Page 66 of Off the Grid
“She’s fine,” he quickly cut in. “She’s with Jo.”
“With Jo?”
“Yup,” Leo answered with a grin McKenzie didn’t return. “The bureau took Ryder into custody a few hours ago, which is why they haven’t come to get us yet. The whole department is focused on bringing him for questioning. Alive, I might add—we need to make sure the Russians don’t intercept him mid-transit. I told my team that we’d be secure for a few hours and not to worry too much about us. Nate said Addison is great. A little shaken up, maybe, but alive and well and headed home.” Her relief was written across her face, but there was something else too, a slight twinge of envy or maybe gloom. “I thought you’d be happy.”
“I am,” McKenzie was quick to reply, but that shadow in her eyes didn’t retreat. “I am, really—I just, I guess I just always thought that I’d be there when Addy and Jo met, that the three of us would be together.” She shrugged, glancing away. “It’s stupid. I mean, my friend is safe. Of course I’m happy.”
Leo dipped his chin closer, forcing her to focus on him. “It’s not stupid.”
She rolled her eyes. “Selfish then.”
“It’s human,” he said, squeezing her hand. She was too hard on herself.
“You don’t have to make excuses for my behavior, Leo.”
He shrugged. “Maybe I want to.”
For some reason, those four words were the ones that finally made her smile. The satisfied little grin was gone as quickly as it came. McKenzie looked away as though embarrassed and dropped her head to his chest. Leo wrapped his arms tighter around her waist, holding her close as he continued to sway side to side with the music.
“Maybe this will cheer you up,” he murmured into her hair. “My partner said the bureau is sending a chopper for us. I’m not entirely sure if he’s pulling my leg or not.”
Her muscles tensed and she stumbled on her next step. Leo held her upright as his heart thudded in his chest, waiting for her response, wondering what that little hiccup meant. Was she as reluctant to end their little adventure as he was? Was she dreading their inevitable goodbye? Or was she just afraid of heights?
“As in ‘helicopter’?” she finally asked.
“That’s what he said,” Leo continued carefully, measuring her words and her tone, trying to decipher the meaning behind them. “They should be here soon.”
“How soon?” The question came out as hardly more than air.
Leo tried to pull back, to meet her eyes, but McKenzie stubbornly kept her cheek to his chest. Had there been a slight strain to her voice? “Sometime in the next half hour or so.”
“Oh.”
They danced in silence, nothing but soft music and the laughter of the guests who seemed so far away. The song shifted to something faster and more upbeat, but they maintained their steady rhythm, unhurried and unchanged. Leo and McKenzie were in a different world, in their own pocket at the edge where everyone else ceased to exist. He was unaware of anything beyond the heat of her body pressing into his and the soft kiss of her breath against his neck. She slid her fingers into his hair, curling the strands at the base of his neck, sending a tingle down his spine. He ran his fingers up and down the supple curve of her back. With his cheek resting against the top of her head, the sweet scent of sugar filled his nose. He breathed deep, wanting to remember the smell, the moment, as though will alone could make it go on forever.
“Leo?” she finally whispered.
He pulled back. “What?”
McKenzie adjusted her arms, lifting both around his neck so she could stare into his eyes. Leo’s hands fell to her waist and gripped her hip bones as he continued to lead her in slow circles.
“Leo, I—” She paused to lick her lips and swallow. “What happens next?”
He darted his gaze back and forth between her two irises, trying to understand what she was really asking. What happened next with her life? Would she be safe? Would she need to move? Would she recover? Or what happened next with them?
Leo took the safer route. It seemed too much to hope that she meant the latter. “Well, after the Feds pick us up, we’ll take you back home. Someone will ask you a lot of questions so we can record a detailed account of what happened. They’ll ask me all the same things too. I’ll probably keep an agent stationed outside your building overnight, just in case. But with Ryder in custody, I don’t see any reason for the Russians to come after you again. You should be able to go back to your normal life, as if the past few days never happened.”
“Hmm.” She blinked and looked away, into the shadows of the forest to their side.
These one-word answers are killing me.
“Of course,” he couldn’t stop himself from adding, a hopeful lilt to his voice, “if you’re worried, I could give you my number. You can call me if you feel scared or you see something strange.”
McKenzie’s gaze snapped back to his. The corners of her lips lifted even as she pulled her lower lip between her teeth, biting back the smile. His abs tightened at the sight.
“I’d like that.” There was an honesty in her tone he wasn’t used to, a vulnerability. She wasn’t teasing or playing or pushing. She was accepting him and his offer without a fight.
Leo scrunched his brows together, almost unnerved. A warmth spread across his chest. He tightened his grip on her waist and dropped his gaze to her lips before lifting it back to her eyes. “Consider it done.”
