the hallway. “This seems benign enough.”

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