Page 42 of Wicked Ambition

“He’s asking questions in some shady places.” That was putting it mildly. “If he attracts the notice of the wrong person, and for some reason he doesn’t pick up a tail, his staying in the same hotel would lead them to us. To you. It’s safer if we separate.”

“The same would go for us. If someone followed us and you didn’t notice, it would put Baggs in danger.”

He nodded, but Oz planned to keep her in places that were as safe as possible. Places where there was as close to a zero chance of running into the Russians as he could get. Petrova’s flunkies showing up at the café was a fluke. As long as he kept Ayla away from the most likely locations to search for her sister, there shouldn’t be a repeat.

Ayla started to ask another question, but Oz suspected it was a delaying tactic. He cut off the attempt. “Now, back to what we were discussing before Baggs interrupted us. Do?—“

“Iam notpregnant.” The obstinate expression on Ayla’s face underlined her words.

This was getting them nowhere. Oz stood, checked to make sure he still had his keycard for the room, and asked, “Are you finished eating?”

At her nod, he reloaded the plates onto the cart. When the table was cleared, he pulled it out from between the beds andpushed it out into the hallway. Grabbing the Do Not Disturb sign, he put it on the outside door handle.

With that taken care of, he came back to where Ayla sat. “Stay here. Don’t go closer to the windows than you are right now. Do not answer the door for any reason. Unless there’s a fire, stay put. I shouldn’t be gone long.” Oz headed to the door. “Engage the secondary locks behind me.”

“Where are you going?”

Hand on the doorknob, Oz glanced back over his shoulder. Ayla stood, fingers linked at her waist and a worried expression on her face. “To buy a pregnancy test.”

Concern left and obstinance returned. “I told you that I’m not pregnant.”

“Fine.” His voice was clipped, but he was irritated by her refusal to even consider it as a real possibility. “Then the test will prove it, and we’ll move on. But Pollita? I’m damn well going to know whether I’m about to become a father.”

He left the hotel room, pausing after he closed the door. Oz wasn’t moving until he heard her secure it. The wait took longer than he liked, but finally, she snapped the other locks into place. Through the door, he heard her say, “I’m not pregnant.”

Oz shook his head as he walked down the hallway.

Chapter 17

Ayla sat at the table, hands folded in her lap, and tried not to ask Oz again if the time was up. It wasn’t. She’d watched him set the timer on his phone and it hadn’t gone off.

She’d left the pregnancy test on the bathroom counter to avoid constantly checking it, but now she wondered if she’d made a mistake. Maybe it would be easier to wait if it was in front of her.

“Relax, Pollita,” Oz said from across the table. “It hasn’t even been a full minute yet.”

She wanted to retort it was easy for him to sayrelax, but she didn’t, because Oz had reassured her many times that she wasn’t in this alone. For a mercenary, he seemed to have an honorable streak a mile wide. But how often would he be in the States?

It could be worse.

She could be waiting for the test results back in LA with no idea what his name was or how to find him. Maybe they would have exchanged information if she hadn’t run out while he’d been in the shower. There was so much she didn’t know about him, but at least she had his name. Hisfirstname. “What’s your surname?”

Oz looked startled. He hesitated, and she scowled at him. “You can’t use it after I tell you,” he warned her. “It will be dangerous for me if my full name gets out.”

“I won’t,” Ayla promised.

“You’ve forgotten what I’ve told you to do before. You’ve spoken too loudly, and then there was the pace you used when we left the café. If I hadn’t held onto your arm, you might have set the world’s record for the fastest 5K.”

“You’re exaggerating.” He gave her a look. “I was scared, okay? You know my full name.”

“Yeah.” He looked around as if someone had snuck into the room while they were talking, and he hadn’t noticed. “It’s West. Oziah West.”

She opened her mouth to repeat it, caught Oz’s expression, and pressed her lips together. “Sorry. The stress of waiting…it has my thoughts all scrambled.”

“I know. I’m dealing with it, too.”

He was? To her, Oz looked calm. His stubble was thick and his long, dark hair hung loose to his shoulders. Even decked out in his mercenary clothes, he made her breath catch. “I don’t do hookups,” Ayla said.

“I know.” The non sequitur didn’t seem to throw him.

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