Page 40 of Own

“I can hear you,” she said, though on the screen she had the champagne flute lifted to her lips. The dark feathery mask hid the upper half of her face, it made her ruby red lips even more appealing. They glistened under the lights. “Loud and clear.”

She smiled as she lowered the glass and my left hand curled into a fist. On the monitor, even with the grain of interference, she was a vision. Every step she took a sinuous stride that made all kinds of sensual promises.

No doubt existed within me that she commanded considerable fees for her work. She owned that room right now and the people in it, they just didn’t know how much. Watching her from too damn far away magnified every moment like a slow bleed draining my life away.

If you didn’t know where she was going, she would look like a woman just drifting from group to group. Wandering. Bored. She presses into one group. Laughter. Flirtation. A man gestured to her empty champagne flute, passing it to a waiter, but she waved off another. He set his hand against the bare skin of her back.

Head tilted, she doesn’t throw the drink in his face, stomp on his foot, or break his goddamn hand. No, she looks at him like she’s sizing up prey, not potentially dancing into the wolf’s maw.

“Persistent son of a bitch,” Lunchbox muttered. “Need me to remove him?”

“No,” Grace said. “You mustn’t.” Whether she was talking to the putz or to Lunchbox, I wasn’t sure. “I need to mingle.”

Then she strolled away from her admirer. I stayed focused on him for a moment. What would he do? His hand also curled into a fist and he stared after her. Adrenaline spiked into my system as he looked like he would follow, but another man approached and then he was distracted.

Good.

“You’ve got a tail,” Alphabet said. “Slim suit. Scar near the temple. On your five o’clock, Gracie.”

I shifted my attention to the interloper. Alphabet was right. The man moved on a direct angle to intercept her. There was no mistaking the purposefulness of his stride.

“I see him. He looks very determined.”

He was also smiling. I wasn’t.

The man wore a much thinner mask, it barely covered his face. “Are we getting facial rec yet?”

“No,” Alphabet said. “Harder with this quality.”

“Mademoiselle,” the man said. “You are… exquisite.”

Grace laughed, a practiced sound that seemed to match her slow smile. The man crowded right in, stepping closer than was even remotely appropriate.

“You will come with me. I will get you a drink and then we'll talk. I have many questions.” The command in his tone was impossible to miss. He wasn’t speaking French, though his English was very accented.

“Go with him,” I said through gritted teeth. “Don’t drink anything he offers.”

The man gripped her elbow, tugging her toward the stairs for the ballroom mezzanine. Grace’s breathing hitched, just a sharp inhale, but noticeable. The man wasn’t slowing for any other group. When he moved his hand from her elbow to the curve of her back, just above where the fabric curved over her ass.

“I’ve got eyes,” Voodoo reminded them. “Right behind her.”

He’d broken away from his own group. Good. Still, my left fist tightened as I said, “Let her lead.”

The man’s hand continued to drift lower, but they moved out of range of the primary camera as it glided toward the curve of her ass.

Grace’s soft laughter carried easily over the comms. Alphabet was scanning the cams, looking for a better angle as Voodoo followed, but had to maintain distance so he didn’tlooklike he was following.

Tactically sound for intelligence gathering. Bad fucking idea to not have him right there letting others know they took their lives in their hands putting a finger on her.

There…

The angle wasn’t great, but we could see them standing in the archway leading into a room off the mezzanine. He towered over where she leaned against the wall. He had his hand on her bare shoulder and glided down her arm.

“Tell me,” she murmured. “Do you always touch things you haven’t bought yet?” Was that a quaver in her voice?

The mark laughed, though his expression was difficult to read at this distance and I couldn’t see Grace’s at all.

“You okay?” I asked, keeping my voice low. The whole team could hear her, hear me, but I needed to know she was still in this.

---